Author's note: First things first… I have to apologize. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a Kaoru fan. I'm not saying she's perfect or anything, I just happen to like her faults and all. But there is one thing I could not take and it's something I find other Kaoru fans saying too. So I took a light-hearted approach to it in this chapter…
Second… ummm… don't kill me at the end of this chapter.
JML : You really like digging yourself in deep with the characters, ne? You could be a Juppongatana lackey by all the stuff they throw at you in your reviews.
KitKat : I like canon couples. I had this whole Meiling-Syaoran thing for a while but it sucks when the rest of the world doesn't agree with you. (Besides Sano and Megumi were made for each other).
nemo : Yeah, boys never learn.
Kristy : Errr… then um… close your eyes at the end of the chapter.
Vesca, JadeGoddess : Oh boy… see above.
Gemini : Tell me about it!! Why is it guy just plop down a few bucks and get a year's worth of underwear and we have to shell out 15 bucks for one piece???
Chi : ^_^ Thanks for the compliment and umm… yeah… K&K… it'll happen… someday.
Gemin16, Firekat, Nye-Yen : It's continued!!
angelyca_ : See… if Aoshi spent less time thinking and more time doing, we wouldn't have these problems.
Prudence-chan!! Good Lord!!! Do you want Sano chopped up into little pieces?!?!
Koneko-chan : S&M is actually the easiest to right for some reason… so long as they're still insulting each other.
LittleDragon5 : Aoshi is just big brother to both, probably Megumi too but neither would admit that.
dementedchris : *hides under blanket* But… but… I'm American!! They never taught me grammar!! Thx for the catches though.
Lian Leviathan : Your review always make me laugh ^_^ And get to bed earlier!!
Yuki : Yes, oh yes… he is VERY sexy as Battousai.
Okay, that should be everyone! Enough rambling… go, read, enjoy!
Chapter 8
The world arced backwards and Misao watched as the sky suddenly turned around and was under her feet. The loud staccato of gunfire was echoing against the glass of the building but she could barely hear it over the explosion of sound from the headset.
Something hit her in the side hard and Misao felt her neck snap quickly to the side as the world shifted to the right. The window shattered as she hit it and rolled into the room. A few dazed seconds later, she slowly reoriented herself.
She was bleeding from a cut in her forehead but otherwise seemed fine. The headset was gone but she was still attached the climbing rope. She quickly undid the latch and let the limp rope fall to the shard-littered ground. Reaching into her vest she pulled out her gun and looked around, finally seeing what had hit her.
The poor soldier had taken the brunt of the crash through the window but he seemed to be breathing. Yeah US Army, Misao thought dragging him to the side and covering him up so that he would stay hidden until extraction.
Slowly she strafed towards the broken window and looked out at the side of the building. No one was left scaling it. She could make out a few broken windows and a quick look down to the ground assuaged her fears. No one had fallen all the way down.
Misao pulled back and examined the room she was in. It was an office, probably a low-level bureaucrat from the looks of the furnishings. She peeked under the desk and saw something scribbled there. Password… IT would be furious tomorrow morning. But for today…
Misao woke the computer out of its screen saver dream and logged into the system. It was pretty restrictive but she managed to pull up a map of the building. And some information about the company she had just broken into. So far, nothing seemed to be going right. This was a brokerage firm! Why would the Juppongatana be storing a missile here?
There was movement at the door and Misao turned off the screen before ducking under the desk. After a few minutes of hiding, she cautiously looked around the corner of the desk and saw one of the soldiers doing the same thing. They both sighed in relief and met in middle of the room, Misao quickly filling him in on what she had found.
"There's something about this that I don't like ma'am," the soldier said.
"I'll have to agree with that."
The soldier suddenly crouched down and Misao swung her gun around the room looking for trouble. But the soldier eventually managed relay the message as he clutched the headset to his ears.
"Christ, someone just started yelling in the radios."
Misao paused and smiled. "Husky voice with an accent?" The solider nodded. "Boy, am I glad that I don't have a radio right about now."
The soldier paused and nodded, whispering into the mic and listening for his orders. "Okay, the rest of the group is going to move here. HQ is sending an extraction unit."
"Complete wash then," Misao said with a frown. "Well… it'll take a bit before everyone is ready to go…"
"Please ma'am, just stay here."
"I'll be fine."
"I'm not worried about that, ma'am. I'm worried that man on the other end of this radio will draw and quarter me if I let you go."
Misao smiled. "Then don't tell him…I do it all the time."
* * *
The small quartet moved quickly against the sand towards the installation. The helicopter had given their location away and there was no place to hide amidst the expanse of the desert. So the direct approach was going to have to be it.
The sun was setting fast on the horizon, the amber rays bathing the four as they moved down the dirt road. A gentle night breezed tousled with them before quickly disappearing once more. Because of the speed they left Vegas to get here, none of them had changed into appropriate base storming clothes. And no matter how cute they looked on the rack, Kaoru was seriously regretted the little sandals she wore. So while they looked like they were about to go out for a nice dinner on the town, the image couldn't hold as they prepped various weapons for the small contingent of guards that was waiting for them at the gate's entrance.
Leave it to the Saitou's to never do anything small, Kenshin thought unhappily as the two ran forward to start the assault. Looking over he saw Kaoru kicked off her shoes and pull out the gun Tokio had leant her before she started advancing.
Okay, Kenshin, she's a trained police officer. She's been working in Tokyo for years. She's already face the Juppongatana. She should be ready for anything.
Except for the tank that had just rolled up from underground and was pointing its cannon right at them.
"Split!" Tokio called out, running and grabbing Kaoru as they ran around the left. Kenshin's mind thought left too but a barrage of bullets forced him right and next to Saitou.
Well that hadn't gone as he had planned, Kenshin thought unhappily looking up at the dour man.
"Draw its attention here," Saitou said suddenly.
"Draw its what?" Kenshin asked, watching Saitou as he stared across the way. Kenshin could just see Tokio flashing hand signal this way and realized what the plan was.
Of course, exactly how do you draw the attention of a huge tank towards to you?
More the point, who in their right mind would try?
But when Tokio and Kaoru broke from their cover to head towards the entrance and the tank started aiming for them, Kenshin suddenly realized this was not a question of sanity. Saitou charged the tank with his sword without a second thought. Kaoru had been right. You had to just trust the other person. And apparently Kaoru trusted him enough to do his part of the plan to put herself in the path of a heavily armored vehicle to do it.
He drew his sword. Charge a missile-laden, machine-gun totting, 35,000lb vehicle of death with a single reverse blade sword?
Hell yes.
By then, however, the real question had become, was it the setting sun that was giving his eyes an amber shading or was it something else?
* * *
"Put me down!"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because you'll hit me."
"I'll hit you harder if you don't PUT ME DOWN!"
"God woman! You're louder than the freaking alarms!"
The sound of feet hitting the hallway almost overpowered the blaring horns, as did the resounding slap that Megumi gave Sano.
"You said you wouldn't hit me!" Sano cried holding his cheek.
"I said I would hit you harder if you didn't put me down."
Sano looked at Megumi angrily but the pounding feet of approaching security made him reconsider. He grabbed Megumi's hand and took off just as the bullets hit the wall next to them.
"Turn left!" Megumi cried.
But of course, Sano turned right, back towards the cells where he knew Magdaria was being kept. At least… he thought it was right.
"Where are you going?" Megumi cried, being pulled along.
"Back to the cells, where else!"
"Baka! That was the other way!! You have NO sense of direction!!"
Sano tried not to get upset because he knew she was right. He just turned on his heel and stormed back the way they came. Right into the waiting hands of the security guards.
At this point, however, Sano had reached his limit. He had been hit on the head, tied up, imprisoned, yelled at by megitsune, and was now being shot at. Sano on a good day is dangerous. Sano on a bad day… well…
Five minutes later and a dozen bodies on the ground, Megumi and Sano continued on their way.
* * *
Kaoru and Tokio quickly ran through the hallways, ignoring the blaring horns as they looked for signs of danger. But so far, no one had come to greet them.
"What are we looking for?" Kaoru asked.
"Something suspicious," Tokio answered.
"You mean beyond the entire 'buried in the desert' secret base thing they have going?"
Tokio smiled. "I like your spunk."
Kaoru balked and tried to think of how to respond. Which is when it occurred to her that she was running through a very dangerous place with one of the top Hiten yakuza bosses. She should have been arresting the woman, not playing hero with her.
"They're probably keeping Megumi in a special room," Kaoru suggested. "We should really stop and look in a few of these." But Tokio pressed on without answering. Kaoru got a bad feeling. "We are here to rescue Megumi, right?"
Tokio smiled. "Of course," she said. "Right after I put enough bullets into Shishio to make sure not even God himself could bring him back to life."
Kaoru frowned. She didn't like the way that sounded. Not that she didn't believe Shishio should be dead and buried but… let's face it, she was still a cop. She needed to believe that even he deserved justice.
"We can't kill him," Kaoru said firmly coming to a stop. "We need to bring him into the proper authorities."
Tokio stopped and looked back laughing. "Don't joke with me! Shishio Makoto escaped certain death. Do you think eluding the Japanese legal system is going to be hard for him?"
"I believe that they will judge him appropriately," Kaoru said firmly.
"And decide to hang him," Tokio said. "We're just saving people a lot of time and money and taking care of it now."
"I'm sorry I can't let you do that," Kaoru stated, shifting the gun in her hand.
Tokio smiled shifted, just a little bit. "Kaoru-san, let's get one thing clear. I like you because you've got attitude and because you've managed to make that redheaded sack of misery actually smile again. But if you get in my way, I'm going to kill you."
Kaoru looked up her, blue eyes flaring defiantly, her hands shifting on the gun. She didn't say anything, her face said it all. But Tokio made no moves of backing down either.
Until she saw movement behind Kaoru. Tokio's eyes opened wide and Kaoru got a glimpse of something very scary. Pure, unadulterated rage.
"Saitou Tokio," the sweet voice sang. "How nice to see you again."
"Komagata Yumi," Tokio hissed, completely forgetting about Kaoru's insubordination as she narrowed on to the next target.
"How's that arm feeling?" Yumi smiled.
"As good as your knee I bet."
Kaoru looked at the two women, noticing that Tokio's anger was definitely reflected in Yumi's eyes. And from the way they were talking, this was not the first time they had met. Worse of all, she was standing in the middle of them as they shifted guns and eyed each other.
Quietly she stepped back towards the bend in the wall and slipped around the corner. It was like a Western standoff. But… it was going to give Kaoru a chance. She needed to find Shishio first before Tokio could just execute him. And if she were lucky, Megumi would be wherever Shishio was.
* * *
Misao snaked her way through the fancy hallways, her feet barely making a noise on the gray carpeted floor. She suddenly realized something. It wasn't the badly reproduced Impressionist art that was annoying her. It was the whole place. Something was very, very wrong here.
She moved up the stairs and they were empty. Where was that man on the roof? He had to Juppongatana but where were the rest of his lackeys? The place should be crawling with them.
Misao jumped at the noise and then realized it was only the air conditioning kicking in. This was getting ridiculous. She had to get to the roof and see things for herself.
Climbing the stairs should have been easy but by the time she got back to the 18th floor she was completely out of breath. She stopped where she was, letting the cool air from the vent blow across her head. After a few seconds of this, she finally built up enough energy and opened the door to the front floor.
At first, she couldn't see anyone but as her vision cleared to the night, she made out of a figure standing next to the fan vents. She pulled up her gun and aimed.
"Hold it right there!" she called out in English, repeating it in Japanese for good measure.
The man turned around and Misao blinked. Something was wrong with his face. His eyes… she couldn't see his eyes. Was he wearing a blindfold? Maybe…
But then Misao got a good look at his face and everything fell into place.
* * *
Kenshin could be glad of one thing. Saitou's skills hadn't diminished at all. And even though they had started out on opposing yakuza families, Kenshin had never disliked the man just because they were constantly trying to kill each other. But now with the Shinsengumi and the Hiten family one, Saitou was an ally.
And a good thing too, seeing as the poor F.U.J.I. tank was high tailing it out of the area before it lost more appendages to the quick sword of the Wolf.
Saitou moved towards the remaining guards, ignoring them as they ran and concentrating on the base. Kenshin quickly sheathed his sword and followed, watching as Saitou eyed the steel door that had dropped down moments earlier.
"The panel," Kenshin said, pointing to a small keypad by the door. "We should be able to…"
Saitou's sword speared through the panel and it cracked and fizzled. He reached in and started pulling wires, putting them together until the door suddenly shot open.
"Stay here," Saitou ordered.
It took Kenshin completely by surprise. "What do you mean, stay here?"
"You're useless now," Saitou said, sheathing his sword. "Tokio will go after Shishio to finish him. It won't be a battle where your current style of fighting will do us any good."
Kenshin's eyes flared amber. "Strange… but I seem to recall being the one who put him in that condition."
Saitou let the briefest smile escaped as he watched the change in composure of the other man. "Yes, and the condition is not dead. That's the problem. If you had killed him the first time, no one would be in danger now."
Kenshin balked. He wanted to argue it… but how? If he had managed to kill Shishio the first time then Kaoru would never have been in danger and Megumi wouldn't have been kidnapped. But he couldn't kill anyone again, could he?
"Make a decision," Saitou said. "Can you kill Shishio and anyone that stands in the way to him?"
"I…"
"Hurry up," Saitou snapped feeling him hesitate. "Or else Tokio will make the choice for you. And I'll tell you something else… if that little cop gets in her way, Tokio's not going to stop."
Kenshin's mind made a decision rather after Saitou said that. Without another word, he reached down and pulled up one of the fallen guard's guns and walked inside.
* * *
"Shit! I know it was here," Sano said, looking at the wall.
Megumi sighed and continued to look on the wall. Sano was right. The door to the cells should have been here. But all they could find was wall. "Something is not right," Megumi said under her breath.
And to his credit, Sano did not retort when she stated the obvious. "You're sure this is the way back?"
Megumi nodded, also curbing her normal snippiness. "I walked these halls at least five times since I got here. I know this is the way back."
"Could it have something to do with the alarms?" Sano said.
Megumi paused. That would make sense. Gingerly she reached forward and tapped on the wall. It was hollow behind it. "Magadaria?" Megumi called and pressed her ear to the door.
Megumi blinked. "I think I can hear her."
Sano walked forward and shouldered wall a few times before it finally buckled and fell into the room. But unlike the glaring white light that had greeted him when he woke up, all Sano could see was darkness and the thin outline of a woman in the back.
"Magdaria?" Sano called.
"Sagara-san?" came the melodic voice. "And… Tanaki-sensei?"
"Hai," Megumi said, her voice softening slightly. Though she would never admit it to Sano, Megumi was worried about the other girl as well, especially considering the advanced stage of her disease.
"We're both here," Sano said.
"That's good," the voice said. "It'll save me the trouble of having to hunt you down to kill you."
Megumi and Sano quickly backed away as the shadow moved. It was dressed in a nun's costume but quickly ripped it away to reveal a dizzying array of cloth and rope. Clutched in her hand was a giant scythe.
"Kamatari!" Sano said, recognizing the girl/boy. "You should be in prison."
"Should be," Kamatari smiled, swing the scythe in the air. "Just like you should be locked away too. I guess it wasn't meant to be for either of us 'cause word from upstairs is to kill you on the spot."
The scythe lashed out and Sano barely had time to duck and bring Megumi down him.
"RUN!" He managed to yell just as the second attack came.
* * *
Kaoru raced down the halls, gun low to the ground as she looked around corners to see if it was all clear. She read the plaques off the wall, hoping that something would be useful. But either her English was worse than she thought or the place was built to confuse people. Kaoru was betting on the later.
An explosion in front of her forced her against the wall and she barely had time to duck as a wave of guard swept past her. She prayed they'd just overshoot her but one of them caught her trying to hide and whatever they were running from suddenly became less interesting.
Kaoru was not a fan of firefights and had generally avoided them since she joined the force. In the academy, they always taught you to aim for a kill shot because anything else would give the bad guys the chance to shoot you or your fellow policemen.
Her father had had the same problem as she did with that philosophy. And when she was growing up, he had taught her how to fight without killing. Still, she was facing three angry guards with semi-automatics, what the hell else was she supposed to do but fire back?
Kaoru fired the gun quickly, aiming for ceiling and taking out several of the panels. The ensuing debris storm gave her enough time to position a less lethal shot and the three men went down with blown out kneecaps. Dad had taught her that one… really… she hadn't picked it up from Terminator 2 or anything.
Moving forward quickly, she made sure to collect their guns. Two in her back pockets, two in her hands. And for a real treat, a few smoke grenades. She felt like a regular Tomb Raider.
Now the only question was whether she would investigate the explosion or go in the opposite direction of it. Whatever made those guards flee, might help her out though. It seemed to make sense so Kaoru took off in that direction.
She should have been happy to be proven right but it turned out that explosion was the direct result of a desperate Saitou and Kenshin trying to hold off a wave of security. The fight was being waged from opposite ends of a large room and she was stuck at the entrance in the middle. So she wasn't happy, she was damn near ecstatic.
Now we're going to see who needs protecting, she thought, slipping the guns in her hands into her front pockets. She grabbed the smoke grenades and pulled the pins, looking around the corner.
The softball league back home was a lot of fun and it had given Kaoru a very good throwing arm. Of course, softball didn't involve avoiding bullets aimed at your head but Kaoru managed to get two good throws in.
Saitou and Kenshin managed to steal a quick glance at Kaoru before they realized from the way she was ducking what was about to happen. The room exploded in light and smoke and most of the security force was lost in the ensuing chaos.
Taking a chance, Saitou and Kenshin made a break for it, skidding into the hall with Kaoru.
"Are you okay?" Kenshin asked.
"Fine," Kaoru said with a nod.
"Where's Tokio?" Saitou asked quickly.
But Kaoru didn't have an answer for that.
* * *
"So where's your sword?" Yumi asked, standing still with her hand wrapped around the small pistols.
"The same place yours is," Tokio replied. "We were never ones to cloud our desire to kill behind antiquated ideals."
"No," Yumi said. "I always thought the whole thing was silly but Shishio-sama always wanted it."
"Yes… where is your dear lover?" Tokio asked, fingers flexing against the gun. "I wanted to discuss that ideology with him."
"You mean you wanted to give him a close up view of your own take on things," Yumi laughed. "Well, I hate to be the one to tell you but he's not going to be here for much longer."
Tokio's eyes narrowed. "How's that?"
"Well obviously, with the way things are right now, it's not safe for him. So I promised I would keep you here long enough to escape. And with all this inane chatter and staring at each other he's almost in the clear."
Tokio's eyebrow twitched. "Almost but not yet. All I have to do is kill you to get to him."
"And all I have to do is kill you so I can stop wasting my time with you and be with him. So let's…"
Yumi didn't finish her sentence. She hadn't been planning to though, knowing the way Tokio was. She was already turning to the side as Tokio fired a bullet at her head. Whipping around she pulled the trigger and fired back at Tokio, watching with disgust as the other woman ducked the predictable shot and dove to the right. Neither woman's first shot had managed to hit the other.
"Losing your touch there?" Yumi called out.
"Strange, I was about to ask the same thing," Tokio retorted as she clicked the next bullet into place. Her mind ran through several options as she looked for the best plan of attack.
But suddenly her plan was made for her.
* * *
Sano ducked as the chain snapped around, hurtling the ball towards him. Sano ducked and the ball flew over his head. Kamatari cursed and brought the weapon back. This wasn't going well, Sano realized. He had wondered if a good solid punch would shatter the ball but up close he could see the spikes and knew any contact would just result in his arm being pierced by them.
"Not doing so well are we?" Kamatari laughed as he watched Sano dance around. "Maybe you should have let that little girlfriend of yours stay."
There were so many things wrong with that statement that Sano didn't even know where to begin. Instead he settled for some frustrated curses and ducking to the ground as the ball arced over his head.
Kamatari started to laugh but something hit him on the head and he fell back, cursing as the blood start to flow from the open wound. Sano looked back and saw Megumi hold several chunks of debris.
"I guess Kaoru was right about joining that softball league," she said tossing another fragment in her hand.
"What are you doing here?" Sano yelled.
"Well, I went to see if Magdaria was in the other cell," Megumi said. "And when she wasn't, I figured I should probably come back and help you."
"I don't need your help!" Sano yelled.
"Duck," she said, kneeling the ground.
Sano quickly complied, feeling the air above him move as the scythe's chain whizzed past his head. The ball landed in the wall behind him with such an impact that it lodged itself in there.
"Shit," Kamatari said, pulling on the chain to free it.
Sano got up quickly with a smile. "Now we'll see who's doing okay," he said wrapping his hands around the chain and pulled it, subsequently pulling the ball out of the wall too.
Kamatari and Sano quickly became embroiled in a game of tug of war. Sano was strong but Kamatari had managed to embed the scythe's blade into floor below him. It wouldn't be enough, Sano smiled, starting to put his full strength in the maneuver.
"What are you doing?" Megumi asked, walking in front of him and speaking in a whisper.
"Winning," Sano said, as Kamatari skidded forward.
Megumi looked at him and then at Kamatari and sighed, mumbled about men and their egos. "Let go of the chain," she said.
"What? Hell no!"
"Just do it!"
"But… but… I'm winning!"
Megumi leaned forward and looked at him. "Sano… let go of the chain or I'll make you."
Sano paused for a moment letting her words sink in. How could she even begin to think that she could do anything to him that would make him drop…
Her knee started to come up and Sano very quickly (and very wisely) dropped the chain. Kamatari flew backwards and hit the ground hard, knocking himself unconscious.
"See?" Megumi said, suddenly watching as the spiked ball flew past her and into the ceiling. Something hissed from behind the panels. Sano and Megumi looked at each other.
"That can't be good," Sano said as he grabbed Megumi's arm.
She didn't question his move because she simply didn't have time. The ceiling exploded and a wave of water came spurting out of the burst water main. It threw them into the hallway and they realized that the water wasn't stopping. In fact, from the way the ceiling was cracking, it was about to get worse.
Megumi and Sano took off running but barely made it a dozen steps before the wave caught them and pushed them forward through the hall.
Tokio barely had a chance to brace herself as the wave hit her, taking her away from her personal duel and, much to her disgust, giving Yumi enough reason to disappear into a side room to escape.
Kenshin, Saitou and Kaoru had been walking down the hall in search of their missing comrades when they saw it.
"Not again," Kaoru managed before she got engulfed in water.
The water swished through the halls taking the poor people trapped in it on a wild water adventure. It threw them against walls but always managed to leave a bit of air on top so they could breath.
But it couldn't last forever. Either there would be no place for the water to go anymore and they'd all drown as the last bit of space filled up or it'd finally reach an exit and drain out, letting them walk out of the place. Instead, the water decided to do something a bit different and threw them out of the entrance they had come in and onto the desert sand like beached whales.
Several coughing and curses fits later, the group managed to get themselves together again. Night had fallen but the moon was full and illuminating the area around them and from what they could see, no one was that badly injured.
"Well," Kaoru said, twisting her hair to get the water out. "That didn't go as planned but..." she walked over and embraced Megumi in a hug, "I'm happy with the results."
"Kaoru!" Megumi said, unhappily, "you're going to get me wet!"
"You're already wet," Kaoru smiled.
"Well, wetter then."
Kaoru looked up, knowing she was joking around. She looked over at Sano. "I didn't know you were here though."
"Well," Sano shrugged. "I figured I should help save Megumi too."
Megumi rolled her eyes. "He got captured too." Sano's eyebrow twitched.
Kaoru smiled at them and then looked back. Saitou and Tokio were standing several feet away. They looked at the group with no emotion but it was clear that they weren't going to hang around for much longer.
"Well, we'll take the helicopter back," Kaoru said firmly.
"That will be fine," Tokio replied. "Just return it where you got it."
"Good," Kaoru nodded, not inquiring about how they were going to get home. As far as she was concerned, the temporary truce between her and the yakuza was over the minute that Tokio threatened her life.
So it should have been over. But Kenshin was in the middle looking at the Saitous and then back at the sopping wet group. He lowered his head. Kaoru blinked and shot a look a Megumi and Sano as she moved towards him.
"What wrong, Kenshin?" she asked softly.
"Kaoru-dono…" he said.
"Hai?"
"I think… I think it would be better for me to go with them, de gozaru," he said looking over at the Saitous.
"What?"
"Back there… Saitou asked me if I could kill Shishio and anyone who stood in his way. And," he paused, his brow furrowing. "And I suddenly realized I could and I would if it came to that. I can't escape be the assassin I was and I'm just putting you in more and more danger by being here."
Kaoru sniffed a bit and Kenshin looked away, not ready to see her cry. "Sayo…"
Something yanked his head back and he suddenly realized Kaoru had grabbed his ponytail as he turned away.
"Where are you going?" she demanded.
"I… I just…"
"You just what?"
"I… weren't you crying…sniffling?"
"I'm completely drenched, in the middle of the desert at night. Of course, I'm sniffling!"
"Demo…"
"Oi, jou-chan, what's the deal?"
Kaoru pulled Kenshin back towards the group by his ponytail. "Oro?"
"He wants to go with the Saitous!" Kaoru called.
"What? Why Ken-san?" Megumi asked.
"I…" Kenshin said, suddenly finding himself facing three rather confused and angry looking people. Somewhere in his mind, he was thinking this wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to happen.
"Stop being stupid," Sano said. "Besides, they're gone now."
Kenshin looked over his shoulder and realized Sano was right. "But…"
"Kaoru-chan, did you say something about a helicopter?"
"Hai!" Kaoru said, pointing towards the road. "It's about a five minute walk to get there."
"Good," Sano added, taking off down the road. "I can't wait for a nice warm bath when we get back."
"Bath?" Megumi asked, walking next to him. "You mean you actually bathe?"
Kaoru gave them a few feet before she turned back to Kenshin, whose eyes were close to swirling in confusion. He blinked up and looked at her.
"Look," she said. "I saw what was going on before I threw the smoke screen. And you can't tell me you couldn't take a shot at those security guards because Saitou was doing a good job of it. Besides…" she said, putting her hands on her hips.
He looked at her for a moment and watched the emotions play on her face. "Besides…" she said soften a bit.
"Hai?" he said, looking at her.
She looked into his eyes and tried to muster the courage…
"You owe me rent for the past two months."
"Oro?"
"Kaoru! Kenshin! Stop fooling around! I'm cold!" Megumi yelled from up the road.
"You're always cold," Sano responded quickly.
Kaoru smiled a bit as they erupted into arguments and then quickly grabbed Kenshin's hand to drag him down the road.
* * *
Misao looked at the man across from and tried to bring up her gun but she couldn't find the strength. From behind the gas mask, the man smiled and waved good-bye as he walked towards the edge of the building and repelled down the side of the building.
The gun fell to the ground and Misao stumbled back towards the entrance. The cool air of the air conditioning welcomed her but it made her want to cry too. It would be okay, she told herself as she made her way back towards where the rest of the team was.
But they were all passed out on the ground. She picked up the nearest radio and held it away as she heard the US pilot screaming to get their attention.
"Calm down," she yelled into the handheld microphone before she put the headphones on.
What the hell is going on there?
"How far away are you?" Misao asked, looking out of the broken window. In the distance, she could almost see the sky wavering as something passed through it.
Five minutes.
"You need to go back. This entire area needs to be quarantined."
There was a few second of confusion as the pilot tried to understand. Did you find the missile?
"No," Misao said. "But we found the payload." She paused and looked down at her hand and watching as it wavering along with her consciousness. "It's biological," she managed before she passed out.