Disclaimer: Watsuki Nobuhiro and a whole lot of other people that do not include myself own Rurouni Kenshin. I'm just borrowing them because a character I came up with when I was nine started to jump up and down in my head insisting to be allowed to play with them. So please don't sue me. I'm broke. I'm also repeating myself.

Rating: R

Summary: Kenshin's past comes back to haunt him and a new danger starts to hunt in Tokyo.

A KILLING MOVE

By COLLEEN

Chapter 7a

Kenshin, meanwhile, trudged back to the crime scene to find it deserted. The body no doubt carted off to the morgue to experience further indignities.

Kenshin sighed (I told you he was doing a lot of that lately) and headed towards police headquarters.

His arrival there did not go smoothly. Upon entering the building he was immediately accosted by several police officers.

The largest of the men stepped forward "Oi, are you incredibly stupid? Not only are you carrying an illegal sword but you also entered the police department while doing so." The burly katana police officer prepared to draw his sword.

Kenshin, not wanting to engage in a fight here or with officers of the law, bowed respectfully saying "Sumimasen, I do not mean to cause any trouble. I am here to see Inspector Fujita san, that I am.

The officer didn't appear mollified by Kenshin's explanation and would have continued towards him if a shorter officer, one that Kenshin remembered seeing at the crime scene, hadn't grabbed the bulky policeman. The smaller man quickly whispered something into the larger one's ear. The brawny officer looked at his smaller counterpart in something near to shock and swallowed audibly. The man turned and pointed to an office a short distance away. "He's over there and your welcome to him."

Kenshin bowed again. "Arigatou gozaimasu."

Kenshin, mentally cringing at the feel of the officer's now terrified gaze, walked over to the office and tapped on the door. Thankfully, for both his and the police officer's state of mind, his knock was quickly answered with a brusque, "come in."

Kenshin entered into an office that spoke quietly of the money that had been spent on its furniture and fixtures. Its layout was efficiency itself and the space was clean to the point of being antiseptic. Saitou sat at his desk going over some paperwork. He didn't even bother to look up to see who had come in.

"What do you want Battousai?" Saitou asked.

"Brief and too the point as always, that you are." Kenshin replied.

Saitou snorted and slide the paperwork to the side before looking up at Kenshin. The lanky officer pulled out a cigarette and lit it, throwing the match into the ashtray that was the only other object on the desk. He smoked and waited for Kenshin to explain why he was here.

Kenshin felt his jaws tighten up with the need to grit his teeth. He consciously relaxed his muscles and reached behind him to close the office door before crossing the distance to Saitou's desk.

"I came to ask what was in the letter that the victim received before his death."

Saitou smiled and blew out a ring of smoke towards the red headed samurai "that really doesn't concern you."

Looking at Saitou, Kenshin felt his anger building. A part of him whispered in his mind, suggesting that he use a different means of getting information out of the annoying policeman. Kenshin briefly thought it a good idea before mentally recoiling at the image it produced. He brutally stuffed the suggestion and his anger back into their place.

Emotions under control Kenshin looked at Saitou, noticing that the policeman had tensed into battle readiness. This time Kenshin smiled and in his calm realized that Saitou had every intention of giving him the information he'd asked for. The policeman just wanted the satisfaction of yanking Kenshin's chain a little. He could live with that; after all there would always be other chances to even things up.

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Chapter 7b

Kenshin walked slowly back to the dojo, needing the extra time to process the information he had just received.

He thoughts revolved around the letter that Saitou had finally let him read. He'd seen some stupid and cruel things in his life, had done some of them himself, but the writer of the note, or possibly notes for there had probably been one for each victim, was reaching for a new low in cruel stupidity.

The letter had been straightforward. No opening greeting or closing pleasantries just the offer and instructions. Kenshin mind went over the contents of the missive again.

You will be paid 10,000 yen if you leave now and arrive at the destination below before dawn. There is a catch however. As you travel to the money you will be hunted. If you survive the night the money is yours, no strings attached. If you don't survive the night, well then, you don't survive the night and the money will be reclaimed. If you are interested in playing simply toss out the note and start towards your goal. If you decline head in the opposite direction, you will be ignored but you will also be out 10,000 yen. The choice is yours.

The rest of the letter contained the location of the money and a small hand drawn map of the area. A large X marked the spot where their reward would be found.

The dead man hadn't even made it half way there.

*All for the thrill of the hunt,* he thought. Kenshin, much to his everlasting dismay, well and truly understood the rush that accompanied such a chase. *But this is all wrong*. It was all so artificial and random. There was no real personal stake or honour on the part of the hunter and only financial gain for the prey should they win.

"And where, if anywhere, does my own personal problem fit into this mess?"

"What mess?"

Kenshin's eyes jerked sideways to take in the personal problem he had just spoken of calmly walking beside him. His muscles clenched in a fight or flight response (okay, mostly fight) and his right hand reached for the hilt of his sword.

Still walking beside him the Sea Green Lady said. "That won't do any good you know." Her voice was cold, like the shivering dampness of a mist-enshrouded night. She stared straight ahead, not bothering to look at Kenshin.

Kenshin tightened his grip on his sword but did not draw it. His skin started to crawl, as if attempting to escape the woman at his side. The red-haired samurai swallowed hard as he realized he was walking beside the vengeful ghost Hana had been talking about rather than the brain scattered girl he had first meet.

Kenshin stopped walking. The dead girl stopped a step later and turned to look at him "Hana told me that she told the police about me. She also said that you've been to see her." She said.

"Hai" Kenshin replied frowning, wondering where this would lead.

The Sea Green Lady smiled a little, the frost thawing from her voice as she asked "I've know her for awhile so I was just wondering, did she managed to scare every policeman in the area with that aura she puts up?"

"Yes, I believe she did" Kenshin replied.

The Lady finished her smile. "Nice to know that some things never change." The smile blanked from her face as quickly as it came. "Why were you there today? Did you know Nogushi Zenko?"

"Nogushi Zenko?"

"The really angry dead guy."

The name clicked in Kenshin's head as belonging to the dead body he had been looking at earlier. "I probably do not want to know this but how do you know he's angry?" Kenshin asked.

The Sea Green Lady's facial expression made it clear that she was fighting the inclination to roll her eyes. "He told me of course."

"Of course" Kenshin repeated nodding idiotically. *I really shouldn't be surprised that she was talking to a dead man, not if I'm really talking to a dead woman,* Kenshin thought.

"So why were you there with the police this morning?"

"Hmmm." Kenshin hid behind his bangs, stalling for a moment as he wondered how much he should tell her, then shrugged and said. "Someone I know on the force asked me for my opinion on the attack. He wanted another swordsman's perspective." Kenshin shook the hair out of his eyes and looked up at the Lady. "Why were you there last night?"

The dead girl stood there awhile looking off towards nothing and Kenshin began to think that she would not answer. Her eyes snapped back to Kenshin's plane of existence and she looked at him a little longer before finally answering.

"I was just there. I'm often drawn to those who are dying. When I find them I try to make the passing as easy as possible for them." She spoke the words quietly, as if speaking to a sleeping child that she didn't want to wake up.

Kenshin swallowed, hard. "And last night?"

"I was near the dojo when I felt him dying. Actually he's the second one I've found who had been attacked like that." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I can't really help them much but I feel compelled to try."

She opened her eyes and looked into Kenshin's own. "And because I need to help I have a few more questions to ask you. I suspect that you have several for me as well but the middle of a road is a poor place for such things." Kenshin looked around. He had been oblivious to his surroundings for a time but now noticed where they where. A passing traveller gave them a strange look and detoured around them as far as he could get and still be on the road.

"What do you suggest then?" Kenshin asked.

"I'll meet you this evening at the dojo and we'll get answers to both of our questions. Agreed?"

Kenshin nodded and turned toward home. He felt a movement behind him as if a large candle had been snuffed out. He turned back towards the Sea Green Lady but she was gone. The displaced air from the space where she had been drew the few leaves at his feet upward, twirling them around his body, causing him to shiver. He started for home again, needing to be with the friends he considered his family and silently hoping that he wasn't making one of the worse mistakes of his life.

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Chapter 7c

The hunter caught up to the small man dressed in fuchsia and white as he approached a slightly run down dojo. Concealed in the shadows they waited to verify that the man did in fact live here.

The time would be soon.

The joy at the thought was almost more than bearable. To hunt and strike out at someone as powerful as this man was. To reduce him to the basics of fear, panic, pain and finally, once the fun was over, to nothing more than meat, carrion for whatever cared to eat at him. The thought was a moment of pure delight. The act would be ecstasy itself.

The greatest of prey would soon be running, helpless to do anything to save himself.

The promise of money obviously wouldn't work this time. Something more precious would have to be the collateral. Or perhaps, just the threat to something precious would do. Still, it would have to be backed up. Yes, he nodded, a demonstration would be best, for Battousai would need to know that the danger was real. But who should it be? It wouldn't do to choose wrong. He would have to watch a while and think about it. After all there was no need to be too hasty. One should enjoy the build up to the event as much as the event itself.

End of Chapter 7