Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. Problems, Problems, that's all I seem to encounter. I apologize for the inconvenience. Chapters don't seem to be posting.

Chapter Two



*************

The sun was beating down hard, drying up the bit of water from an earlier shower. Seemed like mid-day. And no trace what so ever........... Sano's thoughts trailed off. His eyes had fallen to a particular spot on the ground. There was a blue ribbon that was stuck to a tree stump. There was blood all around the trunk; the rain hadn't washed all of it away. Stuck on a splinter, there it was, wet from the rain but free of the blood. He removed it carefully. It was deep blue like her eyes. It was her favorite ribbon because Kenshin had given it to her about two years back. His mouth was dry. He had to call Kenshin.

"Ken-shin", came the hoarse shout. He tried again louder this time.

"KENSHIN!", he finally screamed out, a little stunned himself at how desperate he had sounded. He knew what was going to happen. This was going to break Kenshin. A man can only take so much..... Kenshin had been trough so much already. But this was it

*************

Kenshin arrived in less than a minute. He leapt from a tree down to where Sano stood.

"Kenshin......." Sano started off

Kenshin was sniffing the air and he could smell blood. Kenshin felt his heart constrict and shoved Sano out of the way. Blood. So much blood..... NO. Too much blood. Kenshin's thought turned murderous the moment he saw the blood.

Sano walked over to Kenshin and handed him the blue ribbon, "This was all I found". Sano saw the Ice blue eyes with yellow flecks go completely yellow. Sano stepped back, Kenshin's growl was more like a howl, that of a wounded animal fighting for it's live or its mate. He didn't know much about Ki's but he knew Kenshin's must have been going up. He felt the atmosphere change drastically. Where he once stood in the heat of the sun, now all he felt was an icy chill. The chill was the hand of death reaching out. And death would come to the streets of Tokyo, Kenshin's eyes promised it.

"Kenshin", no response

"Kenshin".

Sano could help his stuttering, "There.... There was no body, maybe ........Maybe someone planted the blood, placed the ribbon on the trunk and is just holding her hostage, so you will come for her. Maybe they just want you to think she's dead to hurt you. To have you at a disadvantage, kind of like what Enishi did".

Battoussai's eyes turned to Sano, who tried very hard not to squirm, assessing the situation before moving forward.

"Kenshin, I think we should head back to the dojo and wait for word there", he really hoped that he wasn't giving his best friend false hope. He prayed to Kami that he was right, for everyone's sake.

*************

The hitokiri battoussai scanned the area, no visible footprints, no broken twigs, no indentations on the ground whatsoever.

No trace.

No clue.

There might have been last night, if only he had come here first instead of searching the town. It was too late for regret, What he needed to do now was avenge her. For all the rurouni cared he couldn't protect his woman. HIS woman. When Enishi took her, he had thought her dead. Too numb from the loss, all he could do was wait for death to claim him too.

But not this time.

He was going to go to hell anyways, he knew.

All those responsible for her death would soon know what hell was really like.

" To have you at a disadvantage, kind of like what Enishi did".

Battoussai's eyes turned to Sano. He hadn't really been listening but he caught the sentence.

"Kenshin, I think we should head back to the dojo and wait for word there".

It was probable and more than likely, they had taken her and made him think she was dead, it certainly wouldn't be the first time but it would certainly be the last. Either way they were going to die. "Let's go Sano", with that he walked off leaving a very confused man behind.

"I didn't really think that would work", the ex-gangster turned his head but there was no trace of Kenshin. "Shit!"

*************

"Sano, what happened?" Megumi asked from her spot near the doorway of the dojo

"Is Kenshin here?", he was heaving from having run the whole way here.

"Ken-san strode in a while ago. I tried to talk to him but he didn't even bother to look at me. He walked straight to Kaoru-chan's room and closed the door.

Sano had finally regained enough breath and straightened up, " Is Dr. Genzai here?"

"No, he's still at the clinic."

"Wait! Chicken head, were are you going?"

*************

"Tsutomu," the older woman walked toward her husband. "She's still now. The bleeding has stopped but she will have a tough time getting trough this. I expect her to suffer from a fever, she's very weak. Will see if she makes it through the night.

"Yume", he whispered coming closer to her. He caressed her face slowly and bent down to kiss his wife. He stepped back a bit and smiled at her, "Yume; you were a great nurse during the bakumutsu. You saved me, if anyone can help her it'll be you."

*************

"Are you sure this will knock him out", he asked while holding out a clear liquid in a small bottle? Sano turned his head to look at Dr. Genzai.

"It has to be strong enough."

"This, will knock any man unconscious for several days. I picked this one because it is colorless as well as flavorless. He wont be able to detect It," Dr Genzai looked up from some paperwork he had on his desk to face Sano. " I don't see why you feel you need to this Sano"

"Doc, if I don't Kenshin won't rest. And if Jou-chan is fine then she's going to be really pissed when she comes home to find Kenshin all skin and bones. She can be really scary"; Sano flashed the doctor a smile and walked off.

Dr. Genzai just chuckled at the comment and tried to get back to work.

*************

"Here Yahiko, why don't you try to eat something. It won't do you any good if you starve yourself." Megumi smiled at the sad boy.

"Alright, Megumi, I'll eat a bit". The boy rested his head on his hands. This is way worse than before he thought. When Enishi took her, there was at least a clue that the body of Kaoru left behind wasn't Kaoru's.

Sano walked though the door just then. "Fox".

"What", she snapped at him. "Where did you take of to and what happened."

"I'll tell you in a bit Fox. Get me a tray with food to take to Kenshin."

She went in to the kitchen and did as she was told; " he's not going to eat you know."

"We've got to try Fox", he said coming to her side and taking the tray. He tried to walk to Jou-chan's room as quietly as possible. But when he got to the front of the door he was stopped by the battoussai's voice.

"Leave".

Sano, though opened the door and set the tray down along with a bottle of sake. "You should try to eat", was all he Sano said as he left and closed the door behind him.

The battoussai stared at the tray and took the sake. He finished it in three gulps. It burned his throat and felt the liquid warm his insides. He set the bottle down and settled down back into his sitting position on the floor where her futon usually lay. He closed his eyes, he could smell her here, felt her warmth, and he felt like he was being enveloped in it.

*************

"Chicken head are you going to tell was happened or not." Yahiko was being pushy he knew but he really felt he needed to know.

Megumi and Yahiko were sitting around the table while Sano ate, waiting for an explanation as to what had happened.

"We searched for her all night; we searched the bad part of town while the cops searched the rest. We finished searching the last house sometime after dawn. Some people were starting to protest but one look at Kenshin's face and they would just step aside, I think that's why we finished so quickly." Sano took a drink of his sake and continued.

"We started to search the woods, we split up so we could cover more ground, it had been a while but I came across something." The ex-gangster pushed the rest of his meal away, his expression becoming hard. "I found her blue ribbon, the one she got from Kenshin a while back. It was stuck on this tree stump in a small clearing a bit of the road. There was blood all around the stump and the ground. Everywhere but the ribbon, the early shower in the morning had washed away some of the blood but not enough. I called for Kenshin; it took him less than a minute to reach me. I think he had thought that I'd found her." Sano took another swig of his drink and looked out into the yard as he continued speaking.

"I think the sight of all that blood broke him. His expression didn't change it remained unreadable, but his eyes changed. Since her disappearance they had turned the Icy blue he usually uses when he fights but at that moment they became golden". Sano heard them gasp but continued on.

"I saw the moment the rurouni lost all hope and the battoussai came to take vengeance. I don't think he will ever be the same again. When Enishi took her, he blamed himself. He wallowed in his pain; he just didn't want to exist". From the side of his eye he could see the other two nodding.

"He's not going to do that this time though. I think he's going to kill whomever took her. Even if they return her. Kenshin's broken and only Kaoru knows how to fix him."

Sano turned to see Yahiko rubbing his eyes trying to erase his tears and Megumi trying to blink them back.

After a bit of silence though Megumi spoke, "How did you get Ken-san to come back? I would have thought that he'd run off and go looking for Kaoru- chan."

"I told him, that maybe someone set all this up to make it seem like she was dead so they could have him at a disadvantage like Enishi did. I don't think he was listening to me, not until I said that anyways. I told him we should head back and wait for word here."

"He seemed to debate that thought over awhile but in the end he agreed and took off. When I turned around he was gone."

"So that's why Kenshin got here before you did." Yahiko's eyes were puffy and Sano chose not to say anything on the matter.

"Yeah", he said

"So where did you run off to then when I told you Ken-san had gotten here before you did?"

Sano let his gaze fall to Megumi before answering her and turning his gaze elsewhere. "I went to see Dr. Gezai. I asked him for something to knock out the battoussai. Kenshin is tired but he won't let that stop him. If he's left too long without her I don't know what he will do. It's best if he sleeps and maybe by the time he wakes up will have answer." At that the other two nodded.

Ok, I know there were some problems with the first chapter, which I kept trying to fix yesterday but I couldn't so I finally just gave up, but I'll try to fix it. The third chapter is on the pc but haven't finished it yet, but I'll probably post it sometime before lunchtime tomorrow.

I just wanted to thank some of the following people:

Fox and Tiger StDogbert Bunny (I'm a fan) Yume Kuroi Rekka's Angel

I really appreciate the fact that you guys not only took the time to review but were really nice with your criticism. Thank you all for reading ^_^.