Disclaimer: RK isn't mine. Although I wish it was.

A.N. Chapter 9 up and running. I'm really glad you guys are enjoying this story. Seeing as though it's my first fan fiction I'm very flattered that you all continue to read it and think it's good. You guys rule! (

Please read and enjoy!

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Secrets of the Revolution

Chapter 9

Kenshin made his way down the dark lonely road in silence. He ignored the nagging sensation in his heart that demanded he release all the pent up anguish in some way, either by shouting and raging, or just simply crying.

Last time he felt that way was when he held his dead wife in his arms three years before hand.

This time, it was a different woman in his arms. And the feeling he had in his heart for her was different than the feelings he held for Tomoe, but that didn't change the fact that he had, once again, failed to protect the one most dear to him.

It was a cruel existence. He was taught the Hiten Mitsurugi Style so he could PROTECT! But each time he tried, he failed. He was unworthy of life, of his sword skill, of anything. He was just unworthy.

Sakura clutched the kimono close to her shoulders as she took refuge in Kenshin's arms. A voice in the back of hear head was demanding that she stop acting so childish and walk under her own power, but the stronger presence of fear and shame caused her to hang her head and remain in his careful embrace.

Silent tears fell down her cheeks again.

Kenshin felt the tell-tale wetness on his chest again. He looked down to see Sakura's face but was only met with the top of her head.

"Sakura, look at me." Kenshin said softly. The girl merely shook her head in disagreement and pressed her face closer to his chest. Kenshin sighed and focused his attentions back to getting into the city and to the doctor's clinic.

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Katsura and Okubo made their way back to Kyoto using a different route than Himura and Sakura. Katsura was experiencing sharp pains in his heart with every step he walked... with every breath he took.

His fault.

Guilt was something he knew he would forever live with. He was the head of an army of samurai locked in a deadly war. He had hand chosen several elite samurai and made them into his manslayers. He had stripped mere CHILDREN of their humanity.

He had destroyed Himura Kenshin and Hideki.

He had ruined Hideki Sakura.

His fault. Everything was his fault.

"Stop blaming yourself, Kogoro." Okubo said softly beside his friend. Katsura snapped out of his musings and glanced over at the politician. "You couldn't foresee what would happen to that girl."

"As logical as your words are Toshimichi, I still blame myself. I put her there."

"But..."

"No, it was my fault Sakura was raped." Katsura said firmly. Okubo knew that arguing was pointless. Katsura blamed himself for the deaths of every Imperialist. He carried his guilt around with him everywhere. It was his personal hell.

"Who is she?" Okubo asked. He had seen the fierce Battousai reduced to a man on the verge of tears just by looking at the poor girl. She must have been important to have that effect on Himura.

"She was Hideki Sakura, the sister of one of my manslayers and bodyguards. I asked her to become a spy to help me, but the plan backfired. I should never have sent a virtuous girl like her into that job."

"Why did you?"

"She had Battousai's trust."

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Katsura brought Okubo to his home. It was the perfect place to hide the politician since no one knew his place of residence, then proceeded to the doctor's clinic. He wanted to check on Kenshin and Sakura, and bring the manslayer back his swords.

It was completely obvious to Katsura that Kenshin was deeply affected by Sakura's attack. After all, a manslayer is never without a sword, and Kenshin just left his weapons lying on the ground. If Katsura hadn't picked them up, they would surely have remained at the attack site.

That site needed to be cleaned up. The bodies had to be disposed of and it would have to be covered up that a woman had been responsible for the murders. If the Shinsengumi found out one of their own squads had been annihilated by a single woman then all women working at Inn's hosting the Shinsengumi would be in danger.

He also wanted to keep the number of people who knew that evening's occurrences to a minimum. Therefore employing another Imperialist to do the job would be impossible. He would have to do it himself, which was a very rare occurrence. Katsura never dealt with the aftershocks of war, namely disposing of the bodies of those murdered. Hell, he never murdered so this job would be a new challenge for him.

He would need help, and asking Okubo would be out of the question. Himura would have to help. But would two men be enough to get the job done? And how would they go about destroying evidence?

Then a thought struck him. Where was Hideki? Didn't Himura say his partner never left his sister's side? Didn't he see his sister in danger? Why hadn't he helped her? Where had he disappeared those last three weeks? Katsura was positive that he hadn't seen the young manslayer once since Sakura had started working at the inn, where had he been?

Those questions, and more, were floating in Katsura's head as he entered the clinic in search of the doctor. He headed for the main room where patients usually waited for their turn when a scream pierced his ears. It was a very frantic and panicked scream.

Katsura ran to the main room only to have a young girl run into him, full bodied. She was screaming hysterically and incoherently and when she ran into Katsura she rebounded against him and fell to the floor.

"Demon! It's the demon! Save me! It will kill me!" she screamed. She clamoured to her knees and gripped the edges of Katsura's hakama turning frightened, tear filled eyes up to him. Katsura stared down at the girl in shock, then turned his gaze to the opposite side of the room.

There stood a blood-covered Battousai, and in his arms was the battered and shivering form of Sakura. Her face was buried in the folds of Himura's gi and the manslayer's yellow eyes were glaring at Katsura and the girl.

"Please save me! It will kill me!" the girl screamed again, rising to her feet and pointing at Himura and Sakura. Katsura immediately recognized the girl as the one he and Himura had found at the Inn. She was sobbing once more and hiding behind Katsura, obviously terrified of Himura's menacing amber eyes.

Or was she....?

Tomino-sensai entered the room and gestured for Himura to follow him. The manslayer gave Katsura one last glare before departing the room, following the doctor.

"No! Tomino-sensai! That's the demon! It'll kill you!" the girl screamed. Katsura turned to the girl once they were alone in the room. He needed to reassure her that Himura wasn't a demon, and that Tomino would be alright.

"Please listen to me jou-chan. Tomino-sensai is alright. Himura would not hurt him. He doesn't even have his swords, see? I have them. Tomino- sensai will be fine." Katsura said softly, gently gripping the girl's shoulders and forcing her to look up at him. She shook her head vigorously and clutched at his gi.

"No! Not him! HER! She's a demon!" she shrieked. Katsura couldn't believe his ears. She WAS talking about Sakura. The girl must have witnessed the entire ordeal at the inn.

"What happened?" Katsura demanded, shaking the girl. If she knew exactly what happened at the inn, then she could be trouble.

"She killed them! All of them! Those two samurai, the innkeeper, and even the women!"

Katsura's blood ran cold. The girl before him had witnessed the murders, and because of that trauma, she was rendered mentally unbalanced. She continued to shriek uncontrollably and repeated the words she had just spoken to Katsura over and over. She was a liability. If word got out about Sakura's madness and murders, then it would prove to be fatal.

The girl had to be silenced.

It was a rule of the Choshu faction of manslayers. Leave no witnesses. Katsura would have to employ his shadow assassin, Shishio Makoto, to silence the girl once and for all. Another murder, another lost soul, another pang of guilt and remorse at her impending death. Katsura sighed and released the girl. She sank to her knees and continued to sob into her hands.

A young man, Tomino-sensai's apprentice, entered the room and gently escorted the girl out, whispering softly in her ear in order to calm her down. Katsura watched her retreating form, wishing none of that evening's event had happened. Because of it, another innocent life would be lost.

Himura re-entered the room in time to see the young girl he had found at the inn escorted into the back where she would no doubt be given something to calm her down and allow her to rest. He watched the girl and the apprentice proceed down the hall and turn into one of the clinic's many rooms, and then turned back to face Katsura.

Choshu's leader eyed his manslayer. Himura's amethyst eyes were still gone, and the amber of the manslayer shone fiercely. Katsura removed the swords from his side and held them out to their owner.

"How is she?" Katsura asked quietly. Himura's eyes narrowed in anger. He felt that Katsura had no right to know how the girl was doing. It was his fault Sakura was in the clinic in the first place. The urge to draw his sword and spill his leader's blood across the tatami mats was overwhelming as Himura reached out to take his swords back. Instead of grasping the hilt like his mind was screaming him to do; he took hold of the saya's and slowly hooked them back into his belt.

"Tomino-sensai is checking her now." Himura replied. Katsura nodded. He saw the anger in Battousai's eyes. He knew not to push it with the manslayer. But there was still the matter of the clean up.

"I need your help. Yours and Hideki's." Katsura said. Himura shook his head.

"You won't be getting Hideki's help. Not now, maybe not ever. What do you need me for?" he asked. Katsura lowered his eyes to the floor. Another wave of guilt washed over him at Himura's words. He wouldn't blame Hideki for being angry, but he truly did not want to lose the man's abilities. Hideki was his second best manslayer. He let out a silent sigh, wishing once again that the evening had never happened.

"There's a mess to be cleaned up, and I want to keep the number of witnesses to just the four of us." Katsura said. Himura knew what he meant immediately. Even though there had been 5 witnesses, himself, Katsura, Okubo, Sakura and the girl from the inn, Katsura had every intention of having the extra witness silenced.

The girl would die.

Himura nodded.

"Alright, I'll help. What do you plan to do?" he asked as the two left the clinic and started back towards the scene where the murders had taken place.

"Destroy the evidence. All of it." Katsura replied. He knew the practices for manslayers were to leave their dead so the bodies may be found. But this time, the bodies had to be destroyed. The entire incident would have to be covered up and he wasn't sure how he would go about it.

"How do you plan to do that?" Himura asked.

"I don't know."

The two men moved through the city in silence and under cover of darkness. They had no desire to be followed, or seen for that matter. Himura's skills as an assassin came in handy as he lead Katsura through the city towards the outskirts. They ducked a squad of Shinsengumi, some imperialists, and some manslayers before reaching the dark lonely road.

Katsura had no idea how difficult it was for men fighting in the war until he himself had to walk in the shoes of a shadow assassin. Most evenings, he spent his time safely tucked away in his home, where no one bothered him because no one knew he lived there. He had a new found respect for his manslayers and his soldiers that fought for the ideal he had professed to them. He had more respect for the shadow assassins like Himura who put their lives on the line every night, just by simply walking the streets of Kyoto.

Katsura continued to follow Himura through the darkness, lost in his own thoughts. Himura continued to walk, with only one thing on his mind. Sakura's scream. Her horror filled face. Her injuries.

Never in his life had he been so angry. The anger he felt when his wife had been 'kidnapped' was nothing in comparison. She was a spy. She had been sent to find out his weakness. She never knew that she would end up being his weakness. She never knew she would fall in love with the man she was supposed to hate. He had been angry when she was taken, yes. But he knew that even though she had been taken, he would be able to get her back. Of course, that was before he found out the truth behind his wife.

But Sakura... She had been raped, beaten, and almost killed. Not because of him, it was just because she was a woman. He knew that what had been taken from her would never be retrievable. She would have to live with her loss for the rest of her life. He had failed to protect that which is most important to a woman. Innocence.

As many lives as Sakura had taken, she had always retained her innocence. It was her innocence that caused her to hold back her bloodlust, her rage. She may have stained her hands in blood a countless number of times, but she had always kept the demon from surfacing within her. When she lost her last bit of innocence, bloodlust took over. There was nothing to stop her, nothing left to hold her back. Her body had been stained, ruined. Her hands soaked in the blood of men. Her soul was lost.

She became a demon.

Himura failed to protect her. He clenched his fists at his side as he continued through the night.

When they had passed the squad of Shinsengumi, the sight of their blue and white kimono's caused Himura's blood to boil. He longed to ditch Katsura, leaving him to his own devices, and plunge head first into the centre of the squad where he would hack away at the samurai until they were all dead as his feet.

He didn't. He kept his rage in check. They had a job to do, and he wanted to get it done and over with so he could get back to the clinic and back to Sakura's side.

The smell of blood filled his senses as they drew nearer their destination. The light of the moon shone down upon the scene as the came upon it. There were bodies strewn everywhere. Blood coated the ground, changing it to a sickening black. Pieces of human remains littered the ground. Hands, arms, heads. Katsura felt his stomach heave slightly at the disgusting sight. The first time he came upon the scene, he was too engrossed in the fight between Sakura and Battousai to notice anything else. But now there was only one thing to focus on and that was the bloody massacre that was present before his eyes.

"What do you want to do, Master Katsura?" Himura asked as the stopped beside the carriage, both men staring at the sight before them.

Katsura's mind was a complete blank. He couldn't think of anything except that the brutal murders had been committed by a woman. He could remember Sakura's demonic eyes, her voice, her movements. She certainly looked as though she had been possessed by a demon. No wonder the girl from the inn had called her that.

"Master Katsura?" Himura asked, snapping Katsura out of his thoughts. He blinked, took a deep breath, and faced Himura.

"I don't know." he answered honestly. For the first time during the war, his sharp, keen mind was totally blank. He didn't know what to do. He could barely remember that in order to stay living, he would have to breathe. He was consciously breathing, in and out.

Himura knew what was wrong with the man at his side. Katsura was entering a state of shock. It was the after affects of seeing such brutality like in the scene before them. He watched the leader of his faction breathing deeply, but being completely disgusted by the smell caused him to choke every time he drew in a breath. It was only a matter of time before Katsura turned grey and threw up.

Katsura was no stranger to the sights of bloodshed and war. But knowing that the scene in front of him had been caused by a ravished woman was sickening. What was worse, was that he had been the cause. It was his fault that Sakura had been raped. It was his fault that she had turned into a demon hunting for blood. It was his fault....

Himura watched Katsura throw up with a sense of approval. He was still angry. Katsura being violently ill wasn't good enough punishment in his opinion. He felt that Katsura should pay for what happened to Hideki, but he continually denied himself the joy of threatening, or even taking, the life of Katsura Kogoro. If he did then the war would end, all that he and Hideki had fought and killed for would be lost.

It was the first time he ever thought of killing someone just for the joy of it. For revenge.

"I can't believe she did this." Katsura whispered hoarsely. Himura's eyes narrowed, not liking Katsura's choice of words one bit.

"Well, she did." he replied evenly.

"So much blood.... how could she have done this?" Katsura whispered again, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Himura's rage tripled at those words. Unconsciously his hand went to his katana at his side and his thumb unhooked it from its sheath.

"She didn't." Himura said through clenched teeth.

"She did! Look around you! You saw it! She killed them all in cold blood! She became a monster! A demon!" Katsura exclaimed. The shock was wearing off and he wanted nothing more than to deny that he had any part of the massacre in front of him. Himura snapped. All restraint he had carefully put into place broke. He unsheathed his sword in one swift motion and rested the sharp blade against Katsura's throat. One simple flick of the wrist and Katsura Kogoro would be dead. The man responsible for all the torment that has gone on in every Imperialists life since the beginning of the revolution would be dead in one simple movement.

"You did this! It's your fault that Sakura was raped! It's you're fault she did this! You! This whole damn revolution was a mistake! She should never have been placed in that inn! You should have never asked her to do that! It's you're fault!" Himura yelled. Katsura remained motionless. The feeling of cold steal pressed to his neck snapped him out of his hysterics and forced him back to reality. Himura was right. He had caused it all.

It was the first time he ever stood at the receiving end of Battousai's angry glare and bloody blade. It was absolutely terrifying.

No wonder he was the strongest.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." Himura seethed, flicking the blade slightly, pressing it further into Katsura's neck but not breaking the skin.

Katsura remained silent. He had no reason.

Someone clutched Himura's gi at the shoulder. A hand pressed against the blade, lowering it away from Katsura's neck and a shadowed form stood between the manslayer and his leader. Himura found himself looking into the menacing blue eyes of Hideki, the manslayer.

Hideki had her black gi and grey hakama on. Her ever present bandages were carefully wrapped around her upper body and she had her katana and short sword hooked into the ties at her waist.

"Because no more blood should be spilled tonight." she said. She stood with her back to Katsura, facing Himura. There was blood on her bandages.

"Hideki...." Himura said lowly, looking at the girl before him. Once again, in her gi and hakama, with the bandages and the swords, she looked like a young man.

"No more." she repeated. She turned and faced Katsura. "The witness is dead. I silenced her."

Katsura wasn't sure if he should be relieved or frightened that Hideki had shown up. The fact that he had carried out an order that had yet to be given showed that the manslayer was still thinking like a manslayer. It caused another wave of guilt to pass over Katsura. The fact that Hideki's sister had been brutally raped didn't seem to phase the manslayer. He had truly destroyed the Hideki family.

"How is your sister?" Katsura asked. He wanted to see just how dead Hideki's soul really was. By asking about his sister, Katsura hoped to see some sort of emotion from the manslayer. A flicker or remorse passed over Hideki's eyes. Himura saw it too.

"Hideki Sakura will physically recover. I will send her away." Hideki replied and turned her back to the two men.

"Away? Away where?" Himura asked. He knew the answer though. Once again, Hideki was portraying herself as a man, denying the fact that she is actually a woman.

"To a place where she can't be hurt again." Hideki replied quietly. There was a moment of silence between the three, and then Hideki took in a deep breath.

The deep breath gave Katsura a surge of hope. Hideki was upset about his sister's predicament. He was human after all! Of course, the fact that it had happened was still a sore spot for all that were present. Opting to drop it completely, Katsura looked at the scene again.

"What should we do, Master Katsura?" Hideki asked.

"I don't know." Katsura repeated. He was still unsure of what to do.

"May I make a suggestion?" Hideki asked.

"Of course."

"Bring all the bodies to the inn, and burn it to the ground. No one will know what happened. It will look like an accident." she said. It was a good idea. That way if questions were to ever arise, it could be simply thought of as an accident.

"Good idea. Let's get started." Katsura said.

One hour later, Katsura, Himura and Hideki stood outside the inn and watched it erupt into a blazing inferno. As the building collapsed into itself, Himura and Hideki turned to leave. Katsura followed the manslayers.

"Hideki?" Katsura said as they walked away from the burning building.

"Yes Master Katsura?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to Sakura."

"So am I."

The building where three men had forcefully taken a woman and drove her to insanity was destroyed that night, leaving nothing but a pile of ash and bone.

There were four witnesses to the incident that lead to the demise of Shinsengumi squad seven. They were the only ones who would know the truth. The rest of Japan would hear about a freak accident where an entire squad of samurai were killed in a fire.

TBC...

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A.N. I originally hadn't planned on writing this chapter. But I felt it was necessary to show that Kenshin could indeed lose his temper completely and threaten a man he respected like Katsura. I know this chapter isn't that great but it was the best I could do.

In any case, I hope you guys liked it!

I added the TBC (which is highly unusual cuz I don't usually) but I found the ending of this seemed a bit final and there's still a bit more to tell. Mostly about Kenshin and Sakura's relationship and what happens to it after that incident. Still more in store!