Title: Black Rose, Crimson Sunset

Rating: PG-13 to R

Genres: Romance, Drama, Humor, Dark Humor, Slight Angst, Action/Adventure

Summary: In a realm that vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings exist, police have to keep order in any means necessary. Meet Detective Kamiya Kaoru. She's been on the force since the mysterious and untimely death of her father 4 years ago. Now cases like her father's are showing up once more and her boss, Saitou Hajime, a vampire, is making her, her best friend, Macimachi Misao, and her brother, Seta Soujirou, work on this case with vampires. Here enters Himura Kenshin and Shinomori Aoshi. Powerful and ruthless vampire lords who can't stand the being doing this. Will they be able to work together or will they rip each other's throat out first?

Pairings: Battousai/Kaoru, Aoshi/Misao, Sano/Megumi, Soujirou/OC

Warnings: Rating due to violence, swearing, sexual situations, and my strange sense of humor. Slight OOC, especially for Kaoru at the beginning.

Author's Notes: *clears throat* After reading quite a few vampire fics, I have decided to try my hand at one. It will be different from the others, simply because we are different writers. *swats at fly buzzing around her head* I have only seen up to Shishio, so there won't be any characters after that arc, except for Enishi. I really don't like Tomoe, but I will try not to make her sound like she was a witch. She is also dead in this fic. Not undead, like a soulless vampire, but dead dead. I think that is all. If you have any questions, email me at lilfrozenfire369@yahoo.com

***

Disclaimer: I'm saying this one time and one time only. Are you ready? *lawyers nod and have their pens poised over their notepads* I don't own Kenshin or any other characters that I am borrowing from the series. I wish I owned Aoshi, Kenshin, and Soujirou, but I don't. *bursts in tears* Look, you made me cry.

***

Chapter One: New Assignment

Alternate Title: New and creative ways to kill your vampire chief

Kaoru sat at the table and watched with a pout as Soujirou finished making breakfast. "Why can't I cook?"

Soujirou looked at her with a genuine smile on his face. "No reason. I just think that you should relax. We have to meet Saitou-san first thing today and you know how you get around him."

Kaoru nodded and glared at the centerpiece. 'That wolf is going to be the death of me. I bet the first thing he says to me involves the word tanuki. He always calls me that.' "I'll show that stupid wolf. How does a vampire get the nickname 'Wolf'? Shouldn't it be 'Fang' or 'Furry'?"

Soujirou just shook his head and put the plate of French toast down in front of her. The 28 year old watched his younger sister pour syrup on and started to eat. "Slow down. You'll get the hiccups."

She glared at him and took a big, slow bite of toast. "Better?"

He nodded and started to eat his own food.

Kaoru finished and went into her room to change. She came out dressed in a pair of black boot-cut jeans and blue t-shirt. Soujirou was standing by the door dressed in a pair of baggy blue jeans and a blue button-up t-shirt. She muttered, "Speed demon," as she grabbed the keys and stomped by him.

***

When Kaoru screeched to a halt in a parking space, Soujirou was wondering how he was still alive. She ran three red lights and missed a pedestrian by three inches. All of that within six blocks of their apartment building. Needless to say, normally bright smile wasn't as bright and confident as usual.

"Tenken, tanuki."

They turned around to see a tall man with slicked back hair and narrow yellow eyes. "What do you want, Saitou? You do know that that thing will kill you, again," Kaoru said, pointing at the cigarette in his mouth.

He raised an eyebrow and took another puff of his cigarette. "Did you wake up on the wrong side, tanuki?"

"Hurry up and give us the assignment," she growled.

"Not until the weasel shows up." He took another long puff of his cigarette. Kaoru coughed when he blew it at them and glared, waving a hand in front of her to ward off the smoke.

"Now listen here, you overgrown, pompous, arrogant a-" she stopped to glare at Soujirou after he poked her in the ribs and pointed behind Saitou. She transferred her glare to the three people standing behind Saitou. One was a tall vampire with piercing blue eyes and dark black hair. Another one was also tall, with laughing brown eyes and spiky brown hair. "Sanosuke! You freeloader! You owe me a hundred yen from four months ago!"

"Jou-chan. Take it easy. I'll repay you," he said.

"That's the day my brother throws an old lady into a river and Saitou gets beaten by Misao in a sword fight and goes into priesthood," she muttered good-naturedly. She looked at the last vampire. He was only an inch or two taller than her with long red hair in a high horsetail. He had an X-shaped scar on his left cheek, but that's not got her attention. It was his eyes. They were a bright, dark golden color and they almost seemed to be laughing at her.

"Obviously you know rooster head," he was interrupted with a 'Hey!' from Sano, "so this is Shinomori and Battousai. Shinomori, Battousai, this is the Tenken and tanuki."

"Watch it, you overgrown, son of a-" yet again she was interrupted.

"Hey, everyone! Sorry I'm late. Some black Blazer caused an accident when it ran a red light over by your house, Kaoru," a girl said as she skidded to a halt by Kaoru.

Soujirou paled and groaned, still managing to smile a little. "Kaoru! You called me a speed demon earlier and you made it from our home to here in three minutes!"

Kaoru shrugged. "We were running late."

"Tanuki, just because this is a government run operation, does not give you the right to speed that badly," Saitou said, taking another puff of his cigarette. "And you, weasel, do not have a right to be this late."

Both Kaoru and Misao started throwing insults at him while Soujirou wanted to go under a rock and hide. Kaoru glared at Saitou and took his cigarette, crushing it under her foot. "I told you, smoking will rekill you, so I'm just doing you a favor." Misao started to giggle until she saw who was behind Saitou. She stopped abruptly and started at Shinomori.

Kaoru nudged her and whispered, "You're drooling, Makimachi." Misao turned and glared at her.

"Weasel, now that you're here, we can start," Saitou said, taking out another cigarette and lighting it. "There have been people found dead, cut in half." Kaoru paled and moved closer to Soujirou. 'No!' she thought. 'Not again!' "They showed no blood loss. It seems that their wounds were cauterized on the moment they were cut." Misao and Sano both glanced at Kaoru and Soujirou. Sano moved closer and Misao hugged her friends. "Not only that, but they also had poison running through their bodies that sped up the decaying process."

Misao and Sano glared at Saitou when a tear dripped out of Kaoru's tightly closed eyes. "Saitou! You jerk!" Misao screeched at the same time that Sano yelled, "Take it easy on Jou-chan, wolf!"

"Sano, Misao. It's fine. I can handle it," Kaoru said quietly, a determined glint shining through the unshed tears.

Shinomori raised an eyebrow, Battousai had a soft look to his gold eyes, and Saitou just nodded. "I want you three to team up with the Battousai's group. Battousai, Shinomori, you give them the details on your time, not mine." He turned to Soujirou, Kaoru, and Misao again. "I want you to give me daily reports and Seta, Kamiya, don't get too emotionally involved in this. It may be the same person or persons that murdered your father and it may not." With that he left in a puff of smoke.

Kaoru coughed and glared at Saitou's retreating back. "If he smokes or calls me 'tanuki' one more time…"

"Kaoru-chan, if you let him get to you, he'll only keep doing that," Misao stated wisely.

Sano snickered. "Look who's talking," he paused and then added, "Weasel." Misao's face got that angry look and she started chasing him around, calling out 'rooster head' occasionally.

Soujirou calmly stepped out of the way as Misao went sailing over him to kick Sano. Kaoru noticed Shinomori and Battousai staring at them with a look of disbelief on their faces. "Knock it off. You have an audience," she hissed. Misao looked at her as Sano moved out of the way, causing Misao to land on top of Shinomori. Or at least in his arms. She sent a thankful look at Kaoru and a glare at Sano. 'Yes! Score! Right into the hands of a hottie!'

"Hmm…let's go to my apartment and talk about this. I don't know about you, but I don't like standing around here," Kaoru said as she took her keys out of her pocket. Soujirou used his speed to take them from her and stand beside Battousai.

"Oh no, my dear sister. I am driving, not you. I would like to live long enough to solve this case." He ducked as Kaoru ran after him waving her bokken.

"Get back here, Soujirou! That's my Blazer, not yours! I don't want you to scratch it up! You're a crazy driver!"

Misao and Soujirou sweat dropped at this. Battousai looked slightly confused, Shinomori raised an eyebrow, and Sano laughed.

***

Soujirou pulled into a parking space and opened the door to their apartment. Kaoru invited them in and they all went into the living room. After a few minutes of silence, Misao spoke. "This is kinda awkward. So…what are your real names? Saitou always calls people by different names."

"Except for Tokio. She'd re-kill him if he called her some other name," Kaoru said.

"Who'd have thought that our chief is scared of his wife?" Misao snickered.

"Anyways, I'll start since no one else is actually talking. I'm Kamiya Kaoru."

"I'm talking, Kaoru-chan. My name's Makimachi Misao." She stood up, put her fists on her hips, and puffed her chest out with pride.

"You look like a chicken." Kaoru ducked as Misao chucked a pillow at her.

Soujirou sweat dropped. "Will you two please behave?"

Kaoru sighed. "I suppose we are supposed to be serious. Okay."

"I'm Seta Soujirou."

"And everyone knows me," Sano said proudly.

"Yeah. Sagara Sanosuke, freeloader extraordinaire," Kaoru said with a serious look on her face. It stayed there until Sano glared and Misao burst out laughing. "You know we love you, Sano."

"Anyway, that ice cube over there is Shinomori Aoshi, and the guy with red hair is Himura Kenshin," Sano said.

Kaoru paled. 'Himura Kenshin is the Battousai. He's the most powerful and ruthless vampire lord out there. They say he's 200+ years old. I'm going to kill Saitou. Maybe if I use my bokken as a stake, it'll cause more pain.'

He seemed to be in thought. "You can call me Kenshin." His voice was like steel wrapped in velvet and made Kaoru's knees go weak. 'Great. I'm attracted to Battousai…er…Kenshin.'

"And you can call me Kaoru. Now that that is out of the way, let's get to the point. We have to work together to stop these murders," Kaoru said, her voice filled with determination, sadness, and anger. "Since you are obviously able to go into the sunlight, we shouldn't have to worry about that."

"Why doesn't sunlight affect you?" Misao asked. "Only extremely powerful and old vampires can go into the sun without starting on fire."

"That's what they are, Misao-chan," Kaoru said. "Anyways, I think that we should take turns in groups of two or three. What do you think?"

"I think that is a good idea. Jou-chan, can I talk to you in the kitchen?" She nodded and followed him into the kitchen. "What's wrong? You have been acting strange and when I told you that Kenshin is Battousai, you got all pale. What's up?"

"I don't know. It could be that I don't like vampires that much."

"You like me," he pointed out.

She grinned. "I've known you since I was a baby. You borrowed my lunch money in sixth grade to gamble with. Father was really angry with you."

"I remember that." He grimaced. "Anyways, you should just give them a chance. They really aren't that bad. A little emotionless sometimes, but good guys."

She hugged Sano. "Thanks." They walked back into the living room to find Misao talking to Aoshi about kempo and Soujirou and Kenshin were talking about the case. They all looked up when Sano and Kaoru walked in. Kaoru beamed at them all and sat down by in the only open chair, which happened to be right next to where Kenshin was standing.

"Hey, Kaoru-chan. While you were talking to rooster-head," a 'hey!' is heard from Sano, "we decided to patrol in groups of two. That's 8 hours of patrol per group. What do you think?" Misao summed up in one breath.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Who's in whose group?"

"We haven't decided. We didn't know if you wanted to be with Sano, Sou-kun, me, or Himura or Aoshi-sama."

"We should have a vampire and a human in each team. I suppose I could go with Kenshin," she answered.

"What about me, Jou-chan?" Sano asked.

"If I went with you, I'd end up broke."

"I'll go with Aoshi-sama!" Misao said automatically.

Soujirou sighed. "I suppose I'll go with Sano. We'll take the first shift. It's noon now, so at 8, the next group can go, then at 4 tomorrow morning, the next group can go. We can use this as headquarters."

"Okay. Is everyone okay with the pairings?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Kenshin and I will take the next shift."

Misao's eyes went wide. "But, Kaoru-chan! You know I hate getting up early!"

"Then I suggest you get some sleep now." With that said, Kaoru went to the freezer and got out some ice cream. "Anyone for chocolate ice cream?"

"I'll have some!" Sano and Misao called at the same time.

"Then get it yourself." Kaoru went into her room and slammed the door shut, leaving three sweat dropping beings and two amused vampires in her wake.

"Was she like this this morning?"

Soujirou sighed, but still had his trademark smile in place. "Yes."

"I hope it's not that time of the month," Sano said, earning a smack with a bokken.

"Watch it, Sano," Kaoru said.

***

Whatcha think? I need feedback people.