**Alas, Pechan still doesn't own any Rurouni Kenshin rights and trademarks and the like no one really gives a cr@p about.

~ The Mongrel Dog ~

"Hey, YOSHI!!"

Yoshi looked up from his booth, as he dismantled it, "Ah, there she is."

She panted, catching her breath. "Look, I am so friggin' sorry! I really am, I got sidetracked, oh, I'm so sorry!!"

He grinned, "Yeah, I know I know. Look, it didn't really matter; I was so busy today that I hardly had anytime to sit down with an old friend."

She sighed, "I know, but still, I promised....."

"And you came. You're just a little late."

"A little late? Yoshi, the sun's going down!!"

He shrugged, "Alright, your freakin' late. Here I am just trying to make you feel a little better by sayin' it's okay, since it is."

She sighed, "I'm being a b!tch, huh?"

"Well, I'd use a better word. Besides, it looked like you had fun today."

She frowned, "Huh? What do you-"

"I caught you walking with that police guy home."

She laughed, "Fujita?!! Oh please....."

"Hey hey hey, I know that look on your face, and I know what it means!!"

"Oh, shut up!!"

"I mean, you used to use it on me, too-"

She held up her hands, "Okay okay okay, stop it. Geez, me getting it on with that jerk is what nightmares is made of."

He grinned, "Yeah right. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Hmm. I dunno. I came to apologize, but, wanna hit a sake bar?"

Yoshi took off his head band, "Sure."

She grinned as he came beside her. He sighed, "So! What have you been doing these past few years?"

"Ahhh, nothing. Just odd jobs here and there," she replied.

"Tell me about it. Heard you were a geisha at one point, but you were fired because you dance like cr@p."

She blushed, "Hey, where did you hear that?"

He shrugged, "Word gets around."

"Get's around too much. At this rate, I'm gonna be afraid to take a bath without people hearing about it, hah!!"

He laughed, and patted her arm, "You're still the same cool girl I dated."

She opened the flap to the bar, "Yeah yeah, just as long as you pay for your own drinks this time, I'll still be the friendly cool girl."

~~An hour later~~

Tokio didn't remember just how many drinks she had. Normally, she would just have a small bottle of warm sake. But, since he was paying, he ordered a full jug. They played drinking games, of which she won a lot. By the second jug, she was feeling dizzy. He said something like, they should be going, because it was late, but when she got up, she fell. A blur of faces watched her woozily try to stand, and Yoshi came behind her, taking her shoulders. She thinks he's apologizing to the crowd, as he leads her outside.

She can't remember much else. All she really remembers is that she wanted to go home but he wouldn't let her, and she didn't want to be touched, but he didn't care, and when he touched her again, she was woozy, she needed some air, but he wouldn't let her, wouldn't let her..... she wanted to go, go home when his hands........... when he.....

Suddenly, Tokio sat up in a bed, screaming, "HOLY SH!T!!!"

Doctor Gisen looked up from the cloth he was wringing, "Ah, I see your up, Miss Tokio! Be a dear and lie still, please."

Tokio panted, looking around her. She was in the hospital. But what had happened...? She looked down at her arm, and there was a huge gash on it. What had happened.........

She had a drink. Yoshi brought her home. Yoshi? Where was he? What happened to him?

"Hey, Doctor Gisen? I had a friend, where is he?"

"I'm afraid that young man is in jail."

"Jail? What for?"

Gisen took the cloth, and pressed it to her wound. It was in boiling water, and she bit her tongue to keep from yelling. "Oh dear, I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you. Well... you were taken advantage of."

".... by Yoshi?"

"Yes, by Yoshida."

She bit her lip, watching him clean her wound. "Wait... wait, that can't be, he was my friend, I get info from that guy, I.... oh..... oh sh!t.." she muttered, looking away.

"Yes, I truly am sorry for you, Miss Tokio."

Tokio was breathing heavily, replaying the whole night. It all came back to her in one painful nauseating hang over.

She wasn't able to get home. She was so friggin' drunk and stupid that she didn't know what freakin' way up was. Idiot... how could she do that?!! How could she let herself......!

She bit her lip harder, oh man oh man.......

Now she remembered , she remembered every shameful detail. She didn't go home, Yoshi took her to his house. He wanted, oh God, he wanted.....

She choked back a sob. But she was so .... so F-CKING drunk, she was too drunk to push away his hands. Oh God, no, she was.... she really was.....

She reached down, and found her inner thighs were bruised. Probably from someone riding her too hard-

She bit her tongue. She clenched her eyes, and she buried her face in her hand. Oh God.....

She felt the doctor's fingers lightly pat her back, "There there, you have suffered no physical injuries..."

But even Gisen could taste how worthless his words were to her now. He quietly took a roll of gauze, and began wrapping her arm.

She felt her muscles give tremors as she tried to keep it all inside. She felt her eyes burn, and her vision was blurring. She clamped her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming how much her life sucked. No, it more than sucked. Every turn she went to was a wrong one, and every decision she made left her with only one conclusion. Failure. Disgraceful, shameful, disgusting failure.

Gisen finished wrapping her arm, and picked up his supplies. "I see you need to be alone. Alright then. I will not let anyone bother you again tonight, child. You need rest."

Tokio gulped, and closed her eyes, nodding. But even so, he saw a glistening streak on her face. He sighed. This one so was willful and strong. Such an angry powerful girl that could never let anything crush her determined soul. It pained him to see the tough woman break. It truly did. He sighed, and left the room. He closed the door behind him.

He looked up, at the assistant police inspector. "Ah, Fujita. Well, I have some good news and bad news."

Goro took a drag from his cigarette.

Gisen cleared his throat, feeling somewhat awkward. "The good news is, I don't really expect her to be conceiving anytime. I inspected her body, and found nothing on it. Save for that young man's blood."

Goro nodded, saying nothing.

"..... but the bad news is, she was penetrated. She was bleeding. And what's more, I think she's crying."

He let out a stream of smoke, "Is she hurt?"

"Well, there's only that gash on her arm. After you stabbed the man, I'd say your aim shifted a little, so she got the tip of it grazing against her arm. But hey, it's better than what might've happened, huh?"

Goro stuck the cigarette back in his mouth, and he looked at the floor; thinking.

Gisen sighed, "For what it's worth, thank you. I really like this young woman, one of the most spirited I've ever met. It'd be a shame to see her go like all the other lost widows and victims."

Goro sighed, finished with his cigarette. He dropped the butt, and crushed it under his heel, "I thank you again, Gisen."

"Yes. And, I suggest you not speak to her now. She doesn't appear to .... want company."

Goro stepped away, "I'm sorry to disagree, Gisen, but I believe the one thing that girl needs right now is someone to talk to." He put his hands in his pockets, "She tries to commit suicide, weekly I think."

"Oh, I see....."

~~In Tokio's Hospital Room~~

The door slid open. Tokio didn't look up from her spot. She sat with knees drawn to her forehead, and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her hair was down, and seemed to shield her from the rest of the world.

Saito never realized how pale her skin was. He leaned against the wall. She was a tall, proud, and extremely loud person. Right now, she seemed smaller. And a lot quieter. The silence didn't settle with him.

"Hey."

She didn't respond. He rolled his eyes, then came over to her. He touched her shoulder, "Hey-"

She jumped, and backed away, up against the wall. She was panting, her eyes wide. Saito stood where she pushed him away; calm, collective. Her lips were no longer rouged, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Her black hair was a stark contrast to her pale skin, and her jade eyes seemed on the verge of cracking. Such a shame. He was used to the more..... vibrant Tokio. She was much more beautiful than this.

In fact, the way she was turning away, her face pressed into her arm as she curled up again, she looked more like a frightened animal than that beautiful opinionated pianist. Her tall posture was bent into a coward's crouch, and her once angry retorts she had for him were now replaced by an occasional whimper. But, she tried not to. He could tell. Some part of her was fighting to save face. But the majority of her just wanted to cry.

Had she ever cried in her life? When was the last time she had...?

"....Miss Tokio...." He started, but stopped. What could he say to comfort her? She had been beaten. Twice. All for the same price. Some part of her dignity just kept getting cut, and this was the final straw. Before, she would have lashed back and stuck harder than the last. But now... she wanted to give up. He didn't like this side of her.

**What side should he like...?**

He felt stupid. He was never one to be lost at words. He cleared his throat, looking away, "You better not do anything idiotic like kill yourself now."

She gasped, and whispered above a constrained sob, "W-What the f-ck would it matter if I did?!! I'd just get into deeper sh!t..."

"It would matter," he looked at her. She didn't even look away from her ball. He scratched the back of his head, turning away, "It'd matter since I was the one to get out of the way for saving you. I'd hate to think I'm wasting my time here."

The gasped and sobs died away. She sniffed, and she slowly turned her head to him. Saito was not looking at her, and heard her voice say, "W-What? What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

She bit her lip, looking away, "...... why... why did you do it?"

Truth be told, her 'attacker' brought her home to his apartment, which just happened to be the room next to Saito's. He couldn't get any sleep with all the moaning. Imagine his surprise when it was this woman's soft moans.

Then his anger when he realized that she was crying, both in pain and for help.

He hated when people did that. It was the lowest, most despicable thing in the world one could do. Normally, he wouldn't go out of his way for these types of things. But, they were in the room right next to him. And he wouldn't have gotten any sleep. Besides, there was something amusing about this girl. But right now, he was not feeling pity for her. Just a small bit of compassion. He himself was never taken advantage of, and if that happened, well.... he nearly smiled from the absurdity to it. But he turned, facing the prime concern right now.

The woman who hated him the most was crying. And that was in it's own right weird.

"I was at hand," he answered simply, shrugging.

"Why do you keep saving me?!" she asked angrily.

"Would you rather I not-"

"Yes!!" she gasped, "You have any idea how feels to be saved, from someone like YOU!!?"

He frowned, "No, how does it feel to be saved from someone like me? Worse than death?"

Her bottom lip trembled, but her eyebrows slanted in despair. She closed her eyes, sagging back into her bed, "Yes. Worse than death."

"....Miss Tokio... I have no idea what you've been through, but I know it must have been tough. Believe me, I've seen you get cut where it hurts the most, emotionally and physically, and I've seen you pull through. If for no reason you decide to grow weak now and give up-"

She clenched her teeth, still looking at the wall. "You know NOTHING of me."

"No. But I'd like to."

Her eyes widened.

"I help you and you push me away. If I come near you, you wince as if my very appearance ruined your day. The other day when I accidentally touched you, you leapt away as if my touch burned. Do you know who I am?"

Tokio stared at those amber eyes, flecking like gold in the moonlight. No, it wasn't supposed... no, it... ohhh, what did it matter?!!

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!!"

"Everything, idiot!!"

She sobbed, "Why are you talking like this?!! Why the hell should you care?"

He grit his teeth, "Maybe for some idiotic reason I do. I don't know, maybe it's because you're always getting hurt. Or maybe it's because I always carry you to the hospital unconscious."

She bit her lip, looking away, shaking her head, "No, nooooo..."

"Tokio, why do you hate me?"

She lifted her head, holding her breath.

"I'm curious to know why."

She sucked in some air, and crawled to the corner of the bed, against the wall. "Please, just leave me alone....."

"I think if I'd do that, you'd pick up the first pointy thing you see and try to cut yourself."

She sat in silent quaking sobs.

He stared at her, then turned, "I expect to see you in the morning, Miss Tokio."

He took one last glance at this broken woman, and left the room. He passed by Gisen, who was wiping the piano. He looked up to find Goro watching him. "Ah, well, since Miss Tokio's here, I thought if I asked her nicely, she'd play for us later."

Saito smirked, "That would probably keep her alive for another day or two."