**Pechan disclaims still. So sorry if this one sucks, she admits it was rushed so fast. She apologizes for updating a little later than usual. She owns nothing of Rurouni Kenshin.

~ Green to Red ~

Tokio opened the door to her room, were Goro was sitting. He had a piece of paper in his hands. He looked up.

"Enjoy yourself?" he asked, indifferently.

She nodded, "Yeah, then some lady bugged me. So I had to get out."

He was looking at his paper, and mumbled, "Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah right, like you listen to anything I say," she said, bending over to her bag.

"I do," he said, putting the paper down. "Are you ready?"

She sat on her heels and sighed, pouting, "And there is absolutely NO WAY for you to get round this?"

He smiled at her, "Absolutely none. Where would be the fun in that?"

She sighed, and opened her bag, "Alright, let's see what we got in here.........." She pulled out a green kimono and a blue one, "Okay, which one makes me look sluttier?"

He leaned against the wall, bending one knee for his arm to rest on, "In my opinion, green. It brings out your eyes."

She gulped, and tried to force down her mind screaming, **HE NOTICES MY EYES!!**

"Although," he smirked, "Maybe red would match your blushing skin more fittingly?"

"Oh, shut up," she said, pulling out the green one. Actually, she did like this one. It had aqua fish swimming in the seams at the bottom, and crystal blue thread laced in and out for water. She smiled, and pulled out a set of ivory pins. Two had pearls fastened in them, the biggest one held an ornate jade carving of a cat.

She looked at him, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"This isn't a free show! Go wait outside while I change."

Goro smirked, standing, "Yare yare, my wife's afraid to undress in front of me but will do so for a job interview-"

He ducked under a flying wooden geta, and closed the door behind him. Out there, he lit a cigarette, and leaned against the door. It was going to grow dark soon. The boy sweeping the porch earlier walked by, carrying two buckets of water, "Ah, sir? Is there something wrong with the room?"

He smiled, "No, not at all. My wife doesn't like the smell of the smoke, so I smoke outside."

"Oh, I see. Well, just to let you know, the manager said he could interview her anytime after six."

Goro bowed, "Thank you, I will tell her."

The boy returned the bow, and set about his business. Anyone would've thought he was hauling buckets of water. Saito could see the shine of a blade in the bottom of the bucket. He was bringing weapons back and forth concealed. He narrowed his eyes, smiling a bit, and stuck the cigarette back into his mouth.

There was a tap at the door. He turned, "Yes?"

"Come here, tell me how this looks."

He slid open the door, and looked at Tokio. Her green fish kimono perfectly outlined the curves of her body. She tied it tighter to show more of the indent in her waist, and she made her lips shine with a different kind of lipstick than she usually wore. Her hair was combed and swept into a two part bun, and her pins angled in graceful points. She had her long slender fingers clasped together, in an innocent pose, and her green eyes seemed to positively shine.

She batted her eyelashes, thickened by make up, "Well? Any good?"

He closed the door, "For a woman of your criteria, I'd say so."

She laughed, turning around to look at her little mirror, "Yeah, I guess any prostitute would kill to have looks like mine."

Goro stood next to her, "The broom boy told me to tell you the manager will be waiting after six."

She sighed, "It's five thirty."

"Then you have plenty of time to practice your act."

She looked up at him from where she was kneeling. He turned away slightly, noticing she was showing a bit of cleavage, "And you promise you'll be there? In case anything happens?" she asked.

"Yes, I already said I would."

She got up, and sighed, walking passed him. She crossed her arms, "Just to let you know. If I die tonight, I entirely blame you, and I will haunt you for the rest of my ghostly existence!!"

"..................really."

"And I won't be the funny 'ha ha' kind of ghost that turns into a stupid umbrella! I'll be the kind that jumps out the toilet to scare you whenever you have to do your business, so you'll be too scared to do it again!!"

".................... an otearai yurei?" (toilet ghost)

"Precisely."

He sighed, crossing his arms, and closing his eyes, "Well, I admit, that would be pretty scary, seeing your face."

She laughed, "Good. So you better not screw up, okay?"

"I never screw up. You're the one I carried back to the hospital twice. Remember?"

She grimaced, turning away, "Don't remind me."

Goro nodded, and then undid his top. Tokio jumped, "Hey, not here!!"

It slid off, and under it he had his black shirt.

She sighed.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

She stuck her tongue at him, "Conceited bigot."

"Idiot."

"Jerk."

"Moron."

There was another knock. Tokio gasped, looking at Goro. He quickly got up against the wall next to the door. So whoever stood in front of it couldn't see him.

Tokio gulped, and slid open the door. A tall man with glossy black hair tied into a ponytail grinned at her. "Hullo! You must be the new girl! Ready for the interview?"

Tokio smelled fish on him, "S-Sure am, stud!!"

"Great!" he exclaimed, grabbing her behind the waist, "Let's get to the manager's room."

She stuck her head in the door way, mouthing silently at Goro, "You are SO DEAD!!"

He smiled, and quickly dressed into his uniform. If they wanted this done fast, they had to start picking them off now. He left his hakama on, and pulled his katana out of his bag. He came to the back of the wall, the one that faced the outside of the hotel, and sliced it open. There, it was empty. Save for a cluster of trees and bushes. The shadows also masked anything else that might be hiding there.

"Ah, Saito, sir!"

He turned, where an officer stood, holding a saber, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am-"

"Ujiki, I know," Saito answered for him. He turned, and motioned with his hands, "Keep silent. Three of them are still near the bath houses. We'll get them first."

~~ Let's see what Tokio's doing!!~~

"Damn, you got a purdy dress!"

Tokio mumbled, "Uh, thank you."

The tall man opened the door to the manager's room, and she realized his arms were pretty thick. As thick as his neck. And skull. Huh. She's starting to get a little worried.

"Ah, there you are, Mrs. Fujita!"

The manager came over, and took her hand in his, "I see you've dressed for the interview too!"

She smiled, "Ah, sure did! So, what do we do first?"

"Well, let's introduce you to the crew. Now, the other five are still out there, but they'll be back in a few minutes. They just have to lock up everything so no one could, well, interrupt the interview.

Tokio giggled, "And who would want to spoil our fun?"

The other men laughed, clapping. The manager gestured with his hand, "The two broom boys are Taro and Mayama. They've been working here since they were sixteen."

Tokio thought, **"And how long ago was that? Yesterday? They looked like damn kids!!'**

"The big guy that brought you in is Gin, he's our chief cook. His assistant is that guy over there. He's Jiro."

Tokio bowed to Jiro, a man with a nose sharper than a knife.

The manager bowed, "And I'm Myoji. And I'll say on behalf of the male staff, it is nice to have a girl once in a while."

They cheered. Tokio sweated, "Once in a while? What happened to the others?"

He put his hand on her shoulder, "Oh, they didn't cooperate well. So we, well.... we had to fire them."

**Fire, as in kill them.** She thought, forcing a grin. "Well, good!" she giggled, "I don't want any other ladies here!! That means they might get more fun than me!"

Jiro cheered, "She's hot!"

Her stomach turned. **God, don't let him near me. I swear, he's gonna stab me with that pointy nose of his......**

Myoji pulled her closer to the middle of the room. She stopped, "Wait! I'm a meshimori-onna! Aren't I supposed to uhhh......... cook? Or clean? Or recite poetry? .........Or something?" **I hope.**

Taro put down his sake cup, "Who cares? I like the part of the interview where we get to see if she has any birth marks or anything."

She nearly jumped as a finger grazed her back. She added, "But I made a ........ a really nice song!!"

"Cute!! The girl made a song!! Maybe she'll sing during sex!!" exclaimed Taro.

Inside her mind, Tokio was imagining throwing dart's at Taro's ugly head for that remark.

"Singing and dancing is for geishas, girl. Don't tell me you're backing down from the job description, eh?" smirked Myoji, knuckles against her elbow.

Tokio gulped, and stammered, "B-But, I made a song, just for you guys......" she pouted, twiddling her fingers, "And I worked so hard, I really wanted to get this job......" she seductively nibbled on her nail, "Won't you give me a chance?"

"WhhhoooOOOOOOO!! HOT DAMN!!" sang Gin. "Myoji, let her sing!! With looks like that, she's got to be a great singer!"

Myoji shrugged, "Eh, whatever. We got all night, don't we girl?" he asked twirling one of her silken locks.

She giggled, pulling away, "You're too much." She coughed, into her hand, and thought.

**OKAY!! SONG, NOW!! I GOTTA SING!! BUT WHAT!?**

She racked her brain, tossing together any lyrics that came up in her head.

"Hey, don't keep us waiting, girl," said Jiro.

She went, "Ahem, so sorry, I had to remember my lines correctly." She closed her eyes. After ten minutes of stalling silence, she smiled, "Okay, here I go!!"

"............saigo no, kisu wa tobako no flavor ga shita-- Nigakute setsunai kaori....... "

(The last kiss tasted like cigarettes, and bitter and sad smell)

She looked up, her voice quivering a bit. Where did those lines come from? But they were all rapt, listening to her. She gulped, and continued, singing whatever popped into her head, "Uhhmm.......

"......... ashita no imagoro ni wa...... Anata wa doko ni ................ iru n daoru....... dare wo, omotte ru n darou......."

(Tomorrow, at this time Where will you be? Who will you be thinking about?)

--(YES, it's an Utada Hikaru song, but I really don't know many Japanese songs. I thought this would be okay, since she's scanning her head for any inspiration of a song, and she seems to remember mostly the 'tobacco kiss' Saito gave her.)--

She gulped, and stammered, "Ahhh...... ah heh heh, sorry! I thought I........ thought I could remember it better.... but heh heh, guess not!" she shrugged.

Gin whispered, "Gosh......... that was so pretty....................." he grabbed her arm, "Hey, make a song about butterflies for me!! I love those things!"

Myoji smacked his arm, "Don't frighten the poor girl!" he smiled warmly at her, taking a seat next to her, "Ah, that was very good. Do you have any songs you can remember completely?"

She scanned her head again. But everything she thought of seemed stupid, or didn't fit together. And they were getting impatient.

"Hey, don't geishas dance? let's see her dance!!"

"I'm not a geisha! I'm a meshimori-onna!" she explained.

"... oh, so she DOES wanna get it on with us!!" pointed out Mayama.

"On second thought, a dance sounds fine!" she quickly added, getting to her feet.

"Hurrah!!" cheered everyone else.

She fell over, grumbling, "That damn wolf better be hauling his @$$ in gear...."

~~Back to Saito~~

Saito covered his mouth, but a sneeze escaped anyways.

Ujiki turned, "Sir, someone might hear us!"

Saito narrowed his eyes at him, "Calm down, they're already dead," he said, flicking the blood off his blade. Indeed, three bodies lay in bloodied heaps in the bath houses. Clutched in their hands were broken swords.

An officer pulled something out of the storage, "Hey, look at this. Here's something most hotels don't have."

"What is it?" mused Ujiki.

But Saito smelled it. "Gunpowder. Though I don't see any rifles here."

The last officer wiped his forehead with his hat. "Maybe since these guys were bringing the stuff here, they were going to go back for the guns?"

Saito frowned, sliding his sword back into his sheath. "Have all the guests been evacuated?"

Ujiki nodded, "We got them out of there without anyone noticing."

Saito smiled, "Good. There should be no distractions then." He pointed to the two officers, "You two; scan the hallways. You know that the convicts look like?"

They nodded.

"Slay them on sight."

They bowed, and left to carry out their duties. Ujiki frowned, "Hey, what about me?"

"Ujiki, you're very good with Jigen Ryu, so you'll stay with me. The rest of the men are in one room. The manager's room. And there is one last occupant still there."

Ujiki frowned, "A civilian? Then apprehending-"

"No, she is with us."

"She?" asked Ujiki, following Saito. But he didn't reply.

~~Back to Tokio's Interview~~

With a final shake of her butt, Tokio ended in a weird pose. They all drank and cheered, and she found herself inventing a new string of curses to put on the damn wolf forever and ever. She clasped her hands together, and smiled, "Well! That was fun!! It is rather hard dancing with no music, wouldn't you say?"

"It still looks damn good!!"

She giggled, "Ah ha ha, so charming!"

Taro looked at Myoji, "Say, where are the other guys?"

"I don't know, they're supposed to be here now," he got up, "Maybe I better tell them to come now-"

"Hey, wait, don't!!" said Tokio.

Myoji turned, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she laughed, and came up with a line that she would regret for the rest of her life, "If... if you leave now, how can we have our orgy?"

The room plummeted into deafening silence. Myoji gulped, and the other guys turned red. Mayama smiled, "Ah, I like her!! See? The other girls didn't want to experiment! I hate taking turns, it goes too long that way!" He shouted slamming his bottle down.

Tokio blushed brighter than a strawberry, and then sat on her heels, stuttering, "O-Of course, if you don't like me enough, I-I can always just try again some other time-"

Myoji grabbed her hand, pulling her close, "Naw, I think the guys can come in later, if you're that eager, my beautiful lady."

She kept her eyes focused on him, and nearly yelped when a hand slid under her kimono onto her thigh.

**Don't' kick, don't kick!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T KICK!!**

Unable to scream for help, she fell backwards, moaning. They all reached for her, then the door slammed down.

**Safe!!**

The candle went out as the wind blew in, and she saw two flashing blades. One was a saber, however, and it sliced through Myoji, the closest one to the door. Tokio gasped, and backed away, against the wall. Taro frowned, and pulled out a gun from his sleeve, but the saber quickly slashed down, lopping off his arm. Taro screamed as it fell, and his scream was cut short after his head was lopped off by the same saber.

Tokio bit her lip, and jerked her eyes away, curling into a ball. She tried to cover her ears as best as she could, but their shrieks still pierce through them. She gasped, as the younger man's cry of pain swelled like a cat's yowl, and she flinched as something warmed splashed on her. A gun fired, and two more followed.

She screamed, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

And that's when a body fell on her. That was also the point to where she freaked out, and jumped up, and darted for the door.

"Hold it!!" screamed a man, and she turned to see the saber lunge for her. She shrieked, just when a hand grabbed her waist, pulling her out of the way. A swift katana blade deflected the saber.

"Sir, what-" began the startled Ujiki.

"She's a civilian," Saito replied sternly.

Tokio panted, looking at the man in the darkness. The dark adjusted to her eyes, showing a young man in a police uniform, although it was red now. He smiled, "Ah, I am sorry Miss. I thought you were one of the assassins."

She only panted; eyes wide at the scarlet man. He chuckled, "I'm sorry. I must look frightening, don't I?"

Tokio looked away, covering her mouth. No use, she had to throw up. A string of intestines were still dangling form his saber blade. She jerked herself away from Goro, and ran.

Ujiki wiped his sword with a rag he picked up from the floor, "Touchy, isn't she?"

Saito ignored him, and kicked one of the bodies, "So all the guns were loaded here." He reached down, and pulled up a gun. The hand that was cut was still clinging to it. He sheathed his sword, and wrenched the dead man's grip on it.

One of the other officers appeared at the door. "Sir, I went through the front desk. I found some papers here you should consider reading."

Saito took the papers form him, and leafed through them. He smirked, "A list and files of all the people they were paid to assassinate, and a score list of how many women they had and killed." He crumpled it up, and sighed, "They were pretty busy men."

Ujiki chuckled, "You could say that again."

The last police officer came in, and bowed, "The other two are silenced, sir."

"Good. Let's get someone to clean this up."

After Tokio threw up everything she ate on the way here, she stumbled into the hot springs. There, she scooped some hot water, and gurgled it. She spit it out, spitting out the taste of vomit with it. However, she noticed along her arms were crimson splatters. She realized she wasn't wearing green anymore. It was red. Blood stained into her green kimono. And on her lips she tasted blood.

Though the blood certainly wasn't her own.

The thought caused her to throw up again, this time bile. Since her stomach was already empty.