Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, Rurouni Kenshin. Watsuki-sama does. I'm only borrowing his characters for a while.

Thanks to Kamorgana and Firuze for the comments and corrections. Your help and your kind words mean a lot to me. (^-^)

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Chapter 5 – Past and present

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July 7th, in the evening.

Tokio drove Aoshi's car out of the Aoiya's small parking lot. By chance, she could use his car to pay her first visit at the Kyoto College for Girls' dormitory. She would probably not be so lucky next time…

She didn't really wish to go see Misao, but she had given her word. She drove in silence, pondering all that had went wrong since she had come back to live in Japan. If it hadn't been for the little encounter with the tall police inspector, her few weeks at the Aoiya would have been almost totally unpleasant.

"Here I am." mumbled Tokio, as she parked the car near the college's dormitory.

She picked up the few items that Misao had requested a while ago: a few books and clothes she had left behind during the last holidays. She then got out of the car and looked reluctantly at the tall building. Having to face Misao was not the only thing she loathed about this new task: years ago, she had wished to erase every single memory of this place…

She had attended this college, almost ten years ago. Seeing everything here reminded her that inglorious past: the embarrassing memories of her behaving like a foolish teenager. Back then, still inexperienced in life, each humiliation that necessarily comes with every teenager's life had affected her very much. She had changed since then, she thought, a smirk crossing her features. From the fragile young girl, she had slowly, after each disappointing rejection, evolved into the anti-social, lazy, strong-minded and selfish person she was now.

Aoshi often said that these past experiences were why she had never seriously considered committing herself to anyone. Running away before developing any real feelings that might hurt her again. Being the aggressive one, by fear of being first looked upon. And particularly disliking everything or anyone that reminded her of the past.

Tokio knew that he was probably right. She couldn't really deceive herself about those facts. But she also knew that her evolution could not simply be summed up like this. She knew that she had not developed this personality only as a way of protecting herself. It had always been part of her. Her education had told her to ignore those very unwomanly character traits, but after having realised that playing the perfect well-behaved and gentle girl gave you nothing but condescension and sufferings, she had freed her darker side until it had completely took control.

And now, she was proud of the person she had become. People didn't like her, but she didn't care. They respected her: that was all that truly mattered.

She stopped looking at the building, realising that her past could not reach her anymore. She had moved on. No arrogant teenage girl would try to humiliate her now. And if it was ever the case, she had enough experience in arguing and teasing to have the final word…

Tokio walked in, got registered at the front desk, and she looked once more at the small piece of paper on which she had written Misao's room number. Once inside the elevator, she pressed the right button and, as the door closed, she sighed. This was it.

She quickly found the room and knocked. As she received answer other than the sound of music, she knocked harder this time, beginning to be pissed off. Finally, the music stopped and she heard some footsteps. The door got opened, revealing Misao.

"I've brought you the things you asked for." said Tokio, before Misao could even react to this unexpected visit.

"Aoshi didn't come in person to give them to me?" she asked, clearly disappointed that it was not the case.

"No. Sorry. He's working hard these days. You'll have to content yourself with my presence." Tokio mockingly answered.

"An assignment…?" discretely asked Misao, knowing that everyone on the floor was probably listening.

"Yes. Not a big one though…"

After a slight pause, Tokio, who had tried to remain calm during the whole exchange, finally burst out and asked.

"Will you ever let me come in? This stuff is heavy, you know!"

Misao frowned, but moved aside. Tokio took a step forward, looked around and froze. The room was a real mess…

"Do you ever clean this place?" exclaimed Tokio, a bit discouraged.

"Yes… but not very often. "

"That's what I thought…" muttered Tokio, putting down the luggage on the last spot available one the floor.

Tokio didn't like this kind of place. Creepy. Everything seemed wrong. She wondered how the rigorous and precise Aoshi could have fall for that messy, messy girl.

"So… What are you doing right now?" clumsily asked Tokio on a fake amiable tone, trying to retrieve the information Aoshi wanted.

"Why do you bother asking? You don't like me don't you?" Misao reply, looking somewhat heart-broken.

Tokio stared at her for a while. Yes Aoshi was right. The girl was clever. Loud, but clever. A little too emotional, but clever. After a heavy silence, Tokio said.

"It's not that I don't like you. It's just that you're young and you still have to learn a couple of things before being the grown up I would maybe appreciate."

It was the truth. It was said crudely, without much regard, but Tokio felt that Misao would appreciate her honesty. As the younger girl remained silent, Tokio went on.

"Anyway, that wasn't the point of my visit. Aoshi just asked me to check on how you were doing. With what happened lately, we are never too careful… "

"I can take care of myself, you know… Last year, Aoshi even started showing me some Oniwabanshu's techniques."

"I'm aware of that. But you are also a bit too overconfident." Tokio answered mater-of-factly, as she understood that it would probably take more than words to convince Misao.

She never knew for sure what Misao would have answer to that, as Kaoru came in the room to chat a bit about the latest developments of her relation with Kenshin Himura.

Tokio horrifyingly looked at the two girls as she faced everything she despised the most: young noisy messy girls giggling and chatting over a romance. She swiftly turned around, before suffering from overexposure, and headed toward the building's exit. According to Aoshi's instructions, she was supposed to come back soon. But he had said almost daily visits. That could be open to interpretation…

***

July 10th, three days later

As it was the middle of the afternoon, the restaurant was empty, however Tokio was busily accomplishing her tasks in Aoshi's office. Her half-brother was once again working and she was wondering how he could go on like this and not suffer from serious sleep deprivation.

From time to time, Tokio pushed her work aside, to ponder their financial situation. She was wondering if all of this necessarily had to end up in bankruptcy. Something could probably be done. But what? She had gone through this more than once, had found nothing and didn't really felt like searching again.

No tables could be added without seriously affecting the customers' state of comfort. The prices couldn't be raised. She had realised that only alcoholic beverage sales could maybe help. They could have tried to promote them, but by doing so, they would loose their family restaurant status and become more like a bar. Something Aoshi would not appreciate as he profoundly disliked alcohol. Their mother had profusely abused the substance after Aoshi's father death and before committing suicide.

Beside that undesirable solution, it seemed that nothing could be done. That was why Tokio simply went on doing her job and sighed each time that she paid another bill. She didn't like this task: it was only reminding her how desperate their case was. She wondered how Aoshi had been able to deal with this every day. Rubbing her temples, she tried to focus on the work and forget about its meaning. It worked for a while. But her concentration was soon disrupted when someone came in the office. Displeased, she raised her head only to realise that Hajime Saito was standing right in front of her. His face was void of emotion, but Tokio had the feeling that he didn't enjoy finding her alone.

"Your brother is not here? The girl downstairs had told me that the manager was in his office…" he asked, finally.

"The girl was right. I'm the one in charge, when Aoshi is absent."

"So, I'd better go and come back another day."

"No, no. Sit down. Aoshi won't be back anytime soon. I have barely seen him lately. So, I'm also in charge of the communications. That's why I assisted to all the discussions you had so far."

Tokio observed Saito while he shortly deliberated. She was glad that he had come. She was getting bored and needed a distraction. And the sexy police inspector that attracted her so much could definitely be called a nice distraction. Too bad he didn't really want to get physically involved with her anymore. There was so much they could have done instead of discussing business… Just to think of it made her feel aroused again.

Having made up his mind, Saito finally sat on the other side of the desk.

"So? What brings you here, inspector?" she said, teasing him by using her sexiest tone of voice.

"Well, I was just coming to check if your group had found out something." he answered coldly.

Disappointed, Tokio momentarily pushed her sexual urges aside and said, on a sharp tone.

"Sorry, but the answer to that question is no. The three boyfriends have been followed twenty-four hours a day. None of them escaped our constant watch. During all that time, nothing unusual happened. They only went on doing their usual errands. They do not seem affected at all by the girl's death, which is a clear lack of compassion. But, then again, none of her love affairs had been really serious…"

"And at the parent's house?"

"The usual… Except from the fact that they went to the funerals. One of our men followed them there while another one stayed behind, at the house. But there was nothing important to report. Weeping, sobbing and the she was such a nice and good girl usual crap."

Saito didn't immediately answer to that. He leaned back in his wooden chair and lit a cigarette. After a long while, he finally said.

"Going to the funerals was clever. Shinomori's idea, I suspect… What does he really think about the case?"

"That we are searching in the wrong direction. That we are wasting time following the wrong persons. Of course, it's only an intuition…"

"Of course. I also had it from the start, but we can't eliminate options before being absolutely certain that they lead nowhere…"

"So what do you propose in the meantime?"

"Continue the work you began. Hopefully enough, it will help us eliminate some suspects. But also, as the investigation will probably last longer than what everyone first thought, I propose that we use an alternative to our actual communication system."

"Why? What kind of alternative?"

"Telephone lines are often taped and e-mails systems can't really be trusted. You can't seriously think of using those technologies if you have important or private business to discuss. And I can't come all the way here each time I have something to tell you. So, I thought of something better, but I still need to settle some details before it can be concretised…"

"Oh! I see. And when are those details going to be settle?"

"As soon as I have Kondo's accord and that all the papers are correctly filled, which should be in a few days. I'll give you more details then."

Saito took a deep drag out of his cigarette and looked at Tokio, while she lit one for herself. He was impressed at how she had managed business until now. Most people would not have been able to stand his questioning and his menacing stares, but she seemed almost unmoved by his attitude. The more he was being unfriendly, the more he felt that the woman respected him and enjoyed his presence. And that made him feel respect and appreciation for her. Which wasn't a good thing. Neither a thing he was used to.

Tokio was staring back at him with growing interest. From the very beginning she felt a kind of odd appreciation for the man. She liked people who frankly told their opinion and who did not bother being overly nice. Strength, courage and straightforwardness: as far as she knew, all the things she liked in others were gathered into one single human being. That was what had attracted her to him at first. And that was what still attracted her. Even more than his good looks.

Finally, Saito told her.

"I have another request for Shinomori."

"Yes…?" asked Tokio, fearing that the Oniwabanshu's already full agenda might not be able to absorb this new demand.

"The investigation on the first murder is not going anywhere. With the second one, it's different. We discover new possible avenues each day. So, we keep asking questions around. That is how we discovered that everywhere she went, the girl had quite a number of unpaid bills."

"And…?"

"She was not the only one with unpaid bills. Her boyfriends had quite an history in that domain too."

"It's a requirement to be allowed in her bed?"

"I would say that the problem is more drugs."

"Oh… I see."

"The girl and her boyfriends were known as regular clients of the local drug dealers. This led to indebtedness. We recently had information about the fact that drug dealers offer crappy deals to some clients having money problems… Many people were trapped lately in them. It is also said that getting out of them is practically impossible."

"The girl was trapped in such a deal?"

"That's what rumours says. So, we figured out that if the girl did not fulfil her part of the deal, it might have caused her some inconveniences. As the boyfriends might have been in a similar situation and as they might be held partially responsible for the girl's still unpaid debts, we thought that they might also experience, sooner or later, some trouble."

"That's a possibility."

"Yes. So, I got the pictures of all the known drug dealers around, and also an information file on each of them. If one of your spies ever sees one of these men near any of the three boyfriends, I want to be immediately told."

Saito took the envelope he had brought along with him, opened it and took the pile of documents. Realising that he was going to show her some of the stuff he kept in there, Tokio put her cigarette in the ashtray, got up and went to sit right beside him.

"You see… You have the name of the dealer, his address, his physical description, his picture, his actual business location and his antecedents. Plus, the state of his relation with the other drug dealers within the local group."

Tokio gave a distracted look at the document, not really caring. That wasn't part of her job. Aoshi would take care of that. She had already done more than her share and she was beginning to grow tired of this role.

As Saito went through a few pages, Tokio didn't bother listening or didn't even tried to seem interested. She was looking at him instead. At his thin lips moving. At his strong hands holding the document. Her mind was beginning to wander in known territory, once again, when a question suddenly popped in her mind.

"And, if you know all of those things about the drug dealers, why don't you simply arrest them?"

Saito frowned. Everyone inexperienced in police matters always seemed to ask that question. But it was a good one. He put the document on the desk and looked directly in Tokio's eyes before answering.

"Local drug dealers are nothing but pawns. They decide nothing, they follow orders and they know nothing of what is going on in the higher ranks of their organisation. That's why, unless a huge mistake is committed, they can't help us arrest the real mastermind: Kanryu Takeda. And, if we suppress one drug dealer, another will just immediately pop out. You can't get rid of them, so better use the known ones to eventually try to get at the boss."

He had finished talking, but realising that he was still staring at her, Tokio raised an eyebrow.

He did not answer, knowing too well why he had started this. Her pretty face and the line of her neck were totally responsible. Since the discussion had started, he had felt like staring at her like that, but had managed to ignore this strange impulse. But now, she was so near and her face was only inches away from his. It had become harder to forget that foolish need.

Even if he didn't like it at all, he didn't feel like breaking the stare. It was rare that anyone dared to look at him that directly. He wanted to know how long she was going to last. He was wishing to see her willpower break, to realise that she was only an ordinary woman. One among others and that there was no special reason for him to continue feeling attraction toward her.

But Tokio was not ready to break the eye contact. The more she looked into those strange amber eyes, the more she felt fascinated by what she could read. She could see the defiant look he gave her, telling her that she wouldn't last long. That she was too weak for him. But she could also read the attraction he hid behind those wishes. And that almost imperceptible invitation gave her the will to tempt him, once again. Slowly almost imperceptibly, she leaned forward. As her hand finally reached out to trace the line of his jaw, she left her seat and sat down on his lap, facing him.

Saito tensed, but he didn't break the stare. Unlike his body, his mind was not totally ready for this turn of events. He had hoped to see her break, but instead, she was going forward. A little too forward for his taste.

As her other hand joined the teasing game and began to unbutton his jacket, she whispered in his ear.

"You see, you can stay true to your word: you don't even have to call me back…"

Saito wished to stop this right now and get out of the office without further delay. He knew that this girl was nothing but trouble. He had already felt it after their previous encounter, but now he was sure of it. He should have left when he had noticed that she was alone. He should have found another way of contacting Shinomori. Yes he should have. And he could still stop this non-sense. But his body didn't obey his command. He only stared back at her while she now unbuttoned his shirt.

He closed his eyes as Tokio's hands finally met the bare skin of his torso. His mind was close to surrendering as well. Just as his hand automatically began to reach for the girl's hips, fortunately enough for him, his cell phone rang loudly, bringing him back to reality.

He quickly picked it up and answered.

"Inspector Hajime Saito here."

Tokio stilled and tried to catch the conversation's main topic, but Saito only said a yes or a no from time to time. After a while, she began to feel annoyed by this interruption and began reaching for his body again. Saito's free hand prevented her from doing so as he caught her wrist. The very unpleasant look he gave her, made her realise that her projects might be postponed…

She got up as he ended the conversation. She patiently waited for an explanation, while he arranged his clothes. Finally, he gave it.

"There is a new murder. Could you contact everyone in your network to see if anything happened lately?"

"Sure."

She did as told, while he waited for her answer. As she hung up the phone for the last time, she shook her head and told him.

"Nothing happened."

"It would have been too simple, I guess… I'll have to start a new investigation at the Kyoto's College for Girls then…"

"The what?" almost yelled Tokio, taken aback.

"The Kyoto's College for Girls. One of their student, still unidentified, was murdered less than fifteen minutes ago on the campus."

If anything had happened to Misao, Tokio was in real trouble… She had been supposedly watching after her. A thing she had not really done lately…

"I'm coming with you."

To be continued

To the reviewers:

Special thanks to Gaby (hyatt, Eeevee, JadeGoddess, Wolf of Mibu, Kamorgana and L. Sith, who took the time to review this story. (^-^)

À la prochaine,

Mary-Ann