Sentiments of gip-k: -Well, so far, so good. I'm having a ton of fun giving Sanosuke a miserable life. ^_^ And the question: who stole his coat? Just keep reading to find out. And to the disclaimer, we go! ^_^

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Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but I do own these fanfictions. Not to make financial profit from them, but to make emotional profit and to gain experience in writing. That would be it. ^_^ Oh and I do reserve the right to torture Sanosuke. ^_~

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---Sanosuke's Lost Coat: Chapter 3---

From that point on, all Sanosuke ever did was search for his coat. Meanwhile, people had begun treating him differently… a lot differently. On every street corner they were saying:

"Hey, Sano, how are you doing today?"

"Hello, Mr. Sagara! Heard you saved Lin-san's cats! That's really noble of you."

"Hey, Sanosuke, can you spare a few minutes here? I need some help with this thing here…"

At first, Sanosuke had been very happy to help them, and proud that he was "popular". But it was a form of popular that he preferred not to have.

His friends gave him strange looks, directing teasing comments at him at every corner by which he passed. Other barkeepers, who knew him and had despised him in the past, now became his best friends, giving him free drinks and talking to him as if they'd known him for years. No one ever seemed to want to pick a fight with him anymore, only stare at him with gruff distaste and perhaps a tad bit of respect.

Oh and the people housed in the Kamiya Dojo? He avoided them completely. There was absolutely no telling what they'd say, since there was not a doubt in his mind that they'd heard the rumors, he was not prepared to take their torture.

All the while he was doing all of these favors, his sanity was being marred, as well as his "reputation". Sure, he wasn't a really bad guy, but he didn't want to be known as a good guy either. He had liked it before when people like Tae, the Akebeko woman, had been antagonizing with him. It was fun to tease them. Now they half threw themselves at him and the ones that did seemed to always be the fat ugly ones. Of course, Tae probably would not do that in a million years, but he did not dare visit Tae, because she was Kaoru's friend. Right now, Kaoru was his greatest enemy. He had never been scared of anything, but right now he was definitely afraid of an encounter with Kaoru.

Sanosuke was losing his wits over this issue- he had to find that coat, and he had to find it immediately. All the people in town were driving him crazy. Hell, they were crazy!

Sanosuke was stalking through the city, glaring through and at everything, when he crashed into a beautiful young raven-haired lady.

Who just happened to be named Kaoru Kamiya.

"Hey, watch where you're going you little-!" Kaoru's eyes widened when she noticed it was Sanosuke. "Oh, hi Sano! I'm so sorry! Are you all r -? Hey, where are you going? Sano! "

Sanosuke had taken off running once he had recognized that woman, and was not going to turn back for anything. He rushed down an ally way, and felt a hand grab his arm.

"Hey -! What -?" Sanosuke turned to face the person who had grabbed him. He was soon staring into the face of one of his good old friends, Katsu.

"Hey, you almost knocked me down, you big jerk," Katsu said, amusement sparkling in his dark green eyes. "Who were you running from, anyway?" Katsu looked down the ally. He saw Kaoru running pasts before Sanosuke could jerk him back around.

"Hey, isn't that one of your friends?"

"Yeah, idiot!" Sanosuke retorted a bit icily. "Do you mind letting me go?"

Katsu let him go, tsking softly.

"And you say I'm moody," Katsu replied. He did let Sanosuke go, though, despite his words.

Sanosuke put his hands in his pockets.

"So why are you running from her," Katsu said, lighting a cigarette. It was hardly the tone one would use for a question.

Sanosuke sighed.

"You'd better not ****ing laugh or you're going to get my fist in your mouth for lunch," Sanosuke said seriously.

Katsu chuckled.

"It's hardly lunch time, Sano." He replied.

Sanosuke could have laughed, were the situation not so serious. He let out another sigh.

"Oh, say, what happened to your coat?" Katsu asked, puffing out little circles of smoke.

"That's exactly the problem!" Sanosuke said angrily.

"You're missing coat?"

"Yeah," Sanosuke replied gruffly. "Everyone's been treating me too nicely since I lost that coat. It makes my skin creep. An old lady asked me to get her cats out of a tree a couple days ago!"

Katsu chuckled again.

"Haha, I heard that story," Katsu replied, an amused grin making its way unto his face. "Very noble of you, Sanosuke."

"Don't say that again."

"People have been treating you different ever since you stopped fighting, Sano," Tsunan said, puffing more smoke out of his cigarette. "This is no different."

"You don't get it- it is," Sanosuke replied. "As I said before it is really freaky."

"What's different?" Katsu asked. He looked at Sanosuke, grinning. "And that still doesn't answer my question about the Kamiya girl."

"Katsu you're such a big idiot, and a pain in the @$$ too," Sanosuke replied. He had to grin, though.

"That's my job," Katsu said, grinning back. "So as I was previously saying, what's so different?"

"I've been getting drinks for free! And the ladies are happy to give them! People have been… congratulating me on my good deeds. Does that sound very much like me to you?"

"You're a good man, Sanosuke," Katsu replied simply. "You do lots of good things. You might be sort of a cheapskate, but other than that you're a good person. So you're telling me you like being known as a cheapskate?"

Sanosuke grimaced.

"I suppose so," he replied.

"And the Kamiya woman says that about you the most, correct? And what about that Akebeko lady?" Katsu replied. He through his cigarette on the ground, and stamped it out.

"I've been avoiding them," Sanosuke said seriously.

"You're hilarious, Sano," Katsu said. "You're running from two women because you're afraid of being teased."

"I am not afraid!" Sano replied.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"If you're not why are you running?"

"Why don't you start going to visit them instead if you love them so much!" Sanosuke retorted angrily.

Katsu grinned even more widely, and Sanosuke really began considering hitting the man.

"Listen carefully, Sano," Katsu replied. "I'm thinking that you're exaggerating this circumstances by far. Your coat meant a lot to you, and you simply feel incomplete without it. So get the coat back, and everything will be fine."

"Thanks, Doctor," Sanosuke said, dryly. But he knew Katsu was right, and so he calmed down. The picture in his mind of punching Katsu squarely in the jaw was starting to dissipate.

"Your welcome," Katsu replied in a voice that could almost be called cheerful. "So your main priority is to find this coat, or have another one made. I think the original is of much sentimental value to you. So whoever stole it, you'll just have to hunt them down and find them."

Sanosuke decided to leave out the fact that he'd already searched all throughout Tokyo, and he had not yet found it.

"Thanks, friend," was all he said instead.

"Your welcome," Katsu replied with a small smile. "Take care of yourself, Sano."

"Always do," Sanosuke replied with a small smile. "See 'ya later, Katsu."

With that, the two parted. Sanosuke began walking out the ally way. He thought he heard very loud laughter coming from the other end. He growled. That idiot Katsu!

Well, he was his friend. He was certain that no matter how funny he found the situation, he wouldn't actually try to make it worse. Or so Sanosuke hoped.

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gip-k's Post Chapter Statements: -It just keeps getting better… I hope. -_- Have I been living up to the humor genre on this one? I surely hope so! ^_^ Well, now unto the last chapter. Don't forget to leave me a review. ^_^

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