Sentiments of gip-k: -Heyo, everyone, welcome to the last chapter! ^_^ I surely hope it's been enjoyable for you all so far… really, it took me WAYY too long to post this up, I know your feelings, dear fans! Please don't kill me for it, though. And now, finally, the final chapter 4. (Crosses fingers)

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Disclaimer: As I have said countless times in the past, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Please, if I owned it, I'd be a very rich young lady, and there would be little reason for me to write this fanfictions. I would write bonus chapters to the manga. If I was creator and owner, that would be, but I'm neither.

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---Sanosuke's Lost Coat: Chapter 4---

"I just want to find my coat!" Sanosuke cried out in the middle of a park in Tokyo. Birds hastily flew away at the sound of his startlingly loud voice, and heads of people swiveled around to peer at him with wide eyes. Children clutched to their mothers skirts, and the mothers hugged them close, crooning soothing words to them, while at the same time regarding him with disapproving stares. Sanosuke could care less about what they thought. The absence of his coat was ruining him.

"Hey, is that you Mr. Sagara?" A man asked, eyes lighting up with recognition. "I see you haven't been having a nice day. Anything I can do to help?"

"No," Sanosuke replied icily, glaring the man down to silence. Then he stalked off down the road that led to the main town, nearly knocking people down in the process.

He was in another of his dull moods. His stomach growled loudly, but he quelled his hunger. He didn't exactly feel like eating. Sanosuke put his hands in his pockets, and glared at everything while he walked. He dragged an old fishbone out of his pocket and began chewing on it. The little turd that stole his coat would pay… pay dearly. Once he found him, he certainly would.

Sanosuke, as always, kept his eyes sharp and on the lookout for any sign of anyone suspicious. His frustration and evident hunger, however, kept him from being able to think very clearly.

Then, as he was walking, cursing with each painful footstep, he saw a flash of white darting right past him…

He turned around with incredible speed and reflexes and grabbed.

He caught a handful of white coat.

Sanosuke did not bother to look at the words on the back, or exactly who he'd just grabbed. He just lifted him high in the air, teeth bared with pure anger. The person seemed light, so he freed his right arm, clenching it into a fist.

"Okay, Sanosuke said. He brought his arm back. "If you don't tell me right now-"

The wide blue eyes filled with fright, and the small face was pale. Then all of the sudden, at that moment, the face broke into a smile, and color immediately returned.

"Oi! It's you, Mr. Sagara!"

Sanosuke blinked a few times, and suddenly his eyes re-focused, and he took a real look at the person he was holding up so high in the air.

He was just a small boy, with soft, thin brown hair, and almost babyish features, marked by the overly large azure orbs that took so much space up in his face, and the small face that had broken into a tentative smile. He couldn't have been more than a fifth of Sanosuke's size, if even that, and if he had hit the boy… Sanosuke blinked again. He saw at that moment, that the boy also had a bandana tied around his head, a literal raggedy orange version of Sanosuke's.

Sanosuke dropped his fist, but didn't dare put the boy down.

"Who exactly are you?" Sanosuke asked, confused.

"I'm Locke Mitsuishi, son of-"

"I don't have time for the long intros, kiddo, so why don't you cut to the chase?" Sanosuke asked, growling slightly. "Where'd you get that coat from?"

"Oh!" the boy said, face cheering even more. He positively beamed. "Miss Tae's assistant, little Tsubame, made it for me!"

Sanosuke's eyes widened, and he swore. The boy put on an artificial look of disdain upon hearing Sanosuke's use of language, but he ignored that, of course.

"What -? Tsubame made that for you?" he asked incredulously. What?

"Hai!" the boy replied excitedly. "I told her what words to write on the back, too. She wrote down 'Professional' on it! Do you think that I am professional, like my father, Mr. Sagara?"

Sanosuke fully ignored the question, for he was still in shock. He set the boy down, whom indeed, had to lift his head a great deal to look up at Sanosuke. He looked over the coat. It indeed, was an exact replica of Sanosuke's, other than the word on the back being changed. The boy looked very prideful.

"It looks nice on me, don't it, Mr. Sagara?" the small boy said, grinning.

Tsubame did make a good copy, but that was beyond the point. Sanosuke was going to go to the Akebeko right that moment, and he was going to set some things straight with that girl.

"Yeah, sure it does kiddo," Sanosuke said absently. Then he turned down the corner and ran.

"You're not a very polite man, Mr. Sagara!" the boy cried after him, artificial disdain in his voice.

* * *

Sanosuke reached the Akebeko in minutes, on account of how quickly he was running. When he got there, there was the little cute girly-girl there, handing out another replica of Sanosuke's coat to a blond-haired, green-eyed boy, who paid her generously for it.

"Thank you, Toyou!" Tsubame said, a shy smile displaying itself on her face. The boy winked at her as he walked off in his new coat, and she looked down, blushing.

"Hi, Tsubame!" he said that obviously very loudly, purposely startling the girl. She instantly went pale, but when she saw it was only he, she smiled.

"Hi-"

At that very moment the first syllable was gone for her lips, he had rounded on her, standing over her threateningly. She tried to turn and run, but he had her backed in a corner. She brought a hand to her mouth to hold in a scream.

"Please, Mr. Sagara-" she squeaked in a very frightened, innocent voice when Sanosuke grabbed her arm. "You're hurting me!"

"You deserve to be hurt, you little thief!" Sanosuke emphasized the last words. He growled. "Where is my coat?" he demanded.

Some of the fear drained from her face, and she spoke in a very quiet voice.

"Is that all you want?"

"Yes, dang it, it's all I want you!" he said irritably. "Now tell me where it is before I drown you in your favorite well back outside!"

At that moment, Tae appeared from inside the Akebeko.

"Sanosuke Sagara, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"She's got my coat!" Sanosuke was in such a flurry he barely got the words out.

"I didn't mean to make you so angry, Mr. Sagara," Tsubame interrupted in a shaky voice. When he turned back to her, she let out a squeak, and continued in a mouse-like voice, her eyes studying the ground. "I only wanted to borrow it for a few moments."

"Moments?" Sanosuke said, voice full of utter disbelief. "That was more like days!"

"Stop this now or I'll call the police," Tae interrupted.

"It's all right, Miss Tae," Tsubame said. "Um, follow me, Mr. Sagara," Tsubame said, finally managing to put on a smile- but a very, very thin one indeed.

Sanosuke dared to let the little girl go, and she walked ahead of him at a very controlled pace. Sanosuke was surprised- he thought that he would have had to half dart after her.

They walked through the Akebeko restaurant, and behind the bar, where there was a series of small storage rooms. In them were also some things for Tsubame. A sewing can set atop some crates of tofu, and some material stored in a small chest were among them, as well as a small rocking chair for her to sit in.

Finally, deeper in the storage rooms, Tsubame had to light a small lamp. Sanosuke looked attentively. Finally, the light fell on a neat folded white jacket. Tsubame set her lamp down, and then carefully picked up the jacket… very carefully, and then held it out to Sanosuke with a cheerful smile.

"Here you are, Mr. Sagara, here is your jacket," she spoke in happy, high-pitched tones.

Sanosuke blinked a couple of times in pure disbelief. Then he, numb with shock, squatted way down to Tsubame's height, and simply looked at the jacket for a moment.

It was in perfect condition… no, actually, in better condition than when he had had it. Sanosuke took it from her an examined it. All of the few small holes in it had been sewn up, and it had been ironed and neatly folded.

"You took care of it for me," Sanosuke mused.

"Aren't you going to put it on?" Tae asked teasingly.

Something snapped in Sanosuke's brain, and he hurriedly put his arms in the jacket and shrugged into it.

"I'm sorry again for taking your coat, Mr. Sagara-"

"Remember I've told you to call me Sano," Sanosuke said with a wry grin.

Tsubame's large eyes widened.

"You're not angry at me anymore?" she asked in disbelief.

"Nope, you took good care of this jacket for me," Sanosuke said with a wide grin. "And it sure is great to have it back on!" He inhaled, and even did a few punches in his jacket. Yes, it was excellent. This jacket was definitely a part of him.

But somehow, underneath it all, he didn't exactly feel any better. He felt, right but not any more intimidating, or with some drastic personality change. He was simply at ease again.

"Well, let's get out of this old musty storage room," Tae said, exchanging smiles with Sano. "Want a drink? You haven't been here in eons, I would think."

"Is it free?"

Tae rolled her eyes.

"You haven't changed, have you? Oh, all right!" she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "What's new, anyway? Come on out. Hurry now, before I change my mind!" she added teasingly.

Sanosuke darted out after her, with Tsubame not too far behind. Suddenly, Sanosuke turned around, suddenly remembering something. Tsubame stopped in her tracks, and peered up at him, her eyes widening again with a sudden return of fear.

"S- something wrong?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. "How'd you manage to get in my room and 'borrow' my coat, anyway?"

"Well…" Tsubame blushed, and looked down to the ground. "I just was very, very quiet-" she emphasized the quiet with a low voice. "-And then I saw the coat on your table, and I just took it."

Sanosuke fell down anime-style. Tsubame's eyes widened.

"Sano!"

"Ouch…" Sanosuke said. "That's bad. If a little girl can bust into my apartments without my knowing, I think I need to work on that."

Tsubame giggled.

"Um, Tae is in the kitchen waiting-"

Sanosuke literally jumped up and broke off into a run, and Tsubame giggled again, and hurried after him.

So after a good drink, Sanosuke was good to go. He walked down the Tokyo streets with a spring in his step. This time, nothing bothered him. He helped another lady with her cats, and when a little boy tripped, he helped him up, laughing and ruffling his hair.

So Sanosuke learned something… despite the "bad" symbol on his back, he was happy to do these good things for these nice Tokyo people who he liked so much. When he went to visit Kaoru in the dojo, he shared his fun story, and he also was nice to the dojo people, too. Though he didn't help Kaoru with the dishes or anything like that, he did make her laugh when she was looking down that day. So he supposed he was a fair good guy.

"And they like me that way," Sanosuke said, grinning to himself as he walked home that day.

So, indeed, Sanosuke learned a lesson, and everything went perfectly fine. Until…

"Where is my headband?"

… … …

The End

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gip-k's Post Chapter/Story Statements: -It's done! I surely hope everyone enjoyed that. Thanks to all of you who decide to read this story. ^_^ I appreciate all of your reviews, so please don't forget to leave me one. So it's "cheerio" until the next episode! ^___^

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