Author's Note: Bah! I'm so impatient that I'm just going to post this chapter up right now! Even though I only got – what two reviews for the last chapter? Anyway, I hope more people like and review my story! I also have this planned out for another five chapters! Yay for me!!

Disclaimers: Sano and all the other hot characters of Rurouni Kenshin (Kenshin, Aoshi, Saito, and Katsu) ALL BELONG TO ME!!! You people just don't see . . . Cuz I'm in too deep, and I'm trying to keep all the fun in my head – instead of going under aggggainnnn!! (Sum41 song!!) ^_^

Chapter 4: Explosions of Scarlet

//What's that smell? Is it. . . sulfur?!// Captain Sagara suddenly stiffened. Takei took notice of

that. Captain Sagara usually never stiffened unless some explicit danger was looming around the corner.

"Is there something wrong, Captain?" Takei asked inquisitively.

"Yes, get the Sekihoutai ready for a battle; we're about to be attacked.

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            Katsu was ready to checkmate Sano just as he heard a noise. It was small, yet distinctive. It sounded like a spark, the one Katsu usually lighted on a cannon when he was in battle.

"Sano, watch out!" without a second thought Katsu sprang forward at Sano, knocking him to the floor just in time as wood splinters and huge block of wood went everywhere, one enormous chunk going right past where Sano would have been.

"Katsu! What's going on?!" Sano asked, scared, yet relieved that he was alive at the same time.

"We were attacked by outsiders! My guess is that they planted the bomb in here before we came in here!" Katsu told Sano as much as he knew, or guessed before running upstairs.

"Hey, Katsu! Wait!" Sano yelled at Katsu before quickly getting on his feet and following Katsu upstairs. The rest of the Sekihoutai were already prepared and quickly grabbed their weapons and dashed outside in order to follow the intruder ad get some answers.

" . . . the fourth and fifth squadron, take the north! The third and sixth squadron take the west! The seventh and eighth squadron, take the south! The second and first squadron will come with me and take the east! Split and take your positions!" Captain Sagara ordered the Sekihoutai with quick, planned precision.

            Sano heard all of this and it became the second thing to ask Katsu about when he FOUND him. Wherever Katsu was, he sure got there quick enough. Sano finally found Katsu, in the room they shared.

"Katsu! Hey, Katsu! Why'd you run up here so quick?!" Sano irritably asked Katsu. Katsu answered as he was trying to put some sort of weapon together.

"I ran up here because of Captain orders!" He answered as he continued to mix some kind of powder before putting it into the machine.

"But he didn't give you any!" Sano protested, totally confused by now. Katsu sighed and turned around to face Sano.

"They're UNDERSTOOD orders! Captain says that whenever we are in unpredicted danger we should go to find our weapons and protect ourselves if needed! If we can then we should come out and help the Sekihoutai fight our new unknown enemy!" Katsu answered quickly before going back to search for something else. Sano stood there, the information sinking in. Sano suddenly started as if he just remembered something important.

"Then why was he shouting something about squadrons and telling them which direction to go?" Sano asked Katsu. Katsu continued to reply as he still searched frantically for something.

"Same concept – he assigns certain members squadrons and then when we are attacked unexpectedly he is able to organize them faster! – AHA!" Katsu yelled triumphantly.

"Huh? 'AHA'- what?" Sano asked as Katsu held up something wrapped in some kind of cloth. Katsu unwrapped it to reveal a rifle-looking gun.

"Here, you take this and use it to defend yourself." Katsu said as he handed Sano his weapons while at the same time taking his 'weapon.'

"Katsu, I don't even know how to use this!" Sano said as he stared at the gun in his hands.

"Simple, aim and pull the trigger, reload and continue the cycle all over again. Now come on!" Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm and started to pull him down the stairs – towards the direction of the battle.

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Captain Sagara continued to run as if his life depended on the catching up to the culprits. In the society of the Sekihoutai, you not only needed to be skillful with a weapon and understand military strategy, but you also had to be able to run – fast. The Sekihoutai stopped as the culprits suddenly went out of sight.

"He disappeared around the corner – there!" yelled Jimie-ko as he pointed ahead.

"You heard him – let's go!" Captain Sagara yelled as the rest of the Sekihoutai members followed quickly. The culprits finally came back into view.

"Half battle formation!" Captain Sagara yelled as the Sekihoutai members started to arrange themselves. Two members became the wings, which means that they went on opposite sides of each other and covered as much ground from the center point, which was Captain Sagara, as they could. One member trailed behind Captain Sagara The other three members quickly found a way to climb up on the building and ran towards the edge of it – the point was to get inform of the enemy and then corner him.

"If you surrender and give up now, we don't need to go through this!" Captain Sagara yelled at the culprits. The culprits suddenly stopped, not because they had any intention of surrendering, but because they were cornered. Now that Captain Sagara was close enough to them, he finally saw what they looked like in the light.

All of three of them were wearing the traditional kimono, except one donned a kimono that far exceeded the rest of the members – he was obviously the leader. The other two looked quite scruffy in their appearance, with wild black and unkempt hair both in ponytails. Ugly scars adorned both of their faces and they appeared hideous in the beautiful moonlight. The leader, on the other hand, could have been mistaken for an aristocrat. His clothes were much like those worn by nobility and he looked very well kept and his hair looked beautiful and shiny in contrast to his lackeys.

"We have nothing to discuss. Our plans have failed, however we have no intention of surrendering and will find a way to kill you." The leader said as one of his hands went behind his back.

"Tell us what were your intentions and why you have the desire to get rid of us, the Sekihoutai." Captain Sagara asked the ringleader. The leader grinned.

" Like I said – we have NOTHING to discuss!" The leader and his lackeys then tossed bombs in the direction of the Sekihoutai members.

"Watch out!" Captain Sagara yelled as he knocked Takei out of the way of the bomb, which exploded near the Captain's right arm. Takei watched in horror as his leader's arm was torn away by the force of the bomb, flesh and blood being blown in pieces ending with white bone being shown. The culprits ran and escaped as the rest of the Sekihoutai members lay on the floor.

"Takei, go after them. Take them down." The Captain told Takei as he clutched his right arm in pain. Caught between the injury of his Captain and his orders, Takei stood where he was.

"But – But Captain!"

"Go, now! Before he gets away! Take vengeance for your fallen comrades!" Captain Sagara told Takei as he looked him straight in the eye. Takei nodded once and ran off in the direction of the evil-doers as Captain Sagara stayed with the rest of his fallen members. They were nothing but corpses surrounded in an endless pool of uncontrollable scarlet. . .

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            Rage burned inside of Takei as he chased after the enemy which once more destroyed more people he cared about. He finally caught up to the two lackeys – whom he slew effortlessly. He then proceeded to chase after the leader. He finally caught up with him and had him pinned against the wall of a building and Takei held his sword one inch from the enemy's throat.

"WHY did you do that?! What fucking demon caused you to kill so many people?! Why do you hate us?!" Takei hissed into the enemy's face.

"Simple, I was ordered."

" By WHOM?!"

"Mr. Takenaka, of course." The foe answered with a devilish grin.

Hehe. Well that's the fourth chapter – another cliff hanger there for you! ^_^ Hope you don't kill me too much! I'm updating!! Yay! Good for me!!

Thank you to all my reviewers.