Chapter Eighteen: Evidence?
Her world seemed dark and she felt cold. It seemed like cold water was poured on her and she could never get warm; the place had no light. The area was dark; no one but her was there.
Street lamps were out, not a soul in sight.
She bundled herself in her black trench coat as she walked on aimlessly. As she walked on, she stared at the empty sky, only a single white star was out in the dark sky. She smiled at it, it was her light in this dark world.
Suddenly a loud deafening sound was heard not far away. Letting curiosity take over, the woman ran toward the noise.
She gasped and fell to her knees at what she saw. There was so much, so much blood, it filled the whole alley.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kaoru woke up screaming as she felt completely cold. She closed her eyes as a the sharp white light seared through her optical. Immediately closing her eyes, she realized that she was in a cold sweat.
"Are you okay Kaoru?" asked a familiar worried voice as someone held her shoulders.
Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Kenshin and wrapped her arms around his neck in a fierce hug.
Kenshin stared down at her shocked, but quickly wrapped his arms around her when he realized that she was crying. He rocked her back and forth comfortingly.
"It's all right Kaoru. We're in a hospital," said Kenshin soothingly, he didn't want to see her like this.
Kaoru slowly nodded and pulled away. She finally looked around at her surroundings.
She was in a white room like the one that Megumi and Magdaria were in, but this one only had one bed, and she was lying on it with Kenshin on the edge.
Her eyes looked toward the door and along the wall were Misao, Soujiro, Megumi, Takasugi, Shura, Magdaria, Shougo, Tae, and Kamatari all still in their outfits. Yahiko in a black suit was there, with Tsubame who had her hair neatly placed up in a bun was in a pink silky dress that fell a few inches over her knees.
They were all seated in separate chairs and looked as if they were suddenly woken up by a fire alarm.
"What happened?" asked Misao concerned, as she walked over to Kaoru.
"I had a nightmare," said Kaoru truthfully, she looked at the clock that hung above the door. She gasped when she realized it was already passed midnight.
"What happened?" asked Kaoru confused as she looked around at the gloomy faces.
"You don't remember?" asked Tae softly.
"I only remember seeing... blood and I-I blacked out I think," said Kaoru as she tried to remember last night's affairs.
"Sano was found shocked in an alley about two feet from Akira's body that was shot in the head and stabbed in the stomach. The man lost too much blood, he was already dead by the time the police came to take Sano away," said Magdaria sadly.
"But Sano's not that type of person! I mean, he's innocent until proven guilty," said Kaoru frantically. She knew Sano, he had grown to be like a brother to her, he wouldn't have killed someone and just stayed there looking shocked. Sano wouldn't kill period.
"We know, but the police found him holding a dagger, and there were witnesses. Sano had the dagger in his hand, and dropped it into the two inch puddle of blood made by Akira's wounds. The whole blade is dripping with Akira's blood.
"No one saw that the dagger was clean before it was dropped, so he's...." began Misao, who couldn't bare to finish it.
"But what about his suit, and the gun?" Asked Kaoru.
"The gun has yet to be found, and his suit has blood patches around his knees, and his shoes are covered in blood too. Akira lost three liters of blood before the ambulance came," said Megumi.
"He's not in jail for murder is he?" asked Kaoru as she looked around at the saddened faces.
"No he isn't, they just have him under custody for a while until we have court," said Kenshin in a low voice, it was barely a whisper.
"What type of court is it?" asked Kaoru.
"Both. Tomoe wants both types of courts. Takeda says that the American way is better, and Tomoe wants the Japanese way, so they're doing both," said Soujiro.
"Why would Takeda matter?" asked Kaoru angrily.
"Takeda became Akira's business partner a week before the incident," stated Takasugi.
Something was wrong, Kaoru knew it. There was something fishy about this.
Suddenly the doors opened and in walked Aoshi, who was with Okon. She was in a black dress that covered her whole body except for her elbows and down. Okon had her hair up and smiled at them all as Aoshi walked over to Kenshin.
Standing, Kenshin faced his employee.
"What did you get?" asked Kenshin anxiously.
"The doctors said that Akira was most likely stabbed before he was killed, since he wouldn't have bled if he was shot to the head and died first and then stabbed. Akira's body was found to stop working at 8:45 PM on Saturday, on the 25th of August; the night of the Sakura Ball," said Aoshi; there was no emotion present in his voice.
The others all fell silent as they took all the information in.
"You never got a chance to see Yamagata White yesterday," reminded Aoshi.
"Ah yes, the contract. Kaoru," said Kenshin as he looked at his escort, who snapped out of her concentration and looked up at him.
"Do you think you're well enough to go to the meeting with me tomorrow?" asked Kenshin, as he walked over to her.
"... Yes. I feel better," lied Kaoru.
Kenshin frowned at her, he knew she was lying. He couldn't place his finger on it, but it seemed like Kaoru looked as if she really wanted to figure out the case. It were as if it were personal somehow.
Shaking off the feeling, he smiled at her as he helped her get off the bed.
"We better all get home," said Shougo as he stood up.
The others nodded and followed.
"I'll stay here," said Megumi after a while.
"Why?" asked Misao concerned as she looked at her cousin.
"I want to get my test results from earlier this week," said Megumi with a smile.
Misao smiled weakly before following the others out of the room. They left Megumi to find Dr. Katsu for her tests on her leukemia.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Something wrong?" asked Kenshin as he looked at Kaoru who sat beside him in the limo.
"No," said Kaoru, as she tried desperately not to falter. She didn't want him to worry.
"What's wrong?" demanded Kenshin, though his voice was still soft.
"I-I just don't understand. Something is wrong about all of this. Sano didn't do it. If I could just... Stop and think about it, get the information... I know that he's innocent," said Kaoru as tears threatened to fall as she looked into his steel blue eyes.
"I know he. I've known Sano for a long time, and I know he'd never kill Akira," said Kenshin as he looked deep into her eyes in reassurance.
"But... The jury won't believe it. There's no solid evidence, and they'll think that he killed Akira because the blade is full of blood. No one saw if it had blood on it in the first place," said Kaoru as she allowed the tears to fall freely.
Kenshin smiled down at her comfortingly as he pulled her into a hug and rocked her back and forth as if she were a child. He rubbed her back and faced her when he felt that she had relaxed.
"Don't think about it too much. We'll get his name back, don't worry. All you can do now, is stand tall and show courage. Sano wouldn't want you to cry," said Kenshin as he cupped her face with both hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
Kaoru nodded and stopped crying as she smiled weakly up at him. He's right, they wouldn't want me to cry.
~*~*~*~*~
Megumi couldn't help but smile as she took the cab home. She was so happy, yet sad that Sano should be in such a predicament. But she had gotten a donor. She would be all right.
Only two more days and I won't have to worry. Thought Megumi as she smiled.
She looked out the window and smiled to the bright colors. Looking up she saw a star that was more than beautiful from where she was at, it was gorgeous. She smiled before sitting up straight and looking dead ahead, not noticing the white light.
*BAM*
A blinding light was seen from her side of the car, before she could scream or gasp the car swerved and made a 360.
The yellow cab flipped over two cars and landed on its side. Glass was spilled all along the ground as cars stopped and people got out. There were screaming as people quickly took out their cell phones and called for paramedics.
A small man in his late 30s walked over to the cab carefully. He slowly walked over and hoped that the people inside were all right.
Suddenly a hand came out as the ambulance was heard a few blocks down. The taxi driver looked pale as a ghost as the man in his 30s helped the other man out of the taxi cab.
He smiled to see that the other man wasn't injured at all, just shocked.
But upon looking down, on the side that the vehicle landed on, the man's eyes went wide as he saw blood streaming out of the car where the glass laid.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: That's about it.