Chapter Twenty-One: The Letter

"Yahiko!" Shouted Shougo, as he tried to reach his brother, but the light was coming too fast and too close.

The screeching of tires were heard as the car jerked on its breaks; Yahiko stood there in shock as the car ever came closer. As if someone loosened up his muscles, Yahiko went toward the ground in a ball.

The red car turned and did made a 180 degree turn and barely came an inch away from the small body on the other side. As if the car was breathing, you could see that the car was going up and down because of the tires.

"Are you all right kid?" Asked a familiar voice as a certain red hair stepped out of the car, Kaoru was kneeling beside the boy in no time.

"I'm not a kid," shot back a trembling voice, but it seemed to grow back in courage.

"Yahiko! Are you okay?" Asked Shougo as he raced over to him.

"You really shouldn't have been out in the middle of the driveway," said Kenshin looking down at the two kneeling people.

"Him! I told you that I should have driven us here, but no you had to be your crazy self and nearly run one of your employees over," Shouted Kaoru to Kenshin angrily, as she jabbed him in the chest making her boss back off and raise his hands in defense.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Came a voice as the door opened and out stepped Misao holding a hand to her mouth. She was pale, and the abrupt turn didn't help her, she was already queasy from when Kenshin was driving on the road.

Nearly falling forward onto the cement, two warm arms caught her fall. Trembling, she looked up when she heard Kaoru gasp.

Slowly lifting her eyes, her eyes went wide as she met gray-blues ones that sent her stomach fluttering with butterflies.

~*~*~*~

Walking over to her desk, Shura noticed a letter on her desk. The letter was placed inside a blue envelope, and on top was her name written in a golden cursive. A blue and white ribbon was placed around her name, and the brims of the letter were decorated with golden colored flowers.

Quirking an eyebrow, she slowly opened the envelope with a delicate finger. Careful not to crumple or damage the letter, she took it out and opened it. The note reading:

Dear Shura,

There is something that you need to see and hear. Go to Star Buck at noon, and don't be late. You might be the last one who can save him.

Signed,

Anonymous

Shura furrowed her brows before placing the letter back in its cover and sliding it into her desk neatly. She sat down and began to ponder who could send her such an expensive letter, and what was waiting for her at Star Bucks?

Let the thought slid, she looked at her watch, it was already 11 in the after noon, she still had an hour.

Tapping her desk with her manicured nails, she looked at the empty calls and there were no memos for her to do for Sano because of what happened last night.

She had remembered seeing him with Magdaria before going toward Megumi and leaving the ballroom, but she swore that the man made no suspicious move that night. If she remembered correctly, the man never came close to Akira.

Shaking her head from thinking too much, Shura let out a sigh. She shouldn't worry about such a jerk of a rooster, but a part of her felt that something was terribly wrong about the man getting blamed. A part of her was sure that he would never do such an act; not when there was no cause to do so. Why would a already rich man go after another rich man, that even if the man did kill the other guy what would the killer get? It made no sense, and the her thoughts were causing her brain to go to overdrive in her thinking

Rubbing her temples out of frustration, Shura sighed. Her eyes fell on the draw that she had placed the letter in.

Well I didn't have my coffee this morning, and I really to want a cappuccino right about now. Thought Shura, before standing and getting her coat. She really needed to get something in her system.

"Where are you going Shura?" Asked a fellow employee, who had her hands full with files, as she looked at Shura over the brim of her glasses.

"I'm going to get a drink, I forgot before I came here," said Shura before leaving.

"What about the coffee that we have..." Began the worker, but Shura had long since left.

Shrugging, the woman walked down to the filing room.

~*~*~*~

"So what do you say?" Asked Shishio with a grin, after they had spent the last hour explaining to Hiko why it was such a great deal.

"It sounds good enough," said Hiko, as if the deal was nothing of importance, and that it didn't happen to be able to boost up their chances of being the wealthiest corporation in all of Asia.

"We'll have to have the boss's signature though," said Saitoh gloomily, he hated to wait, and he had a suspicion that Kenshin was going to take his time.

"He's coming," came Aoshi's voice, he had been standing by the window that over looked the entire city of Tokyo.

The others raised eyebrows at him.

"He's speeding down the road as we speak," said Aoshi, as we walked toward the door.

"Going to fetch him?" Asked Hiko, when Aoshi moved to turn the doorknob.

Not looking back, Aoshi quickly left the room.

"So, now for the moron's case. How do we make sure that he doesn't bring the great name of M.R.S. down?" Questioned Saitoh.

"That's where we'll have to wait for Katsura and Okita," said Hiko as he intertwined his long fingers.

Sighing out of annoyance of having to wait, Saitoh and Shishio leaned back and looked out the window toward Tokyo.

~*~*~*~*~

Misao stayed in the two warm arms that had caught her, willingly falling into them as her knees melted from the eyes that she met.

"Are you okay Misao?" Questioned Kaoru as she rushed forward, and watched as the least likely being helped Misao up on her feet.

"What is it Aoshi?" Asked Kenshin when Aoshi faced him seriously.

Misao was blushing crimson at her clumsiness and how she stared at him.

"We need you and Kamiya to go up to the top floor and check out a deal; Hiko has already approved. We just need your signature," said Aoshi calmly.

"The deal with Mr. White?" Asked Kaoru after she was sure that Misao was okay, and not about to hurl from the intense ride of Kenshin's joyride back to the office. She had on a worried face, Misao's red face seemed as if she were getting a fever.

"Yes," Answered Aoshi.

"We were on our way up," said Kenshin with a nervous smile when Kaoru glared at him for putting her friend in such a state.

Aoshi didn't reply in any manner, he looked at Misao and then walked toward the elevator, Kenshin and Kaoru right behind him.

Misao, Shougo, and Yahiko took another elevator, and waited in an uncomfortable silence for a while. The air was tense, and Yahiko was sure that his brother would break the handle of his briefcase under the pressure he was applying. He wasn't quite sure what made his brother so angry, but it must have been something big.

Shifting in uneasiness, Yahiko could only wish that the elevator would just go faster so he could get out of his brother's reach and be with Tsubame as they filed papers and ran errands.

~*~*~*~*~

Shura ran out from the alleyway, and ran as fast as she could toward her car, fumbling with her keys she finally got the door open and jumped in. Starting the engine, she quickly got away. Away from what she saw, away from the bad thought that were forming within her mind.

She couldn't, and wouldn't believe it. How could she believe such a horrendous thing? The very idea was incredulous. There was no way that what she saw and heard was true. It was all a lie.

Why did I ever come early? Why did I ever think that I saw her? Why didn't I just waited at my seat until noon? Questioned Shura to herself as she road on.

Her fingers trembled as she held onto the steering wheel, and she seemed as if the only thing that was driving the car was instinct. The instinct that told her that she had to get away, had to leave behind what she saw. No, what she thought she saw. She refused to believe it.

She parked in a vacant area, and just stopped. Closing her eyes to think things over. This had happened too fast, and her brain was refusing to believe what it saw, but her instincts told her that it was only reasonable.

The ringing of her cell phone brought her back to reality.

Taking in a deep breath, she answered the phone with a weak 'hello'.

"I knew you'd go early. How did you enjoy getting the information that you wanted my little pirate?" Questioned a deep, dark, and masculine voice.

Shura's hand around the cell phone trembled and she dropped the cell phone, and maniac laugh following as cell phone fell to the floor by her foot.

~*~*~*~

A/N: That's about it for this time. I know it was short, but I'm working on my other fics and I wanted to get this out! Also because I promised to get the fic out a very great friend of mine, so here it was.