Chapter 28: Redo?




The breeze blew through her long ebony terraces as it combed through her hair. A smile touched her rosy colored lips as she looked down at the lake before her and leaned against the rail of the balcony that was just outside her room.

Kaoru had wanted the room that was to the left of the Theatre, but Sanosuke had insisted on having the room that was connected to the East Tower. So settling for the next best room that overlooked the lake and the grand scenery, Kaoru took the room at the far left.

The 24-year-old was so caught up in the beauty of her new room and outside, that she nearly jumped when there was a knock at her door. She had almost forgotten that she was sharing the house with two others.

"May I come in?"

Kaoru smiled at the familiar baritone voice before answering, "Come in."

"So, you want to stay in here?" asked the red head as he walked outside towards the balcony as well.

He only smiled as he saw his lawyer and personal assistant blush and nod at his words; she'd always looked pretty when she blushed.

"I e-mailed my uncle and he says that he's on his way to get your grandfather. It'll probably be a few days before they arrive," informed Kenshin as leaned his back against the rail so that he could face her.

Kaoru only stared at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry if that was too much information for you to process, I keep forgetting that I have to take things slowly with you since you don't remember." Kenshin scratched the back of his neck as he smiled apologetically at her as he saw the rage in her eyes.

"I am not an idiot! I know that I don't remember...but all that I can remember...is him...." She whispered the last two words so it was only possible for her to hear. Kaoru shuddered at the forming shadows inside her mind, and rubbed her hands on her arms trying to keep warm.

"Say again?" Kenshin suddenly asked alarmed. He swore he heard Kaoru say that she remembered… him? Maybe it was the killer. He wasn't sure though.

"Oh, nothing." Kaoru then felt uneasy. Upon seeing her behavior, Kenshin decided to change the topic.

"Come on; let's get you downstairs where it's warm. I'll cook you something hot to eat; miso soup? Or would you rather have junk food? I stocked this place up a few weeks ago; I was planning to stay here before but I didn't realized you and Sanosuke would join me," explained Kenshin as he motioned for her to enter the room.

He went to open her room door when he realized that she wasn't moving from her spot, but instead just staring at him.

"Is something wrong?" Kenshin asked concerned as he saw the far away look in Kaoru's innocent blue eyes.

"Am I a bother?" Kaoru whispered as she shifted on her feet uncomfortably and looked at the ground.

"Of course not, why would you be? I'm your friend, and friends help each other through thick and thin. You'll catch a cold out there," said Kenshin as he walked back towards her and placed his hands on her shoulder.

Kaoru smiled up at him at that and allowed him to lead her down the swirling stairs and into the hexagonal-shaped kitchen that was to the right of the grand room on the first floor.

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Myojin Sayo smiled warmly as the sun's last rays touched her glowing cheeks and giggled as she felt the cooling sand between her toes. Throwing her head back to catch all of the sun's heat, Sayo closed her eyes happily. She couldn't help but smile at the elderly man that sat on a boulder just a few steps to her right.

"This place is wonderful.... So only you and my grandmother knew about it?" asked Magdaria curiously as she cocked her head and stared at Okina.

Kamiya Okina stared out onto the sunset before facing the 24-year-old with a broad grin on his face. He had been so busy remembering how he had first met Sayo's grandmother by accident on this secluded part of the beach that he didn't notice she was even there. They were after all near one of the many edges of Japan that touched the Pacific Ocean.

"Yes, right here was our secret place. This place can fit a nice comfortable home for three and still have enough room for the group to play around in...." Okina trailed off as he let out a long sigh.

"If you had gotten together with grandmother, then you two would have lived here, wouldn't you?" asked Magdaria as she looked up at the older man with a sparkle in her eyes.

Okina smiled as he saw the resemblance between grandmother and granddaughter; blinking quickly to get rid of the forming tears, Okina stood up and faced the small hill behind them that would have held a wondme this close," Okina moved his right thumb and forefinger close together for emphasis, "to running away together and living here for the rest of our days.... But we all had too much honor and knew that we had to face our families sooner or later. I shall not regret those times though; some of my best memories were of your grandmother."

Sayo could feel a sob getting stuck in her throat as she saw the dreamy look in Okina's eyes and felt her heart cry out for him.

"W-why d-didn't you face your families together; you two weren't allowed together?" asked Magdaria once she found her voice and could feel her face warm up.

She bit her lower lip when she realized that her face was probably as red as a tomato when she heard Okina chuckle from her question and appearance.

"You could say that one of us wasn't suppose to be checking out the other," said Okina with a grin; the meaning of his words causing Sayo to become a darker red when realization dawned on her.

"Grandmother had an arranged marriage with Grandpa?" asked Sayo as she got to her feet and rushed over to him.

She immediately regretted her question when she saw Okina frown.

"You're quite bright young lady; yes that was the case. It would have dishonored her completely if we went through with our plan. Despite our love for one another, we held our honor and pride before it. So then we just...went our separate ways," said Okina as his eyes glazed over from the memory.

"I-I'm so sorry," whispered Sayo as she bit her lower lip.

"It's quite alright dear! There's no reason for lurking around in the past when we can enjoy the present!" said Okina as his mood switched from sober to happiness in a split second.

Sayo only blinked at the man's sudden mood change, but smiled as she said, "Yes...we must all move on."

"Talking about moving on, don't I have to move on to find my granddaughter? We better get back to your house," said Okina as he realized how long they've been at the secluded beach.

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" yelled Sayo as she grabbed on her shoes that were still in the sand.

Laughing at the young girl, Okina quickly helped her get back her items before they left to go back to her home.

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Yahiko raced up the steps of his house and pounded on the doors as Tsubame stayed by the cab that had brought them to there. Banging on the door, the teenager began to panic when once again no one answered.

"Magdaria had to have gotten home already with Mr. Kamiya…" whispered Yahiko to himself as he shoved his hands in his pant pocket and searched for his house key.

"They're not in there?" shouted Tsubame from the yellow car when she realized that the 16-year-old was beginning to stress out.

"I'm going in; wait out here!" ordered Yahiko when he finally managed to get the golden key into the hole and turned.

Tsubame could only look after as her friend began to search the house.

"Hey, Miss! Are you two going to go anywhere after this?" asked the driver as he poked his head out of the window and looked up at Tsubame for an answer.

"I'm not sure…. Do you mind staying here for a few more minutes?"

"Alright, but only because you two pay heartily."

Tsubame turned back when she heard Yahiko shouting a few choice words as he stormed out of the house and locked the door behind him.

"Do you have any idea where they went?" asked Tsubame when Yahiko made it clear that no one was at home.

"They didn't even leave a note! This isn't like Sayo…she would have left me some clue… as to where she goes if she leaves the house," said Yahiko as he began to worry and walked over to the other teenager.

Tsubame bit her lower lip; where could the two have gone?

"We better just get back to the office before someone suspects anything," said Yahiko as he opened the cab door for her.

Sighing, Tsubame nodded and entered the car.

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"Did you find anything?"

"Yes ma'am, they're in Las Vegas."

"They left the country?"

"Well, the only Las Vegas I know is located in California, so yeah they left the country."

"I know that, you imprudent scoundrel! I was making my facts clear! Why would they leave the country for? They know that they're not supposed to leave the country when a court case isn't finished…."

"I guess that they didn't get the message from the court about Akira's death case. The court was so shocked about Kanryu's outburst that they failed to complete the trial. Those fools went right to the judgment."

"No one ever said that the Law was intelligent. If we could pull off that scheme, then we can do anything. We'll be back in Tokyo in a few hours. I guess we won't need my brother after all, since they'll have no choice but to come back to Japan to finish the case."

"Yes, and with Kamiya without her memory this case is as good as won. But what about Kanryu; he isn't stupid enough to admit that he did it? We need to place the blame on someone and Sagara was cleared last time."

"Don't you worry about that, Usui, we have it all planned out."

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Seijiro Hiko wasn't really one to get stressed out of nothing in particular, but when one wasn't used to how a certain system worked, it was quite easy to lose your cool if they call you back saying that you have to go through the entire system again.

Only a few minutes after he had received an email from his nephew, he had been called by the Judge himself saying that he was sorry to bother him, but he couldn't reach Sanosuke and had to have Sano back in court to finish the Akira Death Case correctly. It meant that Kaoru would have to be there as well, and with her memory temporarily gone, it wouldn't look so good for the rooster head.

Damn the Law and its rules! Why couldn't they do it correctly the first time when Kaoru was normal? Hiko thought angrily as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Is something wrong, sir?" asked his limo driver as the man saw Hiko's face twist into a frown in the rearview mirror, as they drove towards the Myojin household.

"Nothing; just get me to Kamiya," said Hiko with a sigh.

Of all the places to go, the baka just had to leave the country! It'll make them sound suspicious if the Law found out…. I better email them to come back home. Hiko quickly flipped out his cell phone and began vigorously typing back a response.

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Beep Bleep Beep Bleep

Megumi looked down at her pager as she walked up towards the entrance of Winter Paradise, arm in arm with Takasugi. The two had been talking merrily when her pager decided to interrupt their conversation. Giving her escort an apologetic smile, Megumi checked the number on her pager and took out her cell phone from her purse.

"It'll only be a minute," reassured Megumi as she dialed in Misao's cell phone number.

"It's alright. I had you waiting most of the night, I think I can wait a few minutes for you," said Takasugi with a grin as the two walked towards the shade of a tree nearby the five-star restaurant.

Megumi only rolled her eyes at his comment before moving the phone towards her right ear and waiting for her cousin to pick up.

"Hello?" Megumi nearly jumped when she heard a male voice on the other line.

"Seta-san, is that you?" asked Megumi incredulously.

"Hai, I'm holding Misao's cell phone for her while she goes to the restroom at M.R.S.," explained Soujiro.

"You two are back at the building already?" asked Megumi.

"Hai; we were hoping to find Kamiya-san but he wasn't at Yahiko-chan's…." Megumi cringed and pulled the cell phone away from her ear as she heard a yell in the background over something about being called chan.

"Hello?" asked Megumi uncertain as Takasugi blinked at her; apparently the scream was so loud that he had heard it too.

"Megumi; I'm so glad that you called back!" shouted another familiar chirpy voice.

"Misao, what's going on?" demanded Megumi.

"Well, first of all, Soujiro and I came back to the office building when we realized that Kaoru's grandfather and Magdaria had left. I called you while I was going up the elevator and apparently my stomach wasn't really cooperating with me, so I left all my stuff with Sou to hold while I took care of my own business. At that same time you called Sou and before he could explain, Yahiko and Tsubame returned and Yahiko started yelling at Soujiro for calling him chan and then you asked me…."

"Misao, that's enough! I get it! What about Okina-san?"

"Well…um I can't really tell you here…. But all I'm saying is that we must find Okina."

"What? Why can't you tell me now?"

"Just listen to me Megumi! I know that this is all complicated, but you need to trust and listen to me. A lot has happened and…. You just need to get back to the office," said Misao seriously.

"I was just about to eat dinner with Shinsaku-san…" complained Megumi.

"It's alright, if it's important and has to do with Kaoru, then our dinner can wait," answered Takasugi for her with a smile.

"Really?" asked Megumi as she looked up at the older man.

"Yes, really," repeated Takasugi.

"Alright; now get your behind back here kitsune!" yelled Misao on the other line.

Without saying good-bye, Megumi clicked her cell phone and started mumbling about stupid weasels.

"I guess we better get going then," said Takasugi with a chuckle as he led them back to their ride to M.R.S...

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The kitchen was completely furnished with the color silver, the refrigerator, dish washer, stove, table, chairs and even the utensils were all the color silver. Not an item was out place and everything looked brand new as if it'd just been placed in there this morning.

Seated around the circular table, Kaoru and Sanosuke waited for Kenshin to cook them up something from the large flame stove that was placed on the island in the center of the overly large kitchen.

"If someone had told me that my boss would be cooking me lunch a few years back, I would have thought it was a pretty funny joke," teased Sano as he watched Kenshin stir the miso soup, and ignored the deadly glare that he earned from the red head.

Kaoru only smiled at Sanosuke's words and stared blankly when the man's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" asked Sanosuke as he flipped open his cell phone.

"Something the matter?" asked Kaoru when she saw Sano's happy face turned suddenly pale.

"You look like you just saw a ghost," commented Kenshin as he walked over to them with three bowls of soup on a tray; a spoon lying next to each one.

Sano moved a finger to his lips in a silent way to get them to keep quiet.

"No sir! Of course I'll be there tomorrow! My lawyer? She'll be there...I just need to contact her again. It's no problem! Not at all…. Kanryu? Why would he be there? He's what? Going to justify my innocence?! What about…. Different case, yeah I understand now. Is Yukishiro….? Yes, I understand. Thank you for taking your time to tell me, sir," said Sanosuke as he tried his best to keep his cool.

"What was that about?" asked Kenshin from his seat beside Kaoru as they both stared at the rooster head.

"Remember that case that I had? Where they took Takeda away?" asked Sano as Kenshin passed around their soup.

"What about it?" Kenshin asked as he made sure that Kaoru was holding her spoon correctly.

"Well they said that they didn't go through the entire process that you need to go through to finish a case. The Judge called and said that the jury was just overwhelmed by Takeda's outburst, and they were supposed to postpone the trial, not tell me that I was innocent," Sano growled angrily.

Kenshin could only blink as he looked up from his task of feeding Kaoru.

"That means that we have to go back to Japan before tomorrow? Why so quickly? You can't go to court without your lawyer! There's no way that Kaoru can defend you," stated Kenshin unbelievingly.

"Yeah, well that's not the half of it! Kanryu said that he wanted to justify my innocence, or whatever that means," said Sano as he clenched his fists, completely ignoring the soup set before him.

"Justifying a person's innocence means to prove that the person is innocent and has absolutely nothing to do with what the person was accused of doing," stated Kaoru as she smiled innocently at the two gawking men.

"Wait…you remember?" asked Sano in complete utter shock.

"Dr. Katsu did say that she would start remembering things once she's introduced to something that might trigger her memory. That means that if we take her to the trial she's bound to remember!" said Kenshin with a grin on his face.

"Are you telling me that actually you want her to go to defend me in her state?" Sano could only look at his boss incredulously; he had thought that Kenshin would just get him another lawyer.

"Yes…I mean, before Kaoru forgot she knew who the killer was. If she goes to court then she's bound to remember with all the evidence at hand," said Kenshin excitedly as he stood up.

"Excuse me! But I'm right here, you know," reminded Kaoru as she glared at the two for acting like she was no where in sight.

"Quiet, Missy! We're trying to find a way to save my behind and get you to remember," shushed Sanosuke as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as he thought the plan over.

Kaoru only sighed as she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Okay then! I'll call another jet and we'll leave as soon as possible," said Kenshin as he moved to get up but was stopped by Sano shaking his head.

"We eat, and then leave as soon as possible," said Sanosuke with a grin as he rubbed his hands together and began to slurp down his soup.

Kenshin only sighed as he sat back down.

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A/N: Yes, it seems unrealistic that they'd have to go back to court so quickly, they usually space it out between months, but I have a reason for that. You'll just have to wait for the next, and last, chapter to find out. It'll be very long since I really don't want to rush it.