Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine, I did not create it, I do not own it, lalala...
"Wow," Yahiko exclaimed, staring up at the cluster of impressive buildings. "Do people really live here?"
"Of course they don't live here, baka," Kaoru retorted, hitting him on the head. "This is where they work."
Since nobody had wanted to be left behind, Saitou, after being severely pushed around by Karen, had grudgingly made arrangements for all of them to come to Kyoto. A specially reserved train had whisked them through the night, making it possible for them to be there by morning. So as not to arouse suspicion, Karen had organized their ruse. Saitou, of course, was dressed as usual in his police uniform, while Karen had put on a much more colorful kimono than usual, posing as Saitou's wife. Kenshin had been persuaded to change into more sober colors than his usual white and red, and with Kaoru on his arm they were supposed to be a couple and close friends of Yamagata. Yahiko was tagging along as Kaoru's younger brother. Sanosuke was wearing something similar to Saitou's uniform, posing as a policeman under his command, and of course Sanosuke did not enjoy this one bit. The katana hanging at his waist was actually Karen's. Yahiko had a shinai dangling from his back, "a toy to amuse the child." He resented this explanation as much as Sanosuke resented being Saitou's underling, but Karen explained to him gravely that today he was acting as an undercover agent for Japan, and that was enough to settle his ruffled pride.
"Now what?" Sanosuke demanded, tugging at his collar with an uncomfortable expression.
"Women and children stay in the waiting room on the first floor," Saitou said briefly as they moved towards one of the buildings. "Roosterhead can stay with you as a guard. Battousai and I will be with Yamagata."
"Why can't we tell Yamagata-san that he's in danger and ask him to go somewhere else?" Kaoru wanted to know.
"We need to force their hand," Karen explained. "They must not know we are on to them. Saitou, send down the files concerning recent land transactions so we can take a look at them. I still have a feeling we're missing something..."
"Konichiiwa, Karen-san, Fujita-san," an accented voice greeted them, and everyone looked up to see a tall foreigner, with light brown hair and a carefully trimmed beard walking towards them. He took Karen's hand with a flourish and bowed over it, bringing it to his lips. "You look as beautiful as ever."
"Thank you, Black-san," Karen said courteously. Kenshin felt something vaguely murderous in Saitou's kii, although he remained expressionless. "How are you today?"
"Oh, as busy as ever," Samuel Black sighed elaborately. "I am eager to start my businesses here in Japan, but so much of the land has been taken. No one seems to know who has bought so much land." He leaned in closer. "I hear something illegal is mixed up in all this. Quite terrible, don't you think, Karen-san?"
Karen tittered. "Oh, Black-san, you don't expect me to care about such things? I leave the business up to my husband, and my most important concern is what to cook for dinner every night."
"Is that so?" Black laughed heartily. "Ah, well, Fujita-san is a lucky man, to have such a lovely woman to come home to." He discreetly looked Karen up and down, and Kenshin almost expected Saitou to stab him then and there. As the foreigner said his goodbyes and moved away, Saitou put a hand on Karen's arm, and she looked up at him with a questioning smile hovering on her lips, meeting his bland gaze with amusement in her own eyes.
"Is that the man who tried to buy my land at first?" Kaoru asked.
"Yes. Black-san is most interested in buying land, but he's very scrupulous about buying it legally and openly." Karen moved to take Kaoru by the arm. "I know where we won't be disturbed. Be careful, Saitou, Sempai."
"I gotta say this - I feel more sorry for whoever's going to try and kill Yamagata," Sanosuke said, shaking his head as they watched Kenshin and Saitou enter the building ahead of them. "He's never going to know what hit him."
"Saitou! Himura?" Yamagata looked surprised to see the two swordsmen stride into his office. "What bring you here, without notice and so early in the morning?"
"Could we speak privately, Yamagata-sama?" Kenshin asked quietly.
Yamagata motioned for his secretary to leave the room and lock the door behind him. "Is something wrong?" he inquired after they were left to themselves.
Saitou outlined the events of the past few days in his usual terse manner. "Today," he finished, "Himura and I are visiting you as friends. No one knows who we are, so the enemy will not be suspicious. WIth a little luck we will nail these bastards for good."
"Ah." Yamagata said with raised brows. "So, I am the bait, and you are the hunters?"
"You won't get hurt, Yamagata-sama," Kenshin hastened to add when Saitou offered no reply beyond a nod.
"I think I may be more afraid of the two of you than any would-be assassins," the government official said dryly. "But thank you anyhow. Hm, I think Mister Black has ordered cakes to be sent today, his way of getting on our good side, I suppose."
"He's bribing Japanese government officials.. with cakes?" Saitou arched an eyebrow. Kenshin couldn't help a chuckle at the ridiculous idea.
"Heaven knows how Westerners think. I suppose it's rather clever in a way. He can't give us anything expensive without people pointing fingers, but no one will point fingers about cakes. It's the thought that counts," he added, knuckling his mustache with some amusement. "Well, sit down, if you're supposed to be visitors. Mura! Some tea, please."
Morning passed into afternoon, and still there was no sign of danger, or even anything odd. Karen and Kaoru were poring over the records again and again, unable to find a clue as to who the mastermind behind this was, while Saitou and Kenshin sat silently in Yamagata's office, so silently that he was able to forget their presence and go on with his daily routines. Yahiko and Sanosuke amused themselves with a deck of cards, gambling with small change.
"All this land," Karen said, waving a stack of papers around, "was bought by our mystery man. The transactions themselves were legal, but each time the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The few who have been caught claim that the man always worked through Japanese agents who were always masked. Nothing is known about this buyer except he is not Japanese."
"Do you think, Oneechan, that this man is educated?" Kaoru suggested. "I don't know much about all this, but it seems that all the land he bought was land that a lot of other investors wanted to buy as well. Maybe that means he knows how to do make money."
"You mean, he knows what sort of land will be valuable?" Karen mused. "Aaa, I agree with you. We're not dealing with some baka who just wants to make money." She frowned, the sunlight from the window catching the light of the jewels embedded in her hair ornaments. "I'm getting a headache from all this. Maybe we should just wait for the assassin to strike."
Upstairs, Kenshin and Saitou were also nearing the end of their patience. "Do you think he meant tomorrow?" Kenshin nearly yawned, looking up from the book he had begun to read. Saitou gave him a withering look from under his hooded eyes, but Kenshin detected with some perverse satisfaction his own edginess and uncertainty.
As soon as both of them heard approaching footsteps, they turned their attention to Yamagata and began an idle conversation, as if they had been talking to each other for hours. Yamagata had to take a moment to adjust to their sudden change in attitude, but by the time the door opened the three men looked quite congenial.
"Am I interrupting anything, Yamagata-sama?" Mura, Yamagata's secretary, poked his head in. He was an earnest, nervous looking youth with thick round glasses that seemed too heavy for his face. "I can come back later..."
"No, come in, Mura-kun," Yamagata gestured. "What is it?"
"Lawson-san wanted me to bring a cake," he answered as he entered, closing the door behind him. Then he presented a wrapped box and set it on Yamagata's desk. Kenshin looked at it, thinking of how Kaoru liked sweets and making a mental note to save a piece for her in case the team downstairs didn't get one. Saitou eyed it with complete disinterest.
"Lawson? Black's secretary?"
"Hai, Yamagata-sama."
"Well, tell them thank you, Mura-kun." Yamagata moved to open the cake. "At least we can eat while we-"
Danger!! The sixth sense both hitokiri had accquired over the years warned them a heartbeat before it arrived. Kenshin leapt to grab Yamagata by his sleeve and yank him out of his seat, shoving him against Mura and pushing both of them to the far side of the wall, while Saitou drew his sword to meet the blast of flying glass. Six masked figures swung themselves through the window and landed silently on the carpet, looking slightly surprised to see Kenshin and Saitou confronting them but losing none of their confidence.
"I don't know who you are, but if you leave now we will spare your life," their leader rasped.
"Ahou," Saitou muttered, taking up his stance and charging without hesitation into their midst. Kenshin was fairly sure Saitou wouldn't kill them, seeing as they were little use if they couldn't testify, but still he quickly entered the fray, sakabatou drawn. The assassins were skilled, but unprepared for the fierce, calculated onslaught of these two deadly men. Saitou's initial attack left two of them senseless on the floor and another badly wounded. Two of the remaining three focused on Saitou, while the last one, judging Kenshin to be weaker because of his size, approached the rurouni with confidence. The fight lasted less than five minutes.
Yamagata rubbed a bruised arm, supported by a stunned Mura. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were trying to kill me," he remarked.
"Who...who are these men?" Mura stammered, a look of complete disbelief etched on his face.
"Oro... we're just friends of Yamagata-sama." Kenshin said cheerfully while Saitou busied himself in searching the bodies of the six men.
"Excuse me?"
Karen looked up to see David Lawson, Samuel Black's secretary, open the door. He was younger than his employer and in Kaoru's opinion much handsomer, with pale hair and dark brown eyes in a squarely cut face. "Lawson-san? What brings you here?"
"Someone told me you were visiting today, Karen-san. I brought you some cake." He carefully put a box down on the table. Kaoru clapped her hands in delight, much to Karen's amusement. "I suppose we can get some forks and plates somewhere."
"Oh, stupid me, I'll make sure to send for some on my way out. But what is all this, Karen-san?" Lawson stared at the sea of documents.
"My husband is working on a case, and I just thought we'd try to help out," Karen said simply. "Only, we're about to give up, it's giving us quite a headache." As Lawson moved to observe Sanosuke and Yahiko's game, she stared blankly at one of the papers containing information on the pieces of land owned by their unknown foreigner. It really was odd. This man had cunningly bought every piece of land Black, as well as various other people had targeted without success, within hours of the death of the previous owner.
Something suddenly clicked in Karen's mind, but before she could completely grasp the solution the door opened to reveal Black himself. "Lawson, I need those papers of the purchase we made yesterday," he said impatiently.
"I'll get right to it, Boss," Lawson said quickly, hopping up and leaving the room. Black bowed to Karen. "Excuse me, Karen-san. Was he bothering you?"
"Not at all, not at all," she said absently, staring at the man. I have it now. Samuel Black is what all these pieces of land have in common. This mystery man has bought every single piece of land Black wanted to buy but couldn't. And all within a few days of Black's attempts to buy. It is too odd to be coincidence. How could that be? Unless...
Unless the mystery man is Black himself.
"Karen-san, is something-"
Karen immodestly hiked up her kimono and kicked out at Black's kneecap, bringing him down with a cry of pain. He fumbled to pull his pistol out of his vest, but Sanosuke had reacted with speed, darting to grab the man by the collar and slamming him against the wall. Karen quickly reached for the weapon, breathing slightly faster from the effort.
"It is him!" Kaoru shouted, in sudden understanding. "He was the mastermind behind all this, pretending to work through legal processes and doing all the dirty work behind our backs. The lying, thieving, two-faced bastard!!"
"Kaoru-chan, I'm surprised at you. Bastard doesn't even begin to describe this piece of filth." She handled the pistol gingerly, fishing a kerchief from her sleeve to wrap it in. "Hold him fast, Sanosuke-kun."
"You have no proof!" Black snarled, but it came out more as a whine.
"It's all a matter of time," Karen said pleasantly. "I'm sure Saitou and Kenshin-sempai have apprehended your would-be assassins by now."
Black turned pale. "That wasn't my idea, it was Mura's," he blurted. "He did the dirty work. I only handled the business!"
"You mean you gave him the money to hire the thugs who tried to burn Jo-chan's dojo down," Sanosuke spat in disgust. "Kuso, I'd like to wipe the floor with your face."
"That oughta be interesting," Yahiko remarked. "Who's Mura, anyway?"
"Mura?" Karen arched a brow in disbelief. "Yamagata-sama's secretary, Mura-kun?"
"Yes, yes! It was all his idea!" Black panted, his eyes rolling for a way to escape.
"So much for loyalty," Karen said dryly. "If you're lying, Black-san, I will personally make sure that my 'husband' takes especial care to make your stay in prison a pleasant one." She handed the wrapped gun to Yahiko. "I'm trusting you with this, Yahiko-kun. It may be evidence. Now, we are all going to go see Yamagata-sama, and we are going to walk calmly up the stairs and to his office without making a fuss. If you displease me, Black-san, I will give Sanosuke-kun here free reign to chew you apart and spit you out, and I'm afraid he's quite hungry from being cooped up all day." Sanosuke grinned at Black evilly. "Let's go."
They managed to make it upstairs without arousing suspicion, although a few people did give Black strange looks and one paused to ask if he were ill. The guards posted in the hall must have recognized Karen, for they let them through without a pause, and Karen opened the door to Yamagata's office with a flourish. Her eyes landed on Yamagata standing very close to Mura, looking unconcerned.
Before anyone quite knew what was happening she had hurled herself between the two, pushing Yamagata as far away as she could and using her own body as a shield. Black screamed at the top of his voice, "IT'S HIM! HE'S THE ONE!" while Saitou and Kenshin, alarmed, pulled out their swords. But Mura whipped a gun out of his coat and yelled, "Freeze!!."
Unfortunately, his position was right outside of the range of any of the three kenkaku. Kaoru tightened her hand on Yahiko's shoulder, tensing with fear. "I don't know what the hell's going on, but don't be stupid, Mura," Saitou said causally. "There's no way you're going to get out of this."
"Saitou is right, Mura-kun," Karen said, her tone quiet and reasonable. "You do not want to add another murder to your crimes."
"What's another murder?" Mura said, an edge of panic in his voice as he focused on Yamagata. "I didn't really care about the money. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to ruin the government!"
"Gods, who hired this nut?" Saitou muttered, recognizing the trappings of a rebel with a grudge. "Don't tell me. Your father was a soldier during the Bakumatsu period and he was killed by the Ishin side?"
"Ha!" the young man snarled. "This government reeks of blood! It will fall one day, I swear it!"
Kenshin, meanwhile, was concerned with something else. There was a small sound, almost just out of the range of hearing, which no one had noticed because it was not an out of the ordinary sound. It was the sound of clock ticking steadily. There was just one problem.
There was no clock in Yamagata's office.
"GET DOWN!" He shouted, moving before he could allow himself to think. There was a moment's pause of confusion before Sanosuke threw himself on Kaoru and Yahiko, pinning them to the ground, while Saitou and Karen dove at the same time, bearing Yamagata with them. Kenshin scooped the cake up and hurled it out of the window, diving in front of the desk just as the air was split by the deafening sound of a tremendous explosion. Fire roared into the room, debris flew everywhere, and several gunshots pierced the chaos. Kaoru screamed as she felt herself hurled into the wall, Yahiko crushed against her chest.
"Kuso..." Sanosuke cursed, trying to stumble to his feet. Next to him lay an unconscious Black and Mura, both who had been unable to protect themselves from the force of the blast. "What the hell..."
"Oneechan!" Kaoru shrieked at the sight of Karen slumped against the wall, blood staining the front of her pale-blue kimono. Yamagata was shaken but safe, while Saitou was bleeding from where a stray bullet had grazed his arm. He bent over Karen with a curse. The guards had rushed to the doorway at the sound of the explosion, and Kenshin quickly ordered them to take Yamagata to safety. "Is Ojousan all right?" he demanded of Saitou.
"She's alive," Saitou answered tersely.
The building trembled for a moment, and Kenshin made an urgent movement. "There must have been at least twenty cakes were delivered today. We have to get out of here, the building might fall over any minute!"
"Oneechan...!" Kaoru sobbed desperately as Saitou carefully gathered Karen in his arms and hastily strode out the door. Kenshin put a protective arm around Kaoru and quickly followed Saitou, with Sanosuke and Yahiko on their heels. Kenshin hesitated for a second in the doorway, but Sanosuke shook his head. "Leave those two bastards, Kenshin, they're not worth it! Think of Jouchan, damn you!"
Kenshin nodded shortly and quickly resumed their retreat. In the halls chaos reigned, as people tripped over each other and trampled the wounded in their desperation to get out. Flames licked the walls, and with a belated explosion the group was separated. The last thing Kaoru knew was Kenshin's strong arms encircling her, and then there was darkness.