No matter how much he respected Kenshin's ideals, and no matter how much time he spent around the little guy, Sano knew he could never get tired of fighting like Kenshin did. There was something about the primal rhythm of punch punch kick, something about the feel of knuckles hitting flesh, something about losing yourself in the blood rush and adrenaline of a fight that Sano knew he would never be able to give up, not for anything.

One of the guards got a lucky punch in on Sano's ribs that sent him back a few feet, and he winced a bit. He could take much more damage than these guys could ever dish out, but still. Maybe he would get around to learning a few blocks one day. Not that what the psycho cop said had anything to do with it . . . he'd just be able to last even longer in a fight if he could avoid getting hit so much.

Sano whirled around, whipping his arm in a wide-angle backhand that hit everything behind him indiscriminately – in this case, three more guards. One of the guys on his other side grabbed the shoulder and tried to pull Sano in close – probably to throw him, or do something like that. What actually happened was that Sano went along with the pull, throwing the man off balance, and got behind him, landing a solid punch in the kidneys. If that hadn't been enough to knock him out, being thrown into another man was certainly enough to do so.

Sano whirled around, looking for another guard to beat up, but he realized with a smile that all ten of them were lying on the ground, unconscious or groaning. Unfortunately, his victory was short-lived. The sound of rushing feet echoed from all of the corridors, and more guards poured into the hall.

Shinomori was probably going to kill him for being the cause of that, Sano reflected as he launched himself into one of the groups of guards that had arrived – all in all, there were about three or four times as many this time around.

With that many people, at least one or two of them were probably terrified by the grin on Sano's face as he came at them.

Um . . . real short chapter again . . . there's about . . . three . . . or four . . . chapters left . . . um . . .yeah. Fucking with the timeline here . . . oh, I don't know.

Now, I could have spent a few more pages detailing how exactly Sano beats up those 40 more guys but, honestly, even to someone who takes karate and can picture how that fight goes (coughcoughmecough), it's still pretty boring to write. Oh, and EVERYONE. Read the story I wrote recently . . . it's called Hangover Remedy. I cannot say any more, but I am the greatest thing ever for writing it. :D

Reviewers!

Kuroiyousei: Well, Aoshi and Katsu are still apart, and Kijou is still alive . . . but NOT FOR LONG. :D

Cynical Chaos: Popcorn, maybe? Some beer? :D I hope you have not been dissapointetd by the large ammounts of crappiness and sappiness that is in this thing . . . most of the crap will be CUT OUT BY THE RED EDITING PEN OF DOOM, DOOM I SAY, though, so I guess . . . just please grin and bear it, will you? :D

A/N, ADDED 7-31-04. PLEASE READ: Due to "recent infration(s)," I have been denied the ability to create new stories, or to add new chapters to my existing stories, until August 2, 2004. This "recent infraction(s)" I have violated appears to be "The chapter system is not to be used as placeholder for non-story content such as author notes. You can add short author notes to the beginning or at the end of stories but never as individual chapters."

I guess after TEN AND A HALF MONTHS of it being there, they just snapped, and were COMPELED BY JESUS CHRIST THE LORD AMEN to take down my disclaimer. I am considering that official authorization by the admins that I need not post a disclaimer for this story.

In the non-irritated/sarcastic news today, I'm really sorry about this guys, especially since there's so little left to go. Hopefully, the delay won't kill anyone, or I will devise some other means to put up the new chapters. (Just thank god I'm getting my own site, WITHOUT ads)