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ThE tHrEaT Chapter 7.

Suzume splashed about, trying to get to the surface. A hand grabbed hers and pulled her up and out to safety. "Oops, sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away there."

Suzume looked at the guy who had pushed them all in the river. He had a smile on his face and it never left. "Thank you so much for saving me." She said and then she stood up. She just had to find out where everyone had been taken and get revenge on whoever blew up the Akabeko!

"That man sure didn't seem very friendly. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. By the way, I'm Suzume, what's your name?"

"Nice to meet you, Suzume, I'm Soujiro. Say, do you happen to know where I can find a Mr. Kenshin Himura?"

Suzume looked away from him. "No, I don't know where you can find him." She said quietly

"Oh, that's funny, I could have sworn he lived here in Tokyo and was staying at the Kamiya Dojo with a bunch of his friends. Aren't you one of his friends, Miss Suzume? You've really grown." He was still smiling.

"H-how did you know? Are you after me too?"

"No, I'm merely passing through here and I remember many years ago that Kenshin helped me and I want to thank him personally. But I guess I'll have to look around some more." He turned to go.

"You'll never find him. Kenshin's dead."

Soujiro stopped and turned and he cleared his throat. "Oh, is that so? When did he die?"

Suzume started crying. "The man...the man in the river—he killed everyone!!"

Soujiro took the sobbing girl's hand and said gently, "Well, now, we can't let them get away with that, can we? Tell me, who's after you?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!!!" She cried, but she felt a little relieved now that someone who could help was with her. "All I know is that whoever it is thinks that I know their plan and they are archers."

Soujiro pulled her along with him. He could find them with his eyes closed. They came to the front door of a rundown dojo a couple of miles from Tokyo. A bunch of men were in front of the door and saw the two approaching.

One guy narrowed his eyes when he recognized Suzume. "Hey, boss, guess who just showed up at our doorstep! Wait, where's Shiruki?"

Soujiro answered that. "Shiruki isn't a part of this group anymore and, I'm afraid that neither are you." He pulled out a sword and disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Hey, where'd that guy go? Come on, everyone, don't just stand there, get that girl!"

They pulled out their bows and arrows and aimed them at Suzume, but didn't get anywhere near firing because Soujiro beat them down one by one. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. It seems I've misjudged them. They were much easier than I thought they'd be."

Suzume scratched her head. She didn't understand why he kept smiling like that. He was different from everyone she knew. There wasn't too much time to think about it because a bunch more people came out from nowhere and focused on Soujiro. Suzume did not want to be in the middle of all that fighting, and plus she wanted to find Kaoru, Misao, and everyone else. She sneaked away and stole quietly inside the dojo.

It was very dark inside and she decided to take that opportunity to practice what she had learned from Hiko and Kenshin. She couldn't let herself get upset over their deaths right now—she had people to save.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little chipmunk herself. If you think you can beat us all, go right ahead."

Someone had lit a candle, and she could see a few faces in the room. Even though she was really scared, she asked, "Why are you trying to kill me? What did I do to you?"

"Quit playing stupid, you little rodent!" Another grumpy man said, shaking his fist at her.

"Now, now, calm down, Tsukone. From the looks of things, she doesn't act like she's lying. I'm sure you recall the day you and that redhead visited that other police officer in the jail."

"What about it?"

"I don't know what made you do it, but you went snooping about in the desks and I believe you came across some information we don't want leaked out."

"I didn't see anything in the desks, honestly! I thought I heard Saito talking about getting Kenshin somehow and I wanted to see what he had planned, but I never found anything."

"Didya' hear that, boss? Don't believe her, she's just trying to get out of it!"

"Well, it doesn't matter if she is or isn't lying because now she knows your name and our faces and we can't let her get away with that. So what are you waiting for? Kill her!"

Tsukone held the candle up to look around for Suzume, but the girl was gone!

"I'm right here, you beast!! This is for blowing up the Akabeko!" Suzume was up in the air and she slammed her wooden sword down hard on the guy's neck. Instead of trying to take on everyone at once, she ran through the gap and went to find Kaoru and the others.

"Tsukone, you idiot! Why did I even bother teaming up with you? If this fails, I'm going to put you back in jail where I should have left you."

"You can't do that! After all, without me, you won't know the code to get into the safes."

"You may be a first class thief, but you're also a first class idiot! Now go after her!"

Suzume heard it all. So the boss was an acting police officer and he had teamed up with that other guy. She hoped he couldn't fight very well. She stated walking slow and quiet now because she didn't know where she was going. She used her hands to guide her along the right side of the wall. There was a light coming towards her from behind and she knew she'd have to hurry! Where was Soujiro? He was as fast as lightning out there, so why wasn't he in here helping her?

She heard voices calling from behind, getting closer and she really started to panic. She gave up walking and started running and ran straight into a wooden door, knocking herself out.

Suzume woke up and looked around. It was completely dark and she couldn't see a thing! Then she recalled the previous moments' events. She stood up and put her hand out to steady herself. I must not have been out long because they haven't caught me yet. She observed.

And she thought too soon because around the corner, a bunch of people with lights and weapons came and surrounded her. Suzume looked at them all. There was only one thing to do now—fight for her life! She picked up her wooden sword.

"Now wait a minute. It's not very fair to have so many guys against one girl. Step aside, men, the only way to get things done right is to do it yourself after all." The boss said.

Suzume prepared herself and got in her fighting stance. The boss pulled out his bow and arrow and aimed it at her, knowing he wouldn't miss.

Suddenly, all the lights were extinguished. "Hey, what's the big idea?? No matter, I'll just get this over with."

Oh, great, now I can't even see! But I can still hear the arrows coming and if I'm fast enough, I can avoid them hitting me and then strike! The man shot a few, but it completely missed Suzume. He heard her move so he shot in that direction.

"You missed," Suzume offered.

The man growled and tried yet again. He shot a few in all different directions, but still, he wasn't able to hit her. "Will someone turn on the lights!!??" He finally screamed.

A lamp did turn on just then and Suzume gulped. "Heh, now I see you, you little runt!" He reached for another arrow, but there was no more! "What the...where did they go?"

Suzume saw her chance and came at him, first knocking away his bow and then whacking him around a little. "Now before I get more angry than I already am, tell me where my friends are!" She gave him her scariest face and waited.

The man looked up and saw Soujiro in the distance. His sword was covered in blood and he was eyeing him with a smile on his face. "Okay, I'll tell you, just don't kill me! They are in the third door if you go down the hall. It's only locked from the outside."

Suzume was about to hit him again, but Soujiro came up to her. "I'll take care of him, why don't you go find your friends?"

"Okay, thank you." She wasted no time and opened the door to find Kaoru, Yahiko, Tsubame, and Misao tied up in different parts of the room. They all yelped when they saw Suzume.

"Suzume, are you okay?" Misao asked as the young girl set to untying them all.

Suzume had a hard time answering her. How well would they handle knowing that all their friends were now dead? "I-I'm fine," she managed. Just then, they all heard a most familiar voice.

"Hiten-Mitsarugi style Ryo-tsui-tsen!!!" (I tried with the spelling oh well.)

Everyone looked up as Kenshin Himura broke through the roof, the man still very much alive. "Kenshin!" Everyone yelled.

"Kenshin, I thought you were dead!" Suzume cried from relief.

"Why would you think that?" Kaoru asked.

"Because someone blew up the Akabeko." Kenshin explained. "But we all heard the sound of the gunpowder being lighted and everyone got out safely, that they did. Suzume, we didn't see you and we figured you were either still inside, or whoever was after you had taken you.

"I was talking to Aoshi some more about the arrows and he told us about this place, so that's how I knew where to find you."

"Ah, Mr. Himura, it's been a long time." Soujiro said as he entered the room.

They all looked at him, trying to figure out who it could be. Kenshin kept his hand on his sword. "And who might you be?" He asked.

"What? You mean you don't remember me? It's been longer than I thought since your battle against Mr. Shishio."

"Soujiro, is that you?" Kenshin could tell that it definitely was him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to thank you, Mr. Himura. If you hadn't knocked some sense into me, I wouldn't be standing here right now, so thank you."

"He saved my life, Kenshin." Suzume said.

"It looks like we're even then, Soujiro. I helped you out and you have helped little Suzume out. Are you looking for a place to stay tonight?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I was just passing through and I'm still not done searching yet, so we'll probably meet again some day. Good bye, and take care of yourself, Miss Suzume." He smiled still and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The police came after that and took the men still alive and locked them up in jail. It seemed Soujiro had something personal against some of them because he only killed a select few, including the boss.

"From what I gather, that group was planning on stealing from Soujiro Seta and he found out about it and put an end to it for good." Saito explained to everyone.

Everyone returned home safely and that was the end of that escapade.

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Well, there ya' go. I finished. This was harder to write than I thought it would be. The ending was especially hard. I'll learn from this though and I'll finish something next time before I put it up.

Hope you enjoyed this story.