A/N: Sorry for the extremelateness! Here's two updates at once, and once I finish typing the next two and update, I'll be all caught up until this Sunday.

Chapter 9 - Appearance of a Demon, Death of a Miburo?

Kanryu burst in, Saito and Aoshi still shaking hands. "Aww, look at that, the great Saito Hajime and the Okashira of the Oniwabanshu just couldn't bring themselves to kill each other! Perhaps I should AID YOU! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Silence.

Grey Wolf finally spoke. "No offense or anything, but do you have any clue how stupid that sounded?"

"Does it matter? All who heard it are soon to be dead anyways!"

"Again with the stupidity...-" Grey Wolf stopped dead, as did everyone, when Kanryu moved into the room a gatlin gun.

"200 rounds a minute. Can you dodge them all?"

Kenshin drew his sword, spinning it to deflect the bullets sent at him. The oniwabanshu create a shield with ki, and Grey Wolf, with Kakarot's help, created a shield for Sano, Ghost and herself. Saito, however, ran at the unprotected Megumi and used his body as a shield for her.

"SAITO!!!" Sano yelled, Grey Wolf unable to do anything but stare at him wide eyed.

"Father..." Her face slowly contorted from shock to anger, her teeth gritting, her eyes dimming and glaring, and her head tilted to the hands balling into fists of rage. "FATHER!!!" Her face veered directly at Kanryu after that one word escaped her mouth, with the same eyes she had had those moments in the infirmary - Eyes that at first glance made her look like the angry form she was as §hadow the manslayer, but upon closer examination could only be determined as one thing - wolf eyes. She ran straight through the shield Kakarot was sustaining, straight at Kanryu. He aimed the gatlin gun at her, but the fierce ki aura that she created shielded her. She drew the wakizachi at precisely the right moment, slicing the barrel of the gatlin gun in half. Then, crossed her arms together and slammed them into Kanryu's neck, suffocating him.

"Is death fun?" Her voice was that of another, an older Grey Wolf, yet not her own voice at all. She laughed sadisticly, until she felt the sword brush her neck.

"Battosai keeps his oath to live and let live, ehh?" She whispered.

"This one will not allow you to kill Kanryu. No matter what sins he has done, it does not justify his death."

"Battosai. Did the girl's sins justify her abandonment by her own father?"

Yet again, silence, but this time, due to the tender subject matter at hand.

"I was not... in my right mind..."

"I don't want your excuses, neither does she. The pain of being betrayed by someone you love..." In her mind, an image of a man and her, asleep together, the image of tranquility, but it passed before darker memories resurfaced. "No one... no one should ever have to suffer such pain. It's unexcusable."

"And Kanryu has done this... how?"

A pause, before she smirked and let Kanryu drop to the ground. "Wise you are, Battosai..."

His head was veered to the ground, before he spoke once more. "Tell me one thing."

"Hai?" She was listening.

"Who... who are you?"

She laughed darkly, whispering, "The dead have no need for names..." then put her hands against the wall, trying to balance herself, now groggy. "K-Kenshin... what... what's going on?" Grey Wolf asked, confused on how she had reached the wall from the protection of the shield, and what the hell was going on. No one had noticed the dog tag around her neck had glown an angry red while Grey Wolf had attacked Kanryu, or the black kanji which had shown through the red - the kanji for death.

Grey Wolf's eyes went wide as they darted to Saito. Megumi was holding his limp body up, his head lolled to the side in an unnatural way. Grey Wolf wasted no time reaching him, but had no clue as to what next after that.

"Shit... This may be a stupid question, but does anyone have tweezers? Or a scalpel?" Megumi pleaded. Grey Wolf dug into Saito's pockets, finding a scalpel and a penknife.

"Would this..."

"That'll work." Megumi quickly took them. "Grey Wolf, try to apply pressure to the wounds."

"Hai." Grey Wolf searched Saito's pockets again and found gauze pads.

"Does he always-"

"Carry stuff like this?"

"Hai?"

"Hai. It's a dangerous proffession..." Grey Wolf quickly applied the pressure needed, while Megumi started carefully taking bullets out.

"Kanryu's aim is horrible..." Megumi said, noticing that most wounds were on Saito's back, and Kanryu hadn't even thought of shooting Saito in the neck. Also rather luckily, Grey Wolf had stopped Kanryu quickly.

A whispered, "Hai..." from Grey Wolf. "And Saito's body is strong... with superficial wounds like this, he might just survive..."

They both worked on in silence from there on, except when Megumi gave Grey Wolf instructions.

Finally, Megumi spoke.

"What... what do you mean by 'dangerous proffession?' Is police work really that dangerous?"

Grey Wolf remained silent, but Megumi pressed on. "Well, is it? Or is it something else?"

"Well... Saito made a lot of enemies way back when... and when you're enemies, that's pretty much it, usually. Being an assasin, unless you're amazingly good at not getting seen, you make enemies."

"Bhh..."

"What?" Grey Wolf, Megumi, and Sano, who had been watching, said in near unison as Saito spoke.

"Bhh..."

"Repeat that... slowly."

"Bah."

"What?" Grey Wolf asked.

"Bah. The reason I carry that stuff around isn't because I've got enemies, it's because Grey Wolf's a damn clumsy assed little midget." Grey Wolf's ears and face turned red, her eye twitching.

"Saito!"

"Bah. Quit being an ahou, ahou."

"SAITO!!! Quit it! GRR!" Grey Wolf growled her deepest growl at Saito, but he merely laughed it off.

"Heh heh-oww..."

"Hah! What you-" Grey Wolf stopped when Saito put his hand out. "What? What is it?"

"Evil ki around. Close. Real close... Grey Wolf, hand me your sword." Saito spoke quickly, his own sword out of reach. She handed it to him, but he immediately dropped it, crying out, "What the hell???" He looked down at his white glove, which was now singed. He pulled it off, and upon checking his hand, had third degree burns. "What the..." He slowly went into a sitting position, still in great pain from the bullet wounds and the burn. "The evil ki... from the sword?" Grey Wolf held her breath. Her own sword?