Chapter 16

By Crystal

*Screw the disclaimers ^^;;*

Toshiko had come back from her bath passing the dojo and saw Sano who was now whining about his hunger, Kenshin scrubbing the laundry, Yahiko practising his swings with Kaoru who was scowling Sano, and Soujiro... who was nowhere to be seen. She decided he might be taking a nap inside. As she stood in front of the room, she felt that something was definitely wrong, terribly wrong, but brushed it away. She pushed open the shoji and found...

The set of clothes she had bought for him, folded neatly in the middle of the room. His katana was gone, so was his pack. "Soujiro..." She heard herself whisper quietly, then shouted his brother-in-law's name, "Kenshin!!" In less than a second, Toshiko heard Kenshin and the others running towards the room, and in no time was in the room.

"Hai, Toshiko?" He said, not knowing what else he could say.

"Did he... leave me...?" She asked, her voice shaking and she felt herself tremble.

He shook his head, "Sessha doesn't think so, de gozaru. He'll probably be back by nightfall, de gozaru." Kenshin smiled his rurouni smile, even though her back was to his face.

"He'll be back in a while, ...ne?" She was desperately trying to find comfort from the four.

Kaoru heard her desperate voice, "Of course, Toshiko-san."

Toshiko turned around and smiled, "Arigatou, Kaoru-san. You can drop the honorific, Toshiko is fine."

Kaoru nodded, "But in return, you call me Kaoru, and not Kaoru-san."

"Kenshin, when are you cooking? I'm hungry." Sano grumbled, instantly receiving a glare from Kaoru.

"I'll cook lunch today." Kaoru smiled and walked towards the kitchen with Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko trailing behind her, resuming to what they were doing before they rushed in Soujiro and Toshiko's room.

Kenshin stayed in the room for another few minutes before he left to where Yahiko and Kaoru was. If Soujiro wasn't the boss of Juppon Gatana, then he was surely someone stronger than Soujiro, and the last time he fought Soujiro, he came back home half dead. It was time for some real practice. But what if it was Soujiro that was the boss? Then it would all be fine.

His ki flaring, he took a few logs and stood one of them up. Kaoru, Yahiko and Sano looked at him as if he were nuts. He unsheathed his sword and half a second later, sheathed his sword and the log went flying in two piece. "No good." He muttered and in the corner of his eyes, saw the astonished faces of his three friends. He kept on standing up logs and cutting them with the three gaping at the whole time. He practiced and practiced until he was satisfied and soon thereafter, Toshiko called them all in for lunch.

As he was about to sit down, he saw the food. It felt oddly familiar at the first taste. 'Of course, her mother must've taught both of them how to cook.' Kenshin thought to himself and said out loud, "Your mother taught you how to cook, right?" She nodded. "Figures..." He said quietly and continued on his meal.

Kaoru was looking curiously at the rurouni, first, Soujiro had disappeared all of a sudden with all his belongings gone except for a set of clothes that Toshiko had bought him, then Kenshin had started practicing his kenjitsu. Today was weird indeed. She was going to ask him until he answered if it meant dragging him away.

The meal was great with all four of them commenting on the food, with Yahiko saying that it was better than 'busu''s cooking. That made him instantly earn a bump on his head. Kaoru stayed and helped Toshiko with the dishes, and after that, Toshiko rushed to 'their' room and cried to herself quietly. She knew the truth, Soujiro was never going to return. Her eyes full of tears, she touched the only thing Soujiro left for her to remember him by tenderly. "Soujiro... Aishiteru." She said and her head immediately turned to where the shoji was, where someone had pushed it open. Secretly, she had hoped it was Soujiro that had pushed it open, but she knew he left. And she was right.

"Kenshin..." She whispered, as he kneeled down beside her. She instantly found herself in Kenshin's embrace and she returned it, sobbing in his chest. "Soujiro... He's not... coming back... ne...?" She said between choked sobs.

Kenshin patted her reassuringly, "He'll be back. Be a good girl and do what you want. He'll be back one day, you'll see." And smiled at her, which she only half returned.

"I miss him already..." Toshiko whispered.

"I...Sessha knows... It's hard to not see the one you love, de gozaru." Kenshin replied, his head bowed low.

Toshiko hesitated before saying, "Is this what you felt when you... no, when Tomoe died?" She asked.

Kenshin's smile flattered, "Aa... but probably even worst, because... She was never coming back, and sessha knew she was dead. And sessha... killed her."

"Iie... You didn't kill her on purpose, Kenshin." And put her finger on his lips before he could utter a single 'oro'. "I want to take a nap for now, leave me for a few hours, I'll cook dinner. All right?" Kenshin nodded and turned around, "And Kenshin... drop the sessha and de gozarus. They're starting to get on my nerves." She gave him a quick smile before she slipped in her futon with her treasure tightly held. She was tired.

Kenshin rolled the shoji shut and walked out, the next thing he knew was being pulled by the ear by Kaoru. "Ororo!! Kaoru-dono! It hurts!" He whined while being dragged off.

Kaoru rolled her eyes and said something like "I can't believe I'm hearing the Hitokiri Battousai whine about a woman pulling him by the ear." And stopped, convinced they were out of earshot. "Kenshin, you better tell me what is wrong. " She said demandingly.

'Women...' Kenshin thought to himself, "Er... Kaoru-dono, it's nothing. Sessha was just thinking how rusty my skills were, de gozaru." Kenshin thought, 'Sessha didn't lie! Sessha was right, it is rusty...... compared to my Battousai days.'

"Mou! Rusty? And you still beat Shishio Makoto. Come on Kenshin, tell me the true reason." Kaoru was getting impatient.

"Kaoru-dono! Sessha would never dream of lying to you!" Kenshin insisted, and the rest of the day past on like this.

* * * * *

'Uedo-sama.' Soujiro thought, this was going to be his new boss, he looked in front of his, with his usual Tenken smile at a man of about thirty. Uedo Kanda was his boss' name. He was going to use Shun-Ten-Satsu, which was the Shukuchi followed by a Tenken Battoujutsu. He saw Chou and Kamatari-san somewhere behind Uedo-sama. In order to join Juppon Gatana, he was going to have to have a duel with the boss. This wasn't going to work if he showed sympathy. If he didn't fight well enough, it would be failing Toshiko.

He began tapping his left foot, the faster he finished him, the better. As he was about to strike with his Battoujutsu, Uedo Kanda disappeared right in front of him, as he felt his presence behind him, it was too late, he had already slashed down on his back. The weird thing was, he didn't feel warm sticky blood coming from the wound. Maybe he was dead already... He felt himself hit the ground, face first... or not. He stood up, staring at the face of Uedo-sama.

"Tenken no Soujiro. Your skills are rusty, but... Welcome to Juppon Gatana." Uedo-sama extended his hand and Soujiro took it, smiling. "Kamatari and Chou, bring your old member to take a bath. He needs one." Then turned around to talk to a woman.

Soujiro, Chou and Kamatari walked quietly, not talking about anything, since they were probably being spied on. Showing him to the bath house, they left him to let himself wash. Soujiro sighed, 'Toshiko... when am I going to see you again?' Then began sticking his head in the warm water to clear his mind. 'Damn it, Soujiro. Pay attention to this mission, cause if you don't, you're going to die, then you're never going to see her again. You saw how strong Uedo-sama is. He could've killed you in less than a second, even if you were using Shukuchi. I wonder how long until I'm finished with this.' Soujiro was stuck to his thoughts while cleaning himself up...

Meanwhile, where Uedo Kanda was, he was talking to a woman, a gorgeous woman at that. "Kiya, I want you to follow Tenken and find out everything you can. I don't think I can trust him yet."

Kiya, the gorgeous woman replied, "Uedo-sama, what about the other one. What was their names?" She paused, "Oh yea! Chou and Kamatari. Kamatari that disgusting cross dresser." She put on a disgusted face.

"I can take care of those two easily, but I want you to keep close watch with the Tenken at all times." Uedo replied.

"Oohh... every in bed?" Kiya smiled slyly. Apparently, she was a whore. Uedo didn't answer her and turned around to order some other people around. Kiya pouted, whenever Uedo didn't reply her, it meant no. 'Damn, and that boy was cute too.' She thought to herself. 'Ah well, there's plenty of other men.' She then walked up to a man and started batting her eyelashes at him.

Soujiro had taken a quick shower and was already outside. He saw Kiya flirting with a man. He had already taken a disliking to Kiya, she was trying to flirt with him before Uedo-sama had come to his rescue by announcing a duel, even though it did hurt at lot in the end, it was better than being annoyed by that woman though. Although he had to agree she was very pretty and attractive, she was nowhere compared to his Toshiko. 'Now it's my Toshiko, is it now?' He asked himself, 'If it was MY Toshiko, I'd be with her right now instead of watching a shameless woman flirt with every man she sees.'

Once Kiya's eyes caught Soujiro's figure, she walked gracefully over and put both her hands around her neck, batting her eyelashes, moving slowly in for a kiss. At the last minute, he pushed her away softly and apologized. He heard Chou say something like "What the hell? Some hot chick was going to kiss him and he pushed her away, what kind of a moron was he?"

Soujiro inwardly smirked, his physical appearance remained the same, Chou was back, so was Kamatari, but this time, instead of helping Juppon Gatana finish the Meiji government, they were helping the Meiji government finish the Juppon Gatana. So ironic indeed, and walked to where Uedo-sama was, ignoring the annoying woman following her.

Author's Notes: Thank god! I'm finally done this chapter, the next one will be updated in a day or two. Pleeease review. Anyhow, thanks for all of those that were reading or reviewing for me. Reviews are the only things that keep me writing the story. I hoped you enjoyed it and sayonara, minna-san!

Shoji - Traditional Japanese sliding doors
Arigatou - Thank you
Kenjitsu - art of swordsmanship