A/N: Heh. Heh. -cough- Um. Hi, faithful readers! 'Tis I...Doverai...the lovely one who feels awful about not posting in so long. -sweatdrop-

Kenshin: ...heh.

Doverai: As repentance, I shall spare you the drivel of excuses and just write the chapter.

000ooo000
Solace

Dance of Death

000ooo000

The party had gone well. When Kaoru had finally calmed herself down from her fit of hysterics (caused by lack of sleep, and immense emotional turmoil), The Slayers had entertained the group throughout the night.

When the party had been ended, the group had gone sightseeing, and then returned back to Seyruun. Kaoru managed to keep from crying at Lina's leaving. However, she did promise to send the red-haired firecracker a letter a week and dozens of pictures to stay in touch.

Sano had gotten smashed - HOW he'd gotten alcohol, no one knew. But he'd consumed incredible amounts of it, and wound up entertaining the whole group with his drum set, then a dance, then a sappy love song full of words that caused most in the room to take on a cherry-cheeked expression.

Soujiro had wound up putting Sano's drums away, getting the taller to sit still during Kaoru's gifting, and even managed to get a cake in from of her.

Kenshin had been on Kaoru like white on rice all night, not leaving her side for more than a few moments, almost constantly in contact with her - her sleeve, her hand, her elbow, her back, her side, her hair, whatever was convienient. It would have been very clingy if Kaoru hadn't been so relieved that she had him.

Kaoru herself had gotten many heart-stopping shocks on one night. First, the surprise party. Followed very quickly by the realization that one of her close childhood friends had been hunted down and dragged to Kyoto with a band. The last surprise of her night - of which Kaoru was grateful, she couldn't handle many more - was the inheritance. That one sent her tingling from her nose to her toes.

There were a lot of zero's on the number she'd been given by Soujiro (who had casually added 'give or take a few'). And a whole house, out of nowhere? It was quite a lot to handle, even for one such as Kaoru, who prided herself on being quick to take in, process, and reconcile new information.

All-in-all, the group had enjoyed the night intensely. No worries, no Syndicate attacks, no Enishi, nothing at all. Absolutely blissful relaxation. So, again, the Gods grew bored of sharing knock-knock jokes and began to take an interest in shaking things up for the tight-knit little group once more.

000ooo000

"Kaoorruuu!" Called a high-pitched, somewhat annoying voice.

"Whoever that is had better look a LOT like Viggo Mortinson." Kaoru informed her pillow in her best 'You awoke me, DIE!' voice.

"Kaoru!" Misao whined, yanking the blanket from her friend's grasp and hauling her to her feet.

"...Not even CLOSE." Kaoru groaned, drooping. Misao tugged again, pulling Kaoru towards her wall-mirror.

"What does this look like?"

"...A mirror." Kaoru observed astutely.

"..." Misao rolled her eyes and jabbed at the image. "Look closer."

"It...looks like me?" Kaoru hastened to guess, trying to figure out what was expected of her. Very mildly, Misao took Kaoru by the shoulders. With less of the mildness, she shook her violently.

"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A BRIDE!"

"No!" Kaoru gasped, the color draining from her face as she began to think frantically, her processes jumbled.

"..." Misao giggled, "No, silly, your wedding is in two weeks. But we need to prepare you now."

"Misao Makimachi needs to die." Kaoru muttered with a little twitch. Misao giggled and took Kaoru by the arm, hauling her sleep-ruffled friend to the bathroom, where she proceeded to plait the girl's black hair - it had regrown twice as long in the three years since Kaoru had slashed it off to her chin - and hand her a pile of clothing.

"Hurry up, I'm takin' you for our last bit of wedding planning."

Kaoru made a face. "...I don't wanna!"

"Do it!" Misao snarled, flames seeming to frame her. Kaoru was pretty sure she saw fangs.

"My, my, you CAN be scary when you put your mind to it." Kaoru squeaked, and hurriedly changed into her outfit for the day, donning an over-sized blue sweatshirt, bluejeans, and blue socks. Feeling very blue, she flicked her braid over her shoulder where it hung almost to her knees in a Misao-like rope, and waited for the other to be distracted before breaking with code and donning a pair of comfortable red sneakers she'd been given by one Gourry Gabriev at her party.

000ooo000

"What do you think of THIS one?" Misao offered, holding up a skimpy white dress. It lacked in the essentials: Sleeves, long skirt, and Kaoru's approval.

Misao herself had already chosen her outfit, a celtic gown - pure white, simple, plaited lightly at the skirt, high neck-line, belted with a golden chain, and (Misao's favorite feature), a long white cape with a soft cowl. Neither Kaoru nor Misao wished to stick with a traditional Japanese wedding, instead leaning for a more modern Americanized ceremony. Both grooms found this idea to be lacking - Kenshin was more than traditional, and Aoshi wasn't pleased with the idea of a tuxedo.

So they had decided to compromise. Kenshin and Aoshi were going to wear Hakama's and Haori's (To thier relief), and the girls would wear what they wanted to wear. The ceremony would be old-fashioned, but the reception would be what the women wanted. This made both parties happy.

Up until Kaoru discovered that no dresses seemed to fit HER ideal. She was modest (Despite Rumor's best efforts), and didn't want something skimpy. But nothing hit her right, even frumpy white dresses with lace all over the place and a neckline high enough to cover the mouth.

Heading from the store, Kaoru finally saw something.

It caught her eyes and latched her like a fly fisher's lure to a trout. Kaoru scampered to the dress, snatched it from the rack, and made a mad dash for the dressing rooms, Misao hot on her heels and wheedling for a view of the coveted dress.

Kaoru locked herself in, and changed quickly, tying the corset rather well for someone who'd never done it before. Of course, it was in the front which helped. Setting the skirts over the hoops and adjusting everything, Kaoru hurried back out.

Misao's expression of shock and mild disgust was evident. "What in the lord's name is THAT!"

"What?" Kaoru inquired, peering down at herself. She wore a large hoop-skirt, white tulle fabric tumbling in planned waves over the hoops to pool around her. "I like it." The sheer lace veil that attatched to faux red roses spilled down her back, stopping just past her tiny waist. The fitted bodice only made her appear more tiny and fragile. Short white kid gloves decorated her tiny hands as she gestured at Misao, "You just don't like me to make decisions!" She huffed, and spun - glad that her dress was pre-1870's, or she would have had the mother of all trains to contend with.

"Oh don't be so touchy." Misao snapped, yanking Kaoru back and giving her a hug - somehow not being killed by the hoops of the skirt in the process. "I love it on you."

Kaoru's ruffled feather's smoothed instantly and she preened, pleased by this new development.

000ooo000

Sano flipped another card on the deck, frowning in confusion at the guy on the throne. Another card brought out something with coins. "We're in for a trip." Soujiro sighed, "The signs are pointing that way." The seven arrows came next. No one had known Soujiro was a tarot reader, but he'd whipped out a deck and told Sano to start flipping.

"We're all going to die, our remains are going to be buried in a cave deep in canada, and the Syndicate is going to take over the world."

"God, Kenshin, you're such a PESSIMIST!"

"No. I'm a disasterist. There's a difference between being a disasterist and a pessimist. Learn it." Kenshin shot back.

"He's got a point." Sano snickered, "Kenshin here likes to come up with THE worst case scenario, because he figures if it happens, he's prepared, if it doesn't...whatever happened wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be." Soujiro took a second to sort through that before rolling his eyes and shrugging.

The phone rang. Sano, the closest, reached out and snatched it up. "Hello?"

"We're watching you." Sano stiffened, his hand never pausing as he flipped over another card...Death. "Don't bother looking, we're not watching you where you can see us. Be at Kaiyman's Reach by midnight, and we'll end this once and for all. Don't show, and we won't give you a second chance."

Sano never did get that. If they thought they were going to win, why bother wasting time? Just shoot them all and be DONE with it already. "Sorry, Lu Mei isn't here - you've got a wrong number. No, it's okay, no harm done. Good night, then." Sano hung up the phone and shrugged, "Wrong number. It's almost fun when the people get all flustered about it. Like they broke your heart by calling you. Heh." That done, he rose.

"Where you headed?" Soujiro grilled.

"I'm off to go find five coins, seven arrows, a King, and a skeleton." Sano replied impishly, before vanishing out the door.

"Come back alive!" Kenshin hollered.

Soujiro poked him and offered the deck. "Try your fate?"

"Sorreh, kid - I make my own fate." That done, Kenshin rose and vanished from the room.

"I'm sure you do." Soujiro muttered, shuffling and drawing for the wedding. Surveying the turn, he sighed, "I sure hope you do."

000ooo000

Kaiyman's Reach. The last time that Sanosuke had been there, he'd been in highschool trying to get lucky with the ladies. Now he was there trying to get lucky with fate. Did his drawing the death card mean that he was to die, or he'd be doling it out?

For another ten minutes, he waited. Finally, a lucky break hit him. Right in the stomach. In the form of a well-placed Nun-chaku attack.

Sano, not one for weapons, decided to make an exception and went with the hit, rolling into a tree and reaching up to snap off a large limb. Breaking off excess, the fighter used his crude Bo staff and went after his attackers. A few well-placed blows to knee-caps, throats, and skulls ended the fights quickly and efficiently.

Finally, only one concious man remained at Sano's mercy, on the ground with the staff pressing threateningly into his larynx. "You tell Hiko, Watsuki, whomever sent you..." Sano made eye contact to be SURE his message was getting through, "That if they try to hurt me or my family again, I will go directly to the source and slit Watsuki's throat my own bloody self. Is that clear?" He drew closer, "I've had enough of these games. Kill us fair, or LEAVE US ALONE!"