A/N: Sorry for not updating in... some days? I urgently needed to get some work done ;P

sRoze: Reviews like yours are what keeps me going. Thank you so much!

Baby-Fire-666: Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I hope you keep reading!

becky: Oh, but cliffies are so much fun, don't you think? ;)

erica6060: What can I say? I like to make the characters suffer... :evil grin:

Disclaimer: This is boring. I don't own RK. Maybe I wouldn't be writing this if I did.


In a large hospital room, the spotless white walls reflecting the harsh daylight coming through the window contrasted painfully with the dark and gloomy mood emanating from Saitou and Aoshi, who stood silently by the door, both staring in the direction of the only bed in the room.

"When can we talk to her?" Aoshi asked the doctor, emotionless as always.

"She's sedated now, I'm afraid you'll have to wait..."

On the bed lay Kaoru Kamiya, who hadn't regained consciousness since she had been found, two days before. Even though she only sustained minor injuries, Kaoru had been unable to articulate more than a few words which made no sense whatsoever. Now, the medication had given her face, pale and framed by silky long black hair, so like Tomoe's, a false look of stillness and calm.

"This case turns out to be much more complicated than it looked at first." Saitou finally admitted. "It has grown to proportions never seen in this town."

"Are you saying you might need my help after all?" Aoshi maliciously asked, without hint of a smile.

"Nonsense. I said no such thing." Saitou smiled almost ferociously, looking more like a wolf than ever. "The way I see it, it's a challenge. A test, nothing more. The harder it is... the bigger the reward."

"Reward?" Aoshi was starting to think the chief of police had finally lost his mind.

"One can easily see you're not in this for fun. Maybe your father was a policeman and you wanted to follow in his footsteps. How touching." The amber-eyed wolf glanced at him sideways, provoking him with a disdainful smirk. "But I am in it for fun. Aku. Soku. Zan. That's my reward."

«The man went completely mad. If there are people who shouldn't be carrying a gun, he's one of them.»

"What's on your mind, Shinomori?"

"Nothing." he lied. "It's just that, if she doesn't wake up soon..."

Aoshi couldn't finish his sentence because he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. It was Kenshin Himura.

"Himura, how nice of you to drop by." Saitou observed with a mocking gleam in his eyes. "What do you want?"

But Kenshin wasn't listening; instead, he was concentrating on the thin frame under the sheets.

"How is she?" he asked Aoshi, somehow managing to ignore the smoking policeman.

"Fine, under the circumstances, but still in shock. We weren't able to question her yet."

"Then, I suppose you have nothing that could lead us to the killer...?"

"I'm sorry, Himura-san, but no."

Kenshin sighed, pulled up a chair and sat near the bed.

"Himura, what do you think you're doing?" Saitou growled.

"I'm staying with her." the redhead whispered, not looking him in the eye. "When she wakes up, she might say something about the man who attacked her. I want to be the first to know..."

"And what for?" Saitou cut him off, his eyes flashing dangerously. "To do justice by your own hands? If that be the case, please do. I'll certainly enjoy throwing you into jail, where you truly belong."

All the bitterness and animosity contained in Saitou's words did not go completely unnoticed to Aoshi. There was surely something in their past that had driven them apart and made them fierce enemies. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but perhaps soon... «It won't be long until that, whatever it might be, reveals itself to me willingly. And when that happens, it might end in disgrace... for one of them or both.»

XxXxXxX

Later that day, at the station, Sanosuke did his best to talk Saitou into giving him information on Kaoru.

"Are you going to shut up?"

"Come on, tell me! Did you talk to her? I have the right to know! I'm working on the case too!"

"That could change... Chou can take your place anytime. Even though he's as idiot as you are, at least his voice isn't as jarring.

"What!" taking notice of Saitou's murderous look, Sanosuke found it best to give up, but not before he stuck his tongue out at the older man. His childish attitude made Aoshi wonder, once again, if the boy wasn't too young for the job. He was about to bring up that subject when Chou entered the room.

"There's a kid here saying he's a student of Himura's. He wants to talk to you about the case. Should I send him in?" he announced.

"No, better send him away. I'm in no mood to put up with kids right now." Saitou replied, searching all his pockets for a pack of cigarettes.

"Who were you going to send away?" a voice coming from near the floor asked.

Everyone looked down and saw a boy of about ten, dragging his way inside the room between Chou's legs. At first, one could only see his dark spiked hair and the shinai he carried strapped to his back, but then the short kid rose to his feet and they could finally see his face, lit up by a challenging smile.

"You were going to send me home without hearing what I have to say?"

"Yahiko! You were supposed to wait outside!" Sanosuke scolded.

"What, this brat is with you?" Saitou asked, deliberately flicking the ash from his cigarette in Sanosuke's direction.

"No! I mean... I promised I'd take him to the dojo after I got some information out of you."

"I see."

Yahiko turned to Aoshi. "Are you that federal-agent-guy?"

Aoshi cursed his bad luck. Everyone systematically disrespected him ever since he had arrived in that town; even this kid talked to him as if they were childhood friends. He urgently needed a coffee and an aspirin. "Yes, I am." he finally answered, rubbing his forehead, mentally commanding the dull ache to go away. "What did you want to tell us?"

Yahiko straightened up his back and assumed a previously rehearsed pose. He cleared his throat and began. "You might not know this, but Kaoru went looking for Tomoe after she had been missing for a day. She said she'd come back to give the afternoon lessons but she never showed up. We never saw them again after that... that is, until now."

Saitou just kept smoking as if he were paying no attention to Yahiko's ramblings but, in fact, he was more interested in them than anyone else. Perhaps the kid wasn't that useless after all...

"What about Himura-san? Why didn't he report them missing?"

"Kenshin is an airhead! He thought Tomoe had decided to run away because of a stupid fight they had. He was actually convinced he could find her himself, so we went to the woods and..." Yahiko didn't realise what he had just said had caught the others completely unaware. Not to mention Kenshin's credibility had gone down the drain. "What?" he asked, confused upon noticing the investigators' serious expressions.

"Nothing." Sanosuke assured him, gently pushing Yahiko to the door. "I'll take you to the dojo now, we're already late."

Right after they had left, Saitou turned to Aoshi. "It appears that Himura isn't quite what he seems..."

Aoshi rose from his chair and camly replied. "During a murder investigation, not very often people are who they appear to be and no one tells the truth. You should know that."

He left the room to go for a cup of coffee to the Makimachi family's restaurant. His stay in that town seemed destined to prolong itself indefinitely and now was the time to take matters into his own hands. Misao would be the first and, when he was through with her, he expected her to tell him all she was willing to say and more.


A/N: I love reviews! Who doesn't? ;D