The characters in the story don't belong to me. Just borrowing them for a little escapade so lay off with the lawyer's letters.

"Strings and puppets" actually centers on Kenshin and Kaoru. It will introduce the rest of the characters, lay down some background for them and that's it. They will all have their own stories which will be a little connected to "Strings and puppets". In fact, I've already started on one of the stories. I hope that answers your question, Keiko. And Amatesaru Phoenix, the mystery man on the phone you were talking about will be revealed later so you have to wait to know! Btw, I came across this picture online and I think that he kind of look like what Sano would look like if he was real. Go check it out and tell me if you have a better candidate for Sano. You know, if the response is good, maybe we can start a search for everybody too!

http://members.tripod.com/%7EPuDDiNG_JOY16/picture/tomoya14.jpg

Chapter10

Misao tugged at the flowy, white dress she was forced to put on, grimacing all the while. Really, the things she had to sacrifice for the sake of duty! Rolling her eyes upwards, she imagined she could see the pink ribbons entwined in her hair and she clenched her fists. Her reputation as a no- nonsense, ass-kicking tough cop was going down the drain. All her team members were going to laugh their head off when they see her like this and she would probably never be able to live it down. A hard scowl on her face that was in total contrast to the angelic getup she had on, Misao stared at the lyrics and tried hard to memorise it. A choir girl! Grrrrrrr……

All around her, the 'real' choir girls talked and whispered excitedly. The ceremony was to start in an hour's time and they were all ready at the side of the aisle beside the piano. Usually, they would still be in the small waiting room at this time but today was different. For one thing, the guests at the ceremony were an unusually attractive lot. And the groom and his bestman. More than a few hearts skipped several beats at the sight of them. Tall with a decidedly rakish air and a wicked gleam in those golden brown orbs, the bestman was the bad boy every woman wants to tame. The groom, although not as tall was every bit as attractive. Flame-coloured hair and those delicate features. It would not be too far off the mark to say he was beautiful. But the scar on his face and those piercing eyes formed a deadly contrast that just made him all the more alluring.

"And did you see one of the guest just now? The one with that shock of white blond hair? He looked so cool!" Choir girl 1 tittered.

"Do you know who's that man who walked past us just now? The very tall one with black hair and midnight eyes? He's such a dreamboat!" Choir girl 2 blushed.

Misao frowned. Can't they keep quiet? They sounded like a flock of sparrows. Someone nudged her and she looked up. It was Natsumi, the friend in the choir group she bribed to bring her in. "What?" she whispered in an irritated tone.

"That man who walked past…He looked so much like Akira. The eyes and the mouth…" she stared at Misao sharply, "Are you telling me the truth when you say you don't know who Akira's father is?"

"It's the truth!" she threw her hands up in exasperation. "And why ask me this now? I'm on duty remember?" she lowered her voice.

"But that man……" Natsumi's voice trailed off, her eyes on the retreating figure. Misao followed her gaze. Her eyes landed on a man just heading out of the church door. The sunlight from outside threw into sharp relief the broadness of his shoulders and cast a halo on his hair. Misao blinked in shock. In the next instance, he was gone. But that last fleetng image of him was imprinted in her mind. Together with another man's. Slowly, the two images moved closer and closer, one over another and……they merged perfectly.

Keep a grip on yourself, Makimachi! All backviews looked the same and coincidences such as this don't happen. It's been seven years so give it up!

Misao stubbornly ignored the doubts in her and tried to concentrate on the case. Checking the ear piece and mouth piece clipped inside her collar, she moved to a corner to check on her team mates' location. Natsumi looked at her and shrugged. When she was in this frame of mind, no one can do anything with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the waiting room, Kaoru was alone with Megumi. She sat in front of the mirror and examined her face. Very light makeup that skilfully highlighted her blue eyes without looking too deliberate. Subtle shading of her cheekbones and pale lip gloss that took advantage of her naturally pink lips. Flawless skin. Kaoru stood up. The image in the mirror stared back at her.

Her short hair was covered in a fine, delicately wrought silver net interwoven with crystal drops. A sheer, translucent veil was draped over the silver cap lending a dream-like touch. The ivory-coloured gown she had on whispered against her skin as she raised her hand to touch the cold mirror. Simple and elegant, the off-shoulder long sleeved gown would have looked plain on anyone but her. The sleeves ended at a sharp point at her wrist and a wide silver cloth belt accentuated her tiny waist, meeting in the front and falling in tassles that swayed enticingly when she moved.

Her fingers traced the curves of the face in the mirror. "I'm getting married, Tsubame. Are you happy for me?" She closed her eyes and smiled. A light, warm breeze entered the room and brushed against her face like playful fingers in a caress. Yes. Tsubame would be happy for her.

Turning away from the mirror, she hugged Megumi.

"Thank you, Megumi. Other than knives and guns, I never know you are so good with make-up too," She laughed. Megumi returned the hug with a smile. In the ten years together, in private, their relationship was akin to that of sisters.

"Are you ready?" Megumi asked.

"Yes, but it's not time yet," Kaoru lifted the corner of her skirt and twirled around. "Do you think Kenshin will like it?"

"He will be completely and absolutely bowled over if he wasn't so already."

"Good. That will keep him on his toes around me,"Kaoru smiled impishly. She enjoyed the idea of keeping him always surprised and entranced. Sitting down carefully to avoid wrinkling her skirt, she asked in an off-hand manner, "About the little incident two weeks ago, any follow-ups?"

"The mastermind is Usui, that's already confirmed. The killers he employed are illegal immigrants from Thailand and Cambodia. All thugs and convicted criminals so it's an open and shut case for the police. After they failed to kill you and Kenshin, he's been lying low. But there's words on the streets that he's liquidating his assets, selling off everything,"Megumi reported.

"Is he planning to make a run?" Kaoru was puzzled. Usui was not the kind of man to retreat. He would rather go down in a fight. Or was she reading him wrongly? "How much does he have now?"

"He sold off his mansion and everything under his name," Megumi calculated, "He probably got about two million US dollars now. Some of his other businesses are not so easy to find buyers."

"Two million. That's not really a lot, considering. What's he going to do with two million?" Kaoru mused. Putting this little mystery to the back of her mind, Kaoru opened up a drawer and pulled out a bulletproof vest. She threw it at Megumi.

"Put it on. I don't want to see you injured again."

Megumi accepted the vest and put it on. Although she was the bridesmaid, she refused to wear the traditional gown and insisted on her customary shirt and pants. Serviceable and very practical. The only concession she made was in the change of colours. White.

Looking at Megumi, Kaoru shook her head and remarked, "You know, I might as well ask Aoshi to be the bridesmaid."

Megumi shrugged on the vest and wore her shirt. "About Aoshi, why did you send him on that trump-up errand?"

"I have my reasons," Kaoru did not have to answer but she did and that was all she was going to say on the matter. Her wedding today was likely to be very exciting. Even the police was here and they thought she did not know. What a joke. If anything should happen, it would be best if Aoshi was not around. He vowed his loyalty to her ten years ago and she trusted him implicitly but sometimes, there were other obligations and she did not want to make things difficult for him. It would be best for him not to go head to head with the police. There was, after all, his future to consider.

"Let's go. It's time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kenshin looked at his watch. It's almost time. Kaoru would be here any minute. He stood before the priest and stared straight at the sight of the cross. The tortured Son of God hung at the cross, suffering for the sins of mankind. Yet in the face of the statue, Kenshin thought he saw, not pain but acceptance and hope?

Sano came back from answering the phone and whispered into Kenshin's ears, "Your godfather said that Soujiiro would not be able to make it to the wedding today. Something cropped up in the clan." Kenshin nodded. Something fishy was going on. No matter how busy, Soujiiro would not have absent himself without cause. Did something really crop up or was Shishio planning something?

Enishi was standing beside them and he added, "If something was going on in Hong Kong, there's nothing we can do now anyway. What's important is to get the wedding underway before confronting Shishio." All of them except for Soujiiro already know of Shishio's role in their past. And they were prepared to catch him by surprise after the wedding and merger between HongXing and Shinzuku.

All the guests were already seated. Enishi had brought his men from America as a precaution against attacks from Kobe and they lined the walls of the church. Before long, Kaoru appeared at the church door. Megumi was with her. There was no one to give her away and she wanted to walk to him by herself. Through the long aisle that separated them, silence descended. Everybody in the church had turned to look at her, Hayashi Kaoru of Shinzuku, today's bride.

Most of the guests who were here today were also present on the day she took over from Jineh. In their minds, she remained that confident and arrogant woman who single-handedly defeated Jineh and proclaimed herself head of Shinzuku. That sense of wildness and overwhelming presence had earned their respect and fear. But now, if she would just smile at them, she would have gotten their wholehearted devotion and worship. The sun rained down blessings on her, casting a gentle light that picked out the crystals in the silver net making it sparkle like dewdrops meeting the light of dawn. She stood there, unmoving, her face impassive behind the veil, waiting for the music to start.

Sano leaned over and said in a low voice, "If one day, Kaoru ever gets tired of you, there will no end to the people waiting to take your place."

"That will never happen,"Kenshin replied, his eyes on his bride. Kaoru. Soon, they would belong to each other. But something irked him. A sense of wrongness. He narrowed his eyes and the beast inside him snarled. Abruptly, the air surrounding him seemed imbued with a restless and hostile energy that spreaded quickly to the whole church. Sano and Enishi looked at Kenshin in surprise. Since they were young, they had noticed this strange phenomenon whenever Kenshin was feeling particularly mean. What provoked him this time?

Before they could ask, a dark shadow strolled into the church and headed for Kaoru. Even before he stepped into the light, his mocking voice gave his identity away.

"I'm here to give you away, my dear daughter."





Usui is here and what did he do with his remaining two million? Hmmmm. And Aoshi and Misao, like I said, will have their own story so I'm just laying down some bait here.

The part about their past was not clarified here and only mentioned briefly. I plan to write about it in more detail when the investigator a.k.a the mystery man in chpt 9 make his appearance.

Macy, you guessed correctly! But no prize unfortunately. Aoshi is the informant. Kaoru knows but does he know she knows?

The next chapter was an accident and not necessary to the story. I wanted it to be just one paragraph but it dragged on a few pages and I couldn't fit it in anywhere and I thought of deleting it but couldn't bear to so there it is. I will be working on Hiko's story next after such a long hiatus on it. 'S&p' will have to wait a while.

Thanks for all the reviews. Especially on chpt9 'cos I was really apprehensive about the action scene so your comments and encouragements meant a lot.