I would like to thank you, Marlingrl, for your reviews and encouragement. And Mouse wants to know "what happens next?" Let's see. Remember- I don't own- you don't sue.

June 10th, 2000 12:00 AM

Sanos walked past the closed bookstore. There was a faint light coming from a back room, probably some sort of security light. Somebody must have just passed by smoking a cigar; he could still faintly smell it. The bistro was dark, and the windows in the second floor flat were on.

His cell rang. "Sanos, it's Shou. Get up here now! The front door is open; come right up to the roof, there's something I have to show you!"

"Where's Kenshin?"

"He's pretty quiet right now, but I think that he's going to want some company. Get up here."

Sanos snapped off his phone, ran up the stoop, and entered the brownstone.

Sanos made it up the long flights of stairs in what he felt was record time. The door to the rooftop stood open and he dashed through. They must use this as a picnic area in good weather; there were tables and a grill to his right. The light was very dim, just what was coming from the stairwell.

"Shou? Where are you, Captain? Kenshin?" Sanos peered around and saw a dark bundle lying at the edge of the light. Was this what Shou had found? As he walked closer and his eyes became a little more adjusted to the dim light, he saw it was a small human form with long black hair. "Kenshin!" He darted forward and dropped to his knees by the still figure. Kenshin's hands were held behind him by a pair of handcuffs, a white rag of some sort was across his mouth, and his eyes were closed. Sanos felt something cold and hard touch him behind his left ear.

"Stand up very slowly, Sanos and back up towards me."

"Shou? What's going on?"

"You are going to be my first audience. Too bad you won't be able to write a review for your paper, but I'll be interested in your reaction. Take off your belt – slowly, now and no tricks or the performance will end too soon. Kneel with your back to me. Good." Sanos felt a sharp stinging pain to the back of his head and blackness took him.

His head felt as if it weighed five thousand pounds and there was something wrong with his mouth. His tongue pushed against a strip of cloth tied between his jaws. Sanos opened his eyes in the dim light and tried to focus. Shou was sitting casually in a deck chair near Kenshin's body; swinging a foot crossed over his knee. A green beer bottle was by his other foot. He looked down at Sanos with a big smile.

"Ah, you're awake – finally. I thought maybe I'd hit you a little too hard, and that would spoil my show. But you're here now and I can start." He stood and pushed the deck chair away; then turned and pulled the small body farther into the light. "I want you to be able to see very well, Dave, especially since you seem so taken with Mr. Boldt here for only having known him such a short time. He must be a fast little worker – got that from his street hustling days, I suppose. More tricks you turn the more you earn, right? It's sad to see someone you care about hurt; I know that from long experience. And Teo Gaudro is behind that pain for me. I want to see her face when I call her up here to see what's left of her little pet before he hits the pavement down in the alley. You don't like her either, do you? I'll make sure you get to enjoy seeing her face before you die too. After I'm done with this little bitch, I'll give her a call and say I just saw you going into the brownstone and followed you. She'll be up here like a rabbit if it concerns him." He gave Kenshin's body a kick; Sanos thought he saw a flickering grimace cross the little man's face. "And she'll have a minute to enjoy the view before I blow her brains out. Then I shoot you with her gun, and call in my sad report – how I discovered her up here on the roof with the two of you and had to shoot her in self-defense. Her violent little mind must just have finally snapped! And she took her final attack right home to her fag husband and his lover. Yes, I think it will be a very sad report. I'm going to frame it as a keepsake so I can enjoy thinking about how I finally got back at that pompous big bitch." He giggled and clapped his hands together.

"And it was so easy! I identified myself and he agreed to let me in! I gave him some bullshit about wanting to use this roof for a stakeout. He must have been making something in the kitchen – he even brought his own knife to the door to let me in!" Shou lifted a long thin bladed knife into the light, twisting it to make it shine. "And a lovely little kitchen towel to make gags out of! It was so easy to take him out; his reflexes are slow since he doesn't have to watch his back all the time anymore. So he's all ready to go and you're here. Let's start, shall we?"

Sanos pulled against the leather binding his wrists. His feet were free, but it was hard to get any purchase on the pebbles which covered the roof. Shou ran the knife up under the edge of the dark shirt on Kenshin's back, just above the bound hands, and sliced up with one long rip of cloth. "Lovely," he crooned, "one thing about a chef, their knives are always in perfect condition. Are you watching, Dave? He's still out, but the next few cuts will wake him up quick, then we'll have some fun!" He reached down, knife in his left hand, and stuck the blade in the left front pocket of Ken's jeans, tearing down in one swift rip, turning slightly as he did so.

Sanos watched Ken's eyes pop open as he spun his right leg back and over in a roundhouse kick, trying to nail the big man in the head. He wasn't completely successful, but he did knock Shou back with a hand clutching his jaw, cursing. Ken scrambled away from Shou, heading towards Sanos, unable to get to his feet with the pebbles and the torn cloth hampering him. Sanos pushed his forehead down into the gravel and was able to get his right foot up under him. He staggered up and ran between Ken and Shou's swinging left hand. A burning pain seared his right shoulder as he knocked Shou back, but he lost his balance. The knife spun away into the dark. Shou cursed and gave him a heavy kick to the ribs, taking Sanos' breath away. Then he leaped across to grab Kenshin, who had made it to his feet and was trying to get to the stairs.

Shou's right hand caught Kenshin's thick tail of hair while his left grabbed the handcuffs and pulled up hard, making the smaller man give a strangled cry of pain. "You won't get out of this easy, you little whore! I've got plans for you!" He spun them both around towards the light from the door and Sanos gasped and tried to get himself moving again, but his body wasn't co-operating right away. A flicker of shadow passed over them all and Sanos craned his neck to see a tall figure - left arm extended and steady.

"Freeze! NYPD!

Teo stood like a statue of vengeance, pistol in her out stretched hand. "Give it up, Carl! There's no way out now, I've got too many pieces together, and the warrant is made out for the search on your locker at the station. Once the clothes are found there will be no hiding for you! Let Kenshin go and put up your hands before you have more to answer for!"

She made a gesture with her right hand and some small strands of party lights came on- there must be an outside switch. Sanos saw Shou standing in the amber glow, still clutching Kenshin's bound wrists and hair. He pulled the small man back towards the roof's edge, Teo following.

"Stop, Gaudro! Or your little pet takes a quick drop! It won't be as much fun for me, but it will still be satisfying to watch you see him go. Toss your gun away or we'll see how well this little chicken can fly!"

"There's no point Carl, why keep it up? I read the old reports, I talked to your ex, – I guess I'm not the highest-ranking fag in the NYPD, just the only one who'll admit to it! He finally got sick of you four years ago, when you were working in the Bronx. Said you went a little overboard when you saw me make lieutenant after the Shigawa Securities case - even for boys who like pain there are limits!"

"Keep him out of it, bitch! He didn't love me – you killed the man who loved me!"

Teo started moving to her left, making Shou turn to follow her with his hands still painfully controlling Kenshin. Turning his back slowly to Sanos. He began to bring his foot up again, biting the cloth in pain. Did she want a diversion or help? He saw her eyes glitter in the light as if they were flames, but she kept her voice reasonable and calm, almost caressing.

"I only met him the once, Carl, and he wasn't at his best. Tell me about him; tell me about Frank Moreau. Talk to me Carl."

Shou's eyes glittered with tears. "He loved me! He saw what I was and tried to make me better, stronger! As a cop and a man! I wasn't worth it; he was tired of me. But it would have been our choice not yours! You stopped him and made him leave me!"

"But he was hurting you Carl. You couldn't think that I would want to see one cop hurt another?" Her voice still calm, Teo kept the slow turn to the left going – drawing Shou and Kenshin away from the ledge. A gap opened up behind the two men. Sanos got his right foot up under him again and waited for a sign, ignoring the burn in his shoulder and the wetness.

"I deserved it! He'd told me to get away from him and I wouldn't. So he was teaching me a lesson. Then you showed up! You said you'd have no trouble killing him for hurting me. I found out about you later- you fucking hypocrite! You hurt people all the time and got money for it! I knew something was wrong that night when I saw this!" He shook Kenshin, causing the man to again squeal in muffled pain. "I remember this little whore from my rookie days. He was on the street selling his ass, and you treated him better than my partner. You treated him better than me! I never saw Frank again; he ate his gun two days later. And it's all your fucking fault! He wouldn't have killed me, he loved me!"

"That's why he killed himself Carl, because he loved you. Because he saw how he'd hurt you and knew it would happen again – the sickness in him was just too strong. You didn't have to suffer so, to keep reenacting the last time you were together. He didn't want you to be hurt. Would he want you to hurt others?"

"Shut up! You have a good line of bullshit, Gaudro. You were able to make a cop out of a whore and keep your little pet slut at the same time. I saw it when you made Lieutenant; I recognized you and finally found out your name. When I checked around, there you were all safe and secure with your little whore, wearing a gold badge and being praised for your work. But I knew who and what you are. My hobby started out small after Dennis threw me out. When I got to this precinct, I knew I finally had the chance to make you hurt as I have, if only for a little while."

"I didn't recognize you, Carl. That beard of yours covers the scar well. And who suspects a cop? There are so many of us – people walk up to us without thinking and will follow us when we ask them to. How to be invisible in plain sight- be in a uniform or have a badge. G.K. Chesterton knew it almost a hundred years ago. I found the story downstairs in the shop. As I was coming out I heard you all up here on the roof. The faked tip for the Washington Square deal didn't work. They'll be looking for you. Let my boy go and I will testify to what I know, what happened all those years ago. You don't need to hurt him anyway, you want to hurt me."