I don't own- you don't sue.

June 10th, 2000

1:25 AM

Sanos saw Teo's eyes glitter as she looked into the madman's face. Her voice stayed calm and sympathetic, sweet and low. She shook her head as if she had just realized a mistake had been made.

"Carl, you really have wanted to hurt me all these years. Let Kenshin go and I'll walk off the building myself right now. See, I'm putting my gun down." Kenshin struggled against Shou's grip, trying to shout out against the gag in his mouth. Sanos came up into a crouch, trying to be as quiet as possible, to not be noticed by the big man.

Teo bent and put her gun down, shoving it away behind her. "See, it's gone. Let him go and you can watch me die, that's what you've wanted all these years right? Then nobody else has to be hurt. The guys' can testify to what we've said, and then everyone will know what I did to you. And Kenshin can suffer like you have all these years, Carl, because he'll watch me die. That's even better, ne? You'll have your revenge every day he wakes up." She walked towards the edge of the building, passing to within a couple of feet of the sobbing man who stood, frozen, to watch her. "Let Kenshin go and I'll stand here and let you push me off, Carl, then we'll be even, right? Come on, you're a good cop. You've kept silent about yourself and your true love for years, like a good trooper. Not me with my big dyke mouth and a husband to boot. You know that I'm a big hassle to the bosses – they'll be glad to see me go. What do you think?"

"You're trying to trick me, you lying whore." His voice was shaking, uncertain.

"How can I trick you when I'm right here within reach? Let go of him and give me your hand, Carl. Then you'll be able to get rid of me and rest at last. Here." She held her right hand out, palm up, just out of Shou's reach. He scrubbed a sleeve across his tearstained face, letting go of Kenshin's hair as he did so. Teo reached across to the big man. "Come on Carl, let's go!" She grabbed Shou's arm just as Sanos sprang into a run and hit him and Kenshin from the back, driving them away from the ledge and making the big man lose his grip on the smaller one.

Sanos and Kenshin were carried a few stumbling steps by their own momentum before the little man tripped on the torn cloth again and hit the ground rolling. Sanos went down heavily on his right knee to stabbing pain from it and his ribs. He turned to the sound of ripping cloth and saw Kenshin pull the gag from his mouth with his bound hands, legs finally free of their encumbrance. He was up on his feet in a flash wearing only a small pair of white briefs, dark cloth covering his hands. "Teo!" he croaked and moved towards the two figures who had fallen to the roof in their struggle.

"Get away! Get Sanos and get away! He still has a gun! Go, koi!" Teo was fighting like a demon, Sanos saw, trying to keep Shou from getting his gun out of his shoulder holster. They scrabbled and twisted in the dim light, pebbles flying every where. Kenshin turned back to pull the gag out of Sanos' mouth.

"Can you stand? Crawl towards the door and try to get away, Dave, I've got to help her! Get down to the landing and call for help!" He was pulling at the belt that bound Sanos' hands when they heard the shot and cry of pain. "Teo!"

The two figures lay still a moment, the smell of cordite thick in the warm summer air. Then one rose, a tall, tangle-haired, wild eyed woman with a gun in her left hand. "Stay back and help Dave, koi! I'm all right!" She rolled the groaning man onto his belly and reached for her own cuffs. "Carl Shou, your are under arrest for more fucking shit than I like to think about. I will Miranda you as soon as I get my boy away from here. At least now both sides of your face match, you stupid bastard." She stood and pulled out a cell phone from her pocket, hitting a button with her right thumb. Sirens were already starting to howl in the distance; the shot must have been reported.

"This is Lt. Teo Gaudro. I'm at 2---4 near Canal and Bleeker, up on the roof. Send backup and some busses, we've got injuries – no you don't!" Shou had lurched to his feet and headed to the edge of the roof, Teo leaping after him like a hunting hound. She dropped the phone and caught him by the handcuffs, but his momentum was too strong and they both started to tip over. Kenshin screamed and leaped for his wife, clutching her coat in his own handcuffed hands.

"Help me, Dave! Teo let him go! I don't care if he dies! " The woman didn't answer, just slammed her legs against the stone edgework, and started to drop down, to use her own weight to stop Shou's forward motion. The gun was still in her left hand; all of the big man's weight was on her right. Dave stumbled forward and grabbed her left arm, sending the gun flying, the belt dangling free now from his right wrist.

There was a popping, crunching sound, and Teo gave a low howl, but didn't let go. Kenshin ducked under her stretched arm and dragged at Shou's collar, bringing him back over the edge onto the roof. Teo pulled him back onto his face and slammed a knee onto the back of the man's neck. "Hobble him with the belt! The fucker isn't going to get off with dying! Kobito, stop! You're hitting me too!" Kenshin stopped the two handed pounding he had been giving Shou's body, and crouched panting by Teo's side.

Sanos wrapped the leather belt as tightly as he could around the struggling man's ankles, ignoring the slow trickle of blood from his own wound. Kenshin reached over to pull it tight with all his strength, cursing, and Shou gave one final shriek and lay sobbing. Teo sank back down onto the pebbled roof, her right arm hanging limp by her side. Kenshin scooted to support her.

"Are you all right, my Genji?"

"I will be. That was the stupidest thing you have ever done, Teo Gaudro! When I'm out of these cuffs I am going to kick your ass for you and you'd better take it with a smile for scaring me so!" He pressed his tear stained cheek to her right shoulder, missing the wince of pain Sanos saw.

"The cuffs! Sanos, come here. You okay? Reach under my right armpit for my holster. There's a placket in the front where my cuff keys are. Get them, please, we need to get my Nezumo-chan out of these filthy things." She looked up into Kenshin's face and smiled. "Give us a kiss, little one. I kept my promise. I always do."

While Kenshin's head was down, Sanos lifted her jacket and saw the blood. The holster had slid around behind her back, beneath the hanging useless arm. "I can't get at it where it is, Teo!"

She turned her head and gave him a stern look. "Then move it, Dave! I don't want him bound and hurt any more. Do it! Look at your poor little wrists, kobito, do they hurt very much?" As she distracted the smaller man again , kissing at the abraded flesh, Sanos reached in and wrenched the holster around with a grinding click from her shoulder. Teo jerked but made no noise. "There nezumo, let Dave unlock them for you. That's better, ne? Give us another kiss."

"You've been smoking, Shinju-sama!"

"Just one! I was thinking and it helps. Give Dave that piece of shirt there to put pressure on that cut on his shoulder. Good. They're coming now. Go down to the apartment and get something to put on, Kenshin. We don't need to make the whole world jealous of me."

"Wait a minute," said Sanos, "Kenshin your hands were behind you. How did you get them in front?" He could almost feel the little man's hot blush as his delicate face darkened.

Teo laughed "Kenshin is extremely limber, Sanos! He doesn't know the half of it does he, kobito?" She slid down suddenly, pale even in the amber light.

"Teo! What is it! You're bleeding! Oh please Shinju, don't die! I love you so!" Ken sat on the hard gravel, cradling her head in his lap. "You can't die, you can't leave me!" Tears fell on her upturned face.

"I won't die love, I won't leave you, my shining Genji. Relax - I'll be okay. I still haven't had my fondest wish, to see your hair as it should be. Flame red, beautiful as a sunset and soft as spider silk, that's what I want to see someday." She reached up with her left hand and drew some of the black strands into her fingers. "I truly wish to have that gift someday, koi."

Feet came pounding up the stair, young Officer Myojin in the lead. "Teo!" He slid to a stop at her side, across from Kenshin. "Are you wounded?"

"I've been better, lad. Did they get his locker?" She indicated Shou with a twitch of her head.

"Yes, the clothes were there from yesterday. Detective Taylor has them."

"What? You mean to say he wore bloody clothes right into the police station, Teo?"

"Where better to hide them, Sanos? That's why he was almost late for the briefing yesterday, that's the reason for the shower. He's a nut case, but he's got balls, I'll give him that much. Hey, Cooper! He hasn't been Mirandized yet, he was too busy trying to jump and take me with him! Do it for me, I'm not feeling too good right now." She smiled sleepily up into Kenshin's face. "Katsu, go tell the EMT's to move their asses, we've got hurt heroes up here. And stop in at the flat and grab something for Kenshin to wear. Sanos' tongue is already hanging out of his mouth and we don't have time for lovin' right now! Straight through the flat, the green and blue bedroom. No stopping in my room to sniff anything. Drag." The young cop nodded and ran off to Sanos' laughter.

"Do you ever stop, Teo? Gaudro? Shit, Kenshin, lay her down flat, she's passed out! Get the EMT's over here! Somebody, help!" He watched Kenshin crouched over his wife's still form, crying and calling her name. When he called her "Makabashira," she stirred, but didn't open her eyes. Kenshin laid his face against hers and kissed her cheek. It took Myojin and two cops to pull him away for the medics to check her over. As they cut away her jacket and shirt, the broken edge of her collarbone showed through the torn flesh. The tattoo of koi appeared to swim through blood.

Myojin coaxed and wrestled the little man into a shirt and jeans, but the minute he was released he was back at Teo's side. Sanos felt dirty and ashamed. The bond between them was the strongest he had ever seen and wasn't a thing of evil. Teo had risked her life, offered to throw it away, for Kenshin's safety. If Sanos' hadn't been there to give his extra weight, Teo would have gone over the edge with Shou, and he had no doubt that Kenshin would have gone too. He owed them both the most sincere apology he could give them, for doubting her and his judgment of the woman who was his dearest love.

He last saw them as the EMT's carried Teo away. Kenshin followed without a backward look. He felt a hand on his shoulder and Myojin crouched down next to him as he was being checked out.

"I'm sorry, Dave, but that's how it is. No matter what we do, we'll never matter as much to them as they do to each other. You just have to decide if it's worth it or not." His black eyes followed the little man down the stairs.

"Is she worth it, Katsu?"

"Is he? When I'm with her, I'm alive. She makes me feel as no one else ever has. It's not just the games-she does care. She just loves Kenshin more. I'm happy with what I have now; it's more than most people ever get. To have someone you think the world of treat you as if you mean something to her and always will. She can be oh so kind, Dave. Most people don't get to see it; she keeps the world at arm's length. I hope she lets me be near her for as long as possible. Don't let him slip away from you, Dave. A little of someone like Kenshin or Teo can be better than a long time with someone who isn't as special. Take care." He gave Sanos' good shoulder a gentle squeeze and moved off to help with the work that needed to be done. Sanos dropped his head and sighed. Would Kenshin even speak to him, knowing what he'd thought about Teo?