Disclaimer: I still don't own Kenshin, or his friends or enemies. Special thanks to Nixy-Chan and SpaceRoses for your reviews, you guys are awesome! Also I made one minor tweak, Seijuro is now a Police Captain, instead of Chief as I had him in the last chapter…

Matter of Time

The figure from the night before, still wrapped in his trench coat, sat alone in the almost darkened motel room. It was cheap, and no questions were asked. It would work for what he needed for now. Just until what he needed to do was done. Then maybe, for the first time in ten years, he could be at peace.

Once he had destroyed everyone who had betrayed him, then he could be at peace.

The man stood up, looking at himself in the long mirror over the sink, a sneer crossing his face at what he saw. Once, he had been handsome, thick black hair, and eyes and a face that could get him any woman he wanted. But now, he was a disgusting burned and twisted mess. His face, hands, and indeed his whole body under his clothes were laced with dark red scars left from serious burns and countless skin grafts. He didn't understood why they had even tried to save him, they should have just let him die then and there. They had made the worst mistake of their life when they let him live.

Even his own men, the ones he'd trusted with his life, and career, had grown power mad, and had set him up. And for that, they would all die, just as they had tried to have him killed, in an explosion. He had spent the last ten years in jail, on his model behavior on the outside, bitter and plotting on the inside. And it would finally pay off.

They thought they could best former lord of the underworld Shishio Makoto. They may have laughed, but he would have the last one. A cruel yet pained smile crossed his cracked lips as he walked to the only table in the room. Picking up a pencil he crossed the first name off his list, then laid down on the bed.

Soon, he would strike again…

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"I'm sorry Officer Himura. There's nothing we can do, she's dead."

Kenshin looked at the paramedic blankly. "What? No! There's gotta be something you can do! Anything!"

The paramedic just shook his head. Now Kenshin was desperate. "What about him? He's a criminal and you're trying to save his life!"

"He is still alive Mr. Himura. Unfortunately she had died before we arrived. There's nothing we could have done."

Kenshin stood numbly, trying to keep his legs from buckling under him. He shivered in the chill air, the lost look growing in his deep eyes as in one fell swoop he watched his entire life being ripped away from him…

Kenshin awoke suddenly; covered in sweat, his hands twisting his pillow in a death grip, grinding his teeth so hard he had a headache. As his breathing evened and he realized he was awake, he kept his face buried in the pillow for another long minute, trying to keep reality at bay.

The nightmares were back. Kenshin cursed silently at the cruel twists of fate. That good for nothing criminal had lived, while his beautiful angel, his life had been taken away from him. At least there was some faint justice in the world, that man was in jail. He could stay there for the rest of his life Kenshin thought with uncharacteristic enmity for the usually easy going and gentle man.

Rolling over he looked at the clock on his nightstand. Almost 3pm, time to get up. Shaking his head to clear it Kenshin stood up and pulled on his robe. He padded to the door and opening it slightly pulled in the newspaper. With it under his arm, he walked back into the kitchen, squinting slightly against the cold, but very bright winter afternoon. Feeling something pressing against his leg he looked down with a slight smile to the huge longhaired cat rubbing against him.

"What'cha doing kid? Staying out of trouble?" He laughed slightly. "You're probably hungry."

Opening the cupboard he took out a mug and a plate. From another cabinet he took a can of cat food and dumped it out onto the plate. Then he reached over and poured himself some coffee. He set the plate on the ground where the cat wasted no time starting to wolf down the food. Taking his cup of coffee Kenshin sat down at the table and unfolded his newspaper. He took a sip of the coffee.

"Ugh." He pushed the cup away from him in disgust. He might have been able to cook, but he never could make a decent cup of coffee.

He flipped through the various pages of the paper in a rather bored manner, skimming a few articles here and there but nothing caught his attention until a small blurb at the bottom of one page. As he read his jaw tightened, until finally he threw the paper down on the table with a loud smack, enough to make the cat jump in surprise.

Kenshin shoved his chair back muttering under his breath as he walked out of the kitchen.

The article detailed the release of one Shishio Makoto from prison just a few days earlier

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That night in briefing Seijuro looked around at the others gathered.

"I have some more information on last nights bombing. We found out who was hit. It was the apartment of a man by the name of Houji Sadojima. He was a businessman, a vice president at a large company in town, but other then that we can't figure out any reason why anyone would want him dead. There was only one thing we could figure out, was he wasn't the target. He had several other people over that night, as far as we can figure, family of some sort. Unfortunately both of them were killed as well, however it leads us to believe that one of them might have been the target…"

As Seijuro continued to talk, Kenshin was growing increasingly uneasy. He had been unable to get the news about Shishio out of his head and now this. Houji Sadojima. He knew that name. But from where? Where had he heard it before?

If only he could remember, he was sure it would clear a lot of things up…