Hiya. Whatever you might think of this chapter, please remember, unfortunately, this is how I USED to write. Oh, well. At least you can all be grateful I went crazy one night and typed up most of this back then, which ended up being the major basis for inserted clues about Yuan-san in the earlier posted chapters. But I did enjoy typing up an argument between the Mibu wolf and the White Tiger. I hope you like it, too. Thanks for reading. Dialogue-intensive chapter. As most of them are, but this more than usual.

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Kenshin returned to the precinct the next day, in order to get a coherent sequence of events from someone.

According to the officers, more than one person had seen Yahiko running in one street, carrying a drawn sword, away from one direction and toward the Kamiya dojo. The direction he came from happened to be the same as the general location where the murders occurred. All the witnesses had not seen anyone else on that street at those hours. Thus, by process of exclusion, poor Yahiko was arrested for the murders. A quick trial was scheduled in the next few days.

Meanwhile, the newspapers ran the story of how a young man committed all five murders, and how he and his friends firmly denied the charges. The owner of the Kamiya dojo could only be relieved that all the students also considered the charge as false, and none of the parents threatened to pull out their children.

Kenshin discussed all this with one of the chief inspectors of the precinct. But it did not matter much to the officer either way. The young man had no business with him, anyhow. He was allowed to be with Kenshin on some assignments, acting only as Kenshin's assistant. It was Seta Soujirou who answered directly to Inspector Fujita, and the fact that he was missing was starting to bother the inspector. The police had already been informed that Jiro had not been seen for a while, but had no leads on where to begin searching.

In the middle of their discussion, a man in a Chinese suit suddenly charged in. He went directly to the desk, slammed both hands on the desk, sending dust flying up to Saitou's nose.

"What have you done to my courier?" he demanded.

"You left your house without an escort," the policeman did not look up at the newcomer, then sneezed. "You have broken our agreement."

"You broke yours, stovepipe!" the man continued. "You swore to leave me alone! I told you I will keep Seta in line! Where have you taken him? Answer me!"

The man with the Chinese suit threatened in fluent, unaccented Japanese. He was rather tall, well-built, and wore a small pair of tinted glasses and a bowler hat. Kenshin recognized the man already when he entered, but could not believe his eyes. The man eventually recognized Kenshin, and his eyes widened.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't been properly introduced," Saitou said with heavy sarcasm. "Himura Kenshin, this is Yuan Xue Dai, metalworks entrepreneur. Yuan-san, Himura-san. And yes, Seta Soujirou works for this exasperating white-haired man."

Kenshin kept staring at the infuriated gentleman, then gave Saitou a sideglance.

"Yes, it's him, Himura, stop wondering," Saitou answered. "It's a despicable headpiece that man wears."

Indeed it was. Even under a bowler hat, the black hair did not seem matched to the owner. A ring of white hair peeped from under the wig.

"Soujirou-dono only kept telling me that he worked for a Chinese businessman." Kenshin said. "How long has he been here?"

"Roughly two years, but since his business is not the kind you buy from, you don't know. He has a special arrangement with me. He keeps out of sight and out of trouble, I leave him alone."

"How trusting of you, Saitou……….." Kenshin could only sweatdrop.

"Are you kidding? He's under close surveillance 24 hours a day."

"Is not that too much? Even after so many years the police are still afraid of him?"

"Once a criminal, always a criminal."

"Orororo." Kenshin held his head.

The man looked at the other person in the room with them, and smirked. "Bon jour, brother-in-law. Why are you here with this stiff? "

"I'm representing Tsubame-dono who wants Yahiko to be freed, and who is also asking about Soujirou-dono's whereabouts," Kenshin replied.

"And I will repeat to both of you, the police have no idea where the Tenken is! That is not a lie!" Saitou said.

"Then get an idea, for goodness' sakes!" Enishi stomped. "It's incredible how this government handles dangerous criminals!"

"Criminals like yourself?" the officer puffed at a cigarette.

The man clenched his teeth.

"How can we be sure you have not brainwashed the Tenken into committing those murders?" Saitou bluntly asked.

The gentleman looked up at the ceiling. "How can you be sure? I don't know. But I haven't tried to talk that smiley into doing anything of that sort." He tossed his head, and smirked. He eventually faced the redhead beside the officer. "Is THIS your idea?" the gentleman glared at Kenshin with murder in his eyes. "Your way to get me arrested?"

Kenshin waved his hands in front of him and shook his head. "I promise you, no!"

"The idea of that brat, then? The trainer?"

"Absolutely not!" Kenshin defended. "I know Yahiko has issues against Soujirou, but he is not cruel enough to do this!"

The gentleman approached the police officer. "Two years of cooperation with you, and this is the thanks I get! I should've known better…."

"Save your steam. I have to get details first," Saitou answered without flinching.

The gentleman harrumphed. "Make it quick, then."

Saitou left the two men in his office.

Left alone with the redhead, the taller man sat down, crossed his arms, and looked at the other man with some irritation. Kenshin walked beside him and leaned on the windowsill.

"I don't have any grand scheme up my sleeves, if that's what you're thinking," the taller man gave the redhaired one a sideglance.

"I was not thinking anything of the sort," Kenshin assured him. "Please forgive my asking, Enishi, but how did Soujirou get to work for you?"

"The usual way. Help-wanted lists," the man answered. "He was surprised to see me. I, on the other hand, recognized him quickly. I gave him the workload, he agreed, he got hired. The usual way."

"I do not understand why Soujirou is so important to you," Kenshin said. "I mean, if he is just a courier…….."

"You don't know the half of what Seta can do," he cocked back his glasses. "You only know that small part of him that can kill without being seen. You don't know the rest. He learned a thing or two from that deranged master of his, and that equally insane second man."

"Explain, please?"

"Seta virtually controls all my current holdings," he smirked. "He knows where each coin goes. My job is to tell him where to send them. He is the face of the business. So, when he's gone……well, you understand why I can just kill that poker-faced smokestack……."

"Your trust is great," Kenshin looked surprised at just how great. "But you said you knew him from before? How?"

"Seta almost singlehandedly negotiated for the Rengoku. One of the best contacts I've run into. If you two and that rooster managed to destroy it, that's no fault of his. His stupid master gave me only so much yen to work with, in such a short time! That it stood up to you at all is because he worked out a way to use what little plating was available."

Saitou returned, with a shocked look on his usual poker face.

"Seta turned himself in!" he reported.

"What for?" the other two men simultaneously asked.

"The murders the dojo brat is accused of!" the officer's small eyes partly widened.

"On what grounds?" the Chinese gentleman asked again.

"Just the man's word, it seems."

The gentleman pulled at his hat and wig. "Sacre bleu! He's flipped! He can't POSSIBLY have done those! Tenken or not, he could NOT have done them!"

Kenshin pulled Saitou down and whispered. "You're cooping him up too long, you know."

Saitou clenched his teeth at Kenshin, then faced Enishi. "How can you be so sure?"

"Three of the men killed were MY business associates, those I had close ties with," the man replied. "Now why would I kill off such good business associates, pray tell? Because they were no longer of use to me? On the contrary!"

"Can you confirm this?" the officer asked.

"I have to get the records, but yes, I can," the other man nodded.

All three heard a knock, and saw another officer enter and salute. "Sir, the young man is in the interrogation room."

"Tell them I'm coming," Saitou replied, and the policeman exited. He then motioned for the two men to follow him out of the office. The taller one did not have to be told twice, and immediately went, ahead of even Saitou.

Kenshin and Saitou eventually followed the sound of a man shouting Chinese and Japanese expletives into the interrogation area.

Seated behind a table, in front of the shouting man, was a pale young man with a lifeless face. His blue gi and hakama were tattered in many places, his hair was all in a tumble. It was obvious that nothing the gentleman said reached the young man's ears. He maintained a blank stare and a pasted pitiful smile as his master rambled.

"Do you realize how much of the work has been delayed already?" the gentleman paced back and forth like a caged tiger, and shouted to a man seated in front of him. "And now you're getting yourself arrested? How in the world will the business be trusted when my chief courier had just admitted to murder?"

Kenshin faced the gentleman, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That is enough, Enishi." He then knelt in front of the young man, and asked kindly, "Can you tell us what happened that night, slowly?"

"I failed her. I deserve this. It is better this way," he said, and looked down at his hands. Then he leaned back, closed his eyes, and dropped his head and arms.

"Aiya, he's already over his head in trouble, and still he talks about a woman!" the gentleman slapped his forehead.

"Tell us, at least, Soujirou-dono," Kenshin prodded again. "Why did you kill those men?"

"I don't know. I just did," the young man replied without looking at any of them. "I failed her. I deserve this. It is better this way."

"We'll interrogate him tomorrow," Saitou said finally. "We'll keep him here for the night." He called in the prison guards, who almost lifted and dragged the young man out of the interrogation room, like they would a drunkard.

In the meantime, the gentleman faced the police officer and met his eyes. "I did not make him kill anyone. He has no other alliances that will order him to assassinate. He would not kill in cold blood. At least, not anymore."

"Unless he went berserk?" Kenshin asked.

"What would make him do that?" the gentleman asked in turn.

"Unless you can show me, I'll consider this a closed case, and he will hang," Saitou said, and closed the interrogation room door.

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RKRC is up for the 2005 material, so go vote for your favorites. Unfortunately I haven't been reading any fics last year, so I don't know who to vote (sigh).

Warg: Yes, I know it's losing out a bit, sorry about that. Chiki: Your guesses? Um, not exactly that way. Thanks for thinking so highly of the work of this unworthy author. Junyortrakr and pnaixrose: I hope this answers your guesses. Aikida: Thanks for the support. I will finish this story not just because people like it, but I do want to finish it, even if half-baked. I don't want to leave it hanging beyond the time that I can still fix it even barely. Skenshingumi: I hope this answers your question about Yuan-san? I think Kenshin only suspected, but wasn't certain. Also, I figured Yahiko no longer tells Kenshin everything that happens to him