EDITED REPOST, 10/21/05…. if you love me, leave me a review about the editing…?

Disclaimers: I don't own Kenshin. Nobuhiro Watsuki does… but if I did… the things I would do to that sexy red head...

Uh yeah anyways onto the story.

CHAPTER 20

Time could honestly not go any slower for Kaoru. The seconds that passed through the invisible hour glass were audible in her mind, tuning out everything else rendering her into a crazed like state. Her shaky attempts to lift the teacup to her quivering lips caused her to spill the crimson brown liquid onto the white table cloth. It soaked it up greedily to her dismay. Kaoru had barely gotten any sleep during the past few nights. Her thoughts were chaotically spinning like a never-ending amusement ride. Every time she managed to close her eyes it was only for a brief period but Enishi was there to plague at her from beneath the lids. The only way to make him go away was to try to keep them forcefully open.

Refusing stubbornly, the table cloth would not revert back to its original crisp white color. Kaoru gave up on the hand washing attempt and decided it would be best to just throw the damn thing in the washing machine. She gathered other white articles from her laundry hamper, and trudged to the closet that concealed her stacked machines. "Oh God!" She gasped dropping a shirt from a pile that she had been sorting. It's a sauce stain, her mind pointed out plainly but she still couldn't shake off the feeling of how much it resembled blood. Okay, maybe doing the laundry now is a bad idea. With brisk like motions she threw the basket inside and slammed the doors shut.

The next thing she had planned to do was watch some major television. Hopefully it'll help to take my mind off of everything. Taking the throw blanket from the arm of the couch and pillow from her bedroom, she made herself as comfortable as possible.

It must have been the boring drone from the show, or the sunlight caressing her with its soft warmth because before she knew it her eyelids were feeling as heavy as bowling balls. Losing the struggle, her lashes fluttered a few times before closing shut. But it didn't last long. The sharp, shrill shriek of the phone echoed, startling her from the light but much needed rest. Feeling utterly confused about how much time passed, and where the noise was coming from she first looked to the TV. Working dreadfully slow, her brain registered the fact that it was really the phone ringing a few seconds later. Bounding up and off the couch, Kaoru hurried to the phone but it was already on its last ring. She was too late.

"Hello? Hello?" There was no dial tone. The caller I.D. informed her that it was Sano who had been calling. She pressed 'dial' on it, and waited impatiently. His cell was busy. Anxiously her hand tightened around the phone and she pressed 'redial' hoping that this time it would go through.

It was still busy. She huffed as she reluctantly put the phone back down, but she knew it was for the best. He was probably trying to get through to her end but since she had it up— just then as the phone touched the cradle it burst into life again, ringing in her hand. Not wasting even a second she picked it up and answered quickly. "Hello?"

"Hey jou-chan, you alright?" Kaoru hiked up an eyebrow. "Sano? Why wouldn't I be?" She tried to conceal herself with a fake cheerful tone. "You haven't heard…" Quite to the contrary of her he sounded devastated, and Kaoru knew instantly what he must have been talking about. "Jou-chan, I think you should turn your television on, and go to channel five."

Her stomach fluttered almost as a forewarning as she grimly reached for the remote. She had a very bad feeling about this. "Sano can you tell me what this is about? What's going on?" she asked, unable to wait for even a moment's pause. "I was beginning to wonder why you hadn't called Kenshin or anything. Just… turn the channel on and you'll understand." Sano noticed how awfully quiet she sounded. "The… the last time I talked to him was a couple days ago, Sano. What's going on? Heavy breathing on the line was the immediate reply followed by another prompt. "Just turn to channel five."

Preparing herself for the worst, she complied.

And what she heard next made her drop the phone.

"Yes, from what we have heard so far they have closed the crime scene off, and earlier this morning the police officially released the names of the deceased. They aren't releasing any more information, however, at this time. So far there are no suspects in custody," a Japanese reporter was speaking rapidly, and she was standing behind the Kasshin building. "Once again the police are asking the public for assistance about the murderers that occurred here on Sunday evening."

Two pictures were put onto the screen. Blood roared in her ears and black streaks crossed through her vision. Kaoru breathed heavily, begging her body to not pass out. The familiar face that she could have sworn she had seen on the monitor that night was now smiling before her hauntingly. "Yamoichi Kumi, and Akao Shintaro were found murdered at the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu head office in Tokyo. If anyone has any information about either of the two please contact the Tokyo police." The reporter paused before allowing the main anchor to take over.

Oh…my…god.

Kaoru fell to the floor, and clutched her head. She was beyond everything therefore she didn't hear Sano calling out to her from the phone.

"Thank you Rikki. Another grisly body was discovered at a local home. Police have released the young woman's name, and they believe that this might be the actions of the same suspect that they have been after for quite some time. Yukishiro Tomoe was at her residence alone on Sunday evening when she suffered multiple stab wounds. Miss. Yukishiro died early Monday morning in the hospital. If anyone has any information about this you can call our tip line at…" The sound in her ears died out; she forgot all about the telephone as she staggered towards the bathroom, her body writhing with pain. There in the toilet she promptly threw up the contents of her stomach.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god…" she whispered over, and over to herself. Rocking back and forth looking like a crazed child, Kaoru gagged repeatedly though her stomach was now completely empty. More wanted to get out, to be rid of. She felt like she was going to die. Having no other choice but to obey her screaming body, Kaoru propped her body back up around the toilet, her slight form wracking with spasms. It took it's time before subsiding but she didn't dare move for fear of it attacking her aggressively again.

Tomoe was dead.

He lied. He lied to me. How could I ever be so stupid to believe him? And Kumi-san... the thought of the latter caused Kaoru to let the stream of tears come out. She clutched herself, and fell to the bathroom floor, a barrage of questions swirling and pounding through her throbbing head. Why? How? How did this happen? Why did he murder Kumi-san? Kaoru groaned in pain with her next realization.

I helped to kill Kumi-san.

She closed her eyes pitifully, and remained pathetically sprawled on her bathroom floor groaning with pain.

Oh Kami-sama, what have I done? What have I done?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Quite some time passed before Kaoru was able to force herself up. She used the walls around her to steady her still trembling body as she made her way to her bedroom closet. Determination drove her. Even though she was as sickly looking as could be, and no matter how bad she wanted to drive a knife through her heart to end all of this insane madness, she needed to get her questions answered if that was the last thing she was to ever do. HE was going to have to answer her. At the bridge, that's where she would wait until he showed up. If he didn't, well she'd be waiting an eternity but she promised herself for the sake of her slain friend and Kenshin's girlfriend, she would not move from that spot. It was the very least she could do.

Kaoru was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she accidentally ran several red lights. Not caring, she continued till she reached her destination. The car door slammed loudly behind her but the water raged on carrying the sound away. "WHERE ARE YOU! ANSWER ME DAMNIT!" She whirled around till her head was dizzy. The forest became a blur.

"ANSWER ME!"

The rush of the water was the only reply she heard for almost half an hour. The other half was spent sitting on the moistened earth, telling herself over and over that everything was going to be okay despite knowing that it really wasn't. Kenshin's girlfriend, the woman he loved so much is DEAD. Kumi, my only friend that I truly confided in throughout the years is gone. Oh god, what do I do? What is Kenshin going to do?

At first she didn't hear the footsteps from across the bridge. Her thoughts were speaking to her much loudly than anything else, including the raging water that surged on relentlessly.

"Kaoru-chan…"

Faintly she thought she heard her name. It was when she decided to further investigate to see if she was losing her mind or not when she came across a man that was slowly approaching her direction. He didn't seem to pose an immediate threat with such a kind smile on his face. And besides, he looked awfully familiar. I know him, Kaoru realized. It was Satoshi, a family friend and husband to Kumi-san. She'd seen him only on a few occasions but he'd never been that talkative with her unlike his wife. What in the world is he doing here now? Kind of odd… And what is he holding? Thinking that her eyes were deceiving her with some kind of illusion based trick, Kaoru blinked and squinted even though she could see plain and clear. Her mind was the one that wasn't accepting it. "Satoshi-san?" She eyed him suspiciously.

She gasped in surprise when he smiled wickedly, holding his katana out in front for her to see.

"You… you!"

"Surprised?"

His voice sounded oddly familiar. There was an edge like madness to it. It was one she would never forget after seeing him murder the security guard merciless, or how he stare at her, cold and calculated, threatening a death like sentence in his eyes. Even as she took several steps back towards her car she knew. She'd figured it out. Now the nagging question in her head was, why didn't you see this before? The cloaked man that had haunted her both in reality and her dreams was now standing before her, completely unhidden and grinning viciously.

"…Why?" her voice faltered. His grin never left his lips even when he shrugged at her. "Never knew it was me, did you? Didn't expect you to, Kamiya. The angry feeling inside of her began to swell like a hot air balloon. It filled her completely till she was seeing red. "Why? How could you? How could you hurt all those people? You're wife!" she sputtered out, completely engulfed in disbelief.

"Calm down Kamiya. We wouldn't want you doing anything that you might regret later," the malicious tone of his voice threatened. "Fuck you!" she spat out. "To hell with your games! I deserve an answer!" She continued to yell at him, exhibiting her anger even more. Though she faintly thought she should tone it down, she was beyond angry with herself, with him and their whole situation. Their situation. She was well involved now, too deep. "How could you kill your own wife?"

"You mean that whore of a woman?" Kaoru knew better than to lunge at him. She contained herself, curling her hands into tight fists. "She deserved what she got, her and that Shintaro. They got what they deserved," he informed her bitterly. "Oh yeah?" Kaoru took a step forward. "What made you decide that? What did she ever do to you?" In a matter-of-face tone, he smoothly replied, "The bitch was cheating on me."

"Cheating on you?" Kaoru scoffed, and laughed out loud. "Kumi-san would never do such a thing!"

"Really?" He seemed amused with her reaction. "And I suppose that you'd want to pretend that she wasn't planning on taking over your company and kicking you off right?" No words formed in her mouth. She just stared back. "You did know that, didn't you? She was planning it for sometime now. You should consider what I've done to be a sort of blessing, Kamiya. I have so much proof of her love affair with that employee at the Kasshin Ryu; things that even dear Kaoru-chan would be shocked to see."

"You're lying," she said through her teeth. "You do not believe me?" His head tilted slightly and he gave it a brief shake. "I don't care what you think Kamiya."

"No I don't believe it let alone could I even imagine that she was trying to take over my company. That's bullshit!"

"What if I told you that Yukishiro told her to do it?"

She was completely silent now.

"Yes, you're Yukishiro, the cousin to that bitch Kumi."

Enishi, if I ever get my hands on you you'd better watch out. Aloud she said, "I don't believe you."

"You know what?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "I don't care. I have all the proof I needed. And you know all her friends supported her too? Miki was a lawyer consequently, and of course she supported her and gave her all the legal advice she needed to know."

"Miki?"

"She concocted a plan with her you see," he continued, "They schemed on how to get me out of the picture while making sure Kumi got everything. Miki was always smart like that. She was the first to die."

The pieces clicked.

"So everyone that you've been killing were actually Kumi-san's friends?" Her voice died down till it was barely a whisper. One hand flew to her lips as she envisioned his horrible killing spree. "You hunted them down one by one?"

"All those who planned to trick, and betray me."

"You must have done something in order to make her cheat on you! Kumi was never like that, I know her better than YOU even do. She wasn't like that!" Kaoru cried out defiantly. Satoshi's gaze traveled upwards, and Kaoru's body instinctively took a step back. The look in his eyes showed the anger that was sizzling there. He radiated danger, and anger; two elements that mixed potently like gasoline, and fire. "She was MINE, and mine alone! I told her to quit her damn job but she was so dedicated like a dog. I knew how those other men would leer at her, and she didn't listen to me. She disobeyed me. No one ever disobeys me." The lunacy of what he was saying, the way his eyes glazed over as if unseeing almost made Kaoru cringe. He's insane…

"I taught her a good lesson after that time. She promised she would only work part-time then. But you know after work she would go out without asking me first. That pissed me off. All her friends were unmarried, they were little sluts that hadn't gotten settled down, and they were corrupting my wife. All women need duties as a wife, and Kumi was not fulfilling hers. She needed to be taught another lesson after that little incident." Kaoru couldn't believe his words but she stood there, dumbfounded by his insane speech.

"She wasn't as stupid as you thought she was. Kumi had a feeling it was you."

"Oh," he paused. "And why do you say that?"

"She called me a little while back, and she sounded completely out of it. She wanted to tell me something but she held it back."

He laughed at her, and smiled again his eyes growing wide. "Imagine being hunted. Everyone you know around you is slowly dying one by one, and you know that you're going to be next. It makes my blood race to think about it all. It was brilliant of me to murder her, and her lover," he spat the last word out as if it burnt his tongue, "In the same place that they met. Wasn't it? A beautiful ending to such a beautiful relationship."

"You are crazy! You are absolutely godamn crazy!"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm correct, and YOU are the crazy one." He observed her then from top to bottom, meeting the angry expression with a sadistic smile of his own. Kaoru's breath ran jaggedly, and she put a hand to her pounding head. "Why did you kill Tomoe? Do you realize how much worse you have made this now? How could you do such a thing! We had an agree—"

"YOU FAILED TO TELL ME ONE PARTICULAR THING!" Satoshi yelled at Kaoru cutting her words off. "She was HER cousin. You failed to mention that. You're just as useless as any woman, a vile slut that thinks she can pull a man's strings but get this right Kamiya, you will never do such a thing."

"Wait wait! You are blaming me for Tomoe's death? How the hell was I supposed to know that you were after Kumi? I had no idea, and if you knew that Enishi was Yumi's cousin wouldn't you think that obviously his sister was related too?"

"Well that's not my problem now is it?" The way he was smiling at her it made her want to tear his face apart. He was blaming HER for the turn of events even though it was completely unpredictable, and unexpected. Perhaps he was trying to make her feel guilty, as if to throw it all upon her, and Kaoru did feel as if she were at fault. If she had just told Kenshin to begin… none of this mess would have ever happened! Kaoru bit her bottom lip, her eyes involuntarily screwing shut from the constant throb in her head. He seemed to read her emotions plainly. "This stays between you, and I or else." Her blue eyes flew open and narrowed with suspicion. "Are you threatening me?"

"What will you do?"

The fear turned to courage in her heart, giving her the strength to stand up against him. She would tell Kenshin, and the police everything, and she would be saved. There was hope. "I'm not afraid of you anymore, you sick bastard. You low pathetic ASSHOLE, I'll tell the cops everything, and then we'll see how far you get!" She threatened back. "I see." Comprehension dawned on his face, and he tilted his head upwards crossing his arms. Kaoru took very small steps backwards. "You might not live to do so." Even as she looked up his was gone.

Then the pain struck sharply.

"Ah!" She cried out, and dropped to the ground clutching at her stomach, gasping. When she brought her hands up to examine them she saw red.

Blood.

Her own.

Before she could look further Satoshi was pulling her up roughly by her hair.

"You will tell no one NOTHING," he shook her by the roots. "If you think you're in pain now you just wait, and see, bitch." He threw her light body to the ground. She watched him walk away through her partially closed eyelids. Blood was seeping into the ground, and she knew it could potentially be fatal if she didn't do anything about it soon. Blindly stumbling towards her car, Kaoru faltered several times and fell onto the ground twice. It hurt to move. Everything inside her body was screaming for her to just stop and lie still but she couldn't. Every single drop of her blood counted. If she gave in now…

No, she firmly told herself, rolling over onto her stomach and pushed up with her legs, wincing at the pain. Once she finally got herself seated inside her car she managed to roll up her shirt to examine the inflicted wound. An ugly, long red line slashed from her abdomen almost down to her hip. It was a big cut and would need medical attention. But a hospital was the last place on her mind. Kenshin, she faintly thought. Willing herself to stay awake, Kaoru forced her keys into the ignition and started to drive away. She headed in the direction that she should have gone a LONG time ago. Starting with that day when Enishi first came with his blackmail like proposal. I should have known better.

Sharp bolts of pain struck at her body and had to bite down on her lip to keep the spasms and crying at bay. Her strength was waning. Even the blood which had been starting to agree with her was now leaking through her shirt and onto the upholstery.

"C'mon, c'mon," she whispered at the second red traffic light that she hit. Kenshin…

"Oh thank you, Kami-sama," she cried as she pulled up into his complex, and parked crookedly into a vacant visitor's spot. Praying to God again, she asked him to make sure that Kenshin was home. If he wasn't she honestly thought she was just going to give up and die on the steps outside. Depressing the numbered buzzer and waiting anxiously, she almost started to cry again when she immediately heard a response.

"Hello?"

It was Sano!

"PLEASE!" She cried out loudly into the receiver, her body twisting and cringing against the bricks of the building. Oh god… I think I'm seriously going to die. The pain went from bad to worse.

"Who is this?"

She gulped, and leaned against the wall begging her eyes to stay open.

"Please… help me," she almost screamed. The door immediately began to buzz so she reached for it, and clumsily stepped inside. Kaoru ran with what little strength she had left inside of her. She kept on going till she reached the empty elevator, and threw herself inside. Landing on the floor painfully, she desperately reached her hand up and slapped the number '5' button several times until the reluctant doors thankfully closed. Time smoothed by so slowly. It was as if both the elevator and the countless seconds that passed by knew that the occupant was desperate and was just surviving wearily.

With a profound ding, the elevator doors cautiously opened up, revealing the fifth floor that was home to Himura Kenshin. Awkwardly stumbling out, Kaoru grabbed onto the corner of the hall, gathering herself and using it for support before she took those last few steps to the apartment numbered 5001. If her body had it her way, if it were not for her strong mind, she would have collapsed in her car while the wound would have bleed carelessly on. Becoming increasingly worse now, the pain urged her to shut her eyes. She didn't dare even blink. Legs wavering unstably, she let go of the wall and continued moving down the empty hall. To the far left she heard a door open. Everything became a blur, and all she saw was red.

Red eyes, red hair, red blood.

All red.

Kaoru let go of the wall, and fell to her knees. The pain only lasted for a second longer, and then she passed out face first onto the peach colored carpet.

I hope you guys aren't ready to kill me because of the fact that it wasn't Aoshi, Enishi, Saito, or anyone like that going off and killing everyone. I hope it didn't seem like a random thing to be making it Kumi's husband either because that was what I had planned the whole time.

Hmmm right now I'm working on Kenshin's reaction… and I promise for all you hentai's out there like me, there will be some limey/lemony (what's the difference between the two terms?) bits coming up soon enough… but of course that won't make the situation any better. In fact it could things worse… Ok I'm going to be quiet now.

The recommended read? Broken Pieces by Linay. Absolutely beautiful. It's perfect. That's all there is to it. If you like Battosai/Kaoru action that is the fic for you. It's very well written. I stumbled upon it through an authors, authors, authors favourite list.

Thank yous:

Lukyirish12: Thank you for being into my story and avidly checking when it's been updated. It seriously makes me blush to know that people like what I'm writing even though at times I think its complete shit. Hey, and look it's ALMOST half of what I took last time... 11 days, I think, because my mind is so hazy with sleep right now.

animeguzman: Thank you sweetie for adding that genuine, kind comment about taking my sweet time with the updates. Not many people are that understanding, so for that I thank you! Umm… about the happy ending bit… Let's just say that your suspicion is probably correct. For now.

flclgd14: You seemed to be quite happy with that last chapter but everything took a seriously wrong turn for Kaoru (yet again). I hope you aren't angry!

MZ.AMbER EYES: Hehe, I agree. Kaoru shouldn't feel bad because Enishi has been such a jackass towards her. Thank you for reviewing!

crest fallen212: I've heard of that show (Peacemaker Kurogane) but I haven't heard too much about it. Thanks for the recommendation though I'll definitely look into it! Thanks you for reviewing yet again!

kenshinlover2002: I've sorry I've been moronic enough to not answer any of your questions. I don't know why, I wasn't ignoring you or anything. I decided to change my thank you bit to THIS kind of format so I can take the time out to respond properly now without forgetting to answer everything. Sorry about that before! So the killer has been revealed, you don't have to guess on that anymore, and Kenshin will find out in the next chapter. I'm evil. I left it on a cliffhanger… mu ha ha. Thanks for the continuous reviews!

Tree: Thanks for reading my story, and reviewing! I hope this update didn't take too long in your opinion!

Xujin: Hehe, every time I read your name, Xu, a character from Final Fantasy VIII pops into my head. Wow, I'm honored that you really like my story. Thanks for taking the time out to review and such, I truly appreciate your comments! You're a smart one. I like how you mentioned that since the killer is a shady character we wouldn't know exactly what his intentions are. You were completely correct!

Reignashii: Thanks for reviewing! You're awesome! I appreciate it! Hey, and when ARE you going to start writing your story? Hehe stop being lazy!

Tameka-tanuki-jouchan: Thanks for the praise, I am honored (bows down), especially because it's coming from the author of the amazing 'The Life She Did Not Ask For'. I'm desperately waiting for an update on that!

anime pixie: Thank you thank you! I hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you!

luna9871: Thank you for the positive feedback. I appreciate it a lot!

XxWhiteFeathersxX: Thank you for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter!

erica6060: Thanks for continually reviewing sweetie!

royal blueKitsune: Lol, I loved that flashing victory flag bit! It made me smile! Thank you for having faith in me lol! Yeah I know I want some fluff to… actually more than that. In time my dear royal blue kitsune!

Sally: (Hugs you to death) Thank you for commenting on my writing style because a lot of the time I feel like its crap. Thank you very much for reviewing!

Muah! I love you all (the reviewers). My all seeing eyes, (ok well not really) wonders why the majority of the people that have me on their author alert don't bother to review. I see you. I know who you all are. Oh c'mon I know you want to be included in the lovin' too; leave me a review so you can see your nice name on my thank you list. If not… tsukini kawatte oshioki yo!

Take care, and see ya later!