A short one, but hopefully enough!

Happy reading~~!

He missed her call.

Well, it wasn't so much as a miss as it was her calling and hanging up at the first ring to catch his attention. He paced the homely inn of a quiet but heavily flower-decorated neighborhood, impatient and fighting the urge to call her back.

Sanosuke never called her. If she didn't want to be sought out, he'd never find her. And as a matter of principle, he never called anyone. As a people person, he was never wont to run into someone who wanted a night in town on him, be it a new or familiar face.

Of course once upon a time, it had never stopped him. He had her number, and he would call her without a moment's hesitation or reservations in mind.

But he had stopped reaching out, and that was a long time ago.

These days if he wanted her company on the same day she was willing to entertain him, she'd hover just about on the edge of his perception as he lingered by an inn, bar, temporary residence, or motel. Then she'd find him.

Or sometimes she'd text him a non-committal text that had him try to seek her out because her texting was an indicator of wanting his company. And while he no longer called her every time he craved her, he was yet to overcome the impulse that had him jump to her attention at the slightest ghost of her presence.

Rarely, she called him.

And usually, they implied a sense of urgency. When she called, she was the initiator. It meant that she had already picked a placed and paid a bill and would be holding him hostage for more than a night. He always got the impression that she was hiding in those moments, but such things only happened after he had learned to stop prying. Asking.

When he saw the missed call, he had initially figured it was one of those rare occasions where she needed to hide with him more than she actually needed to be with him. It was honestly convenient, seeing as he had planned to seek her out and hoped that she would let him find her. He just hadn't worry about her any more than he normally would in the given circumstance, not till he got to the inn and found that she wasn't there. He had texted her, and she had read it. But she never responded.

He wanted to call her after ten minutes. Then thirty. Then ninety-four. It wasn't like this was the first time she ghosted him in favor of whatever whimsy carried her attention from her previous commitment, but Kitsune was a woman who never deviated from form. She had a way of doing things that never seemed to conflict with her intentions. If there was a chance of her standing him up, then she would never waste her reaching out to him on a call. And if she was going to ghost him, she would never even open his message. Not until the next time she reached out. She was never going to open her inbox without the intention of replying to a message.

Nothing about the entire thing made Sanosuke comfortable at all. And maybe he should have never given a damn, given the woman's elusive nature.

But he couldn't help it. Not any more than he could help but ask her to do what they both knew she would never do.

He spent several minutes still, waiting for the woman he knew would not show up when he finally heard his phone ping. He opened it up in a hurry, all but surprising himself by how worked up he had gotten while worrying about his lover.

'My bad.'

Sanosuke had never wanted to call a woman a cunt so much in his entire life.

...

Kenshin watched Yahiko try to convince him to teach the younger boy the Hitsed Mitsurugi style of kendo, both amused, impressed, and yet still unconvinced by the tenacity and discipline with which the boy performed. His foot was as good as new, with all the nerves and muscle healed and working with negligible pain, and only a small band-aid to protect the skin as it worked with solutions to fight scaring tissue.

'Has he started training with a class already?' The hunter couldn't help but ask when Kaoru entered the dojo with their late breakfast, and when Kaoru shook her head no the man nodded his head approvingly. 'The boy is gifted.'

'Yeah, it's hard to find such raw talent for the ancient ways these days. Shame it came in a douche bag of a child,' she sighed. If Yahiko heard her, to his credit he didn't show it. He was taking himself and his demonstration to a so-called "master" far too seriously. Kaoru hummed in approval. 'I taught him that.'

The boy seemed conflicted now, his face reflecting his struggle with breaking form and cussing out his teacher, and with not being distracted.

'I don't know who told him I was a master though, I am humbled that he would think that of me.'

The sensei gave the redhead an unimpressed look as she sat down by him and reluctantly reached for a bread roll. She had cooked, at the insistence of her guest, and was unwilling to take the risk of her cooking on an empty stomach. Kenshin seemed to have no such reservations as he reached for the bready with a hearty "itadakimasu". She watched him dip the bread in the bowl with only the slightest bit of remorse. Quite frankly she had given him several warnings and deterrents as to why her cooking was not ideal, but Kenshin had been adamant on eating her cooking. She couldn't summon up guilt for something she had done everything in her power to avoid.

She waited for the aftermath after he dipped the bread into the miso soup and started to eat, but instead, Kenshin took his time to chew and then went for a second dip and bite.

'No. Way.'

It appeared that doing what was tantamount to a miracle in the Kamiya household is what it took to have Yahiko stop his kata. He watched wide-eyed as Kenshin continued to eat Kaoru's breakfast with no signs of slowing down. Or dying.

'This is lovely Kaoru-dono, I am most grateful,' he said when he stopped to drink a bottle of water. 'The bread has a bit too much yeast and the miso is more grainy than I would prefer, but this meal is a delight to eat.' He gave a smile that was far too mischievous for her to take his words as sincere, and Kaoru was absolutely torn between calling bullshit and saying thank you as her cheeks turned red, disarmed by his charm. Thankfully Yahiko chose for her.

'You're a wizard or a liar, or probably both - yeah that could explain how you are eating that with a straight face - ow!' He glared at Kaoru. 'Oh come on you old hag! I know he's lying, you know he's lying! Don't come at me for saying the truth!'

Kenshin ignored them as the two devolved into an argument, enjoying his meal made by the beloved Kamiya Sensei when he detected the familiar presence of his partner. He furrowed his brows contemplative - Sanosuke hardly came round to meet him so soon after a night of rendezvous with some mystery woman or the other. Him taking the Banza was for him to head out on solo missions to come down from whatever mood his adult adventures had gotten him into.

When the sound of tine paws scratching against the shoji doors of the dojo reached its occupants' ears, Kenshin frowned even more. The other two ignored it - dismissing the sound as one of a stray, but he quickly deduced the animal to be Kitsune, having considered the sound and the familiar presence too much of a coincidence to not spell his partner's return.

This told him who exactly was the lucky lady to accompany Sanosuke the previous night. Or who it was supposed to be, at least - given how soon he returned, he'd say the woman stood him up. If it was who Kenshin thought it was, then that in of itself was nothing new and was of no urgent concern to him.

Given the events of the previous day, however, Kenshin was painting a mental picture of connections. It wasn't one he found very pretty.

The redhead let out a loud and heavy sigh, and the other two - redfaced - turned to the samurai, embarrassed and remorseful when the shoji door slipped open and a familiar silver fox hurried in. It was followed by a grouchy "Okaerinasai", and a very moody and irritable Sanosuke. Kaoru and Yahiko stood up and left the private training room to receive him. Kenshin let out another sigh.

...

It didn't take long for the other two to realize Sanosuke was in a bad mood. Breakfast-turned-lunch quickly turned a quiet affair, after Sanosuke took one look at Kaoru's creation, took a tentative bite, cringed, and then proceeded to order take out on his tab. Sanosuke barely paid for anything, so that told them he was in no mood to try and manipulate someone into covering his tabs.

When the inter-sectorial cuisine arrived at the residence, everyone bar Kenshin helped themself to a pack and sat around the floor of the general entrance hall of the dojo. Said Kenshin, who insisted on being full from eating Kaoru's bread and miso, was charged with petting a sleeping Kitsune.

'Wanna hear how I busted my leg?'

Kaoru's face palmed as Sanosuke regarded the child with a bored expression. He gave his partner a look, but Kenshin shrugged and gave an easy, placating smile as he scratched behind the ears of the silver fox.

'Tis quite the riveting tale, Sano. I imagine you'll be intrigued by a number of elements before he's even done.'

Sanosuke frowned at Kenshin, a questioning brow raise at how his partner had said those words. But Kaoru reached out and squeezed his shoulder, distracting the lanky man and causing him to slouch and roll his eyes.

'I'm not in mourning, you guys.'

'Oh thank goodness,' Kaoru exhaled loudly and stretched her arms. ''Cause none of the questions I had about such a scenario were even near appropriate.' Yahiko snickered, and she threw a left-over bread roll to shut him up. She saddled up to Sanosuke closer and tilted her head. 'Clearly, something is bothering you. And I doubt its woman problems because the other day Fae from the Milky Way had a lot to say about you~'

'All good, I imagine?' Sanosuke humored her, the ghost of a smile on his lips as Kaory teased him.

'Yep! Now I know there are others, but if Fae gave a glowing endorsement?' She snorted, 'then I imagine you're doing just alright in that department.'

Sanosuke let out a snort of his own and rolled his eyes.

'I mean, facts, on some level I guess,' he shrugged. 'But wouldn't I like that to be completely true?'

'So it is woman troubles~?'

Sanosuke just shook his head as he chuckled slightly, ruffling her hair.

'Damn nosy Jou-chan,' but he was smiling now, a small but genuine lilt to his mouth as he turned to Yahiko. 'So what did happen to your foot, ya damn hazard?'

Kenshin watched as Yahiko retold his misadventures of the previous day, studying as Sanosuke listened with only a faint curiosity, which soon transformed into a fairly solid investment and then intrigue.

'Did she paint her nails red?'

'I think so?' Yahiko shrugged eager to get back to narrating. But that wasn't all. Sanosuke asked about the length of her hair, and the shade of lipstick she wore, and the type of guns she wielded. Where the event had happened, if the woman had any travel gear on. He even checked his phone and then asked for when the woman had first arrived and when the whole thing had started going down. By the time Yahiko had finished telling his tale and answering Sanosuke's questions, Kenshin had enough information to finish painting his mental picture. His lips curled with bitter satisfaction. Judging by the look on his partner's face, he'd say Sanosuke felt the same, but a thousand times more. His brown eyes were fixed on the sleeping animal in Kenshin's lap, and they were dark with emotion.

'What word you use to describe her again?'

Yahiko, having at least picked up on the countenance change of his audience, contemplated briefly, before nodding in the direction of Kenshin, gesturing to Kitsune.

'Sly. Like a fox.'

'And the name of the guy who took her?'

'Shinomori.'

Kaoru watched the two men, practically seeing the gears in their minds work with the information they had. Bounty hunting clearly took a lot of mental gymnastics akin to detective work. She was keeping herself from bouncing with curiosity over what they had pieced up together. The two exchanged glances as if they were telepathically communicating with each other. Kenshin shrugged and Sanosuke nodded, before rising to his feet. He bowed his head in Kaoru's direction.

'Thanks, Jou-chan, but I think you need more cooking classes with Kenshin.'

Kaoru frowned, confused.

'Kenshin isn't coming with you? Or we?'

Sanosuke shook his head in the negative as he exchanged glances with Kenshin again. Yahiko raised his hands up, completely at a loss and feeling like missed something in the midst of his storytelling.

'Now wait a damn minute. Define going with you, and how we got to that question,' he shook his own head indignantly. 'Why do I feel like everyone is on page 24 and I'm on page 5?'

'Technically I'd be on page 16, but yeah I can see where you might have gotten lost,' Kaoru mused, to the full and slight amusement of Kenshin and Sanosuke respectively.

'So is there a bounty? Do we know this woman or?'

'Forget it brat,' Sanosuke shook his head, 'this is personal.'

'Wait do you think this lady is the one giving you woman troubles?' Yahiko tried not to snicker, 'because I hate to break it ya buddy, but this woman is way out of y-'

'Yahiko! I will stick your head so far up your ass-'

'Sanosuke! Ignore the demon spawn and go do what you need to do,' Kaoru grabbed by his arm and pulled his attention from Yahiko. 'You'll be back yeah?' Sanosuke only nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 'Alright then. You'd want to leave now! It's been a whole day already, and you want to get on this as soon as possible, ne?'

'Yeah, yeah,' he nodded his head in agreement and then gave her a suspicious look. 'You don't seem nearly as curious about this, or mad that I'm doing this alone.'

'You're coming back Sanosuke,' she rolled her eyes and gave him a wry smile, 'besides I imagine that you're only investigating, for now. You'll be talking to that one,' she jerked her head in Kenshin's direction, 'so if it becomes an actual mission I'll be hard-pressed to see how he'll get rid of me.' She smirked as she leaned in conspiratorially. 'Plus as far as curiosity goes, Kenshin can tell me all about your lady friend.'

Sanosuke would have laughed if he wasn't so tense. As it was, he managed a crooked grin.

'Go crazy, Jou-chan.'

...

Sanosuke wanted to kick himself in the ass as he made his way out of the Kamiya residence. He was heading to the bus-stop, because this was clearly an in-sector affair. He had a feeling he would not be airborne for this investigation, even on a personal jet instead of a ship, so he got out his phone to hire a mission bike, sharing his location to the app and selecting the driver option. Having done that, he went back to check his inbox of messages. Kitsune's message was still opened, and the text that had him mentally flip her off and go about his day now made him deeply unsettled in his stomach.

My bad.

He had been so sure that she had simply led him out on a goose chase after he read that message, like some sick twisted new game she wanted to play and had added to the already needlessly complicated clusterfuckfest that was him and her, and them, and their whole affair.

The way she had texted him had broken form from the script they always danced to - a routine he knew down to the crossed t's and dotted i's a lot more than he ever liked to acknowledge. Of course, he should have figured that something was horribly wrong. Kitsune never made disclaimers. She was either there, or she wasn't. But even as he made his way to the bus stop, somewhere at the back of his mind was gladness and relief. That he had written her off at the text rather than made leaps of logic and gone off a limb to find her himself.

He was Zanza and information was always just a fingertip away. The luck that had him hear Yahiko's story hastened up the process, sure, but he kept tabs on places like Pa Okei's shop far and wide. That event would have gotten to him before it got cold anyway. And if he had started actively looking for her instead of switching off on the arrangement and going to what was fast becoming a fond place to while away time, he would still have figured out that Kitsune was caught up in something.

However, as it was and had played out, the moment he got that text - however uncharacteristic it seemed now in hindsight - he had closed his mind to her and moved on.

Sanosuke, despite knowing now that it meant that whatever she was in probably had gotten a turn for the worse, couldn't help but be glad. He was over it. Over her. When the push came to shove again after so long, he chose himself. He was never the kind to pine by default. But somehow she had once been the exception. Now though, however fond of her he was and whatever exceptions he made for her that he never made for any other intimate company, he was no longer pining for her.

He was relieved a little bit. But damn her for making him quit on her like that, because when it counted for him to be desperate he wasn't and who knew what the lack of urgency to make sure she was okay could have cost her?

Sanosuke couldn't help but resent himself a bit too, for feeling that relief. But as he watched the riderless electric power bike zoom towards the bus-stop he put all those thoughts at the back of his mind.

He had no time to worry about the complexities of his relationship with Kitsune. He had to gather a working case and save her undeserving ass somehow. She had called him, and that script meant that she was desperate to get away from something. Obviously, breaking the script meant she hadn't gotten away and he knew her too well to not know that no one else would be getting her out of it.

And somehow Aoshi Shinomori was involved in all this. She had gotten mixed up in an affair that involved him of all people. Hopefully, he'd find a way to keep it as lowkey as possible, because Aoshi Shinomori of the Oniwaban Guild could not know the Battousai was in Tokyo.

EDIT: Added A/N at the end of the original.

God the previous chapter was soooooo dialogue-heavy...

Way too long for a filler. Sigh. I'm very dependent on dialogue... it's a weakness. Ah well. I'm glad you enjoyed it (I see you Gin-san). Been busy with the life of real, but so far it's been coming along somewhat nicely.

I'll be back again soon, so please stick around!

Might do some A/N heart-to-heart sharing soon. Anywho.

=UwU=

OI! Holla! Yeah, I read this over (not betaed. I'm not talented enough for that, sadly.) and figured I was better off concluding the chapter with a few additionals than starting the next chapter with said additional. It'll be up by the end of the day or tomorrow (which probably means completely different things for some of you anyway because, timezones). I think the chapter reads much better now. But tell me what you think.

THE UPDATE CHAPTER 21 WILL BE A TEMPORARY REDIRECT NOTICE TO THIS CHAPTER. ONCE I FINISH THE ACTUAL CHAPTER 21 AND REPLACE IT, I'LL NOTIFY Y'ALL APPROPRIATELY.

I'm so glad you all enjoy the Megumi arc! It's not a filler anymore btw. I've been foreshadowing it for agessss! Also, y'all didn't notice that Sano's been kicking it with Fae? Awwww. I thought someone would notice Kaoru's reference.

Speaking of Fae. For Cowboy Bebop familiar fans, you ought to read the chapters again and keep an eye open for OC's like her. Tell me what you noticed. It's actually quite on the nose, but that might be exactly why you missed it, ;)

Reviews are always welcome! As are critiques!

I'll see you all very soon!