Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

Chapter Four:

The night was calm for once, with the full moon up in the sky, shining brightly as ever. Wind chimes sounded as the cool breeze swept passed them, and crickets could be heard from a distance away.

"You can see him now, Mr. Battousai sir."

Battousai placed his beer bottle on the side table, and lazily got up from the couch. He then made his way silently down the narrow aisle, which led to Katsura's main room at the end.

Knock, Knock, Knock!

After knocking three times as always, Battousai waited patiently, deep in thought. His mind was filled with mysteries and troubles, that so far; he himself could not find the answers to them. He woke up from his trance the moment he heard Katsura's voice.

"Come in. . . "

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Ah yes! Hitokiri Battousai. I was expecting you, and I see that you are very much punctual as ever, another good quality of yours I must say."

Battousai did not answer to that remark; instead he stood at the doorway, eyes staring aimlessly on the hard, concrete floor.

"Well, don't just stand there my boy! Come now! Take a sit!" Katsura said showing him to the vinyl chair across his desk.

Battousai simply nodded his head in response, as he walked towards it and sat down.. Katsura on the other hand, was just laid back on his lounge chair and looked out of the glass panels of his office. He took out his cigar box, and offered Battousai one, which was bluntly turned down. Katsura shrugged and took out one of his newly bought German cigars. He clipped off its ends and lighted it with flourish. He took one big puff, playing with the pungent smoke in his mouth and swirled it out in a poised manner.

There was a moment of silence before Katsura finally placed his cigar on his pewter ashtray, and turned his attention towards Battousai.

"Do you understand the point of today's meeting, Battousai?" he asked with certainty in his voice.

"Yes. . ." Battousai whispered under his breath, as he lifted his eyes to meet with Katsura's.

"Very good. If there were anyone here who knew me the best, it would be you Battousai. After all, I have known you for what? 10 years or so. . ." Katsura did not bother to wait for Battousai's reply as he reached the drawer of his desk, and pulled out an A3 size envelope.

"This here contains the information you need for your next assignment. However. . ." As the words rolled out of Katsura's mouth, his smile slowly began to disappear and a frown took its place.

"This time's assassination is for revenge. . . " he hissed, with much hatred in voice.

"All the details you need are in the envelope. I trust your skills Battousai. Now go! I expect to hear good news from Iizuka in about a week's time."

Battousai nodded in reply, and made his way towards the oak door.

"Oh Battousai! Remember we cannot afford any mistakes for this case; do me proud like you have always done." Katsura shouted to Battousai as he left his office.

Katsura once more glanced out of his office window, deep in thought.

--------------------
Earlier that day. . .
--------------------

"You mean to tell me that my present greatest assassin, will one day single-handedly bring down the Ishinshishi's empire?"

"From the lot that you have picked, indeed there is no doubt about it. As the stars have read: 'The man that had created your future, will one day bring it down, together with all its power and glory.'"

"Soka. . .I thank you for your well services, Mr. Ichiri. Sorry for troubling you to come all the way here just to tell me what the future has in store for me."

"You are welcome, Mr. Katsura sir. If there is nothing else, I'll will take my leave now." The old soothsayer said as he nimbly made his way out to the hallway.

"Matte. . ."

"Yes sir. . .BANG"

The old man's sentence was cut short when Katsura shot him directly at his head, killing him instantly.

"I will not have some old man and some STARS telling me what do! I and ONLY I control my own destiny!" Katsura said with fury in his eyes.

"But even so…." Katsura drawled to no one, sitting back down on his seat. He lit another cigar and relinquished the thought. " I will not have anyone living to know what my future holds in store for me. It is mighty too dangerous, don't you think so?" He spoke acidly to the statue of Jurôjin.

Just then, one of Ishinshishi's messengers entered the room. He looked as pale as a ghost, and had an aura of fear and panic around him.

"Sir. . . ., I. . . we. . ."

"Spit it out! I am in no mood today to entertain your foolish behavior!"

The young man, gulped once, before finally mustering up the courage to tell his boss of the bad news.

"We received news of your brother in Tokyo. He's. . . dead."

Katsura's brother, Misue, was a famous drug-lord, who did illegal drug dealings as well as smuggling arms with the US. He was well renown among the secret societies and mafia triads in Japan and was considered one of the most successful businessmen of all times.

Sadly his riches soon ended when the Shinsengumi, Japan's police reinforcement, found enough evidence to put him in jail. He thus fled to the US in order to prevent being captured; ever since then he had always been on the run. . . until today.

"DEAD? HOW!" Katsura flared, as he grabbed the lad by the collar, threatening to kill him if he does not speak the truth.

"The. . .Wolf, sir," he stammered. "The Wolf did this, he found your brother's hideout in Tokyo, and shot him when he resisted arrest."

The moment Katsura heard the foul news, his grip on the boy loosen, as he slumped down onto his chair. His heart seemed to have fallen into one of the deepest, darkest pits. His only kin, his beloved brother was dead. The very thought of it, once again made Katsura's eyes blaze with fire.

"So you want to play, huh Saitou? Then let the games begin. . ." he growled beneath his breath.

Katsura had sent Battousai the kill one of Saitou's favourite subordinate, Okita. He thought that by doing so, it will not only prove Battousai's loyalty to him, but it would also be for vengeance against Hajime Saitou.

SLAM

Kaoru was immediately woken by the loud sound.

'It seems to be coming from the living room,' she thought groggily to herself. ' Gasp What if it was a robber? Shit! I don't have my bokken with me! Yahiko is still sleeping, Sano's never gonna wake up! He sleeps like a pig till noon.'

"Looks like it's up to me." She whispered to herself. She took deep breaths and tried to muster as much courage as she could. She crept around the tiny room silently looking for anything that she could arm herself with. She heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted a likely candidate.

"I guess this will have to do for the moment." She said as she picked up the old, rusted umbrella.

She slowly tiptoed her way into the dark living room. Her eyes soon caught a tall shadow lurking behind the sofa.

The tall figure seemed to be swaying and trying very hard to regain his balance. He knocked over a photo frame that Kaoru had placed on the tiny mantelpiece to make the place more homely. She cringed as it crashed to the floor. Glass crunched as this stranger, oblivious to the mess, stepped all over the debris.

Fear gripped her but yet Kaoru felt extreme disgust and anger as she thought about the mess he had made. She clenched her umbrella even tighter and beads of perspiration rolled from her temples.

'This buster better prepare himself because I'm gonna put up a hell of a fight." She thought to herself. Despite thinking as bravely, she did not feel that strong. Kaoru tried gearing up her courage from her anger. She and her brothers were practically vagabonds and they didn't have much possessions left. If this robber were to steal more of their stuff, they would be left with nothing at all!

As she crept nearer to the figure, she brought the umbrella closer to her body.

"Ok Kaoru, it's now or never! 1. . . .2. . . .3!"

WHACK

"I GOT HIM. . ." Kaoru shouted at the top of her voice.

snort ". . . What's going on here. . ." asked a very sleepy Yahiko.

"YAHIKO! Oh Kami!"

"Kaoru? What are you doing up at this time of the morning?"

"I woke up to catch a robber!"

"A. . . what?"

"A robber! You see, I heard someone entering our household! So I decided to give him a 'welcome' party."

"So. . . what's your point?"

"AARGH! Let me go get the lights on, then you'll FINALLY see what I mean."

Kaoru trotted through the darkness, trying her best not to step into any of the mess the robber made as well as looking for the switch.

CLICK

"There we go!" she said. "Now let's see who this 'visitor' is!

But Kaoru did not realized that this little 'visitor' of hers, would be none other then. . .

"SANO! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?"

groan

"Oh! Very smart, busu! Sano sneaked into HIS house to steal something that belongs to HIM. Very good deduction, Sherlock Holmes."

"SHUT UP!" she screamed as she ran to the kitchen to get an ice pack for her elder brother.

-------------------------
A few minutes later . .
-------------------------

"Aww. . . my head. . ."

"You alright bro?"

". . . Let me hit you on the head, and you tell me if you feel alright. . ."

"O.K. Don't have to be so touchy and all."

grunt "Does Kaoru know about this?"

"You kidding? She's the one who knocked you out! You're lucky she's gone out to buy something. Now's your chance to escape, before she really KILLS you."

"Nah. . . " Sano said rubbing his head. "She's not that bad.. . ."

Just then, they heard the door opened, and there stood Kaoru. Fists clutching tightly by her sides, eyes burning with anger.

"Sanosuke. . ."

"Uh-oh. . . too late."

"Heh heh! Hey there Kaoru, What's up?"

"What's up? That's what you ask? What's UP? Sano! You practically scared the SHIT out of ME! Do you know how WORRIED I WAS? I thought you were some robber or something like that. . ."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"The point is! You went out without telling us! I thought we all promised that we would no longer have any secrets between us! And to make matters worse! YOU were drinking again weren't you?"

"Yeah. . .but it was only a few glasses. . ."

"ONLY A FEW? YOU BUFFED ALL OVER OUR FLOOR!" Kaoru flared.

"Hey, it was not ENTIRELY my fault! The whore at Sakura's Teahouse promised me that I would win.. . ." Sano immediately covered his mouth knowing that he had just blew his cover.

"Teahouse? Win? Sano, please don't tell me you went gambling again."

"Ok, so what if I did. It was only a few rounds, what harm can it do?"

"What harm? It was YOUR gambling habits were the one who placed us in SUCH a predicament in the first place. Remember?"

"Hey you need not keep reminding me of that. I know it was my fault then, but it was your fault too."

"Me?"

"Yeah you! If you had just helped me out more then we would have had more money!"

Tears were beginning to pool in Kaoru's eyes, unable to believe the words that were coming out of Sano's mouth. Not only was he in wrong in the first place, he was also trying to put all the blame to her.

"I caused this?" she stammered.

"Yeah, come to think of it, IT was your fault!"

Kaoru could not take it anymore, her heart seemed to have shattered into million of pieces, and all of a sudden she felt somewhat hollow.

"I . . .tried to make our lives better. And THIS is the thanks I got. . ." she quivered.

And with that, she dumped everything else she was carrying, and ran out of the room, bursting into tears.

Yahiko stood dumbfounded at what had took place. He did not know who to support, his sister or his brother. Just then, a bottle of ointment rolled out of the plastic bag Kaoru had dumped on the floor. Yahiko picked it up and read the label. His eyes widened.

"What's wrong with you?" Sano asked.

"Just look what you have done." Yahiko said and he handed Sano the bottle and walked into his room.

When Sano read the label, his heart seemed to have come to a stop. His grip on the bottle tightened.

"I did it again. . ." he whispered under his breath, as he placed his forehead onto the surface of the bottle.

YAEKO'S MEDICATED OINTMENT
A SURE WAY OF GETTING RID OF
BRUISES AND ACHES

Kaoru had wondered off to a nearby park. Tears constantly rolled down her cheeks as she recalled what her brother had said to her.

"Hmmp. . . Sano that Baka head." She said angrily to herself.

She knew that it was pointless to keep on wondering around the park, but she refused to go back home, as she was still frustrated with Sano. She also felt that this was the perfect opportunity to do some soul-searching, and perhaps find the answers to some of her own personal questions.

She soon came across one of the few benches in the park, and thus settled her tired self upon it. She began thinking deeply, about the past, about the present, and about the future. She was so troubled by all the problems that were beginning to crop up bit by bit, that she didn't even notice a black-hooded gentlemen with scarlet red hair, sitting just on the other side of the bench.