Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

Chapter Eight:

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Shinsengumi Headquarters

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"And with that, we end today's meeting. Tomorrow…" Before Saito could finish what he had to say, a messenger boy burst into the meeting room. He was panting frantically and his eyes displayed fear and angst.

"What is it, Akito? You should know the rules by now, that when the board is having a meeting, there should be no interruptions."

"I…understand…sir…but…but…"the small boy stammered.

"What is it boy? Speak up! I don't have time to listen to you dilly dally."

"Sir…we found…. Okita-sama…"

"That's splendid! When will he get back here? I would want to give that boy a piece of my mind…"

"I don't think you can sir." The young boy whispered.

"And why not?"

"Because…because…Okita-sama is DEAD!" Akito cried out, as he fell onto his hands and knees, breaking out in tears.

There was an air of silence; the people in the room were shocked especially Saito. He could not believe that THAT messenger boy had just claimed that Okita, his most trustworthy and closest comrade has passed away.

"Lies…ALL LIES! How can Okita be DEAD?" He shouted as he grabbed the crying boy by the collar. "Surely you should know that Okita is one of Shinsengumi's BEST swordsmen. How can he be DEAD?" he screamed as he shook the boy hysterically.

At that point of time, many of the board members were trying their best to restrain Saito from hurting the young lad any further. They had understood that Okita was Saito's favourite, and by having him dead would only spell trouble and disasters that would come their way.

"Sir, it's the truth! I would never lie about such situations! We found his body in the one of the deepest ends of the forest. He was badly sliced up, and…and…" Before the lad could finish, Saito who at that moment felt he had heard far enough threw him back onto the cold floor.

"Leave! I need to be alone." With that, the members slowly made their way out of the room. Each carrying a despaired look on their face.

Saito fell back into his armchair. He lay there like a man who had lost his soul. His mind was filled with questions, his heart was wrenching in pain. He then took out a cigarette and lighted it. Taking in a deep puff, he thought: 'Who could have done this? Who could have hated Okita so much as to kill him? Who?'

Breathing out the thick smoke, he got off his chair. He knew that the only way that he would be able to find the answers to some of his questions was to do the thing he least wanted to do at that time: Inspect Okita's body.

The rain continued to pour. As Battousai continued to carry her through the streets in town, Kaoru wondered to herself. 'This man here, carrying me on his back, killed without blinking an eye, killed without a feel of remorse. He's colder than ice, and more ruthless than ever. Yet…why do I feel warmth the moment I touched him? Why do I feel a connection?'

Before Kaoru could probe any further, her thoughts were interrupted when she sneezed.

"Bless you."

"Thank you…I…Wait a minute…YOU SPOKE!" she said as she lifter her head up in excitement.

"…"

"Well what I meant was that since the time we left the alley, you never spoke. I thought you suddenly lost your voice or something."

"…"

"O.K. Never mind…Hey why don't we find some shelter? The weather seems to be getting worse every minute, and I can sure need a nice hot cup of hot chocolate now." She said as she adjusted the trench coat to act as an umbrella.

"We can't." he silently said.

" Sneeze Why not? Don't tell me you're not cold?"

"As a matter of fact, no I'm not. And by going into cafes, hotels and such, we would only attract attention, which I prefer not to."

"And I suppose by walking in the rain is your best idea?" Kaoru asked sarcastically.

"Yes." He simply replied.

"Why…you…I…Argh…FORGET IT." She said, as she rests her head once more on his back.

Battousai smirked to himself when he knew she had admitted defeat. He only bought this girl because he knew Ginji, being a brute would never let it lying down if he took something he wanted so badly away from him. Thus by buying this girl, he would be able to extract his long-awaited revenge on Ginji without Katsura suspecting much.

"AH!" Kaoru was startled at the sight of Battousai's arm. "You're injured!" With that she took off the indigo ribbon holding her long hair, and began wrapping it around Battousai's wounded arm.

"You should take better care of yourself. What if it gets infected? Do you know that…" she continued to nag on. Battousai didn't really care much about his arm. Such wounds were considered quite a common thing to him by then. Yet instead of stopping her, he allowed Kaoru to continue to bandage his arm with her makeshift dressing.

"There all done…AH CHOO…" he heard her sneezed again.

'Weakling…already falling sick just because of a little rain. Hmph…Pathetic….' He thought to himself.

Yet ironically, after hearing her sneezed another time, he fastened his pace. One may have thought that he actually went faster so as to be able to get rid of her sooner, yet in true fact, deep down inside of him somewhere, someone was actually telling him to hurry for fear that the girl may fall terribly ill.

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Shinsengumi's Lab

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"Saito-sama, the body is ready for inspection." One of the pathologists said.

Saito nodded his head in acknowledgment as he slowly made his way towards the cold, still body. After being cleaned properly, Okita's body was covered with a thin, white sheet, and was laid upon one the inspection tables. Taking a moment to regain his composure within, Saito took in a deep breath. With that, he carefully removed the white sheet, and was almost at once greeted with Okita's expressionless face.

As Saito continued to remove the white sheet, he was exposed to the many slashes on Okita's body. Despite of so, he still continued to maintain his cool. During this period, Saito kept a very stern and blank look as he observed the various gashes and cuts inflicted all over Okita's body.

'Most of which are just mere abrasions and cuts, not necessarily caused by a sword…' he thought. 'Wait!'

Saito soon came across one peculiar wound. On the surface, it looked like it was a mere cut, not serious enough to kill. Yet on further emphasis, one who has a sharp eye would be able to identify that this was no simple cut, in fact it was such a deep wound that it has cut right through the muscle layer, thus exposing a bit more than usual.

"An aerial cut."

"Pardon sir?"

"This wound here," Saito said as he pointed at it. "Is caused by one who was able to use the most of his body weight to attack. It is known as a type of wind attack, which can only be carried out with god-like speed and strength. Though it may seem simple, but it is actually rather complicated as the user must be swift yet well-coordinated in his movements."

"Soka. But people like this are hard to come by now days. Besides our group, people hardly have such an ability to do so."

"No…there is still another association who would have such power to carry out such a brutal assault." Saito said as the name of the assassin etched deep into his mind.

'Ishinshishi's Battousai.'

Kaoru sighed as she looked at the face of her watch.

'It's already one in the morning.' She thought. After 30 minutes, Battousai still continued to walk in the rain with Kaoru on his back. She was beginning to wonder whether this man here actually knew where he was going.

"Are we there yet?" she asked Battousai for the umpteenth time. Yet Battousai still kept as quiet as ever as he continued to walk down the streets. Kaoru could not take this any more. Not only was she cold and tired, she was also worried for Yahiko who was left all alone in their broken, remote home.

"Listen…er…Battousai." Kaoru said as she raised her head from his back.

"I understand that you have 'bought' me for the night' and all, but enough is enough! We have been walking around like this for the past half hour, and it seems that we aren't getting anywhere. So…I would prefer that you would kindly put me down, so I can make my way home." Battousai said nothing in return, in truth he did not even seem to care. Despite so, she still continued to voice out her thoughts.

"I know by letting me go is somehow a waste of your efforts and money. But I sincerely appreciate all you have done for me, and would love to return you the favour, just not now." When Battousai still continued to walk, and remained as impassive as ever, Kaoru felt that perhaps she was not sincere enough, thus she continued to rattle on and on about how she would repay him in any way in the future.

"So what do you say?" She finally said.

"We're here." He replied, as he stopped in front of a clinic.

Kaoru felt her mouth dropped open.

"Didn't you hear what I have been saying?"

Battousai raised an eyebrow. "Were you saying something?"

Kaoru could not believe her ears. After all this time she had been trying to be nice and sincere in thanking him, he was actually not bothered! She was about to open her mouth to say something again when he began making his way into the white building.

"Matte!"

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Inside Clinic

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"Ouch, hey take it easy a bit will ya?" the man, with spiky-brown hair said.

"Hmph…serves you right!" a woman with long, black hair, wearing a magenta doctor's coat replied in an annoyed tone.

"What?"

"Don't you 'what' me, I have seen many of your type of cases."

"My 'kind' of cases?"

"Yeah! Let me guess. Hmm…, you must have been drinking a lot, and thus in your drunken state got into a fight with some other hooligans like yourself."

"True…but…HEY! What do you mean by hooligan! OUCH!" he cried out in pain, as the doctor once more tightened the bandage on his arm.

"No shouting is allowed! You might disturb our other patients."

"Hmph! Whatever!" the man said as he slumped himself back onto the chair.

The older woman shook her head in frustration. Earlier on, while she had been on her way home from visiting a patient, she saw him involved in a street fight.

As she observed, she noticed the man, despite being outnumbered, had single-handedly beaten all four of his opponents, sending them running away in fear. Despite so he himself was injured during the fight, was in need of medical treatment. Being a doctor, she could not bear to see the sight of a man being left on the streets to die in pain. Thus when the crowd cleared, she helped the man back to her clinic, where she had continued to see to this man's wounds.

"By the way, you sure are reckless."

The man upon hearing, looked up from his chair.

"Actually let me rephrase that, no one was ever that stupid to do so. What I meant was that no one would actually have the guts to go against four men at one shot."

The man smirked at such a snide remark, making the young doctor feeling rather confused.

"Aren't you going to retort back like you have been doing so from the time you were here?"

"I thought it would be better to shut up. After all, it was because of this foul mouth of mine did many troubles even started in the first place." He said as he place his hand on his forehead.

"Perhaps so. Anyways, you're all done. Try not to get yourself injured again and don't let the wounds touch cold water or…"

"Yeah, yeah!" he said as he got up.

'That's what my sister used to tell me too.'

"Ok Sano, I'm done fixing your injuries." A young girl said.

"Gee…Thanks Kaoru. I would not know what I would have done without you." The young boy replied back, rubbing his sore arm.

"Yeah, well…you can return me the favour by taking more care of yourself. Now remember try not to…"

"Get injured again. And I will also try not to let the wounds touch cold water or I will be receiving an even bigger boo-boo. Yeah, yeah I know." He said as he got up.

"Hey Kaoru, want to join me and the guys play catch?"

"Nah…I better clean up this stuff before Otou-san comes home."

"Alright, see you later!" he shouted as he ran towards the park.

"Hello? Anyone at home?" the young doctor asked as she waved her hand in front of the rather dazed man.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm ok. Hey, is there a little boy's room here?" he replied, snapping back into reality.

"Go straight, turn left."

"Thanks foxy mama." He smirked as he headed down the aisle.

'Foxy-mama? That's new…' the doctor laughed to herself.

Just as she was about to carry her medical equipments and supplies back to the storage room, a man, drenched to the skin, carrying a raven-hair beauty entered the room.

"Put me down I SAY! Are you listening? Hello?"

"Ah Battousai! Long time no see." The lady doctor smiled. Her gaze soon fell upon Kaoru who had both an angry and confused expression on her face. "And who might we have here?"

"Megumi, we are in need of your services. Carry out what you have to do with little questions asked."

"Alright, alright. No need to get all fire up. What do you need me to do?"

"This woman here is in need of a full body check-up."

"I certainly…AH CHOO…do not!"

"I see. All right, if you would just put her down. I will gladly carry out my duties."

Battousai lowered his body slightly, so as to allow Kaoru to slip off his back and land promptly on her own pair of feet. She then followed the young doctor towards one of the examination beds where she was asked to settle herself down comfortably on it.

"Battousai, just give me a minute of so before I can tell you the actual result." After which she drew the curtains surrounding the bed, prohibiting anyone else from entering. Battousai settled himself down on one of the sofa chairs in the hallway. While he waited patiently for the outcome on Kaoru's case, he closed his eyes and started to meditate.

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After five minutes…

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"Ok! Check-up all finished!" Megumi announced as she accompanied Kaoru back to Battousai. "Nothing to worry about, just like you had said, it's the common cold. Must have caught it while she was walking in the rain with you."

Battousai by then had opened his eyes and was staring deep and hard at Megumi. "And?" he said in a deep tone.

"And what? Oh yes, silly me…the medication. Well, I have them all here." She said as she hastily made her way to the counter and took out a small box of medicine. "Take this three times a day Kaoru, though it will make you drowsy, but it is a very effective medicine." Kaoru took the small box from the taller woman and stuffed it into one of her pockets.

"Thanks."

"No sweat, that'll be…"

"Put it on Katsura's tab."

"Ok then, if there is nothing else, I'll just be…" Before Megumi could finish what she wanted to say, a loud voice boomed from behind them.

"HEY FOXY-LADY! What kind of directions did you tell me? I was practically lost in there!"

"It's not my fault that you had a poor sense of directions…"

"SANO?" Kaoru exclaimed when she saw the taller man.

"KAORU?"

"What are you doing here?" they both asked each other at once.

"You both know each other?" Megumi asked.

"Yeah, this here's my little sister, Kamiya Kaoru."

"Ah so…anyways to answer your questions. This man here was brought here because he was involved in a fight. And Kaoru here was sick, so Battousai brought her here."

"Battousai huh?" Sano turned to look and saw Battousai still sitting comfortably on the sofa, watching with his deep amber eyes what was taking place before him.

"I'll explain everything when we get home. Right now we need to see to it that you get loads of rest, and that Yahiko is still 'alive'." Kaoru frantically said. Slowly, she turned her attention to Battousai. Swallowing a gulp she then proceeded to ask: "Please Battousai, please allow me to show you my gratitude another time. Believe me, I will repay you somehow, so please…"

An air of silence filled the air. All eyes were turned onto Battousai who was at that point still keeping very quiet, looking at Kaoru stonily. Just as Kaoru thought it was hopeless, he finally murmured:

"Don't you ever think of leaving Kyoto… For I will eventually come for you."

"Thank you!" Kaoru said, with a smile forming on her face.

"Come on Kaoru, let's bust this joint. See you another time soon foxy-lady" Sano said as he and his sister made their way out of the clinic.

After a moment or so, Megumi broke out chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing much…It's just that I heard a certain somebody actually paid a hefty sum of money for a certain girl."

"…"

"You really do surprise me Battousai. Why the sudden change? Usually you hate women, you find them a pain and…"

"What I do is none of your business."

"Sure…but just one more question. You aren't serious about hunting the poor girl down so that she can repay you, are you?"

"What I say…I will do…" Battousai answered harshly as he stood up and made his way towards the exit. Megumi shook her head at such an answer. 'He will never change, always that cold and hardhearted.' she thought dishearteningly.

Then just as Battousai was about to leave, she caught a glimpse of what had been tied around his arm: An indigo ribbon. She smiled upon such a sight.

"Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he did change a bit." She whispered to herself watching Battousai leave.

"Perhaps she is the one who can help our dear Ken-san." (A/N: Ken-san, KenshinBattousai!)

SLAM

Yahiko, who has been sleeping on the sofa while waiting for his older sister was immediately awoken by the loud sound.

"Kaoru! Sano! You're back!" he exclaimed.

"Yea squirt…" Sano said softly as he continued walking.

"Sagara Sanosuke, stop right there!" Kaoru shouted and she closed the door behind her. Sano stopped dead in his tracks, waiting for what his sister has to say. Yahiko at this point was feeling rather confused about what was happening.

"How could you have left us like that? Do you realise we were damn worried about you?" Sano kept quiet, he did not know what to say. He was partially afraid he might say the wrong things like before and partially knew he was at fault.

"Well, don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Go on Sano! Say what you have to say!" Yahiko added. Both brother and sister waited for their older brother's reply. After waiting for a while, Kaoru felt that it was futile attempt, and was beginning to give up when…

"I'm…sorry."

"Wh..what?"

"I'm sorry Kaoru. I didn't mean to hurt both you and Yahiko. It's just that sometimes…you know…I don't think before act. So, it was just a moment of anger when I said those nasty things to you. I promise you that from today onwards I will try not to drink so much ever again."

"And what about gambling?" Yahiko asked, poking his Onee-san.

"Yea, yea, it's a bigger No-No to gambling. Please forgive me Kaoru."

"Yeah, please forgive the loser…" Yahiko said.

"Hmm…eh…"

"Please…" They both begged showing their puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh…alright. How can I not forgive you? You are my Onee-san." Hearing her answer, both male began dancing around like monkeys, bringing a smile on Kaoru's face.

"By the way…" Sano stopped to say as he trapped Yahiko's head between his arm and chest. "Since WHEN was I A LOSER?"

"You…cough ARE!" he replied, as he elbowed Sano in the stomach, and began making a run for it.

"Why you little…COME BACK HERE!" Sano shouted as he gave a chase.

"Nyah, Nyah! Can't catch me LOSER!"

"Why you brat! When I catch you, you'll be dead meat." Sano shouted as he pounced on Yahiko. Almost at once, the two began a messy wrestling tournament to see who would gain the upper hand. Kaoru laughed when she saw her brothers behave like 5 year-old children.

'I'm glad I still have my two brothers around…'

"Hey Busu!" a trapped Yahiko hollered, "Quit day-dreaming and help me out!"

'Even though sometimes they can be a pain…' she thought to herself crossly. "Don't call me Busu!" she screamed as she ran off to help Sano torture her younger brother.

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A week later…

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"NO…PLEASE! NO…" the man's sentence was cut short when Battousai delivered the final blow, killing him instantly.

"Number 57." He said to himself in a soft tone. Mr. Kabaji, was the 57th official to suffer a terrible death through Battousai's sword. He was one of the many government officials who had either stepped on Katsura's toes or had ideas that could threaten any of the Ishinshishi's plans.

Battousai flicked the blood off his sword and sheathed it. With that, he began making his way out of the blood-spattered scene. He had thought of going to his favourite bar as usual to have a drink before going home, yet had second thoughts, as he was not in the mood to drink.

Battousai soon arrived at the quiet and serene park that was located near his apartment. While he was walking, he heard the snap of a twig. As he turned to see who was there, he saw nothing but thin air. Brushing the thought off, he continued on his route.

Finally, just as he was about to leave the park…

SWOOSH!

"You have to do better than that if you wish to inflict any wounds on me." Battousai said smugly as he landed back on his two feet. Fortunately, just as the sword was about to touch him, he managed to jump out of the way, avoiding any contact with it.

"So I noticed." The stranger smirked.

"Why have you come…Hajime Saito?"

Chuckles "I have come…" he replied as he turned and looked at Battousai. "For your life." With that he thrusts his sword forward, attempting to make a straightforward attack at Battousai's chest. However Battousai was able to block it.

"Hmph…You have to do better than that…" Battousai whispered as he got into his fighting stance.

'Battoujutsu stance, looks like things are going to get more interesting from here after.'