Summary: When Kenshin hears about Shishio's betrayal at the hands of the Ishin Shishi, he is determined to find the truth about his former comrade's death. His quest for vengeance leads him to several top members of the former revolutionary outfit, but when someone starts beating him to the kill, Kenshin realizes all is not as it seems. BKK.

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Watsuki Nobuhiro. The situations in this story however, do belong to me.

Rating: T

All my reviewers get double chocolate chip cookies!!! Catch!

MikaylaMae – yeah, Kaoru can't get over that. But she's really pissed off so I don't know how long Kenshin has before he gets his act together.

flaming-amber – Yuss, I am evil. grins I'm leaving you with another cliffie to enjoy.

happyloveygirl – I just love your nick, it's really cute. And thanks very much. XD

sapphireraccoongal – Glad you're enjoying it but Kaoru isn't the damsel in distress. She knows how to get her own back.

EmbersOfAmber – Yeah. Kenshin and Shishio are actually friends in this fic, and Kaoru is not in a forgiving mood.

serabi – Thank you!!! XD

skenshingumi – Kenshin's torment hasn't even begun yet. There are going to be many things he still has to question, his own ideals will be put to test soon, as he struggles to understand what he wants to be.

iluvchocs – Yahiko…is probably not going to make it in this story. Sorry.

natlane – well I did!

starstoryteller – awww that's so kind of you. XD

Keniichi – I think you're going to stay mad at Kenshin for some time at least. But don't worry it won't last. XD

The Battousai's Return

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Chapter Four

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Recap

"I hate you."

Kenshin swallowed. He looked up at the sky. It seemed bleak. "That's alright." He turned. She looked away.

"Tonight. Tonight you will speak to Kogoro Katsura. Do you understand?"

She heard him. She did not speak.

End of Recap

"No."

The wind fell. Her words echoed in the silent room. Kenshin bent his head. He had hoped it would not come to this, but it was evident from her behavior that Kaoru Kamiya was going to be difficult to deal with. He turned around and faced her. She was looking at the tape that was tied around her hands.

"I see." He walked over and pulled up a chair next to the bed. He sat down and leaned forward. "You seem like a reasonable person Miss Kaoru. I can only assume that your refusal to comply with my wishes is a result of your willingness to find a reason to do what I ask you to. Am I correct?"

Kaoru glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He wants to play mind games does he? Well fine. So be it. "You can hardly expect me to blindly go along with whatever you say. You're a complete stranger. I don't even know you. I have no reason to trust you. Can you blame me for wanting answers?"

"Certainly not. I don't blame you at all. Your situation isn't exactly the most comfortable in the world. I know that. But meddling with my plans will get you nowhere. You are being unreasonable."

"I am merely being cautious." She was startled as he suddenly stood up from the chair and moved close, threateningly close to her. His face was merely inches away from her own and his eyes burned with anger, exasperation and annoyance.

"No! No Miss Kaoru! You are not being cautious! If you were being cautious you would not be so reckless, so stubborn or so stupid as to deny me! Do you not realize? Can you not comprehend, that you and your little friends are at my mercy? Have I not made myself clear? Stray from the path I show you Miss Kaoru, and I will kill your friends! Is any of this getting registered in your head?"

Kaoru could only stare at him. He was truly terrifying. When he said he would kill her friends, his gaze did not waver, his hand did not shake, he hadn't seemed like it would bother him in the least to end the lives of people he knew nothing about, who had done him no harm, who bore him no ill-will. This man was completed unaffected. What in the world was he?

Kaoru turned her startled eyes away from him and looked down at her hands. Kenshin moved away from her, and settled back into his chair once again. He silently surveyed the nervous fidgeting of his captive. She was finally beginning to understand that this was not a college prank but the real thing.

Kaoru's eyes burned as she felt another cascade of tears welling up behind her lashes. She sniffed and bit back a cough. Her captor's outburst had swept away the indecision she had been feeling. Whatever his problem was, she was not going to help him out easily. He was dangerous, so she had to tread cautiously. She had no intention of being used as bait to help a criminal through with his objectives. Her friends' lives were being dangled over her head like a sword to make use of her. She couldn't allow it. It didn't matter how attractive or sexy she found him, she was not going to help him, and that was that.

The stakes had just gotten higher. She needed to act fast. There had to be some way to escape from here. As far as she could see, there were no guards except her date from hell. It was simply a matter of getting her hands free and finding an object heavy enough to knock him out. Normally, she hated violence in any form, but in this case, she could definitely make an exception and be as excessively violent as possible.

Right now, he probably thought that she was scared beyond measurement and completely helpless. It was nothing to be ashamed of. She would have to be superhuman not to be scared at this point and Kaoru held no such misconceptions about herself. She had been caught unawares with the knowledge that the man who had kidnapped her was indeed someone she should be afraid of. She wasn't ashamed of being scared, that was natural. But it wasn't important. What was important was how she planned on dealing with him. Regardless of how frightened she was, there was no reason she would sit here and let this vicious man dictate his terms to her. She had to get away from him.

And if he thought her friends were sitting ducks, he had another thing coming. Sanosuke could take on any number of lowlife thugs and beat them to a pulp. He'd been doing that for years now. Sanosuke had the guts to beat up a mobster on his own turf. There was nothing he couldn't handle. He could take care of himself. She didn't need to worry about Megumi. Sano would watch over her; it was a given. The only one she was concerned about was Misao. Misao was so careless, bold to the point of being stupid sometimes.

"Head in the clouds, Miss Kaoru?" His voice ripped her out of her thoughts. She glared at him. He simply smiled at her.

Kaoru felt the air slam out of her lungs. It was as if the smile had disarmed the ferocious aura he had been shrouded in a second ago. She could hardly believe it was the same man standing before her who had threatened to kill her friends just minutes ago. Her confusion was apparent on her face. He sat down beside her and gently drew a knife from his sleeve. He calmly cut her bonds. As he peeled the tape off her skin, she had the mad idea of shoving him aside and running for the door. The heavy feeling in her legs put a stop to the idea. As she was now, she wouldn't get far from him. She could perhaps take two steps, maybe four before collapsing in a heap.

She felt a moist cloth move across her wrist. She looked down to find that her captor was rubbing a wet towel over her wrists. They had been tied so long; the skin was red, raw and slightly swollen. The cloth felt cool and refreshing on her skin. Inspite of herself, Kaoru exhaled in relief. Kenshin looked up and continued with his ministrations.

She frowned, and pulled her hands from him. "Stop it. I don't need your help." He didn't protest. Without a word, he picked up the cloth and bowl of water and went to put them back. Kaoru stood up shakily. She stepped forward and gasped as a sharp pain shot up her leg. She sank back onto the bed, and rubbed her calves, trying to help circulate blood faster so she could stand again.

"You shouldn't be so careless." Kenshin said as he watched her try to stand again.

"Please spare me the concerned small talk. We both know I'm just a tool for you, a bargaining chip with which you're going to try and rustle up some money from my uncle, so don't pretend that you're concerned. Oh and don't worry! I know. You can kill my friends when you feel like it so I should probably shut up, isn't that right?" She replied bitterly.

Kenshin laughed. "Well I wouldn't quite put it like that, sweetheart. The rules of kidnapping dictate that the kidnapper, that would be me, treats the kidnappee, in this case you, with a minimum of concern so as to not damage the goods. It's as simple as that."

Kaoru stopped midway and almost screamed in anger. "I am not an inanimate object you fucking bastard!"

Kenshin raised his eyebrow. "Oh my, what foul language. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to swear? It isn't polite."

"What the devil are you talking about? You freaking kidnapped me! In what part of your sick, deranged mind are you expecting politeness out of me?"

"Well, life has its own share of inconveniences Miss Kaoru, but that's not an excuse to forget your manners, is it? In fact, manners are needed the most in an emergency….and that's exactly when you're losing them." He leaned back in the chair once again. His eyes were twinkling with amusement. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to bait her and provoke her so that she would concentrate on whatever he was saying instead of thinking about other things. Like hitting him on the head and getting the hell out of here. She knew that and yet she was finding it hard to ignore him. Damn.

She took a deep breath. This was not the time to get angry over something so trivial. He was doing this on purpose, throwing her off-balance. She had to calm down and think. She looked at his face. He was wearing a confident smile, mocking her and her futile attempt to try and gain control of the situation.

She smiled back. He straightened up. She moved towards him slowly. Kenshin stopped smiling. He looked at her warily.

"So what exactly is it that you need from my uncle, huh?" Kaoru asked him, the smile plastered securely across her features. Her closeness unnerved him, though she had no way of knowing that.

He smirked. "Curiosity killed the cat, Miss Kaoru."

She shrugged. "I ought to know what I'm being bartered for. It's not an unreasonable thing to ask."

They held each other's eyes.

And hidden from them both, a keen pair of marine eyes blinked as they tried to comprehend exactly what was going on. Kaoru refused to do as he said, yet Battousai didn't do anything. He had yelled at her, somewhat, but even that rebuke didn't hold a shred of the ruthlessness he was capable of. He was toying with her, engaging in banter as she responded in kind. They were dancing around each other like two creatures lost in a game for mastery. Fangs were bared, sometimes drawing blood, sometimes grazing skin just enough to let each other know it was a tease, no more, no less.

Kaoru broke the silence first. "What now?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Hmm?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do now, with me?" She blinked and winced inwardly all the while cursing her choice of sentence construction as she spied a twinkle of amusement creep into his eyes.

"Good question. What am I going to do, with you?" He said with a straight face even as his eyes mocked her. "You're certainly dressed to fit the part." His eyes traced a line down her neck, resting briefly on her breasts, and returned to her eyes. He smiled unrepentantly as Kaoru quickly pulled the zipper of her dress back in place and straightened herself, even as she directed every curse she'd ever learnt from Sano at him.

"Great. Not only do I get kidnapped, I also get stuck here with a pervert." She muttered. Kenshin burst out laughing. He looked her over and sighed.

She glared at him. "Stop staring at me like I'm a piece of meat, jerk!"

Kenshin mockingly placed a hand on his heart. "My apologies."

Kaoru pursed her lips. "Whatever. Can you…do you have a change of clothes? I've been wearing these all night, it's slightly disgusting."

He nodded. He returned a few minutes later, dropping a small pile of clothes on the bed. "Take your pick. They should fit."

Kaoru gathered them in her arms. She noticed him watching her silently. She looked up to meet his eyes. The amethyst gaze that looked back at her seemed gentle, and full of questions. Kaoru straightened and faced him.

"Whatever it is that you want to accomplish…is there no other way you could do it?"

"…."

"Are you…in some kind of trouble? Do you need the money that badly?"

"It's not about money!" He blurted out.

She didn't know what surprised her more. That he had answered her, that the color of his eyes deepened to indigo, or that his voice had been so bitter. He looked away. "Then what is it about? What concerns you so deeply that you would hurt innocent people to gain your ends?"

He answered woodenly. "You don't need to know."

She felt as though a cold knife curved through her heart. "No. I just need to know what you would do to me if I don't cooperate. I just need to know my friends will be hurt, but I don't need to know why all of this is happening. Isn't that right?" She shot back at him.

"It won't last long. You'll be free of all this, and of me."

"I can't wait for that day."

The silence that followed screamed louder than any words could. Her anger swarmed around and coiled itself around her frame, blocking any urge to look at him and seek answers once again.

"Well you know Miss Kaoru, if our circumstances were slightly different, I have no doubts that you would have been positively my most favorite person." He turned away. "Feel free to have a shower. And don't worry, we're on the 25th floor, this apartment has no balconies and only one entrance, so unless you want to end up as fudge on the pavement, there's no way for you to run."

Kaoru bristled. Slowly, without making a sound, she picked up the chair he had been sitting on, gripping it tightly with her hands she advanced slowly before lunging and bringing the chair down on him.

Sano glared at the plaque on the door, silently willing the man sitting inside to crumple up in his chair and die. He ran his hands through his hair. Biting his lips, he leaned forward in his seat and glanced down the hallway again. He rubbed his neck. The chill from the wall was seeping into his shoulder, but he could care less. Finally he heard the sound of boots clicking on the tiled floor. He looked up. It was him. The man he had come to see. The man who would get him past the door and inside the office of that damned Fujita Goro, Senior Detective at Tokyo Police Department. Sano jumped up, and rushed to the man, blocking his path.

The man tilted his head to the side and looked at him. His blonde hair defied gravity as it shot towards the heavens, contained by a bandana. The two bandana-wearers stared at each other in indignation, as though insulted that someone apart from them had dared to fashion their hair in this way.

The man raised one eyebrow. "The hell is your problem?"

"I've been sitting here, waiting for answers for a fucking day! But there is nobody in this entire godforsaken dump who can tell me what the hell happened to my friend! And you're asking me what my problem is?" Sano burst out. He was sick with worry and angry at himself for having no answers. He had gone out of his mind, trying to find Kaoru but she was nowhere. None of their friends knew what happened to her. She had just disappeared. One minute she had been there, sitting and laughing with Misao, the next, she was gone. They had asked Misao but even she had no idea where Kaoru had gone. He didn't know what to do, where to go, whom to turn to for help. Kaoru was nowhere to be found. And he was doing nothing right.

The man dropped the smirk that had formed on his face. "I see. Have you lodged a complaint? "

Sano's fingers curled into a fist. "Yes. I have. I need to talk to Fujita Goro. Now."

The man thought for a while. Glancing at Sano once more, he nodded. "Come with me." He opened the door. Sano followed him inside. The room was dark, all the windows were shut, save for the last one adjacent to the desk of the man to whom the room belonged. A solitary sunbeam landed on the table, it lit up the steady plume of smoke rising from the cigarette he held in his hand. He looked up as his subordinate walked in. The angular planes of his face complementing the hard, piercing stare of his eyes. It was not hard to believe that this man was a relic from the days of the revolution. The memories of men killed and comrades buried beneath hastily dug graves burned in his eyes. Fujito Goro, formerly known as Hajime Saitou, captain of the third squad of the Shinsengumi.

Author's Notes

I updated! I'm so proud of myself. I really think I deserve something nice. sneaks some cookies off from the reviewers plate

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