I'm back and the chapter is finished/completed so ROCK ON! It is semi-edited but I'm really bad at that stuff… if and editor's note appears at the end of this chapter, it's from my awesome (loserish) friend Danny Boy / 14thShrineMaiden. Read her stories, seriously (twitch).

Last time:

- Kenshin: A tear glimmered in his eyes and he pushed them out of his head, he must think of a solution to his problem and hope for Sano's following actions and prepare some sort of separation between him and his…

Family…

- Sano: One more cup came crashing down on Sano's head.

He smiled

Yeah, this was the way things were meant to be…

He strutted down the road.

Now, to find-

A New Face

An ally- and a strong one at that

Kenshin wouldn't do- he was too dangerous.

A street fighter? No, he had wiped the floor with them all a hundred times before. Plus five of the strongest weaklings had been killed by Udou Jin-E.

I'm dealing with people from the Bakumatsu; I have to remember this is no ordinary fight.

He looked around… the police?

He thought a moment, but only until the wheel inside his head stopped turning…

…Which was about 5 seconds…

No, they would capture the girl and just kill her for her deeds. The pain of such a death could never amount to the pain suffered by those she killed and their loved ones.

She must live; she must atone for her sins as-

The thought of his former friend formed a knot in his throat

Anyway, she deserves a second chance, plus her doctoring skills might just come in handy some where, I mean, look how quickly I healed.

(Glint) Then again it was my super strength and endurance that really saved me. (Glint)

(Glints: Think Alex Luis Armstrong from FMA and his sparkle)

Sigh

I still don't know anyone as powerful as that Hyottoko guy I fought. Plus that Megumi b--tch said that he was the weakest fighter of the Oniwabanshu.

What to do, what to do.

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His back was leaned against the tree, beautiful red hair shadowing his face. With one foot bent to rest on the tree, Kenshin thought back to his battle with Beshimi. Few fighters during the Bakumatsu used Beshimi's fighting method, mostly cowards though many had been quite adequate at killing enemies once they learned to hide themselves.

That man…

Someone with such a weak, unreliable technique should not have come so close to wounding me

Have I really become so pathetic?

Deep turquoise eyes darted towards the sleek black sheath in which he knew was a sakabatou. (A/N: I have no idea what his real eye color is)

It must be that Rurouni refusal no to kill… but now I've broken it. I must test my strength, sharpen my now dull senses. To fight warriors like the Oniwabanshu… to fight with sakabatou will be a challenge, meaning I take to offensive. I must clean up this drug lady business and then-

He paused in his thought, raising his head to reveal one knowing eye. He stared ahead purposefully, almost glaring.

And then what?

Since he had begun to research his enemy and trail Sanosuke this topic had gone through his head a million times, and a million times he had come up with a different answer.

I must concentrate on the here and now. I cannot have my mind so muddled before this battle

His head finally stopped its drooping and lifted to the sky where his eyes met a brilliant sun. But night was approaching fast, soon it would be dark.

Soon he would fight.

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He had found him, the perfect ally. The two sat at Akabeko sipping at their sake. Yahiko had passed out after drinking just a little too much. The little miss had gotten drunk as well and suddenly overwhelmed by her emotions had been yelling her heart out and crying her woes as she partied till she dropped. Everyone had gone to bed or was at least lying unconscious somewhere on the floor. Sanosuke looked across the table.

"So, tell me again why you decided to come."

The man took his time, slowly lifting the saucer to his lips and slurping quietly at the contents. Placing the little saucer in front of him on the table, he sighed.

He had to be careful. He had thought it all through carefully but… wait, think? Not him, no, not him. He was more of the 'kill first think later' type. Still, he had lived through a forest of swords and a rain of bullets.

Then, there was no time for reasoning. You had to think fast and act faster.

"I have my reasons."

Sagara Sanosuke, hah! A hatchling if you ask me, but also my ticket to Battousai and the much hunted drug-dealers.

Sanosuke's eye's wondered to the at his companies waist. The man looked like a freakin' sissy and smiled like nothing was wrong with the world plus…

"I have just one more question."

"Yes?" Replied the man after another slurp of the plain soba he so loved.

"Why are your eyes all squinty lookin'?"

'Why you impudent fool' he would have said after smashing the punk's face in with his fist. But he new how to act and had managed to control the wolf inside him for ten year.

So instead of voicing his thoughts, he calmly responded. "Ha Ha. Yes, I was born with them." Another sip from his bowl.

Sanosuke stood up purposefully and began to walk out the door. "Just remember I ain't payin' you." With his hands resting comfortably on the back of his head he strutted confidently out the door despite the unease he felt inside.

Sanosuke had gone around the town beating the crap out of anyone he found possessing opium in order to find the location of Kanryu's mansion. In the middle of one session the squinty-eyed man had walked in and killed the man Sanosuke had been pummeling with one swift thrust at a vital point. It had looked like a sword move and the emotionless man had seemed strong.

Sanosuke glanced behind at the man who walked so matter-of-factly out of Akabeko. His first instinct, and the one he had followed, was to throw a bunch at the man. His fist had connected with the slanting cheekbone and as the cloud of dust settled the man had emerged phase.

Two sentences later and Sanosuke was telling him to meet at Akabeko around ten that night in order to defeat Kanryu. He had not questioned how the man knew his name and wondered at the strange compliment/insult he had been thrown.

"I am glad, Sagara Sanosuke, that your punch lives up to its reputation. But only in this age of weakness known as Meiji. During the Bakumatsu, a punch like that would be nothing!" He had ended by opening the squinty eye's as wide as they would, making them quite creepy, even to Sanosuke.

Now, again, the question crossed his mind for the thousandth that day. Could the man be trusted? He had not answered any of his questions- not really.

"Name." It was not said as a question, more as a command or statement.

"Fujita Goro is the name." The man grinned at Sanosuke's back. It was a good thing he had been off duty today, police clothes might have frightened the pathetic baby of a man this Sanosuke was.

To be continued…

Idiot: D--- IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK!

Editor: Sheesh, you barely censor your chapters, and now I have to do the authoress notes too. (Sigh)

Wasabi: welcome. So, how was your trip-?

Idiot: Not now Wasabi, I want to tell them about my trip!

Wasabi: … (No comment)

Idiot: If you haven't read my profile recently, I went to Africa for about two weeks. My family and I went on safari in Botswana and saw LOTSA animals… they were A-W-S-O-M-E! I know I bore you, but that's your problem.

I've been trying to listen to my reviewers and make this more of a story instead of a script (meaning add more description or whatever instead of just thought and dialogue). I don't think I did it very well and I think I lost my old 'magic'.

Editor: (cough) EDIT MORE (cough)

Wasabi: … You were ALWAYS horrible

Idiot: REVIEW! AND SEE YA SOON!

Editor: so sorry I took forever to edit