Author's note: Alright, people, this is going to be the last chapter I put up before my exams. I hope you all enjoy it and please review, it brightens my day and makes me feel like all the effort I put in is worth while.
Chapter Four
Misao crouched with feline grace in the large tree. Her skilled eyes scanned the perimeter of the well-protected estate, searching for any weaknesses that might work to her advantage. There were none. Damn, it was like Fort Knox, with its great barbwire tipped walls and high tech motion and heat sensing security system. It appeared the Battousai was very obstinate about his privacy. Well, he was going to be disappointed then, because Makimachi Misao did not give up, especially when it came to her dearest friend.
She groaned softly, rolling over in bed to beat her alarm clock into submission. Yet, even after knocking it across the room and against the opposite wall, it still didn't stop the ringing.
She fought valiantly to ignore it, hiding her head deep beneath her pillow, but finally she was forced to admit defeat. Cracking open one eye, she came to enough to realise that it wasn't her alarm clock that was ringing. It was her doorbell. She couldn't tell exactly what time it was, considering the remains of her clock now lay in pieces on the floor, but she was fairly certain it was not the right time for people to be trying to get in.
Springing lightly out of bed, her energy not even slightly depleted by the ungodly hour or the hard training session with Aoshi-sama the day before, she pulled on a dressing gown over her baggy t-shirt and panties combo, before making her way to the door of her apartment, a kunai securely held in her fist.
Once there she paused to stand on tiptoe and peek through the spy hole in her door. Her gasp was loud enough to make the person on the other side look up from the contemplation of their blood stained hands.
'Kaoru!'
Misao flung the door open, ignoring the way it dented the wall of the small entryway with the force of the movement. Kaoru stood in front of her, blood splattered and sweaty from running, a dazed look of mingled fear and relief in her eyes. Fleetingly, Misao thanked Kami for the miracle that meant her friend had not been picked up by the police, before turning to the terrifying matter at hand.
'What happened to you?'
She grasped Kaoru gingerly by the arm, first scanning the road for any signs that the other woman was being followed and then her body for injuries as she pulled her inside.
'Kenshin…I…blood… dead.'
It was clear from the way she shook and the disjointed words that tumbled forth that Kaoru was in deep shock. Misao sat her down on the sofa in her living room, not caring that the blood all over the other woman's clothes was ruining the upholstery. Taking her face in her hands, she forced the normally fiery kendo instructor to look at her.
'Kaoru, is this blood yours?'
At the negative shake of her head, Misao let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
'Is it Kenshin's?'
At the sound of his name, Kaoru began to rock herself gently backwards and forwards, looking for all the world as though she had just escaped an asylum.
'Kaoru, is it Kenshin's? Is he hurt?'
Again, Kaoru shook her head slowly, but she didn't talk. Standing up, Misao went and got some sake, wrapping her friend's fingers around it and forcing her to drink. After several sips, Kaoru finally managed to open her mouth to speak.
'So much blood,' she croaked.
Then she ran for the toilet, leaving Misao sitting on the blood-stained couch.
'Oh Kaoru, what happened?'
Her eyes flashed and her entire body tensed with the need to move. She had never found out what had happened to Kaoru that night. Her friend, once calm, had refused to talk about it again as though to repeat what happened would make it real. All she knew was that Battousai had played a major role in whatever bloody scene had left the kendo instructor with such brutal nightmares and brutal they were. The first night after the incident, Misao had been woken again, this time by screaming, a high pitched, animal keening that set her teeth on edge and her heart racing. She had burst through to the adjoining room of the seedy, rest stop motel where they were briefly holed up to find Kaoru sitting in bed, clawing at her sweat slick borrowed clothes and her face wild with fear. The nightmares had diminished slowly with time, but the fear never left, still a shadowy presence in her friend's life. Now, that same man, the same one to have caused such irreparable damage, had her friend trapped in this prettily decorated jail and she had no idea what could be happening to her.
Yet, intolerably, for the moment there was not even a single hope of getting to Kaoru. Misao would just have to use all her training and patience to bide her time until she got the chance to save her friend and pray that she didn't arrive too late.
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The door creaked open, spilling light into the darkened bedroom. Kaoru forced her body to go limp, her breathing even, slipping her hand beneath her pillow to grip the kitchen knife she'd tucked there.
Then for so long there was silence that she wondered, despite it being locked, whether the door had simply opened by itself. Just as she was about to get up and close it, one of the floorboards squeaked, alerting her to someone's presence right beside her bed.
With an incredible effort of will she somehow managed to lie still, hands shaking beneath her pillow as she battled her fighter's instinct to at least open her eyes to know her intruder.
The bed dipped as they sat down and she caught the familiar scent of ginger and pine.
'I wish there was another way.' Battousai's voice was quiet and gruff as though he were holding back some great emotion. 'You have to know, if I could protect you as just Kenshin I would, but I need you to be safe and I can't do that as the man who refuses to kill.'
He brushed some hair from her face, tucking it gently behind her ear. She could feel his hand tremble as it moved to smooth across her cheek, his callused fingers slightly rough against her skin, drawing to the surface memories of more intimate caresses.
'I will do anything to protect you, Koneko. I will not lose you, I will know you're safe, and if the only way I can do that is by being the thing I loathe the most, Battousai, then I freely pay the price of my happiness for your safety.'
The bed moved again as he stood and walked away.
'But when I said I didn't mind you hating me…' he trailed off and the agony in his voice sent an involuntary pang of pain through her. 'I can't let you go now.'
There was so much desperation in his words. He was pleading with her to understand, but she simply couldn't. It was like there was a puzzle piece missing and without it she couldn't recognise the picture. All she knew was that this gentleness, such a far cry from the violent possessiveness she was growing used to, made her want to cry and run into the warmth of his embrace, but instead, she remained perfectly still, feigning sleep until the door was once again closed and she was left in the dark, a million questions spinning in her head.
She woke after spending most of the night tossing and turning to that blissful moment when you don't remember quite where you are or what has happened. Stretching luxuriously beneath the warm sheets, she yawned, not completely sure whether she was ready to be conscious. Then everything slammed back down and she knew there was no slipping back into that sweet sleep, the weight of it all feeling as though it would crush her.
A sob worked its way up her throat and she turned over to muffle it in her pillow. Had the night visit been a dream? No. It had been too real. She could still feel the rough pads of his fingers stroke along the curve of her cheek, sending terrifyingly pleasurable sparks flowing through her blood and the gravelly timber of Battousai's voice as he'd spoken. Even worse, she could still catch that scent uniquely his that lingered in the air, obliging her to admit the truth.
She was so confused. His words, what had they meant? She had lain awake for what felt like hours after his strange visit, wondering and agonizing.
Protection? Now she thought past her own fearful anger and his possessive actions over the last hours, she remembered him using the word several times. Why would he need to protect her? Was it just paranoia, a symptom of his own insanity? Yet, he had been so painfully sincere, so close to being her old Kenshin in that moment.
But when I said I didn't mind you hating me…
Her chest tightened as the words, filled with so much sadness and hurt, rang once again through her head.
Why did he have to act this way? Why couldn't he just stay the aggressively possessive man she'd grown used to encountering since her capture? He kept doing things that tangled her idea of him and why he wanted her. The way he had acted when she was wounded, the flash of something childlike and terrified that passed through his eyes at the sight of her blood, that had not been the reaction of a man looking at his disposable play thing, it had been someone petrified at the thought of losing…
She stroked her right hand absently across her other wrist, feeling the rough texture of her bandages beneath her touch. Maybe Battousai isn't… she caught herself mid- thought and mentally beat the idea away.
'Don't you dare go there, this isn't Kenshin, Kamiya. The Kenshin you came to know doesn't exist, he's a fake, an utter fallacy created to draw you in. He was the one that chained you to the bed in the first place, damn it. It's his fault you were hurt. That's the only reason he did anything,' she berated herself, scowling and kicking the covers off her to release some of her hostility.
"If he's a sociopath without conscience and you're just his plaything then he wouldn't have cared if it was his fault."
That annoying little voice reappeared to bug her. She pushed it away, burying it and the confusion it immediately sent spiraling out of control, under an avalanche of only slightly forced rage.
Well, now the sleep she'd been hoping to abandon herself in again was most definitely gone. She rolled out of bed, flipping on the bedside light and landing in a low crouch on the ground, one leg straight and one bent to carry her weight as she stretched the aches out of her muscles.
She repeated the process for her other leg and then fell into some gentle katas to release a little of the tension built up in her body. The repetitive motions soothed her and drove the muddling thoughts from her mind, if only for a while.
She missed the familiar weight of her bokken in her hands, but she had destroyed her only reasonably bokken shaped piece of debris. For a moment she played with the idea of tearing another bar of wood off the large headboard but decided against it since it would inevitably draw the attention of the Battousai or his idiot sidekick. She was not going to voluntarily spend any time in their company, that was for damn sure.
Suddenly, with a loud pop, the room descended into darkness, tearing a shocked whimper from her throat. She dived at the door before the fear, constantly lurking at the corners of her mind, could stir and immobilise her limbs.
She fumbled for the main light switch but when she couldn't find it, and the panic was beginning to make her heart race in her ears, she threw herself against the door, grasping the door handle and wrenching with all her strength. The door swung inwards without hindrance and she stumbled back with the force of her pull, landing on the floor with an audible thump. She didn't waste any time cursing the new bruise she was about to add to her collection, however, jumping to her feet and practically throwing herself out of the door. Leaning against the opposite wall, she slid down into a sitting position and heaved air into her lungs.
This phobia of hers was getting out of control. From a simple discomfort with silence, it had escalated to the point where she now couldn't even stand the dark, paired as it usually was with that all-consuming stillness which made her blood run cold and her heart skip in a way that had her wondering if it would ever start beating again.
It took long moments before she could get enough of a grip on her composure to realise that her room had not been locked and she was now sitting outside it with no sound of footsteps to tell her that someone was coming to return her to hell. This was it, her chance. Battousai had obviously been careless when he'd left her room and left her the escape she had been longing for.
Jumping to her feet, her anxiety attack forgotten, she dashed down the corridor, fearing that at any moment her luck might run out. Every corner she turned was one step closer to freedom, but her progress was slow as she stopped each time to listen for the tell-tale footfalls that foretold the end of her escape. This wasn't like the last time though. She knew where she was going, having carefully mapped her exit strategy in her head during her near sleepless night, and she was very thankful for it. The corridors all looked identical if you hadn't taken note of the small differentiations in decoration or colour that allowed you not to get hopelessly and irrevocably lost.
Finally, she was at the top of the main stairs and she could see the front door, beckoning to her, whispering words of liberty and freedom in her ear. This was going to be the hardest part of her escape. This was the only area that was entirely in the open, doors on all sides, out of which people could come at any moment. Yet, she clung to the fact that once she was outside, once she had left this wretched hellhole, she knew she'd have a chance.
She ran so fast it felt as though her feet didn't touch the ground, but instead of going for the front door, which held only the false hope of a siren's call singing you to your doom, she headed to the door of the ballroom.
Yet, just as she reached it she heard something that made her pause. The door to the office was just slightly ajar and she could have sworn she heard Misao's name being said from inside. Her hand hesitated over the handle to the room which whispered of her freedom, but her curiosity won out and she turned away. She needed to know.
Body tingling with the awareness of her precarious position, she tiptoed in her stocking feet over the marble floor to the door and held her ear beside the gap.
'Call her off,' Battousai's deep voice rumbled and she realised when there was no response that he was on the phone. 'Yes, I am aware of your subordinate's temperament, but you are the leader. I warn you if she gets in the way of our plan I will not hesitate to remove her.'
There was a silence and Kaoru shifted. Was the conversation over? She should move but her mind was reeling and she couldn't tear herself away. Then Battousai spoke again and her attention snapped back inside the office.
'Do not threaten me, Shinomori. She is your responsibility. You are to blame. Hold up your end or you will regret it.'
She vaguely heard the receiver slam home in its cradle, but she was not there any more, mentally or physically. Her thoughts lurching out of control, she stumbled to the ballroom door and, fumbling with the handle, slipped inside and closed it behind her.
Resting against it, a wave of dizziness and nausea nearly overcame her. Aoshi? Aoshi was working with the monster who plagued her existence? She couldn't understand it, couldn't bear the betrayal. There must be some reason, she had to believe that, because even if Aoshi would betray her, she knew he would never betray Misao and Misao would never betray her. Her resolve was only strengthened further. She had to get out of here, now not only because she needed to escape Battousai, but also because she needed answers.
Opening her eyes, she let out a choked sound. There was only darkness. What the hell was this? Groping for the light switch, She flicked it on and the room was just as she had remembered it, down to the open curtains showing a beautiful night sky beyond.
Her eyes goggled. Had she slept that long? She knew for a fact that when she had gone to bed it had been night. Had she slept less or more than she had thought? With the fretful slumber she'd had, it was entirely possible she'd dozed off and woken only a little while later to think she'd had a full night's rest. Dragging herself from her shocked state of immobility, the distant sounds of talking reminded her of her present precarious situation.
'Focus, Kamiya,' she growled. 'This just makes your escape all the easier. They are not expecting you awake.'
She scanned the room. Then she moved to the nearest window, inspecting it to find attached, as she had expected, an alarm system. It was well hidden though, only given away by a tiny flashing red light high up on the window frame. Pursing her lips, she considered her options. Either she could open the window, setting off the alarm and alerting her captors to her escape, of course with no guarantee that it wouldn't be locked or soldered shut anyway meaning instant failure, or she could simply break the window, undoubtedly also alerting her captors, but thus having a greater chance of finding freedom. She liked the second plan better for two reasons, it made more sense and it caused a lot more damage than plan one.
A wide grin spread across her face as she contemplated the room. She needed something heavy enough to break a window but still light enough to lift. Her eyes fell on the sturdy looking stools set out in front of the bar in the corner. Perfect. She practically skipped over to them, her bouncing step uncannily reminiscent of Misao's energetic movements. Misao, a pang of hurt and confusion shot through her and she bottled it up. This she would deal with later.
It wasn't a huge effort to lift the closest stool and walk it back to one of the windows, but it was enough to make her pant slightly with the exertion, a good sign in Kaoru's opinion that it would shatter the glass without any problems. With a deep breath she raised the stool above her head and…
'That won't work, Jou-chan.'
She turned abruptly, the incriminating stool still held high above her head. The red head-banded idiot leaned nonchalantly against the door, which he had managed to open without her hearing a sound.
'It's bullet proof glass, nothing short of a car hitting it will break that stuff and even then it would take the car with it,' he continued, pushing off the frame and wandering over to take the stool from her grip.
'Anyway those are my favourite pieces of furniture, took me ages to find the perfect ones.' He patted the stool he'd just put back lovingly. 'Comfort and traditional style all wrapped up into one.'
She hadn't a clue what the guy was waffling about, but she was saved from having to come up with a put down when her stomach rumbled long and loud. She blushed, mortified even though she shouldn't care what this man thought of her.
The biggest grin she had ever seen appeared on his face as he watched her and she couldn't help but feel nervous under his teasing scrutiny, so she did what Kamiya Kaoru did best, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
'What? It's not my fault you freaks don't feed your hostages!'
He outright laughed at that.
'Well then, why don't we go to the kitchen and you can make me some grub, Jou-chan.'
She stared at him, staggered. Had Battousai not told him? An evil grin possibly larger than the idiot's covered her face and she saw his fade a little round the edges, his eyes nervous. He had foiled her escape attempt, but she would find another way and if the baka got food poisoning and died so much the better for her.
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Kaoru stood in front of the stove trying, but not very hard, to remember Battousai's instructions on how to use it. After much deliberation, she shrugged indifferently, turned the knob to the highest number on the dial and poured in the eggs and whatever shell shards she had not been able or motivated enough to remove.
She stirred vigorously for a few moments before becoming bored and scanning the room for something to find interest in. When nothing became apparent she decided she might as well talk to her victim.
'So, what was your name again? Sousuke? Sasuke?'
She had a vague memory of Battousai saying his name at one point after her first escape attempt, but not surprisingly she hadn't been paying attention at that time. When he didn't reply, clearly affronted, she shrugged.
'It's either you tell me your name or I call you that idiot in the red head-band for the rest of our joyous time together. Not that I'd particularly mind, but it's a bit of a mouthful if you have to say it every time you speak to someone.'
She was babbling but she didn't much care. It was probably better than starting a conversation with the red head-banded idiot sitting at the island. She had strategically placed herself so that she could cook and still keep him in sight, not especially relishing the idea of having one of the Battousai's murderous cohorts at her back.
'The name's Sanosuke, Jou-chan. Sanosuke Sagara, but you can just call me Mr. Gorgeous, or Sano will do too.'
She snorted audibly and caught his cocky smirk, a look she was beginning to realise was his trademark, widen out of the corner of her eye.
She was just about to make a scathing remark about his looks, when she smelled something burning. Looking down at the pan in front of her, she found what looked like the congealed remains of a burnt tyre staring back at her, and it smelled like it too. She had completely stopped stirring when she'd started talking with Sano and it seemed the food had suffered from her lack of attention. Fighting the smile that threatened to give the game away, she scraped what was left of the mess onto the plates set out on the counter beside the stove. They already contained the charred remains of a couple of slices of toast.
'Food's ready,' she chirped brightly as she placed the dishes on the island and sat down across from a horrified Sano.
Digging in, long since immune to her own non-existent cooking skills, having moved out of her father's mansion at the age of eighteen, she watched the man across from her. Sano was sitting and staring at the food in front of him, occasionally prodding at something with a hesitancy that suggested it might up and bite him at any moment. Then, he suddenly put down his fork and bowed his head, his hands neatly folded in his lap.
Kaoru observed him for a while, chewing and swallowing several times before finally giving in to curiosity.
'What are you doing?'
Sano lifted his head, wiping away an imaginary tear.
'I am mourning the passing of some perfectly good chow,' he said in a sorrowful voice.
Kaoru scowled at him, before taking a large dollop of black egg on her fork and flicking it at him.
'Serves you right for being a lazy ahou,' she laughed, as the egg dripped down his face.
Thus began a long and vicious food fight, during which both parties sustained critical damage, at least to their hair.
Kaoru ducked a flying grenade of toast coated in slimy egg and immediately stood to launch her own attack. It made contact with a wet slap and Sano fell back, his hand to his head in a melodramatic death scene.
'Mercy, mercy! Grant a poor soldier one last wish,' he moaned. 'I would die happy with a single kiss from a fair maiden and behold there is none, but you'll do.'
He waved the hand not occupied by covering his forehead at Kaoru, closing his eyes and puckering his lips in preparation.
Kaoru threw one last blob of egg, hitting him right on the mouth, before she doubled over laughing, her entire body trembling with the force. She looked up in time to see a flash of red as the kitchen door swung shut, drawing her back to reality. She was not messing around and having a food fight with a friend, she was hanging out with the associate of an assassin who had abducted her. Her mood immediately darkened and she straightened to try and remove as much slime from her clothing as possible. Sano, apparently sensing the change in atmosphere, stood as well and did the same.
'I think it's pretty obvious who won here, don't you?' he smiled boyishly, fishing a piece of something unidentifiable from his hair.
At her stony silence, he continued.
'Me, of course, because I successfully avoided eating that slop.'
He shuddered theatrically. When she still didn't respond, he frowned slightly.
'Hey, what's eating you? It's not the remains is it? ´Cause I swear I saw some of it move earlier.'
Normally, a comment like that would have started another bout of play-fighting, but the happy spell had been broken and she didn't even crack a smile, just wanting to be left alone. She was suddenly so tired, so sick of this whole horrible situation.
'I was fooled for a minute there, idiot,' She sighed, as she slid back onto a stool, fearing her legs might simply give out under her.
Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes but she refused to cry in front of anyone again.
'Fooled by what?'
Sano sat opposite her, confusion painting his face.
'I don't know what your game is, trying to make friends with me, but it's not going to work.'
She laughed bitterly, the sound ugly and twisted.
'What the hell are you talking about, woman?'
'You guys obviously have some sort of plan,' she continued. 'You want me to let my guard down and then…'
Sano butted in then, suddenly angry.
'What crap has someone been filling your head with? What kind of monster do you think I am?'
Kaoru's eyes flashed dangerously as she looked up into his.
'The kind that is hired to murder innocent people because they form an obstacle to whatever rich and powerful bastard wants something at the time.'
Sano was dumbstruck for long seconds before he finally found his voice, his expression changing from shock to one of blazing fury as he practically shouted in her face.
'I don't know where the hell you got these ideas from, but we don't murder innocent people we take out corr…'
The door had swung open while they had been arguing and a nervous looking uniformed man stood there, hopping from foot to foot.
'Mr. Sagara…um…Mr. Himura requests your presence in the o-office.'
Sano clicked his mouth shut, jaw clenching hard enough to hurt and there was no sign of the mischievous, boyish look she'd grown to feel comfortable with.
'We will finish this conversation later,' he promised before turning on his heel to follow the shaking man from the kitchen.
Kaoru watched him leave, waiting for the door to swing shut completely and the sound of footfalls to fade before crumpling. She rested her head in her hands and finally allowed the tears to flow.
The office was as impersonal as the reception area she had sat in earlier. The neutral white walls were made even colder by the sterile stainless steel décor of the desk and chairs. She fidgeted in her uncomfortable metal seat and missed the warmth the office used to have when her father was in charge.
Then, it used to have soft blue velvet couches for small conferences and matching chairs round the desk. The walls had been covered in photos of her and her mother with gaudily coloured pictures she'd drawn as a child and her graduation certificate. The memory of coming to visit him in his office to bring him lunch when she was younger, and how he had brightened at the sight of her, made tears sting the corners of her eyes.
'I'm glad you could make it, Kaoru.'
She looked up from the contemplation of her hands and tried to smile at the man sitting before her. It ended up as more of a grimace, but he didn't seem to notice.
'It's nice to see you again, Uncle Takeda.'
He wasn't really her uncle, but ever since she was tiny she'd taken to calling him. It had just been nice to pretend she had some family.
'Well, let's get down to business then.'
Kanryu steepled his fingers on the desk, leaning forwards with a deadly serious expression on his face.
'I want you to stop seeing the Battousai.'
Kaoru frowned. She didn't know anyone called Battousai and she was sure she would have remembered such a strange name.
'Battousai?'
A small stack of photos was slid across the desk towards her. Picking them up, her eyes widened in shock. Picture upon picture of her and her boyfriend stared back at her. Kenshin carrying her groceries to the car with her behind him, twirling her car keys round her fingers and smiling. Kenshin, with his arm round her shoulders in their favourite café, watching the world go by. Kenshin, kissing her outside her apartment building on one of the nights he had an early start and couldn't come in.
'What the hell is this? Are you stalking me?'
She trembled visibly as she tore the photographs to shreds, dropping the pieces on the floor, uncaring of the mess they made in his minimalist chic office.
'No, I am simply keeping an eye on my favourite god daughter.'
His voice was still the same dry monotone.
'I don't think you quite realise who you are associating with, Kaoru. This,' he stabbed another picture he pulled out of just Kenshin this time, with a perfectly manicured finger. 'Is the Battousai, a man without conscience or redeeming feature who works for an organization that hires him out as an assassin.'
She stared at him incredulously. Her sweet Kenshin, who had refused to kill a spider even when it had crawled onto his tofu, was a violent killer for hirer? She nearly fell off her chair laughing.
'Oh good one, Uncle Takeda, you had me freaked there for a second with all those scary stalker pictures. You put a lot of effort into this.'
Kanryu's facial features didn't change in the slightest as he slid the picture over for her to look at. It was definitely of Kenshin, his distinctive red hair unmistakable, but as she looked more closely she realized it couldn't be. This man had a hard face, set in sharp lines of cold calculation as he looked around him. Even from the distance the photographer was standing, you could see the steely glint of blank amber eyes. Amber? There that proved it.
'This isn't Kenshin, Uncle Takeda, he has violet eyes and this man's are amber.'
Kanryu nodded slightly but didn't seem convinced.
'No, this is your Kenshin, Kaoru, trust me, and this is a list of every single person he has killed.'
He passed her a thick file to look at. She flipped through it; there were pictures of happy, ordinary men and women with details of their jobs, their children, their pets. Then, horrifyingly, there were pictures of their bodies. She felt sick. This Battousai was a monster.
She stood to leave, dropping the file back on the desk, no longer able to stand looking at all those faces knowing they were dead.
'Well, I hope they catch the bastard, uncle Takeda. Thank you for your concern, I can see where the mistake came from, he looks very like Kenshin.'
She made for the door, pausing as Kanryu called her name.
'How much do you actually know about this man, Kaoru?'
She didn't respond, smiling and walking out of the room without looking back, but the question stuck with her. How much did she know about Kenshin?
At the time, she hadn't believed him, letting it slide as a case of mistaken identity, but with the things that had come to pass, and the faces of the murder victims indelibly printed on her mind, she had been forced to accept it as truth.
Now though, the way Sano had looked at her in such sincere shock, his furiously shouted words, had confused her. What had he been about to say before the man had come in? Again she felt like she was missing some vital piece of information, something that would make everything fall into place and without which she would be left perpetually in dark, about Battousai, about Aoshi, but worst of all about herself.
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Sano felt the tension slide from his body as soon as he left the kitchen. That Kaoru chick had some seriously warped ideas about what the Ishin Shishi did. He'd meant to calmly talk to her about it earlier after what he'd overheard her say to Megumi in the office, but when she'd made that outburst about him all ideas of reasonable discussion had flown out of the window. Shaking it off for now, he opened the door to the office, so distracted by his thoughts he didn't notice the way the guard scuttled away rapidly as though at any moment a bomb was going to explode and he wanted to be well out of its vicinity when it did.
'Yo, Kenshin, man, did you get his location?'
Fighter's intuition was the only thing that helped him dodge the blow that flew at his head, and even then the fist grazed along his already injured cheek. He immediately dropped into a roll so that he had an armchair between him and the irate man standing by the door. It was all true what they said about red heads, they really did have quick tempers.
'Ok, what the hell is in the air in this house? ´Cause everyone is acting nuts.'
Battousai moved with blurring speed, but Sano was prepared for him this time, shoving his shield at the other man before flipping away across the desk so that the vicious punch he would have received to the sternum, connected instead with thin air. Battousai snarled, his lips pulling back to show his teeth.
'Right, let's all calm down and talk rationally now, yeah?' Sano asked hopefully, putting his hands up in a placating gesture, eyes warily following the red head's movements.
This time he didn't have time to sidestep as he was grasped firmly by the throat and dragged back across the table and onto the floor with a clatter of desk materials.
'Kenshin, man, talk to me here! What the hell is going on?' Sano gasped, just catching a fist as it made for his face.
'You will stay away from my woman, Sanosuke,' Battousai finally growled, jumping backwards out of range as Sano tried to kick him off.
Sano's eyebrows shot up in confusion before his angry friend's words sank in. He could have laughed, resisting only to save his own skin. Megumi had been right on the mark, though there was no way in heck he was going to tell her that. It appeared the infamous Battousai was afraid he was losing his girl to another man, namely him. He had obviously seen Sano's food fight with Kaoru and decided that he was trying to seduce her. The only thing that didn't amuse the fist fighter was the red head's conclusion that the best way to deal with the situation was to eliminate the competition.
'I have no interest in Kaoru, Kenshin,' he said in a soothing tone ruined only by the way he quaked with suppressed chuckles. 'You know my only girl is Megumi.'
This reassurance seemed to cool Battousai's wrath, and he stumbled over to his desk chair, collapsing with his head in his hands.
'I'm sorry, Sano. I just can't seem to think straight when it comes to her,' he rasped, clutching at his bangs and tugging them lightly. 'She hates me, nothing I do seems to change that, and then I come into that kitchen and there she is laughing and smiling at you like I long for her to do for me, and I just lost it. It's not fair, you do exactly the same job I do and yet you are forgiven and I am despised.'
His words were so desperate, so tormented, that Sano took pity on him, sitting up to face him.
'First off, if you had stuck around a little longer, you would've seen her try to bite my head off,' he offered as reassurance, leaning forwards to slap his leg.
'Why didn't you come in and beat the crap out of me on the spot anyway?' He continued before Battousai could ask what the argument was about.
He didn't want his friend storming off to confront Kaoru himself, feeling it would be better if he did the talking since he'd managed to somehow build a rapport with the obstinate woman. He'd been lucky as it was that the red haired man hadn't stepped in when Kaoru had snapped at Megumi, too distracted by his worry for her and the news Sano had brought about the investigation.
Battousai sighed heavily and buried his face further into his hands.
'I scared her last night. We were touring the house and it was going well but then I…' he groaned to himself. 'Then I pressed her up against my bedroom wall.'
At Sano's incredulous look, he tried to explain.
'I just couldn't help myself! She was being so stubborn and I wanted to touch her so badly. I think she thought I was going to rape her and she lost it. I knew that if I came in there and killed you she'd be terrified of me and I'd never get her back.'
Sano nodded thoughtfully.
'So you called me in here to kill me out of her sight?' he asked, amused.
Battousai nodded mutely not looking even the slightest bit guilty.
'Please, Sano, what can I do? I screwed up the tour and I'm losing her.'
Sano had never heard the Battousai beg before and to be frank it scared him. Women could do the strangest things to a man. Fleetingly, he wondered whether he was like this around Megumi. He prayed not.
'Well, I wasn't going to give my secrets to anyone but my son, who I intend to make into the world's greatest playboy just like his dad…' He zoned out for a moment, apparently picturing a little Sano wandering around picking up girls and gambling. 'But I guess I could give you something.'
He sprawled back across the floor to prop himself on his arms, pausing for dramatic effect.
'I nearly got Megumi to fall in love with me by taking her up to the roof.'
Battousai raised his eyebrow skeptically, but Sano was undeterred.
'Seriously, man, the stars look amazing. All you have to do is take a blanket or something up there, lie back and their putty in your hands.'
'So, why isn't Megumi putty in your hands?' Battousai smirked.
Sano laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.
'I tried to borrow money off her after kissing her. I think she thought I was trying to butter her up or something. She's still ignoring me for it.'
Battousai laughed heartily at that.
'Was that the time you refused to tell me how you got the black eye?'
Sano nodded ruefully, wincing at the memory as he touched the fresh bruises colouring his flesh.
'May the roof work better for you, my friend.'
He got up and headed for the door.
'Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go use that fancy ensuite shower in my room to wash out the egg your lady has stuck in my hair.'
Author's note: There you have it, my dear readers. You will have to wait until a while after June 23rd for the next update because that is when my exams end. Wish me luck and don't forget to review!
Japanese terms:
Ahou- idiot
Baka- idiot
Koneko- Kitten
Sama- very polite honorific