Thump. "Your tab."

Standing at the Akabeko's front counter, well out of the range of sparks flying in the back of the spaceport garage, Sano winced, imagining that same thump of clenched fist against his kidneys. Likely with a hydrospanner to weight it. For a girl who barely came up to his shoulder, the mechanic had a nasty right hook. "Aw, Tae..."

The sturdy brunette in burgundy coveralls gave him a sidelong look. "You're a sweet guy, Sano," she sighed, Osaka merchant's accent thick as honey. "An' you an' Katsu bring in plenty of other business just by coming here, 'cause spacers know you don't take chances with the Sekihoutai. But I know you got paid." She held out an open palm, fingers twitching in a plain give it up.

"Ah, yeah. About that..." Sano stopped suddenly, hit by an odd twinge of something is wrong.

"Oh, my!" Tae hurried out from behind the counter, propping up the shoulder of a very familiar, very wild-eyed redhead. "Easy, now. You come right over here... Sano, get him a cup of caf. With extra sweet - I know you know where that is."

"I'm - sorry," Kenobi got out, still weaving even as Tae steered him toward one of the less rickety folding chairs near the caf pot. "I don't mean to be a bother, truly…. I was simply looking for ship mechanics, and someone said..."

"Best place was here?" Sano filled in, handing over the hot caf. "You got it. Obi-Wan, Seigihara Tae, head spanner-twister of Akabeko. Tae, this is Kenobi Obi-Wan. Kaoru's mother's adopted cousin."

"Is he, now!" Warm brown eyes smiled at the off-worlder, making sure he was steady in his seat before she let go of his sleeve. "Well, good. That girl needs a few more friendly faces around. So you're one of Hana's kin? And I'd've sworn that poor lady didn't have a soul in the galaxy... you must have gotten yourself lost something awful. You staying long? Way you're dressed doesn't fit us spaceport bums, so you must be stayin' for a while..."

Sano let out a relieved breath, inching away-

"Don't think you're gettin' out of here without payin' down that tab, Sagara."

Nuts.

Obi-Wan was cupping the off-world-style mug in both hands; sipping, then taking a deep breath of warm steam, then sipping again. His face had the worn relief of a man who'd felt the last strands of rope slip through his grasp - only to have his feet thump down on an unexpected ledge.

Well, if I'm not going to slip out of here without losing credits anyway... Sano shook his head. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Underestimation of enemy capabilities, combined with a lack of appreciation for novel tactics," Obi-Wan muttered.

Sano blinked. "Say what?"

"I thought I was dealing with a Corellian sand-panther. Instead it was a krayt dragon."

"Corellian..." Tae gave Sano a confused look.

"Kind of like a togebi, but smaller, with poisoned claws," Sano filled in. Tae might work on spaceships from all over the galaxy, but far as he knew she hadn't been off-planet herself. "Dunno much about krayt dragons, but I think they're something like a hakai-teki-ou. Only twice as big."

Tae swallowed. "...Oh."

"Dojo still standing?" Sano said bluntly.

"Oh, yes. This was a personal threat." Obi-Wan's hands clenched white on ceramic. "I think."

"So... you're not back there because?" Sano prompted.

"I needed something," Obi-Wan hesitated, "familiar." Some of the fog cleared from his gaze as he looked about the garage, taking in rack after rack of equipment most people on Yamato found about as comfortable and familiar as Trandoshan trophy collections. "There was a time I never drank caf, you know. I liked keeping to a routine, and part of that was getting up early to brew a cup of tea. Then the war came, and it was more important to stay awake so you wouldn't be shot-" He cut himself off, wincing. "Forgive me. I'm babbling."

Tae's brows bounced up at that mention of war, but she let it slide. "Homesick, huh?"

"After a fashion," the off-worlder admitted. "Culture shock is the term I'm more familiar with. I don't know quite how to translate it..."

"That's okay. I'm not too bad in Basic," Tae said in that language. "Think you'd feel better if we talked this way?"

Obi-Wan blinked. Shook his head, dazed. "Blast." The Basic word stumbled, as if he'd had to hunt for its shape on his tongue. "That actually hurts."

Tae rolled her eyes. "Kaoru should have warned you before she shoved Yamatogo into your head. Crossing languages isn't fun when you learn them the regular way. Trying to switch back when ki's thumped your neurons into another shape - not so easy." The mechanic frowned. "Now, wait a minute. How could Kaoru give you a Kyoto accent?"

I'm betting she didn't. Sano jabbed a thumb his way. "He really sounds like Kyoto?"

"I know you'd rather be skinned and salted than head near nobles, Sano, but some of us have relatives out that way," Tae said wryly. "Doesn't sound like the city-folk, no - but some of the villagers? People visiting from the mountain temples? Something like that."

"My nephew is from the mountains," Obi-Wan observed quietly.

"Yeah, I hear they're weird up there-" Sano's jaw snapped shut. Wait a sec. Did he just say, nephew?

"Kaoru's got relatives in Kyoto?" Tae perked up, all ears and attention. "They say Koshijirou was out there 'most a year, back in the Bakumatsu, but this is the first I've heard-"

"He's not Kaoru's relative," Obi-Wan cut in hastily. "This is awkward... there was an irregular adoption in my birth clan, many years ago. I've only now had the opportunity to begin clarifying the matter."

Tae gave him a very long, considering look.

Nephew? Sano shook his head, trying to get past that impossible thought. But the guy with the Kyoto accent is... and they're both kind of short, with sun hair... and the same scary sense of humor...

"Clan elders finally keeled over and left you a free hand to go looking for strays, huh?" Tae said at last.

Slightly red, Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "I take it this is not quite as unusual a situation as I was led to believe?"

"Well, it's not common these days, no," Tae admitted. "But twenty years ago? Thirty? Why, some places, they say it was almost as bad as the Sengoku Jidai; whole villages gettin' split up an' half wiped out, caravans vanishing, even a few daimyo castles gettin' plastered from orbit. I hear clans would pick up survivors at a dead run - and sometimes they weren't too fussy on whose clan they were pickin' up, especially if they'd had their eye on a kid with talent. And can you blame the kids for lettin' them? Sometimes there was no one left." She rolled her eyes. "Every few months, I'd swear, my sister Sae sends another holo-letter about who's claiming they're blood of who, and who's causing a scandal by goin' back to their birth clan - or not going back. We're going to be living with this mess for centuries."

Obi-Wan regarded her thoughtfully. "I don't mean to pry, but..."

Tae ducked her head, blushing, and nodded toward a girl in coveralls, about Yahiko's age, currently refilling a fuel canister for a hand-welder well in the back of the garage. "That's Tsubame. Her family used to be in service to a pretty rough samurai clan. A lot of those idiots got wiped out; maybe all of them, if we're lucky. Her parents are still having a little trouble with the way jobs work in the Empire, but that little bit's taking to this trade like a neko-ao to fresh fish."

"And she couldn't do that if the clan elders were still alive?" Obi-Wan asked neutrally.

"Work in a spaceport, for gaijin? Instead of an honorable position, slaving for samurai?" Tae rolled her eyes again. "'Course, we can't work if we don't get paid..."

"All right, all right," Sano grumbled, fishing out the voucher Katsu had made up, that he'd hoped not to have to use. Ought to cover about half the tab, I think.

Tae looked at the amount. Looked back at him. Raised an eyebrow, in a manner that promised an encounter with a hydrospanner. Soon.

"Hey, you know I'm good for it," Sano said quickly. "Some of my funds are kind of tied up right now. I'm trying to help Takani-san set up the infirmary the way she wants it - and let me tell you, first-rate medical equipment does not come cheap."

"But it can sometimes be acquired more cheaply than the open market," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. "If you know where to look. And have connections."

"And you have connections?" Sano said skeptically. So what were you doing in a hijacked Imperial shuttle? Are you a spy? For which side? And that doesn't even get into why you're all of a sudden claiming that Kenshin is your-

Unless... if he really is...

"Let's just say, I know certain beings, who know certain beings," Obi-Wan shrugged. "Spaceports have been part of my life for decades. I'm a fair hand at repair, ship or droid, and even better at knowing where to find things - parts, cargoes, people with certain skills - when they're needed." He gave Tae a sincere look. "It occurs to me that this could allow a profitable arrangement, with a mechanic who might benefit from such skills."

Tae gave him a sidelong look back. "And you're offering this to me because...?"

"You're a friend of Kamiya. More importantly, you are the one Sano and Katsu trust with the Sekihoutai," Obi-Wan said bluntly. "I came in on that ship. I know good work."

"Do you, now." Tae planted a fist on her hip. "So if a Corellian freighter comes in with a fluttering thruster, what engine part would you look at first?"

"Before or after I check to be sure someone hasn't simply damaged the control circuitry by cutting the deck to squeeze in another concealed compartment?"

Grinning in earnest, Tae started firing the tougher questions. Sano tuned out somewhere between deflectors and forward sensors, thinking hard. Mixed up with the Imperials somehow... but he's joining Kaoru's dojo... but Uramura seems to trust him... but...

It made his head hurt.

Still, by the time Tae and Kenobi had shaken on a tentative deal, he had a plan. He hoped.

The first part of which included grabbing the off-worlder by the gi the second he'd said his farewells, subtly dragging him off to a corner between a few pieces of hull plating, and hissing, "Nephew?"

"He is," Obi-Wan said levelly. "Yes, Kaoru knows. Yes, Kenshin knows. But he does not know that I know - and given how justifiably paranoid he is about Saigo's price on his life, I'd prefer that state of affairs to continue. At least until I can somehow convince him that I value his life as I do my own." His voice dropped, almost a whisper. "Even his past life."

Even his- Sano swallowed dryly. "Um... no offense, but you don't know..."

"Sano." The sea-green gaze was serious as steel. "I do know. I know who he was. Who he tries to be. Who... what... Saigo and Yamagata are searching for." The auburn head tilted, oddly familiar. "And I've decided I'm not interested in helping them find him. Rather the opposite, if possible."

You know. Sano swallowed. You know? "Why?"

"I know what it is to be hunted."

Off-worlder, even if he was born here. Samurai skills with ki, even though he wasn't raised here. Seems to know tactics good as anybody who's been through a... war... Facts tumbled together, and Sano's jaw dropped. "Katsu was right?" Makai hellfire, I'm talking to a-

"Please try not to think that so loudly," the Jedi murmured. "You never know who's listening."

"But you're..."

"As Kaoru is. Yes." Obi-Wan inclined his head, face sober. "Unfortunately, I suspect Koubai knows it."

"Koubai?" Sano said warily. He can't mean who I think he does. Lots of people out there named Red Plum.

"Very pretty. Very dangerous. Much like Kanryuu's garden." Obi-Wan gave him a wry look. "A Fireryo geisha. And kunoichi."

Sano leaned on red-painted durasteel, feeling his heart sink to his boots. "Oh, man..."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think she wants either of us dead," the Jedi said dryly. "Inextricably bound to her will, perhaps, but not dead."

Sano's head snapped up. "She tried to-" he tapped a knuckle over Obi-Wan's heart before the older man could move away, "-grab you?" He swallowed. "Did she?"

"No. I- you know about ki-bonds?"

"Hey, I wasn't born with the name Sagara, y'know." Sano faked a grin, remembering that bolt of pain, that ache of the Captain gone. "Lucky you got out of there. Not sure even Kenshin could get you out of that in one piece." He patted the off-worlder's shoulder. "Now, all we got to do is make sure you stay out of reach... you've giving me a look, Obi-Wan. I don't like it."

"I apparently have a standing invitation to return," Kenobi said dryly. "On Yamagata's credits, no less."

"Tell her you're sick," Sano said numbly. "Tell her you're dead. We can fake a funeral. Leave the city. Leave the planet."

"That serious," Obi-Wan murmured.

"You kidding? She's Koubai-hime. Clan Taimatsu's favored daughter. As in sorcerer-clan Taimatsu? As in the most powerful Fireryo clan in Tokyo, and maybe the whole damn planet?" Sano shook his head, stunned. "And you told her no?" Yep. Got to be Kenshin's uncle. No sense of self-preservation whatsoever.

"She didn't exactly ask," Obi-Wan said defensively. "And it's been my experience that the Empire does not allow non-humans that kind of power."

"Officially? No. Out in public, they get ground down like anybody else. And they hate it," Sano said flatly. "But behind closed doors, where it matters? Even Meiji knows better than to cross Taimatsu without a couple battalions behind him and a damn good reason." Defensive. Not looking at me. He's hiding something. "And did you exactly tell her no?"

"Er..."

Sano crossed his arms. Waited.

"I don't believe so," Obi-Wan said at last. "I... rather left in a hurry, once I discerned her intent."

Sano closed his eyes, feeling his headache go from dull throbbing to iron spikes with Attitude. "Please tell me you didn't burn the building down."

"Of course not!" A pause. "Though... I'm still not entirely certain if I opened a window before I went through it..."

Okay. Sano rubbed at his headache, squinting at a minor chip in red paint. Some customer must have been in a bad mood; no way would Tae have let that slip past onto her shelves untouched. No permanent damage done, building or honor. Heck, strategic retreat like that's kind of an under-the-table compliment, Yoshiwara-style. We can handle this. I think. "You need an excuse not to be there. A good one."

"Like being dead," Obi-Wan said dryly.

"Don't knock it," Sano advised. "You'd be amazed how many guys miraculously revive on the pyre when a pretty geisha shows up."

Obi-Wan stared at him. Closed his eyes, and shook his head. "I will never understand this world."

That's what I'm afraid of. "But yeah, you're part of the dojo now," Sano observed. "And dead people can't train."

"You'd be surprised what is possible with the Force..." Obi-Wan's voice trailed off, as he looked into the distance. "She does take her own training seriously."

"Spiritual retreat?" Sano perked up. "Yeah, that'd do it. For a while, anyway. Where you going?"

"I'm not planning to go anywhere."

"Nice try," Sano snorted. "You can't go on a spiritual retreat in your own dojo."

"Oh, you can," Obi-Wan observed mildly, "when you're building a lightsaber."

"Beautiful," Sano grinned. And you say you don't get this world. But- "What?" he asked warily.

"Just a passing fancy," Kenobi waved off his worry. "Pay it no mind."

"What?" Sano repeated, more pointedly.

"Well, it's only..." The Jedi gave him a rueful, honest smile. "So much for that policy on traps."

Sano laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder. Oh yeah. You're going to fit in here just fine.

---------------

First round: a draw, with advantage to our side, Koubai thought with satisfaction, rising from the last graceful flutter of a fan-dance as Namiji's plucked notes died away. A scatter of applause rose from the officials and high-rent thugs drinking at Ogata Minami's party; she smiled at them all, reserving just an extra shade of warmth for Ogata-san himself.

Warmth she did not feel. Thank the gods for training.

Ignorant of our world he may be, but Kenobi is not to be trifled with. If I am to be the victor, I must plan my campaign carefully. She'd meant to have this night to refine her next move. Planned on it.

To plan, and mourn what could have been...

So many ki-sensitives had already been hunted down at Palpatine's command. It did not seem fair that he should have slain one more, who had managed to remain hidden even in the Senate itself.

A year, two, and Namiji would have finished her apprenticeship. Your term would have been soon to expire, after that, and Palpatine's Intelligence Service would have made certain you were not reelected. You would have been cast aside, helpless to protect your people, enraged...

I would have molded that rage. Tamed it. Helped show you the power that spans Darkness and Light. And then, perhaps, we might have freed two worlds.

But Alderaan was gone.

I would have trained you, Leia. Now... I can only avenge you.

But to accomplish that, she would need credits. And a scorned rich human male, high in the ranks of Yamato's Imperials, could make life very... difficult, for a mere Fireryo.

A man, having the right to make a geisha's life miserable. It lashed Koubai's soul like fiery chains.

The Empire's fault. And they will pay-

Danger, whispered through her sense of ki. Danger here. Now.

Koubai drew her fan in a petal-slow furl of sleeves, fluttering the red fringe before her eyes in a subtle blink of illusion. Gradually other eyes turned away from hers, encouraged toward the rough jokes and sly winks of men drinking without wives to take offense.

Good. Ignored, for now, Koubai turned her attention in and outward, reaching into ki for that odd, chilling quiver of threat...

Danger to Namiji!

Slashing into ki, she vanished them both.

"Older sister-" Namiji started.

Koubai caught the maiko's hand in her own, pulling the girl upright and back toward the nearest exit. :Quiet!:

Behind the paint, she could feel her apprentice's face whiten. :Yes, Sensei.:

Three minutes. Koubai hitched up her kimono, not caring how indecent it looked. Namiji followed her example, trying not to gulp. We can be out of here in three minutes. Or less. No matter how many guards Ogata has ringed about his little villa.

Nothing on this planet could be a threat in three minutes...

Death crashed over them both like a freezing wave; death near, and swift, and filled with pain.

:Not this way,: Koubai quipped, hearing the first shrieks. Trying not to flinch, as her apprentice was flinching, as more and more deaths piled ice and pain atop the first. :Come on!:

Through screens and halls they dashed, wrapped in silence, pursued by screams. Bare feet traced and retraced a path just out of reach of formless hate, white and golden toes delicately stepping around growing pools of blood.

They didn't even have time to draw their blasters...

:It's herding us, Sensei!:

Damn. Namiji was right.

But they were already back in the dining hall, now strewn with bodies under the festive lanterns. A handful of glitter danced atop crimson, gold sinking into the copper stench that haunted her nightmares.

Sinking? But that would mean-

More glitter was dusted off black gloves, as a dark-robed swordsman cast away a party glass.

Kurogasa!

Koubai restrained a sudden desire to smash a shamisen over Ogata's head. Now the extra security made sense. Saigo sent you a veiled threat. And you didn't listen, did you? Fool!

Though who was the greater fool, she didn't know. For Saigo to order an assassination here, in Tokyo itself...

Meiji can't ignore this. Is Saigo trying to destroy everything we've worked for?

Motives later, Koubai told herself. Get the living out first. Though Ogata's probably already dead-

No, he wasn't. Yet.

"I beg of you," the suited Imperial blubbered, "I will pay whatever you want. Just... please, spare my life..."

"Has the great patriot gone soft, soaking in his tub of credits?" White teeth showed in a vicious grin, as a green blade hissed to life in his hands. "Uhu-hu-hu..."

Geisha and maiko glanced at each other, at their sweating patron, at the swordsman-

-Ki spinning in a vortex of anger, bloodlust, Darkness eating a hole in the fabric of the world-

Possible futures crystallized in his wake, shattering every hopeful outcome to this night, leaving Koubai with one utter certainty.

If I stand against this man, Namiji will die.

:I'm not afraid!:

"You should be, little girl." Another mocking laugh, as Kurogasa advanced on a frozen Ogata. "Don't worry. He's work, but samurai always make time for play, don't we? I'll be right with you..."

:Run!: Koubai ordered, abandoning dignity to shove with flesh and mind and soul at her too-brave charge. :Get to Yoshiwara. I'm right behind you!:

:But-:

:We are onmitsu, not samurai! We do not die without accomplishing our mission!:

Namiji blurred away.

Half a breath Koubai waited; long enough for Ogata to gurgle into death, and eerie black eyes to leisurely turn her way...

Ki gathered about her, Koubai bolted.

Timing. Timing is everything.

He was fast. Possibly faster than she was. But she had just enough of a lead, just enough...

Koubai tore through the last screens into the open air of the villa courtyard, feeling his breath on her bare heels. Reached into ki, a kite arcing into lightning-touched updrafts.

I am the heart of the storm...

Leapt, and whirled, slashing her fan through night wind. "Dance of the blades!"

Her fan-snap swirled vortices of night air; twists she fed with will and ki into five whirling dust-devils, catching the dark assassin in their howling midst. Hail rattled, spun out of evening dew. Lightning flashed.

Bloodstained feet touched down on clipped grass; stumbled, knee striking ground. Koubai took one deep breath-

"Sensei!" A chill hand pulled her to her feet, even as the maiko drew one comb from her hair that blazed into a silver light-dagger.

Idiot! Koubai bit back the word, knowing what fueled Namiji's recklessness. She was older sister. Teacher. Master. The ki-bond between them might fade when Namiji gained her own mastery, but it would break only with death.

And I will not die for Saigo's pet assassin!

Apprentice at her side, Koubai ran for her life.

---------------

Breakfast, and he's still here, Kaoru thought, watching her redheaded wanderer munch a skewered fish between Yahiko and a still-drowsy Sano. They were all out on a garden bench; well, all except Obi-Wan, who had graciously accepted Kenshin's silent return and bundle of crystals last night, then retreated to the dojo's lightsaber workroom. He wouldn't be back out for at least another day; probably three, given the confused situation with Koubai and Yamagata. Maybe I got Kenshin past the panic. Maybe.

Or maybe he was just resting while he could, to vanish into the night the moment Obi-Wan had an active lightsaber. She wouldn't put it past him.

Stubborn idiot... hit him over the head and tie him up until he sees sense- Kaoru let out a frustrated breath, and glared at Sano on general principles. "Katsu still thinks Kenshin's a kitsune?"

The smuggler shrugged. "Little? Red hair? Ki-strong? Kind of hard to prove he's not. Short of shoving him in a ki-collar, anyway - joking, just joking," Sano added hastily, seeing three hands reach for 'sabers and bokkens.

"It would not be enough, even then," Kenshin observed quietly, gazing into his tea. "Even collared, there are those who will believe the kitsune is merely casting an illusion from a distance. And that one is not - real - at all..." He blinked away the past, glancing toward the front gate.

Reaching out with her senses, Kaoru brushed a familiar presence, and sat up straight. "Inspector Uramura?" And he's worried...

Sharp, stabbing worry, that barely eased when she let him into the garden. The Imperial officer walked in, cautious as a neko-ao on hot rocks. Stopped in front of threadbare red and white, hands carefully not near the blaster at his side.

Oh, no...

Bowed slightly, sweat trickling down his hairline. "Himura-san." Uramura swallowed dryly. "We beg your assistance."

Kenshin blinked. "Oro?"

Yahiko chomped his way through another fish as Kaoru made the obligatory offer and accepted the polite refusal of breakfast, then offered and poured tea. Sitting on the bench across from them, Uramura cradled the cup in ungloved hands as if to warm them, sipped deeply, and set it aside. "Before I begin... this matter concerns public respect for the Guard. Even the holo-casts are not reporting this incident." He eyed Sano.

The smuggler shrugged, the picture of unconcern. "Hey, if you expect me to care about the Empire-"

"He did not say the Empire, Sanosuke." Kenshin gave him a mild violet glance, then looked back at Uramura. "In a matter of innocent lives, you may trust Sano as you trust this one."

"Innocent-" Sano started to grumble.

Kaoru gave him a stubborn look. You're not helping!

Sano rolled his eyes, but shrugged. "Yeah, yeah... I'll forget it soon as I walk out the gate. Okay?"

"Lives... of course, you would know," Uramura said, half to himself. Sighed, and nodded. "Himura-san, we need your help to bring down a murderer."

Kaoru shivered. Yahiko stopped munching.

"He calls himself Kurogasa."

For a moment, Kaoru stopped breathing. Kurogasa? But that was...

"He's a serial killer, who targets former revolutionary warriors now active in the Empire," Uramura went on, "whether in the government, or in the economy. He sends a threat letter, and then strikes."

A black envelope. She didn't know how she knew, she just... knew.

And then she glanced at Kenshin's distant eyes, and sensed his certainty anchoring her own.

"Over the past twenty years, he has appeared all over the planet, repeating his horrendous deeds," Uramura reported. "He is a ki-strong swordsman, and has not failed in any of his attempts... which now number in the triple digits."

"If he's targeting former Ishin Shishi, then - a grudge?" Kaoru gave the Inspector a stern look. "Or politics?"

"Both are possible," Uramura allowed, sighing. "But above all... he enjoys the killing."

Stillness, wrapped in red and white. It could have been a cloud beside her, poised in the clear blue of an autumn sky.

Uramura cupped his tea again, fingers flexing to seek out warmth. "When he threatens men of high rank, the Guard directs their full forces to protect them. The target also uses his own power and wealth to fortify security. Kurogasa... enjoys breaking through those walls, killing as many as he can. Two months ago, when he appeared in Shizuoka, thirty-four officers and bodyguards were killed. Fifty-six were critically wounded."

"Wait," Kaoru put in. "If you know you're up against a swordsman like that... you must have used stormtroopers." And outside of Kamiya Kasshin - most styles don't know anything about deflecting blaster bolts. "How could so many...?"

"Somehow... every stormtrooper was struck down before he could draw his blaster." Uramura was actively shivering now, even as he tried to control himself. "When those who did not die instantly were questioned, they said their bodies had been suddenly paralyzed. And in that moment-" he shook his head.

"Nikaidou Heihou... Shin no Ippou," Kenshin said softly.

Sano gave Kaoru a sharp glance.

"If a being kills too many, too long," Kenshin went on, cupping his own tea, "he loses his purpose, and has his heart stolen by color and smell of blood." He shook his head. "That a man could be like that still, after twenty years of Meiji..."

"Kenshin," Kaoru breathed.

Not meeting her gaze, the rurouni sipped his tea.

"I have no right to ask this of you," Uramura said colorlessly. "I know, if you do this, Yamagata-san may-" he winced, and looked down. "Yamagata-san will realize you truly are in Tokyo." Knuckles were white on ceramic. "But Kanryuu has powerful friends still, damn him... I received word only this morning that there was a killing, here in the city - and now, there has been another threat. And that since my men performed so well in arresting an alleged drug manufacturer, they'll be given the honor of protecting this target."

My men, Kaoru could all but hear, in the fear and misery around the Inspector. Oh, gods, my men!

"To be involved, is not this one's preference," Kenshin admitted. Rose, and crossed the space between the benches, touching a shaking hand with his own. "But if these murders are not stopped, many people will suffer. Including Kurogasa himself."

Uramura stared at him.

"It is possible," Kenshin said quietly, "that he has only lost his way. Many did, in the Bakumatsu. Surrounded by blood... the Darkness creeps in so very easily." A gentle smile. "Let go of your fear, Uramura-san. One will help you."

It felt like clouds shredding in the sun. Kaoru breathed in the Inspector's sudden relief, sensing his logjam of panic break up into a manageable worry of security layouts, personnel assignments, and how to fit stormtroopers around the inevitable thugs the target would hire. All shot through with a subtle warmth of-

She almost choked on her tea. No way!

Somehow Kaoru got through the formalities of parting, holding onto her calm until Uramura was out the gate and she could round on one idiot rurouni. "You bound him?"

Sano spit out his tea. Yahiko gaped, almost dropping a mouthful of his third fish. "No way!"

Kenshin winced. "One didn't intend to-"

"You ki-bound an Imperial Inspector?" Kaoru sputtered. "What were you thinking?"

Violet ducked behind a crimson curtain. "One didn't intend to, Kaoru-dono. One - couldn't help it. He was hurting, and afraid. One only meant to offer comfort. One should have known better..."

Kaoru fit those broken words together in her head, and flinched. Oh no. He can't mean-

"You telling me you can bind people by accident?" Sano got out. "I thought that only happened with kids."

"Hey!"

"Ow! Damn brat... okay, with little kids," Sano amended, prying outraged teeth off his arm.

"Beings on a battlefield are vulnerable. Especially to those they trust." Red-clad shoulders shifted; not quite a shrug. "And one is cursed with a certain... ability... to slide through the defenses most souls should carry against those not of their clan."

Kaoru froze, facts tumbling down like an avalanche. Swallowed, and forced the words past her lips. "That's why Yamagata wants you."

A silent dip of red hair.

"Oh..." She wished the benches had a back; leaned her head on her hands instead, fighting the feeling of faintness. "Oh, not good..." But it made a certain awful sense. Why chase one swordsman, with all the might of the Empire behind you?

But a swordsman who could bind minds and wills together with all the strength of a clan, and point, and say there is our enemy-

"Who-" Kaoru swallowed again, and forced trembling hands to still, "Who else knows you can-?"

"Yamagata-san. Saigo-san. Katsura-san." Kenshin hesitated. "Matsuko-dono suspected, at the least."

"Matsuko?"

"Katsura-san's wife. Who was Ikumatsu-dono of Shimabara first, in the Revolution, and so may have informed... others."

A geisha. Whose loyalty would have been to her teahouse ariitu first, and her paying companions later. Darn right she could have told. Probably would have told, at least her house mother, so one of the other girls could try and get Battousai's child. Ki-talents run in families, after all... Kaoru's eyes widened. And Koubai wants Obi-Wan!

"And who else?" Sano asked sharply.

"Sano-kun..."

"Can't help if we don't know, Kenshin."

If possible, the redhead looked even more forlorn. "Koshijirou-san."

"My father?" Kaoru blurted. But why? How?

"When he woke, after this one helped heal him... he defended this one, whom before he had only named assassin. Acted as a friend. Gave this one the benefit of every doubt, when one knew one's actions did not merit such grace." Face shaded by crimson, he swallowed. "Your grandfather taught him well of ki. He... realized what this one must have done. And he never blamed this one." Violet met her gaze, bright with pain. "He should have."

A shadow flickered, and Kenshin was gone.

---------------

"An aide to the men?"

Standing before Tani's desk, keenly aware of the open line of sight through the mansion window, Uramura gritted his teeth. Honor and duty. Remember your oath. You don't have to like the man. Thank the gods.

"There's no need for that. Our opponent is just one assassin," the short Imperial bureaucrat went on, pudgy hand waving shoo, go away, you fool. "Never mind the aide, we don't even need the Guard."

Is he insane? "Take this more seriously, Tani-dono!" Uramura burst out, hands held at his sides by an effort of will. "Our opponent is Kurogasa."

"And you watch your mouth!" Arrogant eyes narrowed. "Does a mere Imperial Inspector dare to argue with one who lived through the forest of swords and rain of blaster fire in the Revolution?"

Ego. Appeal to his ego, Uramura told himself. "Then surely you must understand, sir, how horrifying is the satsujin-ken of a sword master."

"Bah!" Tani leaned back in his overstuffed chair, waving negligently at the dozen-odd toughs crowded into the corners of his office. "Because I understand, I've hired an army of bodyguards - all of them the best of the best! Powerful men, who worship Tani Jusanrou of the Imperial Army Ministry."

"Yeah!" came half a dozen voices scattered through the rabble. "Tani-san's got us with him. The Guard ought to go home and-"

Grimly, Uramura tuned out the insult, focussing on Tani's reddening face. "It's shameful of you to seek help from some no-name thug!" the bureaucrat spit out. "Do you mean to say that this aide is more useful than all your men combined? Disgraceful."

And if I were only samurai, I would have no choice but to agree with you, Uramura thought. And more would die. But I believe in the Revolution. The honor of the individual, even of the clan, must yield to the law... and the greater good of all our people. "I have already requested that he meet you, Tani-dono."

"What?" Tani sputtered.

The door hissed open.

Tani paled.

Kenshin's silence stalked up behind the Inspector's right shoulder. Uramura breathed a subtle sigh of relief. Everything's going to be fine now...

Which made no sense whatsoever. The danger was still all too real. He knew that.

Still. Seeing Tani going from ranting to dead-white had definitely made his night.

"Listening to Tani-san, he's apparently become a very big man." Kenshin's gentle voice carried through the stillness. "Quite different from the man who was under my constant protection through the forest of swords and rain of blaster fire."

"Gah!" Tani gulped.

Oh, Uramura realized suddenly. Oh! He'd heard that Battousai had been an Ishin Shishi bodyguard as well as an assassin, but he'd never thought... Gods, no wonder Tani looks as though he's seen a ghost!

"Huh. This is the 'best of the best'?" Sagara smirked, swaggering in. "I remember beating the crap out of every one of 'em."

"Gahhh!" came the collective yelp from the hirelings.

Kenshin smiled, warm and harmless. "It must be disappointing to have a no-name thug as a guard. But perhaps you could endure it. Just for one night."

"O-of course," Tani stuttered, shivering. "Q-quite an honor, really..."

Move while he's still stunned, Uramura thought. "Tani-san, in addition to these two, I will assign some Guards to patrol outside. Is this acceptable?"

"Hmph!" Tani turned away, scowling. "Have it your way-"

"Oro?" Kenshin blinked.

"Er... I mean, please do!"

Thank you, Uramura mouthed silently at the rurouni.

"Thank me later, if we still live." It was a whisper on the wind, carried more by ki than air. "One cannot read the future, but one can sense the chance for death, hovering close."

Perhaps. But you gave us a chance, Himura.

I won't forget that.

---------------

Tick. Tick, tick, tick...

Hand straying near his blaster, Sano contemplated shooting the clock. And decided against it. Again. "Five minutes 'til the time on the letter. Think he's coming?"

Kenshin watched the smuggler set down a shougi piece on their borrowed game board, studying the layout. "If he doesn't come, he doesn't come."

Sano scratched his knee. "Jou-chan and the kid must be asleep by now." Glad Kenshin talked her into staying out of this. Though he doubted even the rurouni could have kept her away if Kenobi hadn't been depending on her. Lightsaber building took the kind of concentration that could ignore everything up to and including earthquakes. You didn't leave a fellow samurai unguarded while he was that focused. You just didn't.

"She said she'd wake early and ready the bath for our return." Kenshin moved a piece, almost without thought. "Why so willing to help?"

"Heh. No way I'd let an interesting squabble like this go on without me."

A few yards away, Uramura made a strangled noise.

Probably not a squabble to him, Sano shrugged. But I want to see the guy who tried to take Obi-Wan apart. I owe him one. "Since we're being honest, how about answering one more thing for me? That 'Nikaidou-Ippou' thing you said earlier... do you have any idea who Kurogasa is?"

"That's two questions."

Sano reached across the board and knuckled the redhead's brow. "Shut up and answer."

"...It's a rumor."

Sano raised a brow, suddenly seeing how a seemingly innocuous move had left half his pieces in danger. "Rumor, huh?"

"One heard twenty years ago." Violet eyes were fathomless. "Let's say there's a hunch, but no real proof."

"I tried, but Yoshiwara won't even admit anyone was outside their gates last night," Uramura said grimly. "If there was a geisha at Ogata's villa, and the footprints and shamisen argue there was... they're hiding." He blew out a resigned breath. "I can't say I blame them-"

Kenshin's head lifted.

A scream wracked the air outside.

Side by side, Sano banged open the window shutters with Kenshin, looking down on the guarded courtyard.

Make that, formerly guarded, Sano thought darkly. At least two of Uramura's men were down and bleeding, and the gates...

Lightsaber slashes. He's coming!

"Sano, we'll take the front!" Kenshin ordered. "The rest of you, get behind us!"

Whoa. No shy rurouni here... Sano smacked Tani with a heel kick, shoving him into the mob of running feet. "Don't just stand there, you pork bun! In shougi, the king stays in the middle!"

The clock struck the hour.

Swords and blasters hovered, ready and waiting.

But Kenshin hasn't pulled his 'saber yet, Sano thought. What's he waiting for?

Sweating, the armed mob waited.

And waited.

"Not coming?" one bodyguard muttered.

"Heh!" Another shrugged his shoulders, sweat trickling down his face. "Just an empty threat."

Green hissed, and blood flew.

How- the roof! Sano thought, whirling toward the dark-robed swordsman. He just cut through the ceiling-

"Uh-hu-hu... look at the bugs." Dark eyes gleamed under a black reed hat, teeth showing white in a sneer. "You want to live, go find a rock to hide under."

Oh, I have a bad feeling about this...

"One two, three..." the assassin's voice drifted off, as his gloved fingers pointed. "Hmm. Fifteen of you. Less than I thought."

Sano swallowed. "So that's Kurogasa." Oh yeah. Those are killer's eyes.

"So you see it too?" Kenshin murmured. "The first move is mine. Look after Tani-dono."

"What are you all staring at?" the bureaucrat fumed. "Hurry up and kill him!"

Oh no, Sano thought numbly. Tell me he's not-

"Aren't I paying you enough? The one who gets him earns five times the amount! And an officer's place in the Empire!"

So much for the plan, Sano winced, as greed seized hold and every thug in the room lunged. "Idiots!" Though admittedly, they didn't look like idiots, being armed, while Kurogasa was just standing there-

And then, he wasn't.

"Uhu-hah-hah-hah!"

Four were down; the rest slowed, trying to take in exactly why limbs and bodies were flying-

He's fast! Sano realized. Doesn't have Kenshin's grace, but he makes every move count. "Get back! You idiots don't stand a chance!"

"You cannot run!"

Cold shot down Sano's spine, carried by that sudden red glare of killer's eyes. What... what just happened?

"You... cannot... run." Kurogasa stalked toward the frozen crowd, slow and deliberate as winter. "Once blades are drawn, we swing until one is dead. Nothing else will do."

"What... did you do?" Sano forced out through leaden lips, reaching for his blaster one exhausting inch at a time. Like being under ten g's. Everything's so heavy.

"Well." The sneer turned to an amused smirk, as the assassin advanced on him. "Still moving despite Shin no Ippou. You're no ordinary bug."

He'll cut me down before I can even try to pull the trigger. And he's letting me see it coming...

"One side of the soul. Also know as the Isukumi technique. So you are Kurogasa after all."

Red blurred past Sano, and blue sang to life. 'Saber crashed against 'saber.

Kenshin skidded away across the floor, left sleeve smoking. Kurogasa reeled back.

"In Kyoto during the Bakumatsu," Kenshin said, breathing fast, "there were rumors of a hitokiri who performed assassinations for money, without attachment to any prefecture. A master of the Nikadou Heihou style." The red head shook. "To use Shin no Ippou as a weapon is not surprising. But to trap men who've lost the will to fight, and slaughter them - that is cruelty unworthy of the lone hitokiri... Udou Jin-e."

The reed hat cracked, and fell away, releasing a flow of gray hair. "I, too, have heard a rumor," the assassin said silkily. "A patriot of Choushuu, using an ancient sword-style called Hiten Mitsurugi. A legend, known by the cross-shaped scar on his cheek. The hitokiri... Himura Battousai!"

Red flared in black eyes, and Sano felt cold ki blast the room.

And Kenshin froze.

"Himura-san!" Uramura gasped.

"Haah!" Kenshin's arms flexed, and something seemed to shatter in the air. "Shin no Ippou isn't magic; it's a battle of wills! When that will is matched, it cannot work!"

Easy... for a samurai to say. Sano dragged in a breath, and focused on moving his hand. Just a little. Just a little.

"Give up peacefully, Jin-e." The blue glow of Kenshin's saber was low, a ready guard. "Or else you will have to face this one."

"Battousai as my opponent." Jin-e smirked. "I couldn't ask for more." He glanced toward the frozen mob. "But first... I have a job to do."

"Tani, focus your will-"

"Forget it, Battousai!" Jin-e laughed as he blurred forward. "He's rotted in his own greed too long! They all have; all who paid me to kill, and now call it a crime-"

Nobody gets killed right in front of me!

He'd seen Kaoru bat too many blaster bolts away; Sano shot the legs off one of Tani's ornamental durasteel statues instead, shoving it over on top of the assassin-

Who wasn't there.

Oh gods. That hurts.

Laughing, Jin-e withdrew the green blade from the meat of the smuggler's arm, swinging it across for one beheading strike-

"Jin-e!"

He'd never seen Kenshin move that fast. No one could move that fast.

Blue and green slashed at each other, raining sparks. Bodies whirled and twisted. At one point, he could have sworn Kenshin bounced off the ceiling. And-

He could move.

Rolling and leaping, Jin-e landed in the open window, lips split and bleeding, laughing. "I haven't had so much fun since the Bakumatsu!" The sneer spread wider. "I've changed my mind." A gloved finger stabbed out. "My next target is you - the patriot, Hitokiri Battousai!"

A shadow moved across the moonlight, and he was gone.

"You'd better forget you ever knew the gentle blow," floated in on the wind. "I'll be back for you. Soon!"

---------------

"Where is he?" Kaoru demanded.

Sano winced, but wouldn't meet her eyes, letting Megumi finish dusting herbs into his wound and wind on a bacta patch. The woman's face was uncharacteristically grim; a fraction of an inch one way or the other, she'd growled, and the bird-head would have lost his hand.

From Sano's abashed duck of head, he knew it too. He moved as if he'd strained every muscle against a ten-ton load, and in the courtyard, late morning's warm light showed dark rings under his eyes. "Six of the guys who were there are in bacta tanks. Three more are getting patched up the regular way. Uramura says it's the first time Kurogasa's left without a slaughter."

"So no one died," Megumi snapped. "Good enough, but I'm with the tanuki-girl. Where is Ken-san?"

"Hey!" Yahiko narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "Don't call busu that."

Do I hug him, or hit him? "Sano, just tell me where Kenshin is," Kaoru pleaded. "If he's an assassin's target now-"

The flinch in the Force around Sano - fear, anger, guilt - told Kaoru more than she wanted to know. "He did that on purpose!"

Sano winced. "Um..."

"Why?" Megumi asked, aghast. "This Kurogasa, Udou Jin-e - you say he was a hitokiri. And now he's an insane hitokiri. Master of swords or not, why would Ken-san think he could..." Something shifted in her eyes, and color drained from her face.

Kaoru's heart sank. Oh, no.

"Red hair," Megumi whispered. "A cross-shaped scar. And a 'saber that moves too fast for the eye to see." She sat down on the bench, hard. "He... is Hitokiri Battousai?"

"Was," Kaoru said firmly. "He's just a wanderer now. Trying to give something back for the lives he took. Like you're trying to." She met the older woman's gaze fiercely. "Do you think he'd ask you to live without knowing how hard it is?"

"Was, is part of the problem," Sano sighed. "While he was walking me over here, Kenshin said... well, he said he's gone the past twenty years without killing anybody. Jin-e's just kept killing. For a swordsman, it's a big difference."

And for a Force-user, it's a huge difference, Kaoru thought, swallowing dryly. "What else did he say?"

Sano flinched as Megumi tightened the patch, and started wrapping protective bandages over it. "According to him, Jin-e first showed up in Kyoto as a member of the Shinsengumi. The best swordsmen fighting for the Shogun," he added at Yahiko's frown. "The patriots' nightmare."

"Hitokiri have nightmares?" Megumi muttered, taping the bandage down and tying on a sling.

"They hunted Kenshin most of five years," Sano said soberly. "I'll bet he sees blue haori with mountain-stripes every bad night." He lifted his gaze back to Kaoru's. "Kenshin said Jin-e killed lots of Ishin Shishi, but also a lot of other people. The Shinsengumi were about to discipline him when he killed the squad sent to take him and disappeared. Months after that, he showed up on the Ishin Shishi side, as a hitokiri."

Megumi turned her empty hands over, as if they cupped the secrets of the universe. "Killing for the Shogun, then the Empire. Not exactly an idealist."

"Kenshin thinks all he has left is the need to kill," Sano nodded. "Makes him dangerous. Which is why he asked me for a favor."

Kaoru blinked. And reddened. Oh no. He didn't! "Sano..."

"Katsu can take care of the Sekihoutai and Megitsune here. You've got a kid and a gaijin to look after. I'll help. Kenshin's not coming back here 'til it's over."

Calm, Kaoru told herself. Do not strangle him. He can't answer questions if he's unconscious. "Sano. Where did Kenshin go?"

"Riverbank, I think. Said something about hitokiri liking them for escape... hey! Where are you going!"

"Where does it look like?" Kaoru fired back over her shoulder, training saber clipped to her obi. "Kenshin can't do this alone!"

"Are you nuts?" Sano slapped his sling. "Look what that guy did to me! You find Kenshin, what do you think's going to happen? He'll be worried about you, when he should be thinking about staying alive!"

Whirling, she glared at him.

Wide-eyed, Sano took a step back.

"I know what's going to happen," Kaoru forced out, throat choked with grief and worry. "He's going to reach back for the person he used to be. The swordsman who can take a killer that only dreams in the color of blood. The hitokiri." Her hands were shaking; she forced them into fists at her sides. "And if the killer fights... even if Kenshin wins, and fights free of that Darkness one more time... what if he doesn't come back?"

Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny...

"Father died... and you're always gone... and Obi-Wan doesn't understand. If Kenshin leaves on top of that..." Kaoru shook her head, tears spilling free. "I'd rather risk my life fighting, than be alone again!"

Vision blurred, she dashed out of the gates. Following the ache in her heart, that all but tasted of grief... and blood.

Hang on, Kenshin. I won't let you fall into that Darkness. I won't!

---------------

Eyes glinted in the branches near the dojo, watching an oblivious young swordswoman bolt into the city, leaving her three allies far behind.

Make that, four allies, Jin-e thought, feeling the edges of Kenobi's concentration. But the Jedi was too involved in his own meditation to sense even an ordinary ninja... much less a hitokiri.

And the others would have no chance at all.

Bah! That wouldn't be any fun.

More, it might warn Battousai of his next plan. The plan Saigo thought he knew, fool that he was.

And with the little girl running loose, that next plan had suddenly leapt ahead in its potential to work... and grant him the best killing of all.

"Riverbank... Uhu-hu-hah!"

---------------

Busu - ugly woman, hag.

-Hime - "princess".

Hakai-teki-ou - "destructive king" - think 50' T. rex.

Isukumi - "freezing terror". The technique has been described as an "instant hypnosis" - a very strong mind trick, in SW terms.

Satsujin-ken - Murderous sword technique.

Shougi - Japanese chess.

Tanuki - "Raccoon dog".

Togebi - "fire-thorn" - 8 to 18 foot saber-toothed mammal-like reptile predator.