Chapter 2

Katsura, no, his name was Zurako he reminded himself, paid the taxi cab driver and got out of the car. He stood in front of the Shinsengumi headquarters. Truthfully he knew coming here for help was probably going to be a waste of time. The Shinsengumi were nothing more than the anemic arm of the Bakufu. However, with a lot of them out looking for him en force, this was a good time to do some reconnaissance. They had appeared at Hokuto Shinken to arrest him a little too quickly for his taste.

Katsura…Zurako wouldn't put it past the Shinsengumi to kidnap Ikumatsu-dono themselves just to get to him. It seemed like the type of underhanded action that they would take. A true samurai would never stoop to such a dishonorable act, but then, samurai were in short supply these days.

He entered the building, not finding it difficult to appear concerned. Shensengumi were rushing about. It seemed that something had upset the hornets' nest, he thought.

He reached out and grabbed the arm of the first man who came within reach. "Ma'am, if you don't mind we are in a bit of a rush right now," the man told him.

Katsu…Zurako gripped the man's arm tighter, not allowing him to escape. "It is not ma'am, it is Ka…Zurako. I need to report a missing person."

"As you can see Zaruko, we are unable to take your complaint. Please take it to the regular police," the man said abruptly and shook his arm free from his grasp.

"It is not Zaruko, it is Zurako," Katsura said but the man was already gone.

No one was paying him any attention. From the random chatter about him it seemed that someone, much more important to the Bakufu than a simple ramen chef, had also been kidnapped. It also appeared that the Joui topped the list of suspects. That could explain the sudden attack on him at Hokuto Shinken, but he wanted to search their headquarters first just to be certain that they truly had nothing to do with Ikumatsu's disappearance. Luckily, with everyone's attention diverted, it gave him plenty of opportunity to search the building for any evidence.

He moved from room to room looking for any clue of foul play. Something like a ladle or an apron, but, from what he could see, there was nothing. Damn, he had really hoped that he found something here that would have confirmed his suspicions. It looked like he was going to have to head to the bus station after all.

"Uh, excuse me, miss. Can I help you?" the familiar voice from behind startled him, but his years of training didn't let it show.

"I was looking for the men's room," Katsura told the man as he turned. He reached into his kimono and grabbed hold of a smoke bomb just in case.

The voice had come from Isao Kondo, the leader of the Shinsengumi. "The bathroom is right down this hall, but we don't have a facility for women," he told Katsura, either ignoring his slip up or missing it himself. "Normally women are not allowed in here."

"Ah, I see. I have come to report a missing person. Ikumatsu-dono, the proprietress of Hokuto Shinken, has been kidnapped," he told the Shinsengumi officer.

"I'm very sorry miss, but I'm afraid all of our resources are being used to look for Soyo-hime."

"Kondo-san, I'm not sure that the public was supposed to know that she was missing," Sougo said as he joined them in the room. "I came to report that Katsura escaped again. Hijikata'san's still out looking for him. I hope that the two of them get into a fight and someone dies, either way it'd be a happy ending. Who's this?" he asked, pointed at Katsura.

"I didn't catch her name, but she came to report a missing person." Kondo told him.

"Tell her I'm busy enough as it is. I'm going to take a nap. If she wants me to console her, she should come to my room wearing a collar," he said in a bored tone as he left room.

It was becoming apparent to Katsura that the Shinsengumi had nothing to do with Ikumatsu-dono's disappearance. It looked like the only lead he had was that vague note telling him to meet up at the bus station in a few hours. He had time to ask Gintoki for help, but this required finesse and Gintoki was more of a smash everything till nothing moved sort of guy. A useful person to have in a fight, but the guy wasn't the forward-thinker that he was. He probably had never even tried to upgrade to the twin famicom.

"Ahaha, don't mind Sougo, he's just under a lot of pressure," Kondo said, misreading Katsura's apprehension.

"Thank you for your help, Kondo-san," Katsura said to him and made his way back through the building. As he passed Kondo he accidently dropped the smoke bomb and it rolled on the floor next to Kondo's feet. Katsura kept walking pretending nothing had happened.

"Miss!" Kondo called after him. "You dropped something." He bent over to pick it up and brought it to him.

"It is not miss, it is Katsura, and thank you. It is a family heirloom," he said as he took the device from Kondo.

The buzz of the chaos around the two of them stopped dead. "It's Kotaro Katsura!" one of the Shinsengumi yelled. In moments he was surrounded by the Shinsengumi with their katana drawn.

Katsura tisked. They somehow had seen through his disguise. One of the disadvantages of dressing up as Zurako was that she didn't wear a katana. He didn't really want to use this smoke bomb. They weren't cheep. It was just his luck that the Nmaibo was out of stock at the supermarket this week.

"I am sorry, I don't have time to be arrested today," he told his would be jailors.

"Get him!" they yelled and surged towards him. "I got him!" "That's me, idiot!" "Hey, let go of my hair!" "I got a hold of his kimono!" When the pandemonium had died down they saw that they did have his kimono but there was no Katsura.

"Hohoho," Katsura was over by the front door laughing standing only in his sandals, socks and a pair of Elizabeth themed boxers. "You can not catch Kotaro Katsura. So long!"

By the time the Shinsengumi made it to the door Katsura appeared to be long gone. One of them near the front of the group pointed down the street. "I think that I saw him go this way," he yelled.

The group rushed down the street leaving the man who had directed them behind. The man smiled to himself and calmly walked in the direction of the bus station, brushing at the sleeves of his newly acquired Shinsengumi jacket.