The Battousai's Sword, Inconveniently There

The Battousai could feel the girls' intense, exasperated glares seething into his back. Cho bit her lip, sending him a disapproving glance, and Naomi gave an almost imperceptible sigh. The silence deepened as the leader of the officers hefted the weapon in his hands.

"Search the entire room where you found this thoroughly," he commanded, and one of his subordinates hurried to obey. The Battousai's mind immediately leapt to the bloody gi and hakama he had hidden beneath the loose floorboard, and his mouth went dry.

"Excuse me," a timid voice volunteered, "but I think that might be...um..."

Everyone, the Battousai included, turned to stare at the source of the voice in shock. Sayuri nervously twirled a lock of hair around her finger, but she kept talking. "The truth is, it's my client's. He might have forgotten it here."

Of course, the Battousai thought. As long as we say it's from a client, we'll be fine. That sounds like a plausible story to me. But what about the-

"Oh, naturally," Cho interjected before anyone else could speak as she nodded ferociously. "People forget things, you know. It happens."

"Who was this...client?" The officer asked, eyes narrowed with clear suspicion.

"Um, he told me his name was Haru, but I might be wrong," Sayuri shrugged.

"It might even be an alias," Naomi said evenly. "We don't demand full names in exchange for service."

"Yes, now to think of it, I think I saw that the man called Haru left without his sword," Reika nodded at Sayuri in confirmation.

The Battousai watched, amazed, as each girl quickly added on to the lie by reading subtle cues dropped by the others. He wouldn't have thought of such a solution - when difficulties arose, he simply killed everyone there and left. But there was something fascinating in the way that these girls lied with such conviction and ease, even Sayuri, the shyest among them. Perhaps he could learn something from these oiran.

"Perhaps you could learn something? Like adding lying to your arsenal of tools for dealing with sticky situations? Don't tell me you started lying from then on!" Kaoru laughed, twirling a leaf in her fingers. "Just because they could cover up for something with a lie didn't mean that you would necessarily be good at it!"

"I was never very good at lying, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin admitted, "just because I had no need for it. After that tale, I tried to tell a lie exactly twice, both with disastrous results. And after that, I made a point of never telling a lie again if I could help it. I can tell you that story later, if you'd like."

"I think you should finish this one first, Kenshin."

"Very well, Miss Kaoru. Back to the story."

"Do you think he'll return?" One of the officers asked, referring to Haru, the fictitious character they had created.

"Maybe he will," Sayuri said, seeming almost hopeful as she shyly reached out for the sword and lightly removed it from the policeman's hold. "He's come several times before. But maybe something happened before he could retrieve it, or maybe he forgot. I guess we should keep it safe here for him."

"No," one of the policemen said firmly, "I think that we should take-"

"Oh, but we can't let you do that!" Reika folded her arms stoutly. "Haru is a valued client who visits us often! And, if he comes back only to find out that we let the police take his sword, he'll be very angry and he'll never visit again!"

"I'm afraid that we cannot-" the officer began, but Naomi cut in coolly.

"I do hope you understand that reputation is vital to our business," she said pointedly. "Our reputation is built on positive word-of-mouth, and the consequences of this - especially such an atrocious crime as failing to protect the possessions of people who have visited us - would erase not just Haru from our list of clients, but many others."

Any relief the Battousai had been feeling suddenly evaporated as a sharp voice interrupted the conversation. "I searched the room thoroughly," the fourth policeman announced, "and I found this."

A bloodied gi and hakama were in his hands. Men's clothes. A sword in Sayuri's hands. Most likely the Battousai's.

Silence.

Sayuri's arms trembled as she held the Battousai's sword. Cho bit her lip in thought, her usual exuberant energy directed inward. Naomi shot the Battousai a look that spoke of disbelief at his idiocy, and Reika rolled her eyes. If the Battousai had felt embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to the intensity of his shame due to the you-are-an-idiot gazes burning into his back.

"Where?"

"Hidden under a floorboard," was the curt answer. "The blood is fresh - the clothes have been put there recently."

"If anyone knows anything - anything - about this situation, speak now." Although he spoke with an ominous tone, a note of fear had crept into his demeanor. "Are you hiding the Battousai? Has he taken refuge here? Speak, and you will be rewarded."

A moment passed in which the girls exchanged hesitant, stolen glances, as if daring each other to respond. The Battousai shifted nervously, trying to persuade himself that it would be a bad idea to leap up, grab his katana, and promptly behead the four. How else could he escape? The game was almost over. The sword had been found, and although the girls had managed to spin a convincing tale for the time being, how could they explain this away?

"We found clothes," one of the policemen said, evidently puzzling over the matter. "Men's clothes, hidden within the last couple of hours, covered in blood. We know that the Battousai was wounded. There's a possibility that he stopped here, regained his strength and changed out of his bloodied clothes to evade suspicion, and then continued." An ominous pause. "That would make all of you liars. But why leave his sword? Unless he's..." He was given no chance to continue, however, as Cho effectively cut him off and all eyes turned to her.

"I..." Cho began, her voice faltering, "I...um...I have something to say." Almost guiltily, she bit her lip and cast a pleading look at the other girls.

"Talk." The leader of the officers demanded.

"Cho-" Sayuri began, her hands clasped together, but Cho shook her head resolutely. She looked up with a steady, earnest gaze.

"No. This has gone too far. It's time I told the truth."

Surely she wouldn't expose him for what he was? How would that confession go? - something like the Battousai is actually that red-haired girl standing in the corner? and haha, we made him wear a kimono? The Battousai tensed, as if to run, but there was no way he could have anticipated what came next.

"Here I was, thinking Cho was on your side!" Kaoru exclaimed. "Why did she suddenly decide to give you away?"

"I never said she gave me away," Kenshin answered, lightly shifting his grip on the fishing rod.

"Even so, what could she possibly have said to persuade the policemen that this had nothing to do with the Battousai? One of them was already halfway to figuring it out!"

"Nothing to do with the Battousai?" Kenshin repeated. "No, Cho was too clever for that. This had everything to do with him."

"The truth is," Cho took a deep breath, "We've been hiding something from you all along."