Chapter Thirteen

The cold bothered Seta Sojiro little. To be fair, external temperatures were not something he wasted much time thinking about. Shadows cared little for the weather, except to contemplate the ease with which one could move or hide within the possible darkness created by such phenomena. It was not even true to say that light was a shadow's natural enemy. After all, brighter light merely created deeper gloom. Perhaps an inexperienced shadow demon would find the light irritating, but Sojiro was not inexperienced.

Infiltration of the Arctic Lab was tricky, but not impossible. There were several layers of barriers to work around, as well as physical security guards, cameras, and gates to navigate. For five days, he had worked his way through the facility, figuring out the timing of the guards and burrowing through the barriers without damaging them or setting off an alarm. The facility was huge: a labyrinth of hallways, stairs, prison holds, security checkpoints, dormitories, mess halls, and, deeper underground, bloodied labs. It slowed his progress, but Sojiro was a patient demon. Impatience required a degree of emotion, and that was not something he was very familiar with.

The sector with the highest levels of security held the rarest and most valued prizes. As a facility that had been built by humans, that sector used to imprison the deadliest species of demon. While the current generation of demons remembered the war as an extermination of humans, Sojiro knew the truth. More than one species of demon had been wiped out with the humans, and many of those species would have threatened the new world powers. Sojiro was of the mind that it was their own fault, however, and felt no pity for their demise. Only a stupid being flaunted their true power when it wasn't necessary.

Master Shishio had once told him that true power was causing change without ever being discovered, but Sojiro wasn't sure if he believed that to be the best way, either. Philosophical conclusions or thoughts were not his forte. They were messy, and more often than not, had no solid answer as they were generally pulled from individual experience and empathy towards others' experiences. Not only was Sojiro unable to empathize with others, he had no desire for others to empathize with him. He simply wanted what he wanted, and had no way to explain why.

At the heart of the deepest level underground, the rooms were so cold that none of the guards or researchers ventured there without special gear. The lighting was less, to conserve energy and resources, and half of the doors were frozen shut. Sojiro imagined that it provided an extra layer of natural security for those items they wished to be forgotten. As he drew closer to his destination, however, he saw more droplets of water instead of ice.

With a nearly inaudible crackle, the final thread of the barrier pealed back on the triple-layered steel room he had been searching for, and Sojiro slipped inside. Even the door had been welded shut as an extra precaution. After all, the contents of that room were a carefully guarded secret, but were also so shameful that no camera even monitored it. No one still present within the facility was even aware of its existence.

Sojiro had known of its location for decades, but it had taken longer than that to discover it. He had purposefully waited for the right time to collect it, and that time was finally upon him.

Suspended in the center of the room, the katana glowed and spun slowly in place. The sword itself appeared to be nothing but a regular, although well-crafted, katana. The edge was smooth and razor sharp, the guard worn but well-kept, and the wrapping faded but clean. It was not the steel of the weapon that made it special, but rather the blood it had drank and the life it had severed. The glow corkscrewed around the entire length of the bare katana, from pommel to point, and though Sojiro felt no discomfort, he was able to appreciate the heat of the room.

Carefully parting the front of his jacket, Sojiro withdrew from the abyss of his own body a specially crafted sheath of pure darkness. Positioning the opening with steady hands, he slid the sheath slowly over the blade and watched as the glow disappeared as if sucked into the deep black. Making sure not to touch the hilt, he cautiously leveled the katana so that it was perpendicular to the floor and studied the wrapping intently. No longer overpowered by the glow of the blade, the tiniest sliver of red thread shimmered back at him from underneath the greyed cord of the hilt. Satisfied, Sojiro pushed the katana down into the darkness within his jacket and turned to leave.

The most important ingredient had been secured. Everything else required simple, tedious hunting.

X

Soothing heat from the tea wafted about Megumi's chin and nose as she held the cup with both hands, but her thoughts were far from the hot beverage. Wandering, but not lost, her mind imagined days long since passed, as her cinnamon-tinged eyes stared with a hint of sadness at the picture frame angled towards her on the desk. Tightness abruptly hitched her breath, and she caught herself with a tiny shake of the head. Blinking, she averted her gaze down into the tea cup, before sitting it back onto the small tray next to her.

Megumi lived at the lab, quite literally. The entire top floor consisted of her own personal laboratory space, her office, and a separate living quarter that no one but her had access to. The lab was her life, and she took her life seriously. Megumi liked order, but she also hated to be bored. After five hundred years, she was more afraid of being bored than anything else. New and interesting was becoming rare, and life was starting to become mundane. Which, unfortunately, made Megumi impatient.

The seal wrapped around the metal pin in Kaoru's mouth was irritatingly elusive in origin. After careful study, Genzai-sensei had discovered that it in fact had a foundation that was both western and eastern based, but they were no closer to figuring out how to reverse it or remove it. In fact, they were still unsure what the purpose of the seal actually was. From what Kenshin and Tomoe both described, Kaoru had issues with her memory. Sometimes she was quite lucid and capable of answering questions quickly, but at other times she seemed lost and incapable of providing a response. Whether this was due to the seal in her mouth or something else, was another uncertainty. She certainly had no appreciable physical abnormalities hampering her brain, but such things were not always so easily diagnosed. The lack of history made the girl an enigma.

She had no family that she could recall. She barely remembered anything other than the shadow demon who claimed he was her brother. No database even recognized her, except for the missing person report that Sojiro had filed on her. For all intents and purposes, she didn't exist, but that also was not unheard of.

While humans had monitored their population systematically, demons were much looser about their requirements. Most of the demons who decided to live and work in cities were registered, but there were many species of demons that chose to live their lives differently. Demons rarely looked similar to one another, even if they were of the same type. Some demons were monstrously large, while others were quite small. Some bore resemblances to humans by walking upright on two legs with two arms and one head. Others had tails instead of legs, or no limbs at all. Some chose to communicate using a known and agreed upon language, while others could not speak at all. They were usually of lesser intellect, and interacted with the world on an instinctual level. No demon of lesser intellect or power ever took the form of a human, however, and Kaoru did not appear to be unintelligent.

Sighing audibly, Megumi stood from her desk. Now she was simply thinking in circles.

A flutter out of the corner of her eye captured her attention, and she paused to glance at a charm she kept draped over the picture frame on her desk. Two long tailfeathers drifted across the glass protecting the photo, like the brush of a ghost. As they settled, the reflection of light from her tinted office windows turned the black and green of their plumage pearlescent. A slim leather strap of deep brown bound the two feathers together at their base, and small wooden beads clacked from where the leather threads hung behind the frame.

The charm was useless now, as its original purpose had faded long before. Honestly, it was never a particularly strong charm anyway, but she kept it none-the-less. She even illogically wasted energy on a preservation spell to keep it from deteriorating.

For what? Does it ever make me happy when I look at it?

The scathing question burned, but another, regretful twinge convulsed her ribs. It was, after all, something much too precious to ever get rid of. Turning on her heel, Megumi marched from the room.

On her way to the lab where most of Kaoru's information was being kept, Megumi took a detour to check on the girl's progress in physical therapy. Even suffering from memory loss, the girl's body had not forgotten what it was used to, and Kaoru was obviously an athletic girl. In an impressively short amount of time, her body had bounced back from skeletal and sickly to lean and flexible. While still smaller than herself and Tomoe, she was already physically stronger in terms of muscle only. Strangely, they were still waiting for her to manifest and use her own demon powers.

Enishi, Tomoe's younger brother, had set himself up as Kaoru's personal trainer on the days when he was not working his real job. He was tough, but seemed to know what he was doing. Megumi really didn't care, as long as the girl was healthy enough for testing and eventual surgery when they finally did remove the pin. Which she hoped was soon, if only to break some of the monotony of her day.

"Megumi-sensei, we were not expecting you." Tomoe came up from behind her as she stood just within the doorway of the small gym area they kept for employees. As they were not a hospital, they did not have the complete equipment necessary for physical therapy; however, Kaoru and Enishi were making due with what was available.

"Neither was I." Off-hand and feeling ill-tempered, Megumi tried to avoid small-talk, but Tomoe was used to her moods. It never seemed to faze the woman, and she always reacted with the same grace and calm no matter the circumstance.

"Kaoru-san has made wonderful progress. I hardly recognize her at times." The coal demon stood next to her, and watched as Enishi spotted Kaoru's squats.

"If she's not careful I'll start thinking she's an ogre."

"Megumi-sensei." There was an amused tone to the chastisement, but her follow-up statement noted her own concern of the amount of weight being utilized. "I've already instructed Enishi to be careful of her regimen. Has there been any progress on the seals?"

"Not much. I was on my way to the lab now, since I have some free time."

"You must have spent days already staring at those images. Kaoru and I have planned a girl's night after she's done here. Why don't you join us? I reserved the larger employee bath, and I bought some of the good face masks. It might help to relax for a little while."

"I'll pass."

Tomoe opened her mouth as if to argue, but lowered her chin instead. "Very well."

"Kaoru."

Enishi's raised voice brought their attention back to the gym, and both Megumi and Tomoe frowned to see that Kaoru had disappeared. The stone golem was headed towards a far door as he called for her again, and Tomoe instantly followed after. Curious, but nothing else, Megumi trailed along.

The second room was open but covered in tatami mats. Megumi vaguely remembered a few of her researchers requesting a room to spar in, and to let out some frustration. It was by no means as large as a dojo, but it had pacified her employees enough for them to leave her alone. Most of them left their practice swords there unattended, since Megumi had a no-tolerance policy for theft. It was with one of those bamboo swords that Kaoru was found.

She looked at it as if uncertain and excited at the same time, and carefully turned it over in her hands to familiarize herself with its shape. A few steps into the room, Tomoe had caught up to Enishi and stopped him from interrupting Kaoru's moment of curiosity.

"What happened?"

Emerald green eyes tossed Megumi a look, and accompanied it with a shrug. "I was putting the weights back and she wandered off."

"If she's interested, do you feel comfortable adding it to her work-out?" Megumi rolled her eyes as Tomoe instantly jumped to spoiling the girl.

"I suppose I know enough to teach… her…" The statement slowed from Enishi's mouth as they all watched Kaoru finally grip the practice sword, correctly, and then swing it a few times straight down. Both arms crossed over the stone golem's chest. "But it looks like I don't need to. Her form is perfect."

Kaoru executed a few more swings, before her face lit up in pure, unadulterated delight. Animated hand gestures tried to convey her emotions, and Enishi shook his head as he walked over. Without any way to communicate, Enishi had been the one to suggest sign language for simple responses and a keypad for more complicated conversations. The girl had picked it up surprisingly fast.

"Yeah, I see, but you need to put that back. It belongs to someone else." A slight touch of fear and guilt replaced her enthusiasm, and she quickly handed over the practice sword without a fight. "I'll see if I can find a couple to bring for us."

"It may even help her remember how she knows it already."

Tomoe's helpful input brought Kaoru's attention to her, and she hopped over to grab both of the coal demon's hands and bounce in place. A light giggle tickled Tomoe's chest, and she stopped Kaoru's lively actions with a hand.

"Calm, young one." But she smiled as she avoided the sweat beading from the girl's forehead. "You certainly are ready for a bath now." Kaoru grinned. "How about you, little brother? Would you like to join in on our spa night?"

"No." His cheeks tinged slightly pink and he turned his face away with a huff. "I had a new test of courage video for Kaoru to watch."

"Oh, stop tormenting her with those things. I know you find it amusing, but I think they give her nightmares."

Kaoru looked thoughtful, but shook her head to disagree.

"Truly? But you really do seem frightened by them."

She made a face, as if she didn't hate them, but didn't really like them, either. Enishi snickered.

"She likes the arrangement, because she gets to choose something that I have to do afterwards. If you're going to lecture me, do her, too. Her demands are ridiculous."

"Oh, I don't know. I thought you looked adorable in that rubber ducky raincoat. I use it for my phone background."

Enishi made a noise of disgust and slapped a hand over his face. While they laughed at his expense, Megumi reached out to touch the loop of red she had noticed in Kaoru's hair. After finally receiving a real haircut, they had discovered that the girl preferred her hair in a ponytail anyway. Accompanying the now shoulder-length tail was a longer, independent length of red, braided hair. Megumi had seen it before in passing, but only now realized the significance of it. No doubt because of the charm upstairs on her desk. The girl jerked slightly when she noticed Megumi was touching it, and a sardonic expression twisted the fox demon's features. Crossing her arms loosely, she cocked one hip.

"That charm of yours is melting your hair tie." Kaoru's fingers went straight for her hair just before the tie snapped, and she caught the red braid as it slipped towards the floor. "If my assumption is correct, which I'm certain it is, that charm is incapable of causing you harm in any way. However, even a little bit of constant heat can be destructive. You might want to consider a metal hairpin instead, if you insist on wearing it that way. I would suggest tungsten." Turning sharply, Megumi waved a hand when Tomoe thanked her.

Great. Now I'm spoiling the girl.

Megumi attempted to focus on the imaging once seated before the multiple monitors in the main room of Kaoru's lab, but was no less distracted than she had been in her office. Something bugged her about the seal in Kaoru's mouth, she just couldn't put her finger on what. Unfortunately, the harder she forced herself to think about it, the easier it was to get lost in unproductive deliberations.

It also didn't help that she could hear Tomoe and Kaoru in the next room as they laughed and giggled about whatever nonsense they were in the midst of. Megumi had assumed they would go to the employee bath immediately, but apparently Tomoe had planned a deep conditioning for their hair. Instead of washing off in the larger bath upstairs, they had bathed in the small lab and were currently in the midst of nail care while they gave the deep conditioner enough time to work through their strands.

Thankfully, it did not take long before they had set off for the employee bath to wash out the deep conditioner and soak. Finally alone in the lab, Megumi stared at the imaging in front of her, but only succeeded in dragging out a deep noise of disgust from her gut. Now the very air buzzed with the silence, and that was just as annoying as their fussing. Standing to pace, Megumi walked around the lab, hoping the movement would help kick start her brain. Something was off. But what was it? Why couldn't she figure it out?

Standing in the middle of the rec room, she looked around at the mess the girls had made with their spa night, and the mess Kaoru generally made with her drawings. A month before, Tomoe had brought paint for her, and now there were paint stains decorating the carpeted section and the desk. Another noise of disgust later, and Megumi snatched up one of the face masks laying out and marched her way out of the lab.

I need a bath anyway.

The employee bath faced no other building, and was therefore walled with glass to allow a magnificent view of the sunset and the city. It was still a two-way glass, for privacy, but gave an illusion of open air. Tomoe and Kaoru were already soaking when she came in, but she ignored Tomoe's surprise to instead lower herself fully into the blessedly hot water. The chill of winter was in the air outside, and it was quite pleasant to be back at a temperature that allowed her muscles to relax. Ripping open the face mask packaging, Megumi tossed it carelessly over her shoulder before skillfully fitting the mask onto her face. With a happy little sigh, and a stretch of her toes, she dropped her neck back onto the lip of the bath.

Inexplicably, Megumi's drifting thoughts landed back on charms. Charms usually became a part of an object or only affected something briefly, but they were never permanent. They required upkeep and renewed energy from the original castor. Using a piece of oneself, like Kaoru's braid of red hair, made the charm last much longer and be much stronger. However, even they would eventually run out of energy. Seals and runes were different. Seals were capable of drawing from the energy around them, allowing them to last nearly indefinitely. They could not be torn or forcibly removed, but were easily manipulated and retracted by the original castor. They also had to be touching what they were meant to seal or affect.

A frown curled her brows together.

Then why would he put the seal on an object that can be removed?

"Son of a banshee!" Surging to her feet, Megumi peeled off the mask, tossed it over her shoulder to land with the packaging, and forced her way through the water to Kaoru. The girl had been happily staring out the glass wall with her chin resting on her crossed arms, but was now scuttling herself as far into one of the corners as she could to escape the determined expression on the fox demon's face.

Grabbing her by the chin, Megumi forced her mouth upwards at an awkward angle. "Open." She did, though reluctantly, and Megumi instantly shoved two fingers down her throat. A tussle and gag later, and Megumi withdrew her hand to once more peer at the ball sitting uncomfortably on her tongue.

"What is it, Megumi-sensei? What did you figure out?" Tomoe was next to her, and she was no longer the domesticated woman happy with spoiling their little ward. Instead, she was the doctor Megumi had hired her to be.

"That slick little bastard. The seal isn't even attached to the metal pin."

"What? But how?"

"I knew it looked strange." Ignoring Tomoe's question, Megumi finally released Kaoru to instead frown at the glass wall. "We thought the seal was wrapped around the metal pin, but it's too distorted."

Insight almost immediately struck Tomoe, and she sucked in a sharp breath. "The metal pin is stretching it. The seal is actually attached to her tongue."

"Which means the pin has no purpose at all." Gnawing at a claw, Megumi's red-tinged eyes narrowed. "He was buying time. That's why we haven't seen or heard of him since that little fiasco with Ken-sama."

"But…" Thinking it through, Tomoe argued. "He pinned her tongue before she even escaped from him. He couldn't have known she would be here. Could he?"

"Shit, you're right. It may have been a contingency plan, or…" Megumi glanced down at the girl. "He's just sick."

Tomoe's tone lowered. "She did say that it was a punishment for being disobedient. Whatever the reason, we can remove the pin now, correct?"

"That's the plan." A smile finally pulled at her mouth and bared her fangs. Things were interesting again.

"Kaoru, what's wrong? You don't have to cover your face."

A side look found pink spreading down the girl's neck and cheeks, and Megumi chortled. Infected by a good mood, the fox crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned closer to tease. "Are you embarrassed that you don't have any?"

"Stop it, Megumi-sensei. You've got a cute figure, Kaoru-san."

X

A/N: Well, this wasn't what I promised, but it's still something I was looking forward to. Stupid plot points got in the way, lol. I realized after I posted the last chapter, that I needed to develop a few things with the other characters and couldn't keep focusing on Kenshin completely. Hopefully, I'll get to what I wanted in the next chapter. This one still had a lot of stuff in it, though, and I get so ridiculously happy about setting things up for later. I hope this provided a brief escape from the daily grind. Thanks for all the reviews!

Side note: this is how my stupid brain works, "What if Kenshin farts?" (X_X)