The sound of the clapping faded. Aoshi shifted a hand around his injured knee, palming a kunai from the floor.

Kanryu cleared his throat. "A good showing for sure. I've had my doubts about my head of security. The positioned has opened if you are interested Mr…."

"I have no interest that I do not. I only wish to see to the safety of Dr. Takani." Kenshin replied softly, taking a step back to keep both Kanryu and Aoshi in his sights.

"One of her little experiments are you? I'm surprised she would inspire so much loyalty, but the results are remarkable for those who survive." Kanryu smirked, sliding his hand into his coat pocket. Kenshin tensed. Kanryu chuckled a the motion as he drew out a slim case and put a small white pill on his tongue, slowly replacing the case back in his pocket.

"Oh, go ahead and take her than. I'm feeling generous and I have the shipment I need. I'm sure I can recreate the formula. She's been more trouble than she's worth. Quite the expense. I advised my clients that it would be wiser to simply invest in better weaponry, but, there is no convincing some people." Kanryu waved carelessly with his hand.

Kenshin glanced quickly at Misao and then at Aoshi. Aoshi loosened his grip, sliding the kunai into the back of his waistband. Kenshin took a step forward, gently placing a hand on Misao's elbow to guide her toward the side door exit.

"Oh. I'm sorry. You can take Dr. Takani, but this young lady I'm keeping. I need to test this batch and we've been woefully short on female test subjects." A wide grin cut across Kanryu's face.

Kenshin tensed. Misao paled. Kenshin saw the red markers of several rifle scopes light up his chest and one light right in the center of Misao's forehead. He froze. Aoshi shifted, pushing himself to his feet, staggering and leaning heavily to his right side to compensate for his shattered knee.

"Sir." Aoshi's low voice broke the tense silence. "Please allow me to redeem my honor and volunteer to test the syrum." Staggering into a bow, he placed is tall frame in front of Misao, obscuring potential sniper shots.

"You might as well. I don't see how you are any value to me in your current state." Kanryu sneered. "You. Prepare two vials, one for him and one for the young lady." Kanryu gestured to Hannya who walked forward, opened the crate, and removed two small vials of clear liquid. Kanryu tossed a plastic wrapped syringe.

"You'll have to share the needle." Kanryu added casually.

Aoshi began rolling up his sleeve past his elbow. Still unsteady on his injured knee, he staggered, throwing out a hand for balance and grazing Kenshin's arm. Kenshin felt the signal, Aoshi's finger tracing a quick arrow against his shoulder blade as he shifted his weight.

Hannya gazed warily at Aoshi. Aoshi nodded slightly. Hannya drew two milligrams of the liquid into the syringe.

"Oh no. A full dose I think." Kanryu said.

Hannya pulled more liquid into the syringe, pushing the plunger forward until liquid spilled through the needle, expelling any trapped air. He placed the needle against Aoshi's skin and paused once more. Misao tensed to spring forward and was about to knock the needle from Hannya's hand when Aoshi's hand shot out, gripping her wrist tightly. He gave another small nod to Hannya. Kanryu leaned in closer and Hannya slowly pushed down the plunger.

Aoshi jerked forward, ignoring his injured knee and flinging Misao with all his strength toward Kenshin. He launched toward Kanryu. The sound of gunfire erupted. Aoshi felt the sting of a bullet rip through his thigh, but Kanryu had come too close. He grabbed Kanryu by his hair whipping the kunai from his waist and dragging it across Kanryu's throat. He felt the hot blood spurt and wash over his hands. He felt his shattered knee give out.

He hit the ground and waited for the following shots to find him. He felt the thud of four small impacts and waited for the pain. No pain. He opened his eyes, realizing that he had clenched them shut. Warm shoulders shuddered in front of him.

"Okashira…" Hannya rasped. Then all was still.

…

Detective Fujita shook another cigarette out of his crumpled pack, staring at the woman across from him. He felt a twinge in his chest. The fall of her hair reminded him of his wife. He pushed the feeling aside, taking a drag from his cigarette. Megumi's lips pursed. He offered the cigarette across the metal table of the interrogation room. Megumi took a deep drag and kept the cigarette. Detective Fujita smirked slightly, removing another cigarette for himself.

"Dr. Takani, I've seen your statement about your relationship with Kanryu labs. Why don't you tell me, in your own words, what the hell happened tonight."

She took another drag of the cigarette and met his gaze. Her eyes dulled.

"Sagura, and Ms. Kamiya. They found me. I was being held in one of the back offices of the warehouse, on the second floor. There had been guards on the door, but they were gone by the time Sagura opened the door. We heard the gun fire and ran back to the main bay of the warehouse. On the second level, Kanryu's guards were fighting. When the snipers opened fire, the elite guards, the oniwabanshu, attacked them. I couldn't tell you why. They killed the snipers almost immediately, but one had a grenade. Sagura pulled us back before the explosion. The guards and the oniwabanshu…they all died. I tried to treat the small one, Beshimi, I think his name was, he had found some cover from the blast, but he had an arterial bleed. I couldn't stop it. There wasn't enough left of the others to even try…" Megumi's hands shook as she took another drag of the cigarette.

"When we made it downstairs, Kanryu and his guard, the one with the tattoos, were already dead. Ao…Mr. Shinomori was already convulsing. With Himura's assistance we cleared the area around him and loosened his clothing. When the initial convulsions stopped, I splinted his leg to prevent further injury to his knee. When the paramedics arrived, I instructed them to begin a charcoal infusion immediately, but it is unlikely to help if he was injected with he serum. Himura was bleeding, but he refused my treatment. The young lady with Himura seemed uninjured, but was showing signs of shock."

Detective Fujita lit another cigarette, pulling the smoke into his lungs.

"And the prognosis for Mr. Shinomori?" He asked.

"Exposure to the serum will likely be fatal; although the version he was exposed to was modified…" Megumi's voice grew quiet. Detective Fujita gave her a hard look.

"I refused to manufacture a completed version of the serum for Kanryu. Mr. Shinomori finished the batch himself using a chemical stabilizer that we rejected in earlier iterations of drug testing. The stabilizer decreases the likelihood of an immediate fatal reaction, but, it has side effects. The stabilizer interferes with neural receptors in the brain. Subjects that survive often experience extreme and persistent emotional reactions. The stabilizer interferes with the body's natural processes for dampening chemical indicators of emotion."

"What does that mean in layman's terms Dr. Takani." Detective Fujita asked dryly.

"Subjects are left without the ability to lessen emotional response. They feel emotion beyond normal ranges. Clinically this tends to lead to mental instability and suicide. We ran a test with eight test subjects. All of the subjects attempted to end their lives within six weeks of exposure. One subject managed to burn down the entire field hospital. He laughed as the flames engulfed him." Megumi's eyes went glassy, her shoulders slumping forward.

"If Mr. Shinomori survives, he should be placed under medical surveillance for an extended period."

…

Kaoru stroked Misao's hair gently in the waiting room outside of the intensive care unit. They had been sitting there nearly ten hours. Misao's head jerked up as she heard the swish of the double doors into the unit. Sano stepped through looking pale, slumping on a chair across from the two women.

"Is he…" Misao whispered.

"He is sedated." Sano replied. "They kicked me out. Said that if they took anymore of my blood they'd have to put me in a bed next to him." His smile was weak and didn't reach his eyes.

"But the blood transfusions… they're working?" Misao tried to keep the desperation out of her voice.

Sano shifted in his seat.

"Well… we won't know until he wakes up again. Docs are hoping my blood will have something in it to give him some kind of resistance to the serum, but it's just a crap shoot. He needed the blood anyway after taking a couple rounds."

"But he woke up, so, that must be a good thing…" Misao's voice faded out when she saw the look of pain cross Sano's face. "What did he say?" She asked. "Tell me."

"Misao, he… he was screaming."

Misao felt ice crawl into her stomach.

She remembered the night her parents died. She had hidden, just like her parents taught her, in the false floor underneath her bed. Aoshi had run into the room, covered in blood, kodachi drawn. They struck him down and pinned him to the floor. She had nearly called out when his eyes met hers peeking through the floorboards. The slightest shake of his head told her to keep quiet. She bit into the collar of her shirt as they pulled his arms over his head and taken a knife to his back, carving off swaths of skin, demanding to know where she was. He never spoke. He never screamed.

He had waited until the blood made the floor slick and then struck out. He killed them all before pulling her from her hiding place. He had put her on his back while he scaled down the side of the house. The pain must have been excruciating, but he never spoke.

He never screamed.

…

It took Misao two days to get into Aoshi's room. In the ICU and with a police guard, he was allowed no visitors. When it became clear that she couldn't weasel into the room, she began planning.

It took a full day to map the routes of the nurses, orderlies, and doctors. It took a full evening to ply Sano with enough beer to talk him into distracting the guard…

"Misao, come on, female cops are tough… they don't fall for that shit." Sano complained.

"No worries then."

"What do you mean no worries?"

"Don't worry, the officer on duty is not a woman."

"But I thought you said you want me to distract the guard."

"Yep."

"Oh. But I'm not…"

"I said distract him, you don't have to date him, just, open your shirt collar a little bit."

"No Misao. I'm not gonna… aw shit. Don't cry. Shit."

Misao grinned as she remembered the conversation, a few tears go a long way. She watched Sano stroll down the hall, trying to look casual with his ears and the back of his neck slowly turning pink. When he stopped in front of the guard she made her move.

She slid quietly into Aoshi's room.

Aoshi was sitting up, pressing forward, straining against the restraints that held him to the bed.

Misao gasped.

Aoshi's eyes were wild, his face twisted and contorted. It wasn't the same man. She searched his face for the Aoshi she knew, the cool planes of his face, the touch of gentleness she saw only in his eyes. But it wasn't there.

He spoke low, through clenched teeth.

"Get out. I never want to see your face again."

He meant it.

She backed out the doors.

She ignored the exclamation of the police guard at the door and ran down the hall and out of the hospital.

The officer followed her. Sano followed the officer. By the time Misao was detained for questioning and the officer returned to his post, Aoshi was gone, the bed frame bent and the restraints shredded.

…

Kenshin woke up alert, gently testing the range of motion in his left shoulder. He looked over at Kaoru and warmth spread through his chest.

She was seated in the chair next to his hospital bed. During the night she had slumped forward against the bed rail, face pressed against the mesh. He reached out a hand to touch her hair. As he traced the strand toward her ear, she stirred.

Kenshin nearly laughed as she blinked awake, her hair messy and red mesh imprints across her cheek. She smiled and Kenshin felt himself grin in return.

"Are you alright?" Kenshin asked softly.

"Hey. That's my line. You're the one under observation." Kaoru poked him gently in the chest.

Kenshin caught her hand and pulled her forward into a soft kiss, his lips brushing gently across hers. Kaoru shifted her weight, leaning forward and deepening the kiss. Kenshin felt his blood warm as Kaoru pulled back, gazing at him with bright eyes.

"Move in with me." She blurted out, then quickly covered her mouth."

"Oro…I mean…"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I meant to ask you later you know, when all…this… is done." Kaoru gestured vaguely around the room, looking at the floor.

"It doesn't have to be like a boyfriend thing…I just thought, you know, since your apartment is crap and I have the space…and you're going to need a place to recover…and Sano well, he's Sano… and what if there are more of those guys and they come after you…"

Kenshin leaned forward, gently tilting her chin up so that he could see her face.

"Do you really want…"

"Yes." Kaoru interrupted.

"You want this violence in your home, in your life?" Kenshin asked in a harder tone. Sadness seeping into his gaze.

"No. I want you."

Kaoru kissed him, hard. Kenshin's arms tightened around her waist and pulled her to him. Kenshin closed his eyes and for the first time in ten years, it felt like he was home.

…

The End.

…

Author Notes:

Guest 2: Thank you for the review. :)

All readers: Thank you for taking the time for this story. Especially all of you that read it through to the end. I would love to hear what you thought of the story (positives, negatives, and critique.) This was my first fanfic, so, I hope to improve for the next one.

For my next project I'm planning a Halloween themed short story with the Battousai. Hope you like it. ;)

Cheers,

- Eva