Writer's Note: Haha, as always, special thanks to Cherry Delight, whom I promised to update during the summer and whose promise I totally broke (by three months)!!! Sorry, girl! Sometimes, you oughtta give this writer a tough time! Crack down hard on me!

I am not wholly happy with this chapter, but there's not much else I can do about it. Do let me know what you weren't hot about. Odds, are, I wasn't so hot about it either.

Where the Story Left Off: (What you may have missed due to the writer's lack of timely updates) The women show up at the apartment and Tokio suffers from some unknown possession that encourages the men to continue their moral cleansing. Both couples share moments of stolen "together" time and in the morning, Sano departs for the Sekihoutai's known hangout, to find out for sure if he was set up. (And the kitty was given a burial complete with eulogy)

:::l:::

Mibu Saints
by Leila Winters
"The Saints and Their Fuck-up Friend"

:::l:::

A Short Time Later...
They were waiting. The brothers sitting at the table, staring at the phone sitting in the center while their respective girlfriends stood behind them, ruffling their hair and massaging their shoulders. In the next room, Sano's girlfriend and another woman were sitting on the couch, still junked up from the previous night.

RING!

Aoshi leapt to grab the receiver, pouncing upon it with the fury and dangerous grace of a leopard intent on catching a mouse.

"Hello?"

Hajime motioned for him to give him the phone. His request was scathingly ignored.

"Are you okay?"

Pissed, Hajime snatched the phone from his brother's clutches and held the receiver to his ear.

"What'd you do, shit-for-brains?"

Aoshi was visibly irritated and stopped glaring only when Megumi wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tender embrace.

"Fuck ya calling for, then?"

Hajime's narrow face, though harsh and planed normally, scrunched up in disgust. "Fine. But you get the feeling that something's not quite right, you get your pathetic little ass out of there quick, got it, dickface?"

He hung up the phone to see Tokio shaking beside him.

Concerned, he pulled her onto his lap and rubbed the muscles in her shoulders with his calloused palms, his eyes searching her old ones.

"Hey baby, what's wrong?"

She gave a tearful sniff and crinkled her nose in that too-cute way.

"It's Sano..."

"What?? What are you doing, thinking of that fucking asshole??"

"Hajime..."

"No! I want to know! What's that moron doing being on your fucking mind?"

Megumi's nostrils flared. "Stop yelling at her!"

"Shinomori, you better put a collar on that wild pussy of yours, she speaks when she's not spoken to."

"Prick!"

"Brother." Aoshi's jaw ground menacingly at his opponent. "Do refrain from making snide remarks about my girlfriend."

"I'll say what I fucking want!"

"Talk about her like that again—"

"Oh, I'm so fucking scared, Shinomori—"

"Sano—"

"—sounds like you wanna kick my ass—"

"I will not stoop to your level—!!"

"C'mon guys, stop—"

"—bet you don't wanna show your inner beast to Meg—"

"—don't fucking say it—"

"—he's in trouble...he's—"

"He's just trying to bait you, Aoshi—!"

"Still listening to your goddamn hussy??"

"HAJIME—!"

"Can't you all feel it??"

Aoshi stopped, hands on his brother's throat, body halfway across the table. Hajime turned startled eyes on his girlfriend, momentarily forgetting his attempts to break his brother's hold. Megumi had both arms around Aoshi's waist, trying in vain to keep him in his seat.

Tokio covered her ears with shaking hands. "Can't you feel it in the air? Sano needs to watch his back."

Shortly After...
"Holy fucking shit, we have to get out of here!!" Sano burst through the door and started stuffing everything he could into whatever bags were nearby. "Shit shit shit! Pack your shit! Pack your shit!!"

In Front of the Imperial Cafe
Payphone
"Hello?"

"Aoshi, that you? How is everyone?" Sano scratched at the scruff on his chin while looking cautiously about him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah—yeah! I just—"

"What'd you do, shit-for-brains?" Hajime's angry tone lashed out through the receiver.

"Fuck! Nothing! Put Aoshi back on!"

"Fuck ya calling for, then?"

Sano felt his patience cracking. "Dammit, Hajime...can't a guy check in? I'm not doing anything."

"Fine. But you get the feeling that something's not quite right, you get your pathetic little ass out of there quick, got it, dickface?"

"I got it, I got it. Shit, you're worse than Tokio; downright softy. Catch ya on the flip side."

He hung up the phone and slipped on a pair of sunglasses. Upon entering the Imperial Cafe, he noticed Old General, the barkeep, staring at him wide-eyed. Unperturbed, Sano continued on his way to a booth in the back, where his two buddies, Shiro and Katsu sat.

Shiro patted him on the back. "Hey, Sano! We heard. Awesome, just awesome."

Katsu gave his friend a solemn look. "Sorry, man. This morning, Takeda came in shooting his mouth off. Old General over there gave him a drink on the house."

Sano's brows furrowed. "Wait a minute. You guys knew?"

Shiro laughed and punched at his arm. "Knew? Shit, we were in on it! But we did what we were supposed to! We layed low and kept our mouths shut! You did your part."

"Katsu?"

But his friend looked away. "I'm really sorry, Sano."

Shiro was all but dancing in his seat. "Hell yes! We're in for sure! Now Papa Sou knows we're true Sekihoutai! Goddamn!"

Sano was quietly stewing. "Christ. Next you're gonna tell me the General was in on it."

Shiro's eyes were wide, "The General? That fucker knew before we did..."

His teeth were grinding painfully against each other. Katsu threw him a curious look. Reaching a hand into his coat, Sano pulled a pistol from an interior pocket.

"Now wait a minute, Sano—" Shiro began.

The young fighter fired two shots into the other man's chest. There were screams from the other patrons as they bid hasty retreats and made a rush for the door.

Katsu turned pained eyes on his friend as he came face to face with a .35 mm barrel. "Listen—Sano—I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I-I wanted to tell you, 'swear to it."

Sano looked at his long-time buddy for several seconds. He could feel his bottom lip and lower jaw threatening to droop. He hated to do it. He fucking hated it.

'But you didn't.'

He pulled the trigger.

And of course, there was the General, backing up at Sano's approach. "I didn't have anything to do with it! I just work here! You hear me? I just work here!!"

But the young man was far from listening to the pleas of a traitor. "You thought that was pretty funny, huh? Me busting my ass and then getting set up. Maybe it was your idea in the first place!!"

He shot round after round into the General's portly belly until there were no more and then some. His pistol clicked several times before he realized there was blood on his face.

"Shit—!"

And he ran.

:::l:::

"Pack your shit!!!"

Sano proceeded to knock things over in his attempt to get his things together, the ruckus effectively frightening the women, who stayed back as the boys went to investigate.

Hajime gave the younger man a swift kick to the butt for emphasis. "Calm the fuck down. Tell us what happened."

"What happened?? 'fuck you think happened?? They set me up! They'll be after me next, I know it! Let's get the fuck out of here before—"

"SANO!!!"

A woman and his girlfriend, Sayo, were sitting on the couch, both looking a bit bedraggled and worse for wear. Sano made his way over to her without any fuss and asked imploringly of his woman, "What is it now, bitch?"

The woman's eyes glazed for a second as she stroked a lock of her brown, straggly hair. "Um...where's my cat, Sano?"

He grit his teeth and forced a smile. "Your cat? I killed your cat, you druggie whore." At her gasp, he continued to mock her with a slight bow. "I thought it would bring closure to our relationship."

Sniffling and fighting back tears, she looked up at him with large, moist eyes. "You...you killed my—my—"

"Your what?" Sano growled.

"My...uh..."

"Your what??" he yelled, a booted foot slamming into the base of the couch. "I swear to God--"

"Sano, no!"

Too late. Already he had the pistol out and the barrel against his temple. "I'll shoot myself! You can tell me your cat's goddamn name, bitch!"

"S-Skippee!!" she sqeaked.

Sayo's companion sat up bravely beside her and pointed an accusing finger at the perpetrator. "Stop yelling at her, prick!"

Sano looked at the woman and almost slapped her in the face. "Shut your goddamn mouth! I can't go out to get a pack of cigarettes without running into nine guys you fucked!"

Megumi buried her face in her boyfriend's shoulder in mortification as he ushered her out the door, following close behind, duffel over a shoulder.

Hajime grabbed his own bag and tossed the money case to Tokio, whereupon they proceeded to vacate the premises.

Sayo gave a last whimper at Sano's retreating form. "But S-Sano...I lo-ove you!"

But he only closed the door with a forceful click.

"Fuck you!!!"

:::l:::

Meg smacked the young fighter on the back of the head with the flat of her palm. "Dick!"

"What the fuck was that for??"

They were surrounding the four-door, ready to pile in when someone thought of a plan of action.

The woman looked at Sano in fury, nearly shaking with the heat of her emotions. "Don't ever call a woman a whore again as long as you live, understand me?"

"Aw, c'mon, Fox."

She gave him the middle finger in response. "Fuck you, Sano. You can call us all the ugly names in the world and the best we can do is call you a bastard. You have no right to judge women."

Tokio glared from the other side of the car. "She deserved better."

"Who? Sayo? That skanky—"

SMACK!

The young man recoiled from the blow and held a hand to his stinging cheek.

Megumi pointed an angry finger. "Get.in.the.fucking.car."

"Holy shit, you're really pissed."

Hajime said nothing and slipped behind the wheel, Tokio getting in behind him.

After looking at the expression of supreme bitchiness on Meg's face, Sano straightened out and said, "Look, I'm sorry. Can we drop it? Jesus, when I think about what I did to...We need to get out of here." He slipped into the middle seat in the back. "Broad-fucking daylight too..."

Aoshi studied the look on his girlfriend's face for a moment. "Are you all right?"

She blinked viciously at the moistness in her eyes. "Yeah, sorry."

He waited for her to continue, pulling her closer and stroking the side of her face.

"I've been called names since I've been growing up. I'm sick of it."

He kissed her lingeringly on the cheek and was about to offer the customary words of encouragement when the sudden blare of a horn startled both out of their private world.

Hajime glared at the two. "You guys gonna make out all day or are you getting in the fucking car?"

:::l:::

Sano frantically hit the back of Hajime's headrest. "Stop the car! Stop the fucking car!"

It must have been sheer force of will that kept the volatile man from strangling the young fighter. Still, he called the vehicle to a stop, if only to stop the infernal pounding on his chair.

"Here! Here! Dude, that fucking asshole Takeda goes here all the time!"

Tokio shuddered beside him. "He goes to the Sin Bin?"

"I bet you it was that skeazy fuck who put the hit out on me. He's always had it in for me." The light dawned on the young man's face and he gesticulated in his excitement. "I know everything about Takeda! I know where he eats, where he sleeps, I know who he's fucking. Papa Sou lets me handle some of his biggest lackeys. I know where they are at any given time. I got phone numbers, I got addresses, I got their vacation homes and mistresses." An unnatural spark hit his eyes. "We could kill everyone."

For a moment, no one uttered a word. For the girls, it was a stupefied silence.

"Yeah, except that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard, Sanosuke!" Megumi growled.

In turn, the young man felt obligated to defend himself. "It is not! Guys? What do you think? Hajime? C'mon..."

The brother merely stroked a chin thoughtfully and said, "I'm strangely comfortable with it."

"HAH!" Sano exploded smugly to the women. "They're all about punishing the wicked and shit. See?"

Aoshi smiled slightly at his friend's stupidity. "It felt good, didn't it?"

"Yeah...strange enough, it did."

:::l:::

End Notes: Okay, hopefully, back on track with events and sorry for some of the melodrama. I hope to bring in other elements for the next chapter. Ack! I can't take all the tension! Maybe I'll just totally change the tone and make it light. I'm not cut out for action!

10-3-04