Hello everybody. I'm back from a month of NaNoWriMo, and my brain is still reeling from 28 days of being with characters of my own making. Writing and planning a whole long story all at one is a different experience for me. Writing and uploading for places like this requires a somewhat different mindset from one I find is required for novel-making.

Anyway, here we go.

8:00am

He reached the beach by now. It was not a large one; he could see the both ends without straining his eyes. He had a clear view of the sea, and the coastline many miles away.

He knew there were a few other people in the island, several people he had scattered in the woods, in case someone came in the night, or even the day, without his permission or knowledge. He had passed several of them on the way to the beach. They answered in whistles as he passed, and he told them to carry on. He was not worried about them.

He was thinking about his brother-in-law.

He could not think about it properly in the presence of that young woman who could not cook.

In her presence, all he could think about was how stupid this whole plan was. No matter what he said in front of her, that he knew what he was doing, that everything was going to plan, that Himura was finally getting what he deserved...in her presence, seeing her eyes accusing her of murder that has not happened yet...her eyes were followed by his sister's voice in his head.

What have you done, Enishi?

It was only when he was completely alone when he remembered it all. His sister thrust straight through with a sword. Years of wandering the streets. Days at the bottom of a ship, a stowaway to another land. Months of more wandering, before someone thought they saw a future in him. Years of tearing down that future, taking down countless people and countless money along the way, making his own future.

There was only one future for him. To send his sister's husband to hell.

And yet his sister asked him:

What have you done, Enishi?

This was not the sister who smiled above him. This was the sister who knelt down before him when he scraped a knee and a shin after falling from a carriage when he jumped at it from a tree.

What have you done, Enishi?

It was the sister he could not lie to, could not refuse anything.

But he had the perfect answer. He raised his head, looked up at the sky, his silk jacket accepting the sea breeze as it blew through him. He smiled.

I paid it back, nee-san. I paid it back. What he did to you. I paid it back.

But his sister was still kneeling before him, shaking her head.

"What do you mean by that, nee-san?" he screamed into the sea. "I did it, nee-san! What you wanted!"

She kept shaking her head.

"I did what you wanted me to do, and now you say no?" he shouted. "I did what you wanted!" He let his arms fall to his side. "I did. It's too late for you to say no to me, nee-san. It's too late."

He took his sheathed sword from behind his back. He took out the sword and threw the sheath onto the sand. He practiced the basic positions of his style, partly his making, mostly a combination of what he learned as a child in the outskirts of Edo and from several books in Shanghai.

He remembered the girl who bandaged his arm, but only for a moment.

He swung above, below, straight thrust, left side, right side. He sank, bending one knee and extending one leg, swiping the sword down, then up.

His forearm stung through all the movements. It made him remember her, his hostage, but more importantly, it made him remember his movements.

He wanted to feel the movements. To know that they felt like. The movements that brought down his sister's husband.

When his forearm hurt so much he could no longer swing, he stopped. But he did not wince, did not scream from the pain. He faced the sea again.

I did what you wanted, nee-san. I did.

...

8:15am

While he was away, she did it. She had wanted to do it for a while now. Now she could.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! KENSHIN! WHERE ARE YOU? GET ME OFF THIS ISLAND! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

"SANOOOO! I want to smack you so hard right now! YAHIKO! You're getting into trouble again! SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HERE!

"I hate hate HATE white-haired ghosts in Chinese silk jackets! Hate hate HATE!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

She took a deep breath after that. "That felt good." She took another deep breath. "Yes, it did."

Then she sighed and frowned.

No one was coming. No one that she knew. It probably would not be happening soon. If it would ever happen.

She shook her head, shaking away the thought she did not want to have.

He will come, she told herself. He will come. Eventually. But he will.

After that, she looked for the broom and started sweeping the floor. It was something to do. After she was through with the sweeping, she would start wiping the furniture, and the bookshelves in the library. Later, she would think about lunch.

...

8:30am

Megumi's day was starting in earnest. There was now a line of people, waiting for her to call them in. Grandmothers with baskets, grandfathers with hands over hearts, mothers carrying sleeping babies, mothers carrying coughing children. Her senior would also be around soon, to help her with the assembled small crowd.

Good, she thought. A lot of good business today. Enough work until noon. A few hours that she did not have to think of her worries for her friends, almost her family.

Yahiko returned from the market, with a basketful of bandages and medicines from the apothecary. Megumi made him place the bandages and medicines on a shelf.

"By the way, here," he said, and showed her an onigiri. "Best in the market. For you."

She took the rice ball, held it and looked at it. "Thank you, I think. You're right, I didn't have breakfast. But what about you?"

"Ate mine on the way back, thanks, Megumi," he said. "You have your good days." He grinned and waved as he exited through the back door.

She tossed her head, threw back her hair with the back of her hand, and smiled. "I'm always a good girl, and don't you forget it," she chuckled as she called in the first patient.

...

8:45am

Shinichi's day was starting in earnest, at last. The first few hours were devoted to orientation, about the events of last night, about the important matters for the day.

That orientation commended the night shift for their immediate, if rather too enthusiastic, response to an informant. A Chinese restaurant had been raided for information regarding a regular customer, a man who was the leader of an international smuggling ring. The night shift was then scolded for their harsh treatment of ordinary citizens.

The orientation then proceeded to inform the day shift about an early-morning operation done at the cemetery. A fire was noted and was quenched by the police. Inspector Goro Fujita identified the victim as one of the core members under Yukishiro Enishi, the ringleader in question. The inspector was still out, they were told, still keeping an eye on a developing situation related to the Yukishiro case. Soon several of them would be deployed to assist him.

A victory for the police. They would go celebrate tonight.

It was one of those days that Shinichi was glad to be in the police force.

He was old enough to know the war, but not old enough to have fought in it. He knew the good that came out of that war, though, and he knew he wanted to die protecting the new peace, and to live seeing it prosper.

It was alright with him if he was given the work no one else wanted to have. He just thought that he was being part of the force this way. Someday people would see what he was good at, that he was worth keeping and promoting.

For now, as the new person, he was assigned to help guard the prison. That usually just meant that he got the older guards their water and their keys, without them having to walk.

He walked with the guards as they checked on each prisoner, scolding or chiding each one as they passed. Shinichi chuckled uneasily and grinned warily as they did so. The people behind the wooden bars were still people, after all. They deserved to be locked up, but they did not deserve derision.

But that was just him. He sighed. He would probably be as cold-hearted as the rest of them some day. But not right now.

There was one prison that scared even him, though. The one near the end of the route.

Kujiranami.

That prisoner was a mountain of a man, twice his size and several heads taller. The stump scared Shinichi as well. It was capable of holding a cannon attachment. Worse, the prisoner did not acknowledge any of the guards. He always droned, "Bat-tou-sai...Bat-tou-sai..." like a chant or a spell.

Of course Shinichi had heard stories about the Hitokiri Battousai. He had even seen the man a few times within the precinct, because of the hitokiri's connections with the inspector. A surprisingly small man with long red hair. The man did not stand a chance against the bulk of Kujiranami. So it scared Shinichi that the mountain of a man was after Himura Kenshin.

But the guards had passed Kujiranami, and the rounds were done. Everyone was safe behind bars. All one had to do now was fetch the sushi they ordered.

All in a day's work.

Shinichi sighed. Someday, someday soon, he would see real action. Someday.

...

8:55am

Saitou and Aoshi alighted from the carriage, looking both ways before crossing the street. Not because of any carriage suddenly passing them. Rather, to make sure that no one recognized them as they entered the building. So far, no one seemed to have noticed, but one cannot be too sure.

They entered the building, an international trading company that specialized in cotton. They followed a subordinate as they were led up to the second floor, to a room that overlooked the warehouse at the riverbank.

"Yes, I vouch for this officer," Saitou answered the unspoken question.

"Good," the okashira replied.

They were led to the room where they would wait. Several officers were already inside, one of them beside the window and watching the street below. They turned and sniffed as the men entered. The okashira, after all, still smelled of wood smoke.

"Anything?" Saitou asked the men.

They all shook their heads. "A few messengers have come and gone. Frantic. We suspect they have received word of the attack on the Bunraku puppeteer."

Saitou nodded. "Report if there are any important developments," he said. "If there are none, wake me in two hours."

He glanced as Aoshi sat on the floor, leaned on the wall a few feet away from the window. The okashira folded his arms in front of him and his head dropped down.

Saitou followed suit. There was a ready plan. It would be easy to deploy officers and subordinates as necessary. The less people were involved in the actual attack, however, the better. He sat on the chair behind a desk, leaned a head on the back of a fist, and closed his eyes.

Completed in a few hours. I guess I still have the Nano high. Thank you for waiting for the last month, and thank you very much for reading. I'll see what I can do about 9 o'clock. Finally I can leave Saitou and Aoshi for a few hours. I'll see about the rest of the people. Until then, see ya.