LOOK! A CHAPTER! Of which I don't own the characters in Rurouni Kenshin.

Chapter 10

Kicking Kaoru into the tiny room, Pierre slammed the door behind him. She collapsed in a chair, hands tied and breathing raggedly.

Pierre rushed over to her and knelt by her, taking her hands in his.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled.

"Miss Kaoru, please, believe me, I won't hurt you. I'm going to help you get out of here." His eyes pleaded with her as he slowly and skillfully undid the ropes binding her hands.

"Help me?" she repeated, confused.

"Yes." He sighed. "Would you like me to explain?"

Kaoru nodded.

"Ok. When I came here first, it was with Lady Catherine's sisters. We were to bring Catherine back, but when we failed, they didn't pay me and they left me here. The only thing I'm good at is killing, so I became a bodyguard/assassin for Kanryu. I've earned enough to buy my passage home now and I've decided I don't like killing innocent maidens. So I'll help you out and on my way, kill Kanryu."

"You can't kill Kanryu. Kenshin won't let you."

"Kenshin has no choice. He'll have to kill me first which that coward won't do."

"Kenshin is not a coward!" Kaoru cried.

"You say this as if you are certain."

"I am certain. He protected me against Jin-e. He fought against Shishio Makoto. He's fought against Kanryu before and won. He's dodged gunshots. He's taken hits for us all. He's no coward."

"There is something you are hiding. A good assassin learns to read people."

"He was also an assassin."

"Ah. Well then. Are you very sure he'll come save you?"

"Yes. Quite sure."

---

Megumi was at a loss. She knew Kaoru and Kenshin would tell her not to make the opium, that her life wasn't worth the hundreds that would be taken in their stead. But she also knew that she didn't want to lose the only real female friend she had. It would be selfish of her to make the opium, very selfish. But she would be killing Kaoru if she didn't. But was it better to kill one person she knew or hundreds she didn't know?

She just didn't know.

---

"I didn't see anything. I was buying that stupid fish, remember?" Catherine told the males.

"Well why weren't you looking out for them?" Yahiko yelled.

"I didn't know that they'd be gone if I left them alone for three minutes! Besides, I had to make sure we were getting the right fish!"

"A fish is more important than your friends?"

"I only have two eyes and they only go one direction at once! I figured they could take care of themselves!"

"Well obviously they can't!"

"SHUT UP!" Sano barked.

"That's enough," Kenshin said calmly.

"Sorry," both younger ones mumbled.

After a few minutes of futile walking, Sano put his arm around Catherine.

"Where do you think they went to?" she asked, snuggling into him.

"This one has no idea."

"Hey, Kenshin, that Kanryu guy. Is he dead?"

"This one doesn't think so."

"You could ask me, you know," came a chilling voice. They all turned around.

"Who are you?" Catherine asked, looking him up at down. Sano held her even tighter.

"Saito Hajime," Kenshin answered, eyes narrowed.

"Hello, battosai. Hello, idiot."

"Who are you callin' an idiot?" Sano snarled, raising his free fist.

Catherine looked from Saito to Sano and quickly stepped in between them.

"Hello, Mr. Saito. I'm Catherine." She quickly curtsied and gave him a polite smile.

"Don't waste your charm on him," Sano growled, never taking his eyes off the police man. Saito chuckled and lit a cigarette, taking a long drag and blowing smoke in Sano's face.

"Do you know how bad that is for you?" Catherine exclaimed, looking at the small object with horror.

"Catherine, sh. He will do what he will and we will leave him alone."

"You look a lot like Kenshin," Saito observed, somehow managing to invite himself along in their walk.

"He is my brother."

"Yeah. And she's my lover, so back off!" Sano snapped.

"Calm down, I'm married. And I'm also not really sure what could make any woman like you."

Sano sputtered indignantly. Catherine was the only thing that kept him from starting a fight with the cocky policeman right then and there.

"Saito, is Kanryu dead?" Kenshin asked.

"I don't believe so."

"Whose Kanryu?" Catherine asked.

"We'll tell you later," Sano replied. Catherine bent down to Yahiko's level.

"Whose Kanryu?" she whispered to him as Kenshin and Saito conversed.

"He's some guy who had Megumi for awhile and he made her make this lethal opium. Then we found out he was hiring Shinomori Aoshi and a bunch of other people from the Oniwabanshu to protect him. Then they fought Kenshin and lost, I think. But we never managed to kill Kanryu once we rescued Megumi."

"Ah, I see." Catherine stood up to have deafening shouting in both ears.

"I AM NOT A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING IDIOT!" Sano bellowed.

"I BET YOU CAN'T EVEN GET IT UP!" Saito roared back.

Kenshin was happily pretending he had no clue as to what was going on.

"I-!"

"I would ask me that question," Catherine interrupted icily. They both looked at her, remembering that she was there. "Yahiko, don't listen." He scowled when she placed her hands firmly over his ears.

"Alright, now that this one doesn't want to hear about." Kenshin plugged his own ears. "Continue!"

"Ask Catherine, why don't you?" Sano smirked.

"I don't want to know, thank you." Saito twitched, attempting to expel the mental image from his mind.

"Are you going to say child-appropriate things, now?" Catherine demanded, glaring at the bickering men. They both nodded at her, subdued. She removed her hands.

As their bickering continued, Catherine allowed her mind to drift. She could just imagine Nathaniel quietly telling them that this was no way to speak in front of a lady. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back.

Deciding to come back to the present, she looked around and the faint buzzing in her ears solidified to Sano and Saito arguing some more.

"Sanosuke, Mister Saito. That is no way to speak in front of a lady." Catherine held her head high, nose in the air.

"A lady who wears pants isn't much of a lady," Yahiko grumbled.

"And you, Yahiko, would do well to shut up." The small boy glared and caught up with Kenshin.

"You seem European. How are you related to the battosai?" Saito inquired, completely ignoring Sano.

"Well...I was taken from my mother at birth, they told her I was still-born. I was smuggled into England and raised in fief Dartmouth with my two sisters. Last year, I became increasingly interested in foreign affairs. My governess let it slip that I wasn't English. Then my mother told me the whole story. I learned Japanese from Nathaniel, my late manservant, and then we set sail for here. And I was reunited miraculously with Kenshin in the first town I tried."

"So you are a Lady, then?"

"Yes."

"She's my lady." Sano was going to make sure this fact was drilled into Saito's head.

"Yes, yes, we know, though we're still not sure how."

"Stop putting Sano down, you obviously don't know him very well!" Catherine berated Saito who felt obligated to raise his eyebrows and blow another puff of smoke at Sano.

"Can you honestly say that your lover isn't a moron? That he has common sense? That he doesn't rush head-first into things without thinking?"

Sano smirked, knowing she would stick up for him. Catherine opened her mouth, then closed it. With the realization of the fact that Catherine didn't lie, the smirk melted off his face.

"Well," Catherine began carefully, "it's not to say that he is the brightest of us all, or the smartest, or the most likely to think things out, but he does have his redeeming qualities and he can be very insightful at times." I don't know what times, but I'm sure they'll come up eventually, she added silently.

Saito snorted. "If you say so."

"Sanosuke, Saito, get up here," called Kenshin.

"What about me?" Catherine asked as she followed the two men.

"You stay outside with Yahiko."

"What!" they both yelled.

"You heard him. This is not the place for women and children," Saito said.

"I am not a child!" Yahiko hollered just as Catherine screamed "I am going in there!"

"Catherine, you are going to get yourself hurt and then I will have to fuss over you and you will not like that," Sano said slowly, a smirk blooming on his face.

"Fuss all you want, I'm coming in. It's my fault they're in there."

"How is it your fault?" Saito asked.

"I was buying a fish."

As anyone could have guessed, this statement did nothing but confuse the policeman who turned to Kenshin for a proper answer.

"Catherine, Kaoru-dono, and Megumi-dono were in the market and Kaoru-dono and Megumi-dono were taken while she wasn't paying attention."

"While she was buying a fish?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Well then. She should definitely come with us," Saito said sarcastically, rolling his eyes skyward.

"Mr. Saito, you're really starting to bother me," Catherine told him.

"That's quite alright, I'm not fond of your boyfriend."

"And he's not too fond of you," Sano sneered.

"Shut up!" Yahiko barked.

The men sighed and looked up at the large building their feet had carried them, somehow having a lady and a child following them.

"Catherine, if I get hurt, you are to run away. Likewise if they pull out a gun," Sano hissed under his breath.

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly.

With incredible resolve, the small group climbed the steps and entered the building.

---

Tera: My, I actually got achapter out! SCORE! Feel proud!

Matt: Yeah, and we're surprised that it's actually somewhat decent lengthed. It's a good thing she decided to introduce Saito, or it would've been just as short.

Tera: Si...And this is the last chapter you'll be getting in awhile...-tear-

Matt: Reply to the reviews.

Tera: Oh, yes, right.

Forest E. Halliwell: Thank you. I love you!

Yazzy: See? Isn't Pierre much cooler now? I know, we all hated it (including me) when he stabbed Sano. -cries- But you can give him shady looks. He'll be used to that by now. And I'm having writer's block again, so the next chapter may take awhile, too.

Cindy: Here it is, finally. Please refrain from dying, that would leave me feeling vair guilty.

Matt: Well, there ya have it.

Tera: Yup. Hope you enjoyed!