Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Certain Clarity ❯ 10 ( Chapter 10 )

Title: A Certain Clarity (10/30)

Author: Franzi Dickson

E-mail: fdickson@ix.netcom.com

Archive: The SxSAS Archive, fanfiction.net and others (eventually). If you want it on your site, just ask.

Rating: NC-17 for wet dreams, sex, drugs, violence and other badness.

Warnings: m/m sex, lemon, assorted bad things in this part and future ones

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I'm just doing bad things with them. Don't sue me.

Still nothing useful! Saitou thought as he entered his office. The old hag in the herb shop might know something, but more likely she was just trying to sound mysterious in hopes that he'd buy whatever love charm she had been trying to sell him. He had really wanted to believe that the ahou had found something important, but there wasn't the slightest rumor about them. If they had really been murdering young men for the last few months: if it had only been for the last few months, that is. They couldn't even be sure they'd found all of the bodies. To be honest, they didn't even know for sure that it was murder. The deaths did look suspiciously like overdoses, but Saitou's gut told him it was something more sinister. Why was he so sure? Was he simply unable to accept that men - boys really - would throw their lives away for those few hours of chemicals in the blood? His musing was interrupted by voices from outside. Voices that were fast approaching his office.

"Yo, broom-head! Whaddaya mean he isn't here? Did he go investigate the cult? Did he find anything? What did he say?"

"What do you care, rooster-head? I thought you were supposed to be 'staying out of police business'."

Smothered laughter.

He didn't really sound that pompous, did he? He thought the ahou had been upset earlier. Clearly he had bounced back with his usual speed. Saitou glowered at the opening door.

"Boss? Hey, you're back." Chou failed to look contrite.

"Did you find anything?"

"There was nothing to find. The only person who had even heard of the cult seemed to think that they had left the area."

"I just saw them this afternoon. I'm telling you, they're there."

"I saw no sign of them."

"Maybe you didn't look hard enough."

The ahou was getting belligerent now. "They probably only appear at certain times of day."

"So are you going to go back."

He thought about it. He had the feeling he should. There was something he had forgotten: something about the herb shop that disturbed him. He frowned.

"I could help you. The locals might not want to talk to a cop. If *I* talked to them though, we'd be sure to find something" Sano proclaimed, self-importantly.

He almost smiled at that. Perhaps he would let the ahou tag along a bit. Saitou didn't think anyone had lied. Still a young charismatic lowlife like the ahou would inspire confidence in a way impossible for officer Fujita Gorouu. He was about to speak when it hit him; Megumi's voice, soft on the night air. What had she said?

"There *is* a type of poison that might induce those symptoms. It is purported to be an aphrodisiac…"

He'd looked it up out of curiosity: 'A metallic green powder, known to cause blisters and vomiting. Other symptoms include…" Bloody hell! The old hag had even complained about the cult misusing her 'mysteries'! If she really had provided them with the poison, then he was close to the murderers who had already destroyed at least five young men. He had to keep the ahou out of this.

"Whaddaya say?"

The ahou was looking at him expectantly. He had to say something… "I have no desire to waste any more of my time on this."

"Wha… What do you mean? We might be really close; you can't just ignore my help now."

He had to think of something to get rid of the ahou. "It was improper for me to suggest that you might help in the first place, even if it was only to be as an informant. I will finish this investigation on my own", he said coldly.

"Oh come on Saitou; I know you care more about solving the case than about what's 'proper'. A man of your principles…"

He paused. He was secretly flattered that the ahou saw him that way. Maybe it was even the truth, but he had to keep him away from that cult at all costs. "This is an important investigation, especially now with the latest victim being so well connected. It's the sort of thing that can make or break a career. I won't have you screwing it up for me!"

Sano stared at him in shocked silence.

There, that had done it. Maybe now he would stay away.

"I see… I see how it is. I'm sorry I bothered you."

He watched as the young man bolted from his office for the second time that day. He sat staring after him for a while, wondering if it had been the right decision.

"Boss?"

"Yes?" Cold, precise: he wouldn't back down.

"Did you find something this afternoon?"

Too damn perceptive! "I visited an herb shop. The proprietress ranted about the cult 'stealing her mysteries' or some such nonsense. I would think she's just crazy except that she appears to be selling the aphrodisiac that Doctor Takani mentioned." He watched that fact sink in.

"Wow; the rooster-head has really got ahold of something."

"Yes; his own demise if he isn't careful. I don't want a repeat of the Golden Orchid mess."

"What are you going to do?"

"Continue to keep him away from the cult." He missed the amused expression on his assistant's face.

"I meant about the case."

"Oh. Pay another visit to the shop. Hopefully, I can obtain a sample of the suspect material. If we can determine that it is indeed the poison in question, we'll have a much stronger basis for going after the cult, or arresting the old woman for that matter." Damn but he was tired. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"Well, there's some more paperwork for you to do…"

"In the morning. The herb shop doesn't open until afternoon anyway, and I think it's a little early to resort to breaking and entering."

"Oh, ok. Goodnight then."

"Goodnight."

He is there again, like so many times before, staring at the door to the ahou's home. Or would 'hovel' be a better word… He won't be there of course, even if he, himself, had the nerve to knock on the door. He's always out at this time, drinking no doubt. Isn't that why he's chosen to come now, so that he can't be caught looking? But he can't be here, can he? Didn't it burn? He half remembers something: a smell, a wet burnt smell. This is wrong! It shouldn't be here!

He slides open the door, and steps through into the burned out remnants of a room. The moonless sky above does little to illuminate the wreckage. Everywhere there are bits of damp, burnt, rotting wood. What is he searching for? He is drawn to that one spot. He lifts aside the beams and burrows in the dark soil 'til his nails split and his fingers bleed. He feels no pain, even as his hands are coated in red. There is something there: he knows there is something there.

His fingers close on it. He pulls and it emerges, bit by bit; white fabric, wafting in a ghostly dance in his clenched fist. Shouldn't it be smaller: only a little square? But it is full and long, even where it hangs in tatters. He holds it up. Wicked? It flaps in the cold wind.

"I'm sorry, but my dreams aren't what concerns me today."

Wicked. It is streaked with the blood from his torn fingertips.

"No? But dreams are everything! They let us know what is in our hearts!"

Wicked.

Wicked.

Wicked.

He jerked awake.