Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Certain Clarity ❯ 24 ( Chapter 24 )

Title: A Certain Clarity (24/30)

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 from the cult members! Police work was so often nothing more than a process of waiting. If there were illicit activities being carried out, the exterior of the house gave no sign and he was not inclined to raid it just yet. Chou would have to keep his vigil a little longer. As for himself, he would have another shot at locating that friend of the ahou. It was getting dark; hopefully, he would have returned home. He approached the building again. The light upstairs looked promising, though the windows he took to be Tsukioka's were difficult to see from this side.

Saitou steeled himself. Somewhere beyond this door, the ahou was waiting, and he would be mad. The battousai had been easily calmed, but Sano... He wished for a little of last night's determination, but a morning of questioning shop keepers and spying on the cult members had thoroughly squelched it. He had left Chou lurking in an alleyway across from a dull house which seemed to serve as the local cult headquarters. They had watched groups of the cloaked figures leave on their missions of proselytism, always three together, always silent. Following them produced nothing of interest; they always stopped in front of restaurants or other public places to hand out their little pamphlets; harmless, quiet, dull. At least he had finally located the residence of this Tsukioka. The battousai had better be right about this. He wouldn't be pleased to waste time on two trips today. He entered the building.

The hallway was deserted. The landlady was still out. No matter, he had been informed that she kept 'odd hours'. He climbed the stairs again. Again, he knocked on the door. This time it opened. Success!

"Sa... Saitou?" The young man stumbled backwards. His mouth opened, but he seemed to be having trouble speaking.

"I take it you've seen the ahou."

"Yeah... He was just here... Shit! You have to stop him!"

Saitou stiffened. "Where has he gone?"

"He's supposed to be meeting some cult recruiters outside of the ramen shop... It's right around the corner... They're having some kind of meeting tonight, but I don't know where..."

He was already running. That same damn restaurant! He should have known; he should have looked there earlier. Damn the ahou! He skidded around the last corner and entered. A waitress looked up in surprise.

"May I help you, officer?"

"Ah... Excuse me?" His own impatience mixed strangely with Fujita Gorou's polite tones. "Have you seen a young man? Spiky hair, red bandanna, white jacket with a..." No, wait, he wouldn't be wearing that anymore. He'd had something brown, hadn't he?

"There was someone like that here earlier, around lunch time."

"Not this evening?"

"Well, he didn't *eat* here, but I did see someone talking to those weirdoes who hang around outside."

"Long cloaks, religious pamphlets?"

"Yes, them." Her nose wrinkled.

Damn. "Did you see which way they went?"

"Up the street I think." She gestured vaguely. "Sorry."

He stepped back outside. The street was deserted.

"Boss?" Chou jumped a little as he suddenly materialized next to him. "Did something..."

"Have you seen him?"

"Who, the rooster-head? No, there hasn't been anyone here for a while."

"Damnit! He was supposed to be going to a cult meeting of some kind."

"Well, it probably isn't here; none of the cult members have returned from their posts. They must be going straight to the meeting place."

There was nothing for it. "We're breaking in. There's got to be someone there that can tell us where they all went."

"I thought you didn't want any of them to spot you."

"We'll arrest anyone we find and hold them until the case is resolved. Come on."

The building was almost deserted, but they finally found a boy asleep in a back room. Most likely, he was supposed to be keeping watch or something. Saitou didn't ask for details, just ordered him to lead them and ushered him outside.

They pelted along the darkened alleyways, driving the panic-stricken cult member before them. The passages grew narrower. The ahou had better be there. Why hadn't the little idiot waited at Tsukioka's? Always poking his nose where it wasn't wanted! Why was the damned meeting so far away? They had to move faster!

Finally, the guide stopped and pointed. It was a warehouse, like any other. He kicked open the door to reveal an empty room, empty except for a strange and pungent and hauntingly familiar smell.