(insert song: "Believe in" from Saiyuki)

When the genki pink haired lead singer of Bad Luck bounded up to Ryuuichi and greeted him several things happened. Duo sighed, sensing what was coming, Touya blinked, as the voice was familiar, and Tasuki glomped. Not being one to miss a beat, Shuuichi glomped back.

" Shindoukun... you really shouldn't be glomping the fans... " protested Sakano.

Duo sighed again. " Yo, Zechs, or whoever the hell you are, " he greeted as he walked past, heading for the bathroom.

Sakano, having misheard what Duo said, turned bright red, spun, and fell over.

Subaru leaned over and studied him intently. " Daijoubu? "

" Ah... hai... "

" Maa- " Touya interjected upon the various little conversations going on. Now that Tasuki had detached it was time for him to make a clever exit. " I need to be taking the girls home. " He reached out a hand to Yukito and gently touched the smaller boy's face. " Yuuki, you be careful, alright? "

" Hai! Don't worry about me, Touya. "

Wufei shot Riva a dirty look. " This is a shounen ai story, isn't it? "

" Don't look at me! " she protested happily. Looking up she asked, " Dou, K-chan, what do you think? "

Sanzou nodded in approval. " Finally, she's chosing someone reasonable. You never know if we're going to need that firepower. "

" We don't even know what we're doing yet, " Trunks pointed out.

K smiled down at Riva. " I see no puroburem in Ryuuichi taking a vacation and going with you. " He handed the letter back.

As a collected group, everyone fell over.

Shuuichi blinked from where he was still glomping with Tasuki. (ohh that sounds bad, ne? ^^) " Ryuuichi's going on a trip? "

**

(insert song: "Kizuna" from Zetsuai)

In the middle of a bamboo stand Riva sat herself on the ground and was deep in thought for a long moment. While she did so, every one else stood around and waited, having nothing better to do afterall. Those with brighter dispositions chatted, while those with less sunny dispositions glared at alternate things. Riva, the others, each other, the sky, the ground, anywhere was good, so long as they were glaring.

" Yo~ushi!! " Riva declared finally. She got to her feet and stood in some sort of a victory pose. Apparantly what she'd been thinking about had resolved itself in her mind. She bounded over to Duo and handed him an envelope. " Here's the letter. Your hint this time is: Battousai. "

" Battousai?! " Duo squeaked.

Sanzou raised an eyebrow, not knowing his voice could go that high.

" Hai! Battousai da. Ja na! "

Staring at the empty space where Riva had been, Duo muttered, " Have I mentioned I hate her? "

" Kora! What are you people doing here? This is private property! " Everyone froze as a number of regally dressed Samurai came upon them. The one in the lead levelled a halbard at Duo's nose and demanded. " Well? Answer me! "

Duo sneezed and cut his nose on the halbard's blade.

**

(insert song: "Apocalyptic Strings" from Ayashi no Ceres)

Riva stood in the middle of a dark room. Placing one hand on her hip she raised the other into the air. " Ano! Mittsu dake Shitsumon ga arima~su! "

" Ho~? " inquired a voice from the darkness. " Yottsu, deshou? "

" O-kay! Hitotsu! Anata-sama no namae wa K desu ka? "

Somewhere in the darkness, a tall man with glasses sweatdropped. " Iie, sugi? "

" Futatsu! Eigo de hanashite kudasai ne~? "

" Sou.. douzo, sugi? "

" Third! What happens after they get the tenth person? "

The glasses were adjusted and a smirk sounded in the dark. " You go searching for eleven through sixteen. "

" Ah- sou... " She thought on this. " Fourth! How many are we looking for again? "

" Seventeen. "

" This is gonna be one helluva crossover. "

**

(insert song: "Welcome" by Boa)

Duo grumbled and rubbed at the bandaid on his nose. He sat cross-legged and kimono clad on a tatami mat in the middle of a ring of samurai he swore all were leering at him. Thank the gods Ryuuichi had a bandaid stored in hammerspace, otherwise his nose might still be bleeding.

" Maxwell-dono, " said the samurai lord at the head of the room. " Kindly tell me what you were doing standing around on my property wearing strange clothes. Are you youkai? "

" Iya... no. We're not youkai. Well... no. No youkai. We're here actually, searching for someone. But we don't have a name, we only have one clue. " Duo rubbed the back of his head and came to the conclusion that he felt even more like a moron everytime he told someone that.

" What clue is this? "

" The word 'battousai.' "

That word alone started the samurai murmuring amongst themselves. The lord raised a hand to command silence and informed Duo quietly, " That era of our history is over with. The battousai are dead. "

" Dead?! " Duo repeated the word in disbelief.

**

(insert song: "Ano oka no mukou ni" from Saiyuki)

" Dead?! " the word sounded again in the still morning air.

Duo nodded miserably. " Not only that, but 'battousai' was the term for proficient warriors. There were at least two that he knew of. " He buried his face in the space between his chest and the knees he had curled to it.

" Battousai? "

Duo steeled himself for whoever the outside person would be mistaken for, but was relieved when nothing happened. Looking up, he met the purple eyes half hidden beneath shaggy orange hair and asked, " You know anything about it? "

" That I do, though I wish I did not, de gozaru. May I ask why you seek a battousai? "

So Duo outlined the whole stupid story again. Only this time he had to deal with the input of eight other people. At the end of the tale, the stranger pondered it at length.

" A strange story indeed de gozaru... " he said. " May I see the letter you speak of? "

Duo handed it over. " Sure, go ahead. " He watched as the red-head started to tear it open. " Oi! Hold on a-- " Too late, as the letter had already emerged and was in the process of being read.

" Hm, just as I thought. " he turned the letter around when he finished with it. " This letter is for me. My name is Kenshin Himura; in the war I was known as Hitokiri Battousai. "

Duo gaped. Then snatched the letter. Sure enough, Kenshin was right.
 

  Dear Kenshin Himura
 Please excuse my recalling your past to send these guys to find
 you. I had to make it at least a little difficult to find you. ^_^
 I'm sending you on a journey, not necessarily to the west, but
 in some sort of direction for some sort of purpose. That's all I
  can tell you at the moment. I'll be sending you to gather some
 other people to help you out on this quest. But you are the tenth,
 therefore concluding the core group.
 I sincerely hope that you will accompany me on this journey.
  Sincerely, Riva Allard

 PS If you refuse, I will subject you to the folding metal chair
 and take you anyway. ^_^

Duo fumed at the letter. " Next time I'm asking if we can just open the letter straight off. "

**

Next Chapter: Subaru's Shining Thing