Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Raven and The Wolf ❯ Chapter 4

The Raven and the Wolf: Chapter Four

a side story to "To Forgive and Forget" by Ayame-chan

AYAME-CHAN SAYS: Getting closer and closer to the finale (oy vie...) and I think I strayed off a little in this chapter. If I did, well...it'll all make sense once you read the final chapter (which is the next one by the way ^^).

For the first time in Saitoh Hajime's career in Shinsengumi, he was given the chance to sleep like a normal human being. However, after countless of times fighting during the night, sleep was deprived of him. Instead came one thought that kept on coming back again and again in his mind. Tokio. The last heir of the Takagi family who held something else hidden in the dark orbs of her eyes. Dark orbs that paralyzed him at one glance.

Frustrated with these thoughts, Saitoh rolled out of bed. He took out his uniform and got out of his sleeping kimono to change into it. Although it was expertly washed, the scent of old blood still lingered. Saitoh didn't mind. He rarely noticed it. He tucked his dai-sho swords into his obi out of precaution and stepped out of his room.

Saitoh's room of choice out of many in the Takagi home was the one closest to the rear gate. The gate itself was still quite a ways from the home itself, but Saitoh was given a clear view of it. What he saw as he stepped out of his room was something unexpected.

<back gate ~ Tokio>

Tokio gave a small smile at her cousin's husband as he glanced up from the ground. Masaki looked exhausted from his trip, but there was still a lot of energy left in his eyes. Tokio came towards the gate and quickly unlocked it to let him enter.

"Took you long enough," she said in a low voice. "I was beginning to think you had gotten lost or something."

The young man couldn't help but smile at his wife's cousin's banter. "How is she, Tokio?"

"From the last time I saw her, resting," Tokio replied. "I think it's amazing that you two can handle all those children all at once."

Masaki arched a curious eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Tokio smiled again. She had almost forgotten that he hadn't seen his wife for four months. "Just clean yourself up and go see her." Her smile faded. "And make sure you won't be seen around here. The Shinsengumi have been staying here for a while and I'm sure they wouldn't mind spilling some more blood of their enemy."

Masaki nodded in understanding and handed her a letter before silently leaving. Not a sound was heard from him as he walked despite the fact that his weapon was heavier than the typical katana, and the ground was dry from the lack of rain.

Tokio gazed down at the light weight upon her hands. The letter was sealed with a very strange kanji, one that was only recognizable to the Riskbreakers. She sighed.

What do they want now? she thought as she gently opened the letter. Tokio was beginning to tire from the demands that the society kept giving to her.

What the letter addressed inside was something that got her attention. Her mother's murderer....

She quickly closed the letter and hit it in the folds of her kimono before heading towards her room. For eight years she had been searching for an answer and that answer came from the person she unexpected the most. Her own teacher.

<rear gates ~ Saitoh>

Where do you plan on going? he thought as he watched her leave.

Duty told him to stay behind and arouse the others so that they would be able to capture the young woman without any struggle. However, instinct told the ookami to follow her alone. Saitoh decided to follow instinct and see for himself. Without her notice, he quickly followed Tokio to her room and patiently waited from a distance.

A few moments later, Saitoh saw a black shadow emerge from the room. No, he had assumed that the figure had come from to room. Observing more closely, he saw that it had appeared from the floor close by. As he crept closer, he saw that the figure carried Tokio's posture and stance. So she is the ninja from before...She skillfully leaped on the roof and faded in the darkness.

What side is the old man really on? Saitoh thought as he quickly followed her.

<Kyoto ~ downtown rooftops>

The city, like her heart, was no longer at peace. The Ishin launched another attack in the peaceful streets, and the Shinsengumi on duty were struggling to stop it. Many men would die, but there was one in particular that Hitokiri Kaede was after. Whoever would get in her way would soon regret it.

She walked silently across the rooftops, eyeing the scene below her. The fighting was still going on, but nobody needed her aid. Her shoulder throbbed in pain. Kaede cursed to herself that she didn't replace the bandage before she left. Not matter; it was a small hindrance against her target.

Just as she was about to move on to a different area, a familiar face caught the corner of her eye. She smiled grimily beneath her mask. Good, he's alone. Making sure that her katana was in place, Kaede leaped off the roof and aimed straight towards her prey.

<Kyoto ~ ground>

Takeda Sachio was too busy to notice the ninja-ko jumping straight towards him until the last minute. He meekly blocked its blow but received another wound from the opponent that he had been fighting against. The middle aged man gritted his teeth as metal bit into the flesh of his thigh. He quickly counterattacked, leaving the young Shinsengumi officer dead. He turned around to face the ninja-ko who stood waiting for him.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The ninja-ko, without answering, attacked. Sachio could barely keep up with each blow due to his previous wounds and age, and he wasn't able to get a chance to counterattack. She would just simply step aside from his attack as if it were nothing. During one of the passes, Sachio finally heard a response from the ninja-ko.

"I think you should remember me from the past ten years, Takeda Sachio," she replied.

"Nani?" he shouted in frustration, aiming for the collarbone. The weapon sliced true, but it was one second too late.

"Don't you remember the Riskbreakers?" the ninja-ko taunted. "Remember."

Sachio did remember them; the mercenaries for hire who held no view on how they thought about their civil war. He thought of them as honorless dogs only looking for money to satisfy their needs to kill. He despised every Riskbreaker, even the one who was aiding them right now.

A shadow passed before him and he instinctively reacted but was once again a second too late. Experience told him mind to observe his opponent's moves, to see if there was a weakness within. Unfortunately, there were none.

"Do you remember Hitokiri Kaiten, Takeda Sachio?" the ninja-ko asked again as she easily leaped over the samurai.

"I don't know what you're talking about, woman!" Sachio yelled.

But he did remember. Hitokiri Kaiten...Mitsuragi Tetsuko. The woman he had loved who refused his hand in marriage to marry another man, a Riskbreaker. The woman he had loved and killed with his own hands in revenge.

"If you don't know, then you should be ashamed of yourself for your killing of a woman who only followed her duty," the ninja-ko hissed angrily and attacked.

Sachio was too slow to react. His voice had stopped functioning as the katana slid itself through his throat. His eyes stared lifelessly into the ninja-ko's own. Her eyes beheld those of a woman he remembered.

"Tet...su...ko...." he croaked before the ninja-ko slid out her weapon. Sachio fell to the ground, dead.

"Ie, Takeda Sachio," the ninja-ko murmured. "I'm her daughter."

NOTES: ...Straying off the subject? I think I am. But I will make it up! There's going to be a slight twist in the end and a little bit of OOC for Saitoh, but I don't think he'll be too out of character in the next chapter. R&R!

Chapter Five