Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Life the Saitoh Fujita Way ❯ An Attempt to Entrap ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: anreg

30 Romances Theme: Trickery

As a favor to a patron, Hajime agreed to a temporary marriage; nothing permanent must come from this.

An Attempt to Entrap

Here I am. Married to one woman, when my desire is to be with someone else. `Hajime, I am cold,' she says, trying to find an excuse to get me into her bed. She knows this marriage is just for her convenience, so she can secure her inheritance. She knows I agreed to it only because I owed my patrons a favor. Yet she keeps at it.

“Then wear your woolen kimono, Yaso,” I retort to the woman on the other futon. If we weren't living in only one room at the Ueno's, I wouldn't even be sleeping in the same place as she is. I have no desire to be bound to her in any way, yet she tries her best to entice me. She has even stooped so low as to try to ply me with sake.

A child would complicate matters. I would never leave one alone in her care. A child would mean that I would have to remain with this woman for a number of years. It is best to make certain nothing like that happens. Resisting her advances is tiresome. By now she should realize that I am a man of conviction and nothing she says or does is going to get me to grace her bed.

Tiredness overcomes me, the physical labor of the day leaving aching muscles in its wake. Everything in Tonomai is hard earned: a place to live, the food on the table, and the right to be with someone you care for. Before I sleep the image of a face appears before me. Sometimes I see her walking through the sakura petals on the first day we met. At other times I see the pained look on her face, the day she came to say good-bye to us before leaving for Tokyo.

The steady breathing coming from the other side of the room tells me that Yaso will finally leave me in peace tonight. I want children, but not with her. My children will be borne by another. Just one more year and my obligation to this sham of a marriage will be finished. Then I will follow my destiny to Tokyo.