Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Terms of Engagement ❯ Rain ( Chapter 10 )

AN: Yes, Saitou was a bit of a jerk, but he had his reasons…

Terms of Engagement

Chapter Ten: Rain

 

Saitou

“Stay put.” He gave his darling wife a small warning glower, which he already knew was doomed to failure, and slid the door to his personal quarters closed.

He turned and went down to Serizawa's office where the little lackey that had tracked him and Tokio down while they'd been coming back from the baths stood shifting nervously. Considering the afternoon plans that the little bootlicker had interrupted, his nervous shifting was an almost comically mild twitch. After the meeting, Saitou planned on making the kid's life nothing short of hellish. Dragging him off on patrol and running him at top speed around all of Kyoto sounded like a start, he could make the little puppy practice wrestling in the courtyard with Timo the ex-sumo that evening, then finish the day by making him clean every chamber pot in the officer's quarters. He smiled to the fool as he entered Serizawa's office.

Serizawa, as usual, was sitting in the middle of a disaster and agitatedly reading a document, sipping tea, and trying to eat breakfast. He didn't waste time with small talk, but just looked briefly up at Saitou and grunted, stuffing a small bean pastry into his mouth so he could scoop up a few map scrolls and held them out.

“Take `em.” Serizawa muttered, swallowing quickly and taking a sip of tea. “Okita's sick and you get his patrols today.”

Saitou took the maps and sighed to himself. He should have known that he'd pay for having one night to himself. He looked at the maps and felt a headache start. Not only did he have Okita's brainless bunch to shepherd around Kyoto for an entire patrol, he'd have to do it through some of the worst slums in Kyoto. He could already imagine those dimwitted bumpkins ambling through that rat warren singing some idiotic ditty while one by one they got dragged into back alleys and stabbed for their shoes. He didn't let any of this show though. He saluted smartly and went out to gather the patrol before Serizawa found another way to make sure he and his wife didn't get another moment of private time.

Okita was in the common room talking to one of the Shinsengumi's top scouts when Saitou appeared. His friend looked more than sick. His cheeks were bright red, while the rest of his skin was ghost pale. The exhausted slump of his shoulders and his leaning heavily against the wall were not as worrying as his labored wheezing.

Saitou stalked over to him. “What are you doing?! Get back to bed.”

Okita nodded, “J'st mom'nt. Got'a j'st `range…”

“I'll arrange it.” Saitou could practically hear the gurgle in Okita's lungs. “Go, before I drag you up there.” He glanced at Okita's men then snarled. “Only you would catch a cold at a wedding feast.”

His friend smiled gratefully, but shook his head his normally bright eyes half focused and glassy. “R'por's. I'shi'n.”

“I'll do it. Go.” He glared at the man who was giving the report, silently promising to kill him slowly if he didn't shut up.

Okita blinked, panting for a moment then nodded. “Than's.”

“I'll tell you what you owe me for this later.” Saitou grumbled carefully watching Okita stumble slowly up the stairs.

He turned back to the man. “Now, what were you saying?”

“We've spotted a group of Ishinshishi over by the banks of the Honzu. They seem to be scanning the trade boats coming down the river.” The man reported promptly.

“How many?”

“We spotted five, but four left, leaving a spy to watch the river. We continued surveillance to see if they'd return, but when I left, only the one was there. He was keeping under cover along the bank.”

Saitou looked over to where Okita's patrol stood laughing and telling jokes, then frowned. There was no chance, not even a slight one that he'd take that lot along, even on a relatively small matter. He considered a few moments, came up with a solution, and turned back to the waiting man.

“Continue surveillance. Report back to me this evening at dinner.” Saitou dismissed the scout with a wave and got a salute back as the man returned to his duties.

As a loud shout of laughter came from Okita's group, he looked up the stairs towards where Tokio was. He'd rather hoped for a long, lazy day with her, watching how her eyes would glitter, her cheeks would flush, and her sweet mouth would purse into a tempting moue when she was angry. He'd been looking forward to it. He'd had every intention of taking advantage of it. He was sure that with only a little persuasion his docile, innocent wife would fly into a complete rage. He could only imagine how stunning she'd look then.

Now he was stuck with a double patrol, a worrisomely sick friend, and the Ishinshishi lurking in bushes watching tradesmen ship goods down the river.

Tokio

“Stay put” grumbling, Toki glared at the door after Saitou left.

Insufferable man. Insufferable, smirking, gloating wolf. She huffed lightly and looked around. A few of her things were now tucked next to Saitou's. Her clothes chest was sitting next to the wall by a dark wood chest of Saitou's. On one of his tables, her raku dish with a small arrangement of fall grasses sat swaying gracefully. Her writing desk was set in a corner by Saitou's sword rack.

Meido must have brought her things yesterday. She went over to her chest and pulled out clean clothes. The bath, annoyingly smug husband aside, had been delightful. Even though Saitou had been nearly obnoxiously pleased with himself, it had been kind of him. His game from last night, as enjoyable as it had been, had left her sore and the bath had soothed away most of the ache. She glanced back at the door, wondering when he'd return. Maybe they could play again when he did. But she doubted he'd be back anytime soon. As a captain of the Shinsengumi, Saitou had responsibilities and dallying with his wife was probably low on his list of things that needed to be done to ensure a safer Kyoto.

She yawned and went over to where a futon was rolled up against the wall. She could use a nap, and while she waited for Meido to come and deliver the rest of her things, she could spend the rest of the morning sleeping. She was actually a bit surprised that Meido hadn't already arrived. Usually the maid would be up before dawn, shaking out clothes, collecting flowers for arrangements, and organizing the chaos of daily life in a household of scared children and plotting mistresses.

She was just smoothing the futon when a knock interrupted her.

“Yes?” She got up and went over to the door, sliding it open to face a dour looking man with one of her servants from home lurking at his elbow.

“He says he's got a message for you.” The man's voice was depressing as he nodded to the boy. “And he brought more of your things.” He looked past her into the room. “I'll have someone bring them up.” He made it sound like funeral arrangements.

As she nodded, the boy scampered to her side. “Thank you.”

She slid the door closed as the man turned and plodded dismally away. “You have a message?”

The boy jerked nervously around, blinking at her and nodding. “Yes, Lady…uhm…” he looked around again then ducked his head nervously. “We… uhm… you see, your uncle, Lord Choju…”

What has he done now? Toki braced herself.

The boy looked more frightened. “…have you seen Miss Meido? We… uhm…Lord Choju was asking about her last night and…”

Toki felt the world slam to a quick halt. Meido…

“…and we saw…” The boy looked down. “…we saw him and her and…” He glanced up at her hopelessly hopefull. “She's here, right? We haven't seen her, since he… and we thought we heard her, but…she's here.”

She'd been so distracted -damn Saitou and his idiot games- that she'd forgotten the danger they were all in. She didn't have to be a genius to figure out what had happened. Uncle had seen her. She'd been so busy playing games with Saitou, so proud of her cleverness, so worried about what Saitou might do, that she'd lost sight of what her uncle would do. Uncle had seen her and had gone home and found the one person who could give him the information he'd want. Which meant he probably knew everything and Meido… Uncle had never been known for his gentle disposition with the servants and Meido would have resisted, which meant…

Meido… oh, Meido, I'm so sorry…

“No. I haven't seen Meido.” She looked around the room, not trusting its privacy. Paper walls held few secrets. She needed to get out of here before more people paid for her mistakes, not to mention her own head being taken off. “She's probably at the market.”

The boy looked doubtful, but she glared at him to keep silent.

“I have a few things of my own I need to get there for Saitou.” She glanced around the room then turned away. “Let me write a note to my husband, and we can go together.”

She went over to her writing desk. Saitou had, after poking his wolfy nose in it and discovering her letters, been nice enough to put it all back in order. She slipped a piece of paper out and found one of her uncle's hated western pens and a bottle of the stinky ink he treasured. She quickly wrote out a note, sealed it, and set it out on Saitou's chest then went over to the raku dish.

Uncle, in his last rampage never realized how close he'd come to destroying all her plans. She lifted the heavy weight that held the grasses in place and pulled the leaves out. She turned it over in her fingers and carefully pried the bottom off, revealing a small water tight compartment with carefully horded man'en oban, enough to get them safely to Hokkaido. She glanced at the letter, then to the boy and nodded.

“Let's go.”

Saitou

He was proud of himself. He hadn't snapped and killed all of Okita's men. It had been a close call a few times, but he'd managed to restrain himself. When they'd dallied their dim witted selves through the slums, he'd been so busy discouraging would be thieves, that he hadn't had time to slaughter them himself. When they'd scattered like a bunch of birds through the market without even a tiny thought about staying in contact with each other, much less him, he'd been too busy chasing after them while searching of Ishishishi, by the time they'd made their way through hotels, gaming halls, and geisha houses he'd been numbed to their continuing stupidity and hadn't done much more than memorize faces for when he recovered to deal out a bit of retribution.

And for all that grief, all he had was a vague rumor that some of the lower caste Ishin were planning on killing someone, or maybe had already killed someone connected with the Shinsengumi. He planned, when he had his own men, to track that rumor down. It just wouldn't do to allow the Ishin to amble around killing people without a bit of protest. Maybe the batousai would show up…

He trudged wearily up the stairs to the common room, wondering if Tokio had eaten dinner yet. After a long, long day, he wanted to take a few moments to tease his wife and have a good meal before he went out on the next patrol. It only took a few seconds for his plan to die a painful death. Standing in the common room, waiting for him was the scout that had been keeping an eye on the Ishinshishi's spying.

The man didn't waste any words. “They're up to something. A group of them joined with the one they'd left behind this morning and brought ropes and what looks like hooks.”

Saitou nodded. “How many?”

“Ten. Eleven if you count the one stationed to watch. Some were armed, most had armor.”

His men were already in the common room. He motioned for them to come and headed back out into Kyoto. They fell in behind him as he trudged down the stairs after the scout. It was a nice change from the brainless prattling from the last patrol to hear the soft, professional murmurs as his men fell into place and readied themselves for the work ahead.

The air was cool with a cutting chill that signaled a rain storm looming overhead. Clouds, that had only been passing wisps in the morning had steadily been gathering, till now they brushed low over the city. Saitou never quite decided if he liked it to rain in Kyoto. It made clean up easier when the rain would wash the blood down into the sewers, but it also made footing trickier and harder pick out sounds that gave away enemy positions.

They slipped through Kyoto's streets passing people rushing quickly to their homes trying to outrun the storm. Shop keepers were closing up early shivering in the early evening air as they closed up their shops eyeing the sky suspiciously. Even the bars were tightly shuttered against the coming rain with only rough voices drifting out through shuttered windows into streets.

By the time they reached the banks of the Honzu Kyoto looked deserted of everyone save the drunks and the desperate. Fat, cold rain drops thudded into the dirt at their feet as they edged their way along the riverbanks to nearly the edge of town, where the scout led them through some low underbrush till they came to where two other men crouched in hiding. Everyone nodded a small greeting as they squatted down.

“They're over there.” One of the men they'd met whispered pointing to where a small group of men could just vaguely be seen through the brush and small trees a few hundred yards downstream. “They seem to be waiting for something. They seem most interested in small boats.”

Saitou nodded. “We'll find out what they're looking for after we deal with them.” He motioned to his men to split up. “How many are there?”

“Right now, seven. Four just left. They looked like they were headed upstream. Two that remain look like trained swordsmen. I think three have firearms. The others look like kids hired for the evening,” the man whispered.

Saitou nodded. His men had already separated into two units and were ready to move. He waved one unit out giving a signal for circling around. The other unit he motioned to come with him. With only seven men, two with swords and three with guns, he wasn't too worried. The guns might be a problem and unless the Ishin assigned one of their hitikori's to this project, he'd be able to deal with the swords.

As they approached, keeping low and under the cover of the underbrush, the enemy kept their attention on the river. A couple of small boats were making their way downstream. The enemy tensed, and nodded to each other, signaling towards one of the boats.

Saitou waved his men down to see what would happen. The boys scampered down to the river edge totting coils of rope and large four pronged hooks and then started wading into the river.

One of his men nodded and gestured towards the Ishen. Saitou nodded and signaled for a quick, quiet advance while the Ishin were distracted. They slipped forward like shadows, the rain covering the sound as they slid into place.

He could see them clearly now, five men sitting focused on the boat that was slowly making its way down the river, trying to get into town. Two had swords ready in their hands, waiting for a signal for an attack. One of the three men with guns was scanning the riverbank and whispering intently to the others, obviously the man in charge of the group. The two other gunmen shifted around nervously, but kept their eyes on the boat.

Saitou nodded and signaled toward the Ishin's leader, marking him as the main target. His men shifted slightly and got ready. He listened carefully trying to locate the other half of his patrol, but could only feel a small hint of their ki in the forest. He frowned and signaled for a small wait.

He eyed the Ishin again. He could, with surprise, make do with the men he had with him, but… He frowned towards where the rest of his men were. It would be safer to wait. He looked back to where the two boys were now swimming into the river current dragging the ropes and hooks with them. With the Ishin distracted, he could hit them quick and take out the three gunners, leaving the two swordsmen to fall to his men's blades. He'd deal with his other men later. He signaled the plan to his men and received a quick nod and a couple of grins in return.

The attack was quick, the leader falling first and one of the gunmen a moment behind him. The third gunman had a surprise as he slipped back and drew a kodachi and proceeded to use it on the men around him. The two swordsmen were also a nasty surprise as they quickly drew and defended themselves with far more skill than Saitou expected.

It still wasn't a problem. Saitou felt more than adequate to deal with them, but it was an annoyance. With the rain making the riverbank slippery, and half of his men wandering around lost in the forest, he really wasn't in the mood for one more annoyance. He dodged as one of the swordsmen swung, then had to dodge again as one of his men skidded by him as the kodachi wielding man pressed his attack. The swordsman struck again, forcing him to take a step back to avoid the thrust. He slipped into gatotsu stance, but was forced to dodge as the other swordsman forced another of his men to slip and sprawl against his legs, making him take a couple of uncoordinated steps back to regain his footing.

Damn. We're more of a danger to ourselves in this rain. Saitou parried an attack and shifted position to avoid the kodachi wielder and his men as they trampled around. Where the hell are those men!

He found himself at the edge of the fight with his opponent smirking at him. Considering the spectacular demonstration of falling into each other that his men were providing, he didn't blame him for the smirk. If he was the man, he'd have been laughing his ass off. As it was, once he finished this fight, he was going to be chewing asses off and there would be little laughing done. Maybe a few pained moans, but no laughing.

He slipped back into gatotsu and grinned back at the man. The man grinned back and fell into a defensive stance, readying himself. His men had finally finished the kodachi wielder and were surrounding the other swordsman. This fight was finished; it was all over but the clean up. Saitou drew his arm back, focusing on his target.

Then he was on the ground. He didn't know how he got there. It was like time had stopped and reset, only a couple of seconds in the future. He could feel the muddy sand against his cheek, the slow seep of water into his clothes, even the rain falling on his hair, but oddly most of his body was numb. It took him a moment to realize his eyes were closed. When he opened them, he saw his hand resting a couple of inches in front of his face. He tried to raise his head, to see what had happened, but his body refused the request. His hand didn't even twitch.

“Captain!” A voice yelled in his ear.

Odd, he hadn't noticed that everything had gotten silent. What had happened to the fight? Where were his men? His opponent?

“Captain!” Someone was pulling at him, forcing him to turn over. “Fuck. He's been hit.”

“Shooters! Get under cover!” someone yelled.

There was more yelling and he was being dragged. He caught a blurry glimpse of his own feet trailing limply in the wet sand. Odd, he couldn't feel them…

He was dropped behind some bushes with his men hovering over him.

“Did you spot…”

“Probably downstream…bridge or a…”

“…serious?”

“…chest…doc…”

Odd their voices were fading.

“he's not…make it…”

Then they were gone.

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Please Review!

theablackthorn: What is going to happen to Toki's dearest uncle? Hmmm… It's not looking too good here…

Reysheed: Not much going on for the comedy and romance team. It seems more doom and gloom this time. Ah well, plots have to be advanced…

keleos: Thanks <blushes> you really know how to inspire someone to write more don't you? Well, here it is. I hope you like.

Author's Notes

Bath Houses- These are fun. If any of you ever go to the Orient, go to a bath house. Yes, you have to be all naked like in a large room with other people, but they're all naked too and the same sex, so it's all good. I used to love going in the winter. I'd take my little wash pail, shampoo, and soap and head off to the hot baths for a couple hours of warmth, comfort, and pure luxury. It was wonderful. I actually treated myself to going to a hot bath in Ichon for my birthday one year. Ichon's bath is huge (the size of a large college gymnasium) with four or five different kinds of baths inside and three outside, including a hot mineral spring. It was the best birthday I've ever had. Just remember, if you go, take a shower first! You wouldn't want to wallow around in other people's dirt, so don't make them wallow around in yours. Read all about them here. http://www. japanesebathhouse. com/history. Html.

 

Sanitation- Yep, I researched it. They had chamber pots. What they did with the…stuff… is rather interesting. To know more, I'll leave it to you to discover. I did however trip over a book for this and other things that might be interesting to know. It's called Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture and was written by Susan B. Hanley. Here's a link: http: //www. h-net. org/reviews/showrev. cgi? path=22077869667600.

Man'en oban (a type of Japanese coin)- I looked up the best coins for Tokio to squirrel away to help finance her trip through Japan. The man'en oban was light weight, thin, and had a high value. http://www. imes. boj.or .jp/cm/english_htmls/history. htm

Sharpshooters/ snipers- were actually quite popular in the English Military. It's actually fun to read this part as they contradict themselves a bit. They say that sniping wasn't used until the war in India, but there was a famous sniper from circa 1700. You figure it out. The rifle that the sharpshooter uses is a Whitworth .45 Percussion Barreled Rife. It was used primarily as a marksman's rifle for competition shooting, but was occasionally used by army sharpshooters. It could have easily found its way to Japan. There is an excellent picture of it on http://www. rememuseum. org. uk/arms/early/armplebr. Htm. I also researched for range and accuracy. I found a predecessor of this gun was able to accurately target and kill at 800 yards ( a mile is 1,760 yards, so the range is a bit less then