Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Raven and The Wolf ❯ Chapter 5

The Raven and the Wolf: Chapter Five

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

AN: Ahh...the final chapter! ^_^. Don't you just love having one of those days when you finally are able to finish something and then you don't want to finish it?

Tokio stared silently down at her mother's murderer's corpse before a glint of metal caught her eye. She held her weapon just in time as the two blades slid across one another. Sparks flew out of the friction and she stepped away before the second part of the attack could be completed. Her opponent's katana created a thin cut through her mask, a cut that barely missed skin.

"Saitoh Hajime," she addressed.

"Hn," he replied as he regained his balance. A wolfish smile appeared across his face. "I guess we can finish off what we started, don't you think?"

Tokio's eyes narrowed into thin slits. She had to kill this man in order to be free of the chains that were closing around her body. It was the perfect time to accomplish that, but...why did her heart pound so? The grip on her katana felt loose in her hands as if ready to fall in defeat. Tokio gripped on it tightly again and fell into a defensive stance. Saitoh in response fell into the Gatotsu stance whit the smile still on his face. A mixture of anger and hesitation welled in Tokio's chest.

Why's he smiling like that? It's as if he knows something that I don't. She forced her mind to calm down. Tokio, you have your chance! But why...why am I hesitating?

All the time around them seemed to stop. No noise, no movement would distract their attention. The silence was so deafening that Tokio could almost hear her own heartbeat. The thud of a fallen samurai disturbed the inner silence, and the two opponents attacked. Saitoh barely missed from getting his head lopped off. Instead, he ducked below Tokio's sword arm and sliced upward. Woman or not, Saitoh knew he had to fight seriously in order to live another day. To his surprise, Tokio blocked his blow with her opposite arm, a wakizashi in hand. He immediately recognized her sword technique.

"Niten," he murmured to himself.

He quickly regained his train of thought as Tokio used the momentum of her block to swing both of her weapons. He barely managed to block the attack, but the force of the blow sent him skidding back against the concrete wall.

He's mine, Tokio thought as she lunged forward, ready for the kill.

However, her keen eyes caught the sight of a shuriken aiming straight for her injured shoulder. She tried to change direction, but that caused the shuriken to sink right into the cut on her shoulder. She hissed in pain as she suddenly tripped over Takeda Sachio's corpse. Unfortunately, the angle of her body made her land right on the injured shoulder which in turn made the shuriken sink in deeper.

"Kcht..." she cursed as her vision began to blur.

She heard a whistle sound and the voices of men shouting.

"Oi! There's two left here!" one shouted. "Shinsengumi!"

Ishin? she thought in a daze.

She felt herself being lifted by someone. Someone with strong arms.

"It's better we leave," said a deep voice. Tokio looked up, but she could barely recognize the face. The owner of the voice looked down at her, but she couldn't tell if the owner was human or a wolf.

"It would be easier to break through the line of idiots," the voice said, "but I can't leave you like this."

Tokio nodded without truly understanding what the voice was talking about. Her mind whirled about her as if time was playing tricks of speed before she succumbed to the darkness.

<later>

The sound of dripping water reached her ears. She felt something damp on her forehead. Slowly opening her eyes, Tokio looked up to an unfamiliar ceiling. Her eyes looked around the ceiling, wondering where she was.

"Sou...you can fight against poison just was well as you fight with your sword," came a familiar voice nearby.

Tokio bolted upright from her lying position and turned towards the direction of the voice, the wet cloth slipping to her hands.

The voice's owner sat nearby, his amber eyes glancing back at her. Tokio's eyes widened in shock.

"Saitoh!"

Saitoh calmly looked back at her and smirked. "I guess you have crawled out of that persona of a helpless young woman, Tokio." A pause. "San."

Tokio was about to ask another question, forgetting about formalities, but turned to look beside her. Her mask as well as her swords and the bloody shuriken from her shoulder lay next to her. Her shoulder itself had been re-bandaged with torn cloth that had apparently come from Saitoh's clothing, noticing the blue and white colors. Then finally the past few hours suddenly came back to her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You were struck by a shuriken dripped with poison," Saitoh answered as he turned to look out the window. "It gripped onto your body strongly as if the ninja who threw it wanted to you be dead. I carried you out here, to this abandoned hut."

Tokio didn't look at him. Instead, his words began to sink in. She had realized what the society had planned to do. So...they planned to kill me even if I succeeded or not...

"Why did you save me?" she whispered softly.

Saitoh glanced back at her, uncomfortable at the tone of her voice. "You are the daughter of a very esteemed family who is also the Shinsengumi's main patron. It's my duty as a member of the Shinsengumi to not just protect the city but our sponsors as well."

Tokio shook her head fiercely, not believing his words. As she did so, her midnight hair cascaded freely down to its full length. This time, she stared straight into Saitoh's eyes.

"That's not what I meant. You know that I was sent to kill you. Why did you save me?"

They stared at each other in a few moments of silence. Without answering her question Saitoh asked, "If you were ordered to assassinate me, then why don't you do so now?"

Tokio narrowed her eyes. "Then I will."

She grabbed her wakizashi and lunged forward. The look in his eyes made her hesitate as the blade stopped within centimeters from his exposed neck. Saitoh did not move from his position nor did he draw his weapon in defense. He just sat there, staring into her eyes.

"You're shaking," he said calmly.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Tokio looked away and lowered her weapon to her side.

"You will die of a reason that even I don't understand," she replied softly. "And I'll die too...even if I kill you or not."

Saitoh arched a surprised (AN: well, surprised according to him) eyebrow. "Nande?"

She let out a light laugh, smiling sadly. "Even a Riskbreaker has a limited time of use when they have failed a mission."

She began to think of her mother. The mother that she would never know. Her murderer was dead, but Tokio felt nothing about it.

A coarse finger lightly brushed across the bottom of her eye. She looked up at Saitoh, not realizing that she had been crying in front of him. His usually stoic face was unusually soft with concern.

"Crying doesn't suit a woman like you," he murmured.

"Sait---" Tokio was about to say, but was cut short with a kiss.

Tokio at first hesitated, but she then soon returned the favor. Two souls melded into one as dawn began to return. They had only known one another for a few days. Even during those times, it was just a glimpse of each other or a few words exchanged on matters that never concerned them. However, just one night together made them realize that they had known each other for a long time.

Legends say that a lone wolf cub strayed from its pack and found a raven fallen from its nest. Instead of eating it, the cub tended to the fallen creature. With its help, the young raven recovered and the two outcast creatures became close friends. The raven and wolf would keep an eye out for one another, warning the other if predators were coming their way. Their companionship lasted for years, but the cruel vision of reality would soon come. The raven was struck down by a hunter's arrow one day, and it fell from the sky just as it had on the first time it tried to take flight as a chick. The wolf had veered out the hunter, but once he came back, it was too late to save his companion. In the raven's dying words, the raven promised her friend that they would see one another again in another life. She died in the wolf's paws, and he mourned over her death. However, the wolf remembered the raven's words and waited for the day when they would be reunited.

They were finally reunited on that night.

MORE AUTHOR'S NOTES (aren't you getting sick and tired of me?)

Well, that's the end! It's kind of weird, I know, but I had NO clue how to end this fic. So, I just decided to connect the title to the story. I think it does anyway ^_^. Now the end of this fic gives me ideas to make more Saitou/Tokio fics! I'll probably just add little tidbits here and there about the current times, if ya know what I mean ^_^. Thank you for reading all you S&T fans and please, I would love to hear your feedback!

~Ayame-chan

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