NOT MINE! *huff*
None.
None.
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Kendo no Go
In the Language of Kendo:
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters


by Akai Kitsune ::: 21.Oct.2003

89: Wolf

~*~

Kaoru could remember her first impression of Saitou Hajime; his arrival at the Kamiya dojo brought instant discord, in his false message from the chief of police about an assassin of some sort. She felt fear, as she always did when Kenshin was in danger, but she failed to see the calm, knowing smirk on the man's face - the man calling himself Fujita Goro, who had so easily fooled them all.

Perhaps that was what angered her so much: that she had allowed such a dangerous person into her home, simply because he claimed to be an officer of the law.

'We've had enough trouble from the police in the past to know better by now,' she mused with a tight frown. 'I was so concerned with Kenshin, I never even thought...'

When Kenshin came back - from a battle with an assassin who had been coerced into the attempt by Saitou, ironically - and revealed Saitou's true identity, Kaoru was given a new sort of fear, though from a different source and for a very different reason.

She never truly forgave Saitou for that, no matter how irreplaceable an ally he later became. He awoke something in Kenshin even the rurouni believed was long gone, remaining only as a ghost of the past. He made Kenshin leave her, leave them all.

Kaoru felt something, a glimmer of remorse, when the insanity of the night was dimmed and Sano, still tired and sore from the battle with Shishio, reported that Saitou did not survive the escape. The gods knew she had no reason to love the man - he wanted to kill Kenshin, after all - but there was something in the rurouni's eyes when Saitou was mentioned thereafter that made her wish he was not dead. He was not a friend, but he was a remnant of the past, Kenshin's past, and he was important, and respected in a way. Many ways.

It was because of this feeling that she didn't feel any fear when Saitou appeared through the smoke during Enishi's first attack at the dojo. Still seeking his own goals, and his own justice, which never ceased to irk her, but... his intervention had helped Kenshin avoid one more fight, spare a little more strength, and could quite possibly have saved his life that day.

She sometimes felt that she owed him a bit of gratitude for all he'd done, but it was difficult to do so, and she found it impossible to understand why Kenshin seemed to respect him so much. They were so different, so painfully separate - Kenshin, smiling and gentle, Saitou, arrogant and cold - and constantly at odds. Sanosuke, who had spent the most time with both of them, had to grudgingly admit that when they worked together, it was startling how capable they were. "Those," he mumbled, gazing out the shoji opening to watch Kenshin one day, "Are two very dangerous and amazing men."

It was hard to see Kenshin as dangerous - particularly as he did laundry, which is precisely what he had been doing when Sano first spoke those words - but there was no denying that it took true talent to hide the fierce nature of the Battousai beneath so much mild domesticity. Perhaps that was why he was so dangerous.

She had to admit, though, that the world was full of surprises, this not the least among them.

Kaoru also had to admit how surprised she was to see Saitou among those who came to Enishi's island to rescue her. She knew he was only there for Enishi, but he could have remained with the rest of his police force - a detail Kenshin quietly pointed out to her later, curiously. There was something different between them, she noticed; a deeper respect, of sorts. She didn't find out until later what it was, and only from Megumi's related account of what had happened before she stumbled through the trees. "These are my friends," Kenshin had said, when Heishin had mocked his supposed underlings and followers. Four men.

Including one former Shinsengumi captain, Saitou Hajime. The one who wanted Kenshin dead.

Friend?

'It's so odd,' Kaoru thought, remembering the words. 'All this time, we thought they were enemies, just allies for the moment, until the time they challenged one another again...'

'But we were wrong. And Kenshin knew...'

Saitou hadn't objected; hadn't even reacted to the statement. His eyes were on his opponent, waiting for the next battle to come. He cared nothing for the words of the one he claimed to have become a sentimental idiot.

But he didn't object.

It was so odd, she thought, but she was glad, and grateful, anyway. She was almost sad when Saitou moved to Hokkaido, never to appear again at the doorstep of the Kamiya dojo.

Almost.

~*~

It's rare that you find a fic about the relationship between Kaoru and Saitou, so here's my take on it. I often wondered what they must have thought of one another: the man who knew Battousai of the past, and the girl who didn't know anything at all except the Kenshin of the present. An interesting concept, anyway.

The original title was "Tobacco". I thought instantly of Saitou, but I never did get into that particular habit of his. Oh well...
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