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.
~*~
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