Wolf's Rain

A crimson moon hangs over Edo, now Tokyo in this seventh year of the Meiji Era, keeping watch through dark, heavy clouds. It catches sight of a figure flitting between the shadows of buildings, like a hunted animal.

Just as this man suspects, he is hunted.

Hunted by a lone wolf.

The figure ducks into a dark alley, hoping to shake the feeling that someone is pursuing him. At the end of the alley he turns right, follows the line of wood and paper houses until he comes to the next street, makes a left, then ducks into the next alley on the right, thinking to circle back to the street he started down after leaving his house.

As he leaves the alley, the strange feeling leaves him. He heaves a sigh of relief and sets off toward his meeting. Thinking to take a shortcut, he turns onto a short street with tall estates and cherry blossom trees lining both sides, shading the street from the light of the moon.

Instead, he finds his way blocked by a figure cloaked in darkness.

"Ah, Ishimoto-san. Just the man I was looking for."

The man starts in surprise. "W-w-what do you want? Why are you following me? I have a police escort that will come if I call!" he stuttered, panicked that maybe he wasn't 'home free' as the westerners said.

The figure stepped into a small patch of moonlight, revealing a tall, gaunt man in a police uniform with short, dark hair and bangs that framed either side of his face, like a spider's legs. He had very squinty eyes and at his left side, he held a katana in a loose grip.

One side of his mouth curled in a half-smile. "If by police escort you mean Officer Takamura, he's been given the night off. I'm filling in for him tonight. As for why I am following you tonight... Tell me. Do you like ticks? Leeches?"

Ishimoto was thoroughly confused now, though he could not help but notice the sinking feeling that was pushing his stomach down to his feet. "What are you talking about?"

The strange man fully opened his eyes, revealing the cold, ruthless, pale, yellow eyes of a wolf. "Parasites, Ishimoto-san. They attach themselves to a larger organism, and feed off of it. In some cases, the parasites eventually rot the organism from the inside out while the parasites enrich themselves. And everything collapses and the parasites jump off and find something else to feed off of." The man started taking measured steps toward Ishimoto. "I despise the idea. And I consider people that practice such things despicable."

A block of frozen lead dropped into Ishimoto's stomach. The other man kept advancing, and some primal instinct started moving Ishimoto's feet back.

"Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to remove such creatures from the back of the Meiji government. Imperfect as it is, it is still preferable to chaos." The man's right hand moved up to rest on the hilt of the katana. Ishimoto's eyes widened as his worst fears seemed to be confirmed. "And you happen to be the next parasite that gets eliminated."

Ishimoto turned to run and managed to take a step before he heard the sound of metal rasping on metal and felt cold steel slice into his back.

The other man cleaned the blade on Ishimoto's clothes and slid it back into the scabbard with another hiss of metal scraping metal. He turned to look at the body bleeding out on the ground and said, "Do not worry though. You certainly will not be making the journey to hell alone tonight." With that, he turned and strode purposefully back down the street.

Only the moon heard the man mutter, "Aku. Soku. Zan."

A breeze blew up as the man walked away, lightly frosting the corpse with cherry blossom leaves and a rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

*****

"Ishimoto should have been here by now."

"The baka probably just had trouble getting his oni-children to bed. Let's just start without him."

Five men gathered in a special room of a western-style restaurant. For anyone to be in the restaurant at this hour was strange, especially seeing as how there were no employees working, but these men had a special arrangement. Each was a fairly average, mid-level functionary in the Meiji government. In return for use of the room in complete privacy, the men would see to certain...privileges.

Together, they had a plan to gain influence and get rich in the process.

Each had significant confidence in their own abilities. Whether it was warranted or not...

The conspirators fell back to drinking and congratulating each other on their progress, their missing comrade forgotten.

"Ah, I almost forgot. A bit of business, gentlemen, before we continue. I've been contacted by someone named Makoto Shishio who seems very interested in what we are doing. He has even offered his support. Should we accept?"

"Who is he?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I had never heard of him before one of his men delivered his proposal to my house."

"Then what can he offer?"

"He assured me that he could provide us with whatever we require, from funding to security and muscle."

Everyone jumped as a sharp rap came at the sliding paper door. The group looked at each other in confusion.

"Ishimoto?" one of them offered.

Before any of them could move to open it, the door slid open of its own accord, revealing a tall, gaunt, dark haired man in a police uniform sillouhetted by the low hanging moon...

"Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Goro Fujita. You do know that this establishment is closed, yes?"

The men looked at each other, somewhat relieved that it was only a single policeman that seemed to have no idea what it was that he had stumbled upon.

"Of course, officer. We have a special arrangement with the owners."

"I see."

"And I'm sure that we could come to some sort of beneficial arrangement. For example, Tsukasa here is with the Home Ministry and works closely with the Police Bureau. We could ensure your career, and in exchange we would ask you to forget anything that you may or may not have heard tonight."

"That's a very generous offer," Fujita said in a smooth voice. The squinty eyes opened again. "However, one does not tame a wolf, much less a Wolf of Mibu."

The eyes of the older members of the group widened in recognition, and the word "Shinsengumi" made its way to the lips of several.

"I have a counteroffer for you all. I will arrange for you a trip to hell. And in exchange, I ask nothing."

Fujita stepped into the room, and the katana he had been holding at his side became visible. A gust of wind entered the room, extinguishing the lamps. He straightened his thumb against the guard, revealing an inch of a blade shined to an almost mirror finish, glinting in the moonlight.

As the moon was shrouded by the heavy rain clouds, the katana slid free of its restraint with a long shishhh.

Before he could move any further, Fujita was assailed by pleas and bargains. Questions, asking why he would do such a thing, when he could get more by sparing the individual in question. Money, power, women, whatever his heart desired. All that would be required of him was sparing their lives.

Fujita only allowed a small smile cross his face.

The first drops of rain striking the ground coincided with the first screams and spatters of blood against the rice paper walls.

*****

The man known as Goro Fujita ­strode down the street a block away from a western-style restaurant. As he walked, he allowed himself a small celebration for a job well done and worked a pack of cigarettes from a pocket on his police uniform. He picked one out, stuck it in his mouth and restored the pack to his pocket. Then he freed a match and in an impressive feat of skill, he lit the match and the cigarette, all the while juggling the katana and shielding the flame from the rain.

He took a drag and let out a slight sigh of satisfaction. Something drew his eye to the shadowed face of the building to his left and he halted, taking the cigarette from his mouth and letting it fall to the rain-soaked ground. He crushed it out with the heel of his boot and continued on.

A figure detached itself from the wall and glided forward to place itself in Fujita's path. "Fujita-san."

"I'm sorry, sir, I just got off duty and it has been quite a day. If this is a matter that requires my personal attention, I will be back tomorrow and you may speak to me then. In the mean time, if you will excuse me..."

Fujita stepped around the shorter man and continued walking.

"I think that you'll be interested in what I have to say, Fujita-san. Or perhaps I should call you by your true name, Hajime Saitou."

This stopped Fujita in his tracks. He turned his head to look back over his shoulder. "You have my attention."

"I am Detective Haji. Several people have noticed several government officials suspected of corruption ending up dead. I have been tasked with investigating, and in the course of my work, I came across you. To make a long story short, we would like to bring your activities under government supervision. An organization has been extending feelers to various criminal organizations and corrupt officials. We think that your special skills as a Wolf of Mibu, ex-captain of the Third Squad of the Shinsengumi, could be put to use to remove this cancer. You would naturally be allowed significant latitude in the course of your work."

Hajime Saitou's eyes narrowed slightly. "So, the Meiji Government is so weak, it will fall apart without the help of one man, is it? Maybe I should just let it."

The other man's outrage was palpable. "What?! How could you say such a thing?! The Meiji Government-"

Saitou's mouth curled in a half smile as he interrupted the other's rant. "Relax. I couldn't allow such a thing. Anything is preferable to blood-soaked chaos. I suppose I'll just continue what I've been doing then. Contact me tomorrow with the information you have collected so far. Same time and place. I'm going home."

Indignation immobilized Haji until Saitou turned the corner and left him spluttering until finally he turned and stormed away.

Contrary to the attitude he had shown when he snubbed Haji, Saitou's eyes were focused under the brim of his police cap as he steadily made his way home in the pouring rain.

It seemed that his next hunt would be an interesting one.

The last remaining Wolf of Mibu slowly disappeared into the cleansing downpour.

Story I wrote for my Asian Literature class. Don't tell the professor that it's actually a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic. ;)