Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, Rurouni Kenshin. Watsuki-sama does. I'm only borrowing his characters for a while.

This is my new Saito/Tokio fic. I'm really proud of it and I really hope that you're going to enjoy reading it… But, be aware of the fact that it is going to be very different from The Choices we Make…

It's a story set out in 2003 in Kyoto. I tried to transpose the characters and the RK main themes to 2003 while respecting as much as I could the original story's spirits. Of course, as 2003 is very different from the Meiji era, I had to change some things in the process (for example, no one carries swords around anymore; Kaoru and Misao are still going to college…)

Also note that I changed the actual political context of Japan a bit in order to fit the RK world better. I am aware that, unlike in this story, Japan has been living peaceful days for many, many years.

I'm still not a native English speaker… So, once again, if you see any grammatical mistakes, just try to do your best to ignore them as I'm doing my best to avoid them.

Enough with the talking. On with the story.

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Chapter 1 – The day it all started

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August 24th, Kyoto police headquarters

Police inspector Hajime Saito was sitting at his desk in his office. It was already past midnight, the moon was high in the sky, but he didn't even think of leaving: he had way too much work to even start envisaging such a thing…

The new case was more than complex. In fact, it was a pure nightmare. No one seemed to understand what was happening and why. The city was in a total state of chaos but, throughout all of this, he had to remain calm if he wanted to solve this. It was his job and he had to do it. But for now, he still didn't have a single clue…

It was the first time that Hajime Saito felt he wasn't in full control of the situation. Until now, his life had been very organised. Everything had been planned, planned, planned and re-planned. Once he made his mind about something, he simply went for it and always succeeded.

That was how he had gone through his studies and that was how he had been admitted in the Kyoto police forces. Once there, he had only spent a few months giving away contraventions tickets before being promoted at a position in the second division of the police forces. Almost every policeman's dream. While divisions four to ten were only peacekeepers blindly applying the law, divisions one, two and three were in charge of the real business. Violent crimes, investigations on important criminal organisations and so on.

Soon, everyone acknowledged his talent for this delicate kind of work and he received promotion after promotion until he finally made it to the top: leader of the third division. As soon as he became in charge, he reengineered the way things were handled to gain efficiency. That effort hadn't been in vain: his troops soon learnt the exact meaning of the word success. After a few years of this regime, his division was always assigned to the most challenging cases, bypassing the privileges of the first and second divisions.

The rigorous way he managed his career as a cop was only equalled by the rigorous way he managed his personal life. In his house, not a single useless object. Everything was neat and symmetric. His wardrobe contained a clean police uniform for each day of the week. And, for his days off, which were almost non-existing, he had a few suits consisting of a navy blue pant, a navy blue jacket and a light blue shirt. Some had dared say that he had only removed the badges off older uniforms… But Saito Hajime was not a man who would wear older clothes…

He almost never drank. And when he did, it was always with great moderation. Practically always… He didn't like the twist his personality took in those rare occasions so he tried to avoid it: he despised loosing control and as a policeman, he preferred avoiding trouble. He could be rude and harsh when sober, but he didn't mind it then: he always meant it and his victims deserved it.

He practically never invited anyone to his vast, but empty, apartment. Sometimes, a girl he barely knew would come for the night. But, he had decided long ago that he would never invite the same one twice and that none of his acquaintances would be informed of this. He had learnt his lesson with Sayuko, his college girlfriend and never again would he allow a nosy girl into his life.

As his short affairs could still be counted on the fingers of one hand, you couldn't really call this a vice. In fact, he was simply too busy working to take some that for that. But when he did have time, he could easily find a woman: most of them liked his style.

To sum up, Hajime Saito had, except for his antisocial personality and sometimes rude behaviour, only one bad habit: smoking. He was so dependent of nicotine that you could almost even call cigarettes his weakness.

But, that was all behind him now. His career was falling apart and he was even starting to loose control of his personal life. And he could tell exactly when things had started to slip out of his hands. June twenty-fourth. Eleven o'clock in the evening. Two months ago. That was when the case had officially begun and that was when he had met her: Tokio Takagi.

And now, he was there, sitting behind his desk, not really knowing which new direction his investigations should take. It seemed like he had already searched this whole city and this whole country. He finally decided that a good night of sleep might be just what he needed. He picked up a few things and closed the lights of his office.

"Sir…"

Someone was standing in the doorframe. In the dark, it was impossible to know who it was… Any guess was good…

"What do you want?" he asked, abruptly. He didn't really had no time to loose…

"I might have some important information for your case…"

***

June 24th, two months earlier, the Aoiya…

Tokio Takagi was laying on the couch, simply appreciating being in Kyoto. She had spent five long years away from this city, away from this country. She had wanted to specialize in psychology and, aware of the fact that getting to know other cultures was a great experience, she had decided to study in a foreign university. What was once supposed to take only four months had taken five years and now she was the proud owner of a Ph. D.

The only problem was that she still didn't exactly know what to do with that diploma… She could certainly teach at a local university, but she didn't really want to. Even if psychology had always been her main field of interest, she had never been really inclined to communicate with other human beings. She had studied merely out of curiosity, to get to know something she had never understood…

Tokio looked at her half-brother, busy with his paper work, at the other side of the room. Only a really attentive person could have guessed that Aoshi Shinomori and Tokio Takagi were blood related.

They had both inherited their mother's blue eyes, there were both tall and they both appreciated solitude, but that was all. The rest had come from their respective fathers.

Their family situation had always been a complicated one. Their mother had, in her youth, married Tokio's father. After a few happy years spent together, the cherished husband died in a tragic car accident, leaving his pregnant wife behind. Heartbroken, Tokio's mother was going from depression to depression when she met Aoshi's father. He was one of the best spies of an organisation secretly working for the Kyoto police forces: the Oniwabanshu. Within a year, they got married and Aoshi was born.

Everyone thought that this union would last for years and years, but fate decided otherwise. Aoshi's father mysteriously died on a mission. Very perturbed by this and already unstable, the tearful widow soon followed her husband in death, committing suicide. Aoshi was ten years old and Tokio was thirteen.

Time had passed and they had grown under the gentle eye of the Oniwabanshu. They had no other relatives…

They were now twenty-six and twenty-nine, but the painful memories were still fresh in their mind. They never mentioned it, but they knew it was there. It was the link between them. A strong link. They understood each other very well and they trusted each other judgement. Their close relation also allowed some teasing, mostly coming from Tokio.

"Do you still have a lot of paper work to do?" lazily asked Tokio, from the couch.

"No… That's the only advantage of business being almost non-existent…"

Contrarily to Tokio, Aoshi was working for the Oniwabanshu. But the organisation, which once had to refuse work engagements due to its full schedule, was now tranquilly dying of its own death… Times had changed.

Twenty years ago, numerous crimes were reported every hour as a group of people were trying to destabilise the political regime of the country. After ten years of bloody events, a new regime, supposedly more peaceful, had come. But the crimes had continued for a while. During all of this, the Oniwabanshu had been absolutely essential to the Kyoto police forces. They were its eyes and they were feeling the pulse of the city. But tranquilly, things had finally settled down and peace had finally come. The Oniwabanshu was not essential anymore…

Tokio wasn't officially part of the Oniwabanshu, but she knew a lot about the organisation. She had been raised into it. Even as a little girl, she knew that its goal was to protect Kyoto. And Tokio, was one of the very few non-Oniwabanshu people who knew about this. Most people thought that they were only the managers of the Aoiya, a successful Kyoto restaurant. Only very influent people of the police forces were aware they were a little more than that…

"Do we really have to go there, tonight?" asked Tokio, trying to refrain a yawn.

"Yes. We do. It's Misao's birthday. She's turning seventeen today. We can't miss this."

"But, you know how I dislike meeting people…"

"Tokio, we have to. We owe this to Makimachi-san. He took care of us; it's only fair that we take care of his granddaughter now that he left this world…"

"I guess so… But I still wish we didn't have to…"

Makimachi-san had been the Oniwabanshu's leader for a very long time… He had died while Tokio was out of the country. Aoshi had inherited the leading position but, as the business was already down, he had not inherited much…

His only real responsibility was to make sure that Misao was doing all right. She was studying at the Kyoto's College for Girls and was living on the campus. Tonight would be the first time in years that Tokio would see her…

***

June 24th, half past ten in the evening

Tokio was sitting on the grass, not too far away from her brother, looking at the fireworks lightening the night sky. She was almost enjoying this moment. Almost…

After three hours spent at a restaurant and two hours in the park, the constant blabbering of Misao and her friends was beginning to seriously get on her nerves. This was just too much for her. If they could only remain silent for a while…

Misao was a nice girl, no one could deny it, but she was loud and over-energetic. Her temper was constantly changing, without much warning. She had remained childish in the way she sometimes acted and thought. And, from what she had seen so far, her friends mostly behave the same way. Except for Megumi.

Tokio looked at the 23-years-old girl who was closely watching her younger sister, Kaoru. Tokio understood the protective feelings of the serious medicine student so well… Kaoru, a friend Misao had met in college, was just fooling around with her boyfriend, Kenshin Himura. A nice man who seem to really care for the girl but who was definitively too old for her. Way too old.

"That must be the final!" exclaimed an enthusiastic Misao.

She was right. The firework show was near its climax. Everyone almost stopped breathing while appreciating the last few minutes. And then, it was over. The night sky regained his habitual appearance.

Misao, Kaoru and Kenshin kept talking happily for a while under the gaze of Megumi, Aoshi and Tokio. The crowd slowly began to leave the park.

"So, I guess that this is it…" finally said Megumi, calling it a day.

Himura politely thanked everyone and left, without protesting. For a while, Tokio feared that things wouldn't be as easy with Misao, who was looking very disappointed. But, she didn't protest. Instead, she hugged an embarrassed Aoshi and wished him good night. She then, coolly thanked Tokio, who was very relieved to not receive the same treatment. And finally, she followed Megumi who had agreed on driving the two girls back to the college's dormitory.

And that was it. Tokio was now alone with Aoshi, finally able to fully appreciate the fresh air of the night. They both began to walk toward the Aoiya. After a minute of silence, Tokio burst out.

"How can you stand evenings like this one?"

"I grew used to it, I guess…"

"That's impossible! You can't grow used to such a noisy thing. Misao is a very pretty girl and she is charming, but…"

Tokio suddenly stopped talking to observe her half-brother. She had an intuition about this.

"You love her, don't you?" said Tokio, teasing.

"Of course not. I'm her official tutor." calmly replied Aoshi, unmoved.

"But, you love her anyway! Romantic-boy!"

Tokio thought that Aoshi wouldn't reply anything and just act like if nothing had been said. He always did that every time she teased him. But, surprisingly enough, this time was slightly different.

"Now I remember why I shouldn't have missed you, Tokio. The girl who has such a bad temper that she can't even keep the same boyfriend for more than two consecutive weeks…"

Tokio was a bit shocked that he had dared to use that touchy aspect of her life, but replied anyway.

"At least, I have a sex life. You can't really say the same…"

Aoshi looked at his sister, and shook his head.

"I wouldn't be proud of it Tokio… You're a void of real emotions. You lure men in your bed only to use their body. And, you discard them as soon as the relation starts to deepen…"

This time, Tokio remained silent. It was true… But that was all she could offer. They continued walking for a few more steps when loud screams disrupted the silence. Both Aoshi and Tokio turned around to check out what was happening. Not too far away from where they had sat only minutes ago, the crowd was acting hysterically.

"Something very wrong must have happened. We should go and see what it is. We could maybe help…" said Aoshi.

"Maybe…" slowly repeated Tokio, unsure about this.

Protesting was useless. Aoshi had already started running. Tokio sighed and followed. They soon reached the commotion spot. Aoshi was eager to help; Tokio was totally exhausted by the run. There were now so many people around that it was hard to see what was the cause of all of this.

While they tried to make their way into the crowd, Tokio noticed that some people were crying hysterically. This didn't look good at all. She was about to tell Aoshi that she preferred to leave when she bumped into him. He had suddenly stopped walking. She looked at him and noticed that he was blankly staring at something on the ground. Her eyes followed the direction of his gaze. At the sight, she shivered.

It wasn't the first time that Tokio saw a dead body. But this one was definitely not a good-looking one. A girl, who had probably not even reached her twenties, was lying on the grass. Her neck had been twisted and profound cuts marked her body. Tokio felt almost nauseous at the horrible sight.

"Aoshi… can we go now? There is nothing we can do about this."

"We can't do anything for the girl, but the murderer might still be somewhere around… We'll just stay here and observe. Maybe this could help the police."

Tokio sighed once again. It wasn't the first time she had saw the spy spirit taking control of the calm restaurant owner's body… She tried to ignore the dead corpse lying not too far away from them. She even tried to do her best to help Aoshi with the responsibility he was now willingly carrying on his shoulder. But all she could see was people weeping and sobbing.

Soon her eyes wandered again on the inert form. She looked once more at the girl and, for the first time, took the time to really examine her face. A pretty face she had seen somewhere, not too long ago, during the fireworks. The girl and her friends had been sitting right next to their own small group…

Tokio was about to report her discovery to her brother, but realising that he must already know, remained quiet instead. She looked around once more, and wondered when they would be able to leave the place. She was a bit relieved when she saw police cars slowly approaching. It was almost over.

A small and fat man got out of the first car. Obviously, he was the chief of the police district. They had been sent to watch over the scene of the crime until the special units arrived.

The small police officer looked as if he was facing the highlight of his career. He happily bossed people around and made sure that no one would come near the body, jealously protecting the dead young girl. He was acting like a king in its kingdom.

But, unfortunately for him, it didn't last long. Other police cars were approaching. The special units were there…

"You can go now. We're taking over…" rudely commanded a tall policeman.

The small, chubby police officer looked really deceived at the fact that is hour of glory was already over… He sadly started heading toward his car and called his men back while the newcomer rapidly dispatched his own troops.

"I've never saw him before. Who is he?" asked Tokio, having the feeling that the newcomer had quite an important position and that Aoshi probably knew him.

"Hajime Saito. Leader of the third division of the Kyoto police forces. His nomination occurred just after you left the country. That is why you never heard of him before." answered Aoshi.

"He can't be more than thirty-five… He was quite young for being nominated at such an important position…"

"Yes. He had just turned thirty. He was so talented that they promoted him without further delay. Not too long after that, they also nominated another young man at the head of the first division: Soushi Okita. They badly needed people like them at leading positions. I had the chance to work with them three or four times and I have to admit that they really deserve all they have."

As she had no more questions and as Aoshi didn't seemed to be about to move from where he stood, Tokio just silently watched Saito doing his job. He had already assigned every policeman present to a task and he was beginning to inspect the scene of the crime. After examining the body, he started talking with the officer who had gathered all the visual witnesses. Finally aware of the fact that someone had been closely watching him, he turned around to see who it was.

Tokio and Saito's eyes met briefly, but the sight of Aoshi, standing right next to her, almost immediately caught Saito's attention. Both men acknowledged each other's presence with a little head bow. Then, Saito headed toward their way.

"Have you witnessed anything useful for us, Shinomori?"

"No. We were at the other end of the park when it happened. We arrived too late…"

"Then, join the club. According to what we know so far, everyone here just heard her scream… When they turned around, she was already dead and the murderer gone…"

"But the place was crowded with people… It's seems almost impossible that no one saw anything."

"Yes, but it is the case. Anyway…"

Saito stopped and looked sideways at Tokio. Aoshi guessed what his silent question was and promptly reassured him.

"It's alright. This is Tokio Takagi, my sister. Half-sister to be more precise. She knows about the Oniwabanshu."

Tokio smiled politely at Saito, but he did not answered, too absorbed by the business he was trying to conclude with Aoshi.

"Anyway, as I was going to say, we will search in the girl's past to see if we can find anything there. In the meantime, try to remember anything you might have witnessed tonight. I'll come to the Aoiya in a few days to see where you're at…"

"That's alright with me…"

"Well then, see you there."

Saito walked away to return to his business. Tokio looked at him for a while, impressed by the man's determination and strength but not too pleased with his rude behaviour. Exactly the kind of man she would have gladly welcomed in her bed. Then, she looked at Aoshi who was silently contemplating the sky.

"Why did you give him your agreement on that? We both know that we won't have anything more to tell him in a few days. No matter how hard we could try to remember, we just can't find anything. We were not there…"

"I know… But, do you realise that this might be our chance to get back in business? The more I see Saito, the more closely I follow this case, the more likely he is to ask for our help. And we badly need some work. For both our moral and our financial situation."

"Evil man…" replied Tokio, mocking her brother…

"Not that evil. I'm just trying my luck…"

To be continued…

Very, very, very special thanks to Kamorgana. Your constant support and your advice help me during this whole writing process. Sometimes, I would be lost without you. ^-^

Also, thanks to Firuze Khanume. Your comments helped me in a time I was beginning to doubt what I was writing. I appreciated it. ^-^

One last thing, there is no link between this fic and the movie What Lies Beneath. It's just that the title fits my plot. That's all…

À la prochaine,

Mary-Ann