A New Life for the Wolf
Part 1
Ana Barton
Saitou Hajime aka Fujita Goro glared balefully at the carton of cigarettes in front of him on the table. There was a small pile of cigarette butts on the ashtray beside his paperwork. Of all the days… today was just not his day.
The first order of business that day was for him to do some paperwork for a change, but no. That bloody tori-atama just had to barge in and drag him out to the bloody Kamiya dojo to settle a fight that if that bloody Battousai was just that, would be over in a flash of steel and a splatter of blood. But no, the Battousai was a Rurouni now, and vowed never to kill again… so the police had been called to arrest a burglar.
The gods can only wonder at what that bloody burglar wanted from that bloody dojo.
Then, when he thought he had a moment's peace to himself, his bloody subordinates reported another occurrence on the other side of town that couldn't be settled without the great Fujita Goro's assistance. He should just have went with his first instinct and sent broccoli head to settle it… It was a waste of his time, anyway, babysitting nervous government officials who were afraid of their own bloody shadows.
And of course, one cannot forget about the bloody asshole who dared draw a sword on him when he was having a really bad day. The other police officers steered clear of him then, but it was already too late. He was already pissed off and angry.
Today was supposed to be his quiet day, the day he could actually relax and think.
If she was here…
Saitou angrily stuck a lighted cigarette in his mouth. He was NOT going to think about that right now… If he was only a drinking man…
No, he wasn't a drinking man. In fact, he avoided alcoholic beverages like the plague. He had seen before what alcohol could do to a man's constitution – all that lose of control… He wasn't going to be like that, not in a million years. He'd rather stick to his cigarettes, thank you very much.
Saitou looked out the sole window to his office. It was almost dusk now, the light was fighting a losing battle with the dark, producing a spectacular array of pinks and lavenders and dark blues… She would have loved this. She was always outside the house, looking at the sky early in the morning and in the evening when it was filled with color. She said it was quite calming, and it really was…
He stood up. He wasn't supposed to leave the station until later, but screw the system just this once.
Saitou walked up a hill just outside town. This walk was starting to become familiar and routine for him. He walked up to a simple shrine and knelt down.
"Konnichiwa, Tokio-chan," he said gently. "I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier. I had to solve the world's problems again."
He poured some water and offered some flowers to the marker.
"I still miss you, Tokio-chan."
He stayed there for the rest of the night, leaving only in the early hours of the morning to go to his place to change clothes. He stopped by his favorite soba stand and then went to the station.
Another day had begun for Saitou Hajime.
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. I do not own and did not create the series or its characters... I'm merely borrowing them for a few pages.
