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She-Wolf
x
Plane Jain
"I always keep my promises," Saitou whispered silkily, his mouth nuzzling the soft curve of her ear.
"Mhhmmmm," Tokio moaned, her neck arching back, the tip of her crown brushing her husband's neck. "There was word from Kyoto about-" A soft gasp interrupted her words, as skillful fingers traced a delicate pattern underneath her kimono.
"Oh really, koishii? What word?"
"A ship that lit up the night sky with phantom lights, the sighs of a mountain crumbling, and the boy-" Another gasp, before it was stifled by a hungry mouth, tongue flicking against a lower lip.
"I never doubted you, beloved. I was merely...afraid, for your safety. You never promised to come back in one piece."
"No, I didn't. I only make promises that I can keep."
"Is this the-"
"Not as long as Himura's in Tokyo. He attracts trouble by simply breathing. Fujita Goro will have a busy year ahead of him, cleaning up after his messes."
Teeth caught at sensitive skin, nipping it lightly. "I've missed you Tokioko…"
"My lord…" A sigh escaped from her mouth, as she pulled away gently from his grasp, long black hair shading the side of her face. "And Kyoto? Do the streets still run red with blood? Do the howls of the wolves echo throughout the alleys, warning all away from the power of the Bakufu?"
"Tokio-"
"I need to know. Do the assassins of Katsura still hunt the streets? And the Battousai- You swore that you would kill him, or die trying. Shall I air out my white kimono, and prepare your mortuary tablet? Pour out a cup of sake and offer it-"
"How long?" Strong calloused hands brought her chin up to meet his sharp, glittering eyes. Tokio lowered her eyes demurely, but Saitou could see the way her teeth bit into the bottom lip, chasing blood away.
"Months," Saitou whispered, his eyes raking her still form.
"The nights you were gone were cold and empty. I never doubted your word. How could I, when I know who you are?" A Wolf of Mibu, went unspoken.
"But there was no breath save for my own, no thoughts except my own, no touch except my own. And I wondered, as the days past, and rumors flew to Tokyo, but you had still not appeared." Tokio trembled a little, hands fisting in her lap.
"And Fujita Nanao smiled at her neighbors, and took in a small orphaned child out of the charity of her heart- but Saitou Tokio wondered what was happening in the city of blood, and spent the nights alone, waiting."
"Shishio, the assassin, proved to be alive," Saitou said, cutting through the tense silence that followed her quiet words. "He had plans. Battousai stopped him."
Tokio drew in a sharp breath. "And you, beloved?"
"Fujita was there at the right time and at the right place."
"Hajime-?"
His voice was hardened steel. "Wanted you." His yellow eyes narrowed, until they were nearly slits. "It was difficult, without you here. I had forgotten how much it hurt to be alone." His voice roughened to the point of a growl. "Tokioko."
"My lord…I believe my name is Nanao now." Fujita Nanao, cheerful and dutiful wife of Inspector Fujita, a middle-class woman who kept a small garden and house. Gone was the headstrong noblewoman from Aizu, famed for her beauty and wit. Her smile grew brittle.
"I thought we had dealt with this issue before. You agreed to-"
"I agreed to follow my husband into hiding to save him. I agreed to become Fujita Nanao for my husband, to forget the Bakumatsu and live in the Meiji era. When you went back to Kyoto I-" Tokio fell silent, her eyes hooded.
"I couldn't stop the memories."
Arms encircled her slight frame and pulled her firmly towards his lap, until she was cradled, gently, as though she might break and shatter any moment.
"Koishii…" His large calloused hands swept the bangs away from her face, rough against her smooth skin. "All I can offer you is what I gave you all those years ago. Nothing has changed, except for our names…and perhaps my occupation. I can't promise anything, not in the future, not even now. But I can assure you, you are talking to a wolf here. And people have told me I am very hard to kill. I'm here. Is that enough?"
"It was enough ten years ago. I can only hope that it is now." Tokio looked down at her folded hands, her eyes hooded. Saitou swore softly. "I promise that when this is over, all of it, we will go somewhere quiet. Away from all of this."
She gazed at him for a long while, her eyes unreadable. And then she smiled, tracing the shape of his hard mouth with a fingertip. "I head Hokkaido is beautiful in the summer…"
I mean if she married a wolf, she couldn't exactly have been a bodhisattva.
More like cunning, intelligent and a touch manipulative...
[And finally some closure for the epilogue!]