I personally think this chapter is too short, by a significant margin. But it took me about two hours to write and about that long again to type out so i wasnt expecting it to me a behemoth or anything. I just wanted to get out another chapter. it takes up twelve pages of my notebook and three pages in word indicating that i need to work on my handwriting among other things. that aside i have another afternoon of nothing to do tomorrow for three hours between lectures so iwill be busy wasting more paper
that aside, i've realised something. at about this time in the story saito is thirty, (because i wanted to make him as young as possible, ie: revolution begins at 16 or so, thus he's 20 by the end and 30 at the end of ruroni kenshin / start of this) and Kurenai is ten or twelve. so i've decided to make kurenai about 16 now to even thier ages a little, but still dont expect the instant romance you get in other fics. VFSNAKE mentioned Saito thinking about Naruto being similar to misao or yahiko, rather than Naruto it seems more likely that kurenai will at least start out being thought of that way. i'm thinking of having Naruto be more like okita from Samurai X. which is incidentally where the sake quote comes from.
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Fox of Mibu - Save the child, trigger for a new concerto
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Saito sighed, Himura may be a fool, but his master, now there was a wise man. After draining his sake cup, he decided that quoting him may indeed be the best response to his drinking partner's question, "Spring brings cherry blossoms to comfort you, the summer stars, the harvest moon in fall and the powdered snow in winter, all of these things, and the promise of them, is what makes sake taste so good."
Saito felt that he had been quite profound, even if it was only by proxy. He was at the stage of drunkenness that made philosophy seem to come so easily. Looking over to see what the guy he was drinking with thought of that idea and shook his head, the man was asleep. Oh well, it's not like they had even properly introduced themselves, they had simply been drinking in the same bar and started talking.
After thinking for sometime Saito eventually decided the end his revelry for the night, after all he hadn't even been in this world when the village had defeated whatever enemy this 'demon' was. "A serve of plain white rice to go please."
"Maido!"
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Saito chewed on a mouthful of the rice, balancing the wooden tray on his right hand and shuttling rice to his mouth with the chopsticks in his left. Many people were bothered by the idea of eating plain rice or noodles but Saito felt drawn to it, especially when drunk. With a pinch of salt it was also good for sobering up faster and preventing a hangover. It didn't hurt that he had walked out of the village and was sitting under a tree, the cold is also good for sobering up, plus being in a cool, quiet place after coming out of somewhere as hot and noisy as the festival also feels quite good.
Suddenly there was no more rice on the tray. A strange look crossed Saito's face, a mixture of satisfaction at his meal and irritation that the drunken desire for salty things hasn't been quelled. Setting aside the tray by his feet with the chopsticks placed neatly atop it, he leaned back against the tree. With the comfort of the cool air and the still warm haze of alcohol lulling him it wasn't long before he slept.
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Saito awoke suddenly, cold and cramped, the obvious conclusion to his poor choice in sleeping arrangements, in the dark of the hour before the dawn. As many swordsmen teach themselves to, he awoke without moving, changing his breathing patterns or opening his eyes. He was completely still, waiting for some sign of what had woken him. Sniffing the air, listening for stray sounds.
There it is, light footsteps, close together, a child running. Sobbing, gasping, terrified breaths, so … a child running from something. Still, there was no sign of pursuit, maybe the child was simply lost and afraid of the darkness. Placing one hand down he pushed himself to his feet, after all it is the duty of adults to look after children.
But something stopped him, there was the sound of a snapping twig and the child, a young boy from his voice, screamed and began to run even more desperately. Something is driving him away from the village. Now Saito was definite that he needed to help the child, but now more care would be required. The tall swordsman stood stock still and strained his hearing to it's limits. The tension in the air was more than he'd felt in a decade and a half, listening for his prey like this brought him back to the bakumatsu, like it still raged around him. For a few moments he even found himself having to consciously resist the urge to snap some orders to his long dead lieutenant Okita.
Then he found it, the almost soundless step of a shinobi. When the grin of his returned purpose lit his face it was the wolf of Mibu who smiled his evil smile. Saito set off at a dash toward his prey.
Reaching the edge of a clearing he turned deadly calm and stood to watch as a boy, barely old enough to have two years of practice walking, trip on a root and cut his face on a rock. Rather than rise and run on the child, dressed in faded brown pants and a stained once-white shirt, simply rolled on his back to face his oncoming doom. Even with the tears running down his face and the terror shaking his small frame, the child chose to at least look his murderer in the eye at the end.
Truly the soul of a warrior. This boy is wasted in a village of spies and assassins.
Then the boy's death came flying from the trees, covered in a flowing black robe and masked by white porcelain, the only visible skin was that of the hand gripping the kunai that would silence the child eternally. As the cloaked form neared him the boy stopped shaking, although whether this was due to his resolve overcoming the terror or the terror freezing him in place can not be known.
"Gatotsu, third style."
Suddenly, the terrified of the target was replaced by the stern and imposing face of a warrior in the view through the eyeholes of the ANBU's mask. More attention grabbing, however, was the sword point piercing the mask and parting the flesh of the face.
By some supreme effort and a bright spray of chakra the cloaked figure contorted midair and avoided a fatal impaling. Given the desperation of the manoeuvre a safe landing was possibly too much to hope for and the ANBU hit the ground hard, tumbling past Saito and stopping in a heap. As a true ninja the figure recovered quickly, returning to it's feet and regaining it's fighting stance.
A woman's face with a deep cut starting bellow her right eye and running back to bisect her right ear was revealed when the mask fell apart. The blade had gone further than that, parting the material of her hood and revealing a mass of pale green hair. Seemingly unfazed by the fact her mask was now lost on the ground somewhere and the blood pouring liberally from her face she met and held the gaze of one of the most feared killers of the Meiji revolution.
"Who are you? What business have you, interfering with the will of Konoha, outsider?" her tone was confrontational, showing no fear before those soulless eyes.
"The business of the village? Why would you need to chase him away from witnesses and hide your actions if they are in accordance with the will of the village?" the tall hitokiri's words were sharp, cruel, "ANBU are an assassin squad, although you possess only the same amount of overall skill as others of your rank, all of that skill is focussed on combat instead of other areas ninja may choose to specialise in, that combined with the ability to kill dispassionately … even chuunin level ANBU are fearsome upon the battle field. Why not entertain a worthy opponent?"
During his stay Saito had learned that, here at least, while they were less common, female ninja, kunoichi, could be every bit as life threatening as their shinobi counterparts. He was getting into this fight even more than others he'd had in stone and rain on the way. But perhaps it was the nature of his opponent that fuelled him rather than her strength at the moment.
"Aku, sugu, zan. Destroy, evil, instantly. This code guided my life for years and I have destroyed many. But I have encountered few evil enough to murder a child and claim it the will of the people." Saito ended this sentence by dropping into a low stance, sword in his left hand, pointing down over his head, with the blade angled up, his right hand came up, just below the tip of his blade.
In the trees another ANBU stopped forming seals and dispersed his chakra, his insight had always been perfect and right now it told him that this stranger would be doing his job for him.
On the ground the bleeding ANBU woman tensed and leapt back upon seeing the manslayer's stance. She needed more space to fight this one. As she flew through the air away from her enemy , that damn demon lover, she formed a stream of seals, "Doton, Doryou yari!" mud leapt from the ground and into her outstretched hand, forming a long spear. With the better reach I can keep him out of combat distance, I can still win here. Before launching her assault she realised there was something she had to know, "Why can you protect a demon like that?"
To her horror Saito looked directly into her eyes as he responded, "Demon?" his voice was a snarl and his eyes were … yellow? "I've fought men a thousand times more dreadful than him and significantly more human than me. Real manslayers and you actually fear this child?"
The watcher in the trees nodded, in the ANBU he had also faced foes more awe inspiring than any one present and more humanitarian than himself. For any shinobi on the field that would be a hard argument to refute.
For a moment the girl looked ready to try, but before she could her enemy was gone. It took her a stunned moment to register the scream of pain behind her, and several more to recognise the object before her as the bloodied tip of a sword protruding from her throat. As she fell, gargling the blood pooling in her lungs, she heard another form falling to the ground behind her.
Eventually, when the shock wore off, ANBU captain Hatake Kakashi dropped into the clearing. With the child fainting at the sight of blood he was the only person conscious following the battle. At first he figured tonight would be another night of helping the boy avoid pursuit. Then it had turned into yet another occasion he would be required to execute a comrade for opposing the law and attempting to kill the alleged demon child. In the end he had been treated to something amazing, he was just glad he had been preparing his raikiri and had his sharingan exposed, otherwise he'd have missed it.
Being the student of Konoha's yellow flash he knew the awesome power of teleportation techniques. He also knew their limits, you couldn't appear stabbing someone because teleported objects would fail to materialise if you tried to make them turn up in the same space as another solid. Five minutes ago Kakashi would have assured anyone who asked that what the stranger had just done would result in only a broken weapon for the attacker. Yet the sharingan had clearly seen the so called 'manslayer's chakra grasp the essence of the damage done to his blade and convert it to raw sourceless pain before spreading it evenly over his body.
While he had passed out from the pain, it was clear that the female ANBU would never regain consciousness. She was half drowned in the blood running down her throat even if someone did close the hole in her neck.
Kakashi sighed loudly, first he hefted the large swordsman onto his shoulder, then he picked up the still form of the infant under one arm. Hokage-sama would doubtless want a report on this.