Chapter Eight

Bad News Comes in Pairs

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He blew a puff of smoke out into the chilled night air and then dropped the cigarette on the ground where he stomped it out with his boot. "Don't you know it's open season on Hell-cats?"

"Nice to see you too, Hajime," the dark-haired woman purred as she stood up and walked to edge of his porch. "You still packing a 'shooter', baby, or am I safe for the moment?"

"You're never safe where I'm concerned," he growled, mounting the steps and glaring at her smirking face. "What's the matter, Makato get tired of your shit and send you packing?"

"Something like that...except I was the one who got tired of his shit and left."

"Uh-huh. I'll just bet." He passed her and walked to the front door. "So you didn't answer my first question, what are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood..."

"Bullshit! You're never just in the neighborhood, Tokio. What do you want?"

"You know, I'd forgotten what an asshole you were, Hajime," she spat and looked away. "I guess if you must know, I don't have anywhere else to go at the moment..."

"And you thought you'd come here? Are you fucking crazy?"

"Maybe, I just thought..."

"What about your brother? Did you call him?" Saitou moved away from the door and walked back to consider the woman standing on his porch. He hadn't seen her in almost ten years, but her looks hadn't changed a bit. She was still just as breathtaking as she'd been the first time he ever saw her. 'Damn her to hell!'

"Yes, I tried to call him, but he still won't talk to me."

"Hmm, go figure that."

She shot him a furious look, her brown eyes flashing with wounded pride and female outrage. "Thanks for the sympathy." Her voice was hard and she was mentally satisfied to see him flinch ever so slightly. "He said it was too damn bad and I was just going to have to figure it out for myself."

"Sounds like Himura." Saitou chuckled despite himself. "I guess he is still mad at you, huh?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Can't say you blame him, can you? After all, you did pretty much fuck your whole family's reputation with the little stunt you pulled on me...not to mention nearly making it impossible for him to show his face in town."

"It didn't have anything to do with him..."

"He's your brother, isn't he?"

"Yes, but..."

"That's all it takes you stupid woman, or didn't you know that?"

"Shut-up, what do you know about it?" Tears showed in her eyes as she glared at him. "You never understood anything."

"I never understood!" He shouted and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Let me tell you what I understood, little girl." He growled into her shocked face. "I understood I was going to get married to the prettiest girl in the county...I understood I was the luckiest man in the world because she picked me over all the other guys around, and I was nobody then...I understood that two weeks after we got married, she disappeared without a word and left me worried sick that something horrible had happened to her...and I understood that a week later I got a fucking telegram from her telling me that she was pregnant with some other bastard's baby, and that bastard was one of my own men and that they were off in Oklahoma and she was filing for an annulment. That's what I understood, baby, so don't you ever tell me I never understood anything...NOT EVER!" Then he threw her away from himself and stormed back to the door. The flare of a match indicated he was lighting another cigarette. "If you really need a place to stay...you can stay here for a few days, but that's all. I don't want you around. You're nothing but trouble to me...and that's all you ever were."

"Gee, thanks..." Her voice was quiet and on the verge of breaking, but somehow she held it together. "I'll try to be out of your hair by the end of the week."

"Good, that's about all of you I think I could take." He walked inside and left her out on the dark porch alone. The soft sounds of her tears had nowhere to go but back out into the desert.

OoO

"I...um...I really think I should go home, Aoshi. I'm not quite comfortable staying with you and my head's hurting something awful. I just don't think it would be right. Besides, I'm afraid my brother might get the wrong idea too, and I don't want that."

"Hmm, I suppose it wouldn't do for me to get him upset with me, would it?"

"Not if you want to take me out again, it wouldn't." Kaoru tried to smile and soften the rejection she'd just given the tall, handsome man. As much as she liked him, she just couldn't bring herself to let things go any further than they already had. She didn't want him to think she was easy or something. Girls got into trouble when they were too complacent, and she and Sano already had enough trouble to last them three or four lifetimes without her adding to their problems. And the other problem was she didn't want to find herself depending on him. She was a big girl and could handle a little rejection of her own.

"All right," Aoshi smiled and squeezed her hands. "I'll take you back to the Star S, but I want you to remember there is always an empty room at my place if you ever need somewhere to go. Don't hesitate to call."

"Thanks, Aoshi. I'll remember that." Inside Kaoru was breathing a big sigh of relief. She was almost afraid he was going to be angry but knew she should have known better. Aoshi Shinomori was too much of a gentleman to get angry over something like this. Now Saitou on the other hand...that man was just plain insufferable. She was still feeling the sting of his painful words and couldn't for the life of her figure out why he'd said them. He'd been deliberately cruel and for no other reason than to cause her pain, of that she was certain.

She had also been just a little bit drunk and wondered if that had made her misconstrue his words, but as she went over the scene again and again in her mind, the words always came out the same. He'd called her 'Shinomori's whore' just as plain as day, but there was no reason behind the slur. He was just being mean, but she wasn't about to give him more ammunition.

There were only a few lights on in the large ranch house when Aoshi pulled up outside and Kaoru briefly wondered if she were going to be locked out. She nibbled the inside of her lip nervously as the tall man rounded the truck to open her door and help her out. Something was not quite right about the house. There was a strange feeling around it, but Kaoru couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Are you all right, Kaoru?" Aoshi gently tipped her chin up so he could look into her face. "You're awfully quiet."

"I'm okay. I guess I'm just tired and have this stupid headache. The alcohol and then plane ride and all, you know." It was a lame excuse and she knew it. She just hoped he would accept it and leave it at that.

"Um-hum...an hour either way does not really count for jet-lag, Kaoru, but I'll let you get away with it this time. It was sort of a tough party."

"Yes, it was that." Her brows knitted unconsciously as she thought about Saitou. She had not told Aoshi about what exactly had happened, nor the malicious words that had been fired at her. She didn't see the use of it. All it would do was add fuel to the fire between the two men and she didn't want to be the cause of further duress in the relationship. "I never have been big on pomp and circumstance, you know." Her smile was bland and Aoshi laughed.

"I'll try and remember that," he said. "Can I walk you to the door?"

"Um, better not. If Mr. Saitou sees you..."

"True, that wouldn't be a pretty picture, would it?"

"Not really considering he gave a very specific warning that you weren't allowed to set foot on his property."

"Then we'll have to say 'Good-night' here, Kaoru. Thank you for going with me. I enjoyed your company very much."

"Thank you for inviting me, Aoshi. And...and thank-you for the dress and the shoes and the excitement of a plane ride."

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You're most welcome," he whispered against her soft skin. "You look beautiful in them so I hope you'll keep them as my gift."

"Really?" Her blue eyes were wide and questioning as she looked up into his face. "I can keep them?"

"Of course." He laughed, and stroked his knuckles down her face. "I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't want you to keep them, Kaoru. Of course, they're yours. I don't go around confusing one woman for another and they were always meant for you."

"Wow," she said, and twirled around making the skirt billow around her. "I've never had anything this beautiful before, well aside from the gorgeous dress from Kamatari. Thank you, thank you so much."

"You're welcome." He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers and watched her antics, the moonlight shining down on her hair making it look like shimmering obsidian. "You're a beautiful woman, Kaoru. I hope this isn't the last gift you let me give you."

Kaoru stopped spinning and gapped at the tall man. "I...ah...what?"

"You're beautiful," he repeated and walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands. "I'll call you soon," he said. "I promise." Then he kissed her forehead and turned back to his truck. "Good night, Kaoru." He called softly as he climbed in and started the engine.

"Good night, Aoshi." She called back and watched him drive away. 'Oh My God!' She raised a hand to her burning face and closed her eyes. 'Is that not just the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life? YES!'

"Well, wasn't that sweet?" Acidic sarcasm oozed down off the porch and burned its way across the yard until it sizzled into Kaoru's love-struck mind. "It almost made me want to puke, it was so sweet...I thought I told you to keep Shinomori off my property, hell-cat."

'Oh shit, please don't let this be true...not now...not after what happened...not after what he said.' "He had to bring me home..."

"Let's get one thing straight, Princess...this isn't your home."

"Thank God." Kaoru's shoulders slumped and she turned to walk up the path to the front steps. "I wouldn't live here on purpose if it was the last place on earth."

"Really," Saitou took a drag on his cigarette and then flipped the butt out into the yard. "Then what are you doing here because, according to your brother, this is the last place on earth."

Kaoru stopped halfway to the door and turned to look at the man standing on the porch. Tears of emotional pain burned in her eyes and threatened to spill over, making her vision skew in the darkness and his image blurred. "Why?" she whispered, dropping her head and bringing a hand to cover her face. "Why do you say this kind of stuff to me all the time? I've never done anything to you. I don't even know you and you don't know me. We are perfect strangers, yet you treat me like we're old enemies...bad enemies." She raised a tear streaked face to him. "It isn't right for you to do this to me, and you know it. It's not fair for you to hate me just because I'm a girl."

Saitou managed to stay quiet through her tearful outburst, but the ending remarks hit a place a little bit too close to home, especially considering whom he let through his front door a little over an hour ago. He was not prepared for this particular confrontation and really couldn't think of anything to say in response. This woman's usual MO was to crawl all over him like a rabid she-demon, shredding his skin in the process. Why didn't she do that now? A surge of guilt surfaced as he recalled the cruel words he'd spoken to her when they'd danced earlier that evening. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what had made him do that to her. They had been having a rather humorous conversation at the time, and she was just drunk enough to be pleasantly funny without being annoying. What made him say that horrible insult to her? Seeing the way Aoshi had tenderly parted from her he knew there was no truth to his crude accusation.

His guts squeezed tight and he lowered his gaze to look at the shadowy outline of the tips of his boots. "It's getting chilly out here," he said, avoiding her questions by changing the subject. "And you're going to freeze in that dress if we don't get inside. That is, unless you want to freeze?"

"No," Kaoru shook her head and wiped her face with the back of one hand. "We may as well go in. I think I'd just as soon go to bed anyway. Its been a long day and I'm tired and I think I'm about to suffer from a horrible hang-over."

"Sure," he replied in a low tone and opened the door for her. "It's late too."

Kaoru walked through the door and headed straight for the stairs. Hitching up the front of the long dress, she carefully started up, noticing that it was a little harder to climb in the high heels while one's balance was disturbed by a certain level of inebriation. As she wadded the material up in one hand, she grabbed the banister with the other and steadied herself. The visions of tumbling back down and breaking her neck just wasn't on her list of things to do tonight. All she wanted was to go to the bathroom and wash the paint off her face and then go to bed. It had been one of the more enjoyable and horrible nights in her life that she could remember. It was past time it was over. Way past time.

"Good-night, Kaoru." Saitou muttered under his breath. He watched her climb the stairs, waiting to see if she made it all the way without falling off those ridiculously high heels. When she disappeared down the hallway toward her room, he breathed a sigh of relief and then turned toward his office. He needed another cigarette and a stiff drink. Tokio was up there. He had purposefully not put her in her old room and given her no explanation when she asked why. Now, as he sat down behind his desk with a double shot of whisky, he wondered why he hadn't told her about Kaoru. Even he didn't know the answer to that question.

The whiskey burned going down, but it felt good.

OoO

Once inside the spacious bathroom, Kaoru decided to take a full shower instead of just washing her face. After the day and evening she just had, she felt like she deserved a little pampering. Now, standing beneath the steaming spray of water, she was glad she made the change of plans. The heat washed down her back, soothing the tense muscles and relaxing the strain she was feeling. A good shampooing of her long ebony hair left her feeling clean and renewed. The dull headache she had from the liquor and stress was quickly ebbing.

A fast toweling of her hair left it damp and tangled, but since her room right next door she didn't worry about trying to comb it. Normally, she'd go through the adjoining door between her room and the bath, but unfortunately, she'd forgotten to unlock from her bedroom side. No matter, she only had to go a couple of feet in the hallway. She picked up her scattered clothes, wrapped a heavy blue towel around her body, and skipped out into the hallway... and right into the face of a woman she didn't know.

"Ahhh... I ..."

"Well, well, well," Tokio sneered in a nasty voice as she looked Kaoru up and down with glittering hate-filled eyes. "Just who the hell are you? Hajime's new housegirl?"

"E-excuse me?" Kaoru stuttered and blinked in surprise at the malevolence in the woman's voice. "I don't think I know what you mean." Her brain started to work furiously as she tried to remember if they were supposed to be getting company. Was Tari expecting anyone? Was this one of Saitou's relatives? She certainly shared his hateful disposition.

"Oh please, don't give me that crap, little girl. I wasn't born yesterday. I know a prime piece of ass when I see one." She tossed her long chestnut colored hair over her shoulder with an angry hand. "So, do you pretend to help him with his books, or do you fiddle with Kamatari's spoons in the kitchen? Hmm?"

"I don't think I like what you're insinuating, Miss 'whoever you are,'" Kaoru snarled, finding her own temper. "My brother works for Mr. Saitou as his foreman. I don't do anything for him. I just live here."

"Oh ho! Well, isn't that convenient for everyone, especially Hajime." Tokio took a step closer to the small-framed dark-haired girl who stood about an inch taller, wanting nothing more than to wring her neck. "It doesn't matter what you do, you little whore. He's mine. He always was and he always will be... I just have to remind him, so you'll be out of here in no time."

"I don't know what you're talking about and I don't appreciate being called such a rotten word." Kaoru stared at the pretty woman in bewilderment. This must be one of Saitou's old girlfriends. Boy, did he know how to pick 'em. "If you want him so bad, you can have him. He hates me and I'm not so fond of him... so be my guest, but I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me alone." She turned away from the gaping woman and stomped down the hallway to her room and opened the door to go inside. That was when all hell broke loose.

"No! No! No!"

Suddenly Kaoru was yanked backwards by a length of her hair. The clothes in her arms went flying in every direction and she fell back on her butt with a painful 'Oof.' The towel she was wearing came precariously close to coming off and she scrambled to keep it closed and covering her more delicate secrets. Then she wiped the long damp strings of her hair out of her face and looked up to find a seething demon glaring into her face.

"You fucking bitch!" Tokio could feel the heat of her rage boiling in her face. Her pulse was pounding in her temples, and one of her migraines was threatening to explode. This little tramp was the reason Hajime had refused to put her in her old room. He had already put HER in it.

"Wh-what?" Kaoru scooted back across the floor away from the threat looming over her. "What's wrong with you?"

"How could he do this to me?" She started to cry and her dark brown eyes glazed over. It was just too fantastic to be real. It couldn't be real. "How could you do this to me, Hajime? How?"

"Tokio, what the hell are you doing?" Saitou rounded the corner at a dead run. When he heard the loud 'thump' through the ceiling, he had shot out of his office and raced for the second floor. He wasn't quite prepared for what he saw: Tokio, crying and ranting, and Kaoru on the floor with nothing on but a bath towel. It was fairly obvious what had happened. He just hoped the girl wasn't hurt.

"Kaoru," he knelt down beside her and touched her arm. A pair of frightened eyes turned to look at him, and his gut squeezed again. "Are you all right?"

"I...I guess so," she nodded. "Who is she? She yanked half my hair out."

"Uh, sorry about that," he said and slipped an arm around her waist, helping her to her feet. It was a concentrated effort to make sure the towel stayed in place, and he knew he had drank too much because the sight of her barely clad body was making him think about things he knew he shouldn't. Things he hadn't thought about in years. It was suddenly a little bit harder to breathe than it had been a few minutes before.

"I guess it's time for introductions." Saitou looked between the two women and frowned. He really didn't want to do this but it was inevitable. If anyone deserved the explanation, it was Kaoru, although why he felt that way he wasn't sure. "Kaoru," he began, only to be cut off by a whirlwind of light brown hair and pale blue pajamas.

"What's all this noise? A body can't sleep with so much noise. I swear, if a man wanted to be tortured, this would be the place to go." Kamatari burst from his room in a flurry of arms and hands. "All I ask is for a quiet night's sleep so I can do my job, and what do I get? A hallway full of loud voices, and banging... Oh my." He stopped suddenly as his eyes fell upon the three people and their various states of dress. "Oh my, my," he said again and approached the strange looking scene. "Just exactly what is going on here?" he asked.

"Hello, Kamatari."

The effeminate cook lurched at the sound of that husky voice and turned to face the owner. His jaw dropped and worked up and down several times as he tried to find his voice and something intelligent to say, but all that came out of his mouth were a few little squeaks and gargles. To his astonished eyes she had not changed one bit from the young woman barely past girlhood who came to the ranch and married his employer ten years earlier. Perhaps a little more mature and curvy, but otherwise she was just as beautiful and breathtaking as he remembered.

"Tokio..." he finally managed. "I... what are you doing here?"

"I left Shishio," she replied in a short voice. "It...it didn't work out."

"And you came back...here?" His incredulity was painfully evident and the dark-eyed woman flinched. "Don't you think that is a tad on the bad form side of things, dear?"

"I didn't have anywhere else to go. Kenshin still won't talk to me."

"I see." Kamatari turned to look at Saitou and Kaoru. His eyebrows went up when he saw how close together they were standing. The fact that his employer had his arm around the pretty girl's waist didn't get past him either. He found the entire scene more than interesting. Hajime Saitou rushing to the assistance of a girl he professed to hate? That was very interesting indeed, especially when he was protecting her from the wrath of his own ex-wife. "Have you introduced these two yet?"

"I was just getting around to it when you came blasting out of your room."

"Ah," Tari nodded his head. "Would you like me to do the honors? I know how you hate pomp."

"Please, be my guest." Saitou felt Kaoru stiffen in his arms. She wasn't going to like this and for some reason, he felt bad about that. It was also a testament to her shock that she hadn't punched him in the gut and locked herself in her room.

"Miss Kaoru," Kamatari moved over to the apprehensive girl and patted her cheek reassuringly. "It appears you've finally been caught up in our little, ah, tragedy."

"What are you talking about, Tari?"

"Well," he turned to face the other woman briefly. "May I introduce Tokio Himura?"

"Himura?" Kaoru looked horrified and confused all at the same time. "You mean, as in Kenshin Himura? Aoshi's foreman?" She knew that the bombshell had dropped before she left with the redhead that evening, but to actually see the cause of so much pain standing right in front of her.

"That's right. This is his sister." Kamatari watched the play of confused emotions rush across Kaoru's face and then took a deep breath. "She also happens to be Mr. Saitou's ex-wife."

"Ex... she's… what! Why would she be here?" Suddenly everything made sense. Horrible, awful sense. All the nasty, insinuating insults the woman had heaped on her. Her freaking out about Kaoru being in this particular room, the white fur coat... this was the woman who was responsible for the way Saitou treated her, the hatred he drowned her in, punishments she endured because of this woman...for this woman. She wanted explanations, and she wanted them now.

"What did you do to him?" she spat, breaking away from Saitou's hold and shoving her nose up into the other woman's face. "I want to know what you did because I'm bearing the brunt of his anger and hatred in your place, just like any woman that's crossed his path since you. And just for the record, if anyone is a bitch around here, it's you. I didn't do anything to you. I didn't know this used to be your room. I knew it was Mr. Saitou's ex-wife's room because Tari told me, but I didn't know who you were. How dare you treat me like this and make such assumption about my character. I'm not that kind of a girl. For your information, I'm still a virgin!"

"Well, I should hope so at eighteen," Saitou muttered.

Kaoru directed her venomous glare toward him. "I'm twenty-seven you overgrown ape!" She then redirected her attention to the woman. "I'm not a slut like some people. I don't sleep with just anybody. Now you tell me what you did to this man to make him treat women like garbage, or I'm kicking the shit out of you."

Tokio backed up from the seething, blue-eyed wolverine snapping at her throat. Her gaze darted from one man to the other, looking for help with the threat but found none coming her way. Instead, Saitou folded his arms across his chest and Kamatari clasped his hands behind his back. Neither made any move to stop the girl.

"If I were you, Tokio, I'd tell her what she wants to know. Just from my own experience, she's a pit-bull. The only thing that might save you is if her towel falls off." Saitou smiled a small, acidic twist of the lips. He was enjoying this. A quick look in Kamatari's direction showed the slender cook was enjoying it as well.

"I... I, ah..." Tokio was suddenly at a disadvantage. This girl wasn't bluffing. She could see it on her face. She really would try to do her physical harm if she didn't tell her what happened. She was backed into a corner with nowhere to go.

"I...I had an affair with Hajime's foreman, Shishio Makato."

"You what?" Kaorus eyes bugged out of her head. "Are you insane? Did you do it after you got married or before?"

"Um... both." Her eyes lowered. She couldn't meet the blazing blue gaze any longer.

"Both!" The impact of that single word hit Kaoru like a two-ton bale of hay. This woman had been cheating on Saitou before and after they'd gotten married. And she had the nerve to show up now, ten years later saying that he belonged to her? She was a real piece of work. "You got married while you were having an affair with another man?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I thought I could have both of them." Tokio raised her head and stared defiantly into Kaoru's face. "I loved them both and I wanted them both. What would you have done?"

"I wouldn't have gotten married." Karou stepped back and looked at Tokio like she had some intractable skin disease. "So what happened? Did you get caught?"

"No...I...I got pregnant."

"By whom?"

"Shishio."

"When did you find out?"

"Two weeks after Hajime and I got married." Tears glistened in her eyes. "We ran away. We had to. I knew if I told Hajime about the baby, he'd kill Shishio."

"Gee, go figure." Kaoru's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Then what?"

"We went to Oklahoma and filed for an annulment. I sent Hajime a telegram telling him what happened. After the annulment went through, I sent him papers. It was all I could do."

"Wasn't that just awfully sweet of you? Looks like you thought of everything, didn't you?" Kaoru felt like she wanted to throw up. "What happened to the baby? I don't see any kids with you."

"I lost the baby when I was five months along. I found out then that I can't have kids. Something about my uterus being tipped too far forward or something." She shrugged and looked away again. "I guess I wish I had known that sooner."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't have left. I could have broken things off with Shishio, waited for the miscarriage, and then just gone on as things were. I'd still be with Hajime and everything would be fine."

"You know something?" Kaoru walked back over to the woman. "You're one twisted up girl if you think that is okay. You don't treat people that way. Especially not the man you're supposed to love. He deserves better than that from you, and this man definitely deserved better than he ever got when he was with you. He's better off without you. Too bad he never saw it that way. You called me a whore? You better go take a long look in the mirror, girl. I think that word describes you a lot better than it does me."

Unknown to Kaoru, Saitou was having an emotional overload behind her. His brain was racing, his heart was pounding, and he couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. She was defending him. She was giving Tokio the dress down of her life and doing a better job at it then he ever had. He just couldn't believe she was doing it.

He was ready for hell to freeze over.

(A/N: Your turn Belle, dear.

Thanks to everyone for your support and the great reviews. God Bless. Tsuki-san)

Edited: 2/20/10