Toki was quite surprised. It was only for a night but Fujita-san got her a
well-sized and very nice room. She was even more surprised that he has
arranged for her dinner. "I guess he's not so bad after all.", Toki
thought. Toki glanced across the room and the red cardboard box caught her
eye. She hurried to it and took Shigure's picture out. Her face started to
smile, "Thank you Shigure, even now you still look out for me." After
several minutes, sleep embraced Toki. It was the first time in many weeks
that she slept soundly and at ease.
The trip to Tokyo was an uneventful one. A carriage was waiting for her in the morning and it did not take long to reach their destination. Still Toki had hoped that Fujita-san would have ridden the coach with her. She needed to know more about him and his family if she was to feel at ease with them. She wouldn't know what to expect anyway. His looks did not betray him as a kind man, rather the contrary. He also had a wildness about him that it was hard to imagine what kind of wife would take him. To Toki his only redeeming qualities was his intelligence and ironically his sarcastic wit.
-------------------------------------------------------
Early that morning, Tokio was delighted to see her husband. "I was starting to wonder if you will ever come back home to us Hajime...", Tokio teased.
"Hmph. You get along fine without me.", Saitou replied. He has just gotten in and had replaced back his Katana to the wooden rack.
"What would you like for breakfast Hajime?"
"Nothing right now.", Hajime's eyes darted to the door. It was almost dawn. Toki should be coming before noon he thought as he lighted his cigarette.
"I swear Hajime. That cigarette spends so much time with you, you should have made it your wife!", Tokio complained.
"Ah! But this cigarette cannot give me my 'other' needs as much as you can my wife...", Saitou grinned, thinking about the last time Tokio and him spent a rapturous night together.
"You are hopeless!" Tokio sighed and went to his side. She slowly embraced him and ran her fingers through the button of his uniform. "I don't know why you have so much power over me." Tokio whispered to his ear.
Saitou stopped her caresses. His amber eyes narrowed and Tokio knew it was time for business... "I'd like to discuss something with you. It should be beneficial to both you and I..." With this Saitou started telling Tokio what he had in mind. His plans for Toki.
"I don't know Hajime. I do not like to deceive people."
"What would be so hard about that? All you have to do is call me by the name I go with now and act normally around her.", Saitou was insistent.
Tokio knew there was no point in going against her husbands wishes. As long as she've known him, he has always been stubborn. No amount of reasoning would be of help now and besides she would like to see more of Hajime. His being at home more will divert him from danger that always lingers around him, as if it were his shadow. "Fine then.", she pouted.
"Thank you my wife. I must be going, it is not a good idea for Toki to see that I am assigned obscure hours. She must after all think that I am just an ordinary police officer.", Hajime kissed Tokio's cheek and left.
--------------------------------------
A carriage stopped at Tokio's residence and a young lady came out. Tokio immediately came out to greet Toki. "Ah! You must be the person whom Haji... err Fujita was talking about."
"Dozo Yoroshiku... I am Takatsuki Toki."
"You are so young. The way my husband speaks of you though, I would've thought of you to be older.", Tokio blurted out.
Toki just managed a smile. The lady in front of her looked very young too. Did Fujita-san thought of her as old looking or a mature woman? She did not know if she would be glad or if she needed to add this to the list of Fujita-san's insults towards her.
"Gomen, I'm being to rude. You must be very tired, let me show you inside first."
"Arigato..", Toki picked up her baggages.
The two women walked back to the house. Tokio led Toki to the outhouse. It was not very large and there were some dust and boxes on one side. However, one side was clean with a small lamp, a table, tatami mat and a futon.
"Sorry about the mess. Fujita just hurriedly cleaned that side of the room last night." Tokio was starting to feel a little guilty for the white lies as in truth she had just cleaned it quite hurriedly this morning per Hajime's instructions after he left.
"Oh, do not worry about me. I am more concerned that I am giving you so much trouble." Toki said. She was starting to feel comfortable around Tokio. It was still a wonder to her though how a man like Fujita-san would come across such a well demeanored lady.
Her thoughts were cut off when she heard children crying. "Oh my! Tsutomu and the others must've awaken already. I'm sorry I have to leave you here. Please come to the house after you have finished unpacking.".
"Hontoni Tokio-san, arigato..." Toki smiled.
Later that afternoon Toki met the Gorou family. She was feeling quite happy. The children proved to be a wonderful distraction to her as they were always tugging at her dress asking if they could sit on her lap or play. "You have such wonderful children Tokio-san."
"Ah them.. Yes they are my little angels.", Toki replied while she started preparing dinner.
"Please let me get that for you, Tsutomo here seems to be quite tired and he needs to go to sleep." Toki said smiling.
"Thank you very much Toki. I have already filleted the the salmon and there are seaweeds in the rack over there." Tokio motioned to the corner "Well, she seems to be a nice girl.", Tokio thought, she was also happy not to do the chores in cooking. Although, her father has always said that she needed to learn the ways of women, cooking was one skill she was never good at. Nor did she even try, until after she met Hajime and learned that he appreciated good food.
It was dusk when Hajime came home. "Yare Yare! Tokio, I see that you have already started taking advantage of this young lady.", Saitou said grinning to his wife.
"Fujita-san! Do not tease your wife like that, she has been very kind to me." Toki smiled sheepishly.
Tokio came out of the childrens room and greeted her husband with a kiss.
"Where are the children?" Saitou asked. It seemed unnatural that the children were not tugging at his uniform, competing for his attention.
"They are all asleep Fujita. They were charmed by the young lady here.." nodding over to Toki.
"Well.. Let's eat... The food looks and smells better than usual." Saitou teased Tokio again.
"You are hopeless!", Tokio retaliated.
The banter kept up while they were having dinner. Saitou seemed to appreciate Toki's cooking. But it was very evident how close Tokio and Fujita-san were. Their countless witty exchanges showed just that. Aside from this, Toki noticed that Fujita-san's hard lines and angular face, seem to soften everytime he looked at his wife.
After cleaning up Toki retired to her room. She could not explain it but she was feeling quite happy and quite sad at the same time. The relationship between Fujita-san and Tokio-san seemed to be a happy one that her doubts about Fujita-san was starting to diminish. Aside from this, she started feeling melancholy again as she had dreamt of the same scenario between her and Shigure. How many times did she dream that Shigure and her will be happily married and living life as a couple? The closest she ever came to that were polite dinners they had back in Yokohoma. Toki sighed. She needs to stop thinking of what she had loss.
That night she dreamt of Shigure-san, she heard gun shots. Shigure was embracing her and she embraced him back. She felt something wet in her hands. Shigure's image faded away and she looked at her hands, they were stained red.
Toki awoke. Sleep would not come back to her. In truth though, she would not come back to it. The image of Shigure's bullet stricken body kept capturing her mind. Again she looked across the room, she had finished unpacking, however she had not unpacked the red box. She figured it would be much better for her to unpack it now. She took out Shigure's picture and then her deceased brother Gentatsu. As she was making a small altar for them at the table she noticed that there was a crack in the frame of Gentatsu's picture. To her surprise, lodged in it was a small piece of paper with undecipherable writing on it. She dismissed it as it was customary back then to leave wishes in code among the properties of the dead. Whoever placed it there probably did not want it bothered and she does not want to disrespect her brother by prying into it further. She carefully replaced the piece of paper back and made sure that it was hidden as carefully as possible.
------------------------------------------
Toki had overslept! She did not realize that she drifted off to sleep and now it was almost noon. She hurriedly washed her face and put on her kimono. How embarassing this would be! She did not want to be thought of as lazy.
Outside the three children were playing... "Onee-chan!", the kids shouted as they ran towards her.
"Ohayo! Have you children been good?", Toki teased...
A resounding "Hai!" came from the three boys. They were a cute little troop. Each just a year or two older than the last.
"Ohayo Toki!", Tokio was hanging the laundry..
"Here, let me help with that..." Toki said
"Oh, there's no need to. We've left breakfast for you at the table. Please help yourself."
"Thank you very much Tokio-san. I'm sorry I overslept." grabbing some of the clothes and hanging them on the improvised wire.
"Don't worry about it Toki..", Tokio-san laughed. "I'm glad I have a lady company in the house. Living with men sometimes get's boring. I feel that you are like a younger sister I've never had..." she laughed again...
"You seem quite amused at something?", Toki inquired...
"Ah yes... I was feeling quite uncomfortable whenever I called your name, until Fujita mentioned it to me.. "Toki... Tokio...", a smile came out this time.. "Really you are like a little sister..."
There was nothing not to like about Tokio. She was right too. Toki felt the same way about her, like they were sisters.
The days went on and they were peaceful days. Somehow Toki felt safe in Fujita-san's household. She fitted in. Although she does not talk much to Fujita-san as he was only at home in the evenings and of course she let their family have their privacy. She felt free in this household. Lately she has not even spaced-out thinking of Shigure, although the dreams were still there.
----------------------------
To Saitou, this was a good arrangement. The only problem was that he has not have a chance yet to go through Toki's things as she barely left the house. All signs though pointed to nothing misplaced and his wife was enjoying Toki's company. He could of course ask his wife to go ask Toki to run an errand and let Tokio screen Toki's things herself. However, that does not present itself as a possibility right now as they were getting to nice to each other. He does not want to disrespect her wife and displease her by asking her to do a deceitful thing.
He will let this continue. After all he thinks that Kawaji is mistaken. "Really Meiji are full of stupid dogs right now. Reliable intelligence is hard to come by nowadays." He put out his cigarette and started walking to a bar where there was good Sake to be served. It was a good time to drink as he will smell blood again later. Lately he has been feeling discontented with the assignments he's been given. Not only from Toki but also because of poor intelligence he could not practice his ideals to the full extent. Aku Soku Zan.
-----------------------------
Tokio-san was happy with Toki. They have been much closer lately. Primarily due to the fact that Tokio also need someone to talk to. She needed to share her happiness and also her shortcomings to someone who can understand. Her world right now revolved around the children and Hajime, thus Toki and her always talked about her family.
She remembered one time that Toki was so confused about her husband. He seems to be a good man, but commented on his intensity and wildness. "It's hard to explain but there is an aura about him..." Toki said.
"Ah it must be his eyes.. That is one reason I feel in love with him.. But he is a good man. He provides for his family and adores his children." Tokio replied.
"And you to Tokio-san. Amidst all the small witty remarks, I see he adores you too." Toki replied.
Tokio blushed. Yes Hajime is a good man. She did not disclose to Tokio how difficult it was early in their marriage. It took a while for her to understand and for him to open up to her. Aside from this he also had trouble when he has had a few drinks. She did not disclose this. In front of her was a young girl full of dreams herself, there was no need to dwell upon the hardships of their marriage especially when Tokio knew about Toki's misfortunes.
---------------------------------
Saitou came home drunk that night. It was a pity as the food has gone cold and this time it was Tokio who had prepared it. Tokio has been spending time with Toki and has improved upon her cooking.
"Tokio! Where are you damn it!" Saitou growled.
The two ladies were taken aback by the stranger standing at the door.
"Kami-sama, Fujita! You smell of sake!" Tokio said angrily.
"What? A man cannot enjoy sake once in a while?", Saitou smirked and hicupped.
Saitou grabbed Tokio and hugged her. It was at this time that Tokio noticed that there was some blood on the sheath of his katana. She immediately shielded the Katana from Toki's view. She dragged Saitou close to their bedroom door and took the Katana and dropped it to the side.
Another swept of concern swept Tokio's face. "Fujita please get yourself together!"
"Ahou! Who do you think you're talking to? I'm a Mibu wolf! " Saitou indignant, brushed his wife away. Took his cigarette from his pocket and started smoking inside the house.
"Gorou Fujita! Onegai!" Tokio pleaded.
The dark brown eyes stared at her. Saitou took a chair and sat down, his gaze moved from Tokio to Toki... "Toki it's getting late. Don't you think?"
Feeling out of place and in part because of the humiliating look Fujita-san gave to her, Toki hurried to leave the room. Interestingly, after she left she heard the slamming of the door and only Fujita-sans silouette was seen through the window. It looked like Tokio left her husband in disgust.
END of CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V Preview Confusion but also newfound respect is dwelling in Toki's mind. A visit to friends. An ominous omen.
IMALEFTY: Thank you again for following my story. I promise will try to move the story along. It's just that when I start to type, I can't stop. Please forgive the not so best writing in the world. This is not my native language and my first fic ever... Gomen!
The trip to Tokyo was an uneventful one. A carriage was waiting for her in the morning and it did not take long to reach their destination. Still Toki had hoped that Fujita-san would have ridden the coach with her. She needed to know more about him and his family if she was to feel at ease with them. She wouldn't know what to expect anyway. His looks did not betray him as a kind man, rather the contrary. He also had a wildness about him that it was hard to imagine what kind of wife would take him. To Toki his only redeeming qualities was his intelligence and ironically his sarcastic wit.
-------------------------------------------------------
Early that morning, Tokio was delighted to see her husband. "I was starting to wonder if you will ever come back home to us Hajime...", Tokio teased.
"Hmph. You get along fine without me.", Saitou replied. He has just gotten in and had replaced back his Katana to the wooden rack.
"What would you like for breakfast Hajime?"
"Nothing right now.", Hajime's eyes darted to the door. It was almost dawn. Toki should be coming before noon he thought as he lighted his cigarette.
"I swear Hajime. That cigarette spends so much time with you, you should have made it your wife!", Tokio complained.
"Ah! But this cigarette cannot give me my 'other' needs as much as you can my wife...", Saitou grinned, thinking about the last time Tokio and him spent a rapturous night together.
"You are hopeless!" Tokio sighed and went to his side. She slowly embraced him and ran her fingers through the button of his uniform. "I don't know why you have so much power over me." Tokio whispered to his ear.
Saitou stopped her caresses. His amber eyes narrowed and Tokio knew it was time for business... "I'd like to discuss something with you. It should be beneficial to both you and I..." With this Saitou started telling Tokio what he had in mind. His plans for Toki.
"I don't know Hajime. I do not like to deceive people."
"What would be so hard about that? All you have to do is call me by the name I go with now and act normally around her.", Saitou was insistent.
Tokio knew there was no point in going against her husbands wishes. As long as she've known him, he has always been stubborn. No amount of reasoning would be of help now and besides she would like to see more of Hajime. His being at home more will divert him from danger that always lingers around him, as if it were his shadow. "Fine then.", she pouted.
"Thank you my wife. I must be going, it is not a good idea for Toki to see that I am assigned obscure hours. She must after all think that I am just an ordinary police officer.", Hajime kissed Tokio's cheek and left.
--------------------------------------
A carriage stopped at Tokio's residence and a young lady came out. Tokio immediately came out to greet Toki. "Ah! You must be the person whom Haji... err Fujita was talking about."
"Dozo Yoroshiku... I am Takatsuki Toki."
"You are so young. The way my husband speaks of you though, I would've thought of you to be older.", Tokio blurted out.
Toki just managed a smile. The lady in front of her looked very young too. Did Fujita-san thought of her as old looking or a mature woman? She did not know if she would be glad or if she needed to add this to the list of Fujita-san's insults towards her.
"Gomen, I'm being to rude. You must be very tired, let me show you inside first."
"Arigato..", Toki picked up her baggages.
The two women walked back to the house. Tokio led Toki to the outhouse. It was not very large and there were some dust and boxes on one side. However, one side was clean with a small lamp, a table, tatami mat and a futon.
"Sorry about the mess. Fujita just hurriedly cleaned that side of the room last night." Tokio was starting to feel a little guilty for the white lies as in truth she had just cleaned it quite hurriedly this morning per Hajime's instructions after he left.
"Oh, do not worry about me. I am more concerned that I am giving you so much trouble." Toki said. She was starting to feel comfortable around Tokio. It was still a wonder to her though how a man like Fujita-san would come across such a well demeanored lady.
Her thoughts were cut off when she heard children crying. "Oh my! Tsutomu and the others must've awaken already. I'm sorry I have to leave you here. Please come to the house after you have finished unpacking.".
"Hontoni Tokio-san, arigato..." Toki smiled.
Later that afternoon Toki met the Gorou family. She was feeling quite happy. The children proved to be a wonderful distraction to her as they were always tugging at her dress asking if they could sit on her lap or play. "You have such wonderful children Tokio-san."
"Ah them.. Yes they are my little angels.", Toki replied while she started preparing dinner.
"Please let me get that for you, Tsutomo here seems to be quite tired and he needs to go to sleep." Toki said smiling.
"Thank you very much Toki. I have already filleted the the salmon and there are seaweeds in the rack over there." Tokio motioned to the corner "Well, she seems to be a nice girl.", Tokio thought, she was also happy not to do the chores in cooking. Although, her father has always said that she needed to learn the ways of women, cooking was one skill she was never good at. Nor did she even try, until after she met Hajime and learned that he appreciated good food.
It was dusk when Hajime came home. "Yare Yare! Tokio, I see that you have already started taking advantage of this young lady.", Saitou said grinning to his wife.
"Fujita-san! Do not tease your wife like that, she has been very kind to me." Toki smiled sheepishly.
Tokio came out of the childrens room and greeted her husband with a kiss.
"Where are the children?" Saitou asked. It seemed unnatural that the children were not tugging at his uniform, competing for his attention.
"They are all asleep Fujita. They were charmed by the young lady here.." nodding over to Toki.
"Well.. Let's eat... The food looks and smells better than usual." Saitou teased Tokio again.
"You are hopeless!", Tokio retaliated.
The banter kept up while they were having dinner. Saitou seemed to appreciate Toki's cooking. But it was very evident how close Tokio and Fujita-san were. Their countless witty exchanges showed just that. Aside from this, Toki noticed that Fujita-san's hard lines and angular face, seem to soften everytime he looked at his wife.
After cleaning up Toki retired to her room. She could not explain it but she was feeling quite happy and quite sad at the same time. The relationship between Fujita-san and Tokio-san seemed to be a happy one that her doubts about Fujita-san was starting to diminish. Aside from this, she started feeling melancholy again as she had dreamt of the same scenario between her and Shigure. How many times did she dream that Shigure and her will be happily married and living life as a couple? The closest she ever came to that were polite dinners they had back in Yokohoma. Toki sighed. She needs to stop thinking of what she had loss.
That night she dreamt of Shigure-san, she heard gun shots. Shigure was embracing her and she embraced him back. She felt something wet in her hands. Shigure's image faded away and she looked at her hands, they were stained red.
Toki awoke. Sleep would not come back to her. In truth though, she would not come back to it. The image of Shigure's bullet stricken body kept capturing her mind. Again she looked across the room, she had finished unpacking, however she had not unpacked the red box. She figured it would be much better for her to unpack it now. She took out Shigure's picture and then her deceased brother Gentatsu. As she was making a small altar for them at the table she noticed that there was a crack in the frame of Gentatsu's picture. To her surprise, lodged in it was a small piece of paper with undecipherable writing on it. She dismissed it as it was customary back then to leave wishes in code among the properties of the dead. Whoever placed it there probably did not want it bothered and she does not want to disrespect her brother by prying into it further. She carefully replaced the piece of paper back and made sure that it was hidden as carefully as possible.
------------------------------------------
Toki had overslept! She did not realize that she drifted off to sleep and now it was almost noon. She hurriedly washed her face and put on her kimono. How embarassing this would be! She did not want to be thought of as lazy.
Outside the three children were playing... "Onee-chan!", the kids shouted as they ran towards her.
"Ohayo! Have you children been good?", Toki teased...
A resounding "Hai!" came from the three boys. They were a cute little troop. Each just a year or two older than the last.
"Ohayo Toki!", Tokio was hanging the laundry..
"Here, let me help with that..." Toki said
"Oh, there's no need to. We've left breakfast for you at the table. Please help yourself."
"Thank you very much Tokio-san. I'm sorry I overslept." grabbing some of the clothes and hanging them on the improvised wire.
"Don't worry about it Toki..", Tokio-san laughed. "I'm glad I have a lady company in the house. Living with men sometimes get's boring. I feel that you are like a younger sister I've never had..." she laughed again...
"You seem quite amused at something?", Toki inquired...
"Ah yes... I was feeling quite uncomfortable whenever I called your name, until Fujita mentioned it to me.. "Toki... Tokio...", a smile came out this time.. "Really you are like a little sister..."
There was nothing not to like about Tokio. She was right too. Toki felt the same way about her, like they were sisters.
The days went on and they were peaceful days. Somehow Toki felt safe in Fujita-san's household. She fitted in. Although she does not talk much to Fujita-san as he was only at home in the evenings and of course she let their family have their privacy. She felt free in this household. Lately she has not even spaced-out thinking of Shigure, although the dreams were still there.
----------------------------
To Saitou, this was a good arrangement. The only problem was that he has not have a chance yet to go through Toki's things as she barely left the house. All signs though pointed to nothing misplaced and his wife was enjoying Toki's company. He could of course ask his wife to go ask Toki to run an errand and let Tokio screen Toki's things herself. However, that does not present itself as a possibility right now as they were getting to nice to each other. He does not want to disrespect her wife and displease her by asking her to do a deceitful thing.
He will let this continue. After all he thinks that Kawaji is mistaken. "Really Meiji are full of stupid dogs right now. Reliable intelligence is hard to come by nowadays." He put out his cigarette and started walking to a bar where there was good Sake to be served. It was a good time to drink as he will smell blood again later. Lately he has been feeling discontented with the assignments he's been given. Not only from Toki but also because of poor intelligence he could not practice his ideals to the full extent. Aku Soku Zan.
-----------------------------
Tokio-san was happy with Toki. They have been much closer lately. Primarily due to the fact that Tokio also need someone to talk to. She needed to share her happiness and also her shortcomings to someone who can understand. Her world right now revolved around the children and Hajime, thus Toki and her always talked about her family.
She remembered one time that Toki was so confused about her husband. He seems to be a good man, but commented on his intensity and wildness. "It's hard to explain but there is an aura about him..." Toki said.
"Ah it must be his eyes.. That is one reason I feel in love with him.. But he is a good man. He provides for his family and adores his children." Tokio replied.
"And you to Tokio-san. Amidst all the small witty remarks, I see he adores you too." Toki replied.
Tokio blushed. Yes Hajime is a good man. She did not disclose to Tokio how difficult it was early in their marriage. It took a while for her to understand and for him to open up to her. Aside from this he also had trouble when he has had a few drinks. She did not disclose this. In front of her was a young girl full of dreams herself, there was no need to dwell upon the hardships of their marriage especially when Tokio knew about Toki's misfortunes.
---------------------------------
Saitou came home drunk that night. It was a pity as the food has gone cold and this time it was Tokio who had prepared it. Tokio has been spending time with Toki and has improved upon her cooking.
"Tokio! Where are you damn it!" Saitou growled.
The two ladies were taken aback by the stranger standing at the door.
"Kami-sama, Fujita! You smell of sake!" Tokio said angrily.
"What? A man cannot enjoy sake once in a while?", Saitou smirked and hicupped.
Saitou grabbed Tokio and hugged her. It was at this time that Tokio noticed that there was some blood on the sheath of his katana. She immediately shielded the Katana from Toki's view. She dragged Saitou close to their bedroom door and took the Katana and dropped it to the side.
Another swept of concern swept Tokio's face. "Fujita please get yourself together!"
"Ahou! Who do you think you're talking to? I'm a Mibu wolf! " Saitou indignant, brushed his wife away. Took his cigarette from his pocket and started smoking inside the house.
"Gorou Fujita! Onegai!" Tokio pleaded.
The dark brown eyes stared at her. Saitou took a chair and sat down, his gaze moved from Tokio to Toki... "Toki it's getting late. Don't you think?"
Feeling out of place and in part because of the humiliating look Fujita-san gave to her, Toki hurried to leave the room. Interestingly, after she left she heard the slamming of the door and only Fujita-sans silouette was seen through the window. It looked like Tokio left her husband in disgust.
END of CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V Preview Confusion but also newfound respect is dwelling in Toki's mind. A visit to friends. An ominous omen.
IMALEFTY: Thank you again for following my story. I promise will try to move the story along. It's just that when I start to type, I can't stop. Please forgive the not so best writing in the world. This is not my native language and my first fic ever... Gomen!