"Tokio." Tokio's eyes snapped open, to see Saito lying right next to her, shaking her slightly.
"What?" She asked quietly, because he, too, was whispering. He pointed toward the roof, and she looked up.
A little light flickered on and off, and Tokio realized it was a firefly.
"Do you see them?"
"I see a firefly..." He gently reached over and directed her face to the ceiling right next to the firefly. Tokio gasped, knowing why she couldn't see it before.
It was black, but as the faint light of the firefly right next to it lit up, it glittered in its glow. A black dragonfly.
"I see it now." She agreed, "Is that what you woke me for?"
"I suppose it was no big deal." There was a little silence, and as Saito looked over, he saw Tokio had fallen asleep again. He smiled a little.
He didn't know why he had shown her the firefly and the dragonfly next to each other. It wasn't like him, to notice such little unimportant things. Usually it was her who pointed those things out. He shook his head mentally, and closed his eyes.
Akina got up early that morning, creeping past Tokio and Saito's room, trying not to awaken them.
Too late. Saito stood there, fully dressed, and wondering what on earth Akina was doing, creeping so softly past their door. She grinned at him.
"Good morning. Today's midsummer." He blinked at her.
"Oh. It is? How do you expect me to keep track of things like that?"
"Just thought you'd like to know. Where's Tokio? She usually gets up before either of us." Saito shook his head in exasperation.
"She wasn't awake when I got up this morning. I woke her up last night for something, however, and I don't believe she takes to that very well."
"Ah. I suppose it's up to me, then, to fix breakfast." They began to walk downstairs, just when Tokio practically flew past them.
"Akina, I would much appreciate it if you could make breakfast for yourself and Saito this morning! I must go get something from my Grandfather!" Both blinked and watched her run down the stairs and out the door.
"All right then," Akina agreed. "Guess that answers my question."
Saito watched his wife go in silence, wondering what that was all about.
"Tokio-san!" One of the women in the shop greeted her. "Sir," she greeted Tokio's Grandfather as well, "How may I help you?"
"Tokio-san here saw some of the fabric that you had out on display the other day, and she came to me this morning saying that she needed some. I am paying for it to be made into a kimono."
"Well, Tokio-san, why don't you come with me, and sir, you may sit down if you choose." Both nodded and Tokio proceeded back with the woman.
"I saw the one that was a dark blue, and had the-"
"Oh, you must mean this one! I liked this one, myself, but they could've made the dragonfly a bit brighter. We could see if we could possibly get it for you in a brighter color."
"No, no, thank you. The black Dragonfly is exactly what I wanted. I think it's so beautiful how they positioned it so nicely with the dragonfly... How did they ever come up with the idea?"
"You mean you haven't heard the story?" The shopgirl looked shocked. Tokio paused.
"Why, no."
"It is said..." The shopgirl began.
A man, awhile ago, left Kyoto one stormy night. His wife, who lived in Kyoto with him at the time, begged him not to go, because the winds were so high, and the storm raged very badly. But this man had a mission to accomplish, and nothing would stop him from setting forth to complete the tasks he had set for himself. So his wife stayed alone, and he went out.
Ten years later, the man still had not returned. He had vanished off this planet, it seemed, forever. The woman, surprising most of her neghbors, packed up and left, to find her husband. Everyone thought she was crazy, especially since one of the richest men in Kyoto was after her affections.
The night she set off, and she was accompained by a small black dragonfly. At first she didn't know why it was following her, but then she realized it was trying to lead her, as it always danced in front of her. It is said also that a small firefly appeared in the man's room, where he lived because he had been captured by the ones he was meant to kill. For ten days, the firefly flew in, every night, unwavering. Finally, on the eleventh night, the black dragonfly flew into the room with the firefly, and the woman found him that same night, huddled there, watching the two insects, the dragonfly's dark colors glinting in the firefly's dim light...
"That is a beautiful story. Could I possibly have this made..."
"Of course! I'll get your sizes, and I'll have something made up for you in no time!" Everyhing was fitted, and Tokio's grandfather even paid extra so she could pick it up later that day. They went outside and got a carriage back to her Grandfather's estate, where she helped the servants there. Early afternoon, they went back to find it ready.
Tokio went behind a screen with one o the shopgirls and changed into it. When she came out, her hair was down, drawn back from her face by a white crown of flowers one of the girls had. THe kimono fit perfectly, and Tokio thanked them many times over as they walked out of the shop and back in the carriage so she could go back home.
As the carriage went by, the boy with a earring in his left ear of a dragon, named Saru, took aim. He stood behind a huge load of crates that had just been brought up and were still full of pottery.
"One..." He counted under his breath as it turned toward him. He braced himself.
"Two..." The carriage approached closer.
"Three!" As it rolled by, he shoved the pile of crates over, then, in all the confusion, ran out.
Tokio suddenly heard someone shout, "Look out!" She twisted into an odd position and screamed in pain as the carriage toppled over. Pottery, or glass, broke and a bunch of shards flew into the carriage, hitting her square in her face. She screamed again, and the carriage hit the ground on it's side, causing her world to slowly fade to nothing.
Akina was tying her hair up when someone came to the door. She ran downstairs, ignoring Saito, who had finished choking down her cooking just awhile ago, and still was mad at her for feeding it to him. She opened the door, to find a young man, about her age, deathly white and shaking.
"Ex- excuse me, are Hajime Saito and Hajime Akina home?" Akina automatically sensed something wrong.
"I'm Hajime Akina. Please, come in, if only for a minute. Saito! Someone's here to see us." Saito looked up, taking the person in in a blink of an eye. Finally, he stood up.
"What do you need here?" The man looked very nervous, and Saito raised an eyebrow.
"Sir, it's- it's about Tokio-san and her grandfather."
"What?" Saito asked, this getting his attention.
"There was an accident, or at least that's what they say, and the carriage they were riding in was hit by a pile of crates with expensive pottery in them, and it fell over..." Akina turned pale, Saito hid his feelings as best he could.
"No..." She breathed. The man looked at her, and then continued.
"The old man died of injuries and mainly of shock. The carriage wasn't very well made, and when it hit the ground, the whole frame collapsed. The young woman," Both Saito and Akina were holding their breaths, "Is still alive, but was badly injured by the supports, and the pottery hitting her face from a broken crate, as well as twisting into an odd position, and the general fall itself. Of course, she will also be affected by her Grandfather's death..."
"Is she conscious?" Saito asked.
"Not currently, no. During the middle of the operation to pull her out of the wreckage, she woke up. She told me, since I was there, to find you two. Then she fell unconscious again. I don't know if she's awake now, but she's in a practice across town." He shuddered as he remembered her opening her eyes while still caught in the wreckage.
"Take us there." Saito ordered, the man bowed his head nervously. "I have a carriage waiting outside, sir." They ran out.
Tokio first felt the light, then felt the pain, the excrutiating pain. It was everywhere, protruding into her like a million knives. Then, came the realizatino that she could only FEEL the light, not see it. She could she a few blurry shapes, but there was no light.
She tried to open her eyes, but then realized with a terrible shock that her eyes WERE open already. She screamed, fighting the gripping darkness.
"Someone, help me! I can't see!" She saw a shape, felt someone holding her down before she hurt herself. Not that she could hurt herself. She wasn't that stupid. Just very scared. Finally, she calmed down.
"Where's Saito?" She whispered into someone's restraining arm. The person replied, and she realized it was Juri.
"Saito and Akina are coming as fast as they can."
"Where's my Grandfather? Is he all right?"
"He's... feeling no pain..." Juri had tears in her eyes at the sight of the woman she restrained that was coming to the realization of what happened.
"He's dead, isn't he? Answer me truthfully, Juri. Is he dead?"
Saito walked into the practice just as Tokio was told the answer. The truthful answer. He came in just to hear her scream.
"NO!!" He sprinted past a doctor who was trying to tell him to calm down, past the flocking maids, servants, and people who were crying. A doctor pursued him, but he saw Juri of his group of the Shinsengumi, and ducked into that room. She seemed to be holding someone down.
"Juri?"
Tokio heard someone's voice. Saito's voice. Her hand reached out as Juri let go of her. Juri went out to block the door, and Saito took Tokio's hand, kneeling by the bed.
"Saito?" She cried, not seeing her husband's face.
"Tokio." He said softly, "I'm right here. Akina's helping others outside."
"I don't want her to see me like this... I'm blind, Saito! Someone took away my grandfather and my sight!" He swallowed, feeling her helplessness. Juri's voice cut in from the hallway.
"Tokio, the doctor says the blindness is only temporary. You'll have your sight back very soon."
"Tokio-" Saito saw the clothes she wore for the first time. They were beaten and torn, but he could still see the design. "Your kimono... It's the firefly and the black dragonfly..." A smiled crossed her face.
"Yes, yes! I saw this in the shop the other day, and I got it today. That's where I went when... all this happened." He looked her over more carefully.
She had a cut running along her face, up by her eyes, and had the basic stratches. Tokio had been very lucky in this accident, except for the blindness. And the emotional scar from her Grandfather's death...
"You'll be all right, Tokio." He said finally, "I'm sure you will." She squeezed his hand.
"I'll be even better when I can see again. It hurts so much-" She took a sharp intake of breath, "Not being able to see the colors. Not being able to see this beautiful world that is around me..."
"Saito, there's a man here to see you." Juri interjected, and Saito stood up, letting go of his wife's hand. A man stood in the doorway, dressed completely in black, waiting for him. They stepped out into the hall.
"Hajime Saito, we have a new assignment for you..."
"Tokio-" They heard Juri from the doorway, "Tokio, no! You must go back to bed! TOKIO!" Both men turned toward the two struggling figures in the doorway. Juri was attempting to restrain Tokio, who was putting up a good fight, blind or not.
"Juri-san, let go of me!" Her face turned toward the two men, and the man in black heaved a quick intake of breath as Tokio's normally beautiful eyes turned, unseeing, but still full of pain and rage, on them.
"Tokio!" Saito said sharply, "What are you doing?" Tokio pushed at Juri, who, in surprise, fell down. Tokio ran toward Saito, but, to his surprise, pushed him aside, running down th hall.
"Fine, Saito! Leave! Even blind..." She stopped a minute in her running, for effect, "Even blind, I'll make it through. Even with Grandfather's death..." She let out a sob and continued running. He made no effort to run after her, and Juri got up, watching her go. From the waiting room, they heard Akina.
"Tokio? Tokio, where are you going? You shouldn't be out of bed yet..." Finally, Saito walked out into the front to see where Tokio was. Akina was standing at the door, yelling Tokio's name frantically. She turned back to Saito.
He simply watched her in her confused state. "Saito, what happened?" He didn't answer her question.
"I have to go pick up my sword. I leave at dawn." Her mouth slowly fell open.
"You're not leaving Tokio like this, are you?" When he only stared at her, she answered her own question, "Of course you are," she muttered.
Tokio didn't know where to go, not with her Grandfather dead. In fact, she had no idea where she was. It was dark out, and so she could barely see at all. Perhaps she could turn around and come back the way she came, but... no. After turning a partial circle, she didn't know which was WAS back, since she was in an unfamilier part of town. She stopped think, knowing that crying and being scared would not help her get her way out of this.
"Saito, you know that we're in an unfamilier part of town, and if tokio ran off, she probably doesn't know where she is!" Panic edged Akina's voice. They were traveling down the road that Akina said Tokio had run down.
"With a head start, she could be anywhere. Calm down, however. We'll find her." He replied. She shook her head, following him, hardly able to keep up with his brisk pace.
Something floated in Tokio's vision. It was obviously very close to her, as she could see the light quite well. She lay huddled in an alley.
"A..." She whispered, tired and unable to move, "A... dragonfly... The light... It's so beautiful..."
"Saito, you have a bug by your right shoulder." He brushed at his right shoulder and the bug, instead of flying off, got angriliy in his face. He tried brushing it off one more time, then, as his eyes focused on it, he stopped dead.
"No..." He said aloud, "Is the story really true?"
It was a dragonfly. A black dragonfly, that in the lights of the streetlamps glinted.
"Saito? Is everything okay? C'mon, if we don't hurry, we won't find her."
He swallowed, trying, this once, to believe in miracles.
"I know how to find her. Follow this dragonfly. And trust me." She turned to look at him, as if he were crazy.
"All right, but only because we don't have any other leads."
Around dawn, an inspection of the sky revealed that clouds had covered it, and soon it turned into a heavy downpour. Tokio got up as close as she could to the wall, to avoid getting wet, but since the rood didn't extecnd over very far, she got drenched all over, anyway. Saito and Akina got drenched, too, but the dragonfly was keeping them busy enough so they would never notice.
"I don't think this is going anywhere," Akina said, "We'd better go to the police. Don't you have to leave?" She said the last part irritably.
"I'm going to find Tokio first."
"Nice to know you care enough to pull her out of the rain and THEN leave." His eyes narrowed, Akina's unkind sarcasm getting to him.
"I would never simply leave her. You are too inexperienced to understand."
"Well, she obviously didn't understand it either, your worshipfulness."
"Even she could tell you. But you wouldn't understand. In the moment back at the practice, it was full of emotion. Tokio normally listens to reason, as I'm sure you know."
"As soon as she gets her sight back, she could have anyone, with her looks! She could just leave!" He stopped, facing her.
"I've given her ample opportunity to leave. Why has she not done so, then? Don't talk about what you don't understand!" Her eyes lowered.
"I'm sorry, Saito. I know I don't understand. My inferior sense of judgement just happened to think it was wrong. You leaving her so soon, and all, and-... Saito! What was that?!" She instictively grabbed his arm, and he turned and looked, shaking her hand off.
The dragonfly and the firefly danced in their vision for a minute, the rain letting up slightly. Then, they both sped down the street, and turned into an alley, with unnatural speed. Akina and Saito ran to catch up, Akina lagging slightly behind because of her kimono.
Saito turned into the alley and fell to his knees next to the fallen, huddled figure on the ground, peeling away the wet hair. It was Tokio's face. She was obviously asleep. To his surprise, the two insects flew in front of her eyes, and they blinked open.
The glazed look from her blindness was no longer there. She looked up at him.
"Saito?" She asked quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "I- I can see again..." Now, if you scanned the sky, you would see the clouds breaking up, and the sun rising dimly, beyond the haze of cloud.
He hugged her to him, and both stayed silent for a minute. Akina saw them, and turned away, looking at the dawn's horizon.
"Are you all right, then?" He asked finally, helping her up.
"Yes." She turned to make sure Akina wasn't listening, and looked down, then up at her husband's face. "I'm sorry I acted so unreasonable back at the practice... You must go, because that is what you do. I'll have Akina with me here, and she and I will get through. I'll look for you to come back." He looked down at her, at some miracle that had occured to make her dark eyes see again, and smiled.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you for a few days while you get accustomed to your Grandfather's death? I'm sure my assignment can last without me for a few days."
"No! Of course not! You must go. The world," she said, a little wistfully, as though she wished it could, "does not wait for us to get over our pain. If it did, you wouldn't be leaving. Besides, no matter where you are-."
"You are near me," he finished as she swallowed. "Let's go. I'll see you two home, then I'll be off. Please take it easy for the next few days Tokio, and get that kimono fixed. I'll be back when I get back, of course." He kissed her quickly, and they turned. They walked back to Akina.
As they disappeared from sight, the dragonfly and the firefly dissolved into glowing gold dust, falling gently to the fround, and disappearing completely.
THE END
---- A/N
I'll try to make this quick. This was shorteer than the other chapters, I believe. I originally was going to add more to this chapter, but I thought this would be a good ending. As I said before... I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, and I'm not using this story for any sort of profit, only for your, and my, personal enjoyment.
Thank you everyone who reviewed, and... I guess you'll need to look for another chapter coming up soon! : - )
"What?" She asked quietly, because he, too, was whispering. He pointed toward the roof, and she looked up.
A little light flickered on and off, and Tokio realized it was a firefly.
"Do you see them?"
"I see a firefly..." He gently reached over and directed her face to the ceiling right next to the firefly. Tokio gasped, knowing why she couldn't see it before.
It was black, but as the faint light of the firefly right next to it lit up, it glittered in its glow. A black dragonfly.
"I see it now." She agreed, "Is that what you woke me for?"
"I suppose it was no big deal." There was a little silence, and as Saito looked over, he saw Tokio had fallen asleep again. He smiled a little.
He didn't know why he had shown her the firefly and the dragonfly next to each other. It wasn't like him, to notice such little unimportant things. Usually it was her who pointed those things out. He shook his head mentally, and closed his eyes.
Akina got up early that morning, creeping past Tokio and Saito's room, trying not to awaken them.
Too late. Saito stood there, fully dressed, and wondering what on earth Akina was doing, creeping so softly past their door. She grinned at him.
"Good morning. Today's midsummer." He blinked at her.
"Oh. It is? How do you expect me to keep track of things like that?"
"Just thought you'd like to know. Where's Tokio? She usually gets up before either of us." Saito shook his head in exasperation.
"She wasn't awake when I got up this morning. I woke her up last night for something, however, and I don't believe she takes to that very well."
"Ah. I suppose it's up to me, then, to fix breakfast." They began to walk downstairs, just when Tokio practically flew past them.
"Akina, I would much appreciate it if you could make breakfast for yourself and Saito this morning! I must go get something from my Grandfather!" Both blinked and watched her run down the stairs and out the door.
"All right then," Akina agreed. "Guess that answers my question."
Saito watched his wife go in silence, wondering what that was all about.
"Tokio-san!" One of the women in the shop greeted her. "Sir," she greeted Tokio's Grandfather as well, "How may I help you?"
"Tokio-san here saw some of the fabric that you had out on display the other day, and she came to me this morning saying that she needed some. I am paying for it to be made into a kimono."
"Well, Tokio-san, why don't you come with me, and sir, you may sit down if you choose." Both nodded and Tokio proceeded back with the woman.
"I saw the one that was a dark blue, and had the-"
"Oh, you must mean this one! I liked this one, myself, but they could've made the dragonfly a bit brighter. We could see if we could possibly get it for you in a brighter color."
"No, no, thank you. The black Dragonfly is exactly what I wanted. I think it's so beautiful how they positioned it so nicely with the dragonfly... How did they ever come up with the idea?"
"You mean you haven't heard the story?" The shopgirl looked shocked. Tokio paused.
"Why, no."
"It is said..." The shopgirl began.
A man, awhile ago, left Kyoto one stormy night. His wife, who lived in Kyoto with him at the time, begged him not to go, because the winds were so high, and the storm raged very badly. But this man had a mission to accomplish, and nothing would stop him from setting forth to complete the tasks he had set for himself. So his wife stayed alone, and he went out.
Ten years later, the man still had not returned. He had vanished off this planet, it seemed, forever. The woman, surprising most of her neghbors, packed up and left, to find her husband. Everyone thought she was crazy, especially since one of the richest men in Kyoto was after her affections.
The night she set off, and she was accompained by a small black dragonfly. At first she didn't know why it was following her, but then she realized it was trying to lead her, as it always danced in front of her. It is said also that a small firefly appeared in the man's room, where he lived because he had been captured by the ones he was meant to kill. For ten days, the firefly flew in, every night, unwavering. Finally, on the eleventh night, the black dragonfly flew into the room with the firefly, and the woman found him that same night, huddled there, watching the two insects, the dragonfly's dark colors glinting in the firefly's dim light...
"That is a beautiful story. Could I possibly have this made..."
"Of course! I'll get your sizes, and I'll have something made up for you in no time!" Everyhing was fitted, and Tokio's grandfather even paid extra so she could pick it up later that day. They went outside and got a carriage back to her Grandfather's estate, where she helped the servants there. Early afternoon, they went back to find it ready.
Tokio went behind a screen with one o the shopgirls and changed into it. When she came out, her hair was down, drawn back from her face by a white crown of flowers one of the girls had. THe kimono fit perfectly, and Tokio thanked them many times over as they walked out of the shop and back in the carriage so she could go back home.
As the carriage went by, the boy with a earring in his left ear of a dragon, named Saru, took aim. He stood behind a huge load of crates that had just been brought up and were still full of pottery.
"One..." He counted under his breath as it turned toward him. He braced himself.
"Two..." The carriage approached closer.
"Three!" As it rolled by, he shoved the pile of crates over, then, in all the confusion, ran out.
Tokio suddenly heard someone shout, "Look out!" She twisted into an odd position and screamed in pain as the carriage toppled over. Pottery, or glass, broke and a bunch of shards flew into the carriage, hitting her square in her face. She screamed again, and the carriage hit the ground on it's side, causing her world to slowly fade to nothing.
Akina was tying her hair up when someone came to the door. She ran downstairs, ignoring Saito, who had finished choking down her cooking just awhile ago, and still was mad at her for feeding it to him. She opened the door, to find a young man, about her age, deathly white and shaking.
"Ex- excuse me, are Hajime Saito and Hajime Akina home?" Akina automatically sensed something wrong.
"I'm Hajime Akina. Please, come in, if only for a minute. Saito! Someone's here to see us." Saito looked up, taking the person in in a blink of an eye. Finally, he stood up.
"What do you need here?" The man looked very nervous, and Saito raised an eyebrow.
"Sir, it's- it's about Tokio-san and her grandfather."
"What?" Saito asked, this getting his attention.
"There was an accident, or at least that's what they say, and the carriage they were riding in was hit by a pile of crates with expensive pottery in them, and it fell over..." Akina turned pale, Saito hid his feelings as best he could.
"No..." She breathed. The man looked at her, and then continued.
"The old man died of injuries and mainly of shock. The carriage wasn't very well made, and when it hit the ground, the whole frame collapsed. The young woman," Both Saito and Akina were holding their breaths, "Is still alive, but was badly injured by the supports, and the pottery hitting her face from a broken crate, as well as twisting into an odd position, and the general fall itself. Of course, she will also be affected by her Grandfather's death..."
"Is she conscious?" Saito asked.
"Not currently, no. During the middle of the operation to pull her out of the wreckage, she woke up. She told me, since I was there, to find you two. Then she fell unconscious again. I don't know if she's awake now, but she's in a practice across town." He shuddered as he remembered her opening her eyes while still caught in the wreckage.
"Take us there." Saito ordered, the man bowed his head nervously. "I have a carriage waiting outside, sir." They ran out.
Tokio first felt the light, then felt the pain, the excrutiating pain. It was everywhere, protruding into her like a million knives. Then, came the realizatino that she could only FEEL the light, not see it. She could she a few blurry shapes, but there was no light.
She tried to open her eyes, but then realized with a terrible shock that her eyes WERE open already. She screamed, fighting the gripping darkness.
"Someone, help me! I can't see!" She saw a shape, felt someone holding her down before she hurt herself. Not that she could hurt herself. She wasn't that stupid. Just very scared. Finally, she calmed down.
"Where's Saito?" She whispered into someone's restraining arm. The person replied, and she realized it was Juri.
"Saito and Akina are coming as fast as they can."
"Where's my Grandfather? Is he all right?"
"He's... feeling no pain..." Juri had tears in her eyes at the sight of the woman she restrained that was coming to the realization of what happened.
"He's dead, isn't he? Answer me truthfully, Juri. Is he dead?"
Saito walked into the practice just as Tokio was told the answer. The truthful answer. He came in just to hear her scream.
"NO!!" He sprinted past a doctor who was trying to tell him to calm down, past the flocking maids, servants, and people who were crying. A doctor pursued him, but he saw Juri of his group of the Shinsengumi, and ducked into that room. She seemed to be holding someone down.
"Juri?"
Tokio heard someone's voice. Saito's voice. Her hand reached out as Juri let go of her. Juri went out to block the door, and Saito took Tokio's hand, kneeling by the bed.
"Saito?" She cried, not seeing her husband's face.
"Tokio." He said softly, "I'm right here. Akina's helping others outside."
"I don't want her to see me like this... I'm blind, Saito! Someone took away my grandfather and my sight!" He swallowed, feeling her helplessness. Juri's voice cut in from the hallway.
"Tokio, the doctor says the blindness is only temporary. You'll have your sight back very soon."
"Tokio-" Saito saw the clothes she wore for the first time. They were beaten and torn, but he could still see the design. "Your kimono... It's the firefly and the black dragonfly..." A smiled crossed her face.
"Yes, yes! I saw this in the shop the other day, and I got it today. That's where I went when... all this happened." He looked her over more carefully.
She had a cut running along her face, up by her eyes, and had the basic stratches. Tokio had been very lucky in this accident, except for the blindness. And the emotional scar from her Grandfather's death...
"You'll be all right, Tokio." He said finally, "I'm sure you will." She squeezed his hand.
"I'll be even better when I can see again. It hurts so much-" She took a sharp intake of breath, "Not being able to see the colors. Not being able to see this beautiful world that is around me..."
"Saito, there's a man here to see you." Juri interjected, and Saito stood up, letting go of his wife's hand. A man stood in the doorway, dressed completely in black, waiting for him. They stepped out into the hall.
"Hajime Saito, we have a new assignment for you..."
"Tokio-" They heard Juri from the doorway, "Tokio, no! You must go back to bed! TOKIO!" Both men turned toward the two struggling figures in the doorway. Juri was attempting to restrain Tokio, who was putting up a good fight, blind or not.
"Juri-san, let go of me!" Her face turned toward the two men, and the man in black heaved a quick intake of breath as Tokio's normally beautiful eyes turned, unseeing, but still full of pain and rage, on them.
"Tokio!" Saito said sharply, "What are you doing?" Tokio pushed at Juri, who, in surprise, fell down. Tokio ran toward Saito, but, to his surprise, pushed him aside, running down th hall.
"Fine, Saito! Leave! Even blind..." She stopped a minute in her running, for effect, "Even blind, I'll make it through. Even with Grandfather's death..." She let out a sob and continued running. He made no effort to run after her, and Juri got up, watching her go. From the waiting room, they heard Akina.
"Tokio? Tokio, where are you going? You shouldn't be out of bed yet..." Finally, Saito walked out into the front to see where Tokio was. Akina was standing at the door, yelling Tokio's name frantically. She turned back to Saito.
He simply watched her in her confused state. "Saito, what happened?" He didn't answer her question.
"I have to go pick up my sword. I leave at dawn." Her mouth slowly fell open.
"You're not leaving Tokio like this, are you?" When he only stared at her, she answered her own question, "Of course you are," she muttered.
Tokio didn't know where to go, not with her Grandfather dead. In fact, she had no idea where she was. It was dark out, and so she could barely see at all. Perhaps she could turn around and come back the way she came, but... no. After turning a partial circle, she didn't know which was WAS back, since she was in an unfamilier part of town. She stopped think, knowing that crying and being scared would not help her get her way out of this.
"Saito, you know that we're in an unfamilier part of town, and if tokio ran off, she probably doesn't know where she is!" Panic edged Akina's voice. They were traveling down the road that Akina said Tokio had run down.
"With a head start, she could be anywhere. Calm down, however. We'll find her." He replied. She shook her head, following him, hardly able to keep up with his brisk pace.
Something floated in Tokio's vision. It was obviously very close to her, as she could see the light quite well. She lay huddled in an alley.
"A..." She whispered, tired and unable to move, "A... dragonfly... The light... It's so beautiful..."
"Saito, you have a bug by your right shoulder." He brushed at his right shoulder and the bug, instead of flying off, got angriliy in his face. He tried brushing it off one more time, then, as his eyes focused on it, he stopped dead.
"No..." He said aloud, "Is the story really true?"
It was a dragonfly. A black dragonfly, that in the lights of the streetlamps glinted.
"Saito? Is everything okay? C'mon, if we don't hurry, we won't find her."
He swallowed, trying, this once, to believe in miracles.
"I know how to find her. Follow this dragonfly. And trust me." She turned to look at him, as if he were crazy.
"All right, but only because we don't have any other leads."
Around dawn, an inspection of the sky revealed that clouds had covered it, and soon it turned into a heavy downpour. Tokio got up as close as she could to the wall, to avoid getting wet, but since the rood didn't extecnd over very far, she got drenched all over, anyway. Saito and Akina got drenched, too, but the dragonfly was keeping them busy enough so they would never notice.
"I don't think this is going anywhere," Akina said, "We'd better go to the police. Don't you have to leave?" She said the last part irritably.
"I'm going to find Tokio first."
"Nice to know you care enough to pull her out of the rain and THEN leave." His eyes narrowed, Akina's unkind sarcasm getting to him.
"I would never simply leave her. You are too inexperienced to understand."
"Well, she obviously didn't understand it either, your worshipfulness."
"Even she could tell you. But you wouldn't understand. In the moment back at the practice, it was full of emotion. Tokio normally listens to reason, as I'm sure you know."
"As soon as she gets her sight back, she could have anyone, with her looks! She could just leave!" He stopped, facing her.
"I've given her ample opportunity to leave. Why has she not done so, then? Don't talk about what you don't understand!" Her eyes lowered.
"I'm sorry, Saito. I know I don't understand. My inferior sense of judgement just happened to think it was wrong. You leaving her so soon, and all, and-... Saito! What was that?!" She instictively grabbed his arm, and he turned and looked, shaking her hand off.
The dragonfly and the firefly danced in their vision for a minute, the rain letting up slightly. Then, they both sped down the street, and turned into an alley, with unnatural speed. Akina and Saito ran to catch up, Akina lagging slightly behind because of her kimono.
Saito turned into the alley and fell to his knees next to the fallen, huddled figure on the ground, peeling away the wet hair. It was Tokio's face. She was obviously asleep. To his surprise, the two insects flew in front of her eyes, and they blinked open.
The glazed look from her blindness was no longer there. She looked up at him.
"Saito?" She asked quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "I- I can see again..." Now, if you scanned the sky, you would see the clouds breaking up, and the sun rising dimly, beyond the haze of cloud.
He hugged her to him, and both stayed silent for a minute. Akina saw them, and turned away, looking at the dawn's horizon.
"Are you all right, then?" He asked finally, helping her up.
"Yes." She turned to make sure Akina wasn't listening, and looked down, then up at her husband's face. "I'm sorry I acted so unreasonable back at the practice... You must go, because that is what you do. I'll have Akina with me here, and she and I will get through. I'll look for you to come back." He looked down at her, at some miracle that had occured to make her dark eyes see again, and smiled.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you for a few days while you get accustomed to your Grandfather's death? I'm sure my assignment can last without me for a few days."
"No! Of course not! You must go. The world," she said, a little wistfully, as though she wished it could, "does not wait for us to get over our pain. If it did, you wouldn't be leaving. Besides, no matter where you are-."
"You are near me," he finished as she swallowed. "Let's go. I'll see you two home, then I'll be off. Please take it easy for the next few days Tokio, and get that kimono fixed. I'll be back when I get back, of course." He kissed her quickly, and they turned. They walked back to Akina.
As they disappeared from sight, the dragonfly and the firefly dissolved into glowing gold dust, falling gently to the fround, and disappearing completely.
THE END
---- A/N
I'll try to make this quick. This was shorteer than the other chapters, I believe. I originally was going to add more to this chapter, but I thought this would be a good ending. As I said before... I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, and I'm not using this story for any sort of profit, only for your, and my, personal enjoyment.
Thank you everyone who reviewed, and... I guess you'll need to look for another chapter coming up soon! : - )