They walked down the empty Tokyo street together, if together was the word for it. Sanosuke lagged ten feet behind Saitou, his eyes trained on the dusty ground. He held his hand over his heart; it felt foreign, as if somebody had replaced it with something half its weight. It didn't even feel like his own now that it was being ... shared, the dream-like rhythm of Saitou's heart still echoing in his ears.
Saitou's home came into view, and the moment when Saitou saw it Sanosuke looked up as well. It was true: all sensations were being shared, even something like recognition. Sanosuke tried to shake off the feeling and Saitou looked over his shoulder at the boy, smirking. Sanosuke glared back.
"Where am I sleeping?" Sanosuke mumbled as they walked up to Saitou's doorway.
"Where you slept yesterday," Saitou said, opening the door, slipping off his shoes.
Sanosuke wrinkled his nose and glared at Saitou as he stepped inside, "You're not going to be ..."
"I wouldn't dream of intruding on you like that," Saitou said flatly. He closed the door behind himself and as he passed Sanosuke his hand brushed lightly against his palm. A rush went through Sano's arm and straight to his heart. He clutched it as it skipped a beat before it returned to normal. He no longer heard nor felt the presence of Saitou's heart beating with his own. He had to take a moment and pause because in all reality, he missed the sensation. He began to like himself a little less for that.
Gradually, the sounds around him became louder, so that he could even hear the sounds the wood made complaining under Saitou's feet.
"I won't be here tonight," Saitou said from inside the bedroom.
"What?" Sanosuke cried. "With all the shit going on, you're just ..."
"I'm not going out to a social occasion," Saitou corrected, coming out of the room with a yukata on his arm. "I have to go meet with the Ou-sama to see if we can clean up this mess before the sun rises."
Sanosuke snorted. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"
Saitou tossed Sanosuke the yukata, who caught it in mid-air.
"Try to sleep," Saitou said, heading towards the door.
"Wait!" Sanosuke cried out. In hindsight, Sanosuke thought it sounded too desperate, but he ignored it. "Where did Kenshin go?" he asked, his voice becoming cautious.
"The battousai and I talked. He agreed that my home would be a very unlikely place to look for you."
Sanosuke narrowed his eyes and spoke cautiously. "How come Kenshin didn't come with us then? Where did he go?"
"You would never be a good policeman," Saitou said. Sanosuke opened his mouth, not sure whether this was an insult or not, but Saitou cut him off before he could start speaking. "He was watching us in the forest. I must commend him, he was very well hidden, but I knew he was there. Once he knew you were safe, he probably went home."
Sanosuke still eyed Saitou cautiously, unsure about Saitou's version of events.
Saitou simply smirked for a split second. "Believe me or not, it's your choice. You look tired. Get some sleep. You've been through much, and there will be more yet. For now, I have to go, and clean up some of this mess you've made."
With that he left the room, closing the door behind him. The sound of the door sliding into place and the click of the lock was thunderous in Sanosuke's ears.
"Feh," Sanosuke spat. "I don't need him around." He held the yukata in front of him; it was a powder blue color, and made of something as soft as cotton and smooth as silk. It must have been some foreign material because Sanosuke didn't recognize the feel.
"How does he afford stuff this nice with a cop's salary?" Sanosuke wondered. He just shrugged and stripped off his clothing. After slipping into the fine fabric he felt cleaner and lighter than in the clothes Saitou had given him earlier. Somewhere in this distance a dog barked and he jumped, because for Sanosuke it was loud enough to seem as if the dog were right next to his ear. Scolding himself and glaring in the direction of the offensive dog, he headed into the bedroom, leaving the dirty clothes where he dropped them. He sprawled out on the bed, his feet hanging off both sides of the large mattress, surrounded by powder blue sheets and the faint musky smell of tobacco. He sighed, frustrated, when he realized he could hear not only the pesky dog parking, but also three of his neighbors snoring. The wind picked up once again and banged against the side of the house, making Sanosuke shudder. He grabbed two of the numerous pillows, and pressed them hard against his ears. It barely blocked out the sound, but it was all he could think to do.
"How the hell am I supposed to sleep?" Sanosuke thought angrily. "Everything is so loud, and this bed is too fuckin' high!"
He crawled under the many sheets and feather-down comforter of the western bed and, with his two pillows still pressed beside his ears, closed his eyes and tried to rest. However, he couldn't get comfortable at all. With a loud growl he kicked his bedding off. Sitting up, Sanosuke pressed down on the mattress. Something about the bed bothered him. It was luxurious and comfortable, not like anything he had ever slept on, so it felt too strange.
Eventually, time began to drag his eyelids shut, exhaustion overpowering every distracting light, noise, and sensation. It wasn't so much falling asleep at the end, so much as passing out. He couldn't fight sleep anymore, and neither could his body.
Sanosuke felt the warm rays of the sun hit his skin. His back began to warm, which sent pleasurable sensations through his stressed muscles and bones, that felt sore and stiff. He covered his eyes, still weary of the light.
"Good morning. I see you've found yourself a comfortable niche," Saitou's voice said, coming from behind him, and if he wasn't mistaken, above him as well.
Sanosuke only groaned and wrapped the closest blanket he could find around himself tightly, and stubbornly closed his eyes, shut as tightly as they could be shut.
A hand plunged down into Sanosuke's comfortable bundle and tore the sheets away.
Sanosuke cried out and turned around to glare up at Saitou. Then he realized why Saitou was coming from both behind and above. Sometime in the night he had rolled off the bed and he now found himself on the floor, sheets draped off the edge of the bed.
"Get up. We have work to do."
"Work?" Sanosuke complained, his hands over his eyes. "Can't this wait?"
"No, because I've been up all night and I'd like to get this done before I get too tired."
Sanosuke moved his hand and peered at Saitou suspiciously. "Get what done?"
A loud bark came from outside and Sanosuke jumped, his hands flying up to cover his ears. He cried out in frustration for his poor ears.
"Well, you'd like to have that taken care of I'm sure." Saitou's tone was flat, but somehow mocking.
Sanosuke only glared and tried to tug the sheet back. With a roll of his eyes, Saitou slipped off the edge of the bed and stood above Sanosuke. He grabbed the unsuspecting boy by the arms and pulled him up to a full standing position. The sudden move made Sanosuke dizzy and he had to grasp Saitou's arms to keep from falling back. But before he knew it, Saitou pushed Sanosuke onto the bed.
Sanosuke sat at the edge of the bed while Saitou went ahead and crawled onto it. "You're going to want to lay down for this," Saitou suggested, pulling away the excess sheets. Sanosuke turned to Saitou and gave him a look that said: "no way".
Saitou glared back. "You delude yourself into thinking any man would want to sleep with you. Now lay down."
Sanosuke just glared harsher at the man and looked away stubbornly, adamant about not participating in whatever it was Saitou was suggesting. But he wouldn't have a choice. Saitou grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back onto the mattress. Sanosuke struggled, but Saitou held him still.
Saitou's face came into view, uncomfortably close to his own, a menacing look in his eyes.
"I've been up for two days straight, taking after you. Thanks to your screw up the other night I'll probably not be getting much rest the next few nights either. Now, I'm trying to help you. Are you going to pout and be an ungrateful freeloader, or are you going to actually let me help you?"
Sanosuke shrunk away as far as he could. "Alright," he whispered, but still with an angry scowl on his face. Immediately, Saitou let go and sat up. Sanosuke sat up twice as quickly, eyeing Saitou as if he were going to sprout fangs and go for his neck. But in a polite manner, Saitou extended his hand and motioned for Sanosuke to lie down.
Reluctantly, and very cautiously, Sanosuke made his way to the center of the bed where he lied down stiffly, afraid to let his muscles relax, in case he might need to run.
Saitou moved over to kneel next to Sanosuke. Softly, Saitou placed his hand over Sanosuke's heart. He flinched at the touch, but Saitou paid no attention to the others movements.
A feeling passed through Sano briefly, like a surge of energy. It only lasted momentarily, but it made him go very still as he tried to figure out the sensation, as well as waiting for something new and strange to happen. Even as he did this the sounds of the bustling street outside felt close to him, as if he were lying in the middle of a busy street and traffic was happening all around him.
"Have you ever stayed near the water?" Saitou asked.
"What?" Sanosuke asked. "What kind of a question is that to ask?" he wondered.
"For a while you can constantly hear the water, but eventually as you begin to pay attention to other things don't you? You hear the water, but you don't actually hear it constantly, do you?"
Sanosuke cocked his head to the side. "I suppose ... no. No, you don't hear it after a while."
"'White Noise' they call it. It's things like electric humming and the sounds of the water. Eventually, you begin to not notice it, even though you are constantly hearing it. The mind, in all its complexities, has also found a way to filter out useless noise."
Sanosuke nodded. It sounded perfectly reasonable.
"Now ... listen ..."
Saitou flexed his fingers and another surge of energy went through Sanosuke's body. This time it was longer and stronger, and made Sanosuke's back arch upwards and his eyes roll into the back of his head. Saitou took his hands away as Sanosuke clutched at his ears. The noise seemed louder and more offensive. Voices went by quickly and he caught little bits of conversation before it was all voiceless human noise.
"...and her restaurant is being closed down, can you believe the nerve..."
"...I'm telling you, tasty like strawberries..."
"...I don't like the harbors these days. Packed with foreigners..."
"...only 100 yen..."
Sanosuke sat up in his bed and cried out, but his wailing only echoed off the walls and made the noise worse. "What did you do to me?" was the only intelligible thing he could cry out.
Saitou leaned back and watched Sanosuke writhe for a moment. He looked at his nails and stretched a bit, before he spoke.
"I've been meaning to ask ... why is it that you spend so much time at the Kamiya Dojo?"
Sanosuke turned his head and gave Saitou the most hate-filled glare he had in himself. "What kind of question is that to ask? And now!? You are such a snake!"
"Well, I'm only curious after all," he continued casually. "You have your own place to stay, you manage enough money to survive, despite this gambling problem, and you have plenty of friends outside the dojo who are more like you. So, why always hang around that place?"
"None of your damn business," he grunted out, pressing his throbbing head between his knees.
"I know it isn't, but truly I've been curious for a while now. Does that woman Kaoru cook to your liking?"
"Are you kidding?" Sanosuke said, lifting his head up a bit. "My drunken father could make a better meal than Jo-chan."
"Not the food then? It must be the company. Though I, particularly, wouldn't associate myself with fools such as them. I find every one of them to be unrealistic and naïve, especially the battousai as of late. He's a fool, and worse yet, a pacifist."
Sanosuke went red in the face. "You shut your mouth."
But Saitou continued. "These years have made him soft. I wouldn't be surprised if the next enemy that comes along would be the death of him. I truly wish he would revert to the hitokiri Battousai he once was. To fight him in his former glory, that would be spectacular. But now ... Himura is nothing but a dried-up has-been."
"Shut, up!" Sanosuke screamed, sitting up. "How dare you talk about Kenshin like that!" He got on his knees and stared Saitou dead in the eyes, his own burning with anger. "The way you talk about him, it only proves you don't know him at all! Kenshin is ... was ... the only thing that saved me, back when I belonged to chaos. I hated everything around me, and all I knew was how to destroy mindlessly. And then we crossed paths. He saved my life that day we fought. Don't you ever say he is a fool, a has-been, or soft. He is none of those things. He's twice the man you are. You're just jealous! He could create a new world and you're just stuck in the days of the Shogun. I may not like the government, but at least Kenshin has the bravery to stand up for what he believes in. I bet you don't even ..."
Saitou put a hand to Sanosuke's mouth and the motion was enough to surprise Sanosuke into silence. "Shhhh ... Do you hear something?" he asked.
For a second, Sanosuke only stood there and stared at Saitou with an annoyed glare. "No, I don't ..." Then, it clicked. He didn't say a word or move as the reality sunk in. He fell back and landed on his hind. "No, I don't hear anything at all."
Saitou just smiled pleasantly from his position on the bed.
"You are a fucking bastard. I just ... words cannot express ..."
"A nice 'thank you' is a good way to express things."
Sanosuke glared one last time before falling back onto the pillows. How had he done it? He had to backtrack to figure it out: first Saitou made his ability to hear very acute. Secondly, he let him writhe there for a while. Then, completely distracted him by insulting Kenshin. It was so ingenious he wanted to punch him in the face.
"It's just white noise now," Saitou said.
"Yeah," Sanosuke reflected. "It's hard to explain but ... it's kind of like when I learned the Futae no Kiwami."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Everything sort of just ... came together on it's own, you know?"
"I know," Saitou said.
"It's like second-nature. Or first-nature. However that happens," Sanosuke continued.
"Yes. Whichever one you like," Saitou said, as if he were talking to a child.
Sanosuke held up his hand and flipped Saitou off briefly before letting his hand fall.
"Very charming."
He sat at the table as Saitou tended to miso soup, which was beginning to slowly boil over the fire outside the porch. It took some getting used to, but he was fully controlling what he heard now. He could block out the noise or bring it all back, but what he was interested in figuring out now, was just listening to certain things, out in the crowd.
"God, what a jerk," he mumbled, listening to one man in particular.
"What's that?" Saitou called.
"Oh, just this guy next door. He says he's going to sell his wife. What an asshole."
"He threatens that all the time," said Saitou. "Honestly, they are very happy together. Just every once and a while she gets on his nerves. He's never serious about that."
"Oh," he replied, looking in the direction of the man. "Do you know them?"
"I've only spoken to them once or twice."
Sanosuke gave Saitou a disapproving look. "So you've been spying on an innocent couple all this time?"
"I like to know what's going on around me. Besides, you don't have room to talk. You were just listening to them for no purpose."
Sanosuke frowned, realizing he was right. He didn't talk about it after that, and just continued listening.
Saitou came inside with a small metal pot. There was just enough miso inside for two. As he set the pot down, he looked at the other, studying him. Sanosuke had a great look of wonder upon his face, even if the boy didn't know it. He was craning his head, as if that would help him better to hone in on certain noises, and his mouth was open slightly.
"What are you listening to now?"
Sanosuke paused for a while. "There's this guy on the corner. He's singing."
Saitou spooned some miso into a bowl and Sanosuke turned right around. He drank the entire bowl almost immediately. Saitou raised a brow.
"Hungry, are we?"
Sanosuke looked down into the empty bowl and blushed for a moment before shaking it off with a wide, goofy smile, and placing the bowl down.
They both stopped and turned to the door when they heard the footsteps coming towards the house. Three knocks came and a patient silence. Slowly, Saitou made his way to the door. He smelled the air and saw the small silhouette behind the door.
"It's Kenshin," he shouted over his shoulder.
Sanosuke smiled brightly and turned to meet him. Saitou opened the door, and Kenshin did stand there, but he had a grave look upon his face. Sanosuke's face fell and a bad feeling washed over him.
"Come in," Saitou invited casually, and Kenshin stepped inside. He spotted Sanosuke and smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes. Sanosuke's heart sank, and he looked upon Kenshin inquisitively.
"You should know that the police came to the dojo first thing in the morning," he began after Saitou closed the door. "They found the body in the night, one of the neighbors reported hearing a sound, then found the man. They're looking everywhere for you, Sanosuke."
"Shit," Sano swore under his breath.
"I have a few questions for you, Saitou," he said suddenly, turning a suspicious eye to the older man.
"I suppose you do then," he said, before casually walking over to the table and sitting down to eat the miso he had prepared.
Kenshin sat down between the two of them, though he was closer to Sanosuke. "I need to know more about what Sanosuke is going through. These wolves he spoke of."
"There isn't much I can tell you that Sanosuke hasn't already told," Saitou began, sipping out of his bowl. He put it down and continued. "There isn't much more I can tell. We are secret, living in the shadows of the world, and for good reason. It's unsafe there, and isn't territory that should be trodden carelessly."
"You know I am careful," Kenshin reminded him. "I do not need you to worry about me."
There was a short silence and Kenshin eyed Saitou. His eyes went slightly wider with realization: "You don't mean me. Or even Sanosuke, do you?"
Sanosuke glanced between the two men, wondering where it was all going.
"My pack is not a group of strong warriors, Battousai. A great many of us are average Japanese who stumbled upon this curse. And they, above all, need the stronger of us to remain firm and secretive."
"You have my word, none of this shall leave this house," Kenshin promised in a whisper, understanding in that moment people would be in danger. Sanosuke smiled; it was very much like him.
Saitou smiled back, but bitterly. "I know you would not go announcing our presence to the world, but there are things in the world that I never knew about, but know of now, that could pierce into your very secrets without you ever knowing it. So you be sure to ignore our existence outside of my presence. Do not speak of it in the darkest hidden corners, do not write of it in the most secret of letters. Not even to Sanosuke."
"You have my word," Kenshin solemnly promised, but the look in his eyes told Sanosuke that Kenshin knew there was more to it than that.
"Good. Because if any harm were to come to my pack, I would destroy you." Saitou's face and voice were calm and flat, as if he were conversing about something far less serious, but under his voice was laden a tone of promise and threat. "For you would be the only one outside our pack with knowledge of us. And if you must know, I am far more than a match for you now, so don't go thinking you can outsmart me somehow."
"You take the protection of these people very seriously," Kenshin stated.
"Yes, I do. The same goes for Sanosuke as well," Saitou said, once again sipping from his bowl of miso.
Sanosuke stiffened and stared at Saitou, confused. "What?"
"You are one of my people now. And I have a responsibility to protect you."
Sanosuke snorted. "I don't need your protecting. I'm ..."
"Sanosuke."
"What?"
"Shut up."
Sanosuke opened his mouth to talk back, but just threw his hands up in the air, giving up. Kenshin held his hand over his mouth, stifling a laugh.
As light as Kenshin and Sanosuke wanted the mood to feel, Saitou was serious and all about business, as it was usual of him.
"There are many spirits in the world," Saitou began, "Many of them are in the form of animals. Badgers, foxes, even birds ... they can take many forms, but none stranger than the form we take. We are shapshifters; the spirit of a wolf lives inside of us until the full moon when it demands release. We are as old as the old gods, and will outlive the new. Nobody knows where this curse began, but it is spread easily enough: through a bite or even a scratch may sometimes be good enough." Sanosuke opened him mouth with a worried expression in his eyes, but Saitou answered the question he knew was coming. "However, only while this wolf is in control can one be tainted by it."
"Oh! Okay, so that's why when Masayo fought me the first time I was okay ..."
"That's not really the word for it," Kenshin corrected.
"Anyway!" he began again. "but I remember seeing fur above me, and claws, and teeth. That was Masayo as the wolf?"
"It could have been," Saitou said.
The entire house went quiet, and Sanosuke stared at Saitou curiously for a few moments. "Might? Have been? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
Saitou looked away, seemingly to the front door. "It means it could have been Masayo."
Sanosuke leaned over the table. "Hmm ... who else does that leave that was a shapeshifter in the general area of my mauling?" He said bitterly.
Saitou gave a disapproving scowl.
"So, who gave me the scratch? Which one of you geniuses did it?"
Saitou picked up his cup and holding it in his hands, rotated it back and forth, studying the patterns painted on it. "I don't know," he said quietly. He took a sip of his drink and looked at the front door again.
"You don't know?" Sanosuke yelled with Kenshin next to him, wondering if he should say anything.
"We were both fighting right on top of you. I was trying to keep him away, and in the struggle I may have cut you a few times. But Masayo was the one who truly tore you apart. But it still isn't certain. The smallest scratch from a shapeshifter in the form of their beast, especially in the case of the wolves, can turn a man."
"So, how do I figure out who did it?"
"You may never know."
Sanosuke made a disgusted sound and stood up. "You guys just make one of the biggest decisions of my life for me, and you don't even know which one of you guys did it?!"
Kenshin stood up next to him. "Sano, don't let your anger get a hold of you."
Saitou stayed sitting. "Masayo doesn't give a damn who gave you the beast. He also doesn't care. Be glad he isn't vying for ownership."
"Ownership?" Sanosuke said with a deadly glare.
Saitou's eyes turned upward. "Men like him hold on to possessions like you with a thirsty grip."
"I'm not a possession," Sanosuke growled.
"I don't think you are. I'm just trying to show you how much worse you could have had it," he looked towards the door again.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" Sanosuke screamed, pointing at the door. He then shook his hand and made his way towards the door. "I'm not doing this anymore."
Before he knew it, Saitou was in front of him, his hand held out to stop him, but it wasn't threatening. "Sanosuke, don't leave again. This is the only safe place for you right now.
"Get out of my way," Sanosuke growled.
Kenshin stood up behind him, a cautious eye on both Saitou and his friend.
"Ahou! There is something I haven't told you yet!" Saitou said with his voiced raised forcefully.
"Oh, what else is new?" Sanosuke headed towards the door, moving to dodge Saitou.
Saitou grabbed Sanosuke's arm to hold him back, but then something happened that Saitou did not intend. They both stopped dead in their tracks as they felt a sensation of hostile energy overflowing across their auras. They looked up and into each other's eyes, knowing that these thoughts were not their own. Suddenly the sensation was violent and both men were cut down to kneel at the floor, holding each other's arms to keep from falling. Sanosuke saw that Saitou's eyes had become luminescent and bright, as though someone were holding a candle behind his eyes. Sanosuke could only guess what his own eyes were like at the moment. Another violent surge ripped through them and they both dug into each other's arms, deeper and deeper with every thrashing attack. Kenshin called out to them, but it was faint as if it were a voice from another world. Sanosuke felt only the sensation of fur stroking his body, but as if it were underneath his skin, through his very muscle.
When he looked up he was outside of himself, like it were something else looking out from his eyes. Suddenly, the man before him wasn't a man, it was a threat. Saitou's glare said the same thing about Sanosuke. Their vision went almost completely black as the spirit within them took control.