It had been a several days since Aoshi Shinomori had come and left the dojo
with word that his little trip with the doctor had been a failure.
The residents of the Kamiya dojo had every expectation that the doctor would call again, and they waited patiently for her to come by. Aoshi had told Kenshin earlier that Megumi would be busy with her colleagues for a few days. But as several days lapsed into a week and their latest message to the hotel returning to them unopened, the dojo residents started to worry and to make gentle inquiries amongst their acquaintances.
So when a matchmaker arrived at the Kamiya dojo, all hell broke loose.
Not that the resulting situation was truly all that bad if one considered the history behind the dojo, but to the students who had never known anything of those old days, they believed it to be such. It was one thing to see Kamiya-sensei discipline her assistant master Myojin-sensei, but it was a completely different thing to see Sanosuke Sagara when he was extremely ticked off.
They'd be discussing Sanosuke for years to come, thanks to some choice words by Sagara after the matchmaker had pompously made her way in and demanded to see the dojo inhabitants to discuss the wishes of her client, Neji Kashiwazaki. He thought the woman's arrival was another one of Okina's strange ploys to harass the doctor and basically told her to hurry back to Okina and tell him to stop bothering the doctor with his silly proposals.
And the strange thing was, he had said it all in jest. "Kashiwazaki- san," or Okina, couldn't have possibly wanted Megumi for himself, so this had to have been one of Okina's little tricks.
The matchmaker was most upset. She had years of tradition behind her and a reputation at stake. No one had ever dared laugh at her. It was simply impolite!! "Kashiwazaki-san" had warned her about this man - a man who could be a potential rival for the hand of the doctor. And clearly this man who was sitting there scoffing must have been that man.
It took all of Kenshin's kindness to make the woman stop her tirade against "the bratty youngster." He had bowed and greeted her politely, thanking her for making the journey and offering her tea. He nodded appropriately when she stated her business and asked her to sit and rest.
However, as soon as the matchmaker clarified that she wasn't trying to propose a match between "Kashiwaki-san" but his ward "Shinomori-san" and the doctor, things became strangely serious. Kaoru and Kenshin exchanged glances first at one another, and then looked outside the entrance to the room in which they sat with the matchmaker at Sanosuke, who was pretending to be idling near by in an attempt to listen in on the conversation.
Kenshin awkwardly apologized to the woman for the misunderstanding. He told the woman that there was little he and his wife could do; even though "Takani-san" had no family, they could not or would not serve as the negotiating party on the doctor's behalf.
"Hmph." The woman had answered, clearly not liking the idea that Kenshin proposed to her then - which was to go directly to the doctor herself.
But she had no choice. And so she resolved to go try the doctor in Aizu.
Sanosuke had taken off immediately then, running the road up to Aizu. There were things he had to know. among them, whether the doctor would even seriously consider the formal offer coming forward from that meddling Okina.
But he learned, as did the matchmaker, that the doctor was no longer there.
A day later he returned to the dojo to tell Kaoru and Kenshin the news of what he had discovered. The folks at the clinic told him that she had come back days earlier to take her things and leave for good. She had left for America, without so much as a notice to Kenshin and Kaoru. Or him.
Kenshin and Kaoru looked surprised, even a bit concerned.
But Sanosuke was angry.
Despite what had happened between the two of them, she had left without a note. Without a single word.
Her only reference to him in the letter that Gensai-sensei finally brought over and shared, was that he take care of himself.
It was after that, that the dojo began to bother him. Each corner of it reminded him of her: the porch where she had tended his hand, the courtyard where they had kissed, the kitchen where she had held him the last day he had seen her.
Even though she wouldn't say it, she still offered him the hope of something of a future. And just as quickly, she had run off for whatever reason, and didn't care enough to even say goodbye.
And now, the dojo felt too small, too constraining. Or maybe . . . empty.
Within a few days of hearing that Megumi had left Japan, he made his decision. It was time to leave the dojo once again.
~
After the matchmaker had violently sworn up and down to never deal with "Kashiwazaki-san" again, Okina was resigned to giving up on all his romantic intrigues.
Aoshi almost pitied the man then. After all, Okina was used to getting his way in most matters, but as far as matters of the heart were concerned it seemed that he was a dismal failure. A few of the employees had quit after jealousies flared and relationships between people soured. Others like Okon and Omasu were seen moping about uselessly. And the biggest failure, Okina began to complain was how Aoshi had let the doctor slip away to America.
But as the complaining continued throughout the end of spring and the rest of the summer, his pity for the man had all but disappeared. The man simply could not stop complaining about things which were clearly not changeable.
The only consolation Okina had now were the letters that came from Misao. She had been gone for some months now, stopping here and there along the way to write and tell him about various things. Okina did miss her, and at least appeared to wish her back, but Aoshi also noted that Okina never asked specifically that someone be sent to bring her back.
As they sat for tea on one particular lazy morning, Okina made sure to open the letter from Misao first. Aoshi waited; Okina wasn't one to read most of the very long but cheerful letter aloud. He'd look at it quickly and give Aoshi the summarized version, leaving Aoshi to pick through it more carefully later. This morning was no different.
"She says she's doing well. And then Soujiro and Cho are doing well too. They beat up more yakuza and carted them off to jail, blah blah blah." His eyes moved impatiently down the length of the letter, ignoring all the details of one battle or another. "Ha!" Okina finally crowed as he neared the end of the letter. "She mentions that Soujiro is very good with the sword." Aoshi suspected that Okina would have danced if he were strong enough. "That must mean something!"
Aoshi looked up from the tea he held in his hands. "So he is. But that doesn't mean anything, Okina. Misao is always complimentary of others' skills."
"Ha!" Okina jabbed at the paper where she had complained about the broomhead always poking fun at her and Soujiro. "You're always so certain of yourself when it comes to reading people, aren't you? But even that weird detective seems to think something is going on!" Okina crossed his arms smugly across his chest. "Isn't that ironic? The okashira is the last to see what's right in front of his face!"
"So perhaps Misao and Soujiro are interested in one another. Are you happy?"
"I'd be happier if you would start paying more attention to your life than hers."
"What do you mean by that?"
Okina sighed and pushed the letter from Misao aside and picked up another. "It's no fun if I have to tell you."
Aoshi was about to ask further, but Okina's face changed slightly as he hefted the letter.
"Hmm. Strange, this letter." Okina looked at the paper.
"Something from one of your old friends?" Aoshi knew that gesture well. Okina usually reserved this gesture for a specially coded message.
He opened it and glanced at it. "Ah yes. Very good. Very good." He looked up, "My friend asks after your prospects for a future wife." He grinned as he held it out to him, "Makes mention of the Takanis and who best to approach for the match in her absence. Too bad she's gone that one. I think my old friend would have liked her as much as I did."
Aoshi knew well enough that no man could ever behave or think like Okina. He could definitely not be serious as to its contents. Aoshi took the letter and looked at it. Okina's teasing was simply that. The friend had clearly written an answer to their inquiry about the Takani family. And the answer from the friend was negative. There was no one to approach. He looked up at Okina, "Your friend confirms that no one with the Takani name exists."
Okina looked cheerful despite the sad news. "He also said that my original sources were right. I'm vindicated it seems. So no need to keep telling me that I sent you all over Japan on some kind of weird goosechase. He mentioned a quaint town and how he envied your trip there a few weeks back. He suggests returning there and trying again."
Aoshi paused. "So . . . I was right to go to the coast in the first place. But - "
"You made a mistake in trusting what that woman said."
Aoshi thought for a moment. "That day, Megumi-san was somewhat odd in her behavior. I should have looked beyond her words and at her feelings more closely."
"So," Okina said lazily. "You won't give up, even though the woman is on the other side of the world will you?"
"A promise is a promise, Okina." Aoshi folded the letter back up carefully. "Let's pursue the issue of Yasitare Ryuji further, Okina."
~ ~
For several weeks, life continued similarly. They both continued to look at the reports that came in from Misao and other sources. These letters painted two different pictures of the underside of Japan.
Aoshi was considerably more attentive towards Misao's letters than Okina, who continued to just look carefully for any mention of Soujiro Seta. He studied Misao's letters after Okina discarded them. Why Okina did not appear to read them closely, he was not certain. But perhaps Okina was choosing now to live life more quietly and leave the spying to the younger generation.
It was apparent that yakuza were very strong in each place Misao and her companions had gone to investigate. Not all were well-organized, but their influence was spreading. Kyoto, with the Aoiya now watching closely, would be fairly safe. But elsewhere, the yakuza were spreading. In the old days of the revolution, the yakuza were suppressed by the presence of much stronger men with swords. Unfortunately, with no men of code - no Shinsengumi, no Ishin-Shishi - they were strong-arming many towns into submitting to their power.
The police more and more were dealing with these men, but Misao mentioned that their efforts only drove the smarter yakuza underground. The police, or rather the normal police, could not legally deal with those hidden criminals.
But there were men like Saitou, and those he recruited to quietly deal with criminal elements. Misao was clearly enjoying working with Cho and with Soujiro, who had independently decided that these yakuza were ruffians without any code or vision and offered his services to Saitou. Quietly, they brought these men to justice and allowed them to be locked away.
Hearing of their efforts in those letters made Aoshi feel a bit old, a bit wary and perhaps a bit useless. He could be content with his life at the Aoiya, but watching Misao made him evaluate his purpose and direction. He questioned how long he could be a simple innkeeper in these still unsettled times.
These were other things which Aoshi chose not to share with Okina, who of those at the Aoiya he was closest to. But none were as serious as his own thoughts about himself.
Okina might in fact be very upset if he knew that Aoshi had withheld a letter from the Himuras from his attention. He had just heard from the Himuras and they too had seen Misao and Soujiro, quite well and happy as usual. It was not that he wished to keep Okina from getting his hopes up; he just thought that by sharing what Kenshin and Kaoru observed between the two with Okina would deprive the old man of one of his enjoyments. Okina found too much pleasure in analyzing the letters he received.
But there was other news he did not share and chose instead to ponder alone as he went about his daily job of running the Aoiya. Sanosuke Sagara had left, for parts unknown shortly after the doctor had left the country. He wondered if Sagara had followed the doctor.
As for the doctor herself, Kenshin had mentioned how Gensai-sensei and Megumi were in regular contact. She had settled into her new home somewhere on the Eastern part of America and had sounded happy in her letters. But she made no mention of continuing the search for her brother.
The mystery surrounding Ryuji Yasitare was now mostly resolved. Ryuji Yasitare, as it turned out, was apparently not a simple farmer or botanist.
As Aoshi and Okina had dug further into the history of Yasitare Ryuji, they were warned by their friends to carefully cover their tracks. He was not yakuza - but something far more dangerous.
They discovered that Ryuji-san was a person who at one point was much in favor with the strong and wealthy of Japan- many of whom were today part of the Meiji government. A man of seemingly humble beginnings who owned a modest size of land, he had really been not much of anything until he had been sent to a makeshift hospital to recover from a serious illness during the battles in Edo. That illness had changed his life; he miraculously recovered and began turning out poisons - the kind that could never be detected except by those with extremely keen senses. His handiwork helped fuel a silent revolution in part by assassins who took out enemies quickly and quietly and for all purposes, "naturally."
How he had fallen out of favor wasn't clear, but he wasn't far from the heart of the Meiji government and from their eye. Such a man was useful and dangerous to them.
What he had done in itself didn't particularly bother either Aoshi or Okina. Yasitare was like many men of that era-desperate and resourceful and his hands were bloodied with numerous deaths. But the one anomaly with Ryuji Yasitare was during his illness, he was tended by a young person of extraordinary healing abilities - a young man who matched the age of a missing Kenichi Takani.
The coincidence was not lost on Aoshi.
So, it was true that the real Ryuji Yasitare fell ill. But unlike what history told, Ryuji Yasitare had died.
And the man he had seen weeks ago talking to Megumi Takani was the young man who took his place. That man was Kenichi Takani.
She had recognized him then, he was certain of it. But she told him that the man she had talked to was not her brother. The reason why she insisted on it, though, was something his spies and contacts could never tell him.
Why did she lie to him?
That question bothered him immensely. There was an understanding between them; a respect that he had earned from her years previously while they sought to help Kenshin bring back Kaoru from Enishi. Yet, in the few letters he wrote to her to explain his findings he never asked that question directly.
But with respect to everything else he mentioned to her, he never received any answers or acknowledgement of the news he wanted to share with her.
And so he had let it rest. There was no need to harass the man who was really Kenichi Takani. That he as others in his network of information were aware of him was enough. The man was no longer active in his work nor could ever be with so many eyes upon him.
As for Kenichi's sister, Aoshi drew the conclusion that she chose to be silent. The woman chose to walk away from the life she had here and for now, he would honor the decision and simply let her be.
= = = =
a/n: minor revisions made. I should really wait before giving you the next part, but you know what? I don't care. Enjoy it. We passed 100 reviews!!!
The residents of the Kamiya dojo had every expectation that the doctor would call again, and they waited patiently for her to come by. Aoshi had told Kenshin earlier that Megumi would be busy with her colleagues for a few days. But as several days lapsed into a week and their latest message to the hotel returning to them unopened, the dojo residents started to worry and to make gentle inquiries amongst their acquaintances.
So when a matchmaker arrived at the Kamiya dojo, all hell broke loose.
Not that the resulting situation was truly all that bad if one considered the history behind the dojo, but to the students who had never known anything of those old days, they believed it to be such. It was one thing to see Kamiya-sensei discipline her assistant master Myojin-sensei, but it was a completely different thing to see Sanosuke Sagara when he was extremely ticked off.
They'd be discussing Sanosuke for years to come, thanks to some choice words by Sagara after the matchmaker had pompously made her way in and demanded to see the dojo inhabitants to discuss the wishes of her client, Neji Kashiwazaki. He thought the woman's arrival was another one of Okina's strange ploys to harass the doctor and basically told her to hurry back to Okina and tell him to stop bothering the doctor with his silly proposals.
And the strange thing was, he had said it all in jest. "Kashiwazaki- san," or Okina, couldn't have possibly wanted Megumi for himself, so this had to have been one of Okina's little tricks.
The matchmaker was most upset. She had years of tradition behind her and a reputation at stake. No one had ever dared laugh at her. It was simply impolite!! "Kashiwazaki-san" had warned her about this man - a man who could be a potential rival for the hand of the doctor. And clearly this man who was sitting there scoffing must have been that man.
It took all of Kenshin's kindness to make the woman stop her tirade against "the bratty youngster." He had bowed and greeted her politely, thanking her for making the journey and offering her tea. He nodded appropriately when she stated her business and asked her to sit and rest.
However, as soon as the matchmaker clarified that she wasn't trying to propose a match between "Kashiwaki-san" but his ward "Shinomori-san" and the doctor, things became strangely serious. Kaoru and Kenshin exchanged glances first at one another, and then looked outside the entrance to the room in which they sat with the matchmaker at Sanosuke, who was pretending to be idling near by in an attempt to listen in on the conversation.
Kenshin awkwardly apologized to the woman for the misunderstanding. He told the woman that there was little he and his wife could do; even though "Takani-san" had no family, they could not or would not serve as the negotiating party on the doctor's behalf.
"Hmph." The woman had answered, clearly not liking the idea that Kenshin proposed to her then - which was to go directly to the doctor herself.
But she had no choice. And so she resolved to go try the doctor in Aizu.
Sanosuke had taken off immediately then, running the road up to Aizu. There were things he had to know. among them, whether the doctor would even seriously consider the formal offer coming forward from that meddling Okina.
But he learned, as did the matchmaker, that the doctor was no longer there.
A day later he returned to the dojo to tell Kaoru and Kenshin the news of what he had discovered. The folks at the clinic told him that she had come back days earlier to take her things and leave for good. She had left for America, without so much as a notice to Kenshin and Kaoru. Or him.
Kenshin and Kaoru looked surprised, even a bit concerned.
But Sanosuke was angry.
Despite what had happened between the two of them, she had left without a note. Without a single word.
Her only reference to him in the letter that Gensai-sensei finally brought over and shared, was that he take care of himself.
It was after that, that the dojo began to bother him. Each corner of it reminded him of her: the porch where she had tended his hand, the courtyard where they had kissed, the kitchen where she had held him the last day he had seen her.
Even though she wouldn't say it, she still offered him the hope of something of a future. And just as quickly, she had run off for whatever reason, and didn't care enough to even say goodbye.
And now, the dojo felt too small, too constraining. Or maybe . . . empty.
Within a few days of hearing that Megumi had left Japan, he made his decision. It was time to leave the dojo once again.
~
After the matchmaker had violently sworn up and down to never deal with "Kashiwazaki-san" again, Okina was resigned to giving up on all his romantic intrigues.
Aoshi almost pitied the man then. After all, Okina was used to getting his way in most matters, but as far as matters of the heart were concerned it seemed that he was a dismal failure. A few of the employees had quit after jealousies flared and relationships between people soured. Others like Okon and Omasu were seen moping about uselessly. And the biggest failure, Okina began to complain was how Aoshi had let the doctor slip away to America.
But as the complaining continued throughout the end of spring and the rest of the summer, his pity for the man had all but disappeared. The man simply could not stop complaining about things which were clearly not changeable.
The only consolation Okina had now were the letters that came from Misao. She had been gone for some months now, stopping here and there along the way to write and tell him about various things. Okina did miss her, and at least appeared to wish her back, but Aoshi also noted that Okina never asked specifically that someone be sent to bring her back.
As they sat for tea on one particular lazy morning, Okina made sure to open the letter from Misao first. Aoshi waited; Okina wasn't one to read most of the very long but cheerful letter aloud. He'd look at it quickly and give Aoshi the summarized version, leaving Aoshi to pick through it more carefully later. This morning was no different.
"She says she's doing well. And then Soujiro and Cho are doing well too. They beat up more yakuza and carted them off to jail, blah blah blah." His eyes moved impatiently down the length of the letter, ignoring all the details of one battle or another. "Ha!" Okina finally crowed as he neared the end of the letter. "She mentions that Soujiro is very good with the sword." Aoshi suspected that Okina would have danced if he were strong enough. "That must mean something!"
Aoshi looked up from the tea he held in his hands. "So he is. But that doesn't mean anything, Okina. Misao is always complimentary of others' skills."
"Ha!" Okina jabbed at the paper where she had complained about the broomhead always poking fun at her and Soujiro. "You're always so certain of yourself when it comes to reading people, aren't you? But even that weird detective seems to think something is going on!" Okina crossed his arms smugly across his chest. "Isn't that ironic? The okashira is the last to see what's right in front of his face!"
"So perhaps Misao and Soujiro are interested in one another. Are you happy?"
"I'd be happier if you would start paying more attention to your life than hers."
"What do you mean by that?"
Okina sighed and pushed the letter from Misao aside and picked up another. "It's no fun if I have to tell you."
Aoshi was about to ask further, but Okina's face changed slightly as he hefted the letter.
"Hmm. Strange, this letter." Okina looked at the paper.
"Something from one of your old friends?" Aoshi knew that gesture well. Okina usually reserved this gesture for a specially coded message.
He opened it and glanced at it. "Ah yes. Very good. Very good." He looked up, "My friend asks after your prospects for a future wife." He grinned as he held it out to him, "Makes mention of the Takanis and who best to approach for the match in her absence. Too bad she's gone that one. I think my old friend would have liked her as much as I did."
Aoshi knew well enough that no man could ever behave or think like Okina. He could definitely not be serious as to its contents. Aoshi took the letter and looked at it. Okina's teasing was simply that. The friend had clearly written an answer to their inquiry about the Takani family. And the answer from the friend was negative. There was no one to approach. He looked up at Okina, "Your friend confirms that no one with the Takani name exists."
Okina looked cheerful despite the sad news. "He also said that my original sources were right. I'm vindicated it seems. So no need to keep telling me that I sent you all over Japan on some kind of weird goosechase. He mentioned a quaint town and how he envied your trip there a few weeks back. He suggests returning there and trying again."
Aoshi paused. "So . . . I was right to go to the coast in the first place. But - "
"You made a mistake in trusting what that woman said."
Aoshi thought for a moment. "That day, Megumi-san was somewhat odd in her behavior. I should have looked beyond her words and at her feelings more closely."
"So," Okina said lazily. "You won't give up, even though the woman is on the other side of the world will you?"
"A promise is a promise, Okina." Aoshi folded the letter back up carefully. "Let's pursue the issue of Yasitare Ryuji further, Okina."
~ ~
For several weeks, life continued similarly. They both continued to look at the reports that came in from Misao and other sources. These letters painted two different pictures of the underside of Japan.
Aoshi was considerably more attentive towards Misao's letters than Okina, who continued to just look carefully for any mention of Soujiro Seta. He studied Misao's letters after Okina discarded them. Why Okina did not appear to read them closely, he was not certain. But perhaps Okina was choosing now to live life more quietly and leave the spying to the younger generation.
It was apparent that yakuza were very strong in each place Misao and her companions had gone to investigate. Not all were well-organized, but their influence was spreading. Kyoto, with the Aoiya now watching closely, would be fairly safe. But elsewhere, the yakuza were spreading. In the old days of the revolution, the yakuza were suppressed by the presence of much stronger men with swords. Unfortunately, with no men of code - no Shinsengumi, no Ishin-Shishi - they were strong-arming many towns into submitting to their power.
The police more and more were dealing with these men, but Misao mentioned that their efforts only drove the smarter yakuza underground. The police, or rather the normal police, could not legally deal with those hidden criminals.
But there were men like Saitou, and those he recruited to quietly deal with criminal elements. Misao was clearly enjoying working with Cho and with Soujiro, who had independently decided that these yakuza were ruffians without any code or vision and offered his services to Saitou. Quietly, they brought these men to justice and allowed them to be locked away.
Hearing of their efforts in those letters made Aoshi feel a bit old, a bit wary and perhaps a bit useless. He could be content with his life at the Aoiya, but watching Misao made him evaluate his purpose and direction. He questioned how long he could be a simple innkeeper in these still unsettled times.
These were other things which Aoshi chose not to share with Okina, who of those at the Aoiya he was closest to. But none were as serious as his own thoughts about himself.
Okina might in fact be very upset if he knew that Aoshi had withheld a letter from the Himuras from his attention. He had just heard from the Himuras and they too had seen Misao and Soujiro, quite well and happy as usual. It was not that he wished to keep Okina from getting his hopes up; he just thought that by sharing what Kenshin and Kaoru observed between the two with Okina would deprive the old man of one of his enjoyments. Okina found too much pleasure in analyzing the letters he received.
But there was other news he did not share and chose instead to ponder alone as he went about his daily job of running the Aoiya. Sanosuke Sagara had left, for parts unknown shortly after the doctor had left the country. He wondered if Sagara had followed the doctor.
As for the doctor herself, Kenshin had mentioned how Gensai-sensei and Megumi were in regular contact. She had settled into her new home somewhere on the Eastern part of America and had sounded happy in her letters. But she made no mention of continuing the search for her brother.
The mystery surrounding Ryuji Yasitare was now mostly resolved. Ryuji Yasitare, as it turned out, was apparently not a simple farmer or botanist.
As Aoshi and Okina had dug further into the history of Yasitare Ryuji, they were warned by their friends to carefully cover their tracks. He was not yakuza - but something far more dangerous.
They discovered that Ryuji-san was a person who at one point was much in favor with the strong and wealthy of Japan- many of whom were today part of the Meiji government. A man of seemingly humble beginnings who owned a modest size of land, he had really been not much of anything until he had been sent to a makeshift hospital to recover from a serious illness during the battles in Edo. That illness had changed his life; he miraculously recovered and began turning out poisons - the kind that could never be detected except by those with extremely keen senses. His handiwork helped fuel a silent revolution in part by assassins who took out enemies quickly and quietly and for all purposes, "naturally."
How he had fallen out of favor wasn't clear, but he wasn't far from the heart of the Meiji government and from their eye. Such a man was useful and dangerous to them.
What he had done in itself didn't particularly bother either Aoshi or Okina. Yasitare was like many men of that era-desperate and resourceful and his hands were bloodied with numerous deaths. But the one anomaly with Ryuji Yasitare was during his illness, he was tended by a young person of extraordinary healing abilities - a young man who matched the age of a missing Kenichi Takani.
The coincidence was not lost on Aoshi.
So, it was true that the real Ryuji Yasitare fell ill. But unlike what history told, Ryuji Yasitare had died.
And the man he had seen weeks ago talking to Megumi Takani was the young man who took his place. That man was Kenichi Takani.
She had recognized him then, he was certain of it. But she told him that the man she had talked to was not her brother. The reason why she insisted on it, though, was something his spies and contacts could never tell him.
Why did she lie to him?
That question bothered him immensely. There was an understanding between them; a respect that he had earned from her years previously while they sought to help Kenshin bring back Kaoru from Enishi. Yet, in the few letters he wrote to her to explain his findings he never asked that question directly.
But with respect to everything else he mentioned to her, he never received any answers or acknowledgement of the news he wanted to share with her.
And so he had let it rest. There was no need to harass the man who was really Kenichi Takani. That he as others in his network of information were aware of him was enough. The man was no longer active in his work nor could ever be with so many eyes upon him.
As for Kenichi's sister, Aoshi drew the conclusion that she chose to be silent. The woman chose to walk away from the life she had here and for now, he would honor the decision and simply let her be.
= = = =
a/n: minor revisions made. I should really wait before giving you the next part, but you know what? I don't care. Enjoy it. We passed 100 reviews!!!
