Sanosuke sat cross-legged on the porch at the back of the small house. Restless fingers traced the grain of the wood planks and traveled the length of the grooves between them. Head propped in the palm of his other hand, he sighed.
"You're really okay with this?"
His companion folded the newspaper he had been reading and removed the cigarette from his mouth to flick the ash.
"Someone has to make sure Higashidani isn't cursed with two morons for sons," Saitoh answered.
"Creep."
Saitoh noted the despondency in the tone, surprised after so much enthusiasm during the week's preparations. "After all you've done, don't tell me you're having second thoughts."
"I guess it just came to me that you might not like having a little boy running around." Sanosuke shrugged. "Like I might've gotten carried away at the idea of getting to know my little brother."
Butting the last of his cigarette in a nearby bowl, Saitoh got up and sat behind Sanosuke. He pressed his long fingers into the hollows at either side of Sanosuke's spine and rubbed soothingly. His smile was lost in the soft locks of hair as Sanosuke tilted his head back at the pleasure.
"Whenever I go home to Tokio, one of my greatest pleasures is to look outside the window," he told Sanosuke. "Two natural sons, an adopted son, and a foster son… the joy on their faces when they play together assures me we were right to collect such a menagerie. They rely on each other for so much. How could I deny you the chance to do something for Outa?"
Sanosuke leaned back farther, until he could see Saitoh's face. "Raising a child wasn't part of the bargain when you invited me to live with you."
"I don't recall it being a prohibition, either."
"And it's not like I'm the one able to afford it."
"One little boy is not going to break me."
"You might want to rethink that. He's a Higashidani, after all."
"Then he'll learn to like soba or starve."
"One taste of Jo-chan's cooking and he'll be begging you to make him soba."
Saitoh took a handful of hair and pulled Sanosuke's head back to fall against his shoulder. His look feigned malevolence. "Was it the Greeks or the Trojans who said, 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth'?"
"How the hell should I know? Ask Outa in a few years. He's the one who'll be goin' to school."
"My point is, ahou, that you should be nice to the Kamiya girl. She's asking precious little from you for training him."
Wriggling free, Sanosuke sat up and resumed his fascination with the streaks in the wood floor. "Don't think she won't let me forget it, either."
"Only when you do something stupid… like prejudicing Outa against her."
"I wouldn't do that. He's gonna need her… and not just as a sensei. It's gonna be hard on him. Uki's care is all he's ever known."
"Don't become like your sister and coddle him. He'll quickly understand he hasn't really lost anything and see how much more he's gained. It's not like he's come from the horror of seeing his family killed, like Eiji did."
"Eiji's different. He's older than Outa."
"Six or ten, they're still boys… still children." A sadness touched Saitoh's heart, remembrance of the tearful night Sanosuke had told him about himself, about his past. Affection and pride swelled, causing Saitoh to caress a still boyishly soft cheek. "It isn't as though either one of them has had to face what you did."
"And I don't want them to. No child should go through what I did… or Yahiko, for that matter. That's why this is so important to me." Sanosuke drew his legs up and braced them within the circle of his arms. "It's more than that, though. Outa has a chance at the future Sagara Taichou envisioned for me. I'd like to think I'm honoring his faith in me by giving it to my brother."
"It's my way of honoring his memory… of thanking him for what he was able to do for you… that I want to help. Having Outa here is hardly a sacrifice to compare to his."
"But it's still a lot to ask of you. Your own sons should be here… not a day's ride away."
"Someday, maybe they will. At the very least, we will have them here to visit. Even the indestructible Tokio needs a vacation now and then."
Rising suddenly, Sanosuke turned his idle attention to the wood of the porch posts, trying to imagine what it would be like to have them all together… Tomu, Yoshi, Tatsuo, Eiji, and Outa. He smiled as he turned to watch Saitoh stand as well. None of them, including himself, could be more fortunate than to have Saitoh Hajime, the incorruptible Wolf of Mibu, as their benefactor, teacher, and role model.
"You gotta start looking for a bigger house, man. I mean, how are we going to fit five boys into this place?"
"Five, moron?" Saitoh gave a shove that sent Sanosuke stumbling down the porch ahead of him. "You mean six."
Turning, Sanosuke grinned. "Better make that seven."
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Footnotes: Saitoh's third son, Tatsuo, was adopted, apparently the last in a line of an old Aizu family that Tokio or Saitoh or both knew. They kept the truth of his true parentage a secret until he was in college (even then, I think it was a relative from his natural family that told him), raising him from infancy as one of their own. Sweet.
