Sanosuke awoke with the sounds of growls in his ears, which was not unusual. The sounds of cursing and furniture scraping the floor, and objects hitting the ground were not really unusual either. Even the cries of "Orororo," were not that unusual; all of the sounds together, however, made his eyes snap open. "You are hurt, that you are," Kenshin's light tenor voice reached his ears. "We are just trying to help…Yahiko, see if you can herd him into that corner…Oro!" Sano rolled over with a groan to see Kenshin and Yahiko both waving blankets at the snapping and snarling wolf.
"Hey!" he shouted, glaring around the room as he sat up, groaning again. Sudden quiet descended upon the room as three pairs of eyes turned to him. "Don't you two know that cornering a wolf is a good way to get your throats torn out? And you, Hajime!" he said turning a particularly devastating glare toward the wolf. "You know you're not going to bite them, so just stop that noise right now." Three pairs of now sheepish gazes watched as Sano lay back down. "Now, what seems to be the problem here?" he asked calmly.
"He was hurt fighting Kamatari, today," Yahiko said, pointing to the wolf. "We just wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help treat the wound." Kenshin nodded his agreement.
"You were hurt?" Sano asked Saitou pointedly, his voice rising; the wolf heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Did you ask politely to help him?" Sano asked Kenshin, whose eyes widened comically at the thought of asking a wolf anything. "Gods…when did I become the adult here?" Yahiko giggled.
"It was bound to happen eventually Sano, that it was," Kenshin said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"Hey, I think I've just been insulted," Sanosuke said sulking. The wolf snorted in what could only be derision, drawing everyone's attention to him again.
"Saitou, I apologize, that I do. Sano is right; I should have asked your permission. May I look at your wound?" Kenshin asked the wolf solemnly. Saitou cocked his head in thought, growled softly, and then turned his back on the redhead, limping over to sit by Sano's bed. Sanosuke gasped.
"Damn it Hajime, he's trying to help. You're being a complete bastard…" he started sitting up again, but Kenshin placed a hand on his chest forcing him down.
"Sano, it's alright. I don't think that Saitou has quite forgiven me yet; have you, Saitou?" The wolf looked over his shoulder at the wanderer.
"But he knows it wasn't your fault, Kenshin. You couldn't have known," Sano said quietly.
"But I should have known, Sano. I was your friend; I should have known… Saitou, will you at least let Yahiko look at your shoulder?" the wanderer asked the wolf. Saitou huffed but didn't reject the idea outright. Yahiko looked stricken.
"But I don't know anything about medicine," Yahiko said, slowly backing away from the wolf. Kenshin raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, I'll be here to tell you everything you need to know, that I will."
"But I don't know anything about wolves…" Yahiko whined. Crisis averted, Sanosuke dozed off again, only to be awakened some time later by Saitou putting his cold, wet nose into his ear.
"Go away," Sano mumbled without opening his eyes. He was vaguely aware of Kenshin and Yahiko leaving the room. "I'm not talking to you." Saitou began licking at his lips. "No, you were totally rude to Kenshin; it was totally uncalled for. You can just go sleep on the floor." Saitou scratched at the coverlet, trying to get in. "Ha," Sano said rolling over unto his side. The wolf straddled the boy and started nipping at his pointed chin. "Oi! Biting is NOT fair…fine," Sano raised the covers and let the wolf scramble in. "But I'm still not talking to you," he said as Saitou turned a couple of times to find exactly the spot he wanted and fitted himself into Sano's body. Warm and comfortable, they were both asleep within a few moments.
***
"Ugh," Yahiko winced as the redhead examined his injured hand. "Whether he's a wolf or a man, he's a total ass." Kenshin chuckled low in his throat.
"That's not exactly fair, Yahiko. You did hurt him, that you did."
"I was trying to help him! And I told you I didn't know anything about wolves!"
"He didn't bite you that hard; he didn't even break the skin, that he didn't," Kenshin showed the boy his hand before rubbing some foul smelling concoction on the bruise. "I think he was just trying to get you to quit, that I do."
"Why are you defending him?" Yahiko asked. "He was especially rude to you." Kenshin shook his head.
"Saitou and I have never been friends, Yahiko, that we have not. But we do understand one another. And I think that we both want what's best for Sanosuke, that I do. I'm willing to put up with his 'total assedness' for Sano's sake, that I am."
" 'Assedness?' Is that really a word?" Yahiko laughed. Kenshin laughed with him.
"It is now, that it is. Go to sleep, now, Yahiko," Kenshin said as he got up to leave the boy.
"Goodnight, Kenshin."
***
Usui dismissed the guard at Shibumi's bedroom door with a curt nod. He pushed the shoji screen aside quietly, walking into the room insolently. His audacity didn't matter: his Eye of the Heart told him that the Daimyo was too busy with other pursuits to notice him. However, the Daimyo's night companion looked up at him from the futon and whimpered, his blood rushing through his body in pain as well as embarrassment. Usui smirked as Shibumi responded to the sound by petting the bound and gagged boy like a cat.
Usui didn't bother to hide the sneer in his voice as he made Shibumi aware of his presence. "I'm sure the samurai who taught you hojojutsu would be ashamed at how you are abusing his art. Or did you get one of my men, Moriyama perhaps, to tie your little boy toy up for you?" Shibumi startled away from the boy, sitting up straight and holding the blanket to his chest like a virgin, completely ignoring the groaning young man beside him; his racing heart and mortification proclaiming to Usui's Eye of the Heart that the second guess was the true one. Usui hid his smirk by bowing. It was against honor to teach the art of binding to one not a samurai, and Shibumi, his nobility notwithstanding, had never been a warrior.
"I left orders that I was not to be disturbed tonight," Shibumi growled at this Captain of the Guards. "Tell me Usui, why shouldn't I have you killed and replaced?" Usui debated whether he should continue to taunt the Daimyo, but decided that the news he carried was much too important to indulge in petty gamesmanship.
"Forgive me, My Lord, but there is news."
"Kamatari is back?" Shibumi asked eagerly. Usui frowned slightly at the Daimyo's single-mindedness, before smirking again.
"No my Lord, Kamatari has not returned as of yet," he said evenly. As if his cross-dressing rival could actually kill Saitou, he thought with a small grin. Sending Kamatari after the former Captain of the Guards had been a stroke of genius on his part, since it got rid of his main rival without him having to dirty his hands.
"Then why the hell are you disturbing me this time?" Shibumi snarled in a futile effort to hide his embarrassment from Usui. The blind captain decided to get directly to the heart of the matter.
"We've just received a messenger pigeon from the Shogun. He'll be in Aizu by the end of the week. It seems that there is some discrepancy with the rice harvest and the number of men that Aizu has sent for the Emperor's Armies, and he is coming to discuss this with you personally."
"Damn it!" the Daimyo cursed as he stood, wrapping the blanket around his body. "He must suspect…Usui, go wait for me in my study. I'll join you there shortly. I have some business here that I need to take care of," he said with a pointed look at his bound companion, who was watching them with wide fearful eyes. "Oh, and have the one guarding my door tonight publicly flogged for disobeying my orders."
Usui bowed himself out of the room. Shibumi's appetite for cruelty was becoming legendary in Aizu. He almost felt sorry for the guard and the doomed boy. The guard had only obeyed an order from his superior officer. As for the Daimyo's…lover, not only had he the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, hearing things not meant for his ears, but he was also not who the Daimyo really wanted. Usui's nose wrinkled in a frown as he made his way to the study. He knew that Shibumi would soon be sending him to find another toy to play with.
***
Neither the soft early morning light filtered through snow flurries nor the dark blue peasants' kimono did anything to soften the harsh planes of Saitou's face as he watched Sanosuke, the tips of his wings trailing in the water, skim over the lake that backed the monastery. "I thought that you might have been dead, Himura," he said without looking at the wanderer. "There were times I wanted to kill you myself. But I am very grateful…for that," he said, tilting his chin toward the lake, as the eagle caught the fish that he was after, and soared back into the air. "You said in your message that you thought you had found a way to break the curse."
"Yes; that is, there is a chance for the curse to be broken, if the conditions are right," Kenshin said softly, his eyes also on the eagle. Saitou noticed that Himura's extremely polite speech pattern had disappeared.
"Well, what have you found?"
"Empress Suiko ruled Japan for thirty-six years. Her reign saw the writing of the seventeen-article constitution and the promotion of Buddhism. This monastery itself dates back to her reforms. During her reign, China diplomatically recognized the country for the first time, and according to the histories, there was a flowering of culture unlike any that had preceded her reign or since."
"This ancient history lesson is extremely fascinating, but what does this have to do with the here and now?" Saitou said in a mocking tone of voice.
"She was an important person, Saitou; so important that when she died, an Oni hid the sun to announce her death to the whole of Japan. On that day, there were two dawns, and two nightfalls…" Kenshin's voice trailed off.
"Hn. So it is possible for the curse to be broken. We just have to wait for the death of an important person?"
"No. I wouldn't have called you here if that were the case. I've met with a traveling Chinese scholar, an astronomer, and he assures me that in four days time, a day with two dawns and two nights will occur. If you and Sanosuke can face Shibumi in Aizu as human beings on that day, the curse will end," Kenshin said quietly. Saitou narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Where's the catch, Himura? You said 'if'." Kenshin sighed and ran a nervous hand through his bangs.
"I didn't tell you this before, because at the time, it seemed impossible that we would be able to meet the first condition to break the curse. But now…"
"There was a second condition?" Saitou growled, his hand unconsciously reaching for his absent sword.
"Yes, there was. On the day of the eclipse, in order for you to both be human at the same time, you must truly love each other," Kenshin whispered. Saitou's hands tightened into fists. "I know that you love him, Saitou. Your actions yesterday prove it. If you had let Sano die, then the curse would have been broken. You would have been free. It is Sano's feelings toward you that I'm not sure of."
"So. You lure us here with hope just so you can watch it die. I'd thought better of you Himura." Saitou held up his hand and whistled. The eagle, the lake trout in its beak, swooped down to perch upon the gauntlet. "Take care of Sanosuke," Saitou growled, handing the bird to Kenshin. "I'm sure that's what you wanted all along," he pushed his way passed the wanderer and into the building.
"Where are you going?" Kenshin yelled at his retreating back.
"To Aizu, to kill Shibumi," Saitou said coldly.
"You can't! The curse will never end if you do that!" There was no answer but the banging shut of a door, and soon afterwards, the galloping of hooves.
A few moments later, Yahiko, wiping sleep from his eyes, stumbled onto the lanai. He found Kenshin sitting, holding the eagle by his jesses, tears sliding down his cheeks.
