Sano found the wagon, with its dreadful cargo, parked by the side of the main road several miles from the inn. The huntsman, however, was nowhere to be seen. Sanosuke surveyed the scene from Horse's back before sliding off. "Shhh," he told the animal, tying the reins loosely to a nearby tree. There was the smell of smoke in the cold, snowy air; and Sano, using all of the hunter's grace and silence that he had learned over the past two years, turned to follow that smell deep into the woods.
Ahead in a clearing, the light from a small fire flickered. Sano cautiously made his way between the trees toward the clearing, stretching out his senses in order to find the scar-faced man. Except for the fire, the clearing was empty. However, Sano could feel eyes upon him as he walked into the open space.
"I know you're here," he called into the darkness. "Who are you?" He had only walked a couple of steps toward the fire when he heard the sound of something striking metal, and the loud snap of a wicked steel trap shutting at his feet. He jumped back, only to hear another clink and snap. Sano took a deep breath, calming the flutter of fear in his stomach as he decided to stand in one place, turning in a circle, trying to find the hunter.
"Pretty, pretty, Sanosuke," came the hunter's leering voice from somewhere in the darkness. "My name is Arundo Akamatsu, but all you really need to know is that I'm the best hunter in the prefecture. Tell me… where is the black wolf?"
"That's the second time you used that name. What did Shibumi promise you if you caught this black wolf?" Sano growled, still trying to locate the hunter. "You do know that he has no honor, right?"
"Oh, I got the impression that the Daimyo wants this wolf badly enough to actually pay me what he promised. So, beautiful boy, where is he?"
"Like you actually think I'm going to tell you that? Think again, asshole," Sano said, homing in on the hunter's location. The man chuckled at him.
"Such language; so unbecoming," the hunter said teasingly. "You shouldn't be that way, Sanosuke. It really doesn't matter if you tell me or not; you see, a good trapper can catch almost anything if he uses the right bait. And you, my pretty, are going to be my bait." Sano found the scar-faced hunter sitting in a tree, and started toward him, only to be brought up short by another rock hitting another trap in front of his feet. "I really wouldn't move if I were you. You never know when you might walk into a trap."
"Come down and face me, you fucking coward!" Sano yelled at the man. He knew now that his impulsive act had been a mistake, and repressed a shudder as icy fear ran down his spine; the hunter laughed at him again.
***
Kenshin, sitting in a corner of their room sleeping, had heard Sano quietly opening and closing the shoji screen. He had assumed that his friend was simply taking a trip to the outhouse, and his mind dozed as he waited to hear the young man to come back. The part of his mind that was always awake, however, noticed the passage of time. Suddenly, he was wide-awake, replaying Sano's earlier reactions in his mind's eye. He stretched out his senses, hoping against hope that what he feared wasn't true. "Yahiko, wake up! Sano's gone!" Kenshin said as he shook the small thief awake.
***
Saitou raised his head, tasting the wind in his nose and on his tongue. At first, the scent was faint, ghostly, and could almost be dismissed as a symptom of his longing for his pack mate. However, a freshening breeze brought new evidence that, indeed, he was near. The black wolf sat on his haunches and pondered his next action. Did he really want to see him again? Of course he did. However, would seeing him again weaken his resolve to do what was necessary to serve his sense of justice? Most likely. He decided that it would be best to ignore the tantalizingly familiar scent of his pack mate and to continue with his hunt. Thus, it was surprising to Saitou when he found himself loping into the wind, following his pack mate's scent.
***
Sanosuke glared at the hunter, silently cursing himself for his thick headedness. What exactly had he planned to do when he found the hunter? Talk to the man? Try to convince him to leave Saitou alone? Obviously the man was unwilling to be convinced.
The sound of a small animal crashing through the undergrowth caught his attention, and he watched, horrified, as an unwary fox ran into one of the traps that ringed the clearing. Its death scream abruptly cut off as it died; its back broken. The hunter laughed cruelly at Sano's reaction.
"That was relatively painless. I've seen animals that were unfortunate enough to only get their leg caught gnaw off feet to escape. It's a terrible way to die. Maybe you should start praying that your wolf doesn't suffer the same fate."
"Bastard," Sano spat helplessly, frowning as he watched the still twitching carcass of the fox. He'd be damned if he was going to let Saitou suffer at all. As if thinking the man's name had conjured him up, Sano felt more than heard a familiar howl close by. And although he tried not to show any reaction, the hunter seemed to know that his prey was near, and smirked down at Sanosuke from his perch.
***
Saitou found his pack mate in a small forest clearing, near a fire. There was something wrong, however: the scents of anger and fear and death reaching his nose, along with the smell of a stranger, caused his hackles to rise. Instead of bounding into the clearing and jumping on the boy as he wanted to do, he crouched low and inched his way slowly toward his pack mate; keeping a wary eye out for this stranger that caused fear. He gave a low growl to announce his presence, and was rewarded when the boy found his hiding place. The smell of fear, as well as the feeling of danger, increased.
"Go away," Sanosuke hissed. "I don't need you here." The wolf paused in his tracks. He sensed a danger that made every hair along his spine stand up; of course his pack needed him here; he was, after all, the boy's protector; and there was the matter of this stranger he smelled... He started forward again, only to be yelled at. "No! Stay the hell away from me!" The wolf stopped again, sat down, and cocked his head at the boy. What sort of nonsense was this? Perhaps his pack mate was angry that he had been left behind? If so, the wolf was prepared to make it up to him. He didn't get further chance to puzzle out his companion's odd behavior; a well-thrown rock, hitting his shoulder, disrupted his thoughts. "Leave me alone!" Another rock. "I don't want you here! Get away from me!" A barrage of rocks. Saitou felt his ears go flat, and his tail stiffen straight from his body in anger. He bared his fangs, preparing himself to teach his boy just who was alpha when another rock hit him on the nose, causing him to yelp in an undignified manner.
"This is all your fault, Hajime! I hate you!" Sano practically roared. Saitou blinked his narrowed eyes. The words hurt him more than any rock ever could; and if they, in and of themselves, weren't enough to make him abandon Sanosuke; the sense of relief that suddenly arose from the boy when he did turn away was palatable enough to make him run.
***
Watching as Saitou silently disappeared through the underbrush had to be among the hardest things Sano had ever done in his life. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had just saved Hajime's life, but he also knew that his actions and words had wounded the only being in the world who knew, and understood, what his life had become in the last two years. The relief that Saitou was safe suddenly became fear that Saitou wouldn't understand why he had acted in the manner that he had.
Sano was so focused on the wolf's passage that he lost track of Arundo Akamatsu until the stitched faced man backhanded him. Sano fell to his hands and knees, surprised; he hadn't seen or heard the hunter leave his perch in the tree. He tasted blood on his lips, and felt a bruise forming on his cheek. Idiot! What's the first rule of defense? Saitou's cold voice lectured in his mind. Never take your eyes off your enemy…
"You think you're clever, don't you, you little shit?" Akamatsu asked tauntingly. Sano glared up at him. "Well, I think you've cost me enough for one night," the trapper declared, kicking him in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Sano landed on his ass, his right hand coming to rest on cold steel. A quick glance down noticed a glint of firelight dancing on the chain of the concealed steel trap that his hand nearly landed in. Akamatsu was upon him before he could gasp enough air to move, pulling him up painfully by his shaggy hair. Sano's hand tightened automatically on the chain. "I think you owe me something for tonight, pretty boy," the man said with a lecherous grin. "And I think I'm going to enjoy taking what you owe me from your body."
Sanosuke didn't think. In the time it took to blink once, the cold, dispassionate part of his mind watched as he swung the chain and the trap at Akamatsu; observed the cold, sharp teeth close upon the man's face and neck; and felt the hunter's hot blood splash him in the face and chest as the man let go of his hair. By his second blink, that pragmatic part of his mind studied Akamatsu's hands as they tried to claw the steel trap from his head; noticed that it was possible for the man to free himself; and forced Sano to kick the man in the chest before his hands earned his liberation. And by the third blink, that separate awareness saw Arundo Akamatsu fall into another of his traps; scrutinized his death throes; and remarked that the hunter had been right: it was a terrible way to die. Aku. Soku. Zan.
Sanosuke came back to full awareness of himself and his surroundings as he watched, in horrified fascination, the still twitching body of the first man he'd ever killed. He sank to his hands and knees and puked up his guts.
***
"Sano?" Yahiko called out upon seeing the young man kneeling near a fire in a clearing. Sanosuke looked up, startled; the dying embers of the fire painting his features in scarlets and oranges, making him appear to be the forest spirit that Yahiko had first taken him for days ago, another lifetime ago. "Kenshin, I found him!" the boy thief called over his shoulder as he began to run toward the clearing.
"No! Stay away from me!" Sano said forcefully, his voice cracking. "There are traps hidden all around this clearing. It's not a good way to die." Yahiko froze in his tracks.
"Where's the hunter?" Yahiko whispered loudly. "Have you seen Saitou?" Sano looked down at his hands.
"Saitou is…safe," he said, his voice oddly subdued. Yahiko noticed the awkward hesitation. "The hunter…" again, Sano paused, looking over at bundle of what Yahiko had assumed to be rags, "won't be bothering us again." Yahiko felt his eyes widen with the realization that Sanosuke, who was hopeless at defense, who, according to Kenshin, had never wanted to kill in his life, had killed the hunter. Sano looked from the body to the dark and windswept sky. "It's going to be dawn soon," he said, and something in his voice sounded broken to the thief. Yahiko looked up at the cloudy black sky.
"How can you tell?" Yahiko asked gently, tactfully trying to steer the conversation away from death.
"After so many sunrises?" Sano said with a small, humorless laugh. "Yahiko, I need you to do a favor for me. Take Horse back to the stables and wait for Hajime. Tell him…tell him that I didn't mean what I said. Tell him that…I love him," the words came out in almost a whisper as silent tears rolled off Sano's pointed chin. "Tell him he's free…He'll understand." A chill of premonition ran down Yahiko's spine at Sano's last words.
Kenshin, moving as almost as quietly as any forest creature, finally made it to their location. The boy grabbed his arm to stop him from going into the clearing. "He says that there are traps all around," Yahiko murmured in the wanderer's ear, trying to tell Kenshin his guess without letting Sano know what he said. "He wants me to go wait for Saitou in town. Stay here and watch him. Something really bad happened here, and I'm afraid he may try to hurt himself." Kenshin, his eyes narrowed in understanding, nodded grimly.
