"Oi! I thought we were in a hurry!" Yahiko's screechy voice made Saitou grit his teeth, and although he managed to keep his expression placid, he had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping at the boy.  Himura, however, was able to see through the calm façade, and seeing Yahiko's danger, stepped into the fray.

            "We will reach the city faster if we take the hunter's wagon, that we will," the Wanderer answered for the Wolf.  Saitou stoically nodded his agreement without acknowledging the redhead.  Of course, the little thief couldn't leave well enough alone.

            "But why do we need to take the pelts off the wagon?  And don't you think that taking the time to burn them is a little excessive?" Yahiko whined as he brought the last of the bloody carcasses to the hastily made pyre.  The boy had been complaining ever since Saitou had assigned him the job.  Saitou watched from the corner of his eye as Himura raised an eyebrow at him, clearly leaving him to answer the boy.  Saitou grit his teeth again. 

            "We'll have need of an empty wagon if we want to get into Aizu undetected this evening.  As for the pelts, how would you feel if your aunts, uncles and cousins were cruelly murdered, their bodies left to feed the vultures, while passersby did nothing to honor them?" he said quietly, as the boy scrubbed the blood from his hands with snow.  Yahiko opened his mouth to argue, but Saitou cut him off.  "These were innocent beings killed by the greed of men; we would not be honorable if we just left them by the side of the road."  Yahiko's mouth closed like a koi in a pond, and Saitou did not bother to hide his sigh at the cessation of questions as he made a small obeisance toward the fire.  He was slightly pleased when Himura and Yahiko did the same.  "Now we go," he said as he vaulted onto Horse's back.  The animal danced impatiently as they waited for Himura and the boy to climb onto the wagon.  Saitou set a brisk pace on the hilly, muddy road to Aizu.

            They had traveled several hours, Saitou halfway listening to the thief and the wanderer make small talk, but not contributing any himself, when he suddenly called for a halt for lunch.  It was time to tell his annoying companions his plans.

***

            Sanosuke usually enjoyed the rhythm of flight: being carried up in lazy circles to the edge of the sky by a column of warm air, dropping into a glide once that warm air disappeared, only to be caught up in the next thermal, or perhaps catching an updraft of wind bounced from the nearby hills and mountains.  Usually, the only thinking he did while riding the air was to look out for prey he might fall upon, and calculate their moves as he dove from the sky after them; and that didn't take much thinking at all, it was mostly instinct.  Usually.

'I'm not being selfish,' Sanosuke told himself as he came to the end of the thermal he was riding.  He automatically shortened his wingspan into the glide position and began the long, slow fall to earth.  If he had still had ears, Kenshin's words from earlier would probably still be burning them.  'I'm doing the right thing.'  He caught another thermal, but it was a weak one, and he didn't gain much height from it before it petered out. 'How could Kenshin have said that, when my death will free Saitou from the curse?  It's not like Saitou could ever love me, anyhow,' he justified to himself.  The path his thoughts was taking him down was depressing to him, however, and he decided to enjoy the wind beneath his wings and the sight of the sun and cloud mottled landscape beneath him; after all, after today, if everything went as he hoped, he would never fly again.

No one noticed the golden eagle carrying a knife flying in lazy circles over the entire prefecture of Aizu.  Instead of watching for prey, Sano watched, with his keen eagle's sight, the far scattered humanity of Aizu.  The few brave farmers left in the prefecture nailed their shutters against the wind, gathered wood and dried the last radishes and persimmons before the harshness of winter settled in for good; the merchants of the outlying towns hawked their pitiful wares to people without enough money to buy them; and most of the people and guards of the city itself went about their business with a sullen malaise that the Eagle could see even from his vaunted height.  What interested him most however was the retinue of people wearing the Shogun's livery who surged like the tide over the main road to Aizu.  The Shogun himself was coming to Aizu, and that made his plan easier.  Kenshin may have been right about Shibumi having no shame, but if Sano were to kill himself in front of the Shogun as well, then Shibumi would definitely lose face.  The people of Aizu didn't notice the golden eagle with the knife, but he noticed them all. 

***

            Shibumi had been restlessly pacing the heart of his meditation garden for hours.  He needed to focus his thoughts on the Shogun's impending arrival; however, he was finding it an impossible task  "Sagara Sanosuke," he whispered as he began to caress his hardening member through the silk of his kimono. 

His dreams from the past few nights had been filled with images, not of the soft, pretty boy he had known and dreamed about for the past two years, but of an older Sanosuke grown feral and even more beautiful:  a wild-haired Sanosuke who ran through the evening forest, a blanket wrapped around his lithe waist, chasing after, and catching rabbits; a stormy-eyed, reckless Sanosuke, riding a big black horse through the darkness of night; a crying Sanosuke kneeling in the snow, watching for dawn.  Shibumi knew in his bones that these dream fragments were somehow reality; knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they meant that Sanosuke was near, returning to Aizu, and to him.  Shibumi hand parted his kimono and stroked, rubbed, and pulled his cock harder, faster at the thought.  Sanosuke was coming back to him…he was coming back…he was coming… The Daimyo sank to his knees.

 "Pardon me for the interruption, my Lord, but the Shogun's entourage has been spotted," Usui sneering voice broke through Shibumi's daydreams before he was able to reach his climax.  Shibumi started with a groan, his back stiffening while his organ softened as his blood rushed to paint his cheeks, the muscles of his jaw tightening in frustration.  "He'll be here just before sunset."  Shibumi pushed himself from his knees, and made sure that his kimono sat straight before turning an ineffective glare to the unseeing blind man. 

He was beginning to suspect that the Usui liked interrupting and startling him; lived to bring him bad news.  Shibumi pursed his lips as he thought that a new Captain of the Guard might be in order soon. 'Maybe when Kamatari returns with Saitou's head, or Akamatsu with his pelt,' the Daimyo smiled at the idea. 'After all, according to my visions, Sanosuke is returning to me…' that thought made him gasp at the implications.  He could only being seeing these visions, could only be sure of their truth, if the Oni was involved; and thinking of Aizu's Demon, and the power that he, as Aizu's Daimyo had over it, gave him a foolproof way out of his dilemma with the Shogun.  He noticed Usui 'watching' him, a small smirk playing on the Captain's thin lips.

"You suddenly seem to be in a good mood considering that you are about to face the Shogun for theft," Usui said in that uncanny way of his, the scorn in his voice obvious. Shibumi frowned, wrinkling his nose. Yes, indeed, a new Captain was in order.

            "That's because I'm not worried, Usui.  The Shogun has no proof that I have done anything wrong, which is why he is coming here, instead of summoning me to him.  However, he is a sly man.  He suspects that I am cheating him; and I have no doubt that while I am busy entertaining him, his spies will be trying to find evidence that we have already destroyed.  Your assignment, Usui, is to find me just one of those spies.  Do that, the Shogun loses face, and this entire misadventure disappears," Shibumi snapped his fingers, chuckling to himself.  There was no need to tell the soon-to-be former Captain of his alternative plan.

            "And what happens if I can't find a spy?" Usui asked with a smirk.  Shibumi raised an eyebrow, and then remembered that the gesture was lost on the sightless man.

            "Then you are not the man I thought you were, and after this is over, I will be searching for a new Captain of the Guard," Shibumi answered with a smirk of his own, letting the impudent blind man know that he was not as indispensable as he thought.  Usui bowed low, backing his way out of the garden.

            "Then I'll go prepare my men, and leave you to your…ahem, meditation, my Lord."  Shibumi ground his teeth.  Yes, he thought, a new Captain of the Guard is in order.

***

            The last rays of the setting sun still painted the horizon as a rickety wagon with a big black horse tied to the back joined the end of the column of travelers thronging the main gate into the city of Aizu.  Kenshin reached up to scratch the back of his head, but a low growl from underneath the blanket covering the back of the wagon stopped his hand.  The ashes that Saitou had ordered Yahiko to rub into his bright red hair in order to camouflage it made his head itch; but scratching his scalp wasn't an option, as Saitou's growl had warned, since that might dislodge the disguise.  Kenshin sighed, lowering his hand; he knew better than to even think about rubbing at the dirt that concealed the scar on his cheek. 

Yahiko sat next to Kenshin on the wagon, equally dirty, his eyes wide with fear.  The boy obviously didn't believe it was possible to hide in plain sight.  Kenshin didn't have time to reassure him, as the tail end of the Shogun's retinue passed through the gates with minimum fuss, leaving only them, and a few stragglers to the scrutiny of the guards.  A newly lit torch, carried by one of the gate guards, flared in Kenshin's eyes as he stopped the wagon in front of the gates.

"Hold.  State your business here, peasant," a guard ordered in a bored, gruff tone.  Kenshin took a deep breath, and began stuttering like the overawed peasant he was supposed to be.

"Well…uh…I, that is, my nephew and I, are here on behalf of our village, with a gift for the Daimyo, uh…my lord, that we are."  The guard held the torch to look at Yahiko, who was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Hmmmm, your nephew looks slightly familiar to me," he said, narrowing his eyes slightly.  "Why is he shaking like that?"  Yahiko blanched under his mask of dirt. 

"This is his first time to the city my lord, that it is.  I think he's shaking because he has never been around so many people.  He's simple, you know, that he is," Kenshin whispered conspiratorially to the man; Yahiko stopped shaking long enough to turn a glare at him, which Kenshin ignored.  "Was that really the Shogun ahead of us?" he asked, improvising, and another soft growl came from beneath the blanket, threatening dire things if he didn't stop babbling.  The sound caught the guard's attention.

"Only some of his retainers," the man answered absently.  "And what have we here?" the man asked as he sauntered to the back of the wagon and pulled the blanket off.  Saitou lunged at the man as far as the rope tying him to the wagon bed allowed, snapping and growling fiercely, causing the guard to stumble back, as he dropped his torch.  A snicker arose from the other guards stationed at the gate.  Seeing the ropes, the man recovered quickly, unsheathing his sword.  "I've never had the pleasure of killing a wolf before."  Yahiko gasped at Saitou's impending doom.

"How strange," Kenshin said quickly as the man lifted his sword, preparing to strike.  "The Daimyo said exactly the same thing when he stopped in our village last spring on his way to Heian-kyo, that he did.  I'm sure that he will understand you depriving him of that pleasure, that he will, since he seemed a very forgiving sort of man, that he did."  The guard checked his swing, the blood draining from his face.  He sheathed his sword quickly and threw the blanket back over the still snarling wolf.

"Pass on then," the man growled.  Kenshin bowed low in his seat, and elbowed Yahiko to do the same.  Kenshin flicked the reins, and the rickety wagon rolled through the gates guarding the city of Aizu.

"That was too close," Yahiko whispered once they were far from the gates.  "And the worst part is yet to come."  Kenshin chuckled.  "And how do we plan to find Sanosuke in all of these people?"

"It wasn't as close as you might think, that it was not.  And I am familiar with most of the places Sano used to hide in as a child, that I am.  Don't worry, we'll find him."  The wolf made a huff of agreement.

"If you say so.  I still don't understand why I have to break back into prison, though."

"By breaking into prison and freeing the prisoners, you will not only allow Saitou access to the Daimyo unmolested by the guards trying to recapture people, but with the Shogun here, you will also cause Shibumi to lose face, that you will."

"If you say so," Yahiko repeated.  Kenshin smiled as he found a secluded spot to park the wagon.  "Do you think it will work?"

"It has to.  Now, stay here with Saitou.  If he changes form while I'm gone, you'll know the worst has happened.  I'll be back before sunrise, that I will."  He climbed off the wagon, and walked through the darkening streets of the city, feeling two sets of eyes upon him.

***

Usui stalked through the castle's empty dojo; most of his men off chasing after Shibumi's wild geese.  'Spies indeed,' he thought bitterly as he, all of a sudden, violently swung his weighted Okinawan spear at a helpless straw practice dummy, decapitating it in a flurry of hay.  After all of their time together, did Shibumi actually think that he could hide his true thoughts from Usui?  If the Daimyo thought that Uonuma Usui would quietly allow himself to be replaced, the man was sadly mistaken.  The sounds of a galloping heartbeat, running footfalls and panting reached his ears as he brutally stabbed the now headless dummy again and again.  A slight warming in the air told him that his visitor had arrived.  He turned quickly, and the breathless gasp told him that his spear point had just missed the neck of Shindou Tatewaki, his new aide-de-camp.

"Captain?" the man gulped as his already racing heart sped up in fear.  Usui smirked at him; fear was always good.  "I bring news," his aide stammered, trying to control his fright.  "We caught someone sneaking into one of the unused rooms in the western pavillion."

"An actual spy?" Usui asked in surprise; it would be a shock to him if the Daimyo were actually right about the Shogun's tactics.  He listened as Shindou inevitably shook his head, the man forgetting that his commander couldn't see the gesture.  Usui smirked again.

"I'm not sure…" Shindou sputtered. 

"What do you mean 'you're not sure'?" Usui growled.

"Some of the men recognized the boy.  It's Sagara Sanosuke."

"Sagara…Sanosuke…they're sure?"  Usui felt himself sneer as he remembered the scene from Shibumi's meditation garden that morning.  If it really was Sagara Sanosuke, then the key to his future job security had just fallen into his lap.

"Yes, the men are sure it is him; it seems that he still has a few friends among the guards.  He nearly got away.  I'm told he fought like he dared anyone to kill him before he was knocked unconscious.  I knew that you'd want to be informed before we brought him before the Daimyo."  Usui frowned slightly, seeing his future collapse around him with that possible action.

"No.  The Daimyo will be busy with the Shogun," Usui said, justifying his apparent disobedience of orders.  "Bring the boy to me, and tell the men to continue looking for spies," he commanded brusquely.  He waited until Shindou had bowed his way out of the dojo before baring his teeth in a savage and self-satisfied grin.