A New Life for the Wolf

Part 2

Ana Barton

Saitou looked at the chaos all around him. He'd just decided that it would be a good idea to step out of his office and take a look at what his men were doing. It wasn't one of his better ideas that day. Everyone was running around with papers and files all fluttering around the office.

The station needed a cleaning up.

Chaos, order Tokio

He shook his head to clear it, and grabbed the unfortunate uniform who was passing by with a pile of papers in his arms.

"What the hell is going on?" he fairly growled at the young officer.

"The Minister of Interior is coming to visit today sir," he replied, near quaking at the knees when he felt the brunt of the glare sent his way.

"And you bunch of pansies just panic?"

"Well, sir"

Saitou let go of his arm and frowned as he lit up a cigarette. "Bloody morons." He gave the whole office a fierce glare before he walked off.

He headed off without any clear destination in mind but he ended up at the cemetery. He went to the grave and just stood there staring at the marker. He didn't even have any offerings today. He squatted down and placed a hand on the marker.

"Tokio"

"You bloody inconsiderate bastard! How dare you die on me!"

He glanced over and saw a young woman cleaning a marker a few feet away. All he could see was her profile from the neck up. She was oblivious to anyone and was frowning up a storm having a one-sided conversation with the grave marker.

"I told you drinking is bad for you."

Make that a scolding, not a conversation.

"But did you listen? Noo you had everything under control, you can't be sick, you had to entertain your friends and that included drinking! No matter that Takani-sensei already told you, and Genzai-sensei too mind you, that you had to lay off the alcohol since it was destroying your liver!"

She sat back on her haunches and brushed off the light brown hair escaping the conservative bun at the back of her neck.

"Ahou." But there was fondness and tears in her tone of voice. "Couldn't you have waited for our child to be born before you died?" she whispered but it carried to his ears.

He felt his aura before he heard the footsteps. He spoke without turning, brushing a stray leaf from the marker. "What do you want, Battousai?"

Kenshin stopped a few steps away and took a moment to read the marker. "My condolences on the lose of your wife, Saitou. When did it happen, de gozaru ka?"

He grunted then stood up, a cigarette already in his mouth. "A few months ago. She had a heart attack."

"How are you and Eiji-dono holding up?"

He stepped back and looked around. "The kid's fine. He has school and training to keep him busy."

"And you?"

He dropped his finished cigarette and stepped on it, grounding it out. "What're you doing here?"

Kenshin let the evasion slide and gestured to the woman who was still scolding her dead husband. "Yuki-dono asked if I could accompany her to visit her husband's grave."

He grunted as he lit another cigarette. "She always this loud?"

The former hitokiri smiled. "Only when she's annoyed. They'd been married for a year but"

"The bloody bastard's liver gave out, I heard."

It was then that Yuki stood up. Saitou's eyebrow almost rose but he had enough control to prevent that. The young woman was obviously pregnant and huge. She brushed her hand across her eyes and sniffled a couple of times to regain her composure.

"Is that why you came with her?" he asked eyeing her huge stomach.

"Yuki-dono is a friend of Kaoru-dono and we both would feel better if someone was with her all the time," Kenshin replied. He walked towards the pregnant woman with Saitou following.

"Yuki-dono," he said gently.

"Ah, Himura-san," she smiled softly. She didn't walk as much as waddled towards them. "Gomen nasai. I dragged you here, but I just"

Kenshin smiled. "I understand, de gozaru."

There was a moment of silence for the woman to compose herself again. She looked at Saitou then and he saw that her eyes, though wet with tears, were a brilliant green. Bright, flashing, and very much alive.

"Cop," she said as if it was something slimy. Then she ignored him and focused on Kenshin. "Himura-san, I" She bit her lip and put a hand to the small of her back.

"Yuki-dono?" Kenshin asked, concerned.

"Just a small pain" she replied with a grimace.

"Oro?"

She gripped his hand with one of hers, hard. "Oh gods!"

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. I do not own and did not create the series or its characters... I'm merely borrowing them for a few pages.