A New Life for the Wolf

Part 3

Ana Barton

Saitou grimaced as he exited the room where the Yuki woman was currently giving birth. He would have rather left Battousai to deal with the contrary woman at the cemetery but… being a police officer did have its drawbacks. Like teaming up with an opponent for the common good. And helping the former hitokiri carry the hideously pregnant woman to the doctor's clinic.

He lit a cigarette and drew on it deeply. On a rational level, he knew that childbirth was painful for the woman, but did she have to be so loud? He'd never heard that level of cursing from a woman before, even one of those coarser than most.

Tokio wasn't like this when she delivered their daughter, was she?

But what did he know? He was away when she gave birth and he still wasn't home when the child died, bloody bastard that he was.

Damn it.

He happened to glance to his left and saw a familiar shadow slinking off.

"Eiji," he called out.

The kid jumped and turned to him. "Anou, Sai—Fujita-tou-san…?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Uhm…" The kid held up his bandaged hand.

Saitou just raised an eyebrow in question as he took another drag from the cigarette.

"I got careless. I grabbed the sword on the blade and not on the handle," he said sheepishly. "Gomen."

"Hn." He flicked the cigarette away and made for the gate. "Come on. Let's go."

"Hai!"

If anything Tokio had seemed so happy when he had brought Eiji to their home. Her black eyes had glittered to brightly then that he felt like he had single-handedly saved the whole bloody world from the big bad monster.

He treasured the moments that he managed to steal to be with her after he brought the boy home. The boy had been miserable the first few nights. He kept having nightmares about the brutal murders of his family in the village that Shishio took over. Tokio had been wonderful, and he hadn't the heart to say anything when she would bring the boy to their futon to sleep with them.

He'd be hard pressed not to admit that he enjoyed those times too, if only they gave him the feeling that he had a family now… that he was as complete as a man could ever be.

But that was over now. Tokio was gone. He was alone again.

"Ne, Fujita-tou-san, can we have udon for dinner?"

"Hn. Suit yourself." But he flicked over some coins to him.

The boy grinned. "Hai! I'll bring double portions for you at the station." He ran on ahead and zeroed in on the udon ya that he knew his adoptive father favored.

Then there was this boy who came into his life quite by chance.

Maybe he wasn't quite as alone as he thought he was.

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.

15 January 2003