A New Life for the Wolf
Part 6
Ana Barton
"Pity you should say that, Fujita-san," a man said pleasantly from the woods to their left. "Because I know you, and Battousai as well."
*~*
The man who came out the woods was grinning quite amicably, like a Buddha even. Two other men followed him, both carrying young bodies over their shoulders. They deposited their burden on the ground with a grunt, and neither moved.
"What have you done with Yahiko and Eiji?" Battousai asked coldly. Amber eyes were flashing quite repeatedly now, and Saitou couldn't help but be amused at the display.
"Oh they're fine, absolutely fine…" the man known as Hiromori replied amiably. "I had to give them some knock-out pills to keep them quiet for a while."
Saitou took another cigarette from the case and lit up before studying the foolish man who dared challenge him and Battousai at the same time. The only conclusions he could come up with was that Hiromori either had an unhealthy amount of belief on his swordsmanship (or on his champion if that was the case) or he just had a death wish.
"And the purpose of this?" he asked quietly.
Hiromori snorted and started to pace. "I've followed you careers as best as I could, and you both are undoubtedly the best swordsmen in our country today."
Saitou's eyes went to the surrounding clearing. There were no other people besides them in the temple grounds now, that he was sure of. Taking those three down would be easy. The question was how to do it without endangering the two kids, as the two goons were still standing quite close to them, close enough to do damage.
"What I couldn't understand was how you two could let our country go into ruins like this! You're powerful, why didn't you take to the top and ruled Japan? We could have flourished immensely! The samurai class would be revered and honored! There would be—"
"That's a load of bull," Saitou cut in.
But Hiromori would not be denied his say. "Court would be held, wonderful plays and theater, the culture would develop fully, and then we would be able to take our rightful place in the world stage! There would be none of these hateful gaijins polluting our native land!"
*~*
Kenshin listened to the man rant on, but he could feel the anger and impatience tinged with worry that was oozing out of Saitou in liberal amounts. The two boys were breathing rather shallowly but he couldn't be sure in the dark.
He felt that the other man was a hairsbreadth from attacking.
Kenshin blinked.
Saitou was gone in a flash of blue.
*~*
The first to fall was the guard closest to Hiromori. For an old man, Hiromori moved fast, fast enough to evade the sword thrust to his heart. Saitou whipped around and brought the (regrettably) flat of his blade onto the other goon's neck, but this one managed to parry with his own sword.
Saitou chanced a look to Battousai, and saw that he was exchanging words with the old man.
"Baka. Fight now, talk later."
At the very least, the one he was fighting with had a modicum of skill. But it was all for naught. With a skillful dodge and evasion, Saitou was able to bring the fight to a bloodless (Alas!) end. The two goons on the ground quite unconscious, Saitou looked to the Battousai.
The old man had talent, that was for sure, but Battousai wasn't fighting full strength. The immediate danger to Yahiko had been averted, and he was once again, the Rurouni who deplored fighting.
"Ahou."
Saitou knelt beside the two kids and cut their restraints. There was a loud yell behind him but he paid it no heed; he just continued to do an ocular inspection of the two boys. Quiet followed soon after, then came the sound of scraping sandals on the hard ground.
"They're both alive," Saitou said without bothering to look behind him, "but their pulses are weak."
"We should get them to Ganzai-sensei then," Kenshin replied as he sheathed his sword. He bent down and carried Yahiko; Saitou did the same with Eiji.
The two warriors were quiet the whole way back to town.
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.
09 August 2003
Argh… not a very good one… As with the other chapters, I wrote this on one go. I was in a drawing mood earlier and when I sat down in front of the computer, Saitou just basically blasted me with images. So here it is, as far as I could interpret the images in my head.
I know I could go real serious on this, really political and all that, but I choose not to. I'd rather not give myself that headache as my Harry Potter fic is giving me all the headache that I'd like to deal with, thank you very much.
So I'll just continue with my plan for a light-hearted Saitou fic… scary, ne?
Ana Barton