A New Life for the Wolf

Part 8

by:

ana barton

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.

It was probably one of the more restful sleep that he had in a long while. The house was secure, the kid was blissfully asleep in his own room, and he had no worries. For the moment at least…

Saitou just lay there in a futon (it wasn't the one he shared with his wife, that'd be too much too soon), looking up at the ceiling as straggling rays of sunshine filtered through the window. If he were a grinning man, he'd probably be grinning by now. In a word, he was… content.

He could be happy but that was a different animal altogether. Tokio was and will always be his happiness. For now, he'd settle for being content.

"Tou-chan…"

The door to his room opened and Eiji poked his head in.

"Nani?"

"Erh… I wasn't sure you'd still be here…"

He grunted then sat up. "What is it then?"

"I made breakfast if you want."

The boy was still uncertain in his tone so Saitou nodded and stood up. "I'll be there in a bit."

Surprisingly enough, his whole load of paperwork was done when he got to the office. Saitou looked over to the uniform – he still didn't know his name – who was asleep at his desk. And he was snoring.

"Hn. Eiji," he called out. He had the kid go with him to the office rather than to school. It was a purely precautionary measure, just for a few days.

"Hai?"

"How about we spend the day away from the office today?" He looked to his adopted son and almost smiled when the kid's eyes bugged out and his mouth opened and closed like a landed fish.

Fish sounded good… maybe they could head over to the Akabeko for some lunch later.

"Erh… okay," Eiji squeaked out.

"Good. Let's go then."

Saitou closed his office door on the snoring officer and they walked out of the headquarters. It was a good day to be outside with one's son, adopted or not. The only problem was, he had no idea what to do in such a situation.

Oh well, he offered, the kid accepted, so he'd just improvise along the way.

21 December 2003

21 August 2004