A/N:

My internet was down for the longest time... I am so sorry for the delay! With school starting now, it's going to take longer to update.

Miburo kid: I hope you find this chapter satisfying...if not, you smack me upside the head.

I had to take my time with this one. I think I'll write an epilogue after chapter 9, so this isn't the end! Thanks for the reviews! So much w.b's! I had to take a rest...

One thing, Ayume is actually Ayumu! I'm very sorry for that mix up. I just noticed it... --;;

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Rurouni Kenshin.

Chapter 9

The War's End

May 3 of 1868 ::Tokio::

Takagi Tokio sat under a tree on a hill, patiently waiting. Saitou Hajime stood behind her against the tree with his arms crossed. He watched her sit very still, her hands in her lap, her eyes focused and watching every movement of anything intently.

"Are you still waiting for him, Tokio?" He asked, pushing away from the tree. The woman did not speak for awhile.

"Yes, I will be here. Always." She replied. The only movement was the breeze rustling her hair gently. Saitou left her there to her own thoughts and longings. He made his way down the hill. The war had drawn to a close with the Ishinshishi winning it in a stunning victory. The Shinsengumi was charged with disloyalty and infidelity. They were sentenced to death. Some escaped to safety, Saitou being one of them. The Wolves of Mibu were crippled to the extent of permanent paralysis and the feared organization was no more. But their name still rode along the winds, telling of their legacy and power.

Saitou met the former second captain, Nagakura Shinpachi, at the foot of the hill. Shinpachi looked sober and tired. "How is she doing?" He asked.

The tall man gazed behind him. "She'll live...with or without him."

The second captain sighed heavily. "She's a strong woman. I hope she can get through this." The other captain nodded.

But Tokio was very close to tears at that moment. Keeping them back, she tucked a stray strand of her dark locks behind her ear. Her kimono was colored opposite of what she was feeling then, a lovely light peach in color with rosy pink flowers at the hem of her sleeves. Her obi was tied in a simpler style than usual, but it was her favorite red one.

The sakura tree above her was in full bloom and the wind knocked some of the petals off of the blossoms. Two landed in her lap and she picked them up carefully. Placing them in her palm, she scattered them by blowing a soft stream of air and she once more she sat still as she was before.

::Tuberculosis hospital::

Two men dressed in white and hospital caps opened the door.

"Is this the right room?" One of them asked.

"There he is."

They strode over to a still body and lifted it unto a stretcher that they brought with them. Working together, they draped a sheet over it carefully. Grunting, they heaved the stretcher and headed out the door.

"Hey, wait a minute please. Where are you taking my patient?" A staff doctor asked, running to them with a brush in hand.

The man holding the front answered. "This one's dead, doctor. I think his name is Okita Souji."

The doctor clicked his tongue. "What a shame. He was a determined one, too. Hold on a minute," He looked at the stretcher which was slightly shaking. "Why is that vibrating? Are you sure he's dead?"

The one behind him answered. "It's me, doctor. I'm not feeling well due to the many...dead bodies I've seen. I'm kind of shaky." He took a calming breath in and let it out.

The staff doctor relaxed. "Ah, I see. I can give you something for that. Well, see to the body then." He turned and went to another room that also held a dead patient.

The two workers carried the body out of the building. They set the stretcher down and Saitou took of his cap. Pulling back the sheet, he smirked at his friend. Okita opened his eyes and weakly winked. "That went better than I planned, Okita."

"Hai, Saitou-san. Arigato. Gomen for laughing. I couldn't help myself." He sat up and looked at the other man. "You seemed just a little nervous in there, Shinpachi-kun. Great save." He grinned while Shinpachi grumbled.

The two captains helped the frail man up again and walked him to a hill just beyond. Saitou could see the sitting figure still under a tree. They arrived with Tokio greeting them with a reserved smile. Lowering the stretcher, Saitou left Okita to Tokio, with the small man resting his head on her lap. Then the other two men quickly made their way out of sight.

"I'm glad you made it, Soujirou." Tokio said relief evident in her voice.

"Me too, To-chan," he replied softly. They stayed in silence for awhile, Tokio threading her fingers through his undone ponytail. She played with his bangs, flipping them back so that she could see his chocolate eyes.

"It's been five years since we first met, Soujirou. It seems like a long time ago."

He nodded his head, resting comfortably on her lap. "We've been through a lot, haven't we? The war has finally ended. There are no more battles to fight now. I've lost Japan's war just like I've lost my war with this disease. The Shinsengumi are still my family, even now," he inhaled deeply, "but I regret leaving my real family, To-chan. I fought so hard to keep the illness at bay to spend every moment with you. But all I've done is cause you pain, physically and emotionally. I know how much our child meant to you, but because of me you lost a precious life.

"I sometimes dream about what life would have been if I hadn't contracted tuberculosis. I wouldn't be here but at a new home with you and our child still growing inside of you. I would put my sword down, and finally gain peace. And a few years later, I would still be with you and our children. I dream about Saitou-san's family coming over to ours to celebrate New Years and the children's birthdays. We would grow into a funny little old couple, watching grandchildren run around us and our grown kids taking care of us. Do you dream like that also, To-chan? Of what could have been?" His voice broke with emotion.

Tokio swallowed hard and collected herself. "No, Soujirou. I never dream about what could have been." Her voice shook, "I always dream about us. Not in the past, not in the present, not even the future. I dream about a timeless place, where I am with my husband just like this under Kami-sama's heavens, talking and laughing until we run out of stories to tell. I am always listening to the tales that you enlighten me with, with no illnesses or pain to bother us."

Okita grasped her delicate hand. "Okita Tokio, how did you ever happen to marry a sorry old man?" He chuckled but they turned into little coughs. "To-chan, can you say my name for me?"

Tokio was surprised at his request, but readily smiled. "Okita Soujirou," she said, pronouncing each syllable clearly and lovingly.

A hint of his cheerful grin crossed his face. "It's strange how a dying man's name doesn't seem so important...like it doesn't belong to me anymore." He closed his eyes and listened to her voice as she spoke.

"Soujirou, did you know that Tami is getting married? Not now, but in a few years when the boy can establish a better life. His name is Tsubota Ijime. He used to be Seinosuke's worst enemy, but they became the best of friends after they joined the Shinsengumi together. I've allowed the engagement since you weren't there to grant it..." She stopped the idle talk and started to sing a lullaby.

Humming the rest softly, tears silently dropped from her chin to the side of Souji's face. "Soujirou...thank you."

But he remained motionless, his eyes closed and his complexion pale. Tokio caressed his cool face. A small bird flew past them, soaring high towards the sun. She watched it fly and thought; 'Now you are free.'

::Okita Soujirou's funeral::

Tokio stood with Tami and Ayumu beside her, all of them grieving in their own way. Ayumu lost a wonderful friend, Tami lost her second brother, and Tokio lost her husband. Hajime also stood to one side in a black kimono and he prayed a simple prayer for his longtime friend and comrade, and probably the only person in the Shinsengumi that could stand his attitude.

It was Tokio's fourth time visiting a gravesite but this time it was raining. She bowed to her husband's grave, not getting up until she finished her blessing to him. Tami was crying against her soon-to-be-husband and he was comforting her to the best to his ability. Ayumu deferentially stood from the two sisters with her brother. She would go to them only when the time came to pay her respects to the family.

"Suzumu, don't ever leave me." She whispered to her little brother. His lips curled at one side in quiet amusement.

"I won't, don't worry." He replied. She held his hand tightly as if she never wanted to be far from him again.

Hajime looked at the woman that his friend fell in love with. She looked even more radiant without her make-up. He held an umbrella over her while Tokio stared at the headstone that had his name engraved on it. He saw her whispering something inaudible and turned away.

Escorting her back to her home with Tami and her betrothed following slowly behind, she thanked him sincerely and invited him to have tea. He took the offer and trailed her inside. He knelt down on the futon that she put forward and Tokio left to boil the water. It wasn't long when she made the tea and set a cup in front of him and he set a box wrapped in cloth in front of her.

She looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Open it." He grunted. She undid the knot and pulled back the cloth. Tokio lifted the lid of the plain, unmarked box inside and found a pair of beautifully made glass chopsticks for her hair. She gracefully lifted them and smiled sadly.

"Your brother told me to give it to you before the mission if he didn't make it. He spent an entire month looking for those." He explained and took a sip of tea.

"Why did you give it to me now?"

He looked at her with his piercing amber orbs. "You weren't ready to receive it up until now."

"I don't understand."

"There are lots of things that neither of us understands, I'm afraid. We are just going to have to learn how to live with it. Okita did not understand many things, but he learned things do not have to be understood in order to understand it."

Tokio softened at the mention of her husband's strange, yet sensible logic. He had been always like that, his way of making sense of the incomprehensible and reaching for the inconceivable.

"Hajime-san, I want to thank you for everything you've done for my family. I did not think to show gratitude to the friend of my husband's. I do not know how to repay you for your generosity."

"Thanking me won't bring your brother and Okita back. But you should get some sleep. I can find my way out." He said calmly and stood. She also stood and bowed deeply.

"Stay out of the rain, Hajime-san. You can catch a cold." She said, almost teasingly and he left after nodding at her. He left with a new confirmation that he had fallen in love with a woman that his friend left behind.

As soon as he was gone, Tokio put her hand to her forehead and wept. She sobbed at the ground, tears dropping from her eyes and dotting the mat with water.

"To-chan, would you cry if I left?" Souji asked, looking at her in the eye. She looked surprised and gazed at her hands.

"Yes, Soujirou, I would."

"Why would you?"

Tokio looked at her husband again. "I would cry because I lost my husband, someone who I love. Would you cry if I left?"

Souji took her in his arms from behind and cradled her. "No, no, To-chan, because if you left for Kami-sama I would be in a state beyond tears. Ah, and I would be jealous too."

She was surprised. "Why is that, Soujirou?"

He kissed her ear softly and whispered in it, "Because Kami-sama can look at you everyday. I always thought that it was my job to do that."

His wife smiled. "If you leave, Soujirou, I will pray everyday."

"And I will answer you everyday."

Tokio turned her head to see the side of his face. "I think you love me too much." She said seriously.

He kissed her possessively. "And what's wrong with that?" He laughed quietly against her mouth as his hand ran enticingly up her thigh.

Tokio cried even as she slept. She coughed and gasped in air. Her sobbing was not heard by Tami who was outside with Ijime, having a tender moment in each other's arms. Tokio cried for everyone that died who was close to her. She wanted to forget everything that happened. She wanted Souji's passing to be a dream and that he would burst through the door any minute to take her in his arms and whisper words of consoling love. She couldn't stop wishing for that.

Only haunting memories lingered like heavy perfume and no Soujirou ran to her. Her crying quieted after awhile, the shock of his death finally being absorbed and the fresh pain dulled. Tokio was still hiccupping and she curled up on her side and pulled her blanket closer, reminiscing about the past few months.

::March 16 of 1868 (Flashback)::

Souji sat while facing the window of his hospital room. The skies were beginning to darken with the signs of rain and the sun hid in the brewing storm clouds out of sight. Tokio had taken charge of caring for him rather than a nurse. She was carefully setting up medicine on the table behind him, pouring his favorite kind of tea in a cup.

"Soujirou, you should take your medicine."

Her husband slowly turned around, wincing slightly at his stiff joints. Okita smiled at her and gazed at the medicine. Like a little boy, he stuck his tongue out at it, detesting the look of it. For three straight months he had been taking it, only to have his illness worsen. She offered it to him and he took it, swallowing it then drinking the tea. Finishing, he sighed and shook his head.

"To-chan, remind me never to eat this again."

His wife laughed contently. "You are just like Tami."

Okita cocked his head to one side playfully. His spirits were on new heights due to Tokio's constant visits. "Tami is a girl of taste. You know, people here actually think that an old man like me don't have taste buds. They give me this bitter medicine because they think I can't taste it. Ah well, it's the price to pay for old age."

Tokio put away the table and the cup. "Soujirou, what would you like for your birthday?"

He seemed to be considering it for a moment. "I would like to have seventy more additional years to live."

It was Tokio's turn to cock her head to one side but nevertheless, nodded in understanding. "I believe that I can give that to you."

Soujirou chuckled. "My wife can do anything while I can do nothing but sit around getting fat." Out of habit, he tugged at the sleeve of his yukata which was getting slightly big for him contrast to what he commented. She took his hands in her own and caressed them with her thumbs.

"Only seventy?" She teased in a soft voice, her face mere inches from his and he baited his breath, wondering what she was going to do next. Her beauty made his time stand still and all he could see was her. All Souji could do was fall deeper in love with her as he drowned himself in her deep brown pools and he fell forward to capture her lips.

Almost hungrily she kissed him back, and her hands slid back his yukata that draped loosely from his shoulders. They fell off, hanging that the joint of his elbows which stopped it from completely revealing his upper body. Tokio's right hand traced down his chest to his abdomen sending a chill through his body. Soon, the pressure of his lips lessened to a subtle kiss.

She was the first to pull away slowly. Her eyes were still closed but they fluttered open to see a grinning Souji. He gave her one of his crooked smiles and turned to look out the window again. He fitted her against his side as his hand waved to it.

"Do you see that tree on that hill, To-chan?"

Tokio strained her eyes and saw the sakura tree her husband was pointing to. She nodded growing curious of what he would share with her.

"I wish to die under that tree...the symbol of Japan's beauty. Would you take me there?" He asked, turning to face her.

She could not refuse. "Of course, Soujirou."

He seemed very satisfied at her answer and closed his eyes. "What is today?"

She looked at the calendar posted on a wooden frame. "It is the sixteenth of March."

"Ah," he replied with his eyes still shut, "spring should be starting soon. Once again, the seasons start over. Spring, then summer, next is fall and finally winter. What is your favorite season, To-chan?"

"I love the fall. You can see all the trees turn their leaves into beautiful colors. My father used to tell me many stories about fall when he was still alive. What about you, Soujirou? Surely, you won't leave me hanging."

He grinned at her and opened his eyes, focused and serious. "Well, if you insist. My favorite season is winter. It is the end of all seasons, no matter what the order. Spring's planting depends on the winter. Too much harsh cold, the ground is too brittle and hard for good planting. If the cold is mild, it leaves the new fresh ground rich and nurturing for the new crops. Winter is the beautiful end to autumn's brilliant display of color, enveloping the land with its soft white snow, and I also met a certain maiden with a splendid talent for cooking.

"You see, I eventually found the courage to ask this lady for her hand in marriage without telling her that I hid a disease within myself that I would die from two years after marrying her. When she found out, not from me but from a soldier that was in my squad, I was very afraid that she might leave me. But do you know what she did? She actually slapped me and told me never to hide things from her again. Then she embraced me and I was so relieved she didn't leave. Then, she was with a child, our child, and she was very happy...I was happy. I never wanted those moments to stop, but they did and reality slapped me in the face. The illness took its toll on me and I collapsed in front of my own pregnant wife. She was so scared and so worried that she lost her baby because of me. I was put in a dreadful hospital where I had nightmares that I killed my own wife, and I was...I was so close into putting a finish to my life but then she came to visit me in my room. I saw her as my light at the end of my dark tunnel and I followed her until I was back to my old self, caring for her and loving her more than I ever loved anyone in my entire life. She even forgave me for the loss of our baby and she sits beside me right now. Her name -- a name that brought hope to my broken soul -- is Okita Tokio."

A tear escaped from his eye and it dripped to the floor. Tokio watched in terrified awe at the sign of sadness that her husband displayed. She had never seen such an action from him and it scared her.

"Please don't cry," she whispered almost inaudibly at the ground. He turned to face her with a look of shock at her voice. "I can't watch you cry. I don't need to see you sad."

Souji's eyes become softer at her words. "If that is what you want..." His hand slipped under her chin very tenderly causing her to look at him. A gentle kiss was placed on her lips, his tongue licking her top lip delicately.

"What will become of me if you leave? What am I going to do?"

To Tokio's surprise, he became amused at her questions. He shook his head while smiling and placed her hand on his lap, holding it tightly. "Well, I would hope you'd bury me and have a little funeral. I think I deserve at least that much. You can surely live without me. You'll take care of Tami and make sure that Saitou-san stays out of trouble. I'm sure if you meet the right person, you'll marry again and grow old together...and live for me."

She shook her head. "I do not think I'll marry again."

He looked at her curiously. "Why not, To-chan?"

"I would feel like I am betraying what we have as husband and wife."

Okita grew solemn. "I see..." His mahogany orbs lost their focus as his mind wandered. Tokio took that time to slip his fallen yukata around his shoulders again. She brushed off imaginary dust off of them and sat behind her husband, her arms around his middle his back supporting her head.

Okita Soujirou became stiff as if an uncomfortable thought seeped to his mind. Without turning to look at his wife, he asked, "Would you marry Saitou-san?"

Thank you to...

Miburo kid: I love you for all of your reviews! Thanks for all the encouragement!

teh cretin: thanks for stopping by! I hope this wasn't too sad!

Hassun- Your reviews are really appriciated! I stuck with the Okita/Tokio pairing till the end!

::Author's notes::

My internet was disconnected for I am moving and I couldn't update! --;; I am so sorry! This chapter was longer than the previous ones, but I couldn't stop writing it! Unfortunately, I had to kill off Okita or my timeline would have been even more screwed up than it already was. He deserves so much more than to die at the age of twenty five!!! TT Oh yeah, that reminds me, Okita's birthday could have never been in June. He died on the month of May when he was 25. If his birthday was in June, he would be 24...I knew it wouldn't make a difference since Tokio never got to give him his birthday gift of seventy more years to live, so in this screwed up story timeline, he died when he was 24. ::sob:: I killed him too early!! I think my heart is broken...I think I'll write another story with the intension of Okita x Tokio. He'll live longer!!

Okita and Tokio...a coupling almost as good as Saitou and Tokio. -- I'm pretty happy with the way this story turned out. Now to the Epilogue!

Thank so so so very much for your reviews! They make me so happy! XD