NOTES:

FIRST! I don't own Rurouni Kenshin nor Saitou Hajime (although I wish)... RK is owned by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

It's time for me to write again! Yey! This time, it'll be a fic about Saitou's life before Kyoto and the Shinsengumi. This will be a romanticised tale of what he was before joining the Shinsengumi and why he left Tokyo (Edo). There will be times when Saitou will be OOC, I intend to keep most of his personality just twisting it now and then. But the OOC will be very apparent when it comes to his fighting abilities, I don't think Saitou became a great swordsman overnight. Agree? :O)

italics - denotes thoughts
asterisks - denotes sound/thoughts/misc

CHAPTER II – A Lady of Annoyances

"Looks like everyone is sleeping already Yuuta. I'll just go on my way."

Yuuta shook his head and motioned Saitou not to speak, "We're going in. But don't make too much noise or else my sister will catch us."

Saitou smirked. "Fine."

Yuuta slowly led Saitou into one of the guest rooms. He took one of the futons and told Saitou to wait while he went and look for bandages.

Saitou let his eyes wander the room. It was pretty bare except for a table in the far corner and a lantern to it's side. He noticed some pieces of paper on the table and since he was getting bored decided to pry a little.

"Hmmm? What's this?", Saitou took the papers closer to the lantern and started to browse. There were weird symbols of dots and sickles on the paper. Five lines we drawn in between the dots and several other symbols he could not recognize. Slightly annoyed he put the papers down.

"You really shouldn't touch other people's things then just carelessly toss them."

Surprised, Saitou quickly turned around to be greeted by a young woman around his age. She had jet black hair and dark brown eyes. Almost a foot shorter than Saitou and was wearing a moss green kimono.

He tilted his head slightly and shrugged her off, "I didn't toss them you know."

"Geez... Really! You're rude too!" The lady pushed Saitou to the side and proceeded to fix the papers on the desk. "Look! You already messed up the order of my pieces!"

"Hontoni (really)? I just think you blabber too much." Saitou mocked.

"So what? This is my house and this is my project that you messed with.", the young lady took the papers and shoved them in front of Saitou's face.

"What's so great about them? Really for a inu-faced (dog-faced) girl who tries to draw, you have no talent anyway." Saitou grinned. He was starting to have fun.

"Well, for a baka like YOURSELF, you wouldn't know what this is anyway!"

Saitou took the paper from her hand, his eyes narrowed and became very serious. "Well what is this?"

"It's musical notation. I write music."

Saitou smirked, "O? Sou ka (I see)! So let me correct myself then. You are an inu-faced musical writer girl! Correct?"

Without saying a word, the young lady (if she was at all) grabbed the music sheet and hit Saitou with it. The sheets hit Saitou's wounded arm and blood sprayed out onto the sheet and onto the young woman's face.

"Eek! What the hell is that!", the woman exclaimed.

At this shriek Yuuta came bursting out of the door only to see the young lady hitting Saitou's arm over and over again... "Onee-chan! Why are you hitting Saitou's wound??!"

"Baka ne! Baka ne! You bloodied all over my...." she shrieked some more.

Yuuta grabbed his sister and placed a hand over her mouth to stop her from shrieking some more.

Saitou couldn't help but grin. This girl is quite entertaining although she is QUITE annoying.

Once Yuuta was sure that his sister momentary shrieking panic has gone, he let her go with a sigh.

"Yuuta-kun! You have a LOT of explaining to do or else okah-san and otou-san will hear of this!" (note okah-san/otou-san was used because they sound better than the correct haha and chichi)

"Wakatta. Speak more quietly.. I'll explain..", Yuuta motioned his sister to hush and he preceded to tell her the events earlier that night.

Saitou confined himself back at the futon, resigned to the fact that whatever the matter was, it will have to be settled between Yuuta and his sister.

Poor Yuuta, I'd never be able to stand a girl like that, especially if she was my sister!

Amused, he reached into his trouser's pocket for a cigarette. He found out about this a couple of months ago from his brother. He had easily caught the habit, especially when he found out that it calmed his nerves quite quickly. Right now is an appropriate time to smoke. He continued to light the cigarette.

"What the? Did you go to the police yet?", the lady's face was now etched with concern.

"Iie. I'll go in the morning. He's wounded so onee-chan, can you bandage him up?"

The young woman's face started to scowl and then she started to sneeze. What is that foul odor? Her eyes settled on the man sitting on the futon. White smoke was dancing around his head.

"Put that out NOW!", she hissed at Saitou.

As if he didn't hear her, he turned his attention to the window. First she hits me, now she wants to order me around? Yeah, like that's going to happen

His thoughts were interrupted when the young lady snatched the stick and threw it out the window.

"Is that how you treat your guest?" Saitou was now getting really annoyed.

Placing both hands on her hips, she retorted "For me you are not a guest but an annoyance forced by Yuuta."

Yuuta shriveled in the corner.

Onee-chan be nice... please..

"Wa-ka-tta. I'm leaving then." Saitou hastily got up.

"Fine!", the lady exclaimed.

"Fine!", he answered back.

They were now face to face. Just a hair apart and both were staring at each other dangerously. Somehow to Yuuta, sparks seemed to fly between them. Just a little bit more and it will definitely end up in a brawl.

Yuuta quickly took the bandages he had earlier and shoved it to his sister. "Onee-chan you said you would."

Then he dragged Saitou back to the futon and whispered, "She's just like that. She doesn't like strangers."

The young lady heaved a sigh. If it wasn't for Yuuta she wouldn't do this.

"You'll have to take that off.", motioning to Saitou's shirt.

Saitou really didn't want to. Not that he cared for what the inu-faced girl would think, but rather because it would reveal several "other" bruises he got from sword practice.

"Don't worry. I'm sure there's nothing for me to see.", the young lady mocked at the hesitation of Saitou.

"Why you've seen many?" Saitou eyed the girl mockingly.

The girl bit her tongue and continued to undress Saitou's shirt. The less we talk, the faster he'll be on his way. After she took the shirt off, she gasped. His back, his shoulder and his sides were badly bruised. What happened to you? She procedded to bandage Saitou's upper arm, taking care not to press too tightly. It was a pretty bad cut and she was surprised he was not wincing in pain. After she finished, Saitou reached out to grab his long-sleeve shirt.

"Matte (Wait).", the lady motioned for Saitou to sit still. "Yuuta, go get the medicine cream I keep in my room."

"Hai! (yes)"

Minutes later Yuuta was back with a small box. The young lady gingerly started to apply the mint medicine onto Saitou's back and sides.

Not being used to be cared for and be touched in such a way, Saitou started to tense. It was a weird feeling for him, although he was glad it happened as the cream started to take effect. It brought heat to his bruises, slowly reducing the pain. Not bad for an inu-face girl.

"Here put this on.", the lady took a fresh black shirt from the drawer. "It's much better than that blood stained one."

Saitou was surprised, the once annoying blabber mouth was quite adept in caring for a person. He grinned.

"Arigatou (Thanks)... I'll bring this back."

"Iie! No need for you to come here just for that. Either keep it or give it to Yuuta. I don't want to see you."

A little disappointed, Saitou nodded. Okay Saitou.. Why are you down? So what if she doesn't want to see you? he sighed, Right! It's much better this way, she's annoying anyway.

------------------------------

Outside the house...

"Sorry about that Saitou-san. She's really not used to new faces."

"That's fine."

"Anou.. You'll be going home now?"

"Of course."

"Well, I hope I see you again.", the young man prodded.

"Maybe. By the way, what's your sister's name?" Saitou asked nonchalantly.

Yuuta-san chuckled, after all that time they argued, Saitou never got his sister's name. "Nisan Midori"

"Midori?"

"Hai! Come see her sometime. She needs people to talk to, she's been cooped up in the house lately."

Saitou sneered at Yuuta and headed up north.

Midori ne? Voices started talking in his head. So that was fun wasn't it Saitou? Midori-san ne? Saitou shook his head, that girl sure WAS annoying.