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 romanticized 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
Racyone - thanks for being the first to review my fic. I promise to update rather regularly. It's cool to know someone is reading.
"What do you mean they got away???"
"It's exactly how I explained Midori-san. Those people took off once they got wind that we were after them."
"And that's it?"
"I'm afraid so..", the policeman started to scratch his head, feeling uncomfortable at the loud young woman.
"That's no good! They saw my brother! He'll be put in danger if YOU don't catch them!"
The policeman sighed, he really couldn't do anything. Cases like these were prevalent during the time. It's not unusual for people to be slaughtered in the streets of Edo. Basically, the whole of Japan was in turmoil and the police couldn't go around chasing each and every bad fry that came along. "I suggest miss that you and your brother stay at home as much as possible."
The cop turned his attention to the scrawny looking young man behind Midori. "Boy. You do know how to fend for yourself don't you?"
"Well. I'd rather not get involved in fights.."
The cop rolled his eyes. "Really you should consider taking kendo (sword lessons)." The cop suddenly placed his hand on his stomach as it elicited a loud growl.
Midori unable to contain another outburst grabbed Yuuta by the arm. "Come on Yuuta! There's no use in talking to the police nowadays." She threw the cop a very mean glare. "They're more concerned about lunch than about saving people."
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"Hey Yuuta there's a good soba place around the corner, let's grab something to eat."
Yuuta smiled at his big sister recalling the event at the police station. She's always looked out for him, even when it came to food. Suddenly he noticed how by height he's now slightly taller than her. His smile grew bigger. Aside from physicality, they have not changed. She had always been the loud and opinionated one while he was the shy introverted one. If only I could tell her.
Exact opposites were the way to describe the siblings. It was rather apparent when they ordered their soba's. The younger one wanted a nice hot soba while the other wanted a soba of good cold buckwheat.
"Ne.. Yuuta. Don't you think you should take self-defense classes now?"
"Onee-chan! No! I want to focus on my apprenticeship with Sensei Kuruma.."
"I know Yuuta. I admire you for your dedication to medicine, but don't you think that it's about time you caught up with the young men your age? Even Heidai is now taking on kendo and that new friend of yours practice it right?"
"I understand but it's just not for me.", the young man pouted and looked to the side. "Speaking of the devil. Saitou-san! Come here and join us!"
Midori's head darted up as she tried in vain to stop Yuuta from inviting Saitou over. To her dismay the tall figure started walking their way. She could not stop herself from frowning. Great! JUST GREAT!
"Konnichiwa Yuuta-kun.", Saitou grinned deliberately ignoring to greet Midori.
"Come sit with us. I didn't know you knew of this place.", Yuuta smiled happily.
"Hai. I'm a regular here as their cold soba is quite good."
Midori eyed the two men sitting in front of her. She was slightly annoyed at Yuuta as he was making such a big deal of Saitou sitting with them. She hated Saitou too for ignoring to greet her. He's really rude.
"Onee-chan and I was just talking about Kendo. I mentioned to her how good you are at it.", Yuuta smiled at Saitou eagerly.
"I try my best." Saitou stole a peek at Midori. She was obviously quite annoyed he was there. He made a loud slurping sound with his soba just to infuriate her a bit. He saw her spasm a little and he was content.
Midori weighed her options, she could go on a long and loud fighting spree with Saitou or she can just ignore him and suffer in silence. Both choices had no appeal to her, until she realized that Saitou could be of further use to her.
"Saitou-kun. I'm sure you do try your best. Now if only Yuuta here would try kendo. I'm sure a man of your caliber can help Yuuta in that respect."
Saitou almost dropped the soba bowl. He wasn't expecting this. Yeah sure he was pretty good with a katana, but Midori was asking him to train Yuuta. How did I get into this? He took one quick look at Yuuta. The young man was scrawny and was too timid to even endure the kind of training Saitou imposed on himself.
"Well, kendo does take a lot of practice and dedication. The bruises you saw a few nights ago attest to that.", Saitou darted his eyes to Yuuta, he was so sure he would back out now.
"You'll help me Saitou-san? I don't care how long or how hard it takes as long as YOU'LL train me.", Yuuta smiled at Saitou a little bit too sweetly, that the amber eyed man suddenly felt a twinge of fear.
On the one hand Midori was smiling to herself. Two birds with one stone! She'll get her revenge on Saitou and Yuuta will finally concede to kendo. She attributed Yuuta's enthusiasm on his admiration for Saitou. All the better.
Saitou tried to dissuade Yuuta once more, "You sure you're up to this? It will be a DIFFICULT training."
"I will follow you Saitou Sensei!" another sweet smile
Midori stood up from the table and bowed to Saitou, "Then that does it! Sensei, I leave my brother in your hands."
Saitou nodded his head absentmindedly.
How did I get myself into this?