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)

About Midori... Well I just thought of her. I like the name Midori since my code name since childhood is Green2 (from Bioman). What's interesting is I got interested if the real Saitou Hajime had a woman before Tokio, since I was writing this fic. On one of my searches (about chapter 2 in this fic) I found out that there was a rumor that he did. It's located in www.3- hajime.com but you'll have to babelfish it because it's all in Japanese. I then posted this in the miburo group in yahoo and several people who were very knowledgeable in Japanese and the Shinsengumi found out more. Suffice it to say that there is a good probability that there was another woman and this woman whose name is Yaso, he probably married her too. Cool isn't it? I suggest to anyone interested in Saitou and the Shinsengumi to join the two groups; miburo and SHQ (the new mailing list).

Oh by the way as most of the readers know.. In this fic both Saitou's parents are already dead. In case you wanted to know what their names are. It's Yusuke Yamaguchi and Masu Yamaguchi.

Okay here comes some of the Shinsengumi members.. Note this is not the Shinsengumi, I think the Shinsengumi was formed after this group led by Kondou-san left Tama for Kyoto.

About the Mimawarigumi – recently I've learned of this group from the yahoo groups at the newly formed edojidai. Apparently this group is similar to the Shinsengumi but is composed mainly of the sons of the politicians and influential people related to the Tokugawa. Funny, this was mentioned in the Kenshin OVA's before, and eventhough I have watched that at least 10 times now, I zoned out on this group.  It's really great timing that I read about them, thanks to Tokugawa Hirotada. I decided to change my plot a bit to incorporate this group. Akio would fit in perfectly, because he was the son of an influential man, who was an advisor to the shogun in Kyoto, plus it makes Saitou's life harder.

*denotes sound/music/etc

*Thoughts are in italics (having trouble with my wordprocessor, so in the event thoughts doesn't come up in italics they will be denoted by ~)

CHAPTER XXIII - At the Shieitan II and a Prologue to Danger

"Hahaha! Looks like Toshi is up to his old antics again…" Harada laughed. He huddled closer to Shinpachi, just outside the dojo's door.

"Hai! Hai! Who is that guy?" Shinpachi pointed at the lean tall young man who was battling it out with Kondou's right man.

"Hmm… I'm sure I saw him before." Harada slammed his fist to his hand. "I got it! I saw him with Midori-chan a few days ago."

"Nani? I thought you said you were only going here when I was going???" Shinpachi narrowed his eyes… "You came here to get ahead of me didn't you? You wanted to get in and leave me behind…"

Harada started scratching his head. "No… No.. Hahaha.. That's not it.. It just so happened I heard Souzi….

"Hey what are you guys doing?" Okita sneaked in between the two..

"Nothing!!!" the two young men chorused…

"O???" Okita peaked into the dojo, wondering what the two was looking at. What greeted him was the sight of Saitou and Hijikata crossing blades.

Nani?? What is Saitou doing? Baka! He doesn't even have an armor on… Got to stop this…

"Hey hey! Shinpachi… Looks like Hijikata's a bit too serious today isn't he?" Harada motioned to the two as Hijikata barely missed impaling Saitou.

"Actually no… Look right now he's not even changing over to a side swing after the thrust. It's almost like he's playing with him." Shinpachi placed his hand on his chin thoughtful.

"What? Well I've never seen him worked up like that…" Harada cocked his head.

"Hey Okita. Who's that person?"

"Saitou Hajime. He came with Midori-san a few days ago."

"Yeah WE KNOW." They chorused again.

Souzi gave them a weird look. "Well what did you want to know?"

"WHO IS HE?" chorused again.

"All I know is he wants to join the dojo and he has a special relationship with Midori-san."

"What the! Shinpachi-kun! We need to do something about that guy. No outsider is getting accepted AGAIN to the Shieitan before I do." Harada was only half-joking.

"Yeah. And why is Midori-san hanging out with him…" Shinpachi also said half-joking only.

The two huddled and plotted Saitou's demise, that is, IF he gets out of Hijikata's hands alive.

Okita just shook his head and left the two. The two were harmless anyway, plus he has to tell Midori about this.

Saitou winced at the strength of Hijikata. The man was well built but his strength was uncannily superior to his. As he fell back with his opponents every swing, he could not understand why his arms seemed to be giving away and his vision continued to blur. What was more frustrating was that he found it hard to evade Hijikata's attacks, especially when he encountered the forward thrust coupled with the side swing. He'd been nicked twice already and their fight has not even lasted 10 minutes. He started wondering that maybe refusing to put on the armor was a bad idea. Through blurry eyes Saitou could see a stern and satisfied look cross Hijikata's face as he was forced to move further and further back.

Kuso!

Saitou elicited a silent growl and heaved his sword forward with all his might.

"That's right Saitou-kun. Now INSTEAD of using both hands, try using one hand this time for flexibility." Hijikata smirked at him.

"Don't mock me!" Saitou started unleashing several swings which Hijikata either dodged or parried easily.

"Stop swinging those hands wildly. You'll never hit your target that way." Hijikata was grinning this time. "Pick a spot, ahou."

"Ikuso! (Here goes.)" He aimed for Hijikata's lower right rib. He missed.

"Good. Now swing to the left."

Whether it was just the power of suggestion or whether Saitou was really listening, Hijikata was surprised that the young man had executed the Hirazuki almost perfectly. Saitou slightly grazed Hijikata's clothing, any closer and he would've ripped Hijikata's abdomen in half.

"Very good." Hijikata had stopped grinning now.

This young man learns quickly. Now we just have to work on his disposition.

"I'm not your student. Keep your comments to yourself." Saitou did another Hirazuki.

"You're right you are not." Hijikata parried another one of Saitou's wild swings. "If you were you would've at least cornered me by now."

Saitou wanted to let out a battlecry. He desperately wanted to do so just to prep himself a bit more but swinging his sword was already a bit too much for him that day.

"Are you content Saitou-kun? Are you willing to stay like this?" Hijikata cornered the young  man again and pressed his katana towards the young man's neck. "I can call up Okita, he can easily defeat you."

"Urusei! (Shut up!)" Saitou tried to push Hijikata away but try as he might he could not do so. He felt himself trembling but not from fear, he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was… All he knew was that it was DEFINITELY NOT FEAR.

"You really should know when to give up.  More importantly, when not to initiate a losing battle." Hijikata whispered to the young man. "Remember those things that are important to you, how do you expect to protect them as you are now."

Saitou with one great heave pushed Hijikata's katana back towards it's owner. Hijikata was quick to dodge and instead planted a fist towards Saitou's side, breaking a couple of his ribs. Normally Saitou would've stayed up, but he slowly slumped towards Hijikata's shoulder.

Saitou croaked. "Kuso… This was a test of kendo skills not…

As he lost consciousness the last he heard was…

"That's another thing you'll learn from me. In a fight, everything is fair."

"Hijikata-san. You didn't have to do that you know." Okita said as they walked towards his quarters.

"He has a lot to learn."

"Still… I don't think it was right. Anyway, you didn't even let Kondou know about this."

"There was no need to. All Kondou wanted was to get him on our side, regardless."

"Heh? You two always surprise me." Okita thought for a moment, Kondou always portrayed the kindly father figure. It always made him wonder why Kondou and Hijikata got along so well, considering the opposite personalities. He understood though that in most matters they see eye to eye,  it was only in the attainment of these matters that they differ. Kondou seemed to have backed out of the scene once a goal was established, leaving Hijikata sole executioner as he saw fit. That was probably why the two of them got along so well. Hijikata took care of the details.

Okita smiled. "Well at least if Saitou's here, we'll still have Onee-san. I'm glad for that."

Hijikata opened the shoji door and stepped inside unannounced to Midori's surprise.

"How is he doing?"

"He'll be fine. His fever has gone down." Midori couldn't help but feel apprehensive of Hijikata. She wanted to scream at him for dueling with Hajime, when he knew perfectly well that Hajime was sick.

Hajime. You baka. Everyone else you knew you weren't feeling well, I can't believe you were totally oblivious to it! Baka! Baka! Baka!

"Good. I've arranged a room for you two just behind my quarters. When he wakes up, feel free to move your belongings. Everything you will need is already there."

She found it really hard to be grateful to Hijikata, but she thanked him nonetheless. After all she did promise Hajime that she'll support him.

"Akio. I think it's about time you secured a place in the government my son." Kaneda said thoughtfully.

"What about the wedding?"

"Well the wedding will go on of course. It is too late to back out now. I'm sure Kyoda will find his daughter or else we will sequester whatever belongings he may have."

"Honestly father I wished that it did not come to this." Akio slumped his head on the dining table.

"It will be alright son. I already expressed to Kyoda other possibilities, if we lose face in this matter." Kaneda rubbed his sons shoulder to comfort him. "Right now what we need is a diversion. I think an event to honor your appointment will do serve nicely as a distraction from the wedding."

Akio smiled at the news. "Really father you surprise me. I already have a position?"

"Of course my son. By the end of this month I will send you to Kyoto. There you will be appointed vice-commander of the Mimawarigumi, under the command of Sasaki Tadasaburou. Quite fitting don't you think?" Kaneda grinned.

"Yes indeed!" Akio was ecstatic. He had been hoping to get into the military, but he never expected to start way above the ranks.

Kaneda patted his sons back. "You know what to do when you get there. Don't forget our interest. Make me proud."

"Wakatta! Don't worry. I'll take care of everything once I get there." Akio grinned at his father.

"Oh.. I almost forgot.. Akio, that Saitou Hajime, you know this is a perfect opportunity to dispose of him once we find him."

Akio just smiled and nodded.

TO REVIEWERS:

Ooka-chan – Well it looks like your wish will be my command… If you saw the author's notes above, I just found out about this Mimawarigumi and couldn't resist putting them in this story. Now my plot got twisted a bit… Oh well. I'm thinking it will work out nicely though. What else? Isn't Akio's father just pure evil… HAHAHA! Anyways, yes you've got to watch PMK. I was a bit apprehensive at watching it at first and there were parts that almost made me fall asleep but it's a good anime. I wrote up a small summary review over at noated.net. Here's the link…

Missbehavin – Oh he's definitely sick as you saw. I just hate it when Saitou loses and I made him lose twice already in this fic. I figured for the third time he will lose but due to circumstances beyond his control. I really wanted him to win this time, but hey, he's against Hijikata for crying out loud. By the way you should've seen me wail and wail on the fight between Shishio and Saitou. It hurt so bad to see him lose. -_-

I'm glad you don't think the OOC is not appaling. As you saw I'm putting in this new group. I couldn't help it. I really should stop reading posts in the yahoo groups.. HAHAHA! Always lurking never posting…

As for PMK… It's NOT fair! I still haven't gotten any new episodes… I wrote this review right on noated BUT people started posting on it and somehow their replies contained spoilers! Oh no! Looks like the ending wasn't as good as I'd hope? Isn't there like a second season manga out, which continues the story?

Amos Whirly – Sorry if I'm just writing back to you now. I really don't know where to put my response to you, except here and I couldn't force out a new chapter lately. When you said I can remove reviews, do you mean you'd like me to remove the review on your fic "True strength" or do you mean to remove the review here on "Leaving Edo"? Let me know. I think I can. With regards to "True Strength" though, I think you can remove that by yourself also since it's unsigned. I think it should be removed especially when you correct those parts coz then you'll have people wondering what happened ^_^. I'm glad that we will part ways (so to speak) with no hard feelings. Oh if you have any constructive criticism for me, please let me know.

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!