Red Wolf Chapter 4: A Wolf Without Fangs
By Hakubi
Author's Note: I am SO sorry about the long time between updates. I have been incredibly busy, and gone, and my job is crazy, and there are family problems and Hakubi-chan is stressing herself unnecessarily...but anyways, thank you for the fire being lit under my lazy bum. I definitely need it. I hadn't even checked my account for almost 2 months---but, reviews make the authoress happy, and reviews inspire her to work faster!
Review Responses:
GhostofKenshin: As I said before, I've had my own problems to deal with. But here's your update, so no more complaining, please.
SirisAnkh: Thanks! Any comments I can get are very much appreciated.
steelpheonix: I know that Eimi being Kenshin's sister goes dangerously close to being Mary-Sue, but I that was the only thing I couldn't overcome. The rest of my fic, however, is as far from normal as I can make it. Tokio being a part of the Shinsengumi is a bit different from the usual mold. And anyway, later on, there's a very interesting twist to her background, I promise.
Saitouu Ryuuji: I'm not exactly sure why I listed his name as Yamaguchi in the last chapter. I did some research after I posted and realized my error. And any inconsistency, I apologize for. I was typing this at the end of my school semester right before exams.
What's wrong, Tokio-chan? Tokio hovered above her namesake, her head cocked cutely to one side.
Eimi burrowed beneath the covers of her futon with a soft curse. 'You lied.'
About what? Tokio drifted towards the ground to take a sitting position. Her feet phased through the tatami.
'About me being connected to Saitou Hajime-sempai (1), that's what! He's married! Or did you just CONVIENIENTLY forget that minor detail!' Eimi snapped mentally.
Ooooooh, you mean Yaso-san. You don't have to worry, he doesn't love her. He only married her because Yusuke-san and Masu-san wanted him to. Tokio attempted to poke Eimi, but her finger just phased right into the young woman's side.
'That is the very LEAST of my worries! I will not chase after a married man!' Eimi's thoughts were so very loud to Tokio; it was a wonder the whole headquarters didn't hear her as clearly as if she were shouting.
Very minor details, Tokio-chan! I happen to know that Yaso-san is bedding one of the grunts, one Nagumo Hiroshi, when Hajime-kun is gone. Tokio smirked, her voice taking on a sing-song tone. And----since she's not physically attractive, your chances at winning his heart become ever so much closer!
'Just what in the seven hells are you implying! I do have shame, unlike you, Tokio!' Eimi glared, and a faint blush rose in her cheeks.
I'm dead, darling. I don't have use for shame any more. And, by having a husband, I am perfectly aware of what desire is. Tokio giggled. And I can tell that you like Hajime-kun.
'You're just making excuses so you can be perverted!' Eimi retorted. 'And I refuse to listen to it any more!'
There was a rustling of fabric, and Eimi stepped into her sandals as she slipped on the heavy gi that was supposed to act as a coat for the cool nights. In an instant, she was gone.
TOKIO-CHAN, WHERE ARE YOU GOING! Tokio wailed.
'For a walk, away from you.' Eimi replied.
Sweet silence.
Nothing but the cool night, the koi pond, and the soft buzzing of the cicadas.
And now...the sharp sting in her nose as she ran into someone.
"Itai..." Eimi rubbed her offended nose. "Gomen nasai, I didn't think anyone would be out this late, and I wasn't paying attention..."
"Watch where you're going, Takagi-kohai (2)." Came the grunt.
Eimi glanced up, and a bead of sweat manifested itself on the back of her head. "S-Saitou-sempai! Gomen, gomen...I didn't mean to run into you..."
"Ahou." He returned.
"Don't call me ahou! Call me baka, but don't call me ahou!" Eimi hissed.
"That dismisses the question of where you came from, Takagi-kohai." A smirk played over the man's lips.
Eimi all of a sudden understood why the rumors had called him the 'Mibu no Ookami'. That smirk. That irritating, wolfish, dashing---- 'I hate Tokio!'
She blinked. "My mother was from Tokyo."
"As is obvious. Strange, though. Kanashii-san does not speak the way you do, she speaks as though she comes from Osaka." He replied. There was that smirk again.
"Kanashi-neechan spent much of the past several years in the service of the Takagi family." Eimi insisted, her fist clenching inside her gi. "And they originally come from Osaka, hence the accent."
This man was so irritating! How could someone stand him?
Saitou shook his head. "Perhaps you won't be so bad...for a woman, that is."
"Your petty insults fail to amuse me, Saitou-sempai." Eimi turned back in the direction of her room. "So...if you will pardon me, I would think I would rather find someone with a better sense of humor."
"..."
-Breakfast-
It had been a very long time since Eimi had felt quite so uncomfortable in the presence of men. But all those eyes on her; it was worse than the first day in Kojuurou's dojo. And this time, it was accompanied by Eimi's self-awareness of her appeal and power over men. Thank whatever gods had brought her to Hiko. The sharp tongue he had pressed would somehow keep them away.
Beady black eyes fixed on Eimi as she brought a clump of rice to her mouth, and succeeded in making her extremely uncomfortable.
She swallowed, and looked up. "Is something wrong?"
The owner of the stare, one Saitou Yaso, took a moment before she responded, as though pondering the simple question. "I've just never seen a female samurai before. What was your name again?"
"Himura Eimi." She said, whilst thinking that the woman before her was utterly and completely devoid of any common sense whatsoever. "And you are...Saitou Yaso-san?"
"Hai!" Yaso said with a very girlish giggle. "You're so cute! I think we'll be very good friends, Himura-san!"
'I have a feeling we won't. Not if Tokio is telling me the truth.'
"Eimi-chan, would you mind helping me with this?" Kanashii pointed at the large bushel of rice. "'Katsu-chan is pregnant with Okita-san's second child, and he won't let her lift a finger."
Eimi looked up from the passage she had been copying to practice her handwriting. "Of course, Kanashi-neechan."
A few moments later, the bushel was in the storehouse where it belonged.
"I was surprised yesterday, Eimi-chan. Who was it that taught you to wield a sword like that?" Kanashii asked, seating herself on the edge of the engawa.
"The man who saved my life. Hiko Seijurou. He was...and still is, for that matter, very crude, but he gave me both my life and my name, and I am grateful. And not only did he teach me, but he taught Kenshin as well." Eimi smiled.
"Kenshin…? Who is...Kenshin?" Kanashii asked, worried. "What happened to Shinta-chan?"
"Kenshin is Shinta-chan. Hiko-sensei thought that 'Shinta' was too weak for a boy who was to become a swordsman, so he gave him the name 'Kenshin' instead." Eimi told her.
"A boy with a heart...and one without(3)." Kanashii looked at her hands. "It's so sad...that you were both forced to wield swords to live. 'Kaasan...she wanted you to achieve so much more. She wanted you, Eimi-chan, to become a great lady, with a husband so powerful that even the Emperor himself would be jealous of him. And she wanted Shinta-chan to become a great scholar, so that children for generations to come would be taught about him."
"A great lady...with my tongue?" Eimi chuckled. "I can't imagine such a life. Silks, and tapestries, a fine house, and a fat old husband to sire helpless children on me. I can't imagine anything but what I am now. Nothing but this sword." She patted the blade that rested against her hip.
"Perhaps you will find a husband here, in the Shinsengumi. And even if you don't, I'm sure that Kojuurou-sama will arrange a fine marriage for you. You are his adopted daughter, after all." Kanashii suggested.
Six weeks had passed since Eimi had come to be in the service of the Shinsengumi. Saitou Hajime was the man who seemed to come and go most often of all the captains, as if to avoid his wife at all costs. Yaso, with her husband's absence, eyed her young lover most openly; there was not a single soul in the entire compound that did not know Nagumo Hiroshi had become the consort of Captain Saitou's wife.
Even Saitou himself knew, although it seemed not to bother him in the least.
Things changed on the night that he noticed Himura Eimi as a woman.
A rather large victory had been won over the Ishin Shishi, causing sake to arrive in large quantities as basis for a celebration. Eimi, because of Hiko, declined from touching what she deemed to be a foul drink. Strangely, Saitou shared this philosophy, saying that consuming alcohol of any kind gave him an urge to commit massive genocidal murders.
The two were seated outside on the engawa, away from and ignoring what they had both deemed as sheer idiocy.
"None of them realize it, do they?" Eimi murmured.
"You mean the fact that we will most certainly lose this revolution?" Saitou asked. "No. Not a single one of them has the slightest inkling."
"Since the boy called the Hitokiri Battousai joined them, their spirit has increased a thousandfold." Eimi sighed. "To think...I watched him train from when he was a young child. He must have hated me when I left."
"Your lover, or a childhood friend?"
"Neither. He is my younger brother, Shinta-chan. No...Kenshin, now. After all, Shinta was too weak a name for a boy who was to become a samurai." Eimi told him.
"If our men would show half the spirit that he shows in battle, we would have some chance at winning..." He drifted off.
"They've been brainwashed into believing that the Shogun is all-powerful and cannot possibly fall." Eimi sighed again. "Troops with no spirit is akin to a wolf that has had his fangs ripped out."
"Why do you fight, then?" Saitou asked, his tone mocking. "If you're so sure that we will lose this revolution, why do you continue to support the losing side?"
"Let's just say...I like defending lost causes." She smiled.
Saitou reached out to cuff Eimi over the head. "Baka. This is why women shouldn't be involved in combat. Too much sentiment."
"Are you implying, Captain Saitou, that if you cared about something deeply enough that you would die defending it, you wouldn't be the least bit sentimental?" Eimi rubbed the sore spot on the back of her skull.
Saitou nodded.
"If I may be so bold as to say so, to care about something enough to have the will to die for it is sentiment in itself, Captain." Eimi told him. "So if you're so cold, prove it."
Saitou snorted. "And how would you propose that I go about that, Takagi-kohai?"
He heard her muttering something about the idiocy of men, and then, in an instant of utter senselessness, felt her press her lips to his. She seemed disappointed when he did not show any sign of response, and pulled back. His hand went around her waist, resting on her spine, to keep her close.
"You should be careful what you wish for, Takagi." He leaned forward, claiming her lips and forcing them apart with his tongue.
He had done more than enough to fluster her, he saw, as her cheeks had enough blood flowing through them to give a glow akin to her hair.
"I shouldn't have done, that, Saitou-sempai." She muttered. "You have a wife. You have Yaso-san."
"I may as well still be unmarried. Yaso is far more interested in Nagumo than in me." He smirked. "Although what it is that he sees in her is beyond my comprehension."
"And that doesn't bother you, Saitou...san?" Eimi questioned.
"Not one bit." Saitou said. "Would you be jealous if it did?"
Eimi turned red again. "How dare you suggest such a thing! I hardly know you, how the hell could I be jealous! And of Yaso-san, of all people?"
Wakey, wakey, Tokio-chan! Tokio sang, hovering above said person.
'Go away, Tokio.' Eimi rolled over and snuggled closer to Saitou. 'I'm sleepy...'
Well! So much for not chasing a married man... She teased.
Eimi waved her hand back and forth in the air, and Tokio huffed. Fine. I can see where I'm not wanted.
Saitou caught her arm. "What in the world are you doing?"
Eimi looked at him sleepily. "Just shooing away a gnat."
A knock followed shortly after. "Eimi-chan, get up! Captain Saitou is missing, and Captain Okita wants you to go look for him!" Kanashii called.
"He's not missing! I talked with him almost all night; he just went out for a walk about an hour ago!" Eimi replied. "Now let me sleep, pleeeease!"
"Arigatou, Eimi-chan." Kanashii said. "For future reference, don't lie to me, please. I know very well that Saitou-san is in your room. Hiroaki told me this morning, after he spoke with Okita-san."
Notes:
Sempai: A term of respect directed at someone who has been in a workplace longer than you, or is higher above you in a business, etc.
Kohai: The direct opposite of sempai, it refers to a newcomer in a school or business, etc.
Kenshin/Shinta: I read somewhere a very long time ago that Kenshin meant 'boy without a heart' and Shinta meant 'boy with a heart.' This is the reason that Kanashii made the analogy that she did.