Disclaimer: I don't own the characters Saitou and Okita. Nor do I own the Ishin Shishi or the Shinsengumi. But I do own Raiden he is a person that I made up myself from another story that I'm writing.
Chapter 1: New Enemies
Saitou woke up and looked around. The whole world seemed foreign to him-almost as if it were upside down. Confused for a second, Saitou suddenly realized that it wasn't the world around him that was upside down. It was him. He was lying on his back. Not knowing why he had woken up, Saitou nonchalantly flipped over onto his stomach. With his acute hearing, sharpened only because he was a Shinsengumi, Saitou could hear not only the birds singing in the trees but also the wind, itself, softly, rustling the leaves.
Saitou, lulled into a half sleep from the birds' sweet melodies, was rudely awakened by somebody's loud, obnoxious snoring.
Grumbling to himself as he got up, Saitou had to stifle a groan as his muscles protested.
Saitou then ambled on down a dirt path because there was nothing else to do. He was unaware though that he had his katana drawn, ready to ward off any surprise attacks.
Saitou was a sight to behold. He was about the age of 20 and quite tall for a Japanese man. He was wearing a white hakama and brown gi. Over his gi he had a blue haori that had a white triangle pattern on the sleeves; the traditional uniform of the Shinsengumi samurais. His jet-black hair was tied up in a high ponytail; another tradition among all samurais. The thing that distinguished Saitou from anyone else in the Shinsengumi was the fact that he had four strand of hair hanging in his face because they were too short to go back into his ponytail. He like it better that way anyway. Saitou had always hated the way his forehead hurt when he did have his bangs as long as the rest of his hair. Plus by having them short it made him look even more hostile.
For some strange reason, not known to him, Saitou loved watching people squirm when he stared at them with his piercing golden eyes. When he was younger, his eyes were once the color ice blue; cold and uncaring his relatives said. When he joined up with the Shinsengumi and started being a assassin on secret missions, his eyeswere slowly stainedgold. He doubted that they would ever turn back to their original color, not that he wanted them to anyway.
The Captain of the entire Shinsengumi would always give him the hardest jobs because Saitou was prone to get any job done and wouldn't rest until he saw it through to the end. Men, women, and children all cowered when he would walk around town; he had never met a man alive that wouldn't quiver at the mere mention of his name, except maybe the Battousai. If he didn't have such a bad reputation about him women might actually show some interest in him, not to say that they didn't have any, it was just that they were afraid to show it.
Saitou wasn't stupid, when the Shinsengumi would often hold those stupid parties for the men to meet the women. Saitou would often overhear the ladies talk about how his high-cheeked, almond-shaped face made him look very attractive and that they wanted him. But he know that they wouldn't dare ask him for fear of what he might do. It made him sick to his stomach to even think about those baka Gensais clinging to him like spiders to their webs.
Saitou smiled to himself inwardly, he did love watching the women squirm when he would suddenly walk in though, because the women would cut themselves short before saying anything else about him. He loved to see the fear in their eyes.
Saitou frowned, 'Wait,' Saitou thought to himself, 'At one of those parties there was one girl that didn't show any fear when I looked her in the eye or when she heard my full name and title.'
'What did she say her name was?' Saitou thought to himself. He wracked his brain so hard it was going to bug him until he remembered.
"Wait now I remember, her name was Tokio, hmmm. . . . I wonder if I'll ever see her again." Saitou said to himself.
'Wait what was he thinking, he can't have himself distracted by petty little things like women, he had to think about the task at hand.
Saitou's mind slowly drifted from one thought to another. Soon he started to think about how long the Shinsengumi had been in this infernal forest. Saitou had lost count of how many months ago the Shinsengumi had been assigned to this forest waiting for the Ishin Shishi group to show their ugly faces. He was itching to do battle with the Battousai once more. Unknowingly Saitou's grip on his katana handle tightened.
The silence of the forest brought Saitou back from his little fantasy. He suddenly realized he had gone farther then he wanted to. He couldn't even see the clearing anymore.
'I should probably get back soon.' Saitou thought himself. He turned around and started to walk back to camp.
Saitou suddenly stopped; angler slowly creeping into his golden eyes. He tensed up as he felt like somebody was watching his every move waiting for the right time to strike him down. It was then that the stench of blood, that was thick in the air, reached his nostrils.
Saitou cursed himself soundly as this realization dawned on him. 'I shouldn't have left camp, how could I have been so stupid?'
Saitou sprang into action, his muscles fueled by adrenaline and anger; the anger that he might be too late and see the Shinsengumi murdered, lying in their own blood. If that happened he would have to live with his dishonor, for he wouldn't feel worthy enough to die by seppuku. Why had he all of a sudden just gone off, he should have stayed there.
After running for what seemed like hours. Saitou finally came thundering into the clearing; eyes ablaze; teeth bared in a threatening gesture, with his sword ready for anything-making him look less and less like a man and more like a crazed wolf; a wild, savage animal.
Once Saitou saw the Shinsengumi weren't dead at all but locked in combat with Ishins. He let out a little sigh of relief. He should have had a little more faith in the Shinsengumi.
A Shinsengumi member that was standing next to, what seemed like a little boy, were fighting off Ishins.
"Okita, where is Saitou!" The man asked while stabbing a Ishin in the stomach.
"I don't know Hijikata; he was gone when I woke up." Okita said through clenched teeth. It wasn't like Saitou to just up and leave. He must have just had something on his mind.
"I hope that for his sake he comes back to fight." Hijikata hissed as he took down another Ishin.
Nobody had noticed that Saitou had appeared. Saitou used this to his advantage and started cutting Ishins down where they stood. Saitou as he was fighting, slowly made his way across camp looking for Okita and careful not to get hit by the enemy's swords. He finally found Okita back to back with Hijikata. Hijikata being tall in stature, easily dwarfed Okita.
Okita also spotted Saitou and motioned for him to come and get his back for Hijikata no longer was there but surrounded by at least four Ishins. Saitou was about there when he was taken by surprise. Two blades attacked him at once, one from the front and the other from the back. Saitou was fast enough to divert the blade in front with his katana, but he couldn't get to the other one in time, so he did the only thing he could think of; duck. Saitou reacted fast enough to duck and twist his body to the right so that the back of his shoulder and his upper left arm took the hit.
All of a sudden Saitou's vision became very blurry. He couldn't see or think clearly anymore, the pain in his arm was burning hot; it was too intense. Somewhere, whether in the back of his mind or out in the real world he heard that the Ishins were retreating.
Saitou was confused; he had been hit by a normal sword hadn't he? Why then did he feel so dizzy? In his confusion he thought he saw a tall, white-haired man retreating from the battle field.
Okita saw the whole thing happen; saw Saitou block the blade in front then duck and twist to the right to reduce the damage the sword would inflict. Okita also saw Saitou fall on this hands and knees looking as though he were about to vomit. Okita was at Saitou's side in a heartbeat. He saw the blade which had fallen out of the Ishin assassin's hands, on the ground. He was about to pick it up when Saitou shakily put his hand on Okita's. Okita looked into Saitou's face, his eyes were unfocused and his face flushed and glistening from all the sweat on his face. Saitou shook his head, trying to get the message across to Okita not to pick up the blade, the sudden movement sent a wave of nausea through his body and Saitou put his face close to the ground, dry heaving. He did everything in his power to stop himself from vomiting.
Saitou all of a sudden tried to get up. Okita told him to say still while he went to get help, but Saitou wouldn't listen. All of a sudden when Saitou had just gotten to his feet another wave of dizziness washed over him, he fell forward onto Okita and uttered one word before he blacked out, "Poison."
"Hijikata," Okita yelled at the top of his lungs.
Hijikata rolled his eyes, "What is it now?" He had been trying to bandage his left arm. Some baka Ishin had cut him, but the stupid fool had been standing next to him for about a half an hour, thinking that Hijikata was an Ishin. "He should have seen the uniform, the stupid fool." Hijikata muttered to himself.
"I found Saitou." Okita yelled back. Hijikata stopped bandaging his arm, and ran over to Okita's side only to see Okita kneeling down on the ground supporting Saitou's limp form.
"What happened boy?" Hijikata asked trying together a mental picture.
"There's no time Saitou's been poisoned, he needs medical treatment now," Okita said through clenched teeth putting emphasis on the world "now". In a slightly softer tone he said, "I'll tell you later."
Hijikata then moved to Saitou's back to support him while Okita got up. He saw a cut on Saitou's shoulder. He gained a little knowledge by looking at the wound. 'Probably some assassin put poison on his blade,' Hijikata thought to himself. 'But if the assassin deliberately put poison on this sword he must have wanted to go after Saitou.'
'Well at least we don't have to kill him.' Hijikata thought with relief.
"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to help me carry Saitou to the infirmary tent?" Okita asked irritated that Hijikata was dill-dallying. Hijikata just nodded, he knew better than to refuse to help, Okita would hate him fore sure if he did.
"Hijikata, you take his upper body and I'll take the lower." And with that they carried Saitou off to the infirmary tent, Okita struggling because Saitou weighed so much. The Shinsengumi who were watching Saitou be carried off the battlefield to the infirmary muttered, "That must be uncomfortable."
The man who had attacked Saitou slunk out of the Shinsengumi's camp and bee-lined for the trees where he jumped onto one of the branches and watched to make sure that no Shinsengumi slime had followed him.
He frowned, his handsome face momentarily marred by unwanted wrinkles. He hated playing games. Why couldn't he just finish Saitou off? The poison he used wasn't really deadly; Saitou would just have a fever for a few days and maybe some vomiting. The man's frown turned into a sneer; well at least he will suffer for what he did to my family.
'He murdered them, without mercy.' The man could remember seeing his little sisters's dead body in his father's arms. Hot tears flowed freely down his face. The man formed his hand into a fist and tightened it until he could feel his fingernails digging into his flesh and drawing blood. The man then looked at his hand. This was a small pain compared to the world of hurt Saitou would be in. The man suddenly snapped out of his vengeful thoughts as he notices someone behind him.
The man didn't even flinch when he heard a high obnoxious voice behind him talking.
"Did you get him?" It asked.
"Yes, I even left them a souvenir." The man replied flatly.
"Good, because we don't want him dead just yet, I have so many more things planned for him." The voice said then laughed manically and clapped the man on the back.
"Welcome Raiden, my Sei'ei Futagoha (Elite Twinblade), welcome to the Ishins." The voice said before he melted back into the shadows.