Sentiments of gip-k: -Heyo! Gomen nasai for the extremely slow update. VV Well, actually, it's pretty much been within the week, so that's actually my usual timing. I should do better for you all, though. Too much Gaia Online… too much.

Disclaimer: I own not Ruroken. Now let me be.

---Chapter 6: Tokyo Heat---

"Hajime," Tokio began a bit tiredly. She was resting her head against her husband's bared arm.

"Hmm?" Saito grunted in reply.

"You aren't coming home, are you?" she asked.

"I never said that," Saito replied, his tone an odd mixture of teasing and serious.

"Feh!" Tokio exclaimed, temper flaring a bit. "I should've expected such a ridiculous reply."

Saito sighed in an annoyed sounding manner.

"Hush, wife," he replied a little gruffly. Then he softened his tone, remembering how tender Tokio could be around him. "I am happy that you are here, my love. I am going to make sure you enjoy your stay here in Tokyo- it's a wonderful city."

"Is that a result of the wonderful work you've been doing here?" Tokio replied spitefully.

Saito ignored her tone of voice- she often said things she hardly meant- and continued on cheerfully.

"Why yes, of course!" Saito replied in mock-surprise. "I thought you knew that." Suddenly, he became serious. He lifted Tokio's bandaged wrist gently, and examined it with narrowed eyes. "I am thinking that you received that injury while you were here."

Tokio sighed and then sniffed disdainfully.

"You only mention it now?" she asked. "I'm quite certain you noticed it all along. It's nothing," she replied, tearing her wrist out of his gentle grasp in a way more violent than necessary.

"How did you get that," Saito asked coldly. It sounded nothing like a question. Tokio could see anger behind his dark orbs.

"Must you know everything?" Tokio asked in an exasperated voice. She used it to carefully hide her unease and partial shame at how she had gotten it. If he knew the Myoujin boy had done it… Tokio had seen what he could do when he was angry when someone wronged his precious wife, even in the smallest fashion. She decided this time to tell the truth.

"I got in a little fight with the Myoujin boy, dammit!" Tokio snapped. She flustered slightly with the shame. She studied the ground and waited for him to tease her.

Some of the anger drained from Saito's face. He was, however, in no way in fully good spirits about the matter.

"I see," Saito replied. "He will have to pay for that later."

Saito, however, tried to hide a good deal of his dislike for what had happened and put on a typical Saito humble policeman grin. Though it was partially forced, Tokio found herself enraptured by it.

"Come now, let's get dressed," he said cheerfully. "You have much of Tokyo to explore and enjoy."

Tokio grinned.

"I'm sure I do," she said a bit wryly. She knew he was going to spoil her today, and against all of her rules, she would enjoy it.

The days continued to pass on. Tokio remained at the Kamiya dojo, but spent little time there. Life for the Kenshin Gumi and Tokio and Saito Hajime was beginning to resume its regular course. That, of course, was depending on what you called "regular."

Saito did indeed spoil Tokio with lavish gifts, and he took her on long tours of the city. All of the inhabitants of Tokyo stared openly at this beautiful, yet predominately snappish little woman who had invaded their bustling city.

Yahiko actually did start to use more proper manners, which stunned Kaoru considerably, but was not exactly unpleasing. Saito, however, never punished him, for what he did to Tokio's wrist. Sanosuke of course stopped his flirtations with Tokio and continued on about his life and targeting his catchy phrases at Megumi Takani. Kenshin was the same smiling and oro-uttering man he had always been. Kaoru was beginning to cool down, and as for Misao, everything was perfectly fine with her, as long as Tokio was not about the dojo too often.

All of these innocent people failed to take notice of the stranger skulking stealthily around the city, watching Saito and Tokio from behind buildings and atop trees as they toured through the city. He somehow managed to blend in with everything almost perfectly, with his eyes hidden behind his dark glasses, tattered golden collar of his patchy faded navy overcoat lifted to conceal most of his thin face. His hair was an odd combination of gold and gray, sticking out in a disarrayed combination of spikes and unruly locks that fell over his black headband. His wiry, quick hands were hidden underneath his gray cloth gloves. He wore slick black boots with lots of treading on the bottom to allow him to climb trees and almost anything for that matter, more easily.

He smiled down at Saito and Tokio ominously from behind that coat collar. Soon, he thought, chuckling softly to himself. Soon the girl'll be mine.

Then, as always, he slipped easily down from the tree he had been hidden in. At the bottom, he checked his collar to make sure it covered his face, then skulked in between the buildings and people until he had disappeared into somewhere unknown.

"Yes, I'll try," Tokio said, pasting on a very polite and tight-feeling smile as she struggled to assure a Japanese couple that she would make it to their home for dinner. She leaned closer to Saito and whispered harshly in his ear. "This is all your fault. I swear I'll pummel you-"

Saito chuckled in his usual knowing way.

"My apologies, Fumiko and Tetsuro-san," he began politely. "But I have a job to do, now. After all, I am the police chief. Of course, my wife must be getting home, now, as it is getting late." He bowed politely to them. "I bid you both a good evening."

Finally, after what seemed to Tokio an eternity, the couple finally decided to leave them alone. Tokio let the smile drop from her face in a flash and allowed a nasty scowl to replace it.

"Gah!" Tokio said. "I hate these people. They act like I am some- goddess, or something!"

Saito chuckled, and linked arms with her.

"But you are," he joked.

"Don't flatter me," she replied gruffly, despite the red color blooming in her cheeks.

Suddenly, as they continued their walk through the park, Saito's eyes roved to the direction of a nearby tree. He felt evil ki. He stepped away from Tokio for a moment, and scanned the park with narrow, cautious eyes.

"What's wrong -?"

SWISH! A dart flew through the air right past Saito and headed straight for Tokio. Blood splattered from the new wound as the dart scraped the left side of her neck before planting itself in a nearby tree. Tokio clutched at the wound in let out a cry of pain. She stumbled. Saito grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.

"Get down," Saito said roughly, as he released her arm and pushed her down to the ground. Seconds later another dart cut through the air. Saito unsheathed his sword in one fluid motion and cut it cleanly in half- Tokio blinked, and gasped at the power of the swing. Saito grabbed her arm again and threw her behind the nearest tree. Another dart was shot but this time missed any target.

Saito scanned the entire area carefully. He caught a glimpse of a flash of blue in between the pink flowering of a faraway Sakura tree. He bolted straight for it.

By now, the park was in a flurry. The few people who had been walking peacefully in the park were now filled with terror at their police chief running around with an unsheathed sword. Saito ignored the commotion around him, focusing all of his energy toward the unknown assailant he was pursuing. He saw another flash of that blue then skidded to a stop, forcing dust and grass to fly. He scanned it as closely as he could.

The man had disappeared.

Saito was deeply disturbed by the entire event. Had this man not missed, his wife would have been dead. He, also, would have been helpless to stop the event. He knew he should have realized that the man was there- years of fighting in the Revolution had honed his senses. Somehow, though, the man had aptly concealed his ki, and himself, so that Saito did not even realize he was there until the last second.

"You know that I now realize that you exist," Saito said to the air. His knuckles whitened a little on his sword, and his eyes became the eyes of a Wolf of Mibu, dark and opaque, imposing. "You also know that I realize that your target was my wife. You know that I will attempt to prevent you from fulfilling your goal. Now what methods will you use to stop me from killing you?"

Saito was answered by the breeze.

gip-k's Post Chapter Statements: -Okay, here we are… I decided to spice this story up a lot and change the way things are. Yes, that was an abrupt change, but I did not have anything to fill up this chapter! This was supposed to happen on the next chapter, but alas, it couldn't. Meh…

Now I must thank/comment to all of my reviewers for the last chapter! Here are my special thanks.

Jade Goddess

This story is hardly over! Yes, I realize this is a terrible failure of a story… please boo me now. ; I guess this idea did not exactly live up to my expectations… my head probably was a little big after the success of Shattered Glass Can Glisten, Too, so this is quite humbling. I hope one day I can write another hit, but apparently, now, I'm just going on with my ideas and hope that one is liked. Gomen nasai for not e-mailing you and telling you that this story wasn't over… my memory can be poor.

Miburo kid

Figures that this was overdone… I insult myself once more. This is not one of my best stories. I am tried with my best efforts to make it good, trying to take my time, but it hasn't been quite as fun to write or read as some of the others. Thanks for your review, though!

Kitsune-blue

You find Saito disturbing? Mwahahaha… I guess that's just the way he is. I haven't gotten to watch Ruroken in a while (as you all may know, my parents just don't allow it) so the result is he was kinda OOC. I did, however, read the manga episode when he confronted Kenshin. He usually does act quite humble and smiles all the time, though he does have a bit of biting sarcasm about him. He's also serious about his battles, ready to whip anybody's ass when it's necessary, and do it with debonair. XD Furthermore, he has that cool "cut down the evil" motto that I love. Go Saito! :D Thanks for reviewing this story. I hope it's on the road to improvement.

Anivxn80

I guess the Japanese don't exactly find it unpatriotic to write manga about their actually military characters. ; I am starting to wonder if I should really be writing this. Alas, I don't think they mind. I'm glad to see you're enjoying this story, even though it might be going kinda downhill and all… I don't even know if I can finish it. (Please no one scream at me!) Thank you for that wonderful picture of Tokio… yes, she IS positively lovely! She looks so young in the picture. Perhaps not wearing youthful clothing at all, but still relatively young-looking. It's a wonderful picture.

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Finally, thanks to everyone who's read but hasn't reviewed- I recognize you all who have me on your favorites' list, too, and realize that you are also reading! Arigatou!