Title: Step to the New Road

Series: Rurouni Kenshin

Rated: T for Teen

Started: 25-June-2006

Finished: In progress

Summary: After the manga. Everyone has an adventure when they start something new.

Why: You know how authors have the tendency to just leave you hanging as to what happens to your favorite characters? I hate it. Anyway, I wanted to explain my version of what happened to all of them.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Rurouni Kenshin. It's really all just wishful thinking on my part.

Note: I have no idea what Tokio, Saitou's wife, looks like. In fact, none of us do. The only image we get is in the anime, when Kenshin and Misao think she looks like Buddha, because who in their right mind would marry him? I'm making up my own idea of what she looks like, so live with it.

Third is Saitou.

Cigarette smoke filled the air around Hajime Saitou. His eyes narrowed as he took another drag on the little cylinder hanging from his mouth. Looking down to the ash tray, he realized that he had smoked the most cigarettes ever in his entire life all in one night. Scowling, he picked up the letter next to the ash tray. Reading the contents over again, he threw the letter on the floor. His eyes closed as he thought back to this afternoon, and sighed.

Kosaburou, a new officer, knocked on the door. When Saitou let him in, he was handed a letter, and told it was from Himura. Saitou dismissed the officer, and read the letter.

'In a few years, this one will no longer be able to use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. Our score has yet to be settled. If you wish, this one will fight you at midnight by the river.

Himura Kenshin.'

His eyes widened a fraction of an inch. He had some kind of idea that Battousai's body was wearing down, but not to the degree of no longer being able to use his techniques. He stood up from his desk chair, and sat down on the couch. Reading the letter again, he looked up when Cho walked in and told him of his new invitation.

"From Battousai? Is it a thank-you letter for the past fight or something?"

"You want to read it?" asked the wolf.

"Hmm. What's this…" mumbled the sword collector as he shoved a cotton ball up his nose. After a moment, he stopped, and pulled it out. "Uh…whoa…this is…"

"Heh. Isn't it interesting?"

"This is no joke. This means…"

That was all Cho was able to say after he read the note. Saitou looked to the clock. He was to have met the former Hitokiri by the river at midnight. It was now one-thirty. Lighting up another cigarette, he smoked through that one, and four more before two rolled around. Hearing footsteps approach, his hand went to his sword, and he eyed the door. When Cho walked in, the broom-head jumped back.

"What? What are you doing?" he asked surprised.

"What do you want at a time like this," the wolf asked irritated.

"Well," began the sword collector nervously, "I was getting bored of being a spy, so I thought I'd steel whatever I could sell and…wait, what are you doing here?" he said as he recovered from his outburst. "It's way past the time for your duel! Hurry!"

"Humph…who said I'd accept?"

Cho's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"The man I want to settle the score with is Hitokiri Battousai, and not that man." Saitou turned to look outside and took another drag of his cigarette before continuing. "A wolf is a wolf. Shinsengumi is Shinsengumi. And a Hitokiri is a Hitokiri. That's what I thought, but I must have read it wrong."

"Himura Kenshin and Hitokiri Battousai are the same person, right?" said Cho with a puzzled look. "I don't understand what you're saying." The broom-head remained quiet as he stared at back of Saitou's head, waiting for a reply. A few moments later, the wolf spoke.

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand," he stated, putting out his cigarette. "I will get no joy out of settling the score…with a Hitokiri who no longer kills. That's…all."

A gust of wind blew in from the open window that Saitou had been staring out of. Papers picked up and blew everywhere while the curtains moved with ferocity.

"Whoa!" shouted Cho as he threw his arms up to protect his face. Facing the cold breeze, Saitou lit another cigarette, and let the match drop to the floor. "It's getting cool…" he said out loud, sucking in the toxic fumes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's autumn already."

Blowing them out into the fresh air, the last thing Cho heard him say that night was,

"Fool."

Two years later

White puffs of snow fell gently upon the streets of Kyoto. Children threw out their hands trying hard to catch the crystallized water, while their parents ushered them to go faster, trying to get out of the cold. As one woman bent down to pick up her excited son, she bumped into the shoulder of a man walking by.

"Oh, excuse me! I'm so sorry," she said, snatching up her boy.

"Hnn…" was all the man said as he continued to walk. Pulling his jacket closer to his body, he marched home, wanting to get back to the fire his wife had waiting for him.

When he entered the door to his house, he was greeted with a "Welcome back." Closing the door, Saitou studied the outline of his wife, Tokio. She was taller than the Kamiya girl, but she still only reached up to his chest. Her hair was obsidian colored, cropped into a bob that framed her face, and her eyes were dark blue. Today she wore a blue and black striped kimono and a white apron over that.

"How is it outside?" she asked.

"Cold."

"If you give me your jacket, I'll give you a cup of tea." Said article of clothing landed in Tokio's arms as her husband poured tea for himself from the kettle hanging over the fireplace. Saitou took in a whiff of the smell, and his nose scrunched up a bit.

"You made green tea again."

"And?" she asked while placing his jacket on the hook by the door.

"You know I don't like it."

Tokio looked over and watched as her husband took a drink of the hot liquid. "Then why do you drink all of it when I make it?"

Saitou said nothing, and walked back to their bedroom while sipping on the drink. Smiling, the black-haired woman began to set the table for dinner. She set out bowls for rice, chopsticks, and a small plate for some bread she had made earlier that day. Turning around to the stew hanging above the fire, she poured what they would eat into the bowls in her hands. When she was finished, she was greeted with the sight of her husband in a white hakama and a black gi. As he sat down to the table, she set the stew down, scooped the rice into their bowls, put bread on the plates, and poured more tea into their cups.

"Itadakimasu," they both said as the separated their chopsticks. Saitou started with the rice, while Tokio took a bite of her bread. Nothing was heard for some time except the sound of chewing, when she finally broke the silence.

"How is Battousai?"

In the middle of chewing, Saitou looked up at his wife with a small look of shock.

"Why should I know?" he responded in between bites.

"Well," she started, "the last time I saw you wear a hakama and gi was thirteen years ago, just after the war ended. It made me think of Battousai, because that is all he wears." She paused for a moment, and spoke again. "Do you still keep tabs on him?"

Saitou ripped a chunk of his bread off, and dunked it in the bowl of stew. "The last thing I heard was that he had married the girl he lived with."

"You don't speak with him anymore?"

Setting his chopsticks on top of the bowl of stew, Saitou closed his eyes and answered. "I do not associate myself with people who suppress who they really are. I will not fight a man who will not be willing to kill to defeat the enemy in front of him."

Smiling, Tokio began to gather the dishes for washing. Before she set them down, she placed a kiss against her husband's cheek.

"That's what I love about you Hajime. You are always willing to do what you need to get what you want."

"You mean the way I got you?" he asked as he stood up.

"Exactly."

Fin.

Author's notes: Not even gonna talk about this chapter…please just review. It makes me happy.

Next up is Aoshi and Misao.

Tamababymiko-chan