Disclaimer: EVERYTHING BELONGS TO Nobuhiro Watsuki. THIS FIC IS NOT FOR PROFIT.
Saito knew that Kenshin could not be tamed. Men like them could not free themselves from their past, from the bloodlust that carrying the sword gave them. That Kenshin was playing house with Kaoru was a mistake that was going to end in disgrace and suffering at some point. Kaoru was getting her hopes up and Kenshin was unwittingly raising them. He couldn't understand why Kenshin didn't cut to the chase and tell Kaoru exactly why he couldn't settle down with anyone, why he didn't want to, why every chance he got he would go out and risk his life, to fight, even if there was no money. , reward or riches involved.
Saito knew Kenshin well, it was like looking in a mirror. He won't be able to establish himself completely either, but that didn't mean that he didn't do his best to adapt to this new era and forget who he was in a past now almost forgotten and of which only his memory and that of his companions who managed to survive remained. Although Kenshin and Saito had been enemies, both of them had put their swords at the service of defenseless people, but there were very marked differences between Saito's character and Kenshin's.
When Saito met Tokyo he didn't need anyone else to woo her and marry her. He did it himself.
When Saito understood that the Meiji era had triumphed and there was no turning back, he got a job and began to climb the ranks until he was a special and essential agent for the new government. He never liked wandering around, or being expendable.
Saito said what he thought without being delicate, what he wanted he got. He never knew what to make of the ever lingering doubt in Kenshin's character. Battousai had no doubt, no pity, no compassion, knowing full well that it could lead to your death.
Saito understood that it was better to let go of the past and seeing how harmless Kenshin had become when compared to Battousai, he had come to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to settle the old fight he had with Battousai, accepting that this man had died, he was no longer and would never be the same one he once admired, with whom he once fought and with whom his soul will always want to fight. Because inside of him he knew that his bloodlust was still alive and that Battousai was the one causing it. Saito had spent years waiting for a ghost to appear so he could fight him to quell the nightmares he had since the last time they fought.
That had been the reason why he faked his death when they defeated Shishio. But he never expected that every year Kenshin would mourn at an empty grave, his grave, to pay his respects and lay out some flowers. That gesture had moved him, because Saito, as much as he respected Battousai, would never have gone to visit him if he had died, not even now that he was alive. That gesture, coming from Kenshin, made him wonder if Kenshin visited all the people he had killed or just him, but he didn't know why he was so important.
Perhaps Kenshin had indeed changed over the years and it was Saito who lived in the past. Perhaps Kenshin was always braver than Saito and that was why Saito had not shown himself to him yet so that Kenshin would not have to visit an empty grave, probably blaming himself for his death because perhaps he thought he could have prevented it in some way.
Sometimes from a distance, accompanied by Cho, Saito would see Kenshin and Kaoru. Kaoru, always a dreamer, talked about topics that Kenshin was mostly ignorant of, always deep in her thoughts, with a wistful look on her face, as if She was thinking of better times or wanted to be somewhere else. Sometimes they saw Kenshin move his hand to his sword when he heard a noise, old customs that would have disappeared if Kenshin had fully integrated into the Meiji era, something that, after more than ten years, he should have achieved.
"I don't understand why you don't tell them you're alive," Cho said once.
"It's none of your business," Saito replied.
But that was not true. The truth was, Saito didn't even know. He was a proud man, even he could tell, and there was something satisfying about having earned that kind of respect from an enemy. He inflated his ego as much as he inflated when he fought Battousai. Eventually he would have to show himself, because it was cruel to make a person think that he had died when he was actually alive, but he never found the time, always making excuses to put it off any longer. He believed that Kenshin would forget him, that he would focus on one of the girls around him and settle down with one, just as his ladies and friends wanted. When it's the friends and not you who choose the bride, the relationship starts badly!
What kind of friends did he have that couldn't even see that Kenshin wasn't interested in anyone but his sword? What kind of friends did Kaoru have to try to get her to settle down with a man who spends all his time risking his life, getting into fights, not working or wanting to, not bringing any kind of financial help into the house and letting her take care of it to provide for all? At least Kenshin helped with the housework, something even Kaoru had to make him do! If Kaoru was his daughter, Saito wouldn't allow a man like Kenshin to get close to her, because no matter how good he was with a sword, he had no other appeal and was completely unreliable because he could go back to being a bum whenever he wanted, there was nothing to bind him.
Cho had once confessed to Saito his admiration for Kenshin, for his ideals, his morality, his piety, what he did. Saito snorted and started telling Cho about the battles he and Battousai had. Everyone knows the legend, few know the man behind it, and even fewer know how much blood Battousai's sword has been stained with. But the more he tells Cho, the more he becomes fascinated by Kenshin. A contradiction in itself, though perhaps Saito should have anticipated it, there was something about Kenshin that appealed to you.
Deep down, maybe Kaoru knew it too. For men like Saito, Cho and Kenshin, there was nothing more valuable than his sword and his battle.
