Chapter Four: Foreshadowing of Evil
It was late afternoon, as two men walked side by side down the street. One man, who was a bit shorter than his companion, would occasionally make offhand remarks about everyday things. The other would quietly listen, much like an elder brother would listen to the endless chatter of a younger sibling.
"Okita-kun, there is something on your mind, isn't there?" the quiet man asked, noticing the nervousness in the other man's manner.
"Huh? Why do you think that, Saito-san?" Okita asked, shakily, a little alarmed that his friend and comrade had seen right through his mask.
"It's the way you're acting; not your usual, overly genki self." Saito muttered, giving Okita his equivalent of a deadpan look. Okita smiled, releasing a nervous laugh while he was at it.
"I guess you've seen right through my deception, Saito-san. It seems I now owe you an explanation." Okita said, as he sat down on a grassy, sunlit knoll, and waited for the other Shinsengumi to join him. Slightly confused, yet not willing to show it, Saito sat down beside Okita and waited for the other man to begin explaining why he was so nervous.
"Saito-san, I suppose it would surprise you that I have a son." Okita began, looking directly at Saito when he said that.
"Not exactly, but, then again, quite a few of the older captains have families. Why? Are you concerned about the boy?" Saito asked. He was a little surprised when Okita nodded.
"I left him in the care of some friends of my family. They're rice merchants, and quite well-to-do. But………………" Okita trailed off, as uncertainty appeared on his usually smiling face.
"But what? Are you having second thoughts?" Saito asked, guessing what was on the other man's mind.
"Hai…………..Saito-san, I've suddenly got a very bad feeling. Something terrible is going to happen. Not this year, or maybe not even the next, but something bad is going to happen to my son. And I won't be around to help him…………Saito-san, I want you to promise me something." Okita said, in a serious tone Saito had never heard before.
"What is it, Okita-kun?" Saito questioned, surprised by this turn of events.
"When the bad thing does happen, go and find my son. And when you find him, protect him. I know you and my cousin Tokio can do that much and more. Protect him from the danger I cannot see or defend him from. Please promise me that much, my friend." Okita said, as some desperation filled his blue eyes. For a moment, Saito was taken aback by Okita's plea; then he sighed and nodded.
"I promise, my friend. I'll find your son and protect him to the best of my ability. What name does your son go by?" Saito asked, as they both stood and dusted themselves off. Okita smiled in relief.
"His given name is Okita Sojiro. But he'll more than likely answer to the name Seta Sojiro when you do find him." Okita replied, his smile now a mixture of sadness, bitterness, and relief.
"Seta Sojiro…………….I will remember it. When I do find him, what should I tell him of you?" Saito asked, again. Okita shrugged.
"Tell him what you want, Saito-san. I just wish I could go out and find him myself. But current events prevent me from doing so." Okita murmured, as they started the walk back to the Shinsengumi headquarters.
"Hitokiri Battousai. As always, he stands in the way of a lot of things." Saito muttered, with a little irritation in his voice as he said that. Okita chuckled at his friend's expense.
"Even your return to Tokio-san?" Okita joked, getting what would later be a patented death-look (in other words an 'Omae o korosu' look) from Saito in response.
"Shut up." Saito grumbled, getting more laughter from Okita as a result.
With snarled curses, Saito ran through the night. Four years had passed since he'd promised Okita that he'd find his lost son, and now he rushed towards the one of the only remaining places he knew where a rice merchant and his family lived. The feeling of dread that his comrade had felt years before was now settled firmly in Saito's mind, and was intensified when his nostrils caught the overwhelming scent of freshly-spilled blood. In a whirl of blue and white, Saito leaped over the wall and landed with almost feline grace in the yard in front of one of the rice sheds. He wasn't prepared for what he saw next. There, lying in mangled heaps, lay the remaining members of the Seta clan. Even despite the experience he'd had in the Shinsengumi, Saito had never seen something like this.
"These wounds were caused by a wakizashi. Only someone in extreme desperation and fear could have done something like this." Saito thought, as he began searching for more clues to the boy's whereabouts. He came up empty-handed.
"I'm sorry, Okita-kun. I couldn't find him here……………….But I'll continue searching, regardless." Saito silently promised, before leaving the yard the way he'd come.
"And now my search has come to an end." Saito mused, when he and Sojiro had stopped to catch their breaths and take a good look around. He could tell they were getting closer to the city, since they were starting to see more homes along the path they were taking. But they were still a good distance off from where they needed to be.
"Are you all right, Saito-san?" Sojiro asked, having noticed how pale the Wolf looked.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Worry more about how many more 'visits' we're going to get from your former allies." Saito replied, curtly. Sojiro nodded, as he wiped down his katana with a rag. He knew as well as Saito did that they had not seen the last of the Juppongatana.
"Or whatever those upstarts call themselves." Sojiro thought, sourly. In just the past few hours alone, they had been attacked a little more than ten times; yet each time, the true culprit had yet to appear.
"Whoever is in charge of the remainder is biding his time. Trying to wear us down so we'll be easier to pick off………………… Hmph. He knows his tactics, but he's wasting his time." Saito muttered, as he glanced warily around, sheathed his katana, then sat down.
"I agree with you on that one, Saito-san. But it seems that part of his plan is still succeeding………..he's wearing us down." Sojiro stated, as he also sat down, wincing a little when he tried to breathe too deeply.
"Let me take a look at that chest of yours'. As much as I hate to admit it, it's starting to concern me." Saito muttered, as he stuck a cigarette into his mouth, lit it, and waited. Gingerly, Sojiro unbuttoned the Western-style shirt he wore under his traditional shirt and allowed the Wolf to take a good close look at his ribs. Saito almost cringed when he saw Sojiro's chest; a long, dark bruise extended across it, from the lower right side to his collarbone.
"Damn. That had to have cracked some ribs, or worse." Saito muttered, as he felt along each rib for breaks, feeling something akin to dismay each time he found one that was broken.
"I think it did. But it wasn't the full force Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki……Himura-san toned it down a bit." Sojiro said, sensing some anger towards the former hitokiri coming from Saito and making the effort to calm him down.
"Still, it did a number on you. I'm surprised you're even able to stand, much less fight." Saito said, as he allowed Sojiro to button the shirt back up again.
"Well, I want to be able to live long enough to see peaceful times……………and possibly protect them as well. It's about all I can do, to pay for what I have done." Sojiro murmured, getting a slight sigh of exasperation from Saito as a response.
"Right now I can't decide whether you sound like your father, or sound like the Battousai. Both of them, at some point or another, have said something like that along the line." Saito grumbled. Sojiro chuckled softly, much to the Wolf's annoyance.
"Maybe that's why you don't like Himura-san. He reminds you too much of Okita-san!" Sojiro teased.
"Shut up." Saito mumbled, giving the younger swordsman the same look he'd given Okita years before.
Not too far away, Kuroi waited with the few men that had returned from the last attack. He could tell that many of them were too frightened to even consider another attack, quickly dispatching them with one swing of the scythe he carried, sending their headless bodies toppling.
"I have no use for fools or cowards. If none of you can kill a wounded dog and a traitor, then I will do it myself. Wait for me here." Kuroi snarled, before walking off into the woods, becoming all but lost to the remaining lackeys' vision within seconds of entering the shadows.