Collateral Damage
Chapter 7: Planning the Revolution
Tokio
Tokio was sitting placidly on the porch sipping tea when Kenshin stepped out to stretch and greet the morning. She seemed happy as she benevolently smiled up at him with a happy glitter in her eyes.
"I've been thinking."
Kenshin felt a cold shiver go down his back as every instinct that was trained into him by Hiko and the bloody streets of the revolution suddenly sprang to life and told him to run. Seeing there was only a beautiful woman, heavy with child, and armed with no more than a small tea cup, he felt puzzled by this feeling. Perhaps it was left over poison from the bees that was making him feel jumpy or maybe one of the many refugees from the revolution that regularly appeared in his life was taking aim at him, or worse, Saitou's beloved wife. The hell that would open up if Saitou ever found out his darling spouse was killed on his porch was not something Kenshin wanted to contemplate so early in the morning.
"I've been going about this all wrong." She sipped her tea then sighed gently.
He suddenly regretted not having brought anything even close to a weapon with him for his morning stretch and took a step back scanning the area quickly for anything that might do in a pinch. A rake was leaning against the side of the dojo, left there by a careless and painfully hobbling Yahiko last night. That might do, but why? Where was the danger? He scanned around the yard trying to spot it.
"I've been letting him sulk far too long. Don't you think?" Tokio tipped her head and aimed the gentle smile at him.
"Uhhhmmm." Kenshin couldn't spot anything, but his senses were still screaming at him to run, hide, find a weapon and barricade himself and his loved ones in a room.
"I think a more direct approach is needed." Tokio nodded firmly, her mouth temporarily taking on a firm set.
"Yes, that might be fore the best." Kenshin muttered absently as he tried to amble calmly out into the yard to see what was making him so edgy.
"I think so too." Tokio sipped her tea smiling again.
"Perhaps we should go in, that we should." Kenshin eyed the bushes cautiously, but oddly, the feeling was coming from the porch. Was there an enemy lurking underneath?
"Yes, I suppose so." Tokio gracefully scooped up the hem of her kimono and stood. "It is time for those two cubs to be out of bed, and I need to write a few letters."
"Letters?" Kenshin trailed after her still looking for danger but intent on keeping the Wolf's wife safe.
"Yes, happily I have kept in contact with many friends and I think it is time I wrote to them." Tokio paused at the kitchen and set down her tea cup. "Of course first I have to find out where my mangy husband has wandered off to. I suppose he's curled up in his layer at work." She placidly walked over to the room the children were sleeping in, with Kenshin following along feeling more and more uneasy as the sense of danger trailed with them. "I wonder if I can arrange for him to be busy for the next few days while I work out the details."
Eyeing her suspiciously and now revising his estimate of the likelihood of her being a bodhivista, Kenshin lagged back and slidled toward the safe territory of the kitchen. It somehow made sense, now that he thought of it, that Saitou would marry a smiling, gentle, intelligent, lovely, patient, and highly dangerous woman. He just hoped that later in his life his wife never smiled like a bodhivista while plotting his doom.
"He can be so stubborn." She sighed fondly as she paused at the door and looked back at him.
"Breakfast…" Kenshin found himself squeaking as he stepped to the door. "…fish?"
"Yes, fish sounds lovely." She gave him a small delicate smile that nearly sent him reeling into the kitchen. "I'll go get the boys up."
Kenshin retreated completely wondering if he should send a quick message to his master. Surely Hiko would be able to save him if she smiled at him like that again.
Saitou
The carriage bumped its way down the road with Chao grumbling and petting his hair. "Every fuckin' bump...every fuckin' one."
Saitou didn't look up from the file that he was reading. He'd been sucessful at ignoring Chao for seven hours and he wasn't going to start paying attention now. Considering that his only distraction had been a file about the decline in petty theft in the Gizo district, he was proud of his achievement. He thought of it as training.
"Hey, you see that? That's the place, isn't it? Yep, that's it." Chao's grooming became more frantic as he tried to get his hair in place. "Who are we going to talk to here? Some samurai guy right?"
Saitou felt the need to twitch at the samurai guy comment, but managed to hold in the impulse. He only had a few more minutes to go. He calmly reread the statistics of pick-pockets for the last six years and compared them to last quarter's. It was mind numbingly dull. He wondered if anyone besides him realized that the reason the pick-pockets had decreased was the introduction of a rather organized and militant Grand Dowager that had opened a geisha house in the neighborhood. The lady in question had had one of her most popular geishas mugged a few months ago and had decided to take a proactive approach to the situation by hiring the thieves as errand boys (spies). His only real puzzle was where the woman got her backing...and the organization. Until her sudden debut into the world of Giza, she'd run a small onsen and had panicked if she'd ran out of oil. He speculated that there was probably a tie with the yakuza, but...who really cared? Petty theft was down, pedestrians were happy, the right people had the right amount of money in their coffers, if not a bit more, and there was one less district that the police had to send extra patrols through.
As the carriage stopped, he closed the file, checked his uniform to make sure it was neat, smoothed his own hair back with a flick of his hand, and put the file away. The samurai-dude and his family had just recently lost a fortune due to bad investments. His eldest son, who had been in charge of the family finances, had died suddenly a week prior. The listed cause of death was influenza. A commonly listed cause of death when for one reason or another when the family didn't want seppuku listed. After all, such an old-fashion practice was now frowned upon, leaving families to live fulfilling lives with their shame intact not their honor.
The driver leapt down and opened the door. The servants of the estate were already bustling foreword hastily disposing of brooms, buckets, and brushes as they rustled around in a flurry of activity. Poor or not, they had a duty to perform for their master, to present the house and the family graciously and with respect.
Saitou stepped out and reflexively moved out of the way as Chao fumbled and cursed his way out of the coach. A few pleasantries later, he found himself kneeling on the tatami mat in front of the master of the house with Chao busily "inspecting the estate", which he hoped translated to keep the dim wit busy to the canny old retainer that had taken the ahou in hand.
"I do not know why the police would have sent you here." The old samurai looked honestly puzzled. "While my son's death was a tragedy," the man's voice only had a tiny trace of a hitch at that. An untrained listener would never have noticed it. "there was nothing in his passing that was remarkable. He went out hunting with his friends in the mountains, caught a chill, and died of it."
"We are just concerned." Saitou kept his eyes level and his voice pleasant. "There have been a few occurrences that have raised questions in the area."
The man's lips pursed together tight. "My steward would know more about such things."
And that answers that question. Saitou bowed politely as the man motioned for the servant to pour tea. He knows something is going on in the area but it is about money so he won't talk about it. "If you don't mind, I'll speak to him later. I'd like to know though if you have heard of anything else besides those," he gave his hand a dismissive wave, as if anything that one had to talk to the steward about was only a minor consideration. "Have you heard of anyone strange arriving in the area? Someone who didn't ...belong?" He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial note at the end of the sentence.
"Nooo." The old samurai drawled thoughtfully. "We've had the occasional visitor, and a Westerner made a few inquiries into moving into the area, but he...changed his mind." The man sipped his tea, but his lips tipped slightly, indicating concealed amusement, and perhaps satisfaction.
"How...unfortunate." Saitou could already guess that among the man's recent acquisitions would be a strip of property purchased for far more than the land's worth.
"The Westerners would have been uncomfortable here. I hear they all enjoy the city life much more than the simple pleasures of the country. I am sure they have found a nice home amongst their own people." The man sipped his tea again. "I visited the Westerner's district the last time I was in town. It was very... pleasant." The man's eyes glanced slightly away and his lips twitched into a hint of a pitting smile.
Saitou nodded and pretended to sip his tea. The man's wife, or cook, had never learned how to brew it apparently and liked it...
...extra, extra strong.
Saitou took a deep breath shoving the pain down where it wouldn't bother him until the middle of some night when his past and his regrets would surface to smother him with their weight.
"Yes." Saitou smiled his false smile. "Their houses are quite picturesque."
The interview didn't go much farther. The man knew nothing important and, Saitou guessed, he didn't know anything unimportant either. The steward was only slightly more intelligent and while looking disdainfully at him for dirtying himself with monetary concerns, showed Saitou the books he needed to check. The son had shuffled numbers and created a few exotic looking withdrawals which looked more like a gambling addiction than poor financial handling. It would need looking into when he arrived back in Tokyo, but there was nothing that he had to deal with immediately.
He left the estate just before dark, directing the driver to an inn near the next estate he wanted to check on. The roads were in good condition, so driving wouldn't be too much trouble and Chao was exhausted from his inspection tour. It would put him farther out than his orders originally covered, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do.
Tokio
"He what?" Tokio tipped her head inquiringly at the office boy that smiled at her besottedly.
"He left for the countryside this afternoon." The boy eagerly told her.
She wasn't vain enough to believe that he was attracted to her. A hefty pregnant woman with blotchy skin and lank hair... Damn pregnancy, Just once I want Saitou to get blotchy skin and bad hair! And a back ache! Yes, he should have a back ache too!..was hardly the most appealing female in his limited experience, but the bribe of a weeks worth of meals had the poor boy nearly drooling on the paving stones.
"Oh dear." She looked regretful. "I probably just missed him at home and I so needed to talk to him."
Well, that keeps him out of the way for a bit. Still, sneaking out of town, Saitou? What next? Hiding in the bath house to avoid your family?
"I don't suppose you know where he is going, do you?" She tapped the letter she'd acquired from the noodle cart owner that would allow the boy a week's worth of lunches.
Eyes riveted worshipfully to her, and her magical letter, he stuttered, "Ashikaga, just north of Tokyo. He has to talk to some people out there about something important."
"Thank you very much. You've been too kind." I've about thirty contacts in that district. Tokio handed over the letter and with an only slightly awkward bow waddled... Damn, damn, damn. If the fates were just he'd waddle too.. towards the market where she was to meet Sano to buy tiles for the roof. I could start there. A few messages would arrive by tomorrow and keep him...busy...yes, busy, very busy while I put things in place here...or better yet, I could start on reforming his mangy hide. His skull is too thick for anything but direct pounding of a new idea into his head, but a few well placed...examples... She smiled delicately, scaring an old man who abruptly had a cold feeling creep down his spine and a definite feeling he should get his wife a gift... would be a good reinforcer.
She heard Sano as she turned the corner.
"Yo, over here!" The young man waved enthusiastically from the eastern corner of the market. Around him were stacks of timber and what looked like crates of rocks.
She waddled a bit faster ...And swollen feet! Sano seemed excited about something and by the big smile and slightly bouncy motions he was making, it was something good. He really is like Harada, right down to the way he shifts his weight to the balls of his feet as if he was going to take of running. I wonder if Harada ever met this boy's mother. It would explain a few things.
"You should see this!" Sano waved excitedly at a pile of crates. "They got an order for a house, everything all set, then the guy backed out."
"How fortunate!" Tokio smiled, then pinned that smile in place when she noticed the light blue color of the tile that even new had a dusty, moldy look to them.
"Isn't it great." He patted the box of tile fondly. "We can get the roof done by tomorrow."
To say no would be like crushing the hopes of a puppy, but if she didn't do it, her house would be a nightmare. She honestly didn't mind blue. It was a very pretty color, but she didn't want her home to, well, look like the roof was forever in need of a good scrubbing. She caught Sano by the arm and pulled him around to the corner of one of the pallets of tiles where the shop owner, drawn by the Sano's jubilant voice, now stood rubbing his hands together with a wide grin on his face.
"We need to look around." She looked at a tall stack of tiles. "If we seem too eager, the price will be high."
"Oh, yeah, right." Sano frowned seriously at the stack she was inspecting. "It's just such a great..."
"These are quite nice, too." She nodded at the stack of dark brown tiles she was looking at. "A bit thin though."
"Yeah," Sano shifted to look at another stack. "These aren't bad."
The owner came around the corner, "If you need any help, I would be honored to answer even the smallest of questions."
Tokio gestured towards the stack Sano was near. "How many of those do you have?"
"Oh, I'd have to check." He bustled away and in a second came back with a boy and a young man. The boy climbed the stacks like a monkey while the man went around the stacks making notes on a tablet. "It will only take a minute." He smiled heartily at them. "While they are tallying them, is there anything else of interest to you?" His eyes shifted hopefully towards the stacks of blue tile.
Which means you overheard Sano's discreet yelling and are eager to get rid of those tiles. Tokio looked around innocently and glared at Sano who had opened his mouth to blurt out his interest in the blue tile. "Do you have any other brown tile, maybe a bit darker than this one?"
That put a bit of a kink in the owners dreams of a quick ending of his nightmare of unsellable tile, but he rebounded quickly. "Of course, come this way."
The next stack was only a few steps away, under the eves of the building the owner proudly claimed ownership to, which Tokio genuinely hoped would soon be tiled in blue. The tiles were dark, nearly black, and nicely thick.
"These are the finest we have and I carry the best in Tokyo, the whole prefecture!" The man crowed as he gently pulled a tile out of the pallet. "Note that this tile looks brown in this light, but just look!" He held the tile into the bright sun. "It's actually green."
"I like the blue better." Sano muttered to her.
"But look at the color." Tokio enthused stamping on Sano's foot.
"Ow." Sano grumped.
The owner, seeing a sale, concentrated on Tokio. "And the luster, beautiful but not pretentious."
"Awww, come on." Sano grabbed Tokio's arm and abruptly pulled her around the corner. "Look, that blue isn't that..."
The sound of a loud crash, a quick appalled hush, then a scream. "The tiles!"
Sano bolted back around the corner with Tokio waddling after him. The owner of the shop was huddled on the ground near where a smashed flat of tiles lay. Blood was seeping through his fingers from a cut on his head.
A little, stout woman in a long dusty apron was ran forward, "Oh, oh. You are hurt. Oh, oh, The tiles. Oh, oh."
The shop owner waved her off, "I'm fine. Just a nick when a piece of tile hit me."
She ignored him and bundling her apron tried to wipe the blood way. "Oh, oh, oh."
The owner got up and looked around patting the woman's hands reassuringly as she continued to try to clean his face. "Is anyone else hurt?"
"Nope." Sano looked around. "But how did that fall?"
"Probably the boy slipped and jarred it loose." He frowned upwards. "Hiding by now, I'd wager."
"That boy!" The woman fumed looking around for the culprit. "So careless."
Tokio glanced up but couldn't find the little fiend. "Boys are like that."
"I do apologize for the inconvenience." The owner made an unsteady bow. "That my customers had to witness such a sight…" He sighed and looked forbiddingly upwards. "My family has traded in tile for seven generations. It would grieve me to know that such an impression would be made."
Sano shrugged, "Hey, no pr…"
Tokio, a bit more sensitive to touchy pride and the ways of shopkeepers, drove her elbow into Sano's side, smiled gently at the owner of the shop, and nodded. "I understand."
"I have a shipment of tile, beautiful kawara tile." The man glanced behind him towards the back of the store. "I will sell them to you for the same price as that." He pointed towards the blue.
"Hey, you d…" Sano began only to be silenced again as Tokio's elbow drove into his liver.
"You do us an honor." Tokio bowed.
The man, with the help of his wife, wobbled back into his store. With a final glance upwards, Tokio followed him with a now cautious Sano in tow.
"I really like that blue tile." Sano mumbled protecting his vulnerable midsection by crossing his arms and staying a few paces back.
"Don't dishonor him so." Tokio smiled back to the young man making Sano wince. "Allow him to do us this favor so he can rest easy knowing that the name of his shop is intact."
"Aren't we taking advantage?" Sano looked uncomfortably at her at her as she carefully stepped around a set of end caps.
"Nonsense. He's going to inflate the price of those blue tiles so we at best will get only a small discount for the kawara." She cleared the obstacle. "He goes to be feeling that his honor is intact, we go on our way with tile at a good price, and the name of his business remains intact. He can even brag to his neighbors about his generosity. Really, Sano, he's got a slight cut on his head. He's not delirious."
"Oh." Sano scratched his head uncomfortably wondering why in his head someone added the word "ahou" to the end of that small lecture.
Tokio
Everything was in chaos. She curled tighter into a ball under the hydrangea as a band of men charged down the small alleyway waving swords and screaming victory. Okita, looking pale and thin, crouched next to her gripping his sword and panting weakly for breath.
Everyone was gone. Everyone.
The people she had smiled at, bickered with, and dallied away long dull afternoons with, the fighters, their wives, and even their children were either dead, or taken prisoner. Beautiful, stupid Midori had died on the end of a sword, killed for daring to marry one of the Shinsengumi. It didn't matter that Midori had despised her unfaithful husband. No one had asked as they had pulled her out of her house and killed her in the street. No more than it had mattered to the people that had beaten and raped delicate, unsure Kiiroi that her darling Matsu had tired of her about a week after their marriage and had only maintained a fiction of a marriage to ensure his family wouldn't disown him.
And Saitou was dead. Her wolf wouldn't prowl through the door in the middle of the night with that smirk on his face and rain glittering in his hair. He wouldn't drive her mad with his sneaking up on her to scoop her up into an undignified, shrieking bundle and spin about until she was laughing and clinging to his shoulders. She'd never be able to tease him with spilled tea, poke him in the side at night when he snored, muss up his hair, see him arch one eyebrow over something dubious. It was gone.
She wanted to kick Okita for saving her and then run into the street until some kind soul killed her. She was sure it wouldn't take long.
"Come on." Okita wheezed, slinking forward, and tugging her hand. "The boat is down here. Just be quiet and remember, you're my nurse."
The night smelled of blood. She'd thought she had become used to it, but now it seemed to have drenched everything. The alleyway they ran down had rivulets running down the gutter, but it hadn't rained for weeks. The brief glimpses of the main street they were running parallel to only offered views of still bodies and dark puddles. Yelling, screaming, howls of anger, guttural cries of aggression echoed around her as Okita dragged her forward.
Her wolf couldn't be dead. He couldn't. He'd never leave her like this, alone in hell. It was just a bad dream. Okita was off in the country being babied by his family and sending Saitou letters on how he should come rescue him from his sisters. He definitely was not pulling her through an alley as Kyoto died around them. No, this was a dream, a bad dream.
"Over there." Okita slumped against a broken wall and pointed towards the river. A small boat with an old man crouched at the stern bobbed on the water. "Remember, he's my father. You are my nurse."
Insane. The whole thing was insane. She'd have to tell Saitou about this dream when he got home. He'd probably laugh and tease her about running off with Okita. She felt her lips twitch with suppressed laughter imagining Saitou's teasing. She, of course, could confide that she'd always preferred Okita to him, and perhaps add in a few points about Okita's personality matching hers better. He'd give her a scoffing look. They'd wrangle it out for awhile until they both ended up in a pile of clothes with their hands dancing across each other's skin.
The boat bobbed lightly as they stepped on. The old man barely looked at them as he pushed away from the tiny pier that he'd tethered the boat to and navigated through the strange, better not to look too closely, lumps that floated down the river. Occasionally, things splashed heavily into the water. Sometimes, all three of them crouched down beneath sides of the boat as arrows flew hissingly overhead. They paused for a moment as they passed out of the city so the old man could nod knowingly at the two men who nervously stood guard.
"About time, old man." One grunted. "Thought you got yourself killed."
"No, no." The old one snorted. "Just getting my worthless son out. He'll be the death of his mother with all the worry he puts her through."
They eyed Tokio for a moment, then shrugged. "Go on, we've got other things to worry about than you."
And they were past. The river spread out before them.
Okita stopped being tense and aside from watching the banks carefully, relaxed. "We just have to get to the next large pier. We'll be met there and head for the country. I think we can be clear of the main fighting by sunrise."
It didn't matter.
"Is your calligraphy still as beautiful as it was?" Okita pulled a tarp out from under a seat and covered them both with it. "I was thinking you might be able to become Yaso again, teach calligraphy."
She didn't care. What was there to care about?
It was just a bad dream.
It didn't matter.
Author's Notes
Okay, today for your pleasure, I found nice pictures! Yay!
Onsen- Here take a look at these. . . I wanna go. I went to something like these in Korea, but far more encased in concrete. Lovely, absolutely lovely, even with the concrete. Here is my friend wiki to catch you up on it: en. wikipedia .org/wiki/Onsen . If you are ever in Asia, you really cannot go home without visiting one of these. They are crowded, at least the ones I went to were, but so amazingly relaxing. I highly recommend them if you get off a plane feeling like you are lugging death around on your shoulders. After a few hours of soaking and soothing, you'll be ready for…dinner. You are on your own there. Just remember, live squid sticks to your teeth.
North of Tokyo- After a brave search, I found a great map of Japan. /image/map/ which shows a few places that many of the other online maps don't without loading you down with roads, small burgs and other detritus. I'm odd I guess. I like my maps simple.
Geishas- I had to do it. I feel kind of cheap since it smacks of the whole Memoirs of a Geisha thing, but here. .org/wiki/Geisha . I'm sure there is a Japanese name for the head of a geisha house, but I admit, I liked the idea of a Grand Dowager.
Kawara Tile- This comes in many colors but is highly regarded worldwide as one of the most beautiful tiles in existence. Personally, I actually like blue tile roofs, but when thinking of the tile that Sano liked, think of cheap Wedgewood. Here's a site about kawara tile: www. shukei .jp/english/shokunin_ kawara. html but more interesting is this: .com/lh/photo/LekjcA7-uSd2WHkyjYS7KQ . Each tile is unique and different, but when placed together just look how beautiful they are.
Remember to take out the spaces and add an http colon backslash backslash to all the addresses.