Collateral Damage
Chapter: 10: The Wolves of Kamiya Dojo
Tokio
Tokio walked along the patio watching quietly as Karou kept a careful eye on Eiji and Tsutomo's practice drill. The boys were swinging their wooden swords up and down as Karou counted slowly. Eiji, with the arrogance of one who was practicing with a younger child, had an expression of condescending amusement on his face as Tomo furrowed his brown and bit his lower lip, concentrating on each swing of his wood blade.
"Five." Karou called, slightly adjusting Eiji's swing with a small nudge causing the boy to scowl.
Tokio noticed that Yahiko was watching the boys as he raked the path leading to the gate. A small smile tipping his mouth in amusement.
"Six. Eiji, keep the tip of the sword up a bit more. That's good."
Eiji's scowl deepened as he corrected himself and glanced over at Tsutomo who was too busy concentrating to notice. Tokio had noticed early on that Eiji liked attention, even when it wasn't good attention. He would rather have someone yell at him than to not say anything. It didn't surprise her when he pushed Tsutomo slightly causing him to loose his focus and make a bad swing. Her little cub though had his father's focus and merely shifted his position a bit, and kept Karou's pace smoothly.
"Eiji, concentrate! Seven. "
Tokio stepped past the porch and into the shade of the other side of the walkway. Kenshin was busy chopping a diakon as a pot of boiling broth sent a cloud of steam to swirl around the kitchen.
"Good morning, Tokio-dono." The red head looked chipper for a man who had barely pulled himself through the dojo gate last night, dripping blood, dirt, and bits of foliage as he subtly herded her wandering husband up the walk. "Breakfast will be ready in just a bit. Would you like some tea?"
"Yes, thank you." Tokio brushed him back to his radish as he started over for the teapot. "I can get this myself, Kenshin. You shouldn't have to bother with it."
He gave her a look she was sincerely becoming tired of, the pregnant-woman-shouldn't-do-such-things look. It made her teeth grind, her hackles raise, and she had to struggle not to start hissing like an affronted cat each time she received it. "Tokio-dono, as our guest…"
"I would have worn out my welcome when my house-hornet's attacked you." She lightly scooped up a teapot that at one time, with its lovely glaze, had been a prized possession, but now with its chips and cracked spout had been demoted to everyday use. "How is that sting? Can you rest now or is it still painful?"
"This one has no complaints." Kenshin turned back to the diakon and chopped it quickly, then threw it into the pot. "Yahiko still has a few…hmmm… troubles."
Tokio made sure her face was properly solemn, though watching Yahiko dealing with an itchy, insect bite on a very sensitive piece of anatomy had kept the dojo amused, especial since the boy refused to acknowledge the fact that he itched and therefore squirmed and had acquired an odd, twisting, dancing walk as he tried to rub the affected place without actually using his hands. "Yes, I have noticed. Do you think Megumi should be called?"
This was again a cause for amusement for the dojo since Yahiko, at the first sight of the doctor, would dash off claiming to be busy. If hauled forcibly to see the doctor, mainly by Karou, he would blush and struggle as he howled that he was fine, just fine and everyone should just leave him alone.
"I think Yahiko is a bit improved, that I do." Kenshin stirred his soup thoughtfully. "But we should keep an eye on him." A small smile quirked the corner of his lips. "Just incase."
Tea acquired, Tokio bowed out of the kitchen, leaving the dreaded Demon of Kyoto to his miso soup. The boys were still practicing in the yard and Yahiko was now washing the gate sign with a scrub brush and a pail of water as he chatted with a pretty, young girl who had stopped to watch him work.
When she got to her room, she slid the shoji screen quietly aside and stepped in. She had little expectation that the other occupant of the room wouldn't notice her entrance, but hoped he'd at least notice the attempt at quietness.
"I don't want tea." Saitou was grumpy this morning. Back during the revolution, she could always tell when a fight didn't go the way he had wanted it by the level a surliness the next morning. Seeing that he was moderately grumpy, she felt that he had probably done well, but wasn't satisfied with the outcome. Seeing that Kenshin was up puttering about the kitchen with hardly a wince or a limp, she wasn't surprised. Though the "good" outcome was hardly good.
"Breakfast will be ready soon." Tokio knelt down in front of him and started pouring the tea into two small cups. "Will you be going in to work today?"
Saitou was sitting on the futon with the sheets draped over his lap, scowling at the door. "I need to look into a few things."
It had been months, as her growing belly continued to show, since she had been able to see him closely. She didn't like what she saw. His streak of self-destruction was taking a toll. He'd lost weight. His hair, which usually gleamed a soft black so rich it had blue highlights was thinner and coarser. His eyes looked bruised. His lips pressed into a thinner tighter line. His cheek bones, already sharp and concave, curved into gauntness. He even smelled slightly wrong as she had curled against him, close to sweet-moldy smell, instead of the sharp leather, steel, and wind smell she loved.
"They can wait until after breakfast." She handed him the tea, not surprised when he took it with a polite nod. "Aoshi and Kenshin seem intent on talking to you."
He grunted at that. It was one of his annoyed grunts with a hint of agreement. She took it that he didn't want to talk to them, but felt he should.
"I would like to speak to you too." Tokio watched as his fingers tensed slightly around the tea cup. "If it hasn't occurred to you yet, there seems to be another child arriving in our lives soon." His fingers relaxed. She noted it and filed the information away for study later. "It should probably have a name."
Saitou actually paused mid sip as his eyes snapped to her belly.
Tokio suppressed a sigh. It had been the same when Tsutomo had been born. Saitou, one of the dreaded Wolves of Mibu, a feared inspector known for his acute insights into human frailties and minds, a police officer who prowled through the mire of human poverty and depravity, had actually looked surprised when after months of pregnancy, she had actually given birth to a baby. Where the human population came from in his mind, she didn't know. Perhaps he believed the Westerner's myth that mothers found their children under cabbage leaves, or after months of pregnancy a white bird would magically drop one off on the step. These magically appearing children, of course, already had names.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" He watched her belly suspiciously, as if it was trying to trick him.
"How would I know?" She sipped her tea, semi-amused as he continued to try to outstare her unborn child. "I was the one who predicted Tsutomo would be a girl. The old wives' tales let me down."
"Hmph." He actually looked miffed.
"We could name the child after your grandparents." She suggested as she tried to find a comfortable position to sit in. "or perhaps another family name?"
He sipped his tea then held it out for it to be refilled.
"A friend then? Shoji is nice." She watched as he scowled at his newly full tea cup. "Or perhaps a more recent acquaintance, Cho?"
"Do you have something else to discuss with me, wife?" He hunkered down to glower at his tea, imagining having his second child named after a broom.
Tokio sipped her tea. "As you wish, I do have something else to discuss."
Saitou tensed. She could see it not only in his fingers, but in his shoulders and neck as well. While he had asked the question, she didn't think he expected an answer. For years, she had meekly bowed away when asked that, not wanting to upset the fragile balance of their relationship, not wanting to risk what small amount of time she managed to have with him.
But, after so long, what did they really have?
"When will I be getting my husband back?" Tokio set her tea down. "I have been waiting, Hajime, for years and years. When will you come back? Your son barely knows you. You have another child on the way. Will you be coming home soon?"
"I am right here." Saitou shifted uneasily, then stilled himself, his training snapping him into place, immobile and ready.
"No, you are not." Tokio shook her head. "You are still far away, in Toba-Fushimi, in Eichigo, in Gonohe. When will you come home?"
Saitou shook his head. "I am here."
"Hajime…"
He got up and silenced her with a sharp gesture. "Enough, Tokio. I have things that need attending." He quickly started getting dressed. "I know you are upset and worried about these so called accidents. I will deal with that and the ones who caused them. You concentrate on taking care of yourself and Tsutomo. We can discuss this idea of yours that I am not here, when I clearly am, later."
His tone brooked no argument. She had to nearly bite the inside of her cheek as she bowed her head to keep the angry, worried rejoinder that sprang to her lips silent. "Yes, husband."
"I will be back tonight." He shrugged into his police jacket and headed for the door, scooping up his sword. "Stay inside, out of sight until either Aoshi, Himura, or I come back. Keep the children with you."
She miserably nodded her head and didn't look up as the shoji screen shut behind him.
Saitou
"It will help with your knees and even make your skin as soft and glowing as a child's." Saitou smiled as the old woman sniffed the potion he held out to her. "You will feel like a young girl."
"Ha. She feels like a withered, old hag to me at night." Her husband chortled then grunted in pain as the woman accidentally slammed her foot down on top of his. "I mean she's been a bit sickly lately and your tonic would be welcome."
From the look on the woman's face, there were going to be far fewer nights where her spouse would feel much of any of her at night. Saitou, carefully wrapped the small potion up and handed it to his customer. "May the gods look kindly at you."
She nodded and dragging her still apologetic husband behind her, made her way out of the market.
It was nearly fall and he wanted to get home soon. He had wandered deeply into the south, keeping mainly to the small villages in the mountains, to sell his medicines. It had been a calculated risk. He was far closer to Kyoto and people who would recognize him down here, he was also absent if the government sent its spies to check his whereabouts, but he had earned enough money to buy good food for the winter, as well as supplies they had been lacking for too long such as warm blankets and clothes suited for Gonohe's winters; new futons with warm, thick stuffing to keep them from the frozen ground; pots, kettles, plates, even the luxury of teapot and a full set of cups. He even managed to buy one more item, one that if the spies found he possessed it would earn him a quick, government sponsored death, a sword. It was cheap and under most combat conditions would probably snap like a twig, but with the petty bandits that were the usual trouble in their area, it was adequate. Tokio would be warm, safe, and well fed this winter. Perhaps, by spring, she would have lost the starved, lost look that had become her daily face. Maybe she would smile again.
He looked around the market and lifted his voice, "Medicine! Medicine! A cure for your ills."
The nearby vendors called out their wares as well, ignoring him for the most part. There was no ill will. Early in the season, he had been able to purchase a good second hand set of clothing as well as a small pony and accessories of a moderately successful medicine seller. While no one would ever mistake him for prosperous, he was no longer shunned, or pitied.
"Cure your ills. Take away your aches and pains."
A regular police patrol came through the market every hour. He had timed it. While he didn't recognize any of the people in it, he kept his head down, and his face masked by the brim of the cap he wore. But he watched them. They reminded him of his own squad from the Shinsengumi, with their brisk steps, quick eyes, and easy laughter. They weren't quite as good as his men had been. They were little more than children playing dress-up compared to his squad, but he found himself liking them.
"Medicine. Medicine."
Right on time, the patrol came through. He nodded to them respectfully, using the motion to hide his face, and turned to a customer who had come to view his goods. As he measured out a portion of dried ginko from Korea, he studied the leader of the patrol. He was a young man, and by the unsure way he issued orders, hadn't been in charge long. Saitou almost wanted to go over to him and give a few pointers. Since one of the pointers would have been to make sure to get a clear view of everyone's face that was present in the market, he kept them to himself, but he found himself nodding in agreement with some of the small orders the young man issued. The man had talent. In a few years, he would probably do very well for himself.
"Thank you, honored one, for letting me be of assistance." He bowed to his customer as the patrol, smiling easily and finding nothing suspicious to investigate, left the market area.
He was relieved they were gone, but at the same time a bit irritated. Could they not see? Were they blind? Never mind himself, a dangerous man from the Bakumatsu, there were others in the market they should have paused to investigate. From the way the two young women behind the tofu seller cringed meekly, and the odd bruises around their slim wrists, one could see something was wrong. After two days of watching, he was sure the tofu seller sold far more than tofu. The two girls were his true wares and he was only waiting for the right buyer to give him the signal to sell the girls as slaves. The small "boy" who lingered in apparent sleepiness on the step of the tea house, was hardly a child and every hour, just a few minutes before the patrol was due to come through, the "boy", who had to be at least twenty, would get up, cough three times, and in a few moments a woman would lead the a few customers out a side door into an alley where they would wobbled unsteadily away. The one legged man was picking pockets. The rice vendor kept looking nervously at the tofu seller as if frightened by him. The tea shop's upper floors kept wafting opium fumes.
At the end of the day, he could only shrug. He had other worries. The petty, sniveling crimes of a small town were none of his concern when he had to get home to his wife, survive another winter in the bleak hovel they lived in, had his own set of criminals to deal with, and show the Meiji government that he was a poor, broken penitent they had nothing to fear from.
Still, he would remember those faces.
Tokio
Karou had brought tea, Megumi had brought mochi balls, Tokio had brought roasted yams, and Misao had brought rice taffy. They sat quietly sipping their tea, eating their small feast, and listening to the manly portion of the Kamiya Dojo's inhabitants.
"I can't believe they told us to go do the dishes." Misao was taking their banishment from the manly discussion the worst. "Yahiko, the most useless lump of uselessness in the world, is fine, but we are fit only to do the dishes." She turned to Megumi. "How many times has his big mouth and stupid ass attitude almost gotten us killed. Six? Eight?
"Only once or twice." Megumi, with a sour look on her face, bit vindictively into her potato. "While I agree that Kenshin and Saitou are competent in these situations, I have to pause in awe that they consider Sano more use than us."
Karou was only growling at this point and gnawing on her taffy like a rabid tanuki.
Tokio nibbled on her mochi. "I agree. Saitou should at least have remembered that I am far from some brainless twit." She took a deep breath then sighed. "I feel like I've let him develop bad habits. The mangy cur."
"Dishes." Karou growled.
The men had banished their fairer counterparts and had taken over the main dojo to make their manly plans, which so far seemed to be that Kenshin, Saitou, and Aoshi would find the bad guys, whoever they might be, while Yahiko and Sano would stand guard over the fragile flowers, the ladies of the dojo. The ladies of the dojo had decided to sit under one of the dojo's windows and have a picnic. If they also happened to be in range for overhearing the manly conversation…
"They are stunningly pig headed." Megumi snapped at her potato again. "I suppose I should boil water and prepare bandages to put on their heroic wounds."
"What kind of plan is 'find the bad guys'?" Misao waved her hands, nearly poking Karou in the eye with her taffy. "That was Sano's idea wasn't it. Find the bad guys. Beat the bad guys up. Come back and mooch food."
Tokio nodded, "Yes, he came up with that while you were gone. What stuns me though is Saitou going along with that idiocy. I feel sadly let down."
"Do the fucking dishes." Karou growled.
"Do they even know who the bad guys, and I use the term loosely, are?" Megumi finished off her potato with a few more quick snaps and then wiped her hands daintily. "After all, a target is necessary here. Or are they planning on just beating up random people?"
"Seeing it's Sano's plan, I see a bar, some dice, and a lot of sake in their future." Misou chomped on her taffy.
Tokio winced. "That would not be good. Saitou is not the most…pleasant…man when he drinks."
"Pleasant?" Misao frowned.
"He tends to kill people."
"Oh."
"I'm going to geld Kenshin, then chain him to the sink." Karou finally joined the conversation.
"Surgical procedures should be left to the professionals Karou." Megumi primly picked up a mochi ball and popped it into her mouth. "I'll do the gelding, thank you."
"I've heard that dogs tend to wander less when they've been, well... snipped." Misao looked innocently away.
"A thought for future contemplation." Tokio smiled pleasantly.
"Did they really just say to not upset us?" Karou, who had pressed her ear to the wall blinked in surprise.
Misou frowned, "They don't seem to know us very well."
"I for one feel rather upset." Megumi licked a bit of powder off the tip of one finger.
"I feel if I am actually going to survive this, I should deal with it myself." Tokio took a sip of tea to clear her throat. "I think, since we are not allowed to be part of the hallowed, male discussions, we should deal with this situation ourselves."
Karou nodded. "Right! Ourselves!"
"Shhhh." Misao stood up and peeked through the window to the dojo. "They might hear."
"I agree." Megumi picked up another mochi ball and nibbled on it. "First, we must locate the source of the infection, I mean the people responsible for this."
"I think I can do that." Tokio nodded serenely. "I am quite good at finding information."
"Me too." Misao puffed up proudly. "I am okishira of the Oniwanbashu."
"I can assist as well." Megumi nodded. "It is astonishing how many people chatter about private things to a physician."
"I can help, too. I can listen in at the market." Karou looked a bit unsure.
"No, I think you should be our…spy." Megumi smiled nastily. "Kenshin, Sano, and Yahiko won't even notice you listening in on them. After all, this is your home. Even if Aoshi and Saitou wanted to, they couldn't very well banish you from your own house."
"They did a pretty good job tonight." Karou muttered.
"Let them have their fun." Tokio started peeling the skin off a sweet potato. "It makes them feel like they have the situation under control. We can work better if they think we are all too dependent on their manliness to do more than cluck like worried hens."
"How can you live like that?" Misao grumbled gnashing her teeth on the taffy.
"They can make up for it." Tokio laughed softly. "Then they have to make up for making up for it." She patted her stomach.
"Oh."
"Once we find the one's responsible, shall we allow them to deal with them, or do we handle it ourselves?" Megumi glanced slyly towards the men's direction. "I'm sure we could manage quite well without them."
"And deprive them of people to whack with swords?" Tokio shook her head. "We must allow them some fun."
"You know," Karou turned and faced Megumi and Tokio, "You two should probably not spend too much time together. It's a bit frightening."
"Hey. Quiet." Misao nudged Karou. "I'm learning here."
Author's Note:
Snipping- I freely acknowledge that they probably didn't neuter dogs in Japan at this time. I unfortunately can't research this since my internet access is limited at the moment, but I am pretty sure they didn't. However, it fit so neatly into the story, I am leaving it in and taking the flak for it.
Rice Taffy- this stuff is both yummy and deadly. It is the only substance I have ever eaten that made me say yummmmm while wondering if it was going to pull all the teeth out of my mouth. It takes a long time to actually chew a small bite. I made the mistake the first time I ate it by taking a normal sized bite of it, and chewed on it for about twenty minutes while imagining all the fillings in my teeth were being yanked out.