Collateral Damage

Chapter 11: Letters and Dangerous Women

Sorry, sorry. I am still here! I haven't died! I just have been busy. Yet another job… This one pays better though, so perhaps I can eliminate one and have time to write again. As it is, I have been working on this for months and just got it done. Hopefully, I can get to work on the next today!...and have it done by next…October…. This SUCKS! I wanna write but have no time!

Tokio

Dearest One,

How happy I am to hear that you now live so close to me in Tokyo. It has been so lonely living here since my husband passed. (1)

Tokio glanced over to where Saitou was having a conversation with a twitchy looking Aoishi, a grumpy Sano, and a very puzzled looking Kenshin. They seemed to be plotting something that had to do with them going out in pairs and it seemed Aoishi and Sano had been both hoping to be paired with the easy-to-get-along-with Kenshin. Instead, it seemed Saitou and Kenshin were pairing up to leave the other two to spend a few happy hours together roaming the streets in search of clues.

Saitou should be ashamed of himself for that house. I wish you had told me that you were actually living in that ramshackle shed. For some reason -which I am sure you know of since you are the one who suddenly forgot to tell me- I thought you would have enough sense to stay in Kyoto until all the repairs had been done. Truly, I wish you had told me. It would have been a pleasure to spend time with my nephew and Eiji.

Bluntness, it seemed ran like a waterfall in Saitou's family. Even his sister was blunt, loving, generous, but blunt.

I am glad to see that you have done a lovely job repairing the place. Did I really see the dreaded Batousai puttering around your garden? He hardly looks like the type of man to inspire all those nightmares you had. He actually looks cute.

Tokio glanced up and inspected the dreaded Demon of Kyoto, who presently was looking a bit more confused than he had a minute ago. Whatever was going on no seemed to involve a rake and Saitou seemed very adamant about laundry. She watched the scene a moment, privately shared Kenshin's now doubtful look, and returned to her letter.

I agree. Something is going on that is very odd. I may not have the contacts that I did as a younger woman, but I have heard a few small things.

Tokio pressed her lips together into a prim line to keep herself from laughing. All her dear in-laws had their own private intelligence networks that young Misaou would envy. When put together, the clan probably knew everything from when the Emperor hiccuped to what the dock boys down in Shanghai were eating for breakfast. Now that she had made them aware of Saitou's behavior, she expected they were all quietly gathering information about what could cause their most (comparatively) flamboyant member trouble.

Saitou, it seems, was looking into some problems in the hinterlands. It seems that a few quite unsurprising deaths have become interesting enough in certain offices that it required a top investigator to drop all he was doing and make a long trip. While it is not certain if the reprehensible attacks on you were planned in advance and his trip was to leave you vulnerable, or if the attacker was taking advantage of the situation. I would still caution you to take all care. I do not like the thought that it could have been planned in advance.

Tokio hadn't liked that thought when it occurred to her either. She had shared that information with Saitou, who brushed it aside with a frown and a shake of his head.

Stubborn man.

The letter went on with family matters, which Tokio skimmed through until she was more at leisure to enjoy the familial gossip.

Saitou's meeting wasn't progressing well. Kenshin was looking more doubtful and Sano was rebelling outright. Aoishi looked like he wanted to retreat and have some tea. She was sure Misaou was lurking nearby with some ready to offer some with a great deal of sympathy...and wiliness. The girl was learning that offering a bit of tea and a quiet, sympathetic ear could gain her all kinds of information...and other things, from Aoishi. Between her an Megumi, they would have the young Okishira well trained in the art of dealing with difficult males in no time.

Karou, despite her natural tendency to trust and confide in those she loved, was also coming along quite well. It seemed her anger at Kenshin shooing her off so he could discuss things with the manly portion of the dojo still rankled. She was presently taking out her frustrations, which unhappily for Yahiko the meeting in the middle of the yard was once again reminding the young swordswoman of how irritated she was with Kenshin in particular and males in general, by whacking her poor student unmercifully while teaching him a rather tricky overhand swing-lunge combination.

The next letter, heavily incensed and beautifully folded, was also from an old friend. Mai, Saitou's old lover, had become a close correspondent through the years. The woman had become quite successful since the days of the revolution by becoming a respected grand dowager of a very fashionable, and elegantly reputable geisha house. Tokio skimmed the first part of the letter, which was Mai's lament that Tokio had left Kyoto to live in "that barbaric place" and the rather amusing story of how one of her previous neighbors had made a bit of a spectacle of himself during the last Cherry Blossom Festival by accidentally knocking a minor official's wife's wig off into a small stream, thus ensuing a chase for the wig through startled and bemused onlookers. The poor man, who was always excessively worried about his public image because he hoped to one day be promoted to working as a secretary at court, was still hiding in seclusion claiming that he had a "small ailment" that persisted in troubling him.

I have a few contacts in Tokyo that keep me up-to-date with Saitou's general activities. I know that you have worried about him, and I have too. I wonder if he would be shocked to know that even after all this time I still think of him fondly. Under all his sneering and rudeness, he is one of the few men that I honestly can say is truly both honorable and kind. Now, I know he would be shocked to hear that, but he can't hide from an old friend's eyes.

Mai, old. That was a new concept, but not surprising. Mai had decided that adding a few years onto her real age would make her, and by extension her house, more reputable. A fine, youthful looking, older woman was quite a draw while a normally aged, slightly older geisha was not just common but almost to be pitied since she inhabited the twilight between youthful charms and aged loveliness. Tokio was certain that in a year or so, Mai would branch out a bit and start selling beauty secrets, perhaps something with ground up pearls in it.

I have heard that his subordinate Chou was to be congratulated. Saiou and Chou were assigned to solve a murder a short time ago. Chou, to the wonder of all, managed to solve the crime before Saitou! That is quite an accomplishment to beat out such a sharp nosed wolf. It seems that on old man killed a police officer, took his body across town and left it disrespectfully in an alley. The deceased officer, to risk speaking badly of one who has passed into the afterlife, was hardly worth Saitou's effort, being a low, degenerate man of poor morals and worse habits. Yes, Chou is to be congratulated.

Tokio frowned. Mai would not have brought that up unless it was important. She made a small mental note to find out more about that incident.

Megumi, who had made regular visits to "check on" her pregnant patient, waved cheerfully at the men as she glided gracefully into the dojo's yard. Sano watched her with a mixture of cocky amusement, and a bit of unconscious longing. Megumi, with a teasing fox smile, slipped past and walked toward Tokio.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." Tokio smiled. "The poor boy is half in love with you."

"And half in love with Kenshin, Tae, and a half dozen other women that I know of." She sat down on the step near Tokio. "He loves the world. I can't compete and to be honest don't want to."

"Kenshin?" Tokio looked back at the group reevaluating the dynamics.

"Not romantically, he's far too immature and naive to have those thoughts." Megumi accepted the cup of tea Tokio poured for her. "Give him a year or two. It should be interesting to see."

"Hmmm." Tokio nodded. "Yes, quite interesting, seeing that Karou has her claim on Kenshin, and from what I can see Kenshin seems quite attracted to our sweet friend. But young love hardly makes much sense."

"Which is why I will not be allowing silly emotion to make my decisions for me." Megumi waved one hand dismissing her own feelings. "I will choose by a set of criteria that I have made which includes social position, wealth, good hygiene, and if possible, acceptable looks."

"That sounds quite practical." Tokio smiled softly at Saitou, who at that moment looked over, noticed her sweet expression and started looking suspicious. "Poor Sano doesn't seem to meet many of those qualities."

"I noticed." Megumi sipped her tea, not quite hiding a sly smile.

"Take my advice. Don't play too many games if you don't want the games to continue." Tokio grinned to herself as Saitou started looking twitchy under her continued loving look.

Megumi nodded, "A weakness of mine, admittedly, but I think I can safely say that I will not get caught in that trap."

Saitou scowled at Tokio, as she tipped her head and continued gazing at him with a sweet expression. "Have you heard anything?"

"Not much. The boy who worked for the tile seller claims he was not on the roof and didn't see anyone suspicious near there." Megumi winced as Karou landed a hit on Yahiko that made a rather loud hollow thud. "The tile seller is also puzzled and now thinks his shop is under the influence of evil spirits."

"Glad to add a bit of color to the neighborhood." Tokio suppressed a laugh as Saitou made a small I'll-deal-with-you-later gesture and turned back to the other men. It cheered her to see that little movement and hoped he would take the matter up later.

"The man that attacked Kenshin was taken into police custody. Since no one was hurt and he apparently claimed to be drunk at the time, he was fined for having a weapon and creating a public nuisance and released. He has since left Tokyo as far as I can tell."

"Interesting and very convenient." Tokio bit her lip thoughtfully. "I'd be interested to know if he left, or was made to leave permanently."

"Dead?" Megumi's voice dropped to a low whisper. " Do you think..."

"If I had convinced someone to kill another person, even if that person didn't succeed, I would not like for them to be in the position to say I did the convincing."

Megumi looked at her suspiciously, "Why do I sometimes think Saitou is the safer of you two to be around?"

Saitou

She's up to something.

Instantly, the doubting thoughts he lived with for so long crowded into his head.

It's not my business. If she wants to play games, she can. I should just be grateful that she still lets me pretend to be her husband.

No, that's not right. She's here. She's playing with me. She is not pretending, so why should I?

But, she is up to something.

"I don't see why we have to dig through trash heaps." Sano grumbled. "You can't seriously think we could find..."

"If Chou was here, I'd make him do it." Saitou snapped. "He isn't and we need to find out if my sudden reassignment to the countryside was planned. Happily for us, my boss is careless with his memos and tosses them away instead of burning them."

"Careless of him." Aoishi shook his head in a disapproving, professional manner. "It's the first thing I taught my trainees in the Oniwanbashu, destroy your correspondence."

Kenshin nodded in agreement, which left Sano glancing between the older men.

"Why even write stuff then? I never needed it."

The three others turned their gazes on him with various looks of pity, amusement, and mild surprise.

"Hey, don't look at me like I'm the village idiot." Sano protested raising his hands in a mild defensive gesture.

"There is no "like" about it." Saitou couldn't help that comment slipping out, but then again, he hadn't been trying very hard to be civil to the moron. He'd had a frustrating night with Tokio asking far too many astute questions and having nothing to give her but evasions. She was probably over there reading her "friendly" letters getting more information than he could hope for in a week of dealing with Sano. He made a mental note to inspect those "friendly" letters when he got back to see if there was any "friendly" information he could use.

"Sano..." Kenshin's voice dropped to a confiding, comforting tone. "Why didn't you say something. I could have..."

"I suppose I could arrange a few..." Aoishi started.

"I can read! I learned when I was a kid, so quit it." Sano blushed. "I just don't go in for writing stuff down that might get me in trouble. Too risky."

The image of a fluffy yellow chick trying to write with its tiny beak on a piece of paper floated through Saitou's head. Irritated, he mentally swatted the chick, sending it off in a flurry of apologetic cheeps and floating downy feathers.

"When will Chou return?" Aoishi, who was partnered with Sano and was privately planning to make him to most of the dirty work should they indeed end up raking through a garbage pile, hoped it would be soon. While he understood that the two swordsmen wanted to find the man who had attacked Tokio, and were in the best position to learn if the man had held a grudge against Kenshin or the Shinsengumi, he didn't like the idea of doing all the dirty work.

"He's not. If I leave him investigating in the country, it looks like I am planning on returning quickly. I just have to make a bit of a show of following a few leads from that investigation in Tokyo, and if I was indeed assigned that case to leave Tokio vulnerable, the attackers will be somewhat comforted that I will be leaving soon."

"Perhaps buying us enough time to find them." Kenshin nodded. "But I do not like that Tokio-dono figured that out. She should not have to worry about such things at this time, that she should not."

"She's probably hunting him down as we speak." Saitou snorted. "One does not upset Tokio lightly if one has even a slight bit of sense."

"Ha. Afraid of your little wife?" Sano laughed, until Saitou stepped casually down on his foot causing a sharp stabbing pain to radiate up through Sano's calf.

"Respectful. You should be too."

Kenshin, remembering the incident on the front porch when he was sure danger threatened the dojo only to find it was Saitou's delicate, smiling, pregnant wife that was causing his instincts to scream, nodded. "Yes, respectful, very respectful. Perhaps we could ask Hiko to come and..."

Saitou suddenly had the picture of a tiny batousai hiding behind his master, clutching his robe and wailing about the scary woman. "You can calm down, Battousai. It seems Tokio likes you." He paused and shrugged, "Not that it will do you much good, but I have found that the carnage is less if she enjoys your company."

"You two make her sound..." Sano started with a snicker, but was interrupted.

"Dangerous." Kenshin murmured.

"I prefer to think of her as highly intelligent and capable." Saitou gave a quick look towards where his wife was still talking to the fox-woman. That was a friendship that was sure to haunt him.

"She can't be that..." Sano stopped again as Kenshin turned to him looking very serious.

"I would keep that opinion to yourself, Sano."

"While watching the Battousai be terrified of my wife is amusing, we do have a few more pressing concerns." Saitou turned back to the conversation. "Shall we go or are we going to gossip a bit more?"

Past

"A job? Working for the Meiji?" Tokio sounded doubtful. She looked better now than she had for a long time with plumper cheeks and fewer shadows on her face, but the years of starvation and harsh living had made her look fragile to him.

Saitou refused to look at her. He didn't want to see the disappointment in her eyes. Not only had he put her through starvation, danger, and years of sheer misery, he was now going to work for the very people that had put them in that situation. It was the ultimate betrayal. He could justify it in his mind: that he was going to continue the code of the Shinsengumi, that he was going to work to bring justice and honor to a corrupt system, that by working as a police officer he would be protecting Japan the best way he still could. He couldn't justify it to her though. Every idea, every word he thought to utter to explain, every single syllable, would just tell her that it had all been pointless. Every single time she had to go hungry, the small row of graves that was all that remained of their stillborn children, the humiliation of having to grovel in the dirt before some pompous Meiji lackey, the bitter winters of shivering in their miserable shack, the rags that passed for clothing...meaningless. All so that he could throw it all aside and become the Meiji's good little lap dog.

But she would be safe, and that in the end was what was going to make him put his neck in the Meiji's collar and come to heel.

"Yes." He turned and looked out their shack's door at the barren fields. He had rented them out to the neighbor to farm, having given up farming for selling medicines, but a storm had once again destroyed the crops just after they had sprouted. Even the replanting hadn't worked since after the torrential rain, a drought had settled over the region. Fields had shrunk to kitchen gardens that had to be laboriously watered by hand from the village well. "I will be starting in Kyoto in a month."

"Kyoto...a month? Husband..." Tokio reached out to touch him, then drew her hand back before he noticed. "Very well, one month."

"I have arranged a room to stay in until we can find better accommodations." Saitou hated the resigned sound of her voice. When had that happened? When had he, himself, become something to be resigned to? He snuck a glance behind him then looked quickly away.

It was all his fault. She didn't say it. She didn't even have to think it. But the defeated, lost look on her face...

Kyoto would be good for her. He would provide her a fine house, good food, soft silken clothes. She would have the delicate teas she loved, the ethereal art of birds and mist that she preferred, the choicest of foods. Once again, she would have fine, pale skin that was untouched by harsh sun and smooth manicured hands. She could again walk with dignity and safety down Kyoto's streets, listen to fine music, visit gardens, and pray at a shrine that wasn't used part of the year as a storage shed for sake barrels.

"Will you…" She trailed off behind him as he stepped out the door. He didn't want to hear what she had to say. It would do no good for either of them to play out that scene.

Once, she would have come after him and demanded in her own sly way answers to her questions. Once, he wouldn't have even thought of trying to evade her. Once, he was her husband, her partner in life, her friend, now he was only…what? What was he now?

No one.

It was fitting then that he go to work for the Meiji, who had sold themselves to the West for profit and power. There was no place better for him to hide from his wife and the man he once was.

Author Notes:

I have no idea if this happened in real life. Facts about Saitou are pretty slim, but his family's data is even slimmer. I am looking into other sources for info, but that is very low on my to-do list.