Falling
by L. Sith
Chapter
7: The Visitor
Two
weeks had passed by in a blur. It was now spring in Kyoto and love was
in the air, or more precisely, lust was everywhere. It was no longer
even possible to walk about the Shinsengumi headquarters without
tripping over lovebirds hiding in the most absurd of places. Hijikata
had better reconsider his policy and allow women in the barracks, or
risk idiots turning every nook and cranny throughout the compound into
makeshift hotel rooms. And in truth, Saitoh had no idea why those
idiots bothered to hide; everyone knew what they were up to - so hang
up a sign, that way at least, innocent pedestrians could safely avoid
them. Furthermore, the mixers had drawn to a close, and the wedding
bells had been ringing so hysterically since, he wondered if some fool
had broken it. Everyday, a different wedding invitation arrived, and
because Hijikata had ordered the captains to attend all the ceremonies,
Saitoh was forced to clear his calendar for the next six months.
Moreover, additional courtships continued, probably leading to even
more weddings, which meant he would never have time to do anything
useful again. Why couldn't all the fools just get married at once and
save everyone the trouble? All the participants were going to show up
in uniforms anyways - the Shinsengumi haori for the men and the white
kimono for the women - who would notice the difference?
To top
it all, his duties had lacked the grace to sail smoothly on. Eight
hours of listening to politicians talk, on the same topic everyday,
could turn a man permanently stupid. If those idiots would only shut up
and do something useful, instead of conjuring up reams of impractical
plans, the Ishin would have ceased to be a problem long ago. He used to
think that Tokio had no common sense, but compared to those morons, she
was a genius. And those politicians' honor guards weren't any better,
they were chosen neither for their brains nor swordsmanship - no wonder
the Ishin had such success with assassinations.
In short, the assignment had slowly turned into hell for him.
But even more so for Kondo.
Saitoh
had already had two run-ins with the other delegations, and after each
one, he could feel Kondo's blood pressure soaring. Hijikata must either
be an idiot for assigning him to this task, or the man had a bone to
pick with Kondo. Saitoh wished that Kondo would exercise the authority
to countermand Hijikata and release him from this misery. But
unfortunately, his two commanders were notorious for presenting a
"united front", so any hope of freedom was slim.
Nonetheless, he continued to hope - there was nothing else to do while
those politicians gibbered.
Saitoh
pushed his musings aside as he and Kondo came to a stop by a roadside
noodle shop for lunch. They had abruptly ceased dining with the other
politicians after another honor guard had challenged him to a death
duel over an insult at a luncheon. He couldn't help but to laugh into
the man's face. It didn't help matters.
And so here they were,
at an ordinary restaurant, eating while the entire wait staff stared at
their every move. It was one of the reasons why most Shinsengumi ate at
their headquarters despite the bad food. But since the headquarters was
too far away, he had to satisfy himself with consuming his soba in
silence.
"Kondo-sama, Kondo-sama, please help my lady!" A
peasant woman shouted while running into the restaurant. She fell to
her knees before their table.
Which caused both he and Kondo
to turn and stare at the woman's bowed head in surprise. Most civilians
avoided the Shinsengumi like the plague and even the highborn feared
them, he couldn't remember the last time anyone appealed to them for
help.
"Who is your lady? And what help can we render?" Kondo asked kindly.
The woman raised her head to reply.
And Saitoh immediately had a really bad feeling about the whole thing -
the woman was Tokio's maid.
"My lady is Takagi Tokio, sir." She said.
And
Kondo instantly seemed to recognize the name. But of course, the
"woeful tale of the abducted maiden" had been the prime topic in the
Shinsengumi headquarters for the past two weeks, Kondo had to be dead
not to have heard it.
"The master of my house has been sent away
on business by the orders of the daimyo," the maid continued in a
pitiable voice, "my lady is left all alone with no male relatives to
guard over her welfare - "
Kondo smiled down benevolently, "Then I shall send Captain Saitoh to
protect her."
Saitoh
nearly choked. He couldn't believe that Kondo had just ordered him to
protect a nonessential civilian from her own follies - what an even
bigger waste of time than listening to senseless speeches from idiotic
politicians. His month had been plummeting steadily, but he refused to
end up somewhere below hell. There was no way he was going to suffer
Tokio's company again. "Over my dead body!"
"Which could be arranged." Kondo said in quiet chastisement.
And
Saitoh immediately bowed his head in deference. He silently cursed
himself for allowing the idiot to incite him into challenging his
commanding officer in public. Thank heavens he wasn't with Hijikata.
"Tell me captain," Kondo resumed in a more genial tone, "why are you so
opposed to protecting Takagi-san?"
"Because she's a criminal, sir, and -"
"No,
she's not!" The maid jumped hotly to Tokio's defense. "My lady might
have had your sword in her hand, but it refused to come out!"
The
maid ended her pronouncement at top of her lungs, and Saitoh nearly
forgot to breath out of shock. Around him, the restaurant had become
absolutely silent, every eye in the vicinity focused on him. And it
didn't help that Kondo's jaw had dropped almost to the floor
"It
is not what it sounds like." Saitoh grated out when he eventually found
his voice again. But that left him with only the truth, and he could
hardly tell Kondo that he had allowed Tokio to draw his katana.
"It was not her fault - " the maid continued in Tokio's defense.
But
Saitoh had no intention of letting her finish. Who knew what else might
spill out of that idiot's lips? He needed to get rid of her.
Immediately. Before Kondo could recover from the shock and question her
further.
"I will protect Takagi-san as ordered, sir." Saitoh
gave Kondo a hasty salute before grabbing the maid by the arm and
hauling her out of the restaurant - a task that should have been simple
if the idiot hadn't insisted on fighting him every step of the way.
"But ... but ..." The maid yelled in protest.
Saitoh
Saitoh didn't even pause. He half dragged and half carried her all the
way to the Takagi estate. He knew he should have killed Tokio and her
entire household when he had a chance. Those two morons! Rumors about
him would undoubtedly be circulating all over Kyoto by sunset. Maybe it
wasn't too late to correct his mistake; Tokio's head would make a nice
paperweight on his desk.
Except he now had orders, from both
of his commanders, to keep the girl alive. How did Tokio manage that?
Most of Kyoto's officials had less protection from the Shinsengumi.
Nonetheless, he would get her somehow - it was simply be a matter of
timing and strategy, both of which, he was a master at.
So there was no way she would outwit him again.
Saitoh
stopped at the front gates of the Takagi estates and pounded on the
wooden doors. Perhaps, instead of killing Tokio, he could just relieve
her of a few body parts. After all, if he cut off her tongue, it would
prevent her from saying something stupid and getting herself killed. So
he would just be guarding her more encompassing interests, wouldn't he?
But
before he could formulate a plan to convince Kondo and Hijikata of the
correctness of his analysis, the wooden gates of the Takagi estate
swung slowly open, and amid its doorway, stood the object of his ire,
staring and gaping at him like a frog.
If only he had brought flies with him, he could have commemorated the
occasion by stuffing them down her throat.
"My lady!" The maid exclaimed and fought against his grip.
And he simply let her go. Those idiots had nowhere to run.
But
that didn't prevent the maid from acting like a headless chicken with
her feathers on fire. The moron raced towards Tokio, grabbed the other
woman's arm, and hurried both of them into the estate.
Which was precisely the wrong move for their tactical situation.
Saitoh
sneered and leisurely followed those two inside. He closed the heavy
wooden gates behind him, barring their only source of escape and
effectively trapping them like helpless kittens inside a cage reigned
by a very hungry wolf.
Come here, kitty, kitty.
Saitoh advanced towards the maid.
Neither
Hijikata nor Kondo said anything about protecting that headless
chicken, so he could do whatever he wanted. Of the two, she would be
the easy one to break, and he had no doubt he could get her to scream
nicely for him, in some dark corner out of Tokio's sight, where he
planned to use the idiot to manipulate Tokio's fears until they became
full blown nightmares.
At which time, Tokio would be ripe for the plucking.
And the beauty of it all was he could have complete victory without
touching a hair on Tokio's head.
Saitoh smirked and reached for victim number one.
But
at the last minute, Tokio threw herself between him and the maid.
"Don't you dare to hurt Reiko-chan, we've got help coming."
"But my lady," the maid wailed, "he IS the help!"
"Don't tell him that!"
"I wasn't telling him, I was telling you!"
And
upon the frustrated and the panic stricken look on Tokio's face, Saitoh
burst out laughing. The maid had turned out to be more dangerous as an
ally than an enemy. Too bad for Tokio. Nonetheless, the maid had done
such a good job advancing his cause he almost considered letting her
off the hook.
That was until she decided to open her mouth
again, at which time he was ready to reward her for her collaboration.
"I didn't know Kondo-sama was going to send Saitoh-sama, my lady, I
swear I didn't." The maid whined to Tokio, talking a mile a minute.
"But I couldn't find Miyamaki-sama anywhere! You always told me to
improvise, so when I heard that Kondo-sama was eating at this noodle
shop, I improvised and went to him instead. I swear I only said to
Kondo-sama what you told me to say to Miyamaki-sama. I know you hate
Saitoh-sama. But you said we should fight fire with fire, and you've
always called Saitoh-sama the biggest monster of them all, so I'm sure
you'll make him useful somehow. You always do think of something!" The
maid finished her little monologue with a beatific smile on her face.
But
Tokio, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to faint. After
all, insulting a samurai was grounds for immediate execution, and she
knew it. He could see how close she was on the verge of a breakdown.
All she needed was a little encouragement from him.
Oh, he was having such a good day.
"Called
me a monster did you." He said mildly, which usually eroded his enemy's
defenses faster than any display of rage. Fear paralyzed, so those in
fear only knew where to jump when faced with the right cues. But when
faced with the wrong cues, like Tokio was, they looked for guidance,
any sort of guidance, in the hopes of finding an escape. Therefore, all
he had to do was slowly guide Tokio into complying with his every whim.
Who
knew it was going to be this easy? He had beaten her, and all that was
left, was for her to acknowledge his superiority. "Why don't you start
begging?" He whispered into Tokio's ear.
And he could see his
suggestion working its way into her brain. Her knees began to look too
weak to support her. Surrender would come at any minute now.
Victory was so close at hand he could taste it.
But at that crucial moment, a loud pounding came from the front gate.
And
it annulled everything he had labored so hard for. He had seemed
forgotten as the two women focused their attention on the new intruder.
Saitoh turned and growled at the unseen enemy beyond the gates. Which
idiot dared to snatch his victory from him?
Not
that he cared. He had no intention of letting anyone delay his revenge.
Tokio could go and answer the door after she properly begged for his
forgiveness.
However, when he returned his attention to the two
women, he found them hiding behind him and looking up at him with
bright shining eyes. Like he was their savior.
It set his teeth on edge.
He had wanted to be feared, not adored.
But
before he could straighten the two women out, the pounding came from
the gates again, and this time, it was accompanied by boorish snarling.
"You will f*** open the door now!"
Such eloquence, no matter the
women wanted nothing to do with the idiot. In fact, the idiot's words
sent the women sidling so close to Saitoh they risked looking like
Siamese triplets.
Which was exactly what he did not want.
The idiot had ruined his plan for revenge beyond salvage, and Saitoh
intended to make that loudmouthed moron pay for it.
As soon as someone would open the gates and let the idiot in.
"Aren't you going to get the door?" Saitoh asked the maid.
And the girl started wailing.
A
response he interpreted to mean 'no'. So he turned to Tokio instead,
and was about to make her open the door when he noticed her eyeing his
daisho pair with a very determined look, almost as if she planned to
"borrow" the blades again.
Great. He had somehow gotten himself
stuck with a maid that won't answer the door, and a "lady" that didn't
behave like any woman he had ever met.
What was wrong with everyone in the Takagi household?
More
than that, who had managed to scare these two women so badly that the
maid risked her life begging help from a Shinsengumi commander?
But whoever it was, the loudmouthed idiot sounded like a man whose face
he would enjoy rearranging.
Time for someone to pay for his misery.
Saitoh marched up to the door.
He yanked it open.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
"Hello, Takeda-kun." Saitoh said through clenched teeth.
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Next Chapter: Afternoon Tea
Special thanks to Kamorgana for beta-reading.
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Japanese terms:
Daisho - The long and short sword pair samurais wear.
Haori - The overcoat wore by Japanese men
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