Reprieve of the Wolf

Saito made sure to sever all reluctant alliances with the Battosai with a murderous glare from his office window. He watched the small red-haired man turn and walk away, his own slightly less malignant scowl permeating his features, and noted that all traces of that stupid affected "Rurouni" shuffle were gone from his swift gait.

Even Saito, the unfazed, had been confounded by the man he'd found in Battosai's place when he'd been instructed to locate and assess him as a capable opponent in the Shishio Makoto case. Battosai had gone and become a different person in the ten years of his disappearance. His speech, his weapon, his hair, his eyes, and hell even the way he walked had been altered. Saito made quick work of finding out whether those affectations were real or put on. To his clandestine relief, he'd found they were merely a façade, hiding the Battosai's true nature.

Since receiving his assignment to find the only nemesis he had left from the Bakumatsu, Saito had always intended on a duel. He'd been more than slightly disappointed with the person he'd found.

Their fight in the Kamiya dojo had changed things, however. All the Battosai had really needed was a very real reminder of who he had been. For the life of him, Saito couldn't understand why he was so determined to forget. It was impossible, considering the many things they had all been called upon to do, and it made him angry that Battosai was fool enough to even try. Very angry, considering how badly he wanted to settle their score. There was no possible way Himura Kenshin could hold his own against the still wild Wolf of Mibu. And Saito would regret killing him as he was, although he would certainly have done it anyway, if Okubo-san had not stopped him.

Selfish and irrational this Himura Kenshin person was, and Saito hated irrational people even more than he hated the Battosai.

He recalled all of the bad blood between himself and Himura as he allowed the ahou to walk away from their duel for good. He never thought he'd see the day when a Wolf would deign to give up a good fight. And he'd thought it less likely than never that the Wolf in question would be himself. Yet here he was…

He turned away from the window and sat down at his desk, with a weary sigh.

And then there was one.

Feh.

It didn't happen very often that Saito was wrong. He had always made a point to be consistently accurate in his speech, to the frustration of so many around him. Like he cared. It was his duty to be correct, and duty was not something he took lightly. Not to mention the fact that he liked being right.

In this case, the Battosai had put him in a very strange position. Here, he was neither right nor wrong. That in itself was irritating, and try as he might, Saito could not help but think about it.

Battosai was still very much alive, of that much Saito was certain. But he was no longer the Battosai he knew. That ahou had somehow managed to defeat two crazed men, Shishio Makoto and Yukishiro Enishi, without dealing any fatal blows or even flipping over his retarded blade. True, Shishio had died, but it wasn't because Battosai had wanted him to.

Saito remembered a time when the Battosai had wanted to kill.

He remembered quite clearly when Battosai had wanted to kill him. It was a sentiment he shared with the man, just in reverse. It was the only thing they had agreed on once upon a time.

But that Battosai was gone. This one was different.

The man who now called himself Himura Kenshin, was neither Battosai nor was he not Battosai. He was still a samurai, yet he did not kill, nor did he ascribe to the way of the samurai any longer. Saito had always known that Himura wasn't one for tradition, which was another reason he hated him.

This new Battosai was much softer on others, yet much harder on himself, Saito had noticed. By so adamantly refusing to use his weapon the way it was intended to be used, he forced himself to endure many more battles than were strictly necessary. If Saito hadn't known better, he would have thought that Himura's true goal was to commit suicide. That was the only semi-logical explanation for the way the man now fought.

This new Battosai was certainly older, and tamer, than Saito recalled. He was socialized enough now to spend the majority of his time in the company of ahous like Sagara. The Battosai of legend would have never associated himself with such idiocy.

Nor would he have settled down with a family.

That was perhaps the most startling discovery of the new Battosai.

The presence of the Kamiya girl.

If Himura was surprised that he was married, and he had been when Saito'd been forced into admitting something about his personal life, Saito was no less shocked that Battosai seemed to be getting pretty close and comfortable with a young woman by the name of Kamiya Kaoru. Said young woman had even been used in a plot to destroy the Battosai's life, and it had almost worked. The mere idea of Himura even allowing someone to come to mean that much to him was a miracle.

Hitokiris, after all, were not the same as the other warriors of the Bakumatsu. Technically, they weren't even supposed to exist as far as the public was concerned. And as the psychopath Yukishiro had proved, having a weakness in the form of another person was a very large chink in the armor of a hitokiri. Personal relationships just were not kept in that line of work. That was probably why most of them went insane and died young, not long after starting their assignments in the shadows.

Still, Himura had survived, and clearly left his past behind him. Or tried to. And he'd allowed the Kamiya girl to get close to him, close enough to be used so effectively in a battle. Saito thought him a prime fool for not locking the girl up somewhere, where Yukishiro couldn't possibly find her, if he cared so much. Though he imagined he knew why Himura had not done such a thing, precisely because he cared too much for her.

The kid reminded him of another woman he knew, who was just as strong-willed, verging on the point of complete bullheadedness. It was amazing really, how he and the Battosai could share a similar taste in women. That was probably another reason why Saito had wanted so badly to duel him, among the others, for all these years.

But that was over now.

Now that Himura had sufficiently proven himself to be a changed man… Saito knew he would never get the fight he wanted.

There was nothing that would make Battosai want to kill again. When Kamiya-san had "died" he had not reacted in the way Saito had expected him to. He had become tired, and retreated. If it was possible, his vitriol for him would have increased then. But as it was, Saito didn't think he could hate him any more than he already did.

And that ahou had the gall to call him a friend, when they were fighting on Yukishiro's goddamn island. Feh.

So Saito had decided to give him up. If he killed Battosai as he was now, he knew it wouldn't be worth the effort. He also knew that Tokio would kill him for doing something so wholly stupid. And Tokio wasn't someone Saito was intent on having at his throat.

He'd married the wench, after all.

And she was the one Kamiya sort of reminded him of.

Strange really, because the two women didn't have much in common, other than their stubbornness and short stature.

But still, Kamiya's presence in Battosai's life reminded him of Tokio's in his own. Saito avoided letting that similarity between them fester in his mind, because if he did he knew for certain that he would just shoot Battosai, all duels be damned.

And that would have Tokio on his case.

A/N: So, it's been a long time since I've written or posted anything... My apologies to anyone who is still waiting for me to update "Escapades". I have no excuse, just old-fashioned time-restraints and lack of energy. Also, I stopped reading, which somehow led to me no longer writing. I guess it makes sense! Anyway, thanks to everyone who read this story, and who has supported my writing on ! I truly appreciate it, and hope to continue writing on here :). _ce