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Chapter 3 |
"Aoshi, can you go into town and grab tofu and tea? We're out of both." Shizuka asked, hands on her hips as she stood in front of her meditating husband. She gazed at his trademark trenchcoat draped on a chair to the desk on the other side of the study. "And aren't you cold?"
"No and no," he answered simply, not moving or opening his eyes.
"And why not?"
"Because I do not do chores. Send Evangelina."
"I'm cooking this dinner while you sit there. The tofu I can almost understand feeling you're ABOVE doing but you drink more tea than I-"
Aoshi actually opened an eye to see if she'd finish that statement.
"Okay, so all three of use drink a lot of tea, but can't you just do this? I already have Evangelina helping out in the kitchen and neither us can leave what we're doing for long enough," she explained before waiting patiently for the what she was was going to happen eventually.
"Tofu and tea, correct?"
She nodded even though he still hadn't opened his eyes.
With a sigh he got up and grabbed his coat, throwing it on before heading out the door. When he was out of sight Evangelina popped up from behind her mother.
"You need to teach ME how to do that."
***
"So Mr. Saitou, how was your business trip?" Soujirou asked from across the table.
"It was rather boring, actually. I must say it's nice to be back home again," Saitou replied, seeming rather tired.
"That's what you always say, that it is," Kenshin commented with a smile, taking a sip of tea.
Saitou shrugged a little and glanced over at Sano, who was already slurping down sake cup after sake cup alongside his wife. His gaze then shifted over to their moronic offspring with the weird name. He seemed to be staring at Hawatari with a look he did not like. "Duil, is there something wrong?"
"No, sir, why do you ask?" the boy replied, food hanging out of his mouth.
"You've been staring at my daughter for the past few minutes now."
Hawatari's chopsticks froze before her mouth but she refused to face Duil.
"I'm...ah...looking at what's behind her."
"Our broom?" Aoshi asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I've...ah...heh heh...never..ah...seen one like that before."
"Why were you staring at that Devil spawn?" Kitai asked, sneering.
"Moron, keep your wife's mouth shut when she doesn't know what she's talking about," Saitou ordered coolly, taking a sip of his tea.
"Hey, Saitou, not all of us treat our wives like shit!" Sanosuke yelled back, slamming his fist on the table.
"Sano!" Kaoru explained with disgust, covering he daughter's ears. "That language is not appropriate at the dinner table!"
"Gentlemen!" Shizuka shouted over all of them, a tray of hot food in her hand. "You either act like civilized people or go home. My house will not become a barroom brawl is that understood?"
"Yes..." everyone said in unison. Even the Seta family, who hadn't said a thing wrong.
"At least she didn't hit anyone with the broom this time," Kenji, Kenshin's oldest son, whispered to his younger brother.
"A week's worth of cleaning the dojo says she hits Duil with it first," Tasuka, the dark-haired younger brother bet quietly.
"Deal. I say it's Yahiko."
"Good. Now, as commemoration for Hawatari's 16th birthday earlier this month I made a CAKE!" Shizuka announced proudly.
"Shizuka...you ALWAYS make cake," Kitai pointed out.
"And it always tastes like Kaoru made it," Yahiko mumbled to himself. Evangelina glared at him...and he shut up.
Hoshiko poked her elbow into Hajime's side. "Say something," she whispered over to him.
Saitou cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention, save for Duil, who really wanted cake. "As you all know-"
"You're a bastard son of a whore and that's why your daughter's devil spawn?" Kitai finished for him.
"Kitai!" Kaoru yelled in the same tone she'd given Sano, covering her daughters young ears yet again.
"Kitai, that's enough. We don't do that to you, now don't do that to us," Hoshiko uncharacteristically spoke up. Kitai, taking the change in attitude very seriously, relented her mocking and sat back to listen.
Hawatari stared with wide eyes at her mother's outburst. She never seemed to speak up unless something was said that might anger her father, who never seemed to have any emotions at all.
"Thank you Hoshiko. As I was saying, you all know I was away during my daughter's birthday. Most of you probably thought I didn't get her anything-"
"We don't all think as badly of you as Sano and Kitai do, that we do not," Kenshin replied honestly.
"Oh Father, I'm sure you were busy. Really it's okay if you didn't-"
"I said they'd think that I didn't. Now," he pulled a small, black box out of his uniform pocket. "I was given this while I was out but I thought you'd like having it better." He went to hand the box over to her but a loud crash caught her attention.
"Duil, boy, you get away from that cake!" Shizuka warned, hitting him over the head with the very broom he was "supposedly" staring at.
Kenji issued a loud groan and hit his head against the table. 'Cleaning the dojo alone for a week...ugh...'
Saitou cleared his throat loudly to bring the attention back to him. He hadn't noticed her already opening it.
"I like it very much, but what is it," she asked, holding the necklace up to inspect it.
"Well, the Shinsen Gumi members each had one of these. They were left in some storage room until just last week when all the surviving members were to get theirs back. However, the only one left is me. I'm giving you this so you can carry on the legacy of us as well our sword skills. If you look on the back you'll see our family name engraved there." The necklace was adorned with a small, thin, wooden oval inscribed with the kanji for Saitou. Tied to the metal that held the pendant to the black cord were two feather's, one dyed blue and the other white.
"Did Saitou just do something sentimental?" Sano leaned over and asked Sukiko, who was seated to his right.
"I...I think so," she answered, watching as Saitou even went as far as to tie it around her neck. "The world may be coming to an end."
"You guys all look way to serious," Yozakura piped up, placing her hands on her hips. "Now come on, it's Hawatari's birthday we're celebrating here. Let's eat ca- DUIL!"
"Thanks, hun," Shizuka called over before whacking the boy with the broom again.
"I don't see why he'd bother going through the trouble to eat it anyways. It tastes like cardboard any wa-" SMACK! Yahiko yelped in pain and rubbed at the spot where the broom had connected with the back of his head.
"See, he's still 4," Saitou whispered to his daughter. He looked over at Hoshiko to make sure she didn't hear. She was watching everyone with a thoughtful look on her face. Saitou couldn't begin to count the many times his wife seemed to reflect his inner feelings. Maybe it came from living with him for more than 1/2 her life. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
"I was so close," Duil whined, going back to his seat.
"So was I," Kenji groaned, face still buried in the table.
"Cake time!" Hanaru announced, waving her hands in the air.
Everyone laughed as the cake was finally cut. Still, Hawatari noticed her mother's edgy behavior all night, making her oblivious to the dark brown eyes that swayed her way the entire night.
***
Hawatari sighed away the chatter of the noisy dinner table and slipped into the night. Solitude and silence were much more her fancy. However, tonight didn't find the daughter of Hajime Saitou alone.
"Hawatari. Pssst...Hawatari...," Duil whispered from outside her bedroom window just as she was dozing off to sleep. "Come out, I need to talk to you."
"Duil, we're not 8 anymore, you're too old for this," she groaned, wanting to sleep and wishing he'd just go away. After yesterday she didn't feel comfortable thinking about him at all.
"I wanna apologize for earlier." Well THAT got her attention. Clad in her dark green yukata she hopped gracefully out her open window, landing soundlessly on the dirt below. Duil was only in his pants, his hair a horrid, spiky blonde mess atop his head. Still, such a look could only bring a slight snicker, Hawatari Saitou did not smile at that which she found "cute," though many other girl's found it "drool-worthy."
"Then apologize," she ordered, crossing her arms.
"Only if you agree it wasn't ALL my fault," Duil bargained, placing both his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"I will not," she shot back, feeling uncomfortable under the intense gaze of the friend who had seen her naked just two days ago.
"Oh come on, Hawa-chan. We probably bathed together as children," he stated, using her hated nickname.
"How many times I have told you NOT to call me that? I hate it, it sounds so girly."
"Guess what Hawatari? You ARE a girl. I even have visual evidence," he added, wiggling his eyebrows to try and be funny.
She smacked him upside the head in response. "Yeah right!" Hawatari scoffed, "You were probably disgusted and want to gouge your eyes out now. I'm not girl. I'm hideous."
"Hey don't say that!" Duil shouted a little too loud, giving her shoulders a shake. Realizing he may wake the all-scary-pissy-tempermental-sleepy Hajime Saitou, Duil grabbed his friend's hand and dragged her a tad down the path leading from her house, confused by the lack of usual resistance. His pace slowed a bit as he realized how comfortable he felt. Come to think of it, he HADN'T thought of Hawatari as a girl. She's always worn pants, brandished a katana and shunned all things pink and kimono-like. But her delicate facial features, her small hands, her long, brown hair, all were testaments to her beauty.
"-aking me?"
"What?" Duil asked, sounding brain-dead as he was snapped from his thoughts.
"Where are you taking me?" she repeated.
"Away from your father. I'd like to keep my head, thank you."
The two of them found themselves at a clearing not too far from town. Neither said so but both got a strange feeling from the place. It was a confusing mix of...almost like beginnings and endings occurred here. Slipping her hand out of Duil's she sat down on the cold, dry grass and sighed.
"You know, my mother went crazy when she got home after looking at the Akebako," he began telling her to lighten the tense mood. "She screamed 'Do you know what I have to do now? I'm gonna hafta sell my body to the night."
Hawatari actually smiled. "So what did you say to that?" she asked, not facing him but rather the cloudless sky above her.
"Nothing. She just kept going on about how she'd get a disease and die from it and then she come back and drag me to Hell with her," he explained with a slight, nervous laugh.
"Why are you so nervous?" she asked bluntly, still not facing him. However, she didn't have to to know that he was blushing.
"Honestly I have no clue," he answered, laughing again. "I just feel weird, that's all. I think Mrs. Shinomori's cake must have had something in it go bad or somethin-"
"Stop it!"
"Huh?"
Hawatari finally got up and stalked over to Duil who backed up in confused shock. "Stop acting like that around me! I don't know why you're doing it and it makes me nervous. I hate feeling nervous. It makes me feel weak!"
"Hawatari..." Duil breathed, looking down at her with concern and care. Something inside her wanted to smack that look right off his face but when her hand lifted and the friend she'd known her whole life didn't move she felt an overwhelming force hit her. Why couldn't she control herself?
"I really shouldn't be out this late," she tried to use as an excuse, clenching her hand into a fist at her side.
No way, he wasn't losing her THAT easy.
With one grab he had a steady hold on her left arm, remembering she was left handed. Hawatari looked shocked before remembering to look angry and immediately tried to yank her arm free, causing Duil to tumble on top of her. The two mumbled a few colorful words and tried to get up, only to bang heads as they tangled themselves even more. Hawatari, though her efforts were nothing less than her best, could not hold back the blush that stained her cheeks in the same fasion they did Duil's. Crickets chirped off in the distance and their melody remained the only sound. Neither breathed nor moved nor spoke. They just stared. That is until Duil moved his head down.
Hawatari could have stopped him before he kissed her. She could have stopped him while he kissed her. However, her body went slack, simply reveling in every new sensation she was becoming aware of. There were no crickets, no feuding parents, no training. There was only Duil and the kiss. That was all she needed for the moment.
Unfortunately, a shadowed figure was making his way toward the pair, wondering who would make-out in the middle of a path.
Both teens looked up, unaware of who the odd-looking man was. One look at them and the man knew who they must have been. That spiky hair and vacant "duh" expression: Sanosuke Sagara's son. Those golden wolf eyes could only belong to Hajime Saitou's daughter.
"W-who are you?" Hawatari asked, getting to her feet.
"My name?" A slight laugh. "Mokoto Shishio..."