Resoultions: Chapter 3
By Tokimaru
tokimaru@excite.com
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/6466/rk.html



"Ii tenki da ze!"

The day had established itself long enough for the sun to have warmed the
ground even though winter had begun to darkly hint of its coming presence.
Sanosuke squinted into the bright blue sky, stretching his arms luxuriously
above his head as he walked.

Disgruntled by the lack of reply, Sano looked over his shoulder impatiently
at the wolf a few paces behind him.

"Oi, teme~! Did your guts get sick of your sourness and choke ya already?"

Saitou didn't spare him a glance. "Quiet."

Never more had the Wolf of Mibu so resembled his nickname as his narrowed
eyes fixed upon an outcropping to the side. It seemed to Sano that all of
his senses were alive and aware, feeling with more than just his eyes and
ears. When Saitou's hand stole to the hilt of his sword, Sano moved to his
side and clenched his own fists in readiness for battle, even though he
couldn't see a thing.

"What is it?" he whispered.

Saitou drew his sword. "Kamoritada lacks judgement as well as originality.
As expected, he's sent a hired team to ambush and steal the map from our
dead bodies. As a politician, his small mind works only in the obvious."

The words beckoned like an invitation, enticing the rodents from their
hiding place. Without wasting words, the small company moved to block their
path with the synchronicity of a professional team. Most carried swords by
their sides, but a couple had other weapons typically associated with
ninjitsu. Sano counted six in all and glanced at the man by his side for
some sort of signal, but Saitou was merely smoking his cigarette calmly,
not showing the least sign of bother.

"Yare yare. Well, I suppose we may as well take the time to dispose of the
pests." He turned an eye on his young companion and added caustically, "I
know perfectly well that it would be useless to order you to stay put, so I
will just say this - take the two furthest and leave the others to me."

His tone clearly warned that defying his orders would produce serious
consequences. Sano studied the two indicated. They were the ones without
swords, one carrying a fighting staff, the other small kunai rather like
Misao's. No problem.

He soon discovered this arrangement suited their opponents too. Sano was
aware in the periphery of his vision that the swordsmen were making a
bee-line for Saitou, while he faced the two left to him.

How very neat.

The taller of the two stopped in front of him to the left and swung his
staff into a fighting stance. The other took the right side and gripped his
kunai between his fingers, ready to let the sharp blades fly. "Since you're
not a swordsman, your opponents are us. Put up a good fight before you
die."

"Heh, that's direct enough. Then, since neither of us wants to waste time
talking, let's fight!" Sano geared up into a battle yell and charged.

He knew the first thing he had to worry about were the kunai, and let
instinct take over. It was a fraction of a second's reaction to let his
jacket slide off his shoulders as he ran and fling it in front of his body,
but it proved just in time to counter the deadly kunai blades that aimed
towards his neck, face and belly. He tossed the whole bundle into the guy's
face to provide a distraction long enough to ward against the blow from the
staff that aimed towards his face. He wasn't expecting the swift change of
stance and blow to the stomach.

"Uuugh!"

The blow was perfectly placed to wind him, and while he was trying to draw
breath, he stumbled back against the follow up blow to his chin, then felt
a sharp slice from sharp kunai at the back of his knee which sent him
sprawling onto his hands and knees. Another heavy blow struck the base of
his skull, paralysing him momentarily.

"Feh. This is no entertainment at all." The taller man lifted Sano's chin
with the end of his staff while the other, holding a kunai in each hand,
commented tersely, "There never any was entertainment in defeating one
green, weaponless boy. Let's just finish him quickly."

While Sano was still shaking off grogginess, he felt a hand grab his hair
and lift his head, baring his throat. The kunai man spoke in a perfunctory
manner. "This job is over." He lifted his hand, ready to slash the blade
against the proffered throat.

Sanosuke always found that there was nothing like imminent death to clear
ones head. He gathered all of his resources together and wrenched free of
the staff-man's grasp as the blade struck, rolling over into a staggering
upright stance.

"Don't underestimate me you morons. You're gonna have ta come up with a lot
more than that to kill me!"

It was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the imbalance the
kunai-man's momentum had produced - he struck out with his leg, kicking the
man in the throat with all of his considerable strength, then following it
up with a kick to the abdomen, ignoring the heavy swing of a staff against
his side. He was one who could take Kenshin's Ryuutsuisen, dammnit, he
could ignore the blows dealt to him by the staff-guy. For now it was better
to move as though the taller guy didn't exist and put the kunai-man out of
action first.

He almost didn't see the first kunai coming, had barely a second to dodge,
felt the sharp sting of a blade slice his cheek, but the blade had missed
it's mark, producing the faintest of scratches. The second kunai sliced
into his thigh, but Sano ignored the pain and advanced on the smaller man
like a wild tornado. He didn't allow him time to let the third fly, but
picked the gibbering man up by the throat and dealt him a punch to the
temple that drove him unconsious and limp in his hand. He dropped the dead
weight and turned to deal with the other. Another blow connected to his
belly, then swung to his groin. No way! He grasped the staff before it had
a chance to connect, and sent the reverse end into the belly of his
opponent. A strong tug and the staff was his - he broke it across his knee,
flung the pieces aside and finished him off with a punishing upper cut.

There. Finished.

He just stood there, panting, to get his breath back. Damn he felt awful.
His right hand had never been the same since the fight with Shishio no
matter how many times Megumi treated it - it was aching like hell. Then
there was that kunai wound in his thigh, and now that the adrenaline was
fading away, the burning ache it produced was coming to the fore. His
muscles felt bruised all over from the blows he'd taken from the staff and
somewhere in his abdomen hurt when he tried to fully straighten up. Sano
sighed inwardly. Was he getting softer ever since he gave up being
'kenkaya' or was it just his imagination that he was being done in by
injuries he would have shrugged off in earlier years? It didn't matter
though - he'd beaten his opponents and Saitou shouldn't have anything to
complain about... Saitou.

He turned to see how the wolf was faring in his fight.

"Geh!"

Saitou was just standing there casually smoking, eyes narrowed at him -
he'd obviously been watching the end of his fight. His four opponents were
scattered around his feet, silent and unmoving, but Saitou looked as
composed as ever, as though he'd finished a tea-ceremony rather than a
battle. There was a long silence.

"Dou de~?" The tilted chin, glaring eyes and folded arms put up a good
front of defiance, but his eyes betrayed his own awareness of the
difference between the damages of their respective fights. Saitou obviously
hadn't had the slightest bit of trouble, but he himself...

Saitou sheathed his sword and walked the few paces that separated them.

"Pitiful." To Sano, the word had all the condemnation of a sentence to
hell.

Sano closed his eyes as he gritted his teeth in the effort to hold back the
frustrated anger that churned within him. He vaguely felt that perhaps the
anger had more to do with himself than with his maddening nemesis.

"Nan da to!? I defeated the both of them, so what's so pitiful about that?"

Saitou spoke, and his voice was neither sneering nor baiting, but cold and
serious.

"Pitiful is the condition you are left in after having defeated them." His
eyes caught Sanosuke's and didn't allow him to look away. "You rely on your
strength alone to beat your opponents, and heedlessly trust on your ability
to absorb damage without thought to the consequences over time." He reached
forward and grabbed Sano's right hand, applying just enough pressure to
make Sanosuke gasp with the pain. "But, you young idiot, there /are/
consequences. Not even you are indestructible, but even so you still
neglect to defend yourself to minimise damage to your body."

He paused to let this sink in.

"You're proud of your strength and your endurance, because they are so
superior to most from this present era, but such blind pride is foolish.
Even after the affair with Shishio, and Enishi, you still neglect to learn
defence, even though a proper defence during battle will minimise damage to
yourself and allow you to fight better and longer. Such continued
subborness against learning what you need to learn is pitiful."

Sano was struck into dumb silence as each forcible word piled on top of
each other, dominating all his mental resources as he listened to the
censure with wide, blank eyes. It was only until the words were over that
the shame and anger that had been building in his subconscious since the
end of his fight rushed into his immediate thoughts in a maelstrom of
emotion.

"What the hell would you know about it?" he screamed passionately back at
him. "How can you sneer at me for not having learned defence? It's okay for
you! You were born into the right family and sponsored into the
Shinsengumi, taught how to fight by experts! You think everyone's so
lucky?! You think kendo school were willing to take in penniless peasant's
sons? I may not be as good as you and Kenshin or Aoshi, but I never had a
teacher like you all did! At least most of what I know I got by myself!"

"That's the excuse of a child." Saitou's reply was still calm and factual.
"If you made the effort to find yourself a teacher, you could have.
Battousai would probably teach you the basics of defence, even perhaps one
of Shinomori's associates. Failing that, in this Meiji era there are
schools that will take students in regardless of background. The reason
that you don't have the money to pay for them is because you're a loafer
who hasn't bothered to grow up and get a job. You still think like a child,
denying the responsibilities of an adult."

Sano stared burningly at the ground as hatred and humiliation churned
inside of him, overriding his ability to speak. Hatred for the man, truth
of his words and for himself for earning them and the humiliation of the
reprimand coming from this one man he resented and admired more than any
other. All along he'd been saying that the defensive style didn't suite
him, and he'd truly believed that. But... was it really just ignoring what
he didn't want to bother with - cubbish and obtuse? A year ago he would
have denied it, but on being taunted with childishness, he wondered if he
/was/ being childish. His first instinct was to tempestuously deny Saitou's
words, but painful honesty made him realise that maybe he was right, and
denying it would only earn him disgust. Wouldn't it be braver to admit that
maybe what Saitou had said about defence and him being a loafer was true?
Perhaps... well, he was nearly twenty-one now and it was time to be more
mature and think of the future. Even his gambling 'dachi had been making
some jokes about his lack of employment over the past year. He wasn't a
coward and though his pride revolted and made it difficult to admit to
himself let alone this man, he couldn't imagine Saitou would laugh at him.
He was a bastard, but when it came right down to the essentials, he was...
decent.

When he finally spoke again, it was in a low, small voice.

"Then... then...I need a job, and I need a teacher, huh? Then..." An idea
suddenly presented itself to him, preposterous but strangely appropriate.
And vengeful. Sano suddenly lifted his head, stared Saitou straight in the
eye and smiled bitter defiance. "... I wanna work for you. You can teach me
defence while teaching me how to be an undercover cop or whatever. I
haven't been brought up to a trade and I don't know how to do much, but
since you think I need a job and teacher, then I choose you." And suddenly
knew that he didn't want anyone else, had never wanted anyone else. "If you
mean what you say, then back it up by action as well as words." It took all
his courage to hold Saitou's gaze, but he did so challengingly. "Well?"

Saitou was silent for a long time. He looked neither angry, nor ridiculing,
nor even surprised. When he did take the remains of his cigarette from his
mouth and toss it to the ground, his voice was quiet and firm.

"Ahou. Think about what you're saying before you commit yourself. If I take
the time to train you as an undercover policeman, then you must see it
through."

"Sagara Sanosuke does not go back on his word!"

"You're also too impulsive, too heedless of command and act before
thinking."

Sano scowled. "I'm not /that/ bad!" At Saitou's level stare, he added
defensively, "Well I can learn to be more calm, can't I?"

"That remains to be seen. If you have me as a teacher, then I expect to be
obeyed at all times. Understand?"

Sano nodded, then promptly stuck out his tongue. "I'm sure you'll be the
teacher from hell."

"Ahou ga."

"Slanty-eyed bastard."

Sano couldn't quite believe it - had Saitou actually /agreed/ to become his
teacher? When he'd made the challenge, he was more than half certain that
it would be scornfully rejected.

"You really serious? I'm gonna be working for you? Like Cho or something?"

"You can consider yourself on trial while we're up against Kamoritada.
After he has been dealt with satisfactorily, and you've a better idea of
the way the police work, then we'll see."

"Hmph. All right. As long as it's clear I'm working for /you/, not for the
government. Hell, I can't believe I'd ever be working as a cop for the
bloody government."

While he was muttering this somewhat disbelievingly, Saitou came to stand
behind him, and nudged at the back of his knees with his own. It was just
enough to make his legs buckle, and he found himself being guided gently to
the ground.

"Ahou." Without waiting for permission, Saitou took his trouser legs into
his hand and ripped them open up to the kunai wound on his thigh. "You
think that I'm particularly enamoured by the government? I work as a member
of the police force precisely to rid the government of the scum that infest
it while protecting the safety of Japan, as I did in the previous era. I
work not for the government, but for the honour of the Shinsengumi."

Sano was too busy contemplating this idea to make much protest at Saitou's
arrogant manner of treating his clothes and just sighed a little as he
watched Saitou bring some medical wadding and bandages from his pack and
begin a rudimentary treating of the wound.

"I guess it's not too bad when you look at it like that." For a while he
was silent, just watching Saitou loop a bandage under his knee. This was
the second time he was getting treated by Saitou, and even now after all
he'd said. Why? Didn't Saitou despise him? A couple of minutes ago he'd
been mad enough at this man to have cheerfully smashed his skull in, but
now he was kneeling close beside him, securing bandage in place, one hand
supporting under his thigh, fingers brushing against his bare skin....

"Oh!"

Sano blushed when he realised a gentle touch in the back of his knee had
made him gasp aloud.

"Doushita?" Saitou turned both amber eyes upon the young man, their
narrowness hard as always and giving nothing away.

"Na... nan demo nai. I was just wondering how long it would take to get to
Iwaki."

"Probably about a week."

"A week? Great!," he replied with a confident grin. "That gives me a week
to learn defence!!"

Saitou's eyes closed.

"Ahou ga. You can't learn defence all in one week."

Sano waved this objection aside with a flourish of his hand. "I learned the
Futae no Kiwami in a week!"

"That /proves/ you can't."

"Nan da to!? You just wait and see! So are we gonna start practicing now or
what?"

"This will slow our journey."

"We're not in any particular rush are we?"

Saitou "Hn"'d sarcastically and stood up. "I think we'd better start at the
beginning."

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