Resoultions: Chapter 6
  By Tokimaru
  tokimaru@excite.com
  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/6466/rk.html


  "He has a thin face like a grasshoper."  Sano indicated on his own
  face with his hands.  "And his hair is in strands like antenna."  More
  hand gestures illustrated the point. He put two fingers to the corners
  of his eyes and pulled, "His eyes are like this and they stare right
  through you like amber ice."

  He smiled engagingly the waitress who's hand covered her mouth in a
  vain attempt to hold back her undignified laughter.  "How was that?"

  "I know perfectly who you mean, sir," she assured him with a smile
  which threatened to dissolve into giggles at any moment.  "He's right
  this way, if you'll just follow me?"  The young beauty turned her back
  with a smooth, subtle sway of the hips that seconded the arch
  invitation that gleamed from under lowered lashes as she glided
  forward.

  "Arigatou!"  Sano knew a sudden temptation to whistle nonchalantly as
  he was guided towards a secluded little alcove in a corner of the
  dining area.   With each step through the room he could see the slight
  turning of heads out of the corner of his eyes, and almost feel the
  curious stares covertly examine his every aspect, like inspecting a
  new commodity in a slave market.   In response he raised his chin a
  little and let the gentle light of the room warm the smooth curves of
  cheeks and the slender arch of his neck, burnishing his black hair
  glossy and infinitely touchable.  The intimate ambience of the room,
  his altered appearance and an acute awareness of the curious, admiring
  smiles and glances of his fellow guests somehow rushed to his head,
  drugging and potent.  With each step across the room he felt a
  peculiar, budding desire to flaunt the seductive power of his lissome
  body, a desire that was stroked to life with each swish of silken
  material against his skin.

  The young guide paused beside a niche in the room then bowed in a
  manner which allowed room for Sano to move past her.  Saitou Hajime
  was sitting calmly at the other side of the low table, his lowered
  eyes contemplating the hot tea he was pouring into a small cup. Sano
  was conscious of a sudden, breathless fluttering deep in his belly,
  and a strange delight born of being thoroughly comfortable in his own
  skin. He knelt gracefully into place on the flat cushion opposite his
  companion and when their eyes met, he smiled in a way a stranger might
  have.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting", the gracious words and polite speech were
  as unlike to Sanosuke as the gentled voice and demure pose.

  Saitou's eyes glanced up once more from his task, his hands checking
  for the briefest of moments before they resumed their activities
  unhurried and practical.

  "Sake?"

  Sano nodded assent, the sense of unreality deepening.  The Wolf of
  Mibu had easily slipped into his public persona; polite, conventional,
  soft speech like a fuzzy blanket covering the sharpness within.

  "I will return in a moment for your order."  The waitress bowed again,
  her polished voice a pleasant murmur.

  Sano never noticed her departure, for his eyes had caught on the
  gloveless hands that manipulated the flagon of wine. Long, supple
  fingers. For the briefest of moments while Saitou's concentration
  was focused downwards, Sano tentatively indulged his fledgling passion
  by admiring the man who sat opposite him. The soft blue-grey kimono
  and darker hakama were comparable to the clothes many of the other
  patrons wore, but this only served to highlight the sharp, unique
  individual beneath it. From underneath his lashes Sano covertly
  admired the harsh planes of the wolf's face, ungentled by the soft
  material and gracious light, yet even so, made more attractive.

  It could not help but forcibly strike the young man that this,
  perhaps, was close to what Mibu's Wolf used to look like back in the
  Bakumatsu era.  The Saitou of the past held an irresistible
  fascination for him - the knowledge that underneath the present day
  policeman, lay the shadow of the captain of the famous Shinsengumi
  swordsmen filled him with a wistfulness that he most often preferred
  not to acknowledge. He would never be able to see what Saitou had
  been like in those revolutionary days, when he had been in, perhaps,
  his element.  He would never be able to know the things he had done,
  the battles he had fought or the commands he had given. Again Sano
  was consumed with a hungry curiosity to know what he had been like as
  a captain, how he had fought, how he had regarded his colleagues and
  enemies, how he'd been regarded in turn. With these thoughts a
  sudden, sharp pang of regret shook him, bitter with the understanding
  that all of it was completely beyond his reach to touch. But come to
  think of it, wasn't his presence here now a powerful consolation?  For
  the events of the past had shaped the man who sat before him and set
  him apart from others like a polished blade next to a lump of metal
  ore. And that man as he was now held every quality he possessed in
  the past and could be touched.  The thought made his breath catch in
  his throat.

  Sano quickly drained his cup of sake and helped himself to another.
  "This is a nice place. How did you know about it?"

  "This inn has been established for a long time, and was known to
  select members of the Shinsengumi. I haven't been here for a long
  time." Saitou paused for a moment, then passed him a menu. "Choose
  what you want for dinner."

  Sanosuke glanced through it curiously, wincing at the vast array of
  decorative kanji that graced the menu pages in delicate calligraphy,
  and prayed he would find something he recognised. He wanted desperately 
  to be equal to the occasion, so there was no way he could ask for help.

  After he had quickly settled on what appeared to be a simple eel and
  vegetable dish, he let his eyes roam around the dining area once again
  as he downed his wine.  All around him he could hear the subdued
  murmur of conversation and discreet strains of music that complimented
  yet never overwhelmed the low voices.   His gaze suddenly collided
  with one of the guests at a nearby table, and he realised with a start
  that he was being quite frankly ogled by a pair of warm brown eyes in
  a weary noble face.   The young brawler, so used to eyes that slid
  disdainfully past his wild figure, felt the first stirring of a
  languorous satisfaction heat his blood.  The sensation of being so
  blatantly admired was pleasingly novel, and a spur to his current
  mood.

  Could it be that he thinks I'm attractive?

  Such a thought he had never much bothered to entertain before, but
  tonight he had reason to wonder.

  Then, if this man is interested, then could I possibly have a chance
  with...  By association of ideas, his eyes trailed a flickering path to
  the man opposite, awaiting a response with his usual sardonic
  smile.

  It was utterly impossible.  It was also an extremely daring challenge,
  with more to win or lose than any ordinary fight - but the
  reward... kami-sama, it made every risk worth it.

  Saitou's arched eyebrow mocked his slow reply.  "Decided yet?"

  An apt question, for which there was only one answer to a youth of
  Sano's temperament.  Having at last silently accepted his desires,
  Sano turned his wine cup in his hands, a little uncertain of how to
  proceed.  In such an unfamiliar environment it would be easy to put
  his foot wrong, to be gauche or, worse, to be fake, yet he wanted
  something more from this night than usual. Tonight was like a fantasy,
  liberating, daring... and he knew the ending he wanted.  The problem
  was, he wasn't at all sure of how to set about seducing a man. He wet
  his lips with sake and let his voice gently deepen into a sultrier
  version of his usual growl.

  "I wouldn't mind that eel dish."  He laid the menu down and indicated
  with a tapping finger, hoping the casual reply provided a natural
  cover for his ignorance.  "Ne, Saitou, do you like this place?"

  Saitou picked up his cup and surveyed his companion coolly over the
  rim.

  "Why do you ask?"

  The words were cool, but the man didn't seem to be angry, just
  curious.  Sano casually flipped a long lock of hair behind his ear and
  leaned forward just a little, resting his chin on folded hands.

  "It's just that this inn seems to be created for men of your class and
  background, it seems to suit you a little."

  The quick, expressive lift of eyebrows and the keen glance that told
  Sano he had Saitou's full attention encouraged him to continue.  Sano
  struggled to find an articulate manner in which to subtly hint his
  admiration without being too obvious.

  "The atmosphere is still set in the past and you have that sort of
  pride and honour of that era.  A real honour, I mean, not ceremonial
  or handed down.  It goes with you."

  "Sou ka."  For some reason Sano couldn't fathom, Saitou's mouth was
  twitching faintly, and he could feel his ears start to burn under the
  man's amusement.  It looked as though he'd stuffed up again.  Damn, he
  wasn't any /good/ at this.  It was perhaps fortunate that the young
  waitress returned at that moment to take their orders.  He was vaguely
  aware of himself responding on his cue, and took a deep breath and
  collected his scattered wits.  He couldn't give up so easily.

  When she had safely gone, he fortified himself with another cup of
  sake, stoking the warmth in his belly, adding to the heat in his
  blood. He lifted his gaze so that his large brown eyes met Saitou's
  amber.

  "You haven't answered my question," he suggested.

  Saitou hnn'ed briefly as he drew out a cigarette.

  "I find this inn convenient," was his enigmatic reply.

  The note of finality the comment finished on told Sano that no further
  explanation would be forthcoming.  He mentally chafed.  /Must/ the man
  be so maddeningly inscrutable?

  He persevered. He had consumed enough sake that he was starting to
  feel a comfortable lassitude, relaxed and confident enough to favour
  Saitou with a flirtatious smile.

  "And also kind of cosy."

  "The one goes with the other in this case."

  Sano felt his heart contract so hard it almost hurt.  Naturally the
  expression on Saitou's face gave nothing away, leaving him to flounder
  in an ocean of possible meanings.  The wild hope that the remark had
  meant to establish an intimacy on Saitou's part couldn't help but make
  his heart pound, but the composed delivery cautioned against false
  hope.

  "You find the cosiness convenient?" he asked, mouth dry.

  Rather than responding, Saitou set forward on a tangent of his
  own.

  "You seem very...vibrant...tonight."  A faint, knowing smile tugged at
  his firm lips.  "Does all this excite you, hyoko?"

  Sano's eyes flashed the spark this kindled in him.

  "This is a little tame to excite me," he drawled, ignoring the twinge
  in the back of his mind that warned him of the danger inherent in the
  provocative emphasis he had put the first word... an emphasis that
  encouraged his listener to speculate on alternatives.

  Saitou's dark smile deepened as he reached out and placed a warm,
  callused hand over Sano's own, covering both his hand and the cup Sano
  was holding. A strong thumb gently stroked a feather light caress
  over the webbing between forefinger and thumb, those hard amber eyes
  fixed and gleaming.  Sano felt his whole body go liquid.

  "No more sake for you," he said softly.  "I think you're in a
  dangerous enough mood as it is."

  "W...What the hell do you mean by that!?"

  Any further dialogue was cut off by the sound of clinking plates over
  soft footfalls.  "Sorry to keep you waiting, okyaku-sama."  The
  waitress bowed gracefully as she reached their table and began placing
  dishes in front of her patrons, sublimely unconscious of any tension
  around the table.  Saitou was as urbanely in control of the situation
  as always, and Sano was too mortified to be able to do or say anything
  for the moment.

  He never got the chance to demand a retraction of that outrageous
  comment, for no sooner had the waitress left than a striking man of
  middle years materialised into the space she had left behind.  His
  clothes were of an expensive cut, even for this place, and almost vied
  for favour with his handsome features and well shaped hair.  He had
  the type of good looks that age accepted rather than diminished, and
  an inner air of confidence that suggested he was well aware of the
  fact.  At the moment, his lips were curved into a hard smile as he
  gazed down upon Mibu's Wolf with barely disguised rancour.

  "What a surprise to see you here, Saitou-kun," he greeted silkily.
  "And with a guest, no less. It's been a while, hasn't it."

  Saitou *kun*!?  Not Fujita-san, or even Saitou-san, but Saitou
  *kun*!? Sano boggled.

  The man sat himself down at their table, uninvited, with the kind of
  social confidence that suggested of his right to do so. Saitou did
  not award the man any due importance by deigning to look at him as he
  arranged a saucer of soy sauce by his plate, he merely replied
  dispassionately, "Certainly a fair while."

  Only the most insensitive would mistake the distinct animosity between
  the two.  Saitou, of course, was too clever to overdo a display of
  contempt but his lack of regard was quite obvious - Sano could only
  surmise that the pair knew each other too well for Saitou to use the
  inoffensive act he had seen him use against his targets in the past.

  The man inclined his head in mock courtesy, inquiring with an innocent
  smile, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"  The gaze he
  bestowed upon Sanosuke, in contrast, was as warm as the inviting smile
  that went with it.

  Sano could not be unsusceptible to the flattery of the attention, and
  since he was pretty sure it had partly been done to annoy Saitou, he
  couldn't resist the opportunity to get a small revenge against Saitou
  by responding to it.  It also tickled his sense of humour to encourage
  the attentions of a man who would have been horrified if he knew the
  background of the man he was deigning to smile at.

  "My name is Sanosuke," he said, not bothering to wait for an
  introduction from Saitou he wasn't sure would come.  "Nice to meet
  you."

  The man bestowed upon him the heart-stopping smile of a practiced
  flirt, and greeted the young man with dignified charm.  "And I am
  Yoshinaga Yoshiki of ------ clan.  It's a pleasure to meet you."

  Sano hadn't heard of the family name, but judging from the
  self-conscious importance with which it was said, he supposed it must
  have been a prominent one. He used the opportunity to indulge his
  curiosity.

  "I see you two know each other." Sano sneaked a glance at Saitou and
  was both pleased and a little nervous to detect Saitou's displeasure.
  The hell with it. He would bet Kenshin's sakabatou that Saitou wouldn't
  tell him what was going on, so he'd have to find out himself.

  Yoshinaga's polite smile held a curious triumph and his eyes wariness
  as he replied, "Oh yes.  You could say I was his "senpai" in the
  Shinsengumi, though not in the same troupe."  He threw a challenging
  glance Saitou's way as though daring him to contradict this statement,
  but Saitou gave him no reaction.   Seemingly encouraged, Yoshinaga
  leaned in towards Sano and murmured, teasingly confident and aiming to
  flatter, "Which means, of course, that the things of beauty acquired
  by the shinsengumi rightfully go to us."

  Sano's eyes kindled. The amusement of baiting snobs was one thing, but
  he sure has hell had no intention of letting this Yoshinaga guy try to
  use him to annoy Saitou, and that smile was starting to seem a little
  too oily.

  "Is that so?" he inquired, all innocence.  "As Saitou was a captain of
  the Shinsengumi, as his senpai you must have held a very high rank."

  The man didn't strike him as having the qualities of a leader, and
  Sano watched the polished smile on Yoshinaga's face become strained
  with some pleasure, gratified at having his judgement prove well
  founded.   The man missed half a beat before evading the issue without
  giving the impression of doing so.

  "In the Shinsengumi age and experience are valued dearly and all the
  younger members must pay due deference to those who have the advantage
  in years, be it one or thirty.  That is the way things were understood
  back then."

  Sano made what he hoped was a suitably impressed, but conventional
  response.  The other man's smile was starting to become way too
  familiar, way too quickly.   Time to start extricating himself out of
  this situation before it went too far.

  In bored tones Saitou cut in. "You'll excuse us, Yoshinaga.  We were
  just about to have our dinner."

  "And what a lovely morsel you're tasting tonight."   The smooth murmur
  was fairly throbbing with insinuation, his overbright eyes feasted on
  the young man with greed too strong to be concealed.

  The atmosphere dropped in temperature a few hundred degrees.  Saitou's
  hand shifted slightly towards his left hip, a reflexive action that
  betrayed more of his sentiment than the faint flare of his nostrils
  and the narrowing of his eyes.

  "Do you have a reason for your presence here?"  Each word fell into
  the silence with needle-fine contempt.

  The man raised his eyes from his contemplation of the gesture, and
  both eyes gleamed with the malicious enjoyment of understanding the
  message that had been delivered.

  "Ma, perhaps just to recapture old times."  His words were innocent
  enough, yet the smile that he directed towards Saitou Hajime was laden
  with spite, his gaze watchful for a reaction to be gained.

  "Really?  I wouldn't have thought you would enjoy such an exercise.
  The times you recapture might not be the ones you'd prefer to
  relive."  The thin smile on Saitou's face showed not a whit of defeat
  or discomfort.  Yoshinaga, however, obviously felt the sting of
  Saitou's barb more than Saitou had felt his.  He wasn't totally
  successful at hiding his chagrin... or his fear at the look in the
  wolf's eye.

  Sano watched the warfare with fascination.  He was dying to know the
  various events of the past that both were alluding to, yet he didn't
  think Saitou would tell him, and asking Yoshinaga would only get him a
  barrel of lies.

  It seemed that Yoshinaga did know when to cut his losses.  He rose
  from the table with unhurried grace and bowed to them both, giving a
  show of civility he clearly didn't feel to one recipient at least.
  "Then it's time for me to return to my business."  He turned to
  Sanosuke and added caressingly, "Please feel free to come and talk to
  me any time.  I would enjoy your company very much."  He turned and
  walked away, too sure of the response to even bother waiting for a
  reply.

  Really?  Well, can't say I would enjoy yours, you pompous no-hoper.

  Sano stuck his tongue out at the man's retreating back, then glanced
  over at Saitou, who was dipping a strand of soba noodle into soy
  sauce, cold and austere as the remote Hokkaido mountains.  He picked
  at his meal in a desultory fashion, more to keep up appearances than
  from any real hunger.  His usual healthy appetite had now completely
  deserted him.

  Say something, he silently willed at the man before him.

  Saitou either couldn't hear his mental command or had decided to
  ignore him for the rest of the evening, because he continued to slurp
  his noodles in silence.

  Sano grit his teeth in frustration.  He could have cheerfully stuck a
  sword in Yoshinaga's belly for having ruined the intimate atmosphere
  that had developed between them before his arrival.

  He also couldn't stand the tense silence.  One way or another, he had
  to know what Saitou was thinking and if Saitou was pissed, then he
  preferred to confront it head on right from the first.

  "Are you going to say something?" he inquired baldly.

  Saitou put down his bowl of soba."What do you want me to say?"

  Sano winced at the iciness of his tone. Not a good start.

  "Oh, I don't know.  Like, why do you two hate each other, besides the
  fact that he seems kind of like a jerk."

  "It has nothing to do with you."  Saitou added to the chilling set
  down, "And you certainly didn't give the impression that you thought
  he was a jerk."

  Sano scowled.  "I was just being polite.�E

  "You were encouraging him", Saitou contradicted coldly.  "Would you
  prefer his company this evening?"

  Sano felt his heart plunge into his feet.  "Of course not.  You can't
  think I liked someone as slimy as that, could you?"

   "Naturally I know what you were about, ahou.  You were trying to
  annoy me."

  "Yes.", Sano admitted unrepentantly.  "You annoyed me by being
  patronising just before."

  Saitou threw him an irritated glance. "Mattaku - you're still a child
  teasing an adult.  Remember your limits."

  Sano felt his own ire build as he glared right back.  "So sorry for
  being a child.  You weren't exactly a model of maturity yourself.  You
  were laughing at me before."

  Saitou was silent for a moment, then he suddenly sighed and his lips
  began to curve up into a half-smile.  "I wasn't laughing at you.  But
  an honest and straightforward child such as yourself is easy to read.
  And I enjoy watching you rise to each new occasion you find yourself
  in."

  Sanosuke felt his mouth drop open in astonishment as he stared at the
  man opposite, uncertain as to whether he had just been complimented or
  ridiculed.  Then a tide of hot humiliation washed over him as it
  occurred to him that Saitou's words indicated that he'd known what
  he'd been trying to do.

  "...I... I j-just wanted..."

  Saitou reached out to catch his hand once again, and this time he
  cupped the fine hand in his own and tilted slightly to expose the
  palm.  His callused forefinger traced a gentle circle inside it, and
  he watched closely as Sano fell into silence, bound by shivery
  feelings into mute, immovable stillness in which the only things
  existed in the universe were the delicate sensations on his palm and
  the amber eyes that caught his own.

  "...To test out the power you've discovered you hold?"  There was little
  tone in Saitou's voice; he could have been commenting on the weather.

  Sano stared.  "What do you mean?"

  Saitou let his eyes run over the young man opposite him, slow and
  deliberate.  "When you walked in, you discovered the charm that you
  possess to captivate, with that face and body.  The clothes you're
  wearing made you aware of it, the admiration you received from the
  other guests.  I expect it was an exotic feeling for you, it's not
  surprising that you wanted to explore the situation."

  Sanosuke struggled to hide how crestfallen he felt.  So Saitou thought
  he had just become drunk on his new finery and was simply flirting with
  the first available recipient around.  It was true that he hadn't thought
  to dare try to get closer to Saitou before he came down, but that didn't 
  mean he hadn't wanted... something... before.

  "You think I was trying to copy my betters?" he asked dully.

  "Were you?"

  "No!  Who needs to?  I can be just as good as everyone else here, even
  if I wasn't born into a aristrocratic name, dammit." 

  "I agree."

  Sano blinked at the uncompromising statement.  It gave him a rush of
  fierce pleasure to hear further proof that Saitou valued a person for
  their own qualities rather than birth social status.

  "Saitou."

  One of Saitou's eyebrows rose and he indicated for Sano to proceed.
  He was still trailing a finger over Sano's sensitive palm, which made
  it a bit hard to concentrate.

  "I just wanted to be, well, classy.  So you think it's useless for me
  to even try, do you?"

  "Not at all.  Done on your own terms, it would suit you very well."

  "What do you mean by 'done on my own terms'?"

  "I mean, done by your own conceptions of class, not what you think
  others will expect.  In any case, you should try to be more natural.
  Games don't suit an innocent idiot like you."

  Sano tried to snatch his hand away, piqued.  "I'm not innocent, and
  I'm not an idiot!"

  An eyebrow quirked maddeningly as his captor kept a firm grasp on his
  hand.  "Sou?"

  "That's right!"

  "Then why were you trying to be classy and flirt?"

  Sano felt himself start to blush again, and was infuriated by the ease
  in which Saitou could produce this reaction.

  "I wasn't trying to flirt with just anyone or anything like that... I
  just wanted to..."  he could feel his face getting warmer and warmer
  as he spoke, but he continued on regardless, "I just wanted to be a
  proper dinner companion for you and get to know you better.  Seeing as
  we're alone together and not training or fighting or anything."

  He finished awkwardly and sat there breathing quickly, awaiting the
  reaction, either favourable or mortifying, with screaming nerves.  The
  hands, making a prisoner of his own, stilled.

  "You want to get to know me better?"

  Sano flipped his head negligently.  "Well, I already know that you're
  a bastard and everything, but I guess there has to be more to you than
  that.  Or is the great Mibu's Wolf above being gotten to know?"

  He heard Saitou chuckle to himself and the murmur, "Ah yes, much more
  natural."

  Sano grit his teeth and said low under his breath, "If you don't like
  it, then I'll just leave."

  "What, and cut out on our date?"

  Sano looked up at Saitou, dumbfounded.  Did he just hear what he
  thought he heard?

  "Our... date?"

  "You did specifically point out the fact that we are alone together,
  and not training or fighting.  In fact, we are sitting in a quality
  inn, having a well-cooked meal and fairly intimate conversation.  I do
  believe it could be called a 'date'."

  Sano could only sit there in wide-eyed astonishment for a long
  moment.  Saitou...*Saitou* saying those words? Was he dreaming?  But,
  the dream made him smile. At first, a little shaky with his relief,
  but it soon radiated with increasing confidence - a smile to take
  one's breath away.

  "It's kind of romantic, don't you think?"

  Saitou's next "Hn" was one of quiet amusement as he stood up from the
  table.  "Come on then.  We'll continue our date in our room."



  More to come! Promise!