Tokimaru (tokimaru@excite.com)
 http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/6466/rk.html


 ~*~*~*~*~*~
 Resolutions 
 Chapter 9
 ~*~*~*~*~*~

 The carriage rattled along the old dirt road at a spanking
 pace, rudely interrupting the dark tranquillity of the
 night. Despite the hour, the moon was out if full force,
 illuminating the trees on each side with its weak rays,
 rendering each tall, pale trunk into a ghostly spectre.

 The view from the top of the carriage was great.

 "I'm not getting in!" Sano bellowed furiously. With this,
 a gleaming sharp sword blade stabbed through the carriage
 roof in mocking response, missing his legs by inches. It
 forced Sano to jump out of the way with a startled curse,
 whereby he almost lost his footing and teetered
 dangerously at the edge of the roof for a few alarming
 moments before pulling himself together and recovering his
 balance. He threw himself onto his stomach and lowered his
 head over the carriage roof to glare at the policeman
 through the window "You can keep yourself company for the
 journey! It's what you prefer to do anyway, isn't it?"

 Saitou Hajime retracted his sword from the roof with a
 quick tug and sheathed it into the scabbard.

 "Are you going to sulk all the way to the temple?" he
 inquired coldly. "If so, I'll toss you off and let you
 walk back."

 "Don't act the innocent party you asshole." Sano had to
 grip the carriage roof hard to keep balance with its jolt
 and sway, and his hair was getting rustled into his eyes
 by the wind. He was miserably conscious that trying to
 communicate a righteous anger was rendered ridiculous in
 such an undignified situation and his fury grew
 proportionately. "The more I think about it the more
 pissed I get."

 "Yare yare. Someone ruffle those scruffy feathers of
 yours, hyoko?" inquired his target with delicate sarcasm.

 "You shut up!" Sano fixed him with a baleful eye. "I don't
 mind you using me as bait, but why the hell didn't you
 tell me? I can keep a secret, you know. We are partners
 after all!"

 "Where exactly did you get that idea? I am the boss, you
 are the employee, I the teacher, you the student. I think
 the position is quite easy to understand."

 "The hell it is! From now on, you tell me when you're
 going to do these things you jerk."

 "Idiot. Stop emoting and actually use those brains of
 yours for once. My decision to lure Yoshinaga into
 betraying himself was a spur of the moment decision, an
 opportunity which presented itself when that young traitor
 Imazeki showed up with his false message. I didn't have
 the time or opportunity to explain myself. And I shouldn't
 have needed to. You will have to learn to obey orders
 without always knowing the reasons behind them."

 Sano sublimely ignored those last homilies while his
 subconscious mind leaped upon the first part of the
 lecture like a starving man on a meat bun. The words
 unearthed the ugly tension deep within him that had been
 festering unheeded in the back of his mind, a hurt he
 hadn't even acknowledged until Saitou's words provided a
 release from it.

 "So…" Sano flushed a little and continued in a more casual
 tone, "So what… um, what we were doing before he arrived
 wasn't part of the plan or anything?"

 Saitou's eyes widened for a brief moment as he stared at
 the young man hanging ridiculously upside down over the
 window edge. That too-perceptive regard made the young man
 cringe and he tried to school his features into
 indifferent unconcern, hoping desperately that the
 piercing eyes were /not/ seeing how much the answer meant
 to him.

 He heard a brief sigh, and it seemed that the older man's
 voice softened almost imperceptibly with a mixture of
 amusement and a healthy exasperation.

 "So that's what's bothering you. Idiot. As usual, you put
 one and one together to get zero. Now shut up and get in
 here."

 With sudden motion Saitou reached forward to grab the
 unsuspecting Sanosuke under his arms and pulled him
 through the window into the belly of the carriage with a
 typically callous disregard for elbows and knees being
 bruised and scraped against unyielding wood.

 "Oi! Ahh--- What----"

 Thrown into confused unbalance from an already ungainly
 position half off the carriage roof, Sanosuke couldn't
 seem to gather himself together long enough to mount a
 defence against his sudden acquisition. And before he had
 time to think about it, he found himself lying half across
 Saitou's lap, with cold amber eyes above him pinning him
 in place.

 "Listen well, for I'm only going to say this once. What
 went on before had nothing to do with police business. Do
 you really think I would need to stoop to such tactics in
 the course of my work?"

 There was no hesitation. "Sure."

 Saitou rolled his eyes in disgust and pushed the young man
 off his lap. "Idiot."

 Sano yelped as he was unceremoniously dumped onto the
 floor of the carriage and slammed his elbow into Saitou's
 shins in retaliation. "Considering the first time we met
 you had no problem sticking your sword through my
 shoulder, you can hardly act all offended."

 Saitou flicked an irritated gaze at him and replied
 dampingly, "If you thought about it with the least bit of
 intelligence you could appreciate the difference between
 the situations. A slight injury to the shoulder is nothing
 to whine about."

 Rubbing his shoulder reproachfully, Sano stuck his tongue
 out at the older man with enthusiasm. "It was hardly a
 slight injury and I'm /not/ whining." He picked himself
 off the floor and dusted his backside. "How long is it
 going to take to get there?"

 "Not long. Maybe five minutes."

 "That all?" Regretfully Sano abandoned the half-formed
 idea to see what would happen if he were to suddenly
 straddle Saitou's hips and flung himself into the seat
 opposite instead. "Won't that Ritsumaki guy get a bit
 suspicious if we just pull up at the temple and wait for
 him there?"

 "Who knows?" Saitou's tone was indifferent enough to
 inspire confidence. "He may assume that the treasure is to
 be found in the temple himself, or he may even simply
 assume that he has brought enough firepower that we can
 choose our final battleground with his good will. He lacks
 imagination."

 Sano eyed the cool figure of the man opposite. Mibu's Wolf
 was in the act of lighting a cigarette. The flare of the
 match in the dark carriage lit his face into a
 particularly demonic aspect. "You don't seem particularly
 worried at the thought of superior firepower."

 "I'm not." The reply was short and unemotional. Sano
 huffed a little like an irritated puppy and stared
 pointedly out the window.

 "Fine, don't explain. I suppose you have a plan."

 "Correct." Saitou reached up and knocked against the
 rooftop twice with the hilt of his sword, at which signal
 the carriage came to a shuddering stop. "Out."

 Sano blinked. "Huh? We're here?" He followed Saitou out of
 the carriage and looked around. They appeared to have been
 deposited somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The area was
 blanketed in trees and the ground was particularly uneven.
 There was no temple in sight.

 When Saitou had returned after murmuring a few words to
 the driver, the reigns were slapped gently against the
 horse's rumps and the carriage slowly lurched back into
 motion.

 "Where are we?" Sano demanded. "And where is he going?"

 "We are a little way from the temple. The place itself is
 actually inaccessible by carriage, so we're walking from
 here. Don't worry about the carriage, it'll be back when
 we need it."

 Without further word he began walking up a rudimentary
 path through the trees, so there was nothing left for Sano
 to do but simply yield to necessity and follow. The night
 air was cool, and a slight breeze was blowing. Sanosuke
 found it bracing and thought the situation novel enough
 that he was able to forget how tired he was. The next few
 minutes passed by with a vague sense of unreality as he
 followed the tall, navy-clad back that walked tirelessly
 before him. Somehow he felt content enough to follow all
 night. The formless suspicions that had been insidiously
 unsettling his stomach from their hurried departure to
 their journey to Iwaki were banished by Saitou's composed,
 matter of fact words. Saitou wouldn't lie. Strangely
 enough, he felt confident of that fact. The trouble was,
 he hadn't been equally as confident that Saitou wouldn't
 lead him on simply as a means to an end. The sudden,
 horrible suspicion that Saitou had responded to his desire
 merely as part of a plan had been humiliating enough to
 make him want to throw up.

 It wasn't long before Saitou brought up short, and
 Sanosuke nearly cannoned into him. When he peered over the
 man's shoulder, there was the place they had come for,
 resting in a hollow amongst the trees, as though waiting
 just to be discovered by them.

 Sanosuke followed Saitou up the path and when Saitou
 casually sat on the steps that led up to the gate, he
 followed suit.

 "Now we just wait for him to show up, huh?"

 "We wait," Saitou agreed.

 "Then when he turns up, with goons I suppose, we beat him
 and his goons up, then go home?"

 "Something like that," was the urbane reply.

 Sano glanced up at the man by his side suspiciously, but
 Saitou merely breathed out a stream of smoke, looking as
 relaxed as though he were sitting comfortably in his own
 home. It suddenly struck Sano that he actually didn't know
 where Saitou lived. It was doubtful whether he'd ever see
 it. Though his standing with the man had undergone some
 radical changes lately, and he still wasn't sure just on
 what footing he stood with him. Well, it didn't matter,
 did it?

 "It sounds a little too easy," he complained.

 Something suspiciously like the sound of an amused snort
 could be heard beside him. "With a man like Ritsumaki
 behind it you can hardly expect anything more. He's
 greedy, clumsy, obvious and unimaginative. That his crimes
 are ill considered and predictable can't be helped."

 The reply made Sano grin. "You wish they were more like
 Shishio so you could have something more challenging to
 sink your teeth into, huh?"

 Saitou did not reply to this, but by the wryly amused
 twitch of his mouth, Sano guessed that Saitou must have
 been feeling something along those lines. The man stubbed
 his cigarette out and stated calmly.

 "Quiet. He's here."

 About half a minute after he made this pronouncement, Sano
 heard the unmistakable sounds of leaves and twigs being
 disturbed by a group of feet. It wasn't long before the
 man himself came into view along the very same pathway
 they had used themselves.

 Of middle height and weight, the man had the look of every
 second businessman who could be found amongst the streets
 of the more modern Tokyo. The only signs of his affluence
 and prosperity in his appearance were his expensive
 western style business suit, and the polished leather
 shoes on his feet. His face held no particular
 characteristic or unusual feature that could distinguish
 him from any other of ordinary appearance. Sanosuke found
 his whole aspect to be somewhat uninspiring, and he could
 barely restrain his nose from wrinkling in disgust.

 The fact that Ritsumaki had brought at least 12 men with
 him only lowered his estimation of the man.

 "Glad to see you didn't keep us waiting." Saitou uncurled
 himself from his sitting position and leaned calmly
 against the arch of the gate. "I have no intention of
 dragging this affair out longer than it needs to, so lets
 get down to business. You're under arrest for organising
 and abetting murder and the attempted robbery of a
 temple."

 Ritsumaki began to laugh, his hoarse voice ringing out
 loudly against the sill of the night. The sound seemed to
 impress his men, who sniggered along as they formed a
 loose circle around the two, trapping them in front of the
 gate. Yet Sanosuke noticed clearly that the one showing
 the signs of strain was Ritsumaki, not Saitou. His laugh
 had a forced ring to it, and did not match his wide,
 nervous eyes. Saitou reached inside his coat for another
 cigarette, hardly seeming to notice the events around
 him.

 "Under arrest? Don't be ridiculous. You're surrounded on
 all sides, and not even your swordsmanship can save you."
 With a smirk, he clicked his fingers and as one, his
 underlings brought out guns from the folds of their
 clothing. "How stupid of you, to think your old-fashioned
 sword and code of honour can save you. They are a relic of
 a bygone era, just as you are. The new Japan belongs to
 those of us who move with progress rather than stick to
 outdated ideals. These weapons I've been acquiring are a
 case in point - you can't fight against them. Your lack of
 foresight would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic."

 Ritsumaki began to chuckle in the manner of a man tickled
 by his own joke. "Now, you can produce the map now and
 we'll let your young lover go, or we take it from both
 your dead bodies. Your choice."

 "Gimme a break," Sano snorted. His voice rang out clearly,
 laced with a healthy dose of contempt to go with it. To
 say that he was not a little alarmed wouldn't be true,
 because he couldn't imagine how Saitou planned to defend
 against guns, hadn't even known of such things being in
 the hands of civilians. But surely Saitou wouldn't be
 caught off guard. His quick glance at the man reassured
 him for the policeman showed not the slightest evidence of
 surprise. If anything, he looked bored. "Even if we needed
 to go along with that shit, you'd kill us both anyway."

 "Oh no, not at first," the politician taunted. "It will be
 an easy matter to shoot you in the legs and make you
 suffer a bit first." He nodded, a signal to which his
 underlings responded on cue by preparing their arms, and
 sneered at Mibu's wolf. "It'll be a pleasure to kill you."

 "As if you could ever aspire to such an honour."

 At exactly the right moment, Saitou made a negligent
 gesture with a hand, which produced a circle of uniformed
 police officers who stepped out of the woods as one, guns
 balanced on their shoulders and trained on the goons.

 "You think I have a lack of foresight?" Saitou queried
 with a faint sardonic smile as he watched their opponent's
 faces turn ludicrous. "You're such a fool. You let me
 choose our battleground like a simpleton and it was easy
 for me to prepare it for my purposes. You have no
 comprehension of tactics or the police's true knowledge of
 your activities."

 They were surrounded, outnumbered with nowhere to run.
 Ritsumaki's men eyed each other for an indication for the
 best course to follow. Consequently it only took one
 coward to surrender his weapon before the majority, one by
 one, followed suit. Those that didn't were swiftly dealt
 with. It didn't take long for the police to close in and
 round them all up.

 It was only a small scuffle that broke out amongst the
 captees causing a brief moment of disorder, which the
 strong arms of Saitou and Sanosuke easily brought under
 control. Yet a few seconds of inattention from a tired
 young policeman was all it took to allow Ritsumaki's
 escape from the net in the confusion and make a run for
 the temple gates. By the time he was noticed, he was
 slipping through the temple gates, and they shut with a
 bang after him.

 "Shit," Sano complained as he broke into a run. "Trust
 that little drip to cause more trouble. I've got better
 things to be doing than chasing after him again."

 "Yes, you do." Saitou grabbed Sano's collar and hauled him
 back ignoring his protest. "The temple of Iwaki has many
 rooms and by all accounts it's a rabbit warren. It'll take
 a while for him to find his way through to the opposite
 door, so it's you're job to run around and try to get
 there before he does. I'll pursue through the front."

 Sano nodded and changed direction, veering for the curve
 of the walls instead of the door. As annoyed by the delay
 as he was, he felt a kind of charge run through him at the
 responsibility received. It really felt like he and Saitou
 were working as a team, and the sensation gave him a
 ridiculously heady feeling. So he ignored his tiredness
 and increased his pace a notch, his feet thumping on the
 dirt path as his long legs carried him around the corner
 and down the side of the temple.

 All he could think of as he ran was the need to beat
 Ritsumaki there. His heart beat hiked up a notch as his
 sense of urgency increased. He was running at the top of
 his speed, and yet, to his agitated mind the distance did
 not close nearly soon enough. When his foot caught on a
 branch unseen in the dark, the resulting stumble felt like
 a catastrophe. By the time he was rounding the next curve
 of the house, his legs were shaky and his breathing
 laboured. He headed for the steps that led into a pillared
 alcove, from which, he suspected, the door ran.

 He was immeasurably cheered to see that there was nobody
 there, and the door was closed. In a sudden happy
 inspiration, Sano peered at the ground leading from the
 door and saw no footprints to disturb the surrounding
 area. It looked as though he was in time. With a relieved
 sigh, he made an obeisance to the statue buddha who gazed
 serenely down at him from it's post by the doorway.


                           ~*~*~*~

 The fallen politician Ritsumaki scuttled through the halls
 of the temple with the same panic of a rabbit pursued by
 hounds, taking a long and tortuous route in order to shake
 off his hunters. With a shaky hand he rubbed a hand across
 his sweaty brow and sneaked a nervous glance behind him.
 No sign of the bloodthirsty wolf behind him so far. Again
 he mentally cursed the interference of the famed Wolf of
 Mibu. Such a development he had never forseen when he had
 begun the quest for the treasure. The matter should have
 been simple and quiet enough, an uncomplicated means of
 funding his import of weaponry from the barbaric
 westerners, and yet that monk had been surprisingly
 resourceful, managing to reach the sister temple in Tokyo.
 And then, that damned gutter trash meddling in the affair
 which had instigated the interest of Saitou Hajime.
 Ritsumaki grimly promised himself a thoroughly satisfying
 revenge against the brat in the future when he'd lain low
 for a while.

 An unmistakably gloating smirk spread over his
 unremarkable features. That oh-so-clever former
 Shinsengumi, thinking himself so superior! Thinking he the
 only one to show any cunning! He'd show him --- Ritsumaki
 picked up his pace as he ignored two minor passageways and
 ran purposefully down a wide corridor. That cop would
 probably think that he was aiming for the side passages
 that would lead outside. He'd learn his mistake in good
 time, the man assured himself vindictively. The mental
 image of the policeman's utter humiliation and chagrin
 gave him a great deal of pleasure. It had been a very good
 idea to provide himself with a card up his sleeve. He was
 glad he had decided to go with it after all. And that card
 was conveniently waiting for him to play in the main
 prayer room. Just beyond that door…

 His hand was just reaching for the sliding door when his
 luck ran out.

 "Where do you think you're going, Ritsumaki?" It couldn't
 be said that Saitou Hajime walked into the room, rather he
 paced in on silent, deadly feet, the seasoned predator
 circling his quarry before the strike. "Your end is here."

 Ritsumaki turned with a sudden, unsteady laugh, his hands
 still clutching at the handle behind his back. "You think
 so?" he inquired. His voice was high and cracked
 pitifully, and yet he did not abandon his precarious
 confidence. "I don't. You see, I know something that you
 don't. I /have/ something that you don't. And it's waiting
 for me just beyond that door."

 Saitou made a contemptuous grimace and raised his sword.
 "You'll die before you can reach it."

 "Wait, wait!" Words tumbled out of his mouth in a frantic
 need to speak before he was killed. "Not so fast! I don't
 need to reach it, indeed I don't. I have a young girl in
 there, taken this morning as my hostage. It's my good
 fortune that this very place ended up being the fighting
 ground. She's tied, gagged and my secretary has a knife to
 her throat, and if you don't believe me, I'll prove it!"

 Not for a moment did Saitou lower his guard, but he did
 postpone his attack, and merely waited without a change of
 expression.

 Taking this as a sign of success, the politician relaxed a
 little and raised his voice. "Tanikawa! Ungag her and make
 her speak!"

 There was a little silence for a moment before a young
 girl's voice reached them, a call for help that was
 hesitant at first but ended stronger with distress and
 fear.

 "See?" Ritsumaki, all the while never taking his cautious
 eyes off Saitou, opened the door behind him to give visual
 proof of his claims and began to back up into the room.
 "Make one move towards me or the child as we leave and
 Tanikawa will slit her throat. Can you justify the end of
 an innocent life just to kill me? I don't think so."

 Ritsumaki's speech became slower and calmer as he felt the
 power returning to his corner. With this confidence he
 allowed his voice to slip into a patronizing drawl.

 "You see, I am successful because I know the right bait to
 use for different people. I know money wouldn't work with
 you, but an innocent life would. And I had the
 /foresight/," he put deliberate emphasis on the word, "to
 provide myself with a failsafe that is guaranteed to work.
 It's perfect!"

 Yet although he faced his opponent with the smug smile of
 a man who holds the winning hand, Saitou's expression was
 not chagrined as he fondly imagined it would be, but
 actually rather amused.

 "So few things in this life are, Ritsumaki," he murmured.
 "I'd reassess the situation if I were you."

 For one completely taken aback moment, the man just stared
 at Saitou in puzzled astonishment, then glanced over his
 shoulder and cried out in furious alarm.

 "Eheheheh. Surprise!" Sanosuke Sagara bounced the little
 girl clinging onto his back piggy-back style and grinned.
 "Bad luck, asshole. Your secretary," Sano kicked at the
 unconscious man at his feet with a certain callous relish,
 "wasn't up to the job so I took over instead. You've got
 yourself a great little actress here."

 Sano gave the girl's braid a playful tug and she giggled
 back.

 "What the hell----!?!? How the hell----!?" Surprise and
 fury chocked Ritsumaki so badly he could barely get his
 questions out.

 "Simple," explained Sanosuke with a touch of
 condescension. "I kind of wondered why you would run here
 into the temple, when you would've had a better chance of
 escaping by running into the woods, and so I figured there
 must be something here you needed. I decided to see if I
 could find it while you were occupied with escaping
 Saitou. Your, what, secretary guy was easy to deal with. I
 finished him off with time to spare."

 All Ritsumaki could manage was a small choking noise
 before he turned to face Saitou with the pale face of
 newborn rat.


                           ~*~*~*~

 Everything was dealt with quite satisfactorily.

 The unconscious criminal was taken under guard to prison
 with the remnants of his crew and the little girl
 deposited into the arms of a friendly officer charged to
 take her home.

 Saitou Hajime and Sagara Sanosuke watched the last of the
 policemen enter a carriage and begin the journey into
 town.

 "So what exactly where you doing prowling through the
 corridors of the temple when I gave you express orders to
 guard the escape route?" Saitou's voice broke the quiet.
 It was calm and inflectionless, but Sano was suddenly
 extremely glad to have an answer to the question.

 "No problem," he countered airily. "There was only one
 exit, and I blocked it with a big statue of buddha that
 was sitting outside. There's no way Ritsumaki would have
 been able to move it. With that blocking the back and the
 police waiting out the front, he couldn't have escaped."

 "Hn."

 Sano inwardly grinned. He was off the hook.

 "And how did you deal with Tanikawa?" The question had the
 exact tone of a craft teacher testing his student on the
 correct procedure to make a pot. Sano wondered whether his
 answer would pass.

 "Huh? Oh, it was pretty easy. I heard voices coming from
 the room so I stayed to listen. I heard that wimpy looking
 guy telling the little girl to shut up and stuff so it was
 pretty easy to see what was going on. I thought the best
 thing to do was lure him out away from her, so I stood
 outside the door and screamed. I thought that would get
 him curious," he explained with satsifaction. "And it did.
 He stuck his head out the doorway to see what was going
 on, and I knocked him out. That's it."

 "Hn."

 Sano smiled up at him challengingly. "Come on, I did good.
 Admit it!"

 Saitou shrugged and replied, "Passable. Crude, but
 passable."

 Sano drew in a deep breath, ready to make a blistering
 counterpoint to the opinion until he saw the gleam in
 Saitou's eyes. The bastard was baiting again, just waiting
 for him to lose his temper.

 Well, I'm not going to give him that pleasure.

 With great difficulty he restrained his ire and replied
 pointedly, "It worked and that's all that matters. Where
 would you be if I hadn't rescued that little girl?"

 "Exactly where I am now, idiot."

 This was probably true, but Sano didn't feel the arrogant
 bastard should get away with that so easily.

 "Oh yeah? How exactly?"

 "I could have created a distraction any number of ways
 which would have engaged their attention long enough to
 acquire the girl. I have done so in the past. Acquiring a
 hostage is not an original tactic no matter what Ritsumaki
 wanted to think."

 "My way was a lot easier," Sano muttered.

 "You were useful," Saitou allowed. "It makes me hope that
 keeping you on the payroll might not be a mistake after
 all."

 "Gee, thanks," Sano responded ungratefully. "I take it
 that that's your way of saying I got the job."

 "Yes. Given that you actually showed signs of brain
 activity there, it leads me to hope that you'll be
 educable."

 Sano smiled sweetly and silently vowed to get even for
 that later.

 "What's happening about the carriage? How are we getting
 home?"

 Saitou raised an eyebrow. "Forgotten about the treasure,
 have you?" He reached into his pocket and drew out the
 map. "Judging by this, I'd say it's quite close. I
 instructed our driver to come back late in the morning,
 which gives us plenty of time to acquire it and get some
 sleep."

 Sano quite casually walked up, grabbed the map out of
 Saitou's hands and deliberately threw it over his shoulder
 like trash, never once breaking eye contact with the tall,
 sexy, enigmatic man.

 "Can't you think of anything better you could be doing
 right now?" he asked meaningfully. "I haven't forgotten
 what we were doing before we got interrupted. Have you?"

 Saitou was silent for a long moment before he grabbed
 Sano's chin and stared down into those gorgeous,
 expressive eyes with a definite suggestion of a smile.

 "Your priorities are different from most other people's,
 hyoko."

 "Whatever." Sano grabbed onto Saitou's belt and pressed
 himself flush against the older man's body with complete
 abandon. Everything about him felt wonderful - the solid
 flesh and muscle, warm and exciting under the fabric of
 his uniform, the smell of soap, sweat and cigarettes. He
 rubbed himself against the man a little, enjoying it all.
 And when Saitou's arms came around him, encircling his
 waist and pulling him closer, Sano felt he'd died and gone
 to heaven. "Saitou, /now/!" he breathed urgently.

 Saitou ran his gloved hand through Sano's hair and laughed
 softly. "Let's take this inside, idiot."