The letter arrived from Hiroaki at noon, the second day of June. I had just started to settle in with my job in the TMPD and nothing of significance had been assigned to me ?EURyet-. So for the past few days I’d rush home in the afternoons for no reason in particular, aside perhaps from boredom. Tokio was expecting our first child but it wasn?EUR(TM)t to a point yet that she could not do well on her own. Perhaps, I was just bored at the Precinct and just in case something ?EURdid- happen, I should be here at this temporary house.
I re-read the letter once again as I sat in front of the desk in our room. It looks like I shall have to go to Akashi?EUR? It is fortunate that today is my day off… How long since that time Hiroaki turned me away? Of course with the developments, there is no other choice but to pay my respects. I am surprised he knows where I am living now, how did he manage to keep up with myself through all the residence and name changes for more than 13 years? I should leave now and be back by the afternoon. Rising, I head to the kitchen where I find Tokio boiling some fish broth?EUR? Standing there for a moment, I consider whether to take her on this short trip. No?EUR? It will be uncomfortable for both her and I, so I just tell her I?EUR(TM)m leaving and will be back soon.
The driver is slow so I content myself with watching Mt. Fuji at the background. Passing through the fields where some farm hands worked, I am reminded of two people who surpassed being a samurai?EUR? In a way, we are the same of course?EUR? To be truer than a blue blood samurai, to follow the code of Bushido?EUR? Those days seems archaic at best, but the principles can be applied then and now. I should not forget.
The carriage stops by two sets of long stone stairs. I have arrived quite a bit later than I had expected?EUR? As I walk the steps, it seems like the blood in my body rushed all to my head. It was here that I first killed a man?EUR? The son of a direct retainer to the Shogun. Foolishness indeed when I drew my sword against him, all because of pride?EUR? Perhaps I would?EUR(TM)ve been lost that day had it not been for the Shinsengumi?EUR? Perhaps I would not be walking these streets had Kondou not found me that night escaping from my hunters.
I hear the Tamagawa river as I near the end of the stairs. A long river that snakes it way through most of Edo?EUR? One that connected Akashi to Tama and now to my temporary home at the heart of the Tokyo. I made a detour to watch it from a cliff. The large stone rock is still there?EUR? Perhaps when my child is born, I shall take him here to go fishing?EUR? or if a girl I shall take her to watch the turtles. Searching my pockets for the pack of cigarettes, I light it up and leaned on a nearby tree?EUR? It was here that I had felt free a long time ago. Such thoughts though are just memories and should be left at that to make way for the new. Under the shade I look across the horizon, the sky is a light blue so different from those days of the Bakumatsu when it was pitch black. Suddenly, I had this uncontrollable urge to laugh?EUR? Of course! Of course! It was black back then for most of the times I patrolled and spied were during the night and sleep came at day! Sometimes I think I am truly an idiot.
With a grin I leave the place and proceeded to my elder brother?EUR(TM)s house, enjoying the tobacco until I was right in front of the gates. Putting it out under my boot, I proceed to knock loudly. Will he be happy to see me? Should I wipe this grin off my face at such a time like this?
?EURoeIt?EUR(TM)s you?EUR??EUR? He says as he looked me over. Always were the discerning one?EUR?
?EURoeHai.?EUR? I answer with a shrug and a grin.
?EURoeHow have you been??EUR?
?EURoeI think you know the answer to that already Nii-san.?EUR? I tilt my head to look at him.
How the hell did you find me?
?EURoeI?EUR(TM)m glad you came ahou.?EUR?
?EURoeIt?EUR(TM)s not like I had a choice.?EUR? I grin back at him as I hear the familiar greeting.
?EURoeCome in and say goodbye to Katsu. Her body will be cremated tomorrow.?EUR?
?EURoeOf course.?EUR? I follow him inside?EUR? Although my disposition has improved greatly at our meeting, probably because of my preparations earlier?EUR? My sister has passed away without a word between us when I had left or rather thrown out. Perhaps we were never really close, but there are times when blood is thicker than water and as the realization came that I had spent so much time away from here, I cannot help but feel a tinge of guilt as I raise the senko and offer a prayer in front of the Butsudan. It is a little early, but I must return soon to Tokio.
The afternoon passed in silence between Hiroaki and I, interrupted only when I was introduced to Katsu?EUR(TM)s husband, Toshiaki Soma and the four children, then finally to Hiroaki?EUR(TM)s wife and daughter, Yuki. In these occasions, I am not predisposed to small talk?EUR? Really there was nothing I could talk to them about, being estranged has that effect I think, so I confined myself to sit in Seiza beside the altar. It is amazing what one can learn in so short a period of time, when one listens instead of blabbering about oneself. Apparently my brother in law is an assistant to the Tokugawa clan in Mito?EUR? And Hiroaki himself has done well enough to be employed in the Tax Bureau?EUR? His head has always been better with numbers rather than with a katana, perhaps that is why Chi chi had taken the time to drag me to his classes and learn swordsmanship. I had always thought that irked Hiroaki quite a bit?EUR? Perhaps that is why up to this day he calls me a moron?EUR? an idiot?EUR? an ahou. Instinctively, I reach for my cigarettes once again and flicked a match, these family gatherings are not to my liking just as usual.
?EURoeAhou! Don?EUR(TM)t smoke in here!?EUR? He exclaims and nudges my shoulder. ?EURoeGo outside?EUR??EUR?
?EURoeTch..?EUR? Normally, if it had been anyone else I?EUR(TM)d stay where I?EUR(TM)m at just for spite. However, things have been going quite well this afternoon so I humor him and stand right outside the door. He follows and looks me over with a disapproving look on his face. Ah so it will start now?EUR? The nagging, the guilt trips and all the things that we were not able to settle when he had thrown me out.
?EURoeWhen did you start that nasty habit??EUR? he asks.
I shrug and inhaled long and deep just to annoy him a bit more before finally replying, ?EURoeNone of your business.?EUR?
?EURoeOh really? It must be stressful to work for the Tokyo Police.?EUR?
My eyes narrow at him wondering how the hell he could?EUR(TM)ve known. There are no tell tale signs and I am not even dressed in my uniform. I could ask?EUR? But then he?EUR(TM)ll probably hold it over my head and feel superior as usual.
?EURoeDid you finally settle down??EUR?
Again I choose not to reply to that one. He chuckles. ?EURoeI pity the poor soul who?EUR(TM)ll make that mistake.?EUR?
Hiroaki is looking for a fight again. As usual, just like when we were younger?EUR? But there is a difference now, I am not as weak as he thought before. ?EURoeMind your own business?EUR??EUR?
?EURoeIt?EUR(TM)s a pity?EUR? Only the dead can bring us together like this.?EUR? He looks up and sighs. I turn back for a moment to see Katsu once again just laying there.
?EURoePerhaps?EUR??EUR? The words came out quietly, but really what I wanted to say was something more cynical. Death also tears a family apart. Those words though do not come out of my mouth?EUR? They are nothing more than old memories and I now have a new life and child to look forward to. ?EURoeI should leave.?EUR?
?EURoeWill you come for the funeral tomorrow??EUR?
?EURoeIie. I have work to do.?EUR?
He makes no motion to stop me as I head for the gates. As I closed them, all I could hear was some unintelligible remark with the usual ahou at the end. I shake my head and leave with a grin on my face, quite different from the last time I left when I was nineteen. Perhaps people do change, even someone as stubborn as Hiroaki.
OOC:
Senko ?EUR incense sticks
Butsudan ?EUR altar
Hiroaki ?EUR Saitou?EUR(TM)s older brother (real), yes he did work for the Tax Bureau and had a daughter named Yuki
Katsu ?EUR Saitou?EUR(TM)s older sister (real ?EUR although I?EUR(TM)m going by memory and am not 100% sure if this is his sister?EUR(TM)s name, but I think this is correct) ?EUR Her husband Toshiaki Soma and children are also real, although I can?EUR(TM)t remember if four children is accurate.
Mito ?EUR a place (in this case) but was also one of the clans who were supportive of the Bakufu. Serizawa Kamo also came from this clan.
Akashi ?EUR place of origin for the Yamaguchi family (Saitou?EUR(TM)s family) – place is still in Edo (now Tokyo)
And yes Saitou Hajime did kill someone outside the realms of Aku Soku Zan when he was nineteen before joining the Shinsengumi
And as usual blending fact with fiction. LOL