Yahiko:
“Are you sure this is OK Kaoru? I know he wouldn’t be OK with us snooping around his place.”
“It’s not really Saitou’s place anymore is it?” She looks at me funny, “Besides, you got full access to his place at the Row Houses and he didn’t seem to mind.”
Placing a finger in my ear I tilt my head a little, “Well he needed a lot of help. He didn’t even fix the lock.”
“Hmmm. He was a mess, I heard.” She suddenly grins at me, “And you’re naturally good at “picking” locks.”
My eyes go a bit wide at her, “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I was a former pick pocket! Not a lock picker!”
“SSShhhhh!!! Yahiko.” She says in a hushed tone, “We’re not supposed to be here remember? Be quiet! Someone might hear you.”
Letting out a sigh, I go ahead and close the gates. She’s not quiet herself but I don’t want us to get in trouble. “Fine… Come on.”
We cross the garden and Kaoru looks around and sighs. “I don’t know what these flowers are but it’s a shame, they’re mostly wilted.”
“It -is- winter. Stupid.” I utter under my breath and pull out from under my shirt the turtle and look at it.
“Oh! Why did you bring him?”
I look at her and tilt my head, “This is his house.” I walk over to the makeshift pond and set the turtle down, “You can catch some sun, if you don’t like the water.” But honestly even the water looks murky I wouldn’t blame the turtle if he didn’t want to take a dip.
“You know, for a really bull-headed boy, you’re awfully sweet.”
“Shut up.”
She laughs. “Let’s go inside.”
“I really think it’s a bad idea… What if they find out?”
She stands by the door and looks back at me. “Then wouldn’t that be a good thing Yahiko?”
“A good thing? You’re going to start a fight, remember when Kenshin went to the other house and met with Saitou’s wife? He even took back some things.”
“Well I’m -not- Kenshin.” She opens the door and peers in, “And we’re not going to take anything. We’re just going to tidy up a bit. That’s no different to what you’ve been doing at Saitou’s place.”
“I’m not tidying up after him!” I rub the back of my neck, “Besides there’s hardly anything in there to tidy up. The wolf just goes there to sleep.” And get wasted, but I kept that to myself. I look around and it does look like they left in a hurry. The pillows are in disarray. The dishes are still at the sink. Uneaten food left at the table and the kitchen door ajar. I can start here… But what does the rooms look like?
“I guess that’s it.” I wipe the sweat from my brow.
“Now can we go?” Yahiko asks a little annoyed.
I nod my head slowly and look around.
“So what are you waiting for?”
“Don’t you think they should’ve been back by now Yahiko?” I frown and decide to sit down on the red sofa.
“-What are you doing?-” Yahiko places his hands on his hips. “I know we don’t have a sofa at the dojo but we got to leave this place Kaoru!”
“I know… But can you open that shoji door Yahiko? I feel a little…”
“Fine…”
He goes over and opens the door wide open and the nice cool breeze of winter comes in along with the light and I can’t help admiring the view of the blue sky framed by a treehouse and not far from it a small pond and vegetable garden. Too bad the flowers are all wilted.
“I can imagine them sitting here, enjoying the view. Watching Makoto-chan with her brother… Maybe even Yagi-san or even Saitou holding their youngest watching from this sofa or the engawa.”
He comes over and flops down on the sofa. “Well I’ll say this, this sofa is awfully comfy. I bet one can fall asleep on this so easily.”
I smile. “I can see that. In fact, now I can even see Saitou lying down on Yagi-san’s lap.”
“Geez. I really don’t like that image. I didn’t like it when Misao and Kenshin told me about that cop lying down on Buddha’s lap or at least that’s what they thought about Tokio.”
“Did you ever meet Tokio?”
“Nah. It seemed our paths never met but she sure kept meeting with Kenshin, Hiko and you. I wonder what she’s like?”
“She was pretty.” I smile at him, “She seems intelligent too. But it was very hard to know what she was thinking.”
“How was that other house? Was it bigger than this one? Nicer?” Yahiko seems to have settled comfortably on the sofa no longer wondering when we’ll leave.
“It was bigger. The walls were higher I remember because Kenshin had to jump over them… Usually.” I let out a sigh, “Was it nicer than this one? It’s been so long but it seemed darker, more mysterious. Not open like this one.” I laugh, “But you know I think we only went there when the skies were dark or at night.” It was an odd time in our lives and must’ve been for them as well.
“Honestly, I thought Saitou’s house would be much nicer than this. This looks too simple you know?” He shrugs, “The way Saitou acts like a big shot. You’d think his house should at least be…”
“Now that’s not very nice Yahiko.” I look at him disapprovingly, “Even Kenshin says Saitou is not corrupt and I think this abode shows that. If he was corrupt he’d have amassed a lot of money and satisfied his wife and Yagi-san.”
“His mistress you mean.”
I let out a long sigh, “-Please-. Try to think before you speak. That’s very rude even if they can’t hear.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right.” I look at him a little surprised but he now has a more thoughtful look on his face. “You know Kaoru… Yagi-san must’ve meant a lot to Saitou. That man was a mess when he got thrown out of this house.”
“Thrown out?” I blink, “Yagi-san would never… Besides I heard he left on his own.”
“Oh.” He blinks surprised, “You’d never think that the way he was acting. But do you know where they are now Kaoru?”
“No. I heard from Kenshin, Saitou didn’t want any involvement from him or Aoshi. That man is so stubborn, he won’t let anyone help.”
“But how about the rest of them?”
I shake my head, “I don’t know where they are. I assume she probably went to Kyoto where she’s from. Someone was after them, or rather I hear, Yagi-san specifically.”
“Then I don’t think they’d go to Kyoto. That’d be like inviting trouble to her own kin.”
“I guess you’re right. So that only leaves…” I look up, “But Yahiko, I can’t imagine Saitou letting go to Aizu. Tokio would be there. I’m worried about Yagi-san.”
“Of course you are. You don’t have any woman friends… except for maybe Misao-chan.” He laughs a little at this but I can’t help but frown.
“I wish we could help somehow…” I look down at my hands, then around in this room. It didn’t escape me when we were cleaning up that someone threw away an old sword guard. It looked familiar to me so I put it back on the table. Then the other room, likely the girls room was at least a bit more organized, unlike Yagi-san’s room where her clothes were all peeking out from the dresser, while the closet too was in disarray. It doesn’t help that Yahiko found a set of uniform, hat and gloves tucked away in the tansu of this tatami room. Such is the state of this house, a reflection of their displaced lives.
“And all we could do was clean up. I hope they’re OK.” Still I wish we could do something or at least knew where they were. Does Kenshin know? No he’d have told me already. How about the master? He said they were acquainted.
“Stop moping.” Yahiko nudges me to look across to the pond, “See that turtle? He’s feeling right at home here. Already took a dip and now having his sun bath.”