Standard disclaimers:
I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Watsuki and some big name companies do.

Author's comments:

This chapter will clear a lot, not everything! Please comment, if I missed 
something or if
it is confusing. I put a lot of work into this chapter, it is an important one! 
I hope 
that I didn't take the story-line to far, putting things together.

I appreciate honest critics, but please be gentle, I'm sensible! I need feedback 
for the 
next chapters, please tell me if something has to be rewritten.

ON WITH THE STORY:
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Despair and deception, love's ugly little twins
Came a-knocking on my door, I let them in
Darling, you're the punishment for all my former sins

I let love in

The door it opened just a crack, but love was shrewd and bold
My life flashed before my eyes, it was a horror to behold
A life-sentence sweeping confetti from the floor of a concrete hole

I let love in

Well I've been bound and gagged and I've been terrorised
And I've been castrated and I've been lobotomized
But never has my tormenter come in such a cunning disguise

I let love in

words by Nick Cave ('I let love in')

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CHAPTER11: 'TAKLING' WITH SAITOU 


WARNING: OOC maybe, a bit mushy maybe (for my taste)


I knelt down opposite of Hajime, breathing deep, concentrated on the following 
talk. How 
to start? This would be tough and hard to explain.

I had prepared some tea and we had settled down, in a comfortable position, 
facing each 
other, the small tray with the tea on it between us. He lightened a cigarette, 
it wouldn't
be his last one.
"What do you have to tell me so seriously, urgently?"

I searched for a good beginning, there was none. How much did he already know? 
Best would 
be to start with the 'small accident'. I sipped a last time on my tea, set it 
back on the 
table.

"Hajime, I don't know where to start. But this little show was put on stage by 
Yoshinori 
Masahiro. You know him, I spoke with him on my way back from the bathroom after 
the 
meeting with the Matsudaira." I watched him carefully, furtively with 
half-closed eyes. 

Would he admit it? He took a deep drag, flicked away some ash, exhaling the 
smoke, I 
wasn't able to spot a reaction. I decided to take it as an admission that he 
eavesdropped 
on the conversation between Yoshinori and me.

"My father worked for him in Osaka. In Shim-machi." I couldn't tell him 
everything! There 
are secretes and given promises. I shot another furtive glance at him, no 
reaction, he 
waited for me to continue. 

"He just put it on stage to speak with me, without you around. He called this a 
'small 
accident', Hajime!"

"That sounds unbelievable, Tokio. No one will put something like this on stage 
just to 
talk with someone."

I sighed deep inside, showed no emotion outside. I had to tell him who Yoshinori 
really 
was. Only a few people knew it and telling it to outsiders was the 
death-sentence. But 
what mattered now? He would try to kill Hajime anyway.

A promise is a promise. I couldn't break a promise I had given. Bushido.

Honour, betrayal, justice. Yoshinori betrayed the ninjas, their ideal, believe.

I would betray my own way by telling Hajime who Yoshinori really was.

A promise is a promise.

An obligation is an obligation.

I simply couldn't tell him.

"He is obsessed and nuts. He wanted me to be his wife, but I refused. One week 
after my 
clear refusal my parents were killed. I told you already, he was the one that 
came back in
time to help me out. I think his assassins did more than he ordered them, he 
killed them."

I paused a bit, how to explain the motifs, the personality of someone who was 
obsessed?

"He told me that with the death of my parents this bond between my father and 
his friend 
would be invalid, I would be free to marry him. But I refused again, I 
distrusted him. Did
he really murder my parents? I had no evidence. Would he go this far?"

I sipped on my tea again. Hajime waited for me to continue.

"Yes, I'm sure now, seeing the 'small accident'. I'm pretty sure, that he will 
try to get 
me back. He is not a person being stopped by a husband who is in his way. I 
realised by 
now."

"You said a shuriken hit you." He watched me with half-closed eyes. I could have 
imagined,
he already figured out.

I closed my eyes, concentrated.

A promise is a promise.

I couldn't oppose my way.

Life or death.

I would have to tell Hajime, I would have to break my promise.

"Hajime?"

He looked up, indicating me with a slight wink of his hand with the cigarette in 
it to 
continue, some ash fell to the floor.

"I have given a promise not to tell. I'll break my promise now, that's not easy 
for me, 
but I think we have no other chance. Promise me, you will tell noone."

"Go on."

"He is the leader of the ninja-group of Osaka-jo. I'm breaking my promise, 
because I think
he betrayed the ideals of a ninja and used his group for his own purpose. I 
think he used 
his group to murder my parents. These shurikens are really traitorous, I 
recognised it at 
instant. He tried to persuade me that they acted without his permission, but I 
don't 
believe him."

Hajime raised an eyebrow, I was not able to figure out how much he already knew 
and what 
he was thinking.

"That's a serious accusation."

"You've seen the scar in my shoulder from the shuriken. It was one of his group. 
I had no 
chance to ask one of them, he killed them before I was able to ask one 
question."

"You mean he killed his own followers for his own purpose?"

"Yes." It was really a serious accusation.

"That's unbelievable."

"You saw what he put on stage this morning. I told you, he is obsessed, nuts."

"Why did he organise this little show?"

"He used my dislike of crowds to trap me. He gave me a French paper for 
translation after 
the meeting with the Matsudaira-sama, he wanted to know if I finished it. You 
have seen 
it, it is a trading contract between a French and a Japanese merchant in 
Nagasaki. But I 
think the real reason was our doctor's visit. He wanted to know, why we have 
been there, 
if he finds out, his lip will flip, for sure. The translation is not everything 
he wants."

"I told you to stay close to me." How much did he really knew?

"I wasn't able to. My father said the same to me back in Shim-machi when my 
brother was 
killed, Yoshinori knows about that. I was completely distracted by you saying 
that. A 
mistake, I admit."

"What happened in Shim-machi?"

"My brother tried to protect the daughter of a brothel-owner. She was threatened 
by some 
men who tried to rape her. He loved her dearly, I can't remember her, I was too 
small, only
five years old. He just got his katana from our father, it was only two months 
ago! He was
just fifteen!"

I closed my eyes, remembering the sight.

"Anyhow, he had to leave his swords at home to enter the district, this bastards 
had 
smuggled some daggers inside. He was only fifteen, but he was murdered, trying 
to protect 
her. All I remember is him lying in a pool of blood in the centre of the street, 
I was too
small to really understand and realise what had happened. I was terrorised by 
this crowd, 
by all the people pushing me aside and ripping me away from my father. Then I 
found my 
brother, half-dead. Since then I have a aversion against crowds. Yoshinori knows 
about 
this. He knows everything about me. He watched me growing up, he was my big 
brother after 
Michinori was killed."

I had to pause, remembering me growing up with him. I had never thought he would 
go this 
far. This was one of the greatest betrays in my life. My parents murdered by 
someone who 
was a big brother for me and I was the reason.

"Go on."
He indicated with a slight wink of his hand to go on, I decided to tell him more 
of my 
background. He might already knew.

"My parents decided long before I was born, that they would only have two 
children, a son 
and a daughter. They didn't want to have a second son who would be a ronin for 
sure. After
my brother was killed, my father decided to raise me in his way. Bushido. He 
started with 
the serious training when I was seven years old. He wanted that I can defend 
myself, he 
knew, I would always have problems because of my origins. My parents decided to 
teach me 
reading and writing despite the fact that it is not common. You know that, 
Hajime. It is 
not necessary for a wife to be educated. To learn fighting, reading, writing or 
even a 
foreign language including it's writing. But I'm different, Hajime. I have the 
feeling 
that you respect me for what I am and I thank you for that." 

I needed some tea, this was tougher than assumed.

"Anyhow, Yoshinori watched me growing up. When I was about fifteen he started to 
tell me, 
that he loves me. I was buttered up, I mean, you might have seen him, and gave 
in. But he 
pressed me more and more, I felt uncomfortable having him around, he wanted to 
be too 
close for my taste. He asked me to marry him. I refused, my parents got killed."

What happened then? What else is of importance?

"I'm afraid he was about to set a trap, to get my consent to marry him when this 
marriage 
meeting came up. He was in Nagasaki at that time, the happenings occurred too 
quick for 
him to be back in Osaka before I left. The marriage was quite quick arranged. I 
have the 
feeling that Kondou-sensei is behind this, he knew my father."

"What about the trap you mentioned concerning Nagasaki?"

"He contacted me after the meeting with the Daimyo to ask me to translate a 
trading 
contract between a French and a Japanese merchant. I'm afraid he arranged it and 
the 
French merchant has to do something with my mother's family. I think he wanted 
to use it 
to force me to marry him. He only left for Nagasaki to contact someone in 
Dejima. When
he heard about the marriage I had already left for Kyoto and was married. He had 
no chance
to be back in time."

"How good is he?" I knew he meant Yoshinori's education.

"Perfect."

"His fighting style?"

"He is the one that trained me in shuriken-jutsu and using the kunais, he is one 
of the 
best ninjas I ever met. He knows every little move of my father's school and I'm 
pretty 
sure he knows everything about you by now. But I hope he knows nothing about my 
training 
with Soushi. I changed my style a bit. I don't know if it is enough to defend 
against him.
I bought some shuriken and kunais at the swords-smith yesterday. The 
swords-smith you 
followed me to on the day of the marriage meeting."

Would he admit it? I didn't spot him, it was pure speculation. He was pretty 
good in what 
he was doing.

"Using them might be a possibility to wound him, to distract him. I have the 
wakizashis 
and a dagger,.."

"Tokio, you stay out of this."

"What?"

"You said, he will try to kill ME. So stay out, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I doubt you will be able to defeat him alone, you know nothing about him, his 
technique."

"You can tell and show me."

"I doubt that we have enough time left."

"He is perfect?"

"Yes, I think I am his only weak point. He is obsessed, believe me. He is a 
perfect 
psychologist. If you have a weak point, he will find it, for sure. He will use 
it, 
definitely. Without mercy. He will try to provoke you, and he will try to hurt, 
distract 
you with words before he kills you. Be on guard! Please, Hajime! I don't want 
you to get 
killed by him. Please, believe me, he means nothing to me!"

"I heard that, Tokio." My god, he admitted it?

I pushed the table aside and approached him, reached out my hand, touched his 
cheek, 
forced him, to look in my eyes
"Hajime, from the moment on I meet you in the street, something deep down inside 
attracted
me to you, I don't want to lose you."

He reached up to take my hand 
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

I was a bit irritated "You never asked, Hajime."

He took me in his arms, pulled me close.

"Hajime?"

"I feel fear, please, help me."

"I'll protect you, Tokio. You are not alone."

He placed a kiss on my forehead, holding me tight, comforting me.

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I knew, Yoshinori is a bit overdrawn. Please note, that he is obsessed.
His brain won't function normal. The traps and incidents he puts on stage
are in this fic to indicate that.

Ja ne,

Mara