Kenji was vaguely uneasy as he sat in the office and waited.
Two days ago, this man had come to the dojo asking to speak to his father, Kenshin, but the samurai had already been out of the house to attend to a favor owed.
Kenji's mother had not greeted the tall, slender man in an entirely friendly manner. The young samurai had heard enough to know that the man wanted aid with a task of some sort. A task that required a man of fighting power.
Which had lead to his presence in the office of Saitoh Hajime, who stared at him in a manner that seemed to resemble that of a wolf sizing up a deer.
"I was planning on speaking to Yahiko next," Saitoh noted coolly.
"But you said you wanted people that wouldn't be noticed," Kenji protested. "My father, Yahiko, Sanosuke, my mother....they're all famous enough that someone in the Shura-Shiai had to have heard of them. Your plan would fail."
"I don't see how my plan would benefit from sending an untried whelp," Saitoh noted, hiding the calculations he was making.
Indeed, an "untried whelp" would be the more usual sort of martial artist to take up the Shura-Shiai. The problem was one of whehter or not he could trust said whelp to do the job and not be distracted.
"I have my mother's training," Kenji protested. "And that of Yahiko Myojin."
"But you have not applied that in battle," Saitoh noted.
"My father was younger than me when he fought as the hitokiri," the young-man remarked. "And Yahiko when they contested with the Juppongatana. And they were both untried at one point."
Saitoh appeared to think it over for a while, waiting until it looked like the boy was about to make another argument for letting him take part in the assigment, and then he opened his mouth.
"You are seventeen years old," Saitoh noted. "You are old enough to make your own decisions. Fine, then you'll need to know what I am asking of you...at least, in part."
Saitoh smiled as the boy celebrated.
That was one gambit that had succeeded, though it would likely cause him some trouble from Kenshin when the man returned from the West.
****
"I am home, that I am," Kenshin called out as he slid open the door. He had noted the laundry was not up outside and immediately felt something was off, but kept his suspicions to himself for the sake of his rescuee. "I'll cook us some food as soon we see my wife."
He found her in the dojo looking forlornly at the tournament honors they had gained from matches with other samurai houses. She looked up to see Kenshin and then down at the purple-haired child next to him.
"Kenji left," Kaoru said grimly. "He's going to the Shura-Shiai for that...man."
Kenji's mouth turned down in an low frown that had never met anything good in the past. Kaoru only referred to one person as "that man" with that partiuclar tone of voice.
"I'll speak to Saitoh," he promised, his voice trying to keep his normal level of calm.
At least, however, it had been his son's own choice to do this. He did suspect that Saitoh had done some manipulation to acheive that result, but it still sounded like it had been Kenji's choice.
Kaoru nodded and looked down to Jiraiya.
"Who's this?" she asked.
"This is Jiraiya, yes it is," Kenshin said. "I rescued him from some kidnappers."
"Why didn't you take him to his home then?" Kaoru asked.
"Because he doesn't remember where that home is," Kenshin said seriously.
"Sorry, lady," the young boy said, shrugging his shoulders.
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(Posted Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:04)
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