Sweet and Sour

SWEET AND SOUR

Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Rurouni Kenshin - the anime, the manga, the man, or the actual historical personage he might have been based on. If you see other characters in this story who’ve already bcopycopyrighted by someone else, it\'s probably safe to assume I don’t own them either.

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Saitou counted more than a dozen empty jugs on the table beside him. How long have I been here? He returned his attention to the man sitting on the other side of the table. \"Get lost.\"

Making an obvious effort, Sano pulled his gaze away from the game in the back of the room. Saitou could tell he was itching to play, but the idiot stayed put. \"Soon as I finish this jug.\" Sano grinned, taking another swig of sake. \"What’d ya fight about?\"

It had been such a stupid fight. He’d come home and found Tokio sitting on the corner of their neatly-folded futon, staring at nothing.

\"Why are you sitting in the dark?\" he’d asked.

No answer. He went to the window, lit the small lamp that rested on the sill, then removed a cigarette from his shirt pocket and touched the tip to the newly-kindled flame.

For the first time since he’d entered the room, she looked up. \"Please don\'t.\"

\"Why not?\"

\"It…\" she bit her lower lip. \"…it makes me nauseous.\"

His brows pulled down sharply. \"Tokio, I’ve been smoking since you’ve known me.\" Again, no answer. Saitou sighed, sat down next to her. \"What?\"

Her head snapped up. \"Isn’t it enough that I’ve asked you not to? Why do I always have to explain myself to you?\"

\"Tokio, what the hell is th-\"

Tokio threw herself back onto the futon, refused to look at him. \"Saitou. Please.\"

I’ll go out and smoke for a few minutes, and when I come back in, we can talk, he’d thought. But when he’d come back into the house, she was asleep. When he awoke the next morning, she was gone.

I should have stayed until she told me.

\"Know where she went?\"

\"Mother’s.\"

\"She do that a lot?\"

\"No.\" Never. No matter what the problem, Tokio had never retreated, never refused to talk to him before. He’d seen her angry, indignant, proud, stubborn, fierce; he’d never seen her like this before. She’d looked afraid. Defeated.

\"Then how d’ya know she’s at her mother’s?\"

\"She left a note.\"

Sano raised an eyebrow skeptically. \"Oh, right.\"

\"Stuff it, ahou.\"

Sano shrugged. \"I’m not the one who’s missing a wife.\" There was a raucous cheer from the back of the room – someone finally having a little luck with the dice. The younger man tapped absently on the table top. Tap. Tap tap TAP. Tap tap.

\"I went there last night.\" Saitou leaned heavily back against the wall and closed his eyes, raw and puffy from lack of sleep. Why did I tell him that?

Sano didn’t seem to find anything odd about Saitou’s confession. \"She still mad?\"

Saitou hesitated. \"She... apologized.\"

\"Apologized?\" Sano looked down at his hand, seemed surprised to find a sake jug there. He tipped the jug up and peeked inside, as if he might find the answer to his question inside. \"Then why’s she still there?\"

\"Don’t know.\" I still don’t know what we were fighting about. Or why she seemed almost afraid when she opened the door and saw me there. It was her fear that hurt the most. What did she think I was going to do?

Sano shook his head, and the empty jug fell into his lap. \"No matter how much I drink, I still don’t understand women.\"

\"Hmph.\" For the first time in my life, I think I agree with you, ahou. There was a distant throbbing in his temples, faint, but building. I’m going to hate myself tomorrow. Maybe even more than I do right now.

Tap tap.

Tap.

TAP tap. \"What’d it say?\"

Saitou willed his eyes to open, turned his head to the right until Sano’s blurred face became visible. \"What?\"

\"The note.\"

\"Her brother’s sick.\"

\"Naro. I know him. Gambles with the crowd at Hansu’s.\" Sano nodded. \"Decent guy. He lent me a few mon last week.\"

Saitou rolled his eyes. \"Is there anybody in Tokyo you don’t owe?\"

\"Nope.\" Another commotion from the back of the room, and Sano pushed himself up to a standing position. \"So he was there?\"

Saitou blinked. \"Who?

\"Naro. Your wife’s taking care of him, right?\"

Now that Sano mentioned it, Saitou didn’t remember seeing Naro at his mother-in-law’s house. Only Tokio. If Tokio was supposed to be taking care of Naro, where was Naro? Saitou hauled himself to his feet, swallowed queasily. \"No. He wasn’t there.\" He paused for a moment, adjusting his balance to accommodate a floor that seemed to be undulating gently. \"Thanks, ahou.\"

Sano flashed Saitou a lopsided grin - or was the room just tilting?

\"Any time.\"