Okay, I will explain now that the suprise is over. Yes, Saitou Hajime had a wife named Tokio (which is mentioned in the anime) and a son named Tsutomu (he actually had three children, although their names slip my mind right now-Tstumo is the oldest of the three and considering he's, like, three years old, you can simply infer that the other two haven't been born). If you don't believe me that Saitou Hajime has three children, the oldest being Tsutomu, look it up for yourself (like I did-in more than one place at that!); it's historical fact. Anyways, as for his relationship with his wife or his children, I'm really not sure what it was like historically or in the anime. However, this is just my interpertation of how I think the Saitou from the anime would be like with his family! So, R&R!

Meanwhile, Tokio had pulled out a box and opened it for Saitou to see. In it lay the severed hand of some sort of creature. And on one of its fingers, a ring-the symbol of Saturn.

"Another symbol…"

"Another?" Tokio questioned her husband.

He nodded. "Yes. There has been Mercury and Uranus…Saturn, too, all three related to a murder in Kyoto. This is the second time I've seen Saturn."

"But what does it mean then?"

"I don't know," Saitou began. "Mercury is the messenger. Uranus and Saturn were the message. From the information I gathered, Uranus is the anarchist, and Saturn in the bringer of sorrow, the one who deprives, or often portrayed as the Grim Reaper." He then looked to his wife. "How did this come to be here, though? You didn't mention it in your letter."

"A couple of nights ago," Tokio began. "I heard something in the house. It may have been one of those black ghosts after Tstumo as they seem to have been after the other children; I couldn't tell in the darkness. But it had the ring, that I know. But it attacked and I cut off its hand. It ran after that. There's more than that, though." She pulled her kimono off her shoulder to reveal a black scar on her flesh.

"This is like the wounds on the man from Kyoto…"

"And on the animals that have been found dead here in the village," she added. "I've never seen any wound like it."

"Neither have I until recently."

"There's something else with the ring," Tokio now began. "I tried taking it off the hand, but when I tried to touch it, it burned my flesh. She showed him her scarred fingers.

"So that's how they burned the symbols into their victims," Saitou realized.

"I'm afraid that whatever this evil is, it isn't human," Tokio then said. "It's something much more frightening."

And Saitou glanced at the hand and at the silver ring that glistened red.

"Rooster-head, why don't you like my daddy?" Tstumo asked curiously, sitting opposite Sanosuke on the grass.

"I never said that…"

"You seem to not like him; you said he wasn't very nice."

"Well…" Sanosuke frowned and looked up toward the clear sky, bright with the afternoon sun shining down on them. "Why doesn't your daddy like me then, hmm?"

"My daddy likes you, Rooster-head."

"He does?" Sanosuke asked in surprise and Tstumo nodded.

"He thinks you're funny," he explained.

"Oh; you mean he likes to make fun of me," Sanosuke asked and Tstumo grinned wildly, nodding his head and bursting into giggles again. Sanosuke sighed. "You know, I think you ought to listen to your mother more often; she's a lot nicer than your father."

"Are you married, Rooster-head?" Tstumo then asked unexpectedly.

Sanosuke's face turned red. "Why would you suddenly ask me a question like that?"

"Because my mommy and daddy are married."

"So? Of course they're married," Sanosuke answered. "Mommies and Daddies are supposed to be married."

"Then you're not married?"

Sanosuke smiled and answered, "No, I'm not."

"Why not?"

"Well…because," Sanosuke said, sitting up straight. "I don't know, really."

"Is it because you're a rooster-head?" Tstumo asked with a giggle.

Sanosuke grinned and said, "No, it's not because I'm a rooster-head."

Tstumo giggled. "You're funny, rooster-head."

Sanosuke then leaned forward and examined Tstumo closely. "Are you SURE Saitou's your father?"

Tstumo giggled once more. "You're weird, Rooster-head."

Suddenly, a black shadow was cast over them, and Sanosuke looked up in puzzlement to see a black mass looming over them, almost like a black ghost, a white mask over its face. It had one of its arms outstretched, while the other arm lay by it's side, blood dripping from the wrist, no hand to be seen. Sanosuke blinked a few times, unsure what to say or do as he continued to sit there, staring up at the strange creature.

"The…ring…" the creature hoarsely whispered. "I must…have it…"

Sanosuke stare up at it in even more of a shocked puzzlement. "Ring…?"

Both Tokio and Saitou could hear the sound of their son screaming. Each gasped and looked to each other, before running outside to see what was the matter. They stopped, a look of horror on their faces at the sight of the demonic black ghost, or so it was called, with the white mask, bathed in the bright sunlight of the afternoon. It's fingers were around Sanosuke's throat, digging into the sides of his neck, his other arm dripping with dark blood. "The ring…" it wailed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sanosuke managed to choke out, trying to pull at the fingers that gripped tightly around his throat while his feet dangled just above the grass. The creature just tightened his grip around Sanosuke's throat; Tstumo was bursting with tears.

"The ring!" Tokio gasped, before darting into the house.

"Tokio!" Saitou called after her. He then glared forward and stepped in front of his son, drawing his sword. But before he could say anything, Tokio appeared again, box in hand.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" she questioned, throwing the box to the grass. It opened, the creatures hand tumbling onto the grass. Spotting it, the creature released Sanosuke, Sanosuke falling to the grass, coughing and gasping for air as he rubbed his neck. The black ghost then floated across the grass, leaving a trail of black death behind him, and to where the hand laid.

"Yes…the ring…" it whispered. The arm that lay on the grass began to shake as the grass turned black. Then it rose, a mass of darkness pulling the arm to the black ghost's shoulder and it was soon attached to it's owner. The ring of Saturn glistened red on the black ghost's finger. It then turned it's head toward Tokio with a wail. "You're the one…who dare…" Tokio narrowed her eyes and raised her chin, but kept her lips tightly shut while Saitou raised his sword defensively. He then looked down at his hand that he just received, slowly turning his wrist about. "The Reaper will not come for you, though…but the others will serve his justice."

With that the black ghost vanished, the black mass sucking into a small sphere of darkness and then becoming nothing all together. Tokio breathed a sigh of relief as Tstumo ran past his father and up to Sanosuke, pulling on his jacket and crying worriedly, "Rooster-head! Rooster-head! Are you all right?" Sanosuke nodded, still rubbing his neck.

Meanwhile, Saitou's eyes turned fierce and he whispered to himself, "Others…?"