Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X characters. I do reserve the rights to all OCs

Author's Note: Welcome! I'm having so much fun with Okita & Co in Changes in Friendship, that I thought, I just have to use them again (even if I am far from done over there). For any of my readers coming over from the Bakumatsu, please leave your swords at the door and take a seat by the stereo.

I'm about to shake things up.

The Arrangement - 01

Pressing his back against the glass door that had just closed behind him, Okita Soushi exhaled slowly. Within an instant, his bags and coat were whisked away from him by the servants, presumably to be set in his room, though he hadn't a chance to inform then he wouldn't be staying long.

He had been called home for an urgent matter. Or at least that's what he had been told. His mother had called him several times, but he hadn't found the opportunity to return the phone call. It wasn't until someone showed up at his doorstep did he realize he should have made time. She was his mother after all.

Having been assured that she was in good health and that none of his sisters were in danger, Okita found himself less worried (he had spent the entire plane trip ripping up any piece of paper he could get his hands on) and more exhausted. New York to Tokyo was no easy flight and not having slept the entire time, well, it wore on a person.

Despite his personal wants, his mother's summons came first. It was the least he could do after not keeping her first priority.

Pulling himself away from the door, he made his way through the halls of the house he had spent his childhood. 'House' might have been the wrong word. Labyrinth would have been a more accurate term. Though the house spanned over two acres of land itself, it was a mere one story in hight and had more halls, passageways, and conjoined rooms than he could count. It had made hide-and-seek a lot more interesting, he remembered fondly.

When he arrived at his mother's office, he knocked gently on the doorframe. She had left the door open, having been told of his arrival, and before he could enter the room, she stood from her writing desk and hurried over to embrace him.

"Oh Shoushi!" she cried, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I was so worried you wouldn't come."

He gave her a warm smile and took her hands in his. "How could I deny my only mother?" he asked.

She took back her hands and with a sneaky grin that lit up the crows feet by her eyes, gave him a light swat.

"You've been ignoring me," she chastised. "I believe the purpose of a phone is to answer it."

Okita let his fingers travel absently to the breast pocket of his black suit jacket where his phone rested against his heart. Yes, that's what it was for.

"I'm busy, mother," he said, "and the time difference can be very difficult to work around."

She laughed and perched herself on the desk. It wasn't even nine in the morning. "Busy? Do you have a girlfriend?"

He felt his cheeks warm. She was teasing him. She always did. He was the only son, and the youngest of her blood children. He was her baby and she never let him forget it. Not even now, at twenty-three, would he be able to escape her affectionate torture.

He didn't mind, really. He loved his mother and he loved his sisters, as much trouble as all the women might prove to be. He was grateful to have been raised in a loving and close knit family. They were an influential family, even if they weren't overly active in any sort of corporation or political movement. The Okita family preferred to stay out of messy business, out of corruption.

Or so they had fooled the world.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Okita said as he plopped himself down in an armchair, "American girls are scary."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it would work. The reality was that he never paid much attention to the opposite sex. He was so involved in his work that he never really considered the dating world and his lack of participation in it. Besides, American girls never looked twice at him. They were so set on the image of a football player or a rock star that a petite foreigner like himself hardly stood a chance.

It was better that way.

His mother sighed, her demeanor losing its jovial aura. "That's good," she said quietly.

Interest piqued, Okita sat up. "Mother?"

She smiled at him wistfully. "I don't want you breaking any hearts, Soushi."

He smiled back, as he always did, but he sensed that something wasn't quite right.

She sighed again and drummed her nails against the wood, not looking at him. "Your father's death has left our family in poor standing," she began. "There has been a lot of talk."

"I haven't heard anything," he mused.

"No, you wouldn't have. We are not an overly active family so it is unlikely that any news pertaining to us would cross over into the States."

It was true and he suddenly felt guilty for not reading up on his country's news. He had gone to America with a purpose and having been so intent on fulfilling it, he had mistakenly abandoned his roots as well.

"Your father's death is now under investigation," she told him, biting her lip to hold back the tears that formed in her eyes, "They're calling it murder now. They believe that he was involved in-that someone wanted him-" she couldn't bring herself to finish, but she didn't have to.

Okita sat before her, shock and confusion smeared across his face.

"But father was... it had been an accident," he whispered.

That's what they had been told. Two years ago, Okita Katsujiro had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hell, the driver had witnessed it.

"They-they're calling it first degree murder!" she burst out before losing her composure completely. Okita rushed to her side, pulling a hankie from his jacket, and wrapping his arms around his mother's shaking body.

"He had no enemies!" she wailed. "He was a good man! A good husband, and a good father!"

Okita began to rub her back, letting her sob into his shoulder. Yes, his father had been a good man. But then again, so was he. That didn't make the secret they both shared any less sinful.

He had not been surprised at this accusation, even if he had to act the part for his dear mother. What had surprised him, was that she had been left in the dark all these years.

Okita Katsujiro truly had been a good man.

Pulling away from his mother, Soushi wiped her cheeks of the moist paths her puffy eyes had created.

"Don't you worry about a thing," he said quietly, "I'm home now. We should have the girls over for dinner tonight, hm?"

She laughed, fanning her eyes. "You really want to deal with them after your long flight?"

He grinned at her, "If I can deal with you after my long flight, I believe I can handle the antics of Mitsu and Kin."

"And your little sister?"

He inhaled through his teeth in mock uncertainty. "I'll think about it."

She had resumed her seat behind the desk again and, using a tissue to dab at her eyes one last time, she handed him a magazine.

"Do you recognize that girl?"

Okita accepted the issue and laughed out loud. "The supermarket tabloids? What is this?"

"Do you recognize her?"

He looked down at the front cover. The woman pictured was a small thing, rivaling his youngest sister in size. Her hair hung over her shoulder in a fishtail braid and her smile, no, her smirk was rather intriguing. It was as if she knew exactly where the photo would end up. She knew the games they played and she encouraged it. There was a fire in her eyes and the invitation was unmistakable.

Do your worst.

"She looks. . .familiar," he replied.

"Her name is Shousha. She is the elusive daughter of the Yamata family and heir to their fortune, much to their distress."

Okita regarded this lightly as he flipped through the pages of the scandal book. She was everywhere! Walking her dog barefoot (Yamata family loses everything!), standing on ledges of bridges (Yamata heir attempts suicide!), and even having a drink with a friend (Shousha's cry for help: I'm an alcoholic!).

"She doesn't seem very elusive to me," he mused, finding a rather charming shot of her on the arm of what appeared to be her beau. Upon closer inspection of the man, the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

His mother sighed again. "To the public, no, she is not. However, Kanako and Mori have lost control of her and seem rather desperate.

Looking up, he smiled. "That's a shame. She's cute. She should be married by now, especially with such a huge company to succeed."

He began to put the magazine back on her desk. "I'm going to sleep for a while. Will you have someone wake me for dinner?"

She laid a hand over his to stop him. "I am not through with you, Soushi. I have something very important to ask of you so please listen carefully."

Eyes wide, he nodded for her to go on. She seemed like she was the one who was desperate.

"It pains me to have to request something so serious of one of my children, but it is the only way, I'm afraid."

Moving to kneel by her side, he tilted his lips up encouragingly. "What is it? You know I would do anything for you."

She smiled back, though her eyes didn't. "Your father is being investigated for criminal activity. Mob activity. If.. if they reach that conclusion, we will lose everything, including our reputation. Your sisters and their families will be shamed and there will be no one to take us in.

"You, Soushi, are the only hope we have." she stopped, closing her eyes. "The Yamata family has reached out to me, to us. They are a very powerful family and they are in debt to your father. They can clear our name with a single phone call. There is only one condition."

Though her pause was meant for her to gather the courage to place the family's burden on her only son, Okita took the opportunity to laugh. Standing, he swiped the tabloid from the wooden surface and held it up, waving it lightly.

"I need to get married, don't I?"

Her jaw hung slack for a moment. How could he react so casually? No, this was expected. He had always taken everything so lightly, why had she thought that marrying him off would upset him? No, she hadn't been worrying for him, she had been worrying for herself. Her two oldest daughters had married happily. Her younger, adopted daughter had little interest in dating, focusing intently on her college studies. She had always hoped that Soushi would fall in love as his sisters had and start a wonderful happy family. She never wanted to see his smile falter, or his spirit waver.

But an arranged marriage? He smiled about it now, but she could not guarantee his lifelong happiness and as a mother, that terrified her. How could she live with herself if she allowed, no, requested, he live out the rest of his life wishing there was someone different by his side? He accepted this insanity because he wanted what was best for the family, regardless of his own life.

There was a light tap on the top of her head that drew her out of her musings. She looked up at her son, smiling brilliantly as he always did, with the rolled up magazine in his right hand.

"Please don't worry, mother," he said cheerfully, "I believe this is a good thing. If anyone can tame the she-beast," he jabbed his free thumb towards himself with a grin, "it's me."

She found herself doubting him then. He was far to gentle and Shousha, from what she had read, and what Kanako had told her, was reckless, irresponsible, and had a distinct disregard for authority. Also, if what the tabloids and gossip programs said were true, she was currently dating a man nearly ten years her senior. A notorious white collar thug. A scoundrel under the rouse of revolution.

Katsura Kogoro.

xxxx

Author's Note: And that concludes the first chapter! I'm pretty excited about this, how about you? I do want to have a Saitou/Tokio parallel in here as well, but I haven't really fleshed anything out for them. I've been tossing several ideas around and none of them are really sticking in my head, so we'll just have to see what happens! Thanks for reading; see you soon :)