"If you have no idea where to go, then won't you live with Himura? A 'young married couple' is more decieving than a "young single man". I don't mind if it's just for cover-up. Take care of Himura..."
Korogou watched at Himura and Tomoe walked quietly away into the night. It wasn't till later evening that Korogou puzzled over Kenshin's words. He was only a boy when he joined up with them, and yet he took to being married to Tomoe easily. There was something in his voice that he was missing. Himura didn't let much about himself get out, but then Korogou had learned to listen very well. He was looking over his records and was going to make a note about Himura's married status when he noticed something. Next to the boy's name was his birthday, June 20th, 1849. This year was 1864, which made Himura 15. He could no longer call him a boy. Genpuku, the day when a swordsman was considered to be a man. 'This boy had seen more blood in his childhood then any man twice his age.' Korogou made notes in the record book about Himura's age and marriage. Then sighed to himself, as he closed the book. 'Only a man who has seen so much blood could live as he does. Most are of my age or older, and he is so young. What happened to him to cause such a rift. I would puzzle it more, but we need his strength as a hitokiri more then my guilt of destroying his young life. We have no time for such things as Genpuku.'
The scent of flowers blew into the room, that's when Korogou remembered that Tomoe was with Himura. 'That girl had secrets to, and a past almost as dark as Himura's, they would suit each other or kill each other.' He tried to focus his thoughts back on stragety and planning what the next step was, but Himura had a way of staying in his thoughts. Perhaps it was his age that made him like a son to Korogou. He trusted him more then any of his other men, and perhaps it was because of Himura's youth and innocence. It was his dark eyes that kept other men away, Korogou choose to watch from a distance. Tomoe would hold him as a scabbard for his sword. So young and so close to the edge, they both were like that. Korogou still remember seeing the boy when he had been only thirteen on a training field with a quiet look on his face. He's training showed in a single swing of his blade and the post sliding apart. The other men had lost their innocence in pleasure dins, and with saka, this boy was to be the perfect killer. Would Himura wake up, now that he was a man and realize what he has been doing. It was for the right cause, but blood poured on blood doesn't heal a wound. Tomoe would be there when he woke up and she would be the one to calm him. 'If only she can.'
'I'll send Iidzuka with a message for Himura in a few days. If it's timed right it will arrive on the correct day. He will understand it, and I won't have to explain it to Iidzuka.' Korogou scribbled out a note for Kenshin.
From the time you chose the path of the sword to here, remember all the battles that appeared in your life. The battles you saw with those eyes, the battles you heard about with those ears, and the battles you started yourself.
He then sealed the note. 'No otanjobi omedeto for Himura. I can't send him a gift or make things better. The only thing I can offer for now is a peaceful life until he is needed as the Hitokira again.'
...For five months Kenshin was left to a peaceful life with Tomoe. He was able to have for a short time a normal life, without bloodshed.
Korogou then had word who the traitor was, and quickly finished him off. It didn't surprise him to see Himura stand before him again. The scar on his face had been changed to two, the second one Korogou learned was added by Tomoe. 'They did end up kill each other.' It was an internal statment of fact. The man before him was not the Himura he meet almost two years ago, and he wasn't the Hitokiri who left into the night. He was the perfect killer, and he would be used as such. Himura Hitokiri Battousai...
v1.0 - I was reading Jan Story's of Kenshin turning 15...It didn't seem right. Then I consulted my time line. Kenshin turned 15, on 20th of June in 1864. That would be right after the Gion Festival and the Ikeda-ya Affair (June 5th), when he left with Tomoe... So I decided to try something.
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