Chapter 1
"Good morning, Miss Kaoru. It's going to be a beautiful day, that it is," said Kenshin.
Kaoru looked up at the red-headed man with the innocent smile she saved only for him. Just as Kenshin had sat down to breakfast, Sano and Yahiko arrived in a bickering thundercloud. Kenshin smiled to himself. He seemed to have acquired some strange, boisterous friends in his time as a wanderer. Kaoru payed the unabashed exchange of insults between Sano and Yahiko no mind- it was, after all, routine.
"Can't believe you keep calling me a kid!"
"I can't believe you think I look like a rooster! That's the dumbest thing I ever heard! If anyone around here looks like a rooster it's you- and a little one at that! I mean, your hair is just so spiky..."
"I am NOT LITTLE!"
"Ah, so you agree with the 'rooster' part, then?"
The argument ended with the arrival of the morning meal. It is hard to throw insults when one's face is being continuously stuffed with food.
After finishing up his breakfast- Sanouske was still trying to fit three rice-balls into his mouth- Kenshin turned to Yahiko and asked ever so earnestly, "Will you be training with Miss Kaoru this morning?"
"What sort of question is that, Kenshin? Of course he'll be training this morning," answered Kaoru before Yahiko had the chance to swallow his rice ball, "and this afternoon," she added, pointedly looking at her pouting student.
"Hey, what do you think I am? Your slave? Can't a guy have some time off?" whined Yahiko.
"Well if you want some time off from your training you can clean the dojo, do the laundry, fix the roof..."
"Alright, alright, training it is then," replied Yahiko before his master could come up with any more fantastic ways for him to spend the day and resumed eating his breakfast with a newfound chopstick technique- jabbing with vigor.
Kenshin smiled to himself. It was a typical morning for the strange group of ragtags and even though it was hard for them to show it in a 'normal' way, they were all very fond of each other. Their odd friendship had grown to be very strong over the past few months. They'd all been through a lot together, and in some cases, against each other.
Kamiya Kaoru had first met Himura Kenshin in Tokyo while she was looking for a man who claimed to have been killing people by using the Kamiya-Kasshin style- the style of her father. As Assistant Master of the Kamiya-Kasshin, Kaoru would not allow her family's honour to be smeared. Needless to say, the red-haired wanderer helped Kaoru put an end to the man's dishonor. After that, Kaoru insisted that he stay with her, at lest for awhile, not caring that he was once the Hitokiri Battousai- one of the most feared men in Japan during the revolution.
Yahiko was found attempting to pick-pocket Kenshin, who didn't scold Yahiko for his wickedness. He simply smiled and chided him gently, with the kind rurouni smile on his face. As it turned out, Yahiko was the ophaned son of a samurai with nowhere to go and enslaved to men holding him under a false debt (of which Kenshin freed him from, of course). Naturally he became the first apprentice of the Kamiya-Kasshin and lived at the dojo with Kaoru and Kenshin.
Sano was the least welcoming find, formerly Zanza- Fighter for Hire. He carried the largest sword ever crafted and wore the symbol for 'bad' on his back. He was hired to kill Kenshin. Luckily for Kenshin, Sano wasn't accustomed to fighting manslayers. Luckily for Sano Kenshin uses a reverse-blade sword. After taking a few moments to understand Sano's reason for fighting and Kenshin's vow to never kill again, they became very good friends. Sano has remained closely tied to the Kamiya dojo ever since.
Kenshin sipped his tea in quiet complacency, recalling those happy moments, a slight upturn of his lips never far away. Nest to him Sano had Yahiko in a headlock and a stream of colorful insults streamed out of the kid's mouth made Kaoru spout off a list of chores he would have to do in addition to his training if he didn't stop pestering Sano.
"Hey! If you don't want me pestering Sano then maybe you should stop feeding him! He's here like a stray dog and if you keep feeding him, he'll keep coming back," retorted Yahiko.
"I dare you to say that again, kid," said Sano as he tightened his arm around Yahiko's neck.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you, ya freeloader. All you do is eat and gamble-"
"You know something? That reminds me- I promised a buddy of mine I'd help him with somethin' after the dice rounds today. I'll see you guys later..."
Sano absentmindedly released Yahiko adn unfolded his tall, limber frame from the floor and headed out the door, not bothering to close the shoji behind him. Yahiko proceeded to gasp for air. Kaoru sighed and began picking up the dishes. Kenshin stopped her, taking the empty rice bowls from her hands.
"Do not worry about these, Miss Kaoru- this one will clean the dishes."
"Thanks, Kenshin. Yahiko," Kaoru shouted, "get up! We've got a lot to get done today!"
"I can't believe I'm learning swordsmanship from a girl...and an ugly one at that..." muttered Yahiko as he picked himself up off the floor.
A vein in Kaoru's temple began to throb. "What was that, Yahiko?"
"Nothing!"
"Ugh!"
Once again, Kenshin found himself smiling to no one in particular as Kaoru chased Yahiko outside with her bokken, both still exchanging insults. The wanderer shook his head and made himself busy with the dishes, mentally making a list of the chores he needed to get done today. It was just another ordinary day.
It was near evening when Sano finally returned, sporting a good sized money-pouch that resonated a metallic clinging noise. He looked fairly pleased with himself, large grin notwithstanding. Just as Kenshin announced he was going to get dinner started, Sano stopped him.
"No need, Kenshin. Tonight we're going to the Akabeko- it's on me." The fishbone hanging out of the side of his mouth bounced animatedly up and down as he spoke.
"Well, it loks like this was your lucky day, Sano, that it was," smiled Kenshin. Sano had been betting and losing for an unusually long time, lately.
"You bet it was! Where's Yahiko and the Missy? Still practicin'?"
"Miss Kaoru left a little early today to take care of something in town and left Yahiko to clean the dojo. Sessha thinks he's still at it."
"Well let's get moving, I'm starved!"
Sano and Kenshin walked around to the dojo and poked their heads through the shoji. Yahiko was there, alright, but he definitely wasn't cleaning. Instead he was curled up against the far wall, still clinging to the damp cloth that was normally used for cleaning the training floor. Kenshin let out a sigh.
"He should be grateful that we found him and not the Missy- she'd be furious," chuckled Sano. "Hey, kid, wake up, we're going to the Akabeko!"
Yahiko stirred a bit, but didn't wake. Grumbling, Sano pushed the shoji all the way open and sauntered over to where the kid was slumbering. He reached down and picked the kid up by the collar of his gi.
"C'mon, kid, I'm starving."
"Hey, just what do you think you're doing, Rooster-head?"
At the sound of 'Rooster-head', Sano promptly dropped him. "Fine, no dinner for you."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I was waking you up so we could hurry and get to the Akabeko, but I'm beginning to think we should just leave you here..." said Sano as he made his way to the door.
"Wait up- I'm starved!"
"Thought so..."
The three made their way to town and bumped into Kaoru as they were about to reach the Akabeko.
"Kenshin! What are you all doing here?"
"Sano is taking us all to the Akabeko for dinner."
"Sano? Did he rob somebody today?" exclaimed Kaoru with a speculative smirk.
"Hey! I won this money fair and square, Missy!" retorted Sano.
Kaoru scoffed. "With your bad luck?"
Sano pouted, his fishbone sticking stubbornly out of the corner of his mouth. Yahiko chuckled. Still pouting, Sano turned his back and continued on to the Akabeko.
Once they were seated, Miss Taetook their order and called Tsubame over for some tea.
"Tsubame-san, why don't you bring them some tea?" called Miss Tae in her sweet rural voice. Tsubame looked up from where she was taking an order from another customer and smiled. "Mow Mr. Sanouske, are you planing on paying off your tab any time soon?"
"As a matter of fact, Miss Tae, I was planning on doing just that tonight," said Sano, obviously pleased with himself.
"Well, Mr. Sano, that certainly is a nice surprise."
"It thought it'd be." Sano leaned back against the wall, hands behind his head. Miss Tae smiled, shaking her head at Sano's usual nonchalant behavior, and left to greet another customer.
"Thank you for taking us out to dinner, Sano" said Kenshin with his rurouni smile.
"Don't mention it."
Not long after their food had arrived the teasing and laughter broke out. And it wasn't just then either- all the customers at the Akabeko seemed to be hin good humor. But Kenshin couldn't seem to get his mind off something. Kaoru looked at him curiously, trying to decipher the rurouni's expression.
"Kenshin, is something wrong?"
"Sessha does not think so, but this one is senses a strong ki nearby. A warrior's ki. Sessha is fairly it is coming from the customer at the back table where Miss Tsubame was taking an order before she brought us tea," replied Kenshin. "Do not worry, Miss Kaoru, this one is just paranoid.
"Don't you think your paranoia has saved your life on numerous occasions?" Sano pointed out.
"Yeah, if it wasn't for you being so uptight all the time, we'd probably all be dead by now," piped Yahiko between mouthfulls.
"Tsubane?" said Kaoru just as the young girl was walking past them, "Who'd the customer at that back booth?"
"Oh, I don't know, I've never seen her before. Why do you ask Miss Kaoru? Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no, Miss Tsubame. There's nothing to worry about," Kenshin assured her. Tsubame left with her tray of dirty dishes in hand, but Kenshin didn't take his eyes off the shadow of the thin rice-paper of the back booth. There weren't many people with that strong of a ki who could be so subtle.
Just when Kenshin was about to avert his eyes, the shadow behind the rice-paper wall stood up to leave, but not before placing a few generous coins next to the empty rice-bowl. The figure emerged from the booth, her face clearly visible.
She was definitely a warrior, of sorts. She wasn't dressed in a kimono, but rather a warrior's garb, entirely in black. Her feed were bare, save for the black bandaging around her heels and ankles. The same sort of bandaging was on her hands and forearms as well as (from what could be seen from beneath her gi) her chest and torso. Two kodachi were strapped to her back, a katana and its accompanying wakizashi to her left side, and a pari of sai were strapped to her obi.
Her dark brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail in the same style Kenshin wore his hair in his days as a manslayer. He caught just the slightest glimpse of a dark forest green from her impossibly dark eyes as she walked past them to leave. Despite her frigid, imposing appearance, she was quite beautiful. She made not a sound as she moved.
Her face was neutral, expressionless, but her sharp features seemed to soften as she gave a slight bow to Miss Tae and Tsubame as they passed by her to a table of rowdy, drunk men who were steadily becoming more and more out of line. One of the men grabbed Tsubame's wrist and pulled her indecently close, but before Kenshin could get there, the strange woman already had the drunken man on the ground with his arm twisted cruelly behind his back.
She spoke in a soft, clear voice. It reminded Kenshin of the sound of summer rain. "My advice to you, sir, would be to never touch a woman without her expressed permission. It would serve you well to remember that." And in one fluid movement, she had flung him into one of his drinking buddies.
Tsubame, in spite of her shock, managed a "thank you". The woman nodded and gave Tsubame the smallest, warmest smile Kenshin had ever seen, then she turned and left.
"Kenshin? Do you know her?" asked Sano.
"This one... does not think he knows her..." But there was something inevitably familiar in the woman's dark green eyes...
Ordinary day indeed.