The young woman starred in disbelief at the tall white haired man. "Yukishira Enishi," she gasped. She couldn't understand what he was doing at the Kamiya Dojo. It had been a little over a year since Kenshin's crazy brother-in-law had been arrested, escaped prison, and then vanished from there lives for what everyone hoped would be forever.
The last time he had come, he had cast her life and the life of Kenshin into turmoil with his horrible plans for Jinchuu against his sister's murderer. He had started by blowing up the Akkabeko, before kidnapping her and making Kenshin think that she was dead. In the end, the red haired rouroni had been able to stop him, but it had nearly cost him his life. Of course he had saved her life too.
"Kamiya Karou," the tall man rasped. He leaned against the frame of the dojo's front door heavily as he said her name.
Karou's horror at his arrival faded away as she took in his tattered appearance. His normally wild white hair was dark with the combined forces of blood and dirt clinging to it. His usually tanned face was thin and worn with exaustion. His aquarmarie eyes were bloodshot and surrounded by dark bags. His clothes was torn, covered with blood and dirt, and hung on his bruised form effortlessly. In his arms he held a small bundle of magneta cloth.
She stepped foreword. "Let me help you," she said quickly. Whatever had happened in the past would have to be ignored for now. He needed her help, and had even come looking for it, or at least she assumed that he had come looking for either her help or the help of Kenshin.
He stared at her hand suspiciously for a moment then sighed heavily, exhaustion dulling his senses. "Arigatou," he said softly. "I didn't think that you would help." He stepped foreword, teetering on exhausted limbs.
Karou hesitated then placed one small hand around his back and led him into the dojo. Yahiko was working at the Akkebeko and Kenshin was delivering some medicine for Dr. Gensai in Hokkaido so she was all alone with the tall man. But where should she put him? Kenshin and Yahiko wouldn't take kindly to having someone sleeping in their beds, would they? That left her bed, the rest of the bedding was outside dripping wet and hanging on the clothes line.
"Arigatou," he whispered again causing her to jump slightly. She slid open the door to her room and led him inside. She flipped the futon open with her foot and stared at the clear white sheets for a moment before leading him back outside and to the bath house.
"You're going to have to get cleaned up a bit first," she told him. "Then you can rest and tell me what happened."
He pulled away from her, swaying slightly, before placing his hand on the wall to steady himself. Karou looked him over quickly, and after seeing no serious injuries pulled the door open and stepped outside. "Matte!" she heard him say, but ignored it for the moment.
'He'll need something clean to wear,' she thought. She realized that all of the clothes at the dojo would be to short on the tall man. Kenshin, Yahiko, and herself were all rather short, and that meant they didn't have long clothes lying around. Sano, the only tall member of the Kenshin-gumi, had left his clothes there in the past, but Karou remembered sending it home with him early that day, and she didn't think lending Sano's clothes to Enishi was a good idea anyway. 'Maybe some of the practise uniforms will be long enough,' she thought. Nodding slightly she opened the door to the storage shed and began to rifle through the boxes, looking for a gi and hakama that would fit the tall man.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Enishi stared at the closing door in shock. "Matte!" he exclaimed, but Karou didn't appear to hear him. He sighed, running his hands through his filthy white hair and glancing at the steaming bathwater. The bath had been prepared before he got there and was just cool enough not to scald his skin as he slipped into the water. 'She was probably going to take a bath,' he thought.
The water was quickly clouding over as weeks of dirt and blood pulled loose from his body. It reminded him in many ways of his purpose in life. For the longest time it had seemed so simple. His only goal, the only thought that could survive in his head, had been his revenge on the man who had killed his sister, the Hittokiri Battosai. He'd kept that goal in mind with crystal like clarity.
Then rapidly the his purpose had became as muddled as the water. In many ways, the Battosai was like the dirt that clouded the bath water, only he was much, much worse. He had made Enishi doubt himself to the point where he couldn't see his purpose anymore.
Once again Himura Kenshin had ruined his life. Only this time he didn't know how to put it back together again. He glanced at the magnata bundle that was moving on the floor. 'It's all his fault,' he thought again venomously.
A giggle emerged from the bundle, dispelling his anger and leaving his mind more clouded then every. 'Damm you Battosai,' he mentally cursed.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Karou had finally found a practice gi that would fit Enishi. It had taken a while, but that was okay. It had given Enishi time to get clean. She tapped on the wooden door lightly. "Yukishira-san," she said softly.
She heard the shifting of water from inside. 'He must just be getting out,' she thought. "I brought you some clothes so you don't have to wear those dirty ones anymore," she said.
The door slid open, a squeaky clean Enishi standing with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Arigatou," he said, excepting the clothes then closing the door.
Karou stood in front of the door for a moment, then remembered her food. She had decided that she should try her hand at cooking again and had started some miso soup several minutes before Enishi had arrived. She quickly hurried to the kitchen hoping that her food wasn't going to be inedible.
She clearly remember Enishi's dislike for her food during her stay with him. Inwardly she had known that his opinion shouldn't count in her mind. He had, after all, kidnapped her, but hearing the words come out of his mouth simply echoed the words of others. And she knew that most of them were right. She couldn't cook a decent meal, but at least she tried.
The soup stared back at her without black smoke billowing around it. She smiled in relief and dipped the wooden spoon into the soup, stirring it rapidly before bringing a sample to her mouth. It was spicy and bitter, the same as it always was. She sighed and set the spoon down.
"Still can't cook, I see," Enishi said from the doorway. The baby blue gi he was wearing set off his eyes, causing them to glint brightly, but without the insanity that usually resided in them. He stepped foreword, his bare feet slapping against the ground, reminding Karou that she hadn't gotten any socks for him.
Choosing not to respond to either his comment about her cooking or her lack of thought in his clothes, she decided on a safer more informative response. "Why are you here, Yukishira-san?" she asked pleasantly.
The tall man avoided her gaze, suddenly becoming interested in his finger nails. It was then that Karou noticed the magneta bundle was still cradled in his left arm.
"What's in the bundle?" she asked. He didn't look like he was going to answer her other question, so it was safe to assume that she could question him about something else.
If anything, the question seemed to make him even more nervous. "Its . . . why I came here," he said with some hesitation. His eyes flickered to hers, and he flinched slightly before looking away.
"Well?" Karou prompted. "What is it?" She stepped closer, peering at the bundle closely. The magneta fabric looked strangely familiar. She was sure that she had seen it somewhere before. She reached out to touch the fabric, then screamed in surprised terror as a tiny fist clasped her fingers.
Enishi laughed. "Yeah, that was my response too," he said. Using his free hand, he pulled the fabric away from the top of the bundle.
A tiny face stared intently at Karou's finger before sticking it in it's mouth and sucking on it. "It's a . . . a. . . . .a . . . " Karou stammered. She couldn't identify the small being that was sucking at her forefinger.
"It's a baby," Enishi supplied quickly. "Like I said, I didn't believe it at first either, but then considering what I saw happen . . . . " he added, his voice trailing off.
"A baby?" Karou squeaked. A million things flashed through her mind all at once. "Where did you get it? Is it yours? How old is it? Where's it's mother? Who - " she asked all at once. Before she could finish the last question, Enishi pressed his fingers over her mouth.
"It's not my baby. I believe that his mother is dead. He's about twenty-nine. I got him by accident in Hokkaido a bout a week ago." Enishi sighed and handed the baby to her. "Now he's not my problem. I did my duty and brought him back to you, now I'm leaving."
Karou stared in shock at the baby boy who had her finger in both hands and was gumming at it furiously. "Matte, I don't know what to do with a baby," she shouted as Enishi headed for the door.
"He's not my problem anymore," Enishi said determinedly. He glanced back at her briefly then turned away from her again. "Arigatou," he added as he started to walk away, swaying slightly with exhaustion.
Karou could only stare in shock as he left. She pulled her finger from the baby's mouth, prompting him to scream and try and tug her finger back to his small mouth. Distractedly she kept her hand away from the young baby as she hurried out into the yard.
Enishi couldn't just leave the child here with her. What would people think? Her school was just getting over the bad reputation that Gohei Hiremui had left on it. The scandal of having a baby out of wed lock. . . . well to say the least, the neighbors would gossip, not to mention Sano and Yahiko's reactions. And of course, how would Kenshin respond?
Reaching the yard she looked around, but didn't see Enishi anywhere. 'Oh no, he's already left,' she thought in horror. The baby began to cry louder. She took several steps foreword, and nearly tripped over Enishi's prone form.
He had passed out from exhaustion before he had gotten away from the dojo completely. She let out a deep breath that she hadn't realized she was holding and set the baby down beside Enishi.
His chest was rising and falling with the deepness of sleep causing him to mutter softly about his 'Onee-san'. He looked peaceful while he slept. Peaceful and innocent just like a child. She shook him gently, not wanting to wake him in a foul mood.
His eyes blinked open out of reflex, but he was only one third awake, and groggy. 'He really is exhausted,' she thought as she led him to her room and helped him into her bed. He closed his eyes immediately as she pulled the covers up to his chin and slipped out of the room to check on the baby.
The baby was screaming in the yard, his small face bright red with rage. His tiny hands clenched and shaking, as he screamed at the top of his lungs for any kind of attention. Karou quickly picked him up, and carried him into the main house.
Black smoke was billowing from the kitchen now, and she realized that she miso soup would be spicy, bitter, and burned. "Somehow this is all your fault," she told the child as he stuffed two of his fingers into his mouth and began to suck furiously.
She took the food off of the fire and set it by the window. Holding the small baby against her chest. His body shook against her and he hiccuped. His eyes focusing on hers for a long moment.
Karou stared in surprise at the unique violet-blue eyes that stared back at her. 'They look like Kenshin's eyes,' she thought in wonder. 'Is he perhaps related to Kenshin and Enishi? Is that why Enishi brought him here? Is he Kenshin's . . . . . son?'
Even as she thought it, she knew that it was wrong. If the child was related to Kenshin it wasn't directly. "I guess I should get you cleaned up," she said out loud.
The child hiccuped again and looked at her. "Maa aaaa aaaa," he cried. His tiny hands clasped the front of her kimono and he tried to pull it open. "Maa aaa aaa."
"Are you . . . .hungry. . . perhaps?" Karou suggested. She had never really had much close association with babies, but she remember that when Ayame was still a baby she had always sucked on her thumb and cried when she was hungry.
"What do babies eat?" she asked out loud. "Milk," she answered herself. 'But you don't have any milk. What else could you give him?' she wondered.
She thought about it, but nothing was coming to mind. "Megumi would be falling over with laughter right now. I'll bet that every other woman in Japan knows what you can give a baby to eat," she muttered sullenly. The comment sparked an idea. 'I can ask Megumi what babies can eat,' she thought.
Just as quickly she dismissed the idea. If she weren't at the dojo to make Enishi stay, then he would probably just leave, and she would be stuck with the baby. 'But he can't just leave the child here alone,' she thought. He had proven that earlier when he hadn't just left the baby in the bath house and slipped away.
"I'm going to leave you with Yukishira-san for a little while. I'll ask Megumi-sensai what you can eat. Then," she promised, "I'll be right back." She carried him into her room and left his with Enishi.
Hearing his cries begin almost immediately, she fled the dojo, and headed for the clinic.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
When Enishi woke up he was instantly aware of several things. The first and most important was the small child screaming in his ear. The second was that he was still at the Kamiya Dojo.
'Which means I'll have to explain what happened,' he thought. He shyed away from the thought and stood up. He could still leave while he was crying. He didn't owe him anything else. He didn't owe him anything. They were even now.
The baby cried and he stopped his flight away from the room and walked back over to him. "You're with your own kind now," he said out loud. "You should be happy and laugh."
The baby didn't stop screaming and Enishi found himself picking him up. 'Damm you Himura,' he thought again. In response, the baby screamed louder. 'You've just thrown me into chaos and yet you still think that you have the right to demand food from me.'
Angrily he stalked into the kitchen, noting that the soup had burned sometime since he had last been in the kitchen. 'She's a really bad cook,' he thought not for the first or last time. "How can you put up with that kind of cooking, or rather how could you?" he asked the child.
He prepared some rice water then dipped a corner of a sheet into it. When it was soaked, he pressed the sheet into the child's mouth. The young baby sucked eagerly at the fabric, pulling the moisture from it within moments.
Enishi sighed and extracted the sheet. The baby's face screwed up and he prepared to let out another earsplitting shriek. Then the sheet was back in his mouth with more rice water saturated around it. He drank the liquid greedily.
'She didn't feed him. She just left,' he realized slowly. Holding him in his arms like this, he found it hard to be mad at the small child with the violet blue eyes. It was far easier to be upset with Karou Kamiya. Didn't she know how to care for a child?
He found it hard to believe that she wouldn't at least have known to feed him and change him into clean garments. 'She'll be back,' he reminded himself carefully. He held his anger in cheek. Forcing himself to focus on the starving child in his arms.
On the dependent child in his arms. Without his help he couldn't do anything. He was as helpless as a baby kitten and just as cute. More then that, he was trusted by the small infant.
It was a strange feeling for Enishi. Even before revenge had consumed his thoughts he had never been trusted like this. He had always been the one who trusted his sister, always believing that she knew what was best. Always believing that she was the one that he could always trust. She had in many ways betrayed that trust when she had married Battosai, but even years later, he still sought her approval. He still wanted her to smile for him.
In his arms, the child was looking at him in the same way he imagined he had looked at Tomoe. With complete trust. It was a strange feeling, and not one that he was sure he liked. It made him uncertain and nervous. It made him. . . . . feel like a villain for the crimes that he had committed in his past.
'Don't be a fool!' he commanded himself sharply. 'This "child" is far more guilty then you are. Don't let him make you feel unworthy. He's the unworthy one!' His thoughts were paniced and the panic led to anger.
That was good, he could deal with anger. He could vent his anger. He looked down at the child, a cruel smirk stretching across his face, angry words forming on his lips. They died as the baby gurgled and smiled at him.
His anger couldn't find any outlet with the small child. He heard the gate open and sighed in relief. 'The Kamiya girl, good. I can be mad at her,' he thought happily. He was in quit a state of shock at his inability to get mad at his helpless enemy, and that shock was feeding his anger.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Karou had seen Megumi and asked her question as a taunt. "I'll bet you don't even know what else you could feed a baby besides milk!" she had exclaimed.
The foxy doctor had been unable to keep herself from laughing. "That's easy, rice water, but I bet you didn't know that."
Karou hadn't stayed around to chat. As soon as she heard what she wanted, she raced away from the clinic and back to the Kamiya Dojo.
Once inside she tilted her head to the side, listening for the screams of the baby. Silence filled her senses, and she decided that he must have fallen asleep. 'I'll prepare the water, then go get him,' she thought. She hurried into the kitchen.
Enishi looked up as she came into the room. He had the child on his lap and a dampened sheet in the other. His eyes bore into hers with ruthless fury. "How could you leave him to starve like that?!" he spat hotly.
Karou blinked. "I . . I didn't know what to feed him," she stammered. "I had to ask Megumi-sensai and - "
He smirked at her. "If I hadn't woken up and fed him he'd be dead," he said while raising his eyebrows and letting a very real crazy glint slip into his eyes. He watched horror slid across her face and smiled. 'Good, she believes me,' he thought.
Karou stared at him in shock. "I . . I d-didn't know," she stammered.
"Let me ask you something," Enishi said. He was enjoying the look on her face, but had thought of something that would make her react even worse. "Do you know who this baby is?"
Karou shook her head mutely. She couldn't begin to imagine who the small boy was. She didn't know anyone who had recently had a baby boy, and she really didn't know where the baby had come from either.
"His name is Himura Kenshin," Enishi said. "And you nearly killed him."
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Author's notes. This was just an idea that I had that couldn't get put away. I know it's weird and not to logical, but I couldn't help it. I have absolutely no doubt that just about everyone will hate this fic, but please don't be too hard on me. I'm suffering from a weird idea invasion, and the only way to win is to submit.
Turning Kenshin into a baby and having Enishi and Karou raise him, well to say the least that is weird, but I couldn't help it.
Gomen nasiai to everyone who hates this fic.
Thanks for reading (no matter how strange and weird)
Weasel Girl 13
The last time he had come, he had cast her life and the life of Kenshin into turmoil with his horrible plans for Jinchuu against his sister's murderer. He had started by blowing up the Akkabeko, before kidnapping her and making Kenshin think that she was dead. In the end, the red haired rouroni had been able to stop him, but it had nearly cost him his life. Of course he had saved her life too.
"Kamiya Karou," the tall man rasped. He leaned against the frame of the dojo's front door heavily as he said her name.
Karou's horror at his arrival faded away as she took in his tattered appearance. His normally wild white hair was dark with the combined forces of blood and dirt clinging to it. His usually tanned face was thin and worn with exaustion. His aquarmarie eyes were bloodshot and surrounded by dark bags. His clothes was torn, covered with blood and dirt, and hung on his bruised form effortlessly. In his arms he held a small bundle of magneta cloth.
She stepped foreword. "Let me help you," she said quickly. Whatever had happened in the past would have to be ignored for now. He needed her help, and had even come looking for it, or at least she assumed that he had come looking for either her help or the help of Kenshin.
He stared at her hand suspiciously for a moment then sighed heavily, exhaustion dulling his senses. "Arigatou," he said softly. "I didn't think that you would help." He stepped foreword, teetering on exhausted limbs.
Karou hesitated then placed one small hand around his back and led him into the dojo. Yahiko was working at the Akkebeko and Kenshin was delivering some medicine for Dr. Gensai in Hokkaido so she was all alone with the tall man. But where should she put him? Kenshin and Yahiko wouldn't take kindly to having someone sleeping in their beds, would they? That left her bed, the rest of the bedding was outside dripping wet and hanging on the clothes line.
"Arigatou," he whispered again causing her to jump slightly. She slid open the door to her room and led him inside. She flipped the futon open with her foot and stared at the clear white sheets for a moment before leading him back outside and to the bath house.
"You're going to have to get cleaned up a bit first," she told him. "Then you can rest and tell me what happened."
He pulled away from her, swaying slightly, before placing his hand on the wall to steady himself. Karou looked him over quickly, and after seeing no serious injuries pulled the door open and stepped outside. "Matte!" she heard him say, but ignored it for the moment.
'He'll need something clean to wear,' she thought. She realized that all of the clothes at the dojo would be to short on the tall man. Kenshin, Yahiko, and herself were all rather short, and that meant they didn't have long clothes lying around. Sano, the only tall member of the Kenshin-gumi, had left his clothes there in the past, but Karou remembered sending it home with him early that day, and she didn't think lending Sano's clothes to Enishi was a good idea anyway. 'Maybe some of the practise uniforms will be long enough,' she thought. Nodding slightly she opened the door to the storage shed and began to rifle through the boxes, looking for a gi and hakama that would fit the tall man.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Enishi stared at the closing door in shock. "Matte!" he exclaimed, but Karou didn't appear to hear him. He sighed, running his hands through his filthy white hair and glancing at the steaming bathwater. The bath had been prepared before he got there and was just cool enough not to scald his skin as he slipped into the water. 'She was probably going to take a bath,' he thought.
The water was quickly clouding over as weeks of dirt and blood pulled loose from his body. It reminded him in many ways of his purpose in life. For the longest time it had seemed so simple. His only goal, the only thought that could survive in his head, had been his revenge on the man who had killed his sister, the Hittokiri Battosai. He'd kept that goal in mind with crystal like clarity.
Then rapidly the his purpose had became as muddled as the water. In many ways, the Battosai was like the dirt that clouded the bath water, only he was much, much worse. He had made Enishi doubt himself to the point where he couldn't see his purpose anymore.
Once again Himura Kenshin had ruined his life. Only this time he didn't know how to put it back together again. He glanced at the magnata bundle that was moving on the floor. 'It's all his fault,' he thought again venomously.
A giggle emerged from the bundle, dispelling his anger and leaving his mind more clouded then every. 'Damm you Battosai,' he mentally cursed.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Karou had finally found a practice gi that would fit Enishi. It had taken a while, but that was okay. It had given Enishi time to get clean. She tapped on the wooden door lightly. "Yukishira-san," she said softly.
She heard the shifting of water from inside. 'He must just be getting out,' she thought. "I brought you some clothes so you don't have to wear those dirty ones anymore," she said.
The door slid open, a squeaky clean Enishi standing with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Arigatou," he said, excepting the clothes then closing the door.
Karou stood in front of the door for a moment, then remembered her food. She had decided that she should try her hand at cooking again and had started some miso soup several minutes before Enishi had arrived. She quickly hurried to the kitchen hoping that her food wasn't going to be inedible.
She clearly remember Enishi's dislike for her food during her stay with him. Inwardly she had known that his opinion shouldn't count in her mind. He had, after all, kidnapped her, but hearing the words come out of his mouth simply echoed the words of others. And she knew that most of them were right. She couldn't cook a decent meal, but at least she tried.
The soup stared back at her without black smoke billowing around it. She smiled in relief and dipped the wooden spoon into the soup, stirring it rapidly before bringing a sample to her mouth. It was spicy and bitter, the same as it always was. She sighed and set the spoon down.
"Still can't cook, I see," Enishi said from the doorway. The baby blue gi he was wearing set off his eyes, causing them to glint brightly, but without the insanity that usually resided in them. He stepped foreword, his bare feet slapping against the ground, reminding Karou that she hadn't gotten any socks for him.
Choosing not to respond to either his comment about her cooking or her lack of thought in his clothes, she decided on a safer more informative response. "Why are you here, Yukishira-san?" she asked pleasantly.
The tall man avoided her gaze, suddenly becoming interested in his finger nails. It was then that Karou noticed the magneta bundle was still cradled in his left arm.
"What's in the bundle?" she asked. He didn't look like he was going to answer her other question, so it was safe to assume that she could question him about something else.
If anything, the question seemed to make him even more nervous. "Its . . . why I came here," he said with some hesitation. His eyes flickered to hers, and he flinched slightly before looking away.
"Well?" Karou prompted. "What is it?" She stepped closer, peering at the bundle closely. The magneta fabric looked strangely familiar. She was sure that she had seen it somewhere before. She reached out to touch the fabric, then screamed in surprised terror as a tiny fist clasped her fingers.
Enishi laughed. "Yeah, that was my response too," he said. Using his free hand, he pulled the fabric away from the top of the bundle.
A tiny face stared intently at Karou's finger before sticking it in it's mouth and sucking on it. "It's a . . . a. . . . .a . . . " Karou stammered. She couldn't identify the small being that was sucking at her forefinger.
"It's a baby," Enishi supplied quickly. "Like I said, I didn't believe it at first either, but then considering what I saw happen . . . . " he added, his voice trailing off.
"A baby?" Karou squeaked. A million things flashed through her mind all at once. "Where did you get it? Is it yours? How old is it? Where's it's mother? Who - " she asked all at once. Before she could finish the last question, Enishi pressed his fingers over her mouth.
"It's not my baby. I believe that his mother is dead. He's about twenty-nine. I got him by accident in Hokkaido a bout a week ago." Enishi sighed and handed the baby to her. "Now he's not my problem. I did my duty and brought him back to you, now I'm leaving."
Karou stared in shock at the baby boy who had her finger in both hands and was gumming at it furiously. "Matte, I don't know what to do with a baby," she shouted as Enishi headed for the door.
"He's not my problem anymore," Enishi said determinedly. He glanced back at her briefly then turned away from her again. "Arigatou," he added as he started to walk away, swaying slightly with exhaustion.
Karou could only stare in shock as he left. She pulled her finger from the baby's mouth, prompting him to scream and try and tug her finger back to his small mouth. Distractedly she kept her hand away from the young baby as she hurried out into the yard.
Enishi couldn't just leave the child here with her. What would people think? Her school was just getting over the bad reputation that Gohei Hiremui had left on it. The scandal of having a baby out of wed lock. . . . well to say the least, the neighbors would gossip, not to mention Sano and Yahiko's reactions. And of course, how would Kenshin respond?
Reaching the yard she looked around, but didn't see Enishi anywhere. 'Oh no, he's already left,' she thought in horror. The baby began to cry louder. She took several steps foreword, and nearly tripped over Enishi's prone form.
He had passed out from exhaustion before he had gotten away from the dojo completely. She let out a deep breath that she hadn't realized she was holding and set the baby down beside Enishi.
His chest was rising and falling with the deepness of sleep causing him to mutter softly about his 'Onee-san'. He looked peaceful while he slept. Peaceful and innocent just like a child. She shook him gently, not wanting to wake him in a foul mood.
His eyes blinked open out of reflex, but he was only one third awake, and groggy. 'He really is exhausted,' she thought as she led him to her room and helped him into her bed. He closed his eyes immediately as she pulled the covers up to his chin and slipped out of the room to check on the baby.
The baby was screaming in the yard, his small face bright red with rage. His tiny hands clenched and shaking, as he screamed at the top of his lungs for any kind of attention. Karou quickly picked him up, and carried him into the main house.
Black smoke was billowing from the kitchen now, and she realized that she miso soup would be spicy, bitter, and burned. "Somehow this is all your fault," she told the child as he stuffed two of his fingers into his mouth and began to suck furiously.
She took the food off of the fire and set it by the window. Holding the small baby against her chest. His body shook against her and he hiccuped. His eyes focusing on hers for a long moment.
Karou stared in surprise at the unique violet-blue eyes that stared back at her. 'They look like Kenshin's eyes,' she thought in wonder. 'Is he perhaps related to Kenshin and Enishi? Is that why Enishi brought him here? Is he Kenshin's . . . . . son?'
Even as she thought it, she knew that it was wrong. If the child was related to Kenshin it wasn't directly. "I guess I should get you cleaned up," she said out loud.
The child hiccuped again and looked at her. "Maa aaaa aaaa," he cried. His tiny hands clasped the front of her kimono and he tried to pull it open. "Maa aaa aaa."
"Are you . . . .hungry. . . perhaps?" Karou suggested. She had never really had much close association with babies, but she remember that when Ayame was still a baby she had always sucked on her thumb and cried when she was hungry.
"What do babies eat?" she asked out loud. "Milk," she answered herself. 'But you don't have any milk. What else could you give him?' she wondered.
She thought about it, but nothing was coming to mind. "Megumi would be falling over with laughter right now. I'll bet that every other woman in Japan knows what you can give a baby to eat," she muttered sullenly. The comment sparked an idea. 'I can ask Megumi what babies can eat,' she thought.
Just as quickly she dismissed the idea. If she weren't at the dojo to make Enishi stay, then he would probably just leave, and she would be stuck with the baby. 'But he can't just leave the child here alone,' she thought. He had proven that earlier when he hadn't just left the baby in the bath house and slipped away.
"I'm going to leave you with Yukishira-san for a little while. I'll ask Megumi-sensai what you can eat. Then," she promised, "I'll be right back." She carried him into her room and left his with Enishi.
Hearing his cries begin almost immediately, she fled the dojo, and headed for the clinic.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
When Enishi woke up he was instantly aware of several things. The first and most important was the small child screaming in his ear. The second was that he was still at the Kamiya Dojo.
'Which means I'll have to explain what happened,' he thought. He shyed away from the thought and stood up. He could still leave while he was crying. He didn't owe him anything else. He didn't owe him anything. They were even now.
The baby cried and he stopped his flight away from the room and walked back over to him. "You're with your own kind now," he said out loud. "You should be happy and laugh."
The baby didn't stop screaming and Enishi found himself picking him up. 'Damm you Himura,' he thought again. In response, the baby screamed louder. 'You've just thrown me into chaos and yet you still think that you have the right to demand food from me.'
Angrily he stalked into the kitchen, noting that the soup had burned sometime since he had last been in the kitchen. 'She's a really bad cook,' he thought not for the first or last time. "How can you put up with that kind of cooking, or rather how could you?" he asked the child.
He prepared some rice water then dipped a corner of a sheet into it. When it was soaked, he pressed the sheet into the child's mouth. The young baby sucked eagerly at the fabric, pulling the moisture from it within moments.
Enishi sighed and extracted the sheet. The baby's face screwed up and he prepared to let out another earsplitting shriek. Then the sheet was back in his mouth with more rice water saturated around it. He drank the liquid greedily.
'She didn't feed him. She just left,' he realized slowly. Holding him in his arms like this, he found it hard to be mad at the small child with the violet blue eyes. It was far easier to be upset with Karou Kamiya. Didn't she know how to care for a child?
He found it hard to believe that she wouldn't at least have known to feed him and change him into clean garments. 'She'll be back,' he reminded himself carefully. He held his anger in cheek. Forcing himself to focus on the starving child in his arms.
On the dependent child in his arms. Without his help he couldn't do anything. He was as helpless as a baby kitten and just as cute. More then that, he was trusted by the small infant.
It was a strange feeling for Enishi. Even before revenge had consumed his thoughts he had never been trusted like this. He had always been the one who trusted his sister, always believing that she knew what was best. Always believing that she was the one that he could always trust. She had in many ways betrayed that trust when she had married Battosai, but even years later, he still sought her approval. He still wanted her to smile for him.
In his arms, the child was looking at him in the same way he imagined he had looked at Tomoe. With complete trust. It was a strange feeling, and not one that he was sure he liked. It made him uncertain and nervous. It made him. . . . . feel like a villain for the crimes that he had committed in his past.
'Don't be a fool!' he commanded himself sharply. 'This "child" is far more guilty then you are. Don't let him make you feel unworthy. He's the unworthy one!' His thoughts were paniced and the panic led to anger.
That was good, he could deal with anger. He could vent his anger. He looked down at the child, a cruel smirk stretching across his face, angry words forming on his lips. They died as the baby gurgled and smiled at him.
His anger couldn't find any outlet with the small child. He heard the gate open and sighed in relief. 'The Kamiya girl, good. I can be mad at her,' he thought happily. He was in quit a state of shock at his inability to get mad at his helpless enemy, and that shock was feeding his anger.
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Karou had seen Megumi and asked her question as a taunt. "I'll bet you don't even know what else you could feed a baby besides milk!" she had exclaimed.
The foxy doctor had been unable to keep herself from laughing. "That's easy, rice water, but I bet you didn't know that."
Karou hadn't stayed around to chat. As soon as she heard what she wanted, she raced away from the clinic and back to the Kamiya Dojo.
Once inside she tilted her head to the side, listening for the screams of the baby. Silence filled her senses, and she decided that he must have fallen asleep. 'I'll prepare the water, then go get him,' she thought. She hurried into the kitchen.
Enishi looked up as she came into the room. He had the child on his lap and a dampened sheet in the other. His eyes bore into hers with ruthless fury. "How could you leave him to starve like that?!" he spat hotly.
Karou blinked. "I . . I didn't know what to feed him," she stammered. "I had to ask Megumi-sensai and - "
He smirked at her. "If I hadn't woken up and fed him he'd be dead," he said while raising his eyebrows and letting a very real crazy glint slip into his eyes. He watched horror slid across her face and smiled. 'Good, she believes me,' he thought.
Karou stared at him in shock. "I . . I d-didn't know," she stammered.
"Let me ask you something," Enishi said. He was enjoying the look on her face, but had thought of something that would make her react even worse. "Do you know who this baby is?"
Karou shook her head mutely. She couldn't begin to imagine who the small boy was. She didn't know anyone who had recently had a baby boy, and she really didn't know where the baby had come from either.
"His name is Himura Kenshin," Enishi said. "And you nearly killed him."
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Author's notes. This was just an idea that I had that couldn't get put away. I know it's weird and not to logical, but I couldn't help it. I have absolutely no doubt that just about everyone will hate this fic, but please don't be too hard on me. I'm suffering from a weird idea invasion, and the only way to win is to submit.
Turning Kenshin into a baby and having Enishi and Karou raise him, well to say the least that is weird, but I couldn't help it.
Gomen nasiai to everyone who hates this fic.
Thanks for reading (no matter how strange and weird)
Weasel Girl 13