In Enemy Hands, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

In Enemy Hands

A Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Kenshin and Kaoru search for their kidnapped son, a toddler who has ended up in the care of...Yukishiro Enishi. Who was not anticipating either the baby-sitting or the injured leg on his quest to make amends.

A/N: "Neesan" is a less formal version of "Oneesan," which means "big sister." "Niichan" is derived from "Oniisan," which is "big brother." The terms are not limited to actual family members.

o.o.o

"Neesan! I don't want to do this!"

Whining again.

Enishi closed his eyes and raised a hand, imagining his sister patting him on the head and telling him that he was much too old to be acting silly. "I don't even know why I'm doing this, anyway..."

It was not like anyone told him to. It was just that he had tried everything else, and there was a very small chance that seeing Himura Kenshin again might finally silence the gnawing guilt that had been threatening to devour him. "It hurts..." Either that, or Himura would kill him and put him out of his misery. 'But he doesn't kill people anymore, apparently.' One of Himura's minions, then. Maybe the man with bamboo-curtain hair. "Sis, is that really the right thing to do?"

No answer. He was getting a lot of that these days.

"Hold still, you little brat!" The peaceful autumn afternoon was spoiled by a harsh shout. Enishi frowned and stopped walking. The voice sounded similar to ones he had been hearing a lot lately, from random thugs who were too stupid to realize that it was a bad idea to try to mug or pick a fight with Yukishiro Enishi. "Aaargh! Boss, he bit me!"

"Knock his teeth out, then! Teach the brat a lesson."

A third voice, "Boss...you know whose kid this is...that might not be the best idea..."

"Don't tell me whose kid this is, why d'ya think we nabbed him in the first place? Get out of the way, I'll do it myself!"

The furious screams of a child, wailing in the background all this time, now reached a crescendo. Enishi sighed. Then he mumbled, "I know, I know. You don't have to say anything, Neesan." He laid a hand on his sword hilt and headed off the path into the trees, where the voices were coming from.

He soon came upon five big, meaty-looking men clustered around a small center of attention. Enishi took one look at the little boy's dark red hair and blazing eyes, then forgot to breathe for a second. 'It can't be...'

"Enishi. The child is in danger." The echoes of his sister's voice spurred him on again. Enishi's eyes narrowed as he marched forward decisively. "Hey. Let go of him."

After the usual derisive snorts, arrogant threats, brief sword swiping, and inevitable bone crushing and pants-wetting, Enishi stood looking down at the boy, who obliviously screamed on. "Oi. Shut up, kid. You're safe."

The child could not have been more than two or three years old. For a moment he fixed furious eyes on the newcomer, then lunged forward and bit down hard on the hand that Enishi had started reaching out to him.

"Yeowch!" Those small jaws were as tenacious as a bulldog's. The child refused to be dislodged, no matter how hard Enishi tried to shake him off.

Tomoe's voice in his mind was giggling. "It's not funny!" On second thought, she did have reason find it so. "At least I had a good excuse to bite your stupid husband back then!" Now yelling at Himura's child, "Look, kid, I just saved you! Let go!"

A couple of the thugs stirred. One of them groaned out, "The kid...where's the kid...?"

At the sound of his voice, the child suddenly froze. His tiny fingers gripped Enishi's shirt; then he turned and growled like a dog at the thugs. "Bad! Go away!"

Enishi sighed. Then he scooped up the boy, strode forward, kicked the thug in the head, and returned to the road with the child still in his arms. He marched on for a while, lost in angry thoughts; he still got too inconveniently pumped up by fights. Presently, however, he was distracted by the touch of small hands on his face. He slowed and looked down in surprise at the red-haired boy, who was patting at him curiously and babbling infant nonsense.

"Um. Hi."

The boy gazed up at him solemnly. "Bad men gone."

"Yeah."

"Hungry."

"...Here. You can eat my lunch." Enishi was used to going hungry. He dug through his pack and fished out the food, which the boy inspected for a minute and then promptly dropped in disgust. "Hey!" And of course, over the next hour or two, the kid put up such a fuss over being hungry that at last Enishi couldn't stand it anymore and handed over his dinner, too. "Stupid little brat."

"Stupid little brat," the Himura boy repeated happily, biting into the edible chunks he had been given.

They kept on the move until twilight, when Enishi glanced down at the drowsing, increasingly heavy burden in his arms and decided that it was time to call it a night. The child would need a fire, which was more difficult to make in the dark. Enishi retreated from the road, laid the child carefully on the grass, then worked at starting a fire.

It happened when the blaze was sparked and he had gone off to hunt up some extra firewood. Yukishiro Enishi was taken down, not by armed enemies, but by treacherous footing. "Aaaarrghhh!"

One long tumble and one dizzy headache later, Enishi unsteadily raised his face and found himself in a heap at the base of a boulder. At the bottom of a hill. That had been pretty much invisible in the dark, which was broken only by the flicker of firelight at the top of the hill. "Amusing." He shifted, and immediately fell still again when his leg screamed in protest. "Argh! Help me out, Sis!"

It was not his sister's voice that answered, but the high-pitched sound of the boy sleepily calling for him. "Niichan?"

"Here," Enishi groaned irritably.

The firelight was partially blocked by the boy's small shape. "Niichan?"

"Hey...hey, get back from there!" Enishi called up.

There was a cry, and then startled yelps as the boy came skidding down the hill.

"Kid!" Enishi reared up on his elbows, but it was too late. "Oof!" The kid had crashed into him. Better that than the boulder, he supposed. "Oi, kid!"

The Himura boy made a drawling noise that sounded like, "Baaaaw..." The reflective glimmers in his eyes flickered as he blinked, and then he started scrambling around. "Again!"

"Wha...again? No, not again!"

The boy was already trying to crawl back up the hill, yelling excitedly. Enishi gritted his teeth and forced himself to roll over, where he lay groaning for a minute before dragging himself after him. "Oi...kid...listen to me, will you...?"

"Again, Niichan!"

"What are you, stupid?"

o.o.o.o.o

"...You wouldn't have told me about this, would you."

Kenshin paused in the doorway, staring out at his wife in surprise. "Oro?" He had no clue what she could be mad about. He was pretty sure he hadn't forgotten anything too important...like their anniversary or something...had he?

"Don't 'oro' me!" Kaoru whirled to face him, and he realized from her expression that something terrible had happened. This was not her usual endearing temper - there was terror in her eyes, beneath the anger. "You!" She flung something at him - a sheet of paper, crumpled from the strength of her grip. "If you had found this first, you wouldn't have told me! You would have gone off and left me behind!"

"K-Kaoru-dono...what are you...?" By that time he had bent to pick up the paper, and had started to read it, and his voice trailed off. His eyes narrowed. The message was slowly crumpled in his fist. Then he dropped the note and plunged out into the yard, raging silently at this sick summons he had been forced to obey over and over again. Come to us, or your loved one suffers...

Tomoe. Kaoru. Now Kenji.

He did not pause, even when he sensed his wife following close on his heels. She was wrong. He was not going to leave her behind ever again.

o.o.o.o.o

Enishi was absolutely disgusted with himself. He had told his incompetent body to stay awake all night, and usually it obeyed. Yet here he was, being awakened by sunlight shining in his face. Perhaps the pain had something to do with it...

Oh yeah. His leg. Rendered utterly useless by a moment of - clumsiness. "You're so pathetic, Yukishiro!" he shouted at himself. There was no time to dwell on that, though, because something else was nagging him. Something important, some reason why he should not be wasting time, lying here wallowing in self-disgust-

"Yucky!"

Enishi's head jerked up, just in time for him to see the Himura boy, face scrunched up in disgust, pushing away a live frog that he had apparently just attempted to chew on. "For crying out loud, what do you think you're doing?"

"Niichan!" It was astonishing, how Enishi lost his breath at the way that little face lit up. The child struggled to his feet and toddled over to his new big brother. "Hungry!"

Enishi grumbled a word that the boy's parents would probably want kill him for uttering in front of their child. "You are not getting my breakfast, too."

"Shinai." The boy had thankfully been distracted - by Enishi's sword, unthankfully. He tugged at the hilt with interest.

"Oi, leave that alone! And it's not a shinai."

"Big shinai."

Enishi was not very inventive when it came to baby-sitting, so he ended up giving the boy most of his breakfast after all, as a distraction from the sword. His stomach growled even after he had gulped down the remaining mouthful or two, which seemed to amuse the boy. "Monster in Niichan's tummy!" The child pressed his ear against Enishi's stomach, giggling when the strange noises groaned out again.

"...I have to get rid of you. ASAP." Which was going to be a problem, considering his stupid leg.

Enishi tried to stand up, and succeeded - after a full two or three minutes of effort. By that time the Himura boy had gotten bored and wandered off, so that Enishi could only pray that the child would not get into trouble before he could round him up again. "Argh...if I wasn't on my way to see your murderer of a father anyway, you'd be on your own."

Horizontal movement was possible, but only by clinging to trees and sort of handing himself off from one to another. That was definitely not going to cut it. "This sucks!"

"Niichan! Sucks?"

Enishi glared. "For my sister's sake, I am going to pretend that those were two completely unrelated remarks, you little brat."

The boy had wandered back, now studying Enishi with curiosity and obviously wondering what sort of game Big Brother was up to now. "Tag!"

"Not tag."

Laughing, the child danced forward and whacked Enishi on the knee. Then he fled, screaming with laughter.

"Ugghh..." There, about two body lengths away, was a nice-looking stick, thick and long and relatively straight. 'Walking stick,' Enishi thought hungrily.

The boy had come creeping back, looking puzzled and displeased. "Niichan play," he said accusingly.

"Not now, kid." Preoccupied, Enishi flopped back to the ground and started dragging himself over to his prize. He did not see the boy's face light up in sudden comprehension.

"Stick!"

Enishi's eyes darted to the child in alarm. "Oi, don't try anything funny-"

The boy galloped over to the stick and triumphantly hefted one end of it. "Niichan's stick!"

"Give me that!"

"Niichan get stick!" Laughing, the evil little fox began dragging the stick away.

"Don't you dare!"

"Nyah!"

Luckily for Enishi, the stick was too heavy for the boy's little arms, and he had not gotten very far with it before he was caught.

"Gotcha!"

"Aaaaahhhh!"

"My stick!" Enishi swept it up in triumph, holding the child back with his other hand.

"GRR!"

"Yeowch!" The little brat had bitten him again. And was giggling, too. "I'm not playing, you little monster!"

"Growwwl!" Apparently now pretending to be a monster, the boy seized Enishi's sleeve in his teeth, worrying at it and flailing his harmless little nails.

Ignoring him, Enishi pulled out his knife and began making adjustments to his hard-won stick, trying to make it as useful as possible. This was not very easy, since the boy was instantly enchanted with his knife. "Gimme sword!"

"No."

"I want sword!"

"It's my sword, you little twit! And it's not a sword, it's a knife!"

"Bad Niichan!"

"Bad monster!"

"Grr!"

"Grrr!"

"GRRRRR!"

The boy paused, open-mouthed, obviously impressed. Then, apparently refusing to be outdone, he opened his mouth to suck in a huge breath. "GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR!"

"YOU CANNOT HAVE MY KNIFE!"

The little face turned red. Then the boy sat down on the ground, opened his mouth, and screamed.

Enishi stared for a minute in surprise, then uncomfortably went back to working on his walking stick, since he did not see how the kid could possibly have gotten injured enough to scream like that. He suspected that the boy was not hurt at all, but was doing one of those...what did Tomoe used to call them? Tantrums, that was it. "Oi, shut up," he mumbled after a while, because the sound was getting on his nerves.

Tossing the walking stick testingly in his hand, he then braced it on the ground and climbed to his feet. He tried to take a few steps, and decided that it was marginally better than hopping from tree to tree.

The boy was still screaming, though he sounded hoarse and a little tired by now. Enishi looked down at him. "Are you finished?"

"Hate you!" the child shouted up at him.

This was really getting irritating. "I hate you, too."

Enishi put out what was left of the fire, gathered up his things, and then started to hobble away, fuming and slightly at a loss. He had the vague sense that he shouldn't really abandon a small child in the middle of nowhere, even though every single one of his inclinations was urging him to. Yet how was he supposed to bring along a kid who did not want to come with him, when he was barely in good enough shape to even transport himself?

He had gotten a few steps away when the bawling died down, and he listened to the silence in mild amazement as he continued on. Finally he heard an uncertain voice quaver behind him. "Niichan?"

Enishi could not think of anything to say, so he said nothing, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Blast that hill, he had never felt so useless in his life.

"N-Niichan!" There was a sudden scrambling, and then something crashed into the back of his knees.

Enishi, caught off balance, howled as he was sent sprawling to the ground. "Whaddaya think you're doing?"

"Don't go! Niichan, don't go!" the boy wailed.

"For crying out loud..."

o.o.o.o.o

Behind a disreputable drinking establishment on the outskirts of town, much pain was happening.

"Wait! Wait! I'll tell you, just please stop!"

Kenshin paused, reluctantly, and mostly because his hands were starting to hurt. He realized that it was because he had forgotten to use his sword and had simply been punching the man as hard as he could. He could not remember ever being this angry, and it felt good - or at least, it would have if the situation was not so terrifyingly urgent. Kenji. He had to find Kenji, had to make this scum spill his guts about the boy's location before...before...

He was having trouble seeing, too. Everything was swimming in shades of red and gold; perhaps he had blood in his eyes - but no, his face was dry. "Where is my son?" he snarled into the man's face.

"I...I...don't know," was the whimpered response.

Kenshin hit him again.

"Wait! Wait! I know who took him!"

"You took him! You took my son!"

"Wait," the man gasped desperately. "Wait - we w-wanted revenge on Himura B-Battousai, but...but it went wrong, we lost the kid..."

"Kenshin. Let him talk first, then you can hurt him."

Kenshin tilted his head in brief puzzlement, then remembered. Kaoru. He glanced over and found her coming toward him, leaving a groaning pile of men sprawled behind her. For a moment he allowed pride to touch his heart, at the way she had so effortlessly taken down six men twice her size. Then he turned his attention back to the thug in his grip.

"Where. Is. Our. Son."

"White hair," the thug gasped. "H-He had white hair, glasses- He was strong! He took out all of us in just a few- Ow!"

Kenshin had dropped the man, feeling like all the breath had been knocked out of him. For a moment his mind seemed to drift free of his body, the horror was so unbearable.

"Kenshin! We have to find him!" Kaoru's voice rose to a panicked scream as she gripped his arm and shook him. "We have to find Kenji before Yukishiro kills him!"

Now Kenshin was the one screaming. "Where?" he shouted at the man, kicking him when he did not receive an instant answer. "Where did they go?"

o.o.o.o.o

It was no use. Kenshin and Kaoru combed the woods until it was too dark to see, and even then they kept on, hoarsely shouting Kenji's name, circling back to the streets and asking everyone if they had seen the little boy, or a man with white hair and glasses-

"Oh? Thought he was a guest o' yers."

Kenshin and Kaoru stared at the man, who was comfortably smoking a pipe. "What?"

The man shrugged. "Ya know. Had yer young'un with him; thought maybe he was visitin'."

"Kenji," Kaoru gasped. "Kenji was with him? Please, was Kenji all right?"

The man laughed. "Seemed fine to me." He was about to elaborate about how the child had seemed far better off than his pathetically limping companion, who had rather rudely refused the offer of help and a place to rest, but the frantic couple gave him no chance to speak.

"Which way were they headed? Did he say anything?"

"Well, he asked directions to yer dojo..." The man watched in surprise as the two warriors took off down the street. Then he rolled his eyes and spat on the ground in disappointment. "Young people these days, always in a rush, no time to chat..."

o.o.o.o.o

Kaoru lost sight of her husband quickly, since she was no match for his speed and he showed no inclination to wait for her. "Kenshin," she tried to call after him. "Kenshin..." He was leaving her behind again. "Kenshin!" she screamed.

He slowed a little, then stopped and whirled to face her, his eyes still glowing. "Please wait outside," he said quietly.

She came up to him, breathing hard. "Kenshin..."

"Please, Kaoru-dono. Let this one go first."

She looked into his face, and finally nodded. "But I'm not going to just stand there if you can use my help."

He suddenly moved forward, took her hands and kissed her lightly. They approached the dojo together and paused just outside.

"The doors are still locked."

"That means little."

There was a long pause as neither of them made a move for the door handle. "Kenshin?"

"They're in there," he whispered. "Kenji is still alive. He is not in distress."

Still he did not move forward. Kaoru finally slipped behind him and put her arms around his shoulders. "Kenshin?" she murmured.

He reached up with one hand to grasp her arm, as if drawing courage from her. "What are we going to find when we open this door?" he whispered. "So many times...this one is not sure how much more he can..."

"Kenshin," she said softly, stroking his cheek, "don't you know that you fight at your best when you are fighting for those you love? Don't think it's not worth it, having other people to love and protect. You've never failed me, and I know you never will."

He turned around and held her tightly for a minute. Then he took a deep breath and entered the grounds.

There did not seem to be anything amiss until they reached the living quarters - an outer door was open, the room lit by the flickering glow of firelight. Kenshin motioned Kaoru back and edged close, hand grasping the hilt of his sword as he glanced inside...

He stood for what seemed a very long time, just looking. Kaoru watched his hand on his weapon, and when she saw it relax just the tiniest bit, she finally came up softly so that she could see as well.

Kenji was fast asleep. The child, head back and drooling shamelessly through light snores, was sprawled in the lap of an adult figure. The man who held him was also asleep, one crudely bandaged leg stretched out, the other bent up to support both a sword and the limply dangling arm that cradled it. The other arm lay on the floor, palm-up, as if it had fallen. The face had been veiled by strands of silver hair, yet in that moment the hanging head suddenly lifted, revealing two burning eyes and a tight mouth.

Kaoru gasped; Kenshin shoved her away and dropped into battle stance.

Nothing happened for a long moment. Then Enishi closed his eyes and grimaced, as if suppressing a yawn; his doll-like pose coiled back into one of wakeful life. There was another pause as he glared into the fire. Then he sighed, looked at the child in his lap, and gave Kenji a hard nudge. "Oi. Wake up."

The boy snorted and rolled over, fussing a little as he buried his face in the man's stomach. Enishi frowned. "Wake up." He laid down his sword in order to have both hands to grasp the child and haul him up to a semi-standing position, facing his parents.

"Mragh!" Kenji yelled, squirming a little. When he found it impossible to lay down again, he cracked open his eyes, with his mouth open for a tantrum. Then he saw his parents and went still, head cocked a little as if puzzled.

"Kenji," Kaoru could not help whispering, her voice a near sob.

Enishi very carefully settled the boy's weight on his feet and then slowly let go. Kenji swayed and abruptly plopped down onto his bottom, blinked, then began crawling toward his parents as if he had never learned how to walk. Halfway there he gave up, lay down on the ground and curled up again, making incoherent sleepy noises.

Kaoru could not stand it anymore; she rushed forward and snatched up her child, eyes on Enishi the whole time as she backed away again. To her relief and confusion, Enishi did not move, simply watched her. Her arms tightened around Kenji as the boy snuggled happily against her.

"What did you come here for?" Kenshin asked in a low, tight voice once his family was safely behind him.

Enishi scowled at the ground. "...Found your kid. Thought you'd want him back."

There was a long, wary silence. Finally Enishi leaned forward with a muffled grunt and began working at his bandaged leg, gingerly trying to unstiffen it. Kenshin and Kaoru watched, at a loss, as he eventually managed to climb to his feet with difficulty. "Look," he finally ground out, "I didn't plan to bust my leg, it was an accident. If it wasn't for the kid, I wouldn't've come at all. I would've waited 'til I stopped being a freaking cripple."

His expression, as he continued scowling at the ground, unable to meet their eyes, suddenly struck Kenshin as childish. He looked more like a sullen, hurt teenager than like a warrior bent on revenge. "You would have waited to heal - then what?" Kenshin asked warily.

Enishi licked his lips. Then he raised his face to them, his eyes almost painfully intense. "I...wanted to..." He looked away again. "My sister," he suddenly burst out, apparently addressing the wall, "would not...would not have wanted me to - take revenge on you. I...shouldn't have hurt you. ...I was wrong."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Enishi suddenly slumped, braced his back against the wall and slid back to the ground, looking defeated. "I just wanted to tell you that," he whispered, pulling his good knee back up and resting his forehead against it.

Kenshin, motioning for Kaoru to stay back, finally approached. He stood over the younger man, looking down at the slumped shoulders and slack hands. "So you read your sister's diary."

"...Yes." The tears came then. Kenshin and Kaoru exchanged a glance. Then he sat down by his brother to keep him silent company, as Kaoru took Kenji with her to safety. Complete trust would take years to grow, but the seeds of it were planted...or perhaps they had been planted long ago.

o.o.o.o.o

Ten-year-old Himura Kenji stared aghast at the torn hair ribbon in his hands. He was wondering whether he should confess to his mother and get it over with, or tell her that his dad had done it, when a soft rustling alerted him.

He quickly balled up the ribbon in his fists and then centered his attention on the point of the dojo wall where he had heard the sound, trying to focus his senses. The stupid training was finally starting to have some effect, because he sensed a presence: too focused of spirit to be an animal, disciplined enough to be a swordsman; no ill intent; in fact, it was beginning to feel awfully familiar...

A tall, lithe figure dropped down inside the dojo wall, straightened, and rested a sword casually across broad shoulders.

"Uncle-!" Kenji started to gasp in delight, then broke off as he darted glances around the yard. There was no one else, so he ran quickly to Enishi and yanked to get him to bend his head. "Hey," he whispered urgently in the other's ear, "me and Kakeru were trying to play a joke on Mom, but then her ribbon tore and Kakeru ditched me and she's gonna come out here any minute and find out, and-!"

As if on cue, Kaoru's voice could be heard calling from the living quarters. "Kenji? Kenji, where are you? I need you to go shopping for me!"

"We'll take care of it, Sis," Enishi called, deftly extracting the ribbon from Kenji's hands and tucking it away into his pocket.

"Oh? Enishi, are you out there, too?" Kaoru came to the door and saw Enishi standing casually in the yard with her son, who looked...flushed and antsy. "Kenji, what have you been up to?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" the boy burst out. "We'll get you tofu and soy sauce, and, uh, rice and stuff; see you Mom, bye!" He grabbed his uncle's arm and towed him out to the street, as Kaoru watched, frowning.

"Kenji, wait...!"

"You're not gonna be able to hide it forever," Enishi pointed out as they headed for the market.

The boy, working hard to both keep up with his uncle's long strides and make it look like it cost no effort, shot back in a slightly breathless voice, "Who says?"

Enishi smiled a little. "My sister could always see through me when I tried to pull one over on her. Your mom already knows something's up."

"Buy me another ribbon, then!" Kenji insisted. "One that looks exactly like Mom's, so she'll never know the difference."

"That ribbon," Enishi said, "has sentimental value. Believe me, they can tell."

Kenji slowed to a halt, so that Enishi paused and turned back to look at him. "What do I do, then?" the boy asked plaintively.

That night, as Kaoru was wondering whether it was worth the trouble to cook something new or if she could get away with just re-heating the stuff that had been left over from lunch, her son came edging into the kitchen.

"Mom?"

Kaoru smiled and went over to him at once. "What is it, Kenji?"

He shuffled awkwardly, and a frown came to her face as she remembered that he had been acting guilty earlier.

"Do you have something you need to tell me, young man?" she asked in a more severe tone.

He looked up at her with a smile that he had apparently learned from his father, puppy-eyed and adorable in an attempt to stave off trouble. Just the sight of it raised Kaoru's hackles, even as her heart melted.

"Mommy?" he said artfully, "I love you very much."

"Uh huh," she said, still waiting.

His smile faltered a bit, but then he plastered it back on and drew out whatever he had been hiding behind his back. "You're such a wonderful mommy that I got you flowers."

"Oh, they're beautiful!" Kaoru exclaimed, wondering as she spoke if he had stolen them or something. They were far too nice for him to have just found growing on the side of the road. "Where did you get these?"

"Um..."

"This is a pretty ribbon," Kaoru said in surprise, examining the silky material that had been used to tie the bouquet together. "It looks just like..." She frowned.

"I wanted to do something really special for you," he said in a rush, "so we got it embor- embry- sewn! See, it says 'love.'"

"I see that," Kaoru acknowledged, untying the ribbon and inspecting it more closely. It was hers. The traces of Kenshin's old bloodstains were visible among the delicate new stitches. "So, Kenji, you thought it would be a good idea to take my favorite hair ribbon without asking, and get it embroidered?"

Kenji paused. Then he abandoned the puppy look and stated decisively, "It was Uncle Enishi's idea."

"Mm hm. And why, might I ask, did Enishi suggest getting my hair ribbon embroidered in the first place?"

The puppy look was back. "Don't you like it, Mommy?"

Kaoru smiled. Then she held up the ribbon and pointed to a certain area of the stitching. "This stroke is off a bit. It looks more like a repair job than part of the embroidered kanji." She gave Kenji her sweetest look.

He gulped.

"Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me, my darling?"

"Uh...well, you see, it was Kakeru's fault, and...and...!"

"And?" she prompted.

The boy swallowed. Then he looked down at his feet and said in resignation, "Guess tomorrow I'll be swinging that stupid shinai 'til my arms fall off?"

"You'd better believe it," Kaoru said cheerfully. "Now, go grab your uncle from wherever he's skulking and make him help us get dinner ready before Kenshin gets home."

"Uncle Enishi's not here," Kenji said craftily. "He's been gone for hours."

"As if I couldn't guess that he's the one who helped you with that ridiculous cover-up. Now go." She swatted him lightly on the backside; Kenji yelped and scrambled for the door.

"Hey, Mom knows you're here!" he yelled out into the dark yard. "She says come inside and help cook before she makes you do a thousand swings, too!"

"She did not say that," replied a voice, and Enishi materialized out of the shadows. "But I'll come, since if we don't help her with dinner I'll just end up puking it all up again."

Kenji giggled. "I'm the only one who doesn't think Mom's food is gross," he said proudly.

"That's because you've had to grow up on it," Enishi said pityingly. "Come on, let's go." He headed for the lit doorway, and did not object when Kenji moved to take his hand as they walked inside together.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I was wondering idly what would happen if Enishi, after reading Tomoe's diary and learning the truth, were to meet Kenshin again. Two elements caused the idea to solidify into a story. One was that I had gotten a request to write a sequel to Wandering where Hiko comes across little Kenji (that one is still incomplete and unpublished). The other was that I feel really bad about what Enishi did to the kids in The Lost Hatchling, so I wanted to write a nicer story about Enishi and one of Kenshin's kids to contrast it. There was also the fact that in Hatchling, Enishi and Kenji got along together surprisingly well off-screen (very ironic, considering their on-screen relationship). I also wanted to broaden Enishi's range yet again by giving him a fic where he's not a bad guy onscreen for once.

Yay, this is the first fic I've written where Kenji doesn't hate Kenshin! Kenshin actually got to raise him here, so Kenji had the chance to grow out of that dad-hating phase...mostly.

I'd love to see fanart of Enishi and little Kenji... ^_^