A/N: This takes place almost immediately after Kenshin starts training under Hiko. Hiko's finding out just how traumatized Kenshin really was by the events of his early childhood.

By the way, for those readers following my story Fortunate Relapse, that's next on the list of updates. I needed to get back into Hiko's mindset, now that I've gotten back into the flow of writing. So that's where this came from. Please tell me what you guys think.

Hush, Little One

Hiko sighed as he settled by the fire-pit, not bothering himself to light another fire. He was exhausted. Perhaps he had not quite thought through his decision to train the little waif he had rescued from the bandits. Granted, the boy had potential, and not just with swords. He was determined, and applied himself to whatever Hiko set him to do without question.

'Though that's probably a remnant of having been a slave,' he mused. Hiko would consider it a good day when he broke Kenshin of the habit of agreeing to everything he was told to do. It would be much more satisfying to train the boy if he questioned what he was told every once in a while. Just so long as he never thought he knew more than Hiko, of course.

But back to his previous line of thought. It took quite a bit of work, to take care of a child.

Especially such a severely traumatized child as Kenshin was. The boy had woken with terrifying nightmares nearly every night since Hiko had first taken him in. It had not surprised him that Kenshin had nightmares; what surprised him was the intensity of the nightmares.

That first night, Kenshin had not had a nightmare by virtue of being too exhausted from digging all those graves. And the next night, all that had occurred was a few distressed mumbles and whimpers, but nothing that disturbed either of the occupants of the cabin Hiko had commandeered for their use.

The third night, however, Kenshin had woken screaming, and Hiko had nearly decapitated one of the chairs he had crafted in his instinctive reaction to the cry of terror. He could only be grateful that Kenshin had been curled safely out of the way on his futon in the corner of the cabin. Once he had woken the terrified child, he had found himself with an armful of shaking eight-year-old.

He hadn't quite known what to do, and his hesitance had caused Kenshin to swipe his tears away and back up, apologizing in a timid voice for disturbing his shishou. Hiko had had to force his voice to be gentle and calm, when all he had felt was anger at the circumstances and people that had forced such a bright child to such fear and timidity. He'd calmed Kenshin down enough for him to sleep once again, and hopefully convinced him that it was okay for him to be frightened of his dreams, just so long as he knew they hadn't been real.

"Look at me, Kenshin," Hiko commanded, pushing the little boy away from him for a moment, and urging his head up with a hand under his chin. Wide, fearful violet eyes blinked up at him. "You have nothing to apologize for. You've been through things that would make grown men have nightmares, let alone an eight-year-old boy." The violet eyes turned away, not convinced. "I am not," Hiko pressed, forcing Kenshin's eyes back to his own, "in the least bit angry with you, Kenshin, for wanting comfort after such a dream." He consciously softened his expression, pulling on vague memories of his own childhood for guidance. "It's normal to want reassurance of safety. You're frightened and you're in a new environment."

A mumble, as violet eyes shied away from his once again. Hiko sighed, and asked gently.

"What was that, Kenshin?"

"N-nothing, Shishou."

"Come on now, deshi, tell me." A gulp that Hiko could feel in the jerking of Kenshin's small body, and then,

"I said, I don't think you've ever been scared of anything in your life, Shishou." Hiko sat and pondered the statement and the situation for a few moments, then made a swift decision, hoping he wouldn't regret it later.

"I'll tell you a secret, Kenshin, if you promise not to tell anyone else. How about it?" Kenshin blinked up at him and solemnly promised, his innate curiosity peeking through. Hiko smirked internally, 'Ah, the curiosity of a child, such a useful tool…' Hiko glanced to the right and then to the left, as if making sure no one but Kenshin would overhear his statement. He felt his deshi's ki begin to lose some of the terror that had gripped him, and sensed curiosity taking over.

Hiko turned his glance downward, his expression carefully serious, and whispered. "When I was your age, I had nightmares too, and I was always frightened when I woke up."

"No!" The terror was almost completely gone now, as Kenshin tried to imagine his shishou having a nightmare. And picture his shishou as a child. It was just as hard as it looked.

"Yes." Hiko nodded solemnly. He grinned broadly to himself, glad to have diverted Kenshin so well. He kept his voice soft and serious sounding, determined to get Kenshin thinking about something besides the horrible dreams he had almost nightly. "I had to have…" better not to mention the word father, that would probably provoke another crying session, "someone hold me until the fear went away, as well."

Kenshin's ki was completely devoid of fear now. He was staring wide-eyed at his imposing shishou, incredulity and a bit of relief radiating from his ki. Hiko narrowed his eyes and growled in a playful manner at the young boy.

"But if you tell anyone else about that, I'm going to hang you upside down from the tallest tree I can find. Understood?" Kenshin giggled a bit, and managed a credible, "Yes, shishou, I understand."

"Good, now, go to sleep, deshi. You're going to need all the rest you can get." Hiko said, settling himself more comfortably against the wall, and allowing Kenshin to stay where he was, while pretending he hadn't noticed Kenshin had not gone back to his own futon. As the boy fell asleep, Hiko kept him encircled in his arms, safe from any danger that would dare to threaten him.

That had been roughly three weeks ago. Hiko glanced back at the cabin. Kenshin's nightmares hadn't stopped just because he no longer feared Hiko's reaction to a clinging, trembling eight-year-old. But they had become fewer and fewer as the weeks went on. Though they didn't seem to be diminishing in intensity much at all. Though perhaps, just having Kenshin recover from his nightmares a little more quickly each time was an indication that he was slowly recovering from his trauma.

'He didn't even have a nightmare the past two nights. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll go for a third…' Hiko mused hopefully. He still needed to make-up for all the sleep he had been losing for the past few weeks. His dream of a quiet night, however, was shattered when Kenshin's scream rang through the night air once again.

"DON'T, PLEASE DON'T…." Kenshin's voice trailed off into incoherent sobs as Hiko skidded to a halt by the boy's futon, his cloak snapping from the sudden change from stillness to motion to stillness again. Hiko grabbed the young boy by the shoulders and shook him.

"Kenshin, wake up! It's just another nightmare."

'Just, hah! Who are you kidding, Seijurou?' He mocked himself.

"Wake up, deshi! Are you listening to me?"

With a gasp, Kenshin's eyes flew open, tears shining brightly in them. He gave a heaving sob and launched himself into Hiko's arms, hands clutching spasmodically at his shishou's gi. Hiko gathered the small boy into his arms and sat back on his heels, rocking the boy back and forth.

"Shh…you're safe, Kenshin. No one would dare try to harm you while I'm here. Just calm down….Shh…." Kenshin's sobs continued for several minutes unabated, and the small hands never lost their grip on his gi, and the whole time Hiko kept up his constant stream of reassurances.

'Shishou would be laughing at me so hard right now,' he grumbled to himself. 'He always said that once I had an apprentice of my own, I'd find myself doing things I'd never do otherwise. I just didn't believe him.' Hiko could see the man that had been his shishou in his mind's eye, grinning triumphantly at his student and waggling a finger at him, seeming to say, "I told you, baka, didn't I? Should have listened to your shishou, now shouldn't you have?"

'Shut up, shishou,' he groused in his mind. He glanced down at the red mop of hair buried in his sleeping yukata and sighed imperceptibly. Yes, this definitely qualified as something he never thought he'd be doing. Ever.

But the sobs seemed to have stopped. Kenshin had started trying to regulate his breathing, with a small amount of success. His breath still hitched more often than not, but he was calming down. Hiko let him calm himself before holding the boy far enough away that he could see Kenshin's face.

"Feel better, deshi?" Kenshin's little face scrunched up in a grimace. Hiko chuckled. "Better than you did a few moments ago?"

"Hai, shishou. A little better."

"Good." They sat quietly for a few more moments, before Kenshin shifted, and his soft voice ventured a question.

"Shishou?"

"Yes, Kenshin?"

"Why can't I stop having nightmares?" Hiko sighed.

"You're a child, Kenshin, for all you've been through. Being sold and then having the girls that had become family to you killed while you could do nothing left a strong impression. You're never going to forget those things, but the dreams will fade with time."

"It's been over three weeks." Kenshin's voice somehow managed to sound aggrieved and petrified at the same time. Hiko made Kenshin look him in the eye.

"Kenshin, there is no time limit on how long it is acceptable for you to have nightmares. They will stop in time."

"But I want them to stop now!" Hiko sighed.

"I'd like to get a complete night's sleep as much as you do, Kenshin. But they will only stop when they're ready to."

"When will they stop?" Hiko shook his head.

"I don't know, deshi." He met the saddened violet eyes that were upturned to him and huffed. "Talking helps, sometimes, to get rid of the nightmares." He watched Kenshin closely, as the boy flushed and hid his head in Hiko's yukata.

Kenshin had been very reticent about speaking of his life before Hiko had saved him from the bandits. Hiko hadn't pressed him, figuring it had been traumatic and dragging the memories out couldn't be a good idea. But those memories were still tormenting the boy. They had to talk about it.

"Deshi!" He snapped in the voice he used when Kenshin made a mistake in a well-practiced move. Kenshin's head snapped up, eyes wide in his pale face. Hiko glowered at the boy. "You need to talk about it, deshi. If you don't these nightmares aren't ever going to stop." Probably an exaggeration, but then, if it got the boy talking…

Violet eyes darted everywhere, focusing on everything but Hiko's face. It amused the Mitsurugi master somewhat, but the circumstances precluded more than a tight smile. Hiko caught Kenshin's chin and made him look his shishou in the face.

"You don't have to talk about it tonight, Kenshin; but we will be having this discussion sometime soon." He said firmly. The panic in Kenshin's gaze retreated somewhat, his ki reflecting resignation. "Now," Hiko said decisively, standing with Kenshin still in his arms, "it's time you went to sleep."

Hiko marched over to his own futon, kicked it open and the covers down and settled into a seated position with his back against the wall. He let Kenshin slid down so he could nestle in the covers against his master's side. Violet eyes blinked up at him, and Hiko glowered down at the little boy.

"If you so much as whimper, I'm kicking you back to your own futon for the night, deshi, understand?"

Kenshin smiled a little, and nodded his head with a quiet, "Yes, shishou." He burrowed into Hiko's side, dragging some of the covers over him and settling into sleep.

Hiko never moved as Kenshin fell asleep, fearing to wake the boy back up. They both needed to sleep. He glanced down to the unruly head of hair resting peacefully on his side, and a small smile crept over his face.

"Sleep well, little one." He whispered, smoothing a hand over Kenshin's hair.

A/N: I uploaded this the wrong way the first time, and put up the unedited version, sorry for any confusion, guys. Go review, please!