Disclaimer: No, she doesn't own Rurouni Kenshin either.
A/N: So, this is my first RuroKen fic. The idea was originally for Gundam Wing, but I somehow wound up deciding I liked it better with Sano. Maybe because I've had more recent RuroKen exposure? In any case, fic time.
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The sun was high and the wind was thin. Neither rain nor even a hint of precipitation had visited the small city for several weeks. In short, it was hot. And Sano saw no reason why he should stay quiet about it.
"It is stinking hot!" he hollered from his place on the Kamiya Dojo porch.
The young fighter had already removed his coat and splashed himself with water more than once. At the moment he was fanning himself rapidly with one of Kaoru's traditional fans. Someone really needed to invent a better way of staying cool. If people expected him to believe that a weak thing like steam could make a train move and that powder and fire could imprint images on paper then he expected them to prove it with a useful creation. Maybe a bunch of individual fans moving at once to push cool air at a person. Now that would be worth thinking up. Of course it would probably be run by witchcraft.
"Quit complaining," Kaoru snapped from beside him. She was fanning herself as well and it was to no more good. The heat did nothing positive for her mood, either.
Sano inched away from the red-faced dojo mistress. He was sorry that she was so hot. If she had not been so caught up in her own discomfort she might instead take noticed of Kenshin going about the laundry topless. But then if it was not for the fault of the heat that caused her discomfort Kenshin would most likely not be working without a top. That ruined the entire logic, making Sano more irritable.
The gangster looked around for something to focus on besides the temperature. As far as he could see there was nothing. The most interesting thing his eye wandered over was Yahiko passed out on the ground a few yards off. Kaoru had insisted that Yahiko not practice lest he over-heat. Yahiko had decided not to listen and passed out not long after beginning. In a flash of motherly compassion, Kaoru had dumped a bucket of water over the boy, said 'I told you so' and left him on the ground.
Sano whimpered at the heat and Kaoru turned a fierce glare on him. Sano smiled innocently and inched further away. She looked angrier than usual. That was a bad sign. Feeling that his health depended on a change of scenery, Sano stood, collected his jacket and announced his departure. Yahiko managed to wave a limp hand at him, Kenshin smiled a cheery- however worn- good-bye and Kaoru grumbled something that sounded like "good riddance." And so with this hearty farewell, Sano set off for Megumi's office. There were sure to have been an impressive amount of patients by then and Megumi would surely appreciate his help. Besides, she should be good and sweaty after so much work.
The hot, dry weather kept most people away from the market. Thus it was relatively easy to pass through without having to go through a crowd. Sano sent up a prayer for the blessing; it was less heat he would have to deal with. But there were a few people around and that was what made Sano halt not once but twice.
The first time he had heard the sound of masculine laughter and had gone to investigate. Anything that might distract him from the heat was welcome. But he had barely begun his snooping when he turned away in disgust. A group of young men, boys, really, no older than fifteen, were standing and joking about the war. Several bragged about fathers and brothers in office or high military standing and how they planned to reach the same status. War was no big deal, they claimed. It was no more than a game that was meant for the strong to play and the weak to be taught a lesson. Sano wondered how they could keep from burning with such hot air floating about them.
As Sano stomped off, too worn with the heat to teach the boys a lesson of his own, he heard another sound. This was a much smaller, less enthusiastic noise. Casting his glance around the surrounding area Sano managed to locate the source. A little girl with a mop of dark curls and a brightly patterned kimono sat curled up by a stream and sniffled. Eyes softening, the rooster-head approached the tiny form. Quietly, he sat beside the child. Speaking softly so as not to frighten her, he asked what was wrong. Startled to hear a voice, the small mound of curls popped up from clutched knees to search out the cause. Upon seeing Sano the girl's eyes grew wide.
"You're big," she breathed in aw.
Sano chuckled at the girl's reaction and replied, "Yeah, I guess I am."
"How big are you standing?" she asked, her moist eyes still wide. They got wider still when Sano stood to demonstrate.
"So," he started casually as he settled back down beside her. "What's with the tears? Someone rough you up?"
"Huh?" she cocked her head, not understanding what he meant.
"Never mind," he sighed and gave a roll of his eyes.
Feeling as if she had done something wrong, the little girl averted her eyes and bunched her body back up. Sano struck his own forehead with his palm when she began to sniffle again. Sighing once more, he placed a comforting hand on the child's shoulder. Big, shiny eyes looked back up at him and two tears made their way down round, rosy cheeks. Sano smiled.
"I'm not scolding you, kid," he told her in a friendly tone. "I just wonder what has you so upset. And while we're at it, why are you out here alone?"
"I'm not alone," the girl wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "My big brother is over there." She accented the statement by jabbing a small, plump finger in the direction of the group Sano had seen before.
"So one of those bas… boys is looking after you?" he corrected himself just in time.
"Uh, huh," the girl nodded and looked sad. "But he said to go away, because they were talking about big boy stuff and I wouldn't understand anyway because I'm a stupid little girl." She sighed a cute little puff of a sigh and looked out at the water.
"Well that was a sh- stupid thing to say. And it wasn't very nice," Sano again scarcely escaped using the wrong word. The idea that one of the boys, who he had already pegged as idiots, had sent the little girl away with such an unkind word irked him. She seemed like such a sweet kid.
"That's not all either," the little girl stared up at Sano as if she knew something she was not supposed to know. "He said," she motioned for Sano to get closer and he did so she could whisper, "a word that I'm not even allowed to say. And Mama says he shouldn't either. Even Daddy gets in trouble for it!"
"No!" Sano gasped in mock surprise. "He said a word like that?"
The girl nodded solemnly. She had heard him say it herself.
"Imagine," Sano shook his head and smiled with the side of his mouth at the girl. "Are you going to tell on him?"
The girl looked shocked at the suggestion. "No! He's my big brother! But he's still not supposed to say it."
"I don't guess," Sano smiled down at the tiny child. It really got him that such a small girl was by herself. She could be no older than three and was small all the same. And she was sitting by water! Suppose she fell in?
"Hey, Mister," a serious voice broke him out of his angry thoughts. The girl was looking back up at him and appeared to have some important question to ask.
"Yeah?" Sano leaned down to hear her better.
"What's 'war' mean?" she asked, dark eyes curious.
"Huh?" it was Sano's turn to be confused. Could the kid really not know?
"My brother and his friends were talking about it," she explained. "That's why he got mad; I asked him what war was."
"Is that why he got mad?" Sano glanced back at the barely visible group.
"Yep," she confirmed. "I've heard it a bunch but I don't know what it means really. It's about fighting, I think, but that's all I know," she shook her little head hopelessly, lips puckered into a pout.
"Well," Sano began, trying to find the best way to define the word, "war is…"
"Don't you know either?" she looked up at him sympathetically that he too might be left out of "big boy stuff."
"Oh, I definitely know what it is," he answered, still fresh memories floating into mind. "I just never thought about it before."
"Oh," she seemed upset, not only that she might never get her answer but that she had not found another social outcast like herself.
"War is," Sano began again, an idea in mind, "when million men with guns and swords and go out and meet another million men with guns and swords and they all slice and shoot and try to kill each other."
The little girl absorbed the information quietly with a furrowed brow. She was obviously confused why millions of men would want to try and kill each other. Sano let her take the information as she pleased. There were too many idiotic excuses for the mentioned behavior for him to feel like listing. In the still quiet the heat returned and Sano took the opportunity to remove his jacket and dip it in the cool water. He was just putting it back on and enjoying the cool dampness against his skin when the child spoke again.
"Mister?" she looked back up at him.
"Yeah, kid?" he glanced down at her curious eyes.
"If war is when all those men go to meet all those other men and they try to kill each other," she spoke carefully, making sure she got it right.
"Yeah, kid?" Sano repeated so she would know that she had the basic idea of it.
"Well, suppose nobody showed up?" she asked with genuine innocent curiosity.
Sano took in the question carefully. He was at a loss to answer. The inquiry rolled around in his head several times but he still could think of no reply.
"If nobody showed up," he mumbled out loud, hoping the rest of the sentence would come to him as he spoke. No dice. "If nobody showed up…"
He was about ready to surrender and ask her what she thought- a tactic that he had found useful in throwing off children from his occasional ignorance- when he was interrupted by a young man's voice. They two turned toward the sound and saw one of the boys Sano had spotted earlier heading toward them frantically.
"Botan!" the boy put on a firm expression and a scolding voice as the reached the pair. "You know better than to wander away from me! You had me worried senseless!"
Sano was ready to put in his own two cents, that the boy needed no worry to be considered senseless, when he thought better of it. No way was he about to start a scuffle with some snot-nosed brat. He was still sore that the girl had been allowed to wander off at all, but she was safe now. The boy had looked sincerely worried so the fighter decided the punk had probably learned his lesson.
"Sorry, Koji," the girl, Botan, apologized- without cause, in Sano's eyes- softly as she stood up and straitened her kimono. "I didn't mean to."
"Just don't do it again," Koji's voice lost its firmness as he bent to hug her. He then regarded Sano with an odd combination of suspicion and gratitude. "Come on, Botan," he tugged at the tiny hand his larger fist now gripped, "it's time to go home."
"Bye, Mister," Botan smiled cheerfully and waved, her question forgotten with the joy of her brother's return. If and when she remembered, at least, she could certainly not turn the puzzle on Sano. It was this thought alone that let him watch Koji lead her off without saying anything.
When the two had gone Sano stretched his arms above his head and fell back onto the soft green grass. He closed his eyes to the burning sun, the rays blotted temporarily by a puffy cloud. He enjoyed the melodic sound of trickling water and sighed peacefully. Sometime during his conversation with Botan the heat had died down. He was quite comfortable. But the question he had been asked stopped him from relaxing completely.
"Suppose nobody showed up," he mumbled to himself, still unable to respond. "I guess there really isn't an answer," he rationalized. "Just something to suppose… After all, it wouldn't be a war if nobody showed up, now would it?"
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WWII a little girl asked Thornton Wilder what war was. His answer was basically Sano's, minus the swords. Botan's responding question is based off of the girl's actual responding question, to which Wilder had no answer.
If you noticed any mistakes, please bring them to my attention in a review or an email so I can correct the. If you review, please include your favorite and least favorite aspects of the fic.