A/N: This will have a companion oneshot. Standard disclaimer applies: not mine, not for profit…have pity….

Vocab: Hōki , Mutsu---both are domains

Farewell

By older woman

He sat on the rock and stared into the trees. The sake cup swung gently from idle fingers like the dish of a balance as he weighed his thoughts. He hissed in irritation: even from here he could feel the emptiness radiating from the house standing silent in the night.

"A week! One more week and we would have been gone! He would have never heard of the Kiheitai!' He winced to find that he had spoken his thought out loud. Wonderful! Now I'm talking to myself. Soon I'll be as bad as the hermit.

He had watched with concern as the situation in Kyōtō deteriorated, trying to decide when they should leave and where to go. Hōki was a possibility and not too far away, but perhaps Mutsu would be better—off at the ends of the earth. Slowly, he had stopped taking commissions for his calligraphy; he had just needed to finish the last few to give them money to travel. But I erred in my judgment. I should have left that baka deshi here whenever I went into town. I know how curious he is… And I know the weight of responsibility that he has always felt to those who died. I was the fool to not foresee his reaction to the things he heard.

So now he had no pupil. No irritation at youthful blunders, but no satisfaction at 'baka deshi's' innocent glow of pride when he got it right. No annoyance at nosey intrusions into his privacy, but no amazed admiration either. His true family had long been lost to him through his own arrogance as he used his newly acquired skills in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryū; now he had also lost the one who had become younger brother and son to him as the boy made the same mistake. There would be no one with whom to look forward to sharing sake.

He picked up the jug and poured himself some of the drink, grimacing at the taste as he sipped. Kenshin did not hear anything I said. His ears were ringing with their promises of a new world-- a just world. All he felt was his commitment to the common people he identifies with. But what of his commitment to his training? To me? When I claimed him as my pupil, it was a commitment till death…

So, what do I do now? Unless they are idiots, as soon as they see his skill they will keep him in Kyōtō and use him as something more than a common soldier. An assassin? He has no idea of what he has gotten into! That pure heart will be ground to dust by the twin stones of politics and passion. I survived because I have always taken a more cynical view of the world, but that stubborn head of his will not let him stop till he is dead, insane, or has won the day. If I ever see him again, it will not be until the matter is resolved.

He stood and looked back at the small hut that had been his home for six and a half years. It was time to move on. A new name, a new place…but not a new pupil. He was as stubborn as Kenshin and would not let go. When the government is settled, I will come back. If he is still alive, he will return and I will see what he has become. And then I will decide if he is still worth the sacrifice…