For numisma, who requested Kenshin + Soujiro. It became rather gen, though. :) PG-rating. Oneshot. Working loosely with the Seishou Hen premise of Kenshin not being able to settle.
that 'in-between'
by Maaya
----
Kenshin's forehead was sticky with sweat but he stopped in the clearing, partially to remain in merciful shadows, partially because in the lake he himself had planned to cool himself off in (years of wandering and Kenshin knew his way around, knew where the paths, lakes and hidden rivers were) was already occupied.
Kenshin would have thought that he was discrete, but apparently not enough because the person turned to reveal a somewhat familiar but all the same unrecognizable face. More tanned than Kenshin's meagre memory allowed, older, not much taller. (More revealed, certainly, but Kenshin rather thought that it was matter of circumstances. Not many people bathed with their clothes on.
"Ah," the other said, squinting into the shade. He tilted his head, not quite smiling, or smiling just a bit. (With Soujiro, the difference might have been vast once, but now it was hard to tell.) "Himura-san.
An "oro" slipped of his tongue.
----
"You still carry it.
"Huh? Oh, this?" The hand Soujiro rested over the sheathed sword in the grass was definitely touching something familiar. "I figured it would be stupid to throw it away. Using the sword is the only thing I can, after all." He smiled and scratched his neck. "My head isn't good for much else."
Soujiro's hair was still damp from his dip in the lake and he had to feel cold, it was getting darker, almost shivery compared to the heat of daytime.
Kenshin watched the younger man lean closer to the fire. Looked up when he heard his name.
"But, Himura-san." Soujiro looked genuinely curious. "You're rather far from home.
Kenshin didn't ask how the young man knew of his home, nor did he reply much. "This one is glad he met you," he said instead. "It has been a while.
They were quiet for a moment. Soujiro's eyes were gazing at nothing ahead. "Seven years. You upset things quite a lot for me.
"Is that so." Kenshin smiled without saying sorry, because Soujiro was smiling back.
----
Kenshin glanced at the other man's back, motionless in not-sleep. He thought, they were both unused to sleep in company, Soujiro probably more than he was. Kenshin remembered the feeling of hearing another person's breaths as an oddity.
With a sigh he leaned back against the tree and allowed the fire die. He slept only after a few whispered words, probably not meant for him but for him all the same.
"You carry it still, too, Himura-san," he heard Soujiro's careful voice through the dark. "Why do you carry it?
Kenshin, one hand on his sakabatou, didn't know if it was Soujiro talking to himself or if he was supposed to answer. He didn't know the purpose of the question, either and thus, couldn't answer
----
"Where are you headed?" Kenshin asked that morning, when they have both woken and stretched. Sunrays reached his face. Late, dry, summer.
The boy--young man (memory said boy, mind said otherwise) looked startled. Perhaps he had forgotten the peace he had been at the day before. "I--I don't really know. Matsumoto-shi, I think.
"A few days from here," Kenshin noted.
"I better get going." Soujiro peered through his fingers at the rising sun. "It's going to be another hot day." He sounded tired, but not unhappy.
Kenshin suddenly recalled something, rather sheepishly. "This one apologizes about the…interruption yesterday.
"It's okay." And it was, because the more Soujiro awakened, the more of his confidence was returning. With a small laugh the younger man grabbed his sword and balanced his bags over his shoulder.
----
They parted in Matsumoto-shi, as wanderers
(By then Kenshin had grown better at deciphering Soujiro's eyes and he could see envy. He thought about it, and turned east, where he knew Tokyo was.
end
