A/N1: I found the neatest sketchpad/journal thing at Barnes and Noble the other day. It had a design on the front of a painting of one of the tsunamis that flattened one of Japan's smaller islands during its history. I find this immensely interesting because I'm a history buff and the picture makes much more sense to me than it did before my sister explained the significance of the design. (Me: So it's not just that some artist wanted to draw a freaking big wave? Sister: ...no. It's a traditional piece of art. . Me: Cool! I think I will get this one then! Sister: ...you're odd.) And apparently, it also makes it easier for me to write, for some reason. I don't think I've ever finished a chapter so quickly. Maybe the "traditionality" of writing something by hand instead of typing it on the computer? Who knows, but it works, apparently!
Chapter 2: Reflecting
Kenshin stared blankly at the back of his wife's head, unable to fully comprehend what she had just told him. His wounds throbbed with every beat of his heart and while time and the fire's warmth had banished most of the lingering effects of the barriers, the redhead was still slightly numb. He could almost swear he still heard the faint ringing that had seemed near constant that morning and his vision would still blur at odd moments. Truthfully, the only sense he felt had been truly restored to him was the ability to read ki and even that seemed questionable now.
Because if ti was truly restored, then the bitter regret in Tomoe's ki, and the shocked betrayal in Enishi's…then it meant his wife's story was true. And that was simply too much for him right now.
"Get up." Kenshin croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Tomoe, get up. You shouldn't-" But if she had deceived him in the manner she had just detailed…but if she had, it was only because of the grief his own actions had caused her. "You are injured, and you're not used to having to ignore that pain." He had caused her emotional pain; the grief that had led to betrayal. "Do not put yourself in such discomfort for my sake." Gritting his teeth, he rose to slightly unsteady feet. He spoke over Tomoe's quiet exclamation of concern. "I have to make sure we are secure here. There was one onmitsu who escaped. Stay here. Enishi, guard your sister."
Without waiting to see if the boy would argue with him, Kenshin retrieved his daisho and stalked out the door.
Tomoe felt a tear slide down her cheek and hurriedly wiped it away. She had known, in a carefully ignored part of her heart, that this happiness she had found with her husband could not last. Though she had not held any emotion but hatred for Himura Battousai, that had been before she had encountered the boy behind the terrifying legend. Before she had come to know the man he was slowly growing to be, despite every obstacle thrown in his way.
Before she had fallen in love with Himura Kenshin, the Ishin known as Battousai, the man who had killed her first love. She had forfeited the right to tears the moment she had agreed to marry him.
"Nee-san?" Enishi's voice was hesitant and half-way furious. "I don't understand. How…how can you love him? He killed your fiancé!"
Tomoe inclined her head, feeling another sort of grief tug at her heart. She had so wished to spare her little brother the pain of the consequences of her actions…her crimes.
"He did," she finally acknowledged her brother's accusation. "He is also the man who saved a woman he didn't know from two very drunk samurai, and later, when she followed him to express her thanks and saw instead a battle she should never have known about…" Tomoe's voice trailed off as she remembered that rain of blood and the odd hesitance she had sensed before she had fainted. She hadn't realized until the next day that the hesitance was odd because he should have killed her that night. She shook her head, nearly subconsciously, in remembered bafflement. "He is also the man who spared me, when his orders were to keep his identity a secret at all costs."
Enishi went pale. Her brother wasn't stupid. He could easily infer what she meant. Tomoe continued as he stared at her with confused and scared black eyes.
"He brought me to safety. He had the innkeeper – an elderly woman named Okami-san – clean me and dress me for bed. He came crashing down the stairs the next morning in something remarkably like panic, because he had awakened and saw the futon neatly put away and myself gone." Another shake of the head. "He ensured none of his fellow Ishin Shishi spoke badly of me or insinuated inappropriate things about my character. Enishi, I did not lie. Himura Kenshin was the opposite of everything I had believed him to be. Himura Battousai may have killed Kiyosato-san, but it was not out of malice or a lust for blood. My husband may be an assassin, but he does not regard his job as anything glorious. Simply what has to be done, so his commander may advance the ideal they both believe in."
"But…but eh hurt you, Nee-san. He made you cry." In Enishi's mind, this was a crime that could never be forgiven. Tomoe sighed. She loved her brother, but she dearly withsed their mother had not died so soon after Enishi's birth. She had no idea how to teach her brother about forgiveness; especially not when she had only started to learn how to apply it herself. Her mother might have known how.
"So did Kiyosato-san, when he left," she settled on saying. "Enishi, there isn't an easy way to explain my feelings. They have changed so drastically, I don't even know where to start. But please, even if you still hate him, do not deliberately antagonize him. For me?"
Enishi shifted uncomfortably, but ultimately nodded. Tomoe inclined her head gratefully, managing to find a small smile for him. She carefully stood. "Will you help me prepare our meal, Enishi? My arm will make the task difficult."
Her brother started, having descended into one of his rare thoughtful moods after he had agreed not to antagonize her husband. He frowned at her shoulder and then nodded, something dark and almost frightened flashing through his eyes. Tomoe took silent note of it.
They worked with only occasional requests for an item or aid, and Tomoe eventually laid her hand on her brother's shoulder, squeezing gently, causing unseen tension to leak out of his frame and he gave her a grateful smile.
Enishi was far from sure he was happy that the man who had brought his sister happiness again was the same one who had taken it in the first place. He would have much rathered that jinchuu had succeeded and he and his sister could go home without worrying about that murderer. But jinchuu had failed anf for some reason Nee-san was in love with him. So he would tolerate the redhaired man, but only until Nee-san came to her senses.
In the meantime, he now had to find a hitokiri who obviously didn't want to be anywhere near either Yukishiro sibling and convince him to come inside and eat before he froze to death.
Enishi growled as he stomped around the corner of the farmhouse, hoping without much confidence that…Himura hadn't just left them to be slaughtered by whichever faction was most furious and got to them first. So he stumbled to a bewildered halt when he saw the hitokiri perched on a brushed clear pile of firewood, sword propped against his shoulder, apparently oblivious to the biting cold. The young boy scowled and stomped around the pile to plant himself firmly in the man's line of sight.
"If you freeze to death because you're too stupid to come inside, I won't care, but Nee-san would cry," he bluntly stated.
Distant blue eyes blinked and focused on him with faint surprise. "…Enishi," the hitokiri acknowledged after a pause. Enishi had to forcefully remind himself that this was his Nee-san's beloved to prevent himself from yelling at the idiot.
"Nee-san and I made supper," he finally gritted out, as obviously appeals to common sense were useless. "Aren't you hungry?"
Himura looked away, no expression that Enishi could interpret on his face. "Then you both should eat," he stated, ignoring the question. "It's been a long day."
This time Enishi couldn't hold back the growl. "Nee-san wants you to come inside before you freeze to death," he repeated, trembling with anger. "Do you even care that she risked her life to save you? That she mad a meal for you when it's so painful for her to move her arm? She's done everything for you and you don't even seem to realize that you stole her happiness in the first place! You-!"
"What makes you think I don't care?" The flat menace in the question made Enishi take a hesitant step back and close his mouth. This man bore no resemblance to the one who had let him get away with biting him yesterday. Blue eyes flecked with gold pinned him to the spot, though the hitokiri had not moved. "What makes you think I don't realize that I killed her fiancé?" One hand rose and ripped off the bandage on his left cheek, revealing two cuts. One long since healed and the other far newer - the result of his sister's dagger as it had flown from her hand when she had been struck by her husband's blade. It had started to bleed again.
"Hey-!" Enishi squawked. Nee-san would be upset that the idiot had reopened one of his wounds. Himura overrode his protest, gesturing at the older mark, oblivious or simply uncaring of the blood running down his face.
"Do you know where I got this scar?" He didn't wait for an answer and Enishi didn't have one anyway. "I got it the night I assassinated Shigekura Jubei, from the youngest of his guards. A young man who not only managed to strike me, but withstood three of my attacks he had such a great will to live!"
Enishi watched in unabashed astonishment as the cold fury ebbed into bitter recrimination. This was the man the Yoshinobu had been so cautious of? A man apparently much more torn up by the murder of a bodyguard than any of his other crimes?
"I didn't even know his name." Himura laughed humorlessly. "And now, for Tomoe's dagger to strike me – to scar me – by accident so perfectly across the scar left by her fiancé." His hand tightened on the sheath of his sword, no longer aware of the boy in front of him, solely focused on his own inner turmoil. "I killed him. I killed her happiness."
The man nearly broken by the knowledge of what he had done to one woman. This was the fearsome Battousai? If he hadn't seen just how dangerous the man could be, in the forest that morning, Enishi wouldn't have believed it.
Frowning, he looked around the yard. He really could care less if the idiot died out here, but he couldn't just let it happen, cause that would make Nee-san cry. And since HImura hadn't actually abandoned them like he had initially thought…
Well, Enishi didn't know what to think of that – or of Himura's odd behavior – but if he was going to get a chance to decide how he felt, the idiot had to come inside before he froze to death.
"Ha," he breathed as he spotted a discarded broom leaning against the farmhouse. Ensihi had seen that morning how deadly the man in front of him could be, even injured and unsure of his surroundings. He wasn't stupid enough to poke a man that dangerous without something in between them. Enishi could hardly believe he'd gotten away with biting the man yesterday. Holding the broom where the handle was joined to the brisltes, Enishi leveled his impromptu poker at his unwanted brother-in-law. He carefully aimed at one of the only unbandaged areas on the man – his left leg – and jabbed him with the broom handle.
The reaction he got was somewhat anticlimactic.
Himura let out a startled yelp and made as if to unseath his sword – which Enishi had been expecting. He had already ducked down just in case. But his caution proved unnecessary, as the stack of firewood started to shift under the sudden movements and Himura's weakened body proved unequal to the task of steadying himself.
The hitokiri toppled backwards into the snow and Enishi was only vaguely impressed he hadn't lost the sword as he fell. No, what occupied Enishi's mind was one sentiment. A statement he could not hold back in his dumbfounded shock.
"Seriously? Is that as good as your balance gets? I poke you once and you-"
At this point, two things happened. Enishi's mind finally succeeded in getting his mouth to shut up and Himura regained his feet, snow stuck in his hair and melting into his clothing, sword held almost as an afterthought at his side, seeming as if he didn't know if he should be furious or embarrassed. His eyes locked on the broom handle in Enishi's hands and his expression settled for confused.
"You hit me with a broom handle?"
Enishi fought not to flush in embarrassment, griping his improvised poker even more firmly. "I didn't think Nee-san would have liked it if I bit you again." He scowled. "And I've patched you up enough today. I don't want to do it again." Pointedly gesturing at his own cheek, he shifted his scowl into a glare. "You do enough damage to yourself already."
Himura raised a hand to his cheek reflexively and seemed surprised at the blood that came away on his fingertips. Enishi plowed on before he could fall back into that odd, bitter mood again.
"Food?" he reminded the hitokiri pointedly. Himura's blue eyes – now devoid of the gold flecks – skipped from his hand to Enishi's scowling face to the farmhouse. Finally - finally – he moved to enter it for the first time since he had stalked out of it, sheathing his sword as he went. Enishi rolled his eyes and followed, keeping the broom in hand.
Maybe he could use it to knock sense into the redhead if he said anything to make Nee-san cry again.
A/N2: Enishi is...oddly fun to write. I hadn't expected that. I do know where I expect him to end up, development-wise, but he is very much a brat when he's first introduced to Kenshin. And aside from being very childish in some of his views - well, he is ten - it's very hard to argue with his dislike of Kenshin. He did kill someone important to Tomoe and caused her a lot of grief and pain. To Enishi - to any child who idolized an older sibling/mother figure - this is going to be a nearly unforgivable crime.
Hope you enjoyed!
