RuroKen Week - Day 2 - Friendship or Family

Yahiko was distracted.

Kenshin didn't often sit in on classes in the dojo any more, but with Kaoru so close to giving birth to their third child, she hadn't wanted to overstrain her flagging energy on rowdy kenjutsu students.

Of course, being kept from what she loved only made her cranky, and so Kenshin was at the dojo, ostensibly there to reign in any students that Yahiko couldn't handle, but mostly to allow his very pregnant wife some needed relaxation time.

Far from the students misbehaving, however, was their sensei. Yahiko's mind seemed to be miles away. He would yell a kata for the students to practice and walk among them, only to miss the blatant errors that Kenshin could spot across the hall.

When a few of the younger set began to goof off without being reprimanded, Kenshin stood and called for a break.

Yahiko blinked at him in owlish surprise.

"Yahiko," Kenshin said after the students left the dojo to get water from the well, "something is troubling you, it is."

"Nah," Yahiko said, rubbing the back of his wrist over his forehead. "Well... maybe." He gripped his shinai with white knuckles. "Any chance I could talk to you after the lesson today?"

Kenshin blinked. "Of course."

Yahiko seemed a little more focused when the students returned from their break, and Kenshin wondered what could have rattled the boy so much that his attention had wandered from what he loved to do.

Boy. Kenshin shook his head with a slight smile. At eighteen, Yahiko couldn't be called a mere "boy" any longer. Sometimes, though, Kenshin still saw the scrawny kid with the pride of his lineage in his eyes as he threw Kenshin's coin purse back in his face.

Once the students had left and the last shinai put away on the stand, Kenshin waited for Yahiko to start the conversation.

"I've been saving some money," he blurted out as they exited the dojo and walked back to the house.

Kenshin eyed him. "Oro. A wise decision..." he said hesitantly, wondering where this was going. They paused on the engawa overlooking the garden.

"And the dojo's been doing really well," Yahiko continued as if Kenshin hadn't spoken. "It's a good, steady income..." He inhaled a breath, hands fisting on his hakama. "I..."

"Kenshin?" Kaoru slid open the shoji screen, one hand resting on her protruding belly. "What are you—"

Kenshin shot her a meaningful look. Her blue eyes widened, glanced at Yahiko's stiff back and she nodded. "I'll... make some tea."

Yahiko didn't speak again until they were both sipping from their cups.

"I'm going to ask Tsubame to marry me," Yahiko blurted out just as Kenshin lifted his cup to his lips.

"One thought as much," he said with a smile. "Congratulations, Yahiko."

"Kenshin," the boy said, his eyes serious. "There's something else... Tsubame's family is a little nervous. Their experience with samurai hasn't been all that... polite." He grimaced and Kenshin remembered then, the bullying samurai that had been blackmailing Tsubame into stealing for them so many years ago.

"I want to do this the right way," Yahiko continued with a determined voice. "To show them I'm serious... that I respect them and her." His cheeks were pink but his gaze didn't waver. "I... I was wondering if you... if you could stand as go-between for me and her father."

Kenshin froze. Strictly speaking, it should have been Yahiko's father or the nearest relative. But Yahiko had no family left, or at least none that had ever bothered to come forward. That he was asking Kenshin to stand in that place…

He cleared his suddenly tight throat.

"Ah," he said, "One would be honored to act on your behalf, that I would."

Something in Yahiko's shoulders relaxed and they sat side by side on the porch, sipping their tea, and watching the evening come into the garden.

-end-