disclaimer- as stated in the first chapter
summary- Yukishiro Enishi deals with strange feelings and makes a decision
Yukishiro Enishi was not displeased.
No, he certainly wasn't.
He had been displeased when Kenshin choose to take part in the revolution rather than remain at Tomoe's side. And although Tomoe later told him the reasons, while he did accept it, he was displeased nonetheless. He had been displeased when he fell asleep while on guard duty, while he should have been watching over Tomoe and her daughter. Fortunately Kenshin had come home from the war while he did so, thus they were both safe, yet he still cursed himself for doing so.
He had been displeased when Kiyosato's family looked at Tomoe in disgrace and at Kenshin in anger. Only he could do something like that.
He had been displeased when the neighbors spoke ill of his sister behind her back condemning her for marrying her fiancé's killer.
He had been displeased when Tomoe and Kenshin opted to leave Tokyo and settle elsewhere as simple farmers.
He had been displeased. Had.
This time he knew not what it was.
It wasn't Himura that stirred this new feeling. It wasn't his sister or his family, and it certainly wasn't the single-minded gossipers that, he thought (and secretly blamed), had caused his sister's departure.
Now the reason behind his strange emotions was one Kamiya Kaoru, the daughter of the master of Kasshin Ryu. He knew not what make of the strange girl, who he had quite briefly known, for some time and yet at the same time not known her at all.
He did not why he gave thought to one so young. Add to that his first thoughts of her, utter annoyance, and it seems doubly stupid he were to spend time and mind on the matter. The girl, child really- barely 10 at the time, had often watched as and he the other students trained under the man's tutelage, mimicking their moves when no one was watching. Or so she thought. If anything was wrong with that school, that girl's presence was one. Even if the style only did teach use of the shinai and bokken, a dojo is no place for a small girl.
He had seen her there when he first enrolled at the school, her small form behind the slightly ajar shoji door, eyes peeking out. He of course paid her no heed, at the time, interested instead on the dojo and a chance to get stronger. Having been rather eager to do so as, he had first asked Himura to instruct him in the ways, and when the man had refused, for reasons Enishi himself could not fathom, the path of Kasshin Ryu was the lone choice remaining.
Kashin Ryu- the sword that brings life. It's similarity to Himura's own Hitten-Mitsurugi Ryu, one that was meant to protect those in peril, was what appealed to Enishi.
Even so it had been not been an easy task to convince the master to take him as one of his students. His age at the time combined with his total lack of experience in any form of kenjitsu would have made it impossible. Or so Kamiya Koshijiro had stated.
Enishi glared at the man, having heard that. Himura, of course, had convinced the man to allow him entry. Leave it to that man to accomplish such. His mind drifted back to the days that followed their return to Edo, now called Tokyo, and the growing time between Himura's kenjitsu practices, which grew less and less frequent as the months rolled along. He knew not why the reason for Himura's action, be it the guilt for his hitokiri days or his attention drawn more to Tomoe and Aiko, but nonetheless Enishi had begun to worry. Worry that Himura's sanity was fading. Yet while Himura's fate was not his primary concern, Tomoe's was. Seeing as how Himura may falter in protecting his own wife, a promise that Himura had himself made on that fateful day, Enishi resolved that if Himura was unable to do so, he would instead.
And so came the days, the travels to the Kamiya dojo and routine training with several others, most of the students far younger than him, especially her, when the time came. He had remembered seeing the girl in the company of himself and the others on that particular day. No sooner then he mentioned her tardiness for waxing the floors that Kamiya Koshijiro had made public the entry of a new pupil, Kamiya Kaoru. That remark was then added with shinai to the right part of his ribcage.
His original thoughts rose to the surface, that girls should not wield weapons, several times bringing Himura and Tomoe into example. The girl was nonetheless persistent, and skilled he begrudgingly had to admit, having surpassed many others as he himself did years before.
Enishis shook his head. Here he was trying to reason to cause of his thoughts on the girl, and the reminiscence on past times had instead done nothing but worsen the problem. Whatever puzzle caused his mind to be plagued with such thought, this was not the method to solve.
A problem for another day he thought.
Putting thoughts of the young girl aside he glanced at the calendar.
It had been to long
Perhaps it's time I visit neesan again.
Having said goodbye to his father, packed some provisions and money he set course for the Kamiya dojo. He still had to tell one other about his trip
Boy it feels good to be writing again. Since in this series Tomoe is still alive, Kenshin had never grown close with Kaoru. As for why I chose Enishi … there just weren't that many choices left.
For my few and far between loyal followers, I'm hoping to get to put up another one-shot for my Constellations series by the end of the month.. As for the prequel to this part, I've been having troubles trying to keep it one person's perspective. But I hope to have it up before the spring.