D/C: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Ok, people, I hope you are all recovered from the shock of my last chappie, now it's time for you to get a little more information about Shinta, and that's what I'm giving you. Alright, happy reading!!

CHAPTER 6: Enigma

There was a moment of silence in which Kaoru just stared, bewildered at Kenshin. Of all the answers she had expected, this one never came across her mind; the idea of a twin was just too absurd, and what she found more absurd is that Kenshin was probably expecting her to buy it. Kaoru found herself practicing a lot of self control to stop herself from laughing at that moment...but she was finding this a little two much.

She took a deep breath and finally spoke up. 'A twin?' she said incredulously.

'Yeah, a twin,' he said.

Kaoru waved her hands around as if asking him to stop. 'Ok, ok, hold on, I think I get what you're saying…you have an evil twin named Shinta, and you're the good, helpless twin and your name is Kenshin, right?' she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

'In a manner of speaking, yes,' he admitted, that same serious expression never leaving his face.

Whatever self-control she had, Kaoru couldn't help but burst out laughing at that moment. When she looked up, she saw that Kenshin was looking a bit indignant. 'Oh, I'm sorry!' she wheezed. 'But that's gotta be the silliest thing I've ever heard!!'

Kenshin sighed and pushed back his crimson bangs away from his face. 'I had a feeling you'd say that,' he told her. 'You're right; it does sound extremely silly; why would you believe me? Nobody ever did.'

Kaoru frowned at him. 'Of course nobody will believe you, dammit!' she said. 'For God's sake, a twin? If you'd said split-personality, I'd have said ok, maybe…but a twin? A whole new person? Now that, I find really hard to believe!'

Kenshin shrugged. 'That's just how it is,' he said.

Kaoru was getting really irritated. 'Enough of your games, Himura, tell me the truth,' she said, sticking the gun in his face again.

'I already did, it's up to you to believe,' he replied.

Kaoru sighed and massaged her temples again; all this was giving her a splitting headache. 'Ok, ok, let's say you really have an evil twin…I'm not saying I believe you, but I'm gonna play along for the moment, alright?' she said.

'Whatever you say' he agreed.

'Right…well, if you have a twin, then how come nobody's noticed before?' she asked.

'We've been hiding it well, not even his minions know about him, they think that Kenshin is the only one existing,' he told her.

'Did you say "we"? Have you been helping him?' she asked.

'Yes, I have,' he admitted.

'But why? Didn't you say he's evil?' she demanded.

'Oh, he is evil, no arguments there,' he said. 'But he's my brother, my flesh and blood, and I kinda know what he's going through…the bloodlust is just too powerful…besides, my brother can be very convincing.'

'Convincing?' she repeated.

'You can't imagine the measures my brother would take to get what he wants,' he explained.

'But he's still a criminal! How can you defend him like that? You should give him in right away!' she said angrily. 'But in stead, you're letting him run amok! Killing people, and robbing banks, and spreading drugs, and...'

Kenshin shook his head. 'Shinta and I have been through a very rough childhood, our parents had been murdered right in front of us…you can't blame him for all the anger and hatred stored within him,' he said. 'It's only natural that he does what he's doing.'

Kaoru stared at him, shaking her head in disbelief. 'I don't believe you!' she said hoarsely. 'You say you're the good guy, but you're even worse than him! Ok, so you don't do anything, but you just sit back and watch your brother commit those crimes, and you don't even try to stop him! That's as if you are totally with what he's doing! That you totally agree with him!'

'I don't!' Kenshin cried. 'Believe me, I don't!'

'But you let him roam around killing people!' she said.

'You don't know Shinta, Kaoru-dono! And you certainly don't know the hell I've been living through!' he cried out, agitated. 'You don't know anything!'

'What do you mean?' she asked, frowning.

'Ok, call me weak, call me pathetic, call me whatever you want when I finish talking, but I'll tell you everything…and I mean everything,' he said softly. 'I've tried to act all calm and confident, but it doesn't seem like it's working.'

Kenshin walked over to a nearby bench and sat down on it, sighing wearily. He put his face in his hands, resting his elbows against his knees. Kaoru slowly put down her gun and tucked it in her jacket. Then she sat down at the edge of the fountain. Kenshin was going to let her in on very serious information, something nobody knew of. She wasn't sure she was going to believe his story, but who knows? She just might accept it…

'My family was poor, Kaoru-dono…it was me, Shinta, two other brothers and two other sisters, and of course, my parents…and we lived in this tiny little house which barely held us in this little farmers' village, but we were happy, and believe it or not, Shinta was good, maybe even the best one in the family,' he told her. 'But after a while, dad became unable to pay his rents and bills, and we got kicked out of the place,…dad whisked us and our few belongings into his cart and carried us away…'

'What happened then?' she asked.

'We were attacked by a group of bandits, they stole our belongings and killed off our parents before carting us away to the black-market to sell us as slaves and servants,' he went on. 'A circus owner bought Shinta and me, said we made such a cute twosome, he took us away from the rest of our siblings, I never saw them again, and for all I know, they could be dead or something.'

Kaoru sat listening with rapt attention, she couldn't believe that Kenshin had lived through that kind of torment; she didn't think she could bear it.

'This circus guy was no better than those bandits, he made us work 24/7, giving us no or little food, he trained us on circus acts and everything, and when we didn't do as he pleased, he'd threaten to cage us with the lions, but most of the time he'd use his whip on us,' he said, sounding weary. 'We were kept starved most of the time, and we only managed to stay alive by stealing food of the visitors…Shinta went as far as to stealing wallets and cash, you should see the amount of cash he managed to get his hands on…he was totally overcome by greed.'

"He had started off as a pickpocket and thief", yes, that's what the report said.

'The circus owner found out, of course, nothing ever stays hidden from him…and to this day, I keep wishing he didn't find the money, the outcome wasn't very good,' Kenshin heaved a sigh before continuing. 'There used to be this woman working there, and she really liked us and always took care of us…she was there to defend us when the owner found the money. The owner got very angry with her, and he gave her a hard blow which sent her unconscious, but we thought she was dead at that time, and Shinta was really attached to her…he grabbed a sword which was used for juggler shows, and attacked the owner with it…the owner was dead within moments…if only Shinta had waited to check on her first, then everything would've be fine…'

'It's your fault, you know!!' she had cried. 'If you'd given them decent food and proper shelter, they wouldn't have started stealing and mugging people!'

'Shut up, you old bitch! Just shut up!' the circus owner shouted. 'This is none of your business! Keep your nose out of this!'

'I most certainly shall not!! It's about time somebody stood up to you and your twisted ways! They're only kids, for God's sake, and you want to whip them a hundred times, you bastard? Have you got no mercy?' she screeched.

'Shut up, woman! Shut up I tell you!!' he bellowed.

He raised his heavy hand and gave her a hard blow across the face which sent her flying to the ground. Shinta and Kenshin stared at Noriko, the woman who had loved them and taken care of them, lying on the ground. They're first impression was that she was dead.

Then Shinta turned to the man. 'You killed her, you bastard!!' he shouted, tears welling in his eyes.

'You keep your mouth shut!! I'm not through with you, boy! I swear I'll…' the man bellowed.

It all happened in a flash of a moment. The circus training had made Shinta quite quick and light on his feet. Kenshin stared in horror as his brother pulled a sword out of a nearby weapon rack, and charged at the owner. The man had barely time to react when Shinta pushed the sharp blade into his skin.

Blood blossomed onto his frilled white shirt, and the man let out a horrible scream. He clasped his hands around Shinta's small neck as an attempt to rid himself of the boy, but Shinta didn't even budge, he pushed the blade in further, and crimson blood sprayed onto his face. The man's next scream when Shinta twisted the knife around, was the most horrible sound Kenshin ever heard in his nine years of life.

The man then let out a low gurgle of pain and crumbled down to the ground in a dead heap.

Shinta, then, turned around and looked at his brother. Kenshin recoiled when he saw Shinta's face. It was all dotted with crimson, and his eyes were wide and scary, and he was smiling. 'I killed him, Ken…I killed him,' he said hoarsely.

'Oh my God!' Kaoru gasped.

'We were left with no other choice but to run, Shinta would surely be doomed if he got caught…so we roamed around, living off the money Shinta had managed to acquire, but soon the money was over, and we would've certainly died if it weren't for Hiko Seijuro,' Kenshin said.

'Who?' Kaoru demanded.

'He's the master of a swords' technique called the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu…I suppose you heard of it?' he asked.

'Yeah, I did,' she replied. She paused for a moment. 'And I've read about it in you bio, too.'

Kenshin nodded. 'We met him in an old tavern where we had managed to get ourselves some jobs…he was sitting there at the bar drinking off Sake, and he was boasting about his great ability with the sword, and telling the people who were interested about his adventures and so on…' Kenshin said. 'It might surprise you to know that there are still some swordsmen roaming around in Japan, but there are…although they are very few in number.'

'Uh-huh,' she said.

'Shinta sat there listening to the man with rapt attention, I was listening too, but not with the same interest…I clearly remember Shinta coming up to the man when he was finally left alone, and asking him to train him to become a swordsman,' Kenshin said.

'Here's your Sake, sir…'

Kenshin stood in a distance, wiping at a table with a dirty old piece of cloth, watching warily as Shinta handed a tankard of liquor to the guy who had been boasting about his sword fighting skills all night long. What was his brother up to now?

He watched as Hiko Seijuro looked down drunkenly at Shinta, and snatched the tankard out of his hands. He put its rim to his lips and gulped down some of the alcoholic liquor. He only stopped drinking when he noticed that Shinta didn't budge from beside him. 'What do you want, boy? I'm not giving you any tip if that's what you're waiting for,' he said gruffly.

Shinta shook his head. 'Oh, no, sir! I don't want a tip!' he said, smiling. 'I just wanted to ask you something.'

Hiko scowled at him and took another swig from his tankard. 'What is it that you want to ask me?' he asked.

'Well, it's more close to a favor than it is to a question…' Shinta said, wringing his hands together.

'Forget it, I don't do favors' he muttered, raising up the tankard again.

'Will you at least listen to me?' Shinta said, a bit angrily.

Hiko, then, put down the tankard, and looked at Shinta, his lips curved into something between a smirk and a smile. 'Tell me, boy, what's your name?' he asked.

'Shinta…Shinta Himura, sir,' he answered.

'Ok, Shinta, I'll listen to you, but this better be good,' he said bemusedly.

Shinta nodded. He climbed up upon a stool and turned it around so he'd face Hiko. 'Well, would you…? Uh, I was wondering if you'd agree to teach me swords fighting,' he said so quickly you could barely understand him.

Hiko stared at Shinta for a moment, and Shinta was starting to think that the man hadn't really understood him, and that's when Hiko burst out laughing. 'You can't be serious! Oh, good Lord! This has to be the funniest thing I had heard in months!!' he said, banging at the table with his fist.

Shinta glared at him. 'Stop it!' he said fiercely. 'Stop laughing! There's nothing funny about it!!'

'Shinta!!' the bartender suddenly shouted, noticing that Shinta was talking to a customer. He hurried forward towards them, and bowed his head repeatedly to Hiko. 'I'm sorry, sir, was this boy bothering you?'

'No, he wasn't bothering me,' Hiko said pleasantly. 'In fact, he's rather entertaining me.'

The bartender frowned at Shinta for a moment, before walking away to see to other customers. Shinta, on the other hand, glared at Hiko. 'Entertaining you, am I?' he said. 'Listen here, ok? I've never been more serious…I want to become a swordsman, alright?'

Hiko smiled. 'I like your determination, boy,' he said and ruffled his hair. 'I think I'll consider teaching you.'

Shinta's expression brightened. 'You will?' he said.

Hiko took a sip from his Sake, and then looked in Kenshin's direction. 'Who's that? Your brother?' he asked.

'Yes, and his name is Kenshin,' Shinta answered.

'Does he want to learn swords fighting too?' he asked.

'I don't know, I'll ask him,' Shinta said, shrugging. 'But I'm not about to leave him behind…if you take me along with you, you take Kenshin as a part of the package, get it?'

'Shinta didn't want to leave me behind, and I didn't want to be left behind either, so Hiko Seijuro took us both and trained us on the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu techniques,' Kenshin told her. 'He was keener on Shinta, though, I think he preferred him to me, but he was quite proud of both of us for simply wanting to learn the technique, because nobody wanted to learn it nowadays, everybody preferred guns and all the other machinery.'

'And what about the…um…Battou-Jutsu technique? Did he teach it to you as well?' she asked.

'No, it wasn't Hiko,' Kenshin said. 'Shinta went and learned it somewhere else.'

'Shinta? What about you? Didn't you master it as well?' she asked.

'No, and I don't intend to' Kenshin said, sharply, and Kaoru was taken by surprise at the sudden change in his attitude. He sighed and smiled patiently at her. 'Battou-Jutsu is a technique used to kill people, and I'm not a killer…I never will be.'

'What happened then?' Kaoru asked.

Kenshin sighed again. 'Shinta turned against our sensei,' he said. 'He was sleeping and was very drunk, actually, he was drunk most of the time, he didn't sense Shinta's approach, and Shinta killed him…clean and simple.'

'What?' she cried. 'He killed him? But…but…why?'

'His Battou-Jutsu technique…whoever his tutor was told him he had to get some targets…he called them training targets…' he snorted. 'Shinta kept killing people, and his blood lust augmented, and…apparently, Hiko was just another target, and Shinta seemed to think he was useless to him now that he had taught him everything about Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, anyway, he had to go…Shinta had this new philosophy, see? Anybody who was useless had to die.'

'That's about the silliest thing I ever heard!' she said.

'Tell me about it,' Kenshin muttered.

'So, Hiko died? I mean, are you sure he died? Did you go back and check?' she asked.

'I wanted to…I mean, I wanted to give the man a proper burial, but Shinta wouldn't allow me to,' Kenshin said. 'But I'm pretty sure he died, a slash from Shinta's sword meant certain death…I know one person who survived, though…I guess you know him, too.'

'Who is it?' she demanded.

'The Captain,' Kenshin answered.

'Captain Sagara?' Kaoru gasped. Kenshin nodded. Kaoru then remembered that he had told her yesterday that he'd met Battousai before; it all made sense. 'Yes, I remember him mentioning something about meeting up with you…'

'You mean Shinta,' he corrected her gently.

'No, it was you, I didn't say I believed you yet,' she said sharply, and he sighed. She gestured for him to continue with his story. 'And what happened with the Captain? Are you planning to tell me anything about that?'

'Well, your Captain used to work in Japan as a police officer before coming here to US…' Kenshin said.

'Yes, yes, I know that,' Kaoru said impatiently.

'Easy now, Kaoru-dono…I'll tell you everything, there's no need for the rush,' he said, and she blushed. 'Your Captain, along with six other officers and their captain at that time had managed to corner Shinta, they thought that they had finally managed to capture him, but they didn't know Shinta's strength, even with their bullets and machine guns they couldn't get to him…Shinta slashed them down one by one, your Captain got it too, but apparently, he was wearing a second bulletproof vest underneath his shirt, and he survived…all the other officers, though, died.'

Kaoru fell silent. That was what the Captain meant when he said "painful memories". Then she looked up angrily at Kenshin. 'Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you go give him in to the police?' she demanded.

'Shinta kept threatening that he'd kill more people if I ever went to the police, and I couldn't take the risk,' he said, avoiding her eyes.

'What are you? A coward?' she said angrily. 'How could you let him threaten you like that?'

'It's not just that…I told you, Shinta is my brother…and we once made a vow to never betray each other, and he helped me a lot,' Kenshin said. He heaved a heavy sigh and placed his face between his hands. 'I owe him.'

'You couldn't possibly owe him so much so as to keep you silent about him!' she asked incredulously.

Kenshin looked up at her. 'But I do owe him so much…I owe him my life,' he said quietly.

Kaoru didn't say anything for a moment. 'Your life?' she finally whispered.

'Shinta once saved my life,' Kenshin explained. 'That is one favor I can't forget, Kaoru-dono.'

'How did he save your life?' she demanded.

'After Shinta killed Hiko, I felt totally helpless and lost…' Kenshin murmured. 'I mean, Shinta was my brother, and to see him killing people like that, and to see him killing our sensei especially…I didn't know what to do, and I…I wanted to kill myself to rid myself of all this confusion.'

'You what?' Kaoru cried.

'I tried to hang myself…and I did it, I kicked the chair I was standing on from beneath me…but Shinta came at that moment and slashed the rope…he saved me from committing the greatest sin ever…' Kenshin murmured.

Kenshin climbed up upon the wooden chair, and slowly pulled the noose of the hanging rope he had made earlier upon his head.

He was finally going to leave this world, he was finally going to rid himself of all the miseries which had accompanied him his whole life…and most importantly, he was going to leave Shinta…if he died, then he wouldn't live under the torment of not being able to tell on his brother, he wouldn't have to betray him…

He felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and his heart thudded loudly against his chest, and his whole body trembled…but he was determined to do it…he had to die…

He took a deep breath, and kicked the chair out from beneath his feet. It was a feeling like never before. Kenshin gasped as he felt the air being squeezed out of his body. He felt like he was choking, and he wanted it to stop. He suddenly felt like turning back, but he couldn't; he had tied his hands behind him, and he couldn't reach out to undo the noose. Kenshin was suffocating, he gasped for air, but it was no use. His lungs felt as if they were on fire…

His life passed before his eyes; it was just like a movie, except that it was real.

He saw his family, all grouped around the table, laughing together…

He saw the bandits shooting down his parents, and he heard the agonized screams of his mother…

He saw Shinta killing the circus owner…he saw his smile and his bloodied face…

He saw…

'Kenshin!!!'

Out of the corner of his eye, Kenshin saw Shinta stepping into the room, saw him unsheathing his sword…

The next thing he felt was a terrible pain as he crashed down to the floor.

'Kenshin!!' Shinta cried, falling to his knees beside him. He threw the rest of the rope away and grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to shake him awake. 'What the hell were you doing?!'

Kenshin's head swooned for a moment, but it was shaken awake by a throbbing, painful pain. His eyes fluttered open, and he started gasping for air. His throat suddenly felt extremely parch too. 'Water…' he said hoarsely.

Shinta quickly grabbed the glass of water Kenshin had placed earlier on the counter, and held it to his brother's lips, cradling his head with the other arm. Kenshin took the glass with trembling hands, and gulped down the water. Shinta took the empty glass away and brandished it aside. 'Why the hell did you do that?!' he demanded angrily.

'I…I…' Kenshin choked.

'Don't think you're about to go and leave me, Ken! I won't allow you to do that!! You're my brother, alright? We've been together from the beginning and we'll remain together till the end!' Shinta said. 'You hear that, Ken? I'm never going to leave you! I'll always be there for you, ok?'

'At that time, I thought he saved my life because he loved me and cared for me…but after a while I realized that he only did it because he wanted me alive so he could use me as a scapegoat,' Kenshin muttered. 'He made it appear like I was the only one existing; he committed his hideous crimes, and threw all the blame on me. It wasn't Shinta who had committed them, it was me…Kenshin Himura was the murderer.'

'So why didn't you go and turn him in, then?' Kaoru asked.

'He saved my life…I know he did it for selfish reasons, but the act remains the same, Shinta rescued me from certain death, I can't betray him after that,' Kenshin said firmly. 'If you had been caught in the same situation, you'd understand what I'm talking about.'

'I just don't get you; I just know that if I had been indeed been in your place…' Kaoru said.

'But you're not,' Kenshin interrupted her. There was a bit of an edge to his voice.

'That's not that point!' Kaoru said impatiently. 'I know I would've given him in to the police if I were in your place…I wouldn't just lurk around doing nothing!!'

'Listen to me, alright?' he said angrily, and this was the first time she saw him like this. 'You are not in my place! You don't know what I've been through!! I bet you haven't lived a minute of it!! I've always been in the dark, nothing went right for me! All those whom I loved are deceased or in Shinta case, altered…you know, when I look at Shinta I feel like crying, I feel like grabbing him by the front and screaming at him for changing like that! You can't just simply say you're gonna do something when you haven't even lived it, it's not as easy as it seems!'

Kaoru didn't say anything. She just stared at him, shocked by his outburst. She always thought Kenshin to be calm and stabilized, but now he was angry, furious, filled with hatred…and that kinda caught her off-guard.

'And I don't just lurk around doing nothing!' he continued. 'I've failed some of Shinta's plans several times, sometimes I even manage to talk him out of doing what he's doing…and if I can't, I send warning messages to the targeted people…but I don't lurk around, alright?'

Kaoru remained silent, and when she didn't say anything, he looked up at her and his expression softened.

'Listen, I'm sorry I shouted at you like that, but I was just so angry…I'm really sorry,' he said softly.

Kaoru shook her head. 'N-no, it's alright,' she murmured. She wringed her hands together, looked up at Kenshin, then down at her hands again. She really wanted to ask him that question on her mind, but she wasn't too sure he'd answer it. 'Um...Mr. Himura? Kenshin?'

Kenshin jumped at being addressed in such a polite manner. 'Yes, Kaoru-dono?' he said.

'I wanted to ask you about your scar…' she said.

Kenshin's hand immediately flew to his cheek. 'My scar?' he repeated.

'Yes…well, how did you get it?' she asked.

A faraway look came upon his face, and his eyes became all glazed over as he recalled the memory.

…"Damn you, Kenshin! You can't just escape and you know that! I won't allow you to!"

The memory was just too painful.

…"I…I gave you the scar so people could distinguish you, so they would know who's the good and who's the bad…I'm really sorry."

'Kenshin?' Kaoru said tentatively.

Kenshin shook himself out of his trance, and he smiled at her. 'I'm sorry, Miss Kaoru-dono, but that's a different story…and I'm not ready to tell it to you, or to anybody, yet…it'll have to wait, I'm afraid,' he told her, and she nodded, although she was disappointed. 'Meanwhile, you have to promise to keep silent about what I had just told you.'

'What? You can't be serious! You can't expect me to stay silent!' she cried, immediately jumping up to her feet. 'I'm going to tell everyone! The CIA! The FBI! The police! They all need to know! We have to stop Shinta!'

'Please, Kaoru-dono, that's all what I'm asking for…don't tell anybody, please,' he pleaded.

'But…' she started to protest.

'Kaoru-dono, please, if Shinta ever finds out…' Kenshin said.

'He won't have time to find out!' Kaoru interrupted him. 'We'll go and get him immediately; you just have to tell us about his whereabouts and…'

'You think Shinta doesn't have spies? He has spies everywhere; even in the Agency he has spies,' he told her, and Kaoru's eyes widened at that. 'Yes, Kaoru-dono, the Agency. And if Shinta ever gets wind of this, he'll be pissed off, he'll start killing off people, he'll hurt you…'

'Me?' she said, blinking.

'Yes, you…and I don't want you to get hurt, Kaoru-dono…so, please, don't tell anyone…this isn't the right time,' he said.

Kaoru fumed, and turned her back to him. 'This isn't the correct time for anything, huh, Kenshin?' she said angrily. 'If this isn't the correct time, so tell me, Mr. Himura, when is it? Is it when Shinta kills off more people? Or is it when those spies grab hold of more information from the Agency? Or is it when…?'

She stopped when she suddenly couldn't feel him around. The place was totally silent.

She looked around. 'Kenshin?' she whispered.

But Kenshin was already gone.

-

A/N: How was this chapter, then? I'm telling you, I was exhausted before I finished it! I had to come up with all this history concerning Kenshin and Shinta and I got stuck a lot, but I think it finally came out great (excuse my egotism). The scar mystery will remain a mystery till later on, but I will reveal it, so don't worry. Meanwhile, why don't you get busy and send me a review? Sounds like a good idea to me!

- S. N. B.