Disclaimer: Standard

AN: It's been awhile since I wrote fanfics. I didn't stop loving RK, I was just too preoccupied with life, and when I came back, it's already 3 years later. Scary how time flies.

I used to have my favourite readers and reviewers, some regular guys that spoke to me through reviews. I had missed them a lot :( Well, it's been 3 years and here I am, writing another fic, just because I feel like it. This one is about Kenji, and I would probably make more fics about his antics. I imagined Hiko and Kenshin had an awkward (but warm but distant... kind of weird like the two of them) relationship, coz after passing ougi down to Kenshin he said something about not wanting to know him again, but deep down he obviously loves and cares about him (the way he helped aoiya during the battle) *wink wink* Here it is, read, review and enjoy! :D

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Little Redheads

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Seijuurou Hiko inhaled the warm breeze of the summer wind as he walked on a small, dark pathway that night. He could have sent someone to run to the city and buy him his sake, but tonight the stars seemed so bright and he felt a little nostalgic.

The pathway was a shortcut to Kyoto, and it was two hours walk from his secluded mountain. He could hear crickets and beetles singing to each other in the darkness. There used to be fireflies, but after the war, the fireflies were gone. It was a shame; he used to take this pathway just to amuse himself as he watched his baka deshi ran around chasing them in glee. He was so small back then, and life was so quiet with just the two of them.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he suddenly heard small sobs somewhere in the bushes. Curious, he looked at the bushes and frowned. Was he thrown back to the past? He saw a little redhead, sobbing with a small shinai in his hand. In front of him there was a dead, bleeding cat. The kid looked up and sobbed again, scared at his huge stature.

Hiko smirked and kneeled so that he could look at the kid properly. The kid's eyes were different, but the flaming red hair tied into a neat low ponytail definitely showed whose kid this was.

"Hey kid, why are you sobbing here alone?" He asked, and the kid flinched.

"I… I'm sorry mister…" He wiped his tears and spoke in a scared, trembling voice. "Neko-chan died…"

"Did you do something to it?"

"No… I don't know where home is and neko-chan was in front of me and told me to follow her and she bleed and died." He sobbed. "I'm scared."

Hiko sighed at the boy's incredible imagination. He was so different from a certain little redhead he had met years ago. That boy was forced to think about reality when he was at the age where he was supposed to have a lot of wild ideas and imaginations. This boy, in a sense, was a happier boy than the one he had met before. He had the privilege to have his own imaginary world, to be scared and to cry.

He sat beside the boy. "I once met a boy who looked exactly like you, flaming red hair, small nose, and feminine jaw." He said, and the boy stopped sobbing. He looked at the older man beside him. Hiko continued, "he was in the similar situation as you are right now."

"His neko-chan died too?" The little boy asked with a scared but curious voice. Hiko chuckled.

"You could say that."

"He must be scared and sad too." The little redhead mumbled. He had stopped crying by now.

"He has three neko-chan, and they were attacked by a bunch of wolves. Because the wolves did a bad thing, God was angry and took their spirit away." He said, and the kid looked at him. "The kid had a brave heart. He didn't cry, instead he gathered up his strength and buried all of them."

"Even the bad wolves?" He asked the older guy with a frown.

"Yes, even the bad wolves."

"Was he not mad to the wolves?"

Hiko closed his eyes.

The kid he met that time didn't show any signs of shock, pain, sadness, or fright. He looked straight ahead towards the bloody corpses, which was probably too gruesome for his little mind to comprehend. It wasn't until he saw him, burying those dead bodies without a single tears, did he realize that Hiten Mitsurugi techniques would develop naturally in his soul. The little slave-boy was made for the true purpose of the discipline. It was a fate that bound him with his only pupil.

"I don't know, kiddo…" He sighed, and looked at the kid beside him. "The point is, should be a brave kid as well, just like the red haired kid I met before. Wipe your tears. Let's bury the cat, and I'll take you to the city."

The little redhead wiped his nose, nodded and finally smiled.

OOOOO

"KENJI! I was so worried!" Kaoru screamed as she ran to hug the little boy. Kenji teared up.

"Okaa-chaaan…" He whined, but decided to hold back his tears. Just like the boy in the story, he thought.

Kenshin sighed, looking at the mother and son hugging. Kaoru was crying and walking around Kyoto frantically when they realized that the boy got lost in the crowd at tonight's festival. His gaze then turned into the tall, muscular man in front of him. They locked gaze for a while, before Kenshin bowed.

"Thank you for helping my son finding his way home." He said politely. Kaoru also nodded.

"Thank you so much, Seijuuro-san." She said with teary eyes.

Hiko sighed as he saw his baka deshi's smile.

He was his master. Even when everyone thought his pupil's thoughts were hidden perfectly under his mild demeanor, he could read him like an open book. He was happy. He dared to dream again now, and even though his body had probably weakened over the years, he looked stronger than ever, surrounded by the people he wanted to protect, and the people who would protect his ideals, no matter how foolish it sounded.

Kenshin lifted Kenji up and put him on his shoulders. "Let's have some dinner, shall we?"

"We're not eating with uncle?" Kenji looked at Hiko, who was about to leave. Kaoru looked at Kenshin and Hiko alternately, a little confused at their cold and distant behaviour towards each other. Kenshin smiled and patted Kaoru lightly on the shoulder, as if telling her not to stare anymore.

"He is busy. We should not bother him, Ken-chan." Kenshin said as he turned his body and started walking, and Kaoru followed him, still stealing glances at her husband's master, who also turned his back and preparing to leave. "Moreover, Kenji, he's not uncle. He's grandpa. You should call him grandpa."

Hiko's face twitched as he heard his pupil said. He stopped walking, but too proud to turn around.

"He is grandpa, like old Ji-ya?" Kenji asked, confused. "He doesn't look old."

"He is at least 100 years old, Kenji. So you should call him grandpa." Kenshin said.

"Okay then." Kenji said thoughtfully, much to Hiko's annoyance. "BYE GRANDPA!" He screamed and Hiko flinched.

He sighed in annoyance as he continued walking through the city, when suddenly a man with three jars of sake stopped him.

"Hi, I was told by your son to give these three jars of sake for you." He said, and Hiko blinked.

"My son? He told you that he was my son?" He asked, and the guy scratched his head.

"Well… No… But the little kid kept on asking about buying his grandpa some sake and his father was agreeing to it… So I thought… Well anyways, I've delivered the sake to you! Bye!"

Hiko looked at three jars of finest sake in town, and chuckled continuously. He might be able to read his pupil like a book, but it was his baka deshi who could play him around like this.

He sighed and looked at the stars as he walked back home, realizing that his mood had never been this good for months. The encounter with the redheads was indeed the highlight of his year.