Kaoru came in soon after, looking at Sojiro with surprise, before smiling softly at him. It seemed that becoming a mother, had soften her a bit. Or maybe she know understood something that Sojiro had yet to learn. Whatever the case, Sojiro took her arrival as a sign to leave.
Standing up, he smiled at Kenshin once more before leaving.
The air outside was cold, making his face feel stretched out, like leather left out in the sun to dry. It was feeling he was familiar with. When a smile was the only thing to grace his face, he thought that his face would one day break from the constant pressure. Of course, that fear was insignificant in comparison to the fear he felt every waking hour. The fear that they would decide today was the day, the fear that they would do to him what they did to -
"Sojiro!" He looked up, thankful for the interruption. Yuri walked over to where he was. Well he assumed it was Yuri. He couldn't exactly see who was carrying the huge stack of fire wood towards him.
"Yes?" He tilted his head slightly, trying to see who it was exactly. "You need something?"
"Yes! Could you please help me with this?" He could hear the qiver in her voice, a sign she couldn't hold out much longer. He smiled. This was going to be fun
"You want to fight against Chi, right?"
"Yea, but what does that have to do with this?" She paused shuffling to get a better grip and dropping a few wood blocks in the process.
"The soldiers aren't very helpful. If you need something, you have to do it yourself. Consider this training," he grinned at her, knowing she wouldn't see it. He moved towards her quietly, lightly stepping. It was obvious that she was going to drop the pile any second. Sojiro moved so he could catch the wood. If it broke Kaoru would not be as nice as Kenshin had been.
Two seconds later, Yuri began to shuffle, her fingers splaying in an attempt to stop the wood from dropping. Sojiro quickly grabbed it before it hit the ground and took half the pile from her hands.
"What happened to training?" She glared at him, making a point to walk in front of him.
"Trick exercise. On the battlefield, you need to know when to admit defeat. Usually if you ask nicely enough, you'll only lose a few fingers." He threw her a charming smile, ignoring her icy glare.
"Maybe if their commanding officer taught them how to fight, your soliders wouldn't be reduced to begging for their lives," she set down the firewood at the kitchen door. She turned to leave, when Sojiro finally noticed something was different from yesterday.
"Hey Yuri?"
"What?"
"I was just wondering but, why did you change back into those clothes?" He set down the wood and joined her as she walked.
"A lot of the kids that come here know me. It wouldn't be smart if I told them I was girl." She pulled her hat lower and ducked behind Sojiro. He looked up to see the soji slide open and conversation stream out.
"Ah, hello. Are you a new student?" A boy with soft eyes and small scar on his lip, looking to be the age of eighteen, had come up to Sojiro.
"Oh no, I'm just here visiting some friends. Your sensei is an aquantince of mine and is letting me stay here," Sojiro smiled back, moving his body, covering Yuri.
"I see. Well I was just wondering if you had seen a small boy, about this tall, wearing a hat around, here?"
"Sorry, but I haven't. If I do I'll let him know that..." Sojiro trailed off looking expectantly at the boy.
"Yamada," he finally offered up, after a moment.
"I'll let him know that Yamada was looking for him." Sojiro smiled, and debated if Yuri would be able to move seamlessly with him, if he took a step. Deciding against it, he saw the boy, Yamada look suspiciously at him, quickly schooling his features into a placid smile when Sojiro looked back.
"Well, I'll be going then. Thank you." Yamada bowed his head and ran off.
"He's gone."
"Thank you," Yuri moved away from Sojiro, her face turned away.
"Do you have some sort of problem with him?"
Yuri laughed, dry and full of hurt. "I wonder."
--
Happy holidays everyone! I hope you all have a great time! This chapter has been in the works since November but because of the Nobuhiro Watsuki arrest I was sorta confused if I should continue writing rk fanfic or not. In the end I decided that since he wasn't profiting from my writing I'll continue to write. New Years is coming up so one of my resolutions is to update more frequently! What are your resolutions??
This chapter will be edited, but I really wanted to get it out there. As always please RR! Till next time!
