Ch14

"Daddy?"

Kimiko stared in shock at the man poised above her protecting her from Kinto's fatal blow. Just as he had been described he had long red hair held in a ponytail at the base of his neck. A long cross shaped scar was apparent on his left cheek. His eyes burned yellow up at Kinto.

Before the hood had hidden his hair and scar and the large filthy glasses obscured most of his face, but with both gone it was painfully obvious who this man was.

Kenshin Himura, The Batosai, her father.

The next instant Kenshin knocked Kinto backwards off his feet and jumped up to meet the rush of men finding at last their sought foe.

Kimiko watched her father's god-like speed as he attacked the rush of men. And suddenly she felt the need to help him. There were still too many of them. She got up off her feet and decided to even the odds.

She picked up one of the men's real swords and without realizing it had flipped it over to use the dull side of the blade. She ran into the crowd around her father landing blows on exposed areas as she went.

When the men realized that she too was a threat they split to attack her as well. But with the two of them fighting together it was almost no match.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Kinto shouted suddenly as those who were left standing began to back off. Kimiko watched him run away down the road with his men following after. He turned his head and gave her an evil grin.

Though she saw it she didn't register its meaning. She was still lost in her own rage. She stood stock still with her sword still poised in front of her. Her eyes still burned acid green as she stared at the spot where the men had disappeared down the road.

"Kimiko?" her father's voice called her attention and she turned her burning green gaze in his direction. But when she saw him standing in front of her, her anger faded. Her eyes returned to amethyst and she dropped the sword she had picked up.

Suddenly she couldn't see as tears clouded her vision. She ran into his arms and hugged him for the first time. Burying her face in his shirt she cried as his arms wrapped around her shoulders and held her there.

A sense of peace she had never experienced before stole over her. Was this what it was like to have a father? She didn't want to let go but eventually she relaxed and looked into his violet eyes.

"Is it really you?" she whispered.

He only nodded.

"Why did you leave?" her tears flowed anew as she asked the question that had plagued her all of her life.

"Because I thought that Kaoru was inside the dojo when it burned down that day," his own tears coursed down his cheeks as he recalled the memory.

"Oh come on, you know mom better than that," she started laughing through her tears and after a moment he too laughed in what seemed like the first time since he left Tokyo.

"Then everyone is ok back home?"

"Yeah, Yahiko now teaches the students at the dojo and Sano's still a freeloader. Megumi is now the full time doctor since Dr. Gensai died a few years ago. Ayame and Suzume both live with Megumi and are both becoming really good healers too. Mom usually keeps everything running at home. It's just me and Taro that came looking for you…"

Kimiko froze for an instant when she realized she had forgotten Taro. She spun around to find he was gone. The last time she had seen him he was unconscious over by the bank of the river. Now he was nowhere to be found.

Her rage returned to her when she realized what had happened. Kinto had taken Taro when he realized he was no match for her and Kenshin. They were now getting away with her friend.

"He took him!" she screamed angrily.

Kimiko rushed over and picked up the wooden sword she had given Taro. She thrust it in her belt and went back to Kenshin.

"He's not going to get away with this!" she told him, her eyes blazing acid green once again.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Kenshin asked slightly startled at her reaction. She was so much like Kaoru it was uncanny. It would have been just the thing Kaoru would have done, going off to rescue her friends. Kimiko also had Kaoru's temper which was funny just as it was scary at times.

"I'm going after him, Taro is my friend and Kinto is going to pay for hurting him."

"You plan on revenge?" he asked her with a cold look on his face.

Taken back Kimiko realized that Kinto's revenge is what had started this whole thing. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself for thinking that and she dropped her gaze from her father's.

"I just want to save Taro," she said quietly.

"That's my girl," Kenshin wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze, "Let's go."

They both started running in the direction Kinto and his men had disappeared. Kimiko was at first surprised when her father easily kept up with her as they ran. But she then remembered that she got her speed from him and it was no problem for him to keep up.

Together they ran off to rescue Taro.