Little Bird
Chapter 14
Kaen smiled as she wandered through the city, pleased with herself for giving everybody the slip. She was worried for a while that Sano may have noticed her, but as soon as he didn't raise the alarm, she dismissed the thought. There was no way that Sano would rat her out. He was too cool for that.
When she reached the train station, she stopped and watched the people getting off and on the trains, smiling and calling out welcomes to the foreigners. She stopped when she saw a boy her age, accompanied by a girl of around six, walk off the train. Both had large cat's eyes and carried themselves with an air of pride that only the rich had. The boy had light hair, but the girl had dark. Both wore western style clothes, turning to talk to two adults that stepped off after them, obviously their parents.
The man, pale haired and cat eyed, caught sight of her and stopped. She tipped her head and smiled, not sure what to do. He wasn't foreign, so she couldn't be that interesting…
"I'm sorry, but you look very familiar. Are you related to a Himura Kenshin?"
The tall man gave her a small smile, his wife and children standing behind him.
"Uhm… Yes. Himura Kenshin is my father. I'm Himura Kaen. You are…?"
The man's smile broadened, and he motioned his family forward, indicating to her who he was talking about as he spoke.
"This is my wife, Gretchen. Her Japanese isn't very good, so you'll have to slow down when you talk to her. This is my son, Shinta. And this is my daughter, Heidi. My name is Yutaro."
Kaen pursed her lips for a moment, then her mouth fell open.
"You're Yutaro? Mother and Daddy will be so happy to see you! Last time you visited I was a baby, and your wife couldn't come because she had just had Shinta!"
"Yes. Shall we go to your house then?"
"Yeah!" After taking a step, she stopped.
"Something wrong?"
"I'm… supposed to be in my room right now…"
"Hm. Tell you what, we'll go with you, then after you get into your room, we'll go up to the house. Sound like a plan?"
Kaen grinned and hugged the tall man quickly, saying how great an idea it was, then took off down the road.
…………………………………..
Yutaro and his family walked toward the door to the Himura house after Kaen's bare feet slipped into the window. He smiled and tapped on the doorframe, telling his wife and children to remove their shoes. When Kenshin answered the door, his face split into a grin.
"Kaoru! Yutaro's here. I'll go find the boys, you get tea going. It's good to see you again, Yutaro. I look forward to meeting your family properly as soon as I locate my sons."
He paused, then charged back inside, tapping on Kaen's door.
"Kaen, come out here. There's somebody I want you to meet. Change into something nice."
"Okay."
She pulled on her favorite pink kimono and tied her hair into a high ponytail, walking out and bowing to their guests.
"I'm Kaen. Good to meet you."
The little girl, Heidi looked up at her father with a questioning look.
"Daddy, we already met her. Why is she telling us her name?"
Uh-oh…