Ruroni-chan: Yeah!!! New chapter!!!
Twilight-kun: Kindly kiss off and die!
Gerry-sama: I second that.
Ruroni-chan: What's wrong with you two?
Gerry-sama: Have you ever tried to edit you're chapters? It's a pain in the ass!
Ruroni-chan: So what got your panties in a bunch, Twilight-kun?
Twilight-kun: Work. Now, make one more sexual joke at me and I'll turn your head backwards.
Ruroni-chan: O---kay… (Backs up a step) Since Twilight-kun and Gerry-sama seem to have sticks up their backsides, I'm just going to let you readers see the next chapter, while I try and make them… more… presentable… So read, review and enjoy.
Kenshin had picked her up off of Katsu and made her sit on a plain, wooden bench in the doorway of the smithy while he went next door to pick up some things. Katsu was just two feet away, relaxed as Smith-sama checked his hooves and shoes. Hiraru felt as though even with his eyes on Katsu's hooves, Smith-sama was watching her like a hawk. It was a foolish feeling, Smith-sama wasn't watching her at all, in fact he hadn't even glanced at her. He was acting as though she weren't even there.
Hiraru opened her mouth to say something, but Smith-sama spoke first, his voice low and calm, like he was talking to a skittish horse, "It's a good thing you brought Katsu in." He continued to clean the gelding's right hind hoof, "He's got so much mud in his frogs and covering the rest that some got under the shoe. It's a quick fix, but I'm going to go ahead and replace them and trim his feet."
Hiraru blinked at the broad back, as the calm voice continued, "I used to check his feet every time you came in, so I know he's due for some new shoes, but the condition of his feet…." He tisked, "Someone hasn't been cleaning his feet, after working him in mud and a lot of turned up soil. You should have told your friend to look after him better."
Smith-sama stood straight, wiping sweat from his forehead, "Hand me the nippers." He held out a hand expectantly, and Hiraru quickly replied by pulling out something that looked like a giant set of medieval tongs and handing them to him grips first. He took them, placing them in the back of his leather belt and picked the hoof back up. With practiced ease he removed the nails, putting each into a pouch on the belt, and tossed the shoes into the junk corner. He then used the hoof knife from his belt to remove the grown part of the hoof, which too went in the junk corner, but in half an hour it would be gone because dogs loved to chew on them.
"File," He ordered, holding out a hand again. Hiraru complied more out of habit than anything else. He smoothed the hoof flat again and then released it, moving to the other hind leg, "So what did you want to talk about?"
Hiraru took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, "Do you hate me?"
The question hung in the air as Smith-sama removed the metal shoe. He answered as he switched tools, "That's a difficult question, but one that I can bluntly answer. No."
"Then why won't you look at me?" Hiraru countered, too embarrassed to look at him.
"I'm doing a job, you know this is how I work," He said, filing the hoof. Once finished he let it go, and leaned against Katsu's hindquarters, "And maybe, I'm disappointed."
Hiraru looked at him, he wasn't facing her. He moved to the front feet without looking in her direction. "I'm sorry," She said in the same quiet voice, "I didn't want to lie, but I thought you wouldn't hire me if you knew I was a girl."
"That's not why I'm disappointed," Smith-sama said as he started working on Katsu's front feet. "I'm disappointed that you went off for three weeks and when you came back you couldn't walk, you look like you let someone beat you up, and your arm is in a cast. In what way do you think your being hurt is going to help me?"
Hiraru blinked at him, "So you're not upset that I didn't tell you I was a girl?"
"You know, when you've got something on your mind, Hiraru-chan," He said, throwing a shoe into the junk pile, "You let your whole body relax. Even if you're chopping wood there's a difference in the way you hold yourself. In my line of work, knowing the subtle changes in a body can mean the difference between a sale and a kick in the head. So yeah, I noticed that you weren't quite what you let others believe you are, but then again, the way I see it, you never told me you were a boy, and you never said you were a girl either. You told me what I needed to know; your name, age, how hard you worked, and how you wanted to be paid. Everything else was none of my business. Besides, who says a girl can't work just as hard as a boy?" He paused, waiting for an answer.
"Most men," Hiraru said without really thinking.
Smith-sama glanced at her, "Well, it's a good thing I'm not most men, huh?"
"I suppose…" Hiraru blushed.
Smith-sama sighed, "Hiraru-chan, you worked hard for me, you never asked for a break, and you never asked for empathy. When you asked for aide, I did what I could to help you without coddling you, which is what I thought you wanted. Now, you've come back to me, after… an illness, and you want me to be angry at you? I can do that if you really want me to. I can yell at you until the neighbors come over to see why I'm whooping and howling, but I just don't think that's very practical."
Hiraru blinked at him wondering what he was getting at.
"The way I see it," He continued as he moved on to the last hoof, "You're already angry enough at yourself, for you and the rest of the world. Quite frankly, I don't see the point in adding my anger to yours. As my father said when I did something wrong and knew it was wrong, 'you're already beating yourself up, you don't need me beating you up too.'"
"Your father must have been a good man," Hiraru said, trying to picture her own father in something other than his uniform, and failing.
"He was as good as I can only hope to be," Smith-sama said, checking to make sure he'd picked the proper size shoe for Katsu. He let out a long breath and he picked Katsu's back foot up between his knees, "Millie is pregnant, this one will be our third."
Hiraru smiled, "Congratulations."
"Thank you," He replied, seemingly out of habit, "I'm hoping this one will be a girl. You know I brought my oldest up here last Friday. I was hoping you'd come in so I could teach him about how to properly handle a skittish horse."
Hiraru blinked, "Katsu isn't skittish."
"I was talking about you," He said, a grin barely visible on his lips, "Horses are humans that over think things. Getting horses to trust you can be just as difficult as getting a human to trust you." Smith-sama pointed his hammer at her, "Getting you to trust someone takes a lot more than a soothing voice and a handful of oats. You're like a wild horse that follows lone humans around. When we don't want you, or when we don't notice, you're there, waiting to be useful, but the minute we need you you're gone like the wind, hoping someone will need you enough to come looking for you."
Hiraru blushed looking away, she wasn't sure if Smith-sama was giving her a complement or insulting her.
"So do you want to tell me what's really bothering you, or would you rather I stop talking and let you think?" He asked, "After all I'm the loyal kind, who will always be in the same place as long as people need me."
Hiraru sighed, and decided to tell him about her argument with Sano. When she was finished, he was also done with Katsu's feet. He sat down on the bench next to her, "Sounds like, to me, that this Sagara guy might be confused. You wanted someone to come looking for you when you got hurt, he did, but then in return he wanted you to open up to him. You didn't. You were so unsettled about being hurt by these people, and so afraid of what he would do, you pushed him away. I think he just gave up like you did."
Hiraru looked at him. "But I didn't want him to come, I asked… My uncle… to keep him away." He looked at her, one eyebrow raised. She looked away, "…If that's true, what should I do? I mean I told him I never wanted to see him again…"
"This is where you come to a crossroads," Smith-sama said, standing up and dusting his pants off, "You have two choices, one leads to only a few paths; that one would be easy to take. The other leads to many options, all of which are your choice and your choice alone. I can tell you what these crossroads are, but I can't help you walk them. Is that what you'd like me to do?" He turned his head questioning her with a single, calm look.
"Yes," Hiraru said, after a short paused, "Please."
"All right," He began checking Katsu's tack, "You can avoid him for the rest of your stay in Tokyo." That earned his back a glare. "Or you can make the first move to, if not fix, at least repair what's been damaged. No matter what you do your relationship with this man is never going to be the same, but it's better than leaving it in broken shards to let other people walk through." He faced her again, leaning against Katsu lightly, "What you do is up to you, but you should know no matter what you do there will be repercussions later on in your life."
They stared at each other for several minutes, Smith-sama waiting, and Hiraru trying to make sense of what he'd said. Finally he straightened and turned back to the smithy, "It doesn't matter to me what you do, just make sure when you leave Tokyo to come tell me you're leaving. You never know, someday I may want to visit you at your home with Millie and the children."
Hiraru smiled at his back, "And I would welcome you into my home with open arms. Blessings to you and your family; may your wife give safe birth to a healthy, happy little girl."
Smith-sama looked at her over his shoulder, his eyebrow raised, "Thank you, Priestess. May you find happiness in your path of life. Himura-san," He called out loudly, "These two are ready to leave, if you've heard enough."
Kenshin ducked his head into the smithy, laughing lightly and scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed manner.
Ruroni-chan: Will Hiraru leave Tokyo? Will she never speak to Sano again? Will this story end in a happily ever after? Well don't look at me, I don't know. I'm just the writer. Right guys?
Twilight-kun and Gerry-sama tied up in the corner, gaged.
Ruroni-chan: Well it looks like the boys agree with me… So remember to review!!! I post faster the more you review!!! (Waves) Bye! Review!! Bye!!!