Theme series notes
First off general disclaimer. I do not now nor have ever nor will ever own Rurouni Kenshin. The story and all the things and pretties that go with it are the property of somebody else (actually a few somebodies…anou). The only things that are mine are Yori, Suzuko, Umeko, Hiroshi and Matsu as well as the delightful little horror of a kami but that's it! That being said, on we go…
.Family Theme
I wanted to show a bit about when Kenji was older and how he was introduced to Himura-sama and a bit of his relationship - as an adult - to his father. I know what you're thinking, he's only fourteen, but boys were considered men at fifteen so there. I don't know much about funeral rites so I improvised.
Hour of the rat - twelve midnight to two am. Japanese terms at end.
Kenji watched as his father placed the newest edition to the family in the cradle that had once been his and sighed to himself. Doctor Sagara had been very emphatic that this was the last child his mother was to bear, but he had to admit that it looked hard and would be difficult for someone as small as his mother to manage another. He was fourteen and already a hand's span taller than his father. Kenji knew he would never be as tall as Sanosuke-san, but Megumi-san had made some comment about size not being that important that had caused Sanosuke-san to blush and it made him feel a bit better. Kenji went to take the last of the blankets from the room but was stopped short when his father twitched and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Otousan? Daijoubu desu ka?" Kenshin blinked and looked at the boy who resembled himself so much.
"Hai. We shall have a visitor very shortly, that we shall."
"I will prepare tea." Kenshin's arm shot out stopping his eldest's motion and he shook his head.
"Iya, it will not be necessary."
"Otousan?" Kenshin laughed.
"Our guest cannot eat the food we do, that he can not. But I do believe that it is time you met him, that I do. Come with me to the roof, musuko."
"Hai." Dropping the laundry to be done the next day, Kenji followed his father outside, then together they jumped to a very familiar spot. Kenji, as a boy, had climbed up to the roof as often as he could, but it was at this space that he finally managed to get down by himself. It was a good place to think.
"Did you know, that when your mother still carried you under her heart, that I sat in this very space, worrying?"
"I know that you like to come up here, but I did not know that. What were you worrying about? Was mother complaining?" Kenshin laughed.
"Iya, iya. I was afraid that I would damage you with my ki, my kenki to be specific, that I was." Kenji frowned.
"Chichi, you know that your past is past, and that we all love you. Why would you be worried?"
"It hadn't been as long, and my enemies were still very much angered. They would come and try to harm your mother to get to me or provoke me. But, when we were married and you were conceived, no enemies showed up to take you away from me. I believe that I was partially jumping at shadows, but I also still had not forgiven myself, that I hadn't. I had only recently conquered the battousai inside of me and was still afraid that I would stain your and your mother's pure souls by the proximity of my bloodstained one."
"Chichi… you didn't know any better, and it all worked out for the best in the end, right?"
"Aa, that it did."
"Aw. Isn't that sweet. Brings a tear to my eye…" Kenji jumped up, resting a hand on his sakabato. Kenshin laughed and pulled him back down.
"Komban wa, kami-sama. O genki de gozaru ka?" Kenji sat, stupefied, as the small read headed boy walked up to sit between his father and himself.
"Genki desu, arigato. Anata wa?"
"Genki de gozaru. Himura-sama, this is Kenji." The child bowed and Kenji found himself doing the same.
"It's been a while Kenji. You have grown well, I must say."
"Anou, aren't you a bit young to remember when I was little?" Kenshin laughed.
"My appologies, Kenji. I should have prepared you more. This is Himura-kami-sama, my familial guardian, and yours as well. As to his appearance, you'll have to ask him."
"I like how you looked as a kid Kenshin."
"Oro?" Kenji blinked, having picked up his father's bad speech habits early on.
"Thank you for the last time, kami-sama."
"I am sorry to say this is the next to last time, Kenshin."
"Oro?"
"You have done your duty well, and I am going to miss chatting with you, Kenshin. You have left a great legacy in Kenji, Suzuko, Yori, Umeko and now Hiroshi, and for that I will be eternally grateful, literally. Do you have any idea how boring being immortal gets? But this is the last time you will see me before you pass on and join your ancestors Kenshin. Thank you for introducing Kenji to me, however. He won't be as surprised when he gets a call after his wedding and his first born now. If, there is, anything I can do for you, ask it of me now. I must go with the hour of the rat."
"Could you, possibly, show me Kenji's song?" Kenshin heard the intake of breath from his son.
"Chichi…you could know anything, why would you waste such a gift on something like that? I could sing it for you…." Kenshin's hand cut him off.
"Not that one, Kenji. I mean the song that makes up who you are, your soul, son." Kenji's eyes widened further.
"But…"
"I can see your ki as well as you see mine. I want this, please." Kenji's eyes flashed gold and he faced the smiling boy that was his family's guardian.
"Only if I can hear haha and chichi's." A tinkle, like bells, as the kami laughed.
"Sure, why not. Yours first though. Sit. And Kenshin, listen well. I can only play it once."
"Hai."
"On with the show." The kami grew until it was large enough to hold what looked like a shamisen, but different. It had more strings for one thing, and a different shaped body. Kenji sat entranced alongside his father, both breaths suspended as the Himura's familial spirit began to play.
It was relaxed, almost a walking pace. Slightly wistful but contented, the song seemed as though it could continue forever. A few notes that could not have come from the stringed instrument echoed elusively, and Kenshin made sure to note them. Before either of them knew it, the last note had faded into the background. Kenji drew a breath, feeling drained.
"That was, beautiful, that it was." Kenji felt his father's arms about him, and he hugged back.
"Arigato kami-sama. Arigato."
"What did those other notes come from de gozaru ka?" Kenshin asked, still not letting go of his eldest child. The kami returned to it's original shape before replying.
"His future wife, it's a very respectable family."
"Aa, arigato." Kenji gave his father one last squeeze before letting go.
"May I hear my parent's song now?" The kami smiled.
"I have time for one more, not both. Which would you prefer?"
"I, I want to hear yours, 'tousan." Kenshin nodded.
"Please, play my dad's song kami-sama." Father and son sat back to listen as once more a flute soared through the night sky.
--
Kenji let the instrument fall from his lips and felt hot tears stream down his face. The warm arms of Matsu, his wife of three months, encircled his waist. Breathing deeply, Kenji took the small container from Hiroshi and carried it to the spot they had travelled to Kyoto to see for this purpose and this purpose only. Placing the ceramic and the flute in the hole, each child gathered a handful of dirt and tossed it on both the instrument and the urn. Suzuko left a hair ribbon, Yori a prayer scroll, Umeko prayer beads, and Hiroshi left the sakabato.
The earth was closed over the small grave between two others, and only then did Kenji have the strength to speak.
"Goodbye, 'tousan, 'kaasan. May you be happy together once more." Feeling his throat close up again, Kenji waited for Matsu to place a plum blossom on the left grave, a sakura on the right, and an iris in the middle. Then, holding her hand, they left to return to Tokyo, and the life that awaited them there.
Hiroshi knelt, running his fingers over the inscription one last time before running to catch up with his brother.
Himura Kenshin
Husband and beloved of Yukishiro Tomoe and Kamiya Kaoru
1849 - 1906
May your happiness live forever
If you don't know the Japanese terms you must be new to the fan fiction world but here they are anyway.
Aa - informal yes
Ai shiteru - I love you - this is a emphatic way to say this and is considered impolite to utter it in public. If you need to express yourself or your feelings when others are around suki da will suffice and that too is a little much. It is not a light phrase - like 'I love spaghetti' this is more along the lines of 'I value your continued existence so far above my own that it is not even mentionable and I'm about to have a conniption if you don't love me back with your entire being.' type of thing.
Anata - you, an endearment when used from wife to husband
Anata wa? - and you?
Anou - um…literally
Ara - oh!
Arigato - thank you
Baka - if you don't know this one it's a descriptor - idiot, moron, imbecile…
Battousai - unsheathed blade, slasher
Busu - ugly/old hag
Chichi - father, used by family members, more like daddy than father
Daijoubu - alright
Daijoubu ka/ daijoubu desu ka - are you alright? Everything alright? Second more formal
De gozaru/ yo/ka - equivalent to desu or da but highly archaic and formal. Yo is an emphatic and ka indicates a question. All mean - if meaning can be assigned really - is, are, was, etc…
Dojo - training hall
- dono - an archaic suffix meaning along the lines of Mr. Mrs. Ms. But much more polite
Futon - a sleeping mat that can be folded up and stored during the day so the space can be used for other things, very comfortable I may add.
Genki - health, good spirits
Gomen - sorry
Gomen Nasai - very sorry
Haha - mommy
Hai - yes
Hajimemashite - pleased to meet you
Hiko - flight/ act of flying
Hiroshi - generous
Iya - informal no
Jinchuu - earthly revenge
Kami - spirit/ancestor/god/goddess/etc
Kaoru - fragrance
Kenji - not sure I'd have to see the kanji but something to do with a sword most likely
Kenki - fighting spirit
Kenshin - heart of sword
Ki - chi, prana, life energy
Koibito - girlfriend/boyfriend though I imagine at the time it would mean more like lover
Komban wa - good evening
Matsu - pine tree
Megumi - blessing/bounty
Motto - much, more, bigger
Musuko - son, used by family members
Neko-chan - kitten, kitty
- nii - uncle
No - indicates a possessive… Kenshin no baka - Kenshin's an idiot - shin no kami - god of death
O genki desu ka? - are you feeling healthy?
Okaasan - mother - less formal 'kaasan
Omegami-sama - goddess
Oniisan - older brother
Ore - informal, even gruff, male 'I'
Oro - Kenshin's surprise, shock, stupefied, embarrassed noise, possibly a mispronunciation of ara
Otousan - father - less formal 'tousan
Oyasumi/oyasuminasai - good night (when going to bed)
Rurouni - a made up word by the wonderful creator of rurouni Kenshin -sama that means roughly wanderer
Sakabato - reverse blade sword, really two words - sakaba and to
- sama - more polite form of -san
- san - Mr. Mrs. Ms.
Sekihotai - Sanosuke's political affiliation
Sensei - teacher
Sessha - another archaic term used by Kenshin meaning 'I' or more literally 'this unworthy one'
Shamisen - guitar like instrument with three strings
Suzuko - little bell child
Tanuki - raccoon
Umeko - plum blossom child
Yori - trustworthy
Zutto - very much so, similar to motto
