Beyond Rurouni Kenshin: The Meiji Era: Arashi no Hitomi (The Eye of the Storm)
By: Shadow Chaser
Started: 7/29/02. Completed:
Timeline: Meiji Era – 1898 (Meiji 30)
Author's Notes/SPOILER WARNING:
This story is based mostly off of the manga version, with slight changes following the Episodes 1-63 of the anime series. For those who have not read the Revenge Arc/Jinchuu Arc this will feature quite a bit of spoilers. Also for those who have not seen the 2nd OAV – Seishou Hen, this will also be featured in here. I changed some of the events in the OAV to suit my own purposes in this fic. Pointer One: I kept Kaoru alive…for many reasons, which will be explained in the fic. I do not own any of the Rurouni Kenshin characters; they belong to Watsuki Nobuhiro-sama who is the creator and God of Rurouni Kenshin. Please do not sue for infringement. This fic has more of the Rurouni Kenshin anime feel (slapstick silliness and seriousness at the same time).
Chapter 3 – Out on Impulse: Invitations to the Summer Festival
After what seemed to be an hour of grueling talk from his mother about his safety and her worried state, Kenji finally got the chance to retire into his bedroom to change into a fresh new outfit. He peeled off the burnt gi and hakama and took out his other only pair of fresh clothes. It was a white hakama like his other one, but his gi was that of a black color. He wished that he had another color; maybe a lighter color as he knew the black would soak up a lot of heat from the sun, especially since it was summer.
As he began to put on his fresh clothes, Kenji glanced around his room, full of little trinkets and things that he had gotten from working at a shop that sold foreign types of things. A stack of books lay near his futon, books that contained knowledge he didn't even know could exist, things like bombs, gunpowder, religion, and a new thing called science.
He had read all of them, but they made little sense. The foreign concept of religion was extremely confusing. How could a group of people worship just one God, one God that created everything? That notion was very silly indeed, but he found it fascinating nonetheless. He loved to read and it was the history books that kept him entertained at night when there wasn't anything to do.
He knew that his mother would be proud of him reading so much, but he didn't dare speak a word about his books. They just didn't seem 'right' at times, so he rarely mentioned them. When he did talk about what he read in the books, it was only to the shop owner he worked for, a man by the name of Katsuhiro Tsukioka. The two of them usually talked when no customers were flitting by their store, talked about western influence and whatnot. Kenji had found out that Katsuhiro was totally against the Meiji government, but really liked the foreign influence but that was about it as Katsu, as he liked to be called, didn't talk much about his past or of anything else.
He let out a small sigh as he tied the last knot to his belt and picked up his sakabatou with his left hand, wincing slightly as his bandaged hand came in contact with the saya. Though he had felt some pain before, when he was training with his Shisho, getting burned was complete new for him and he didn't like it.
Tucking his sakabatou in his belt he slid open the door…to face his mother…
"Uh…" Kenji's mood fell slightly as he saw that his mother had a neutral look to her face.
"Let me see you hand, please," Kaoru said in a emotionless voice and Kenji lifted his undamaged hand when she shook her head, "the other one, please."
Holding his bandaged hand before her, he wondered why did she want to see it. "Hmm…" Kaoru looked thoughtful as she briefly examined it then let it go, "Arigatou Kenji, for yelling at you. I…was worried."
Kenji smiled at her then hugged her small form, his chin resting on the top of her head, "Its okay, okaasan. I know you were worried and I'm sorry I made you worried." He released her and she smiled tiredly, like she had aged quite a bit in a matter of a few seconds.
"Try not to get injured anymore, okay Kenji?" her smiled brightened and she reached behind him to ruffle his hair to which he cried out and tried to duck. He hated when she ruffled his hair, it made him feel like a very small boy.
"Okaasan!" he cried out indignantly as she laughed lightly the handed him two poles.
"We'll need a few fishes for tonight. See if you can possibly catch some, okay?" Kaoru stepped back, "bring Yahiko with you…it's time to get that boy to do some work around here instead of teaching the other students."
"Hai okaasan," Kenji brushed past his mother and headed outside where he saw Yahiko saying the last of the goodbyes to the students who were leaving. The sun was already past the noontime mark and it was the early afternoon. "Yahiko!" he called to his brother who looked up and then frowned as he saw what was in his hands.
"No way…" Yahiko started to make a beeline to where his wife was playing with their four-year-old son when Kaoru's voice stopped him.
"You've been teaching all day, Yahiko, go do some chores. It's not like I let you stay here for free at times…" Kaoru walked back into the house and Kenji grinned slightly as a tired expression crossed the older man's face.
"Ahh…after twenty years she still treats me like a kid," Yahiko grumbled as he walked past Kenji, grabbing the two poles and trudging out of the front gate.
Kenji followed him and was about to run to catch up to him when a small hand rested on his shoulder. "Oro?" he glanced behind him to see Chizuru, waiting for him by the entrance.
"Ano…um…Kenji-chan…" Chizuru seemed a bit flustered about something as she looked to the ground and picked at the hem of her hakama, which she didn't change out of after practice.
"What is it?" he asked, wondering why she was so flustered, "something wrong?"
"Nothing…" Chizuru still picked at a hem, "but…I was wondering…umm…" She mumbled something that Kenji didn't quite catch and he looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Chi-chan, you're not making sense. What did you say?" he asked her again.
"Ano…nothing," Chizuru shook her head and started to walk away when Kenji placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Chi-chan, why don't you stay for dinner tonight in celebration of the Summer Festival?" he asked and suddenly regretted his words. He didn't know why he said them and was afraid that Chizuru, however much she was a friend to him, would throttle him up the wall for saying something so impulsive as that.
But instead she turned around and Kenji saw that a faint pink tinge was on her cheeks and a timid smile on her lips. She did look a bit cuter this way; a part of his brain decided and he tried to squash that part down. "Okay…I guess my family wouldn't mind…"
"Kenji!" Yahiko's irritated voice called from a bit a ways down the road and Kenji looked up to see the older man waving the poles in his hand, "you can ask her out on a date later!"
He immediately felt a flush of heat rise up to his face and it didn't help matters that Chizuru found it extremely funny and was laughing her head off. "Ahh…don't make it worst Chi-chan," he growled at her, "why don't you tell okaasan that you're staying for dinner."
"Hai, Kenji-chan," Chizuru teased, still laughing and Kenji shook his head in exasperation as he rushed to catch up to Yahiko.
* * *
"So," Yahiko asked as they settled down by the riverbank with their poles, "do you like her?"
"Oro?"
"Ack…Kenji, you know…Chizuru…do you like her?"
Kenji blushed slightly at Yahiko's comment. Of course he liked her… "Yeah, I like her. Real good friend-"
"That's not what I meant," Yahiko cut him off and gave him a grin. "I mean, do you really like her. You know…like her like a girlfriend or something."
"Or something?"
"Yeah, or something."
"Oro…I don't really know what you mean…"
"Kenji no baka," Yahiko sighed in frustration, "you are sure pretty brainless when it comes to women…just like a few people I know."
"I heard from okaasan that you were also pretty brainless about Tsubame-san when you first met her…" Kenji gave Yahiko a good poke with the end of his rod.
"Hey! Stop trying to change the subject here!" Yahiko retaliated with his own poke and Kenji grinned. He loved irritating his adoptive brother. "Well…do you really like her?" Yahiko asked once more when they had calmed down and resumed letting their fishing poles glide through the rippling water.
Kenji shifted slightly. He didn't really know if he really liked Chizuru…she did seem to be a nice girl, coming from a wealthy family and all. Plus she was a good friend to him; besides Iori whom they had all had their share of jokes together… Did he really like Chizuru as a friend or was it something more… "I…don't know…" he hesitantly replied.
"Ah!" Yahiko suddenly looked like he swallowed the proverbial canary, "you do like her."
"No…I don't!" he protested, narrowing his light purple eyes at him.
"So then why invite her to dinner?" Yahiko grin became even wider, like it stretched from one side of his face to the other.
Kenji was about to answer when a sudden cough racked his body and he choked slightly, bending over to cover his mouth with his bandaged hand. The cough subsided and he shook his head slightly, feeling a small headache grow within his head.
"Oi, Kenji, daijabou?" Yahiko's voice lost all humor and was filled with concern.
"Fine, fine…hate this smoke inhalation cough," he cleared his throat then waved off Yahiko's concerns, "don't worry…it's not like I'm getting TB or something."
"Hnn," Yahiko looked a bit worried but let it go.
"You know who could have destroyed the Akabeko?" Kenji suddenly asked, glancing at his bandaged hand and flexed it slightly, feeling the sudden jolt of pain shooting through his arm.
"No," Yahiko admitted after a few minutes of silence save for the occasional passerby on the bridge over the river hurrying to somewhere, "but I get the feeling that it wasn't accidental."
"Me too…" Kenji frowned as he tugged the line slightly, "but I wouldn't really know… You and the rest of the family know of otousan's many rivalries and hatreds that were directed at him. I don't even know…"
"Yeah…could be a possibility with a former rival of Kenshin's that bombed the Akabeko. But the whole thing just seems too familiar," Yahiko's eyes looked thoughtful for a few minutes.
"Too familiar? You mean the Akabeko had been bombed before?" Kenji's eyes widened. This was one story he had never heard about and judging by how fast Yahiko's eyes blazed, it was probably a very interesting story indeed.
"Yeah," Yahiko's voice was now very rough and kind of strained, "but nothing you need to know. It was just something of a while back…"
"A while back?" Kenji asked and was about to say more when his brother gave him a glare to tell him to drop the subject. He obligingly did, not wanting to push it any further and turned back to his fishing pole, which bobbled slightly…suddenly it plunked into the water and Kenji felt a tug on his pole. "Ah! I got one!" he cried out, trying to pull the pole towards him.
"Come on! Pull, you should have all that strength from Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!" Yahiko cheered him on and Kenji gave an extra yank when suddenly the line went flying out of the water, and attached to it was a beautiful flash of scales…a good size fish.
Setting his pole down he watched as the fish flopped slightly then calmed down as it died from the lack of water-enriched oxygen. "Sugoi…okaasan would really like that…" he breathed as he unhooked the line from the fish's mouth and then tossed it back into the river.
"Yeah," Yahiko agreed then settled back down and bobbed his line a bit.
"So…how are the students?" Kenji asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Fine…Iori, though he started late, is progressing in a good manner. One thing that still shocks me, is the fact that his father, Seiku, no matter how the pacifist he is, wanted his son to train in kenjutsu," Yahiko barked out a laugh.
"At least it isn't the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu," Kenji said in a quiet voice, "at least it's the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu…"
He remembered that when he was younger, he was to be taught the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu and even gotten started when he first saw his father fend off an opponent that had threatened to destroy the Dojo. He was only eight-years-old then, but he saw how his father had defeated his opponent with such fluid and graceful movement…only to collapse in a fit of agony after the battle was won.
He had felt a rage of anger then, at how come his father was so weak to fall over, and why his mother cared for his father. Though he still didn't know to this day, he partially knew the truth…his mother deeply loved his father and was worried for him constantly, between the gentle Rurouni side and the Hitokiri Battousai side of him. Kenji didn't know the whole story behind the fact of his father being the Battousai then suddenly turning into a Rurouni, but he knew that his father had been a powerful swordsman during the Meiji Revolution.
It was then, seeing his father in agony and recovering that Kenji decided he was going to learn the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to try to understand why his mother was so devoted to his father and to mostly understand him…
He remembered asking his father, as it was very hard for him not to look at him with disdain and distaste, asking him to teach him Hiten Mitsurugi. He was shocked that his father refused to teach him and left in a fit of anger. During the stories he had been told over the years while he was growing up, he heard of his father's master, Seijuro Hiko and went to Kyoto to find out if this Hiko still lived. And that was when he began his training with the 13th Master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
A sudden sharp poke with the fishing rod made Kenji jump back into reality. He glanced at Yahiko to see him doubling over with laughter. "Quit it."
"No way, Kenji! You really should stop spacing out…" Yahiko snickered mostly to himself then suddenly yelped as his pole flew out of his hands. But within a blur, the pole was back in his hands and Kenji watched as Yahiko pulled hard, making another good sized fish come their way…no…to his way…to…
"Ahhh!" Kenji ducked to avoid the fish that was flying towards his head. "Kuso, Yahiko! What the hell were you trying to do? Take my head off with a fish?"
Yahiko finally unhooked the squirming fish and looked at him to give him a devilish grin, "I call it the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, Sakana Kogekisuru (Fish Attack)."
"There's no such thing as the Sakana Kogeikisuru you baka!" Kenji yelled at him, "okaasan told me all the techniques of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu and…ohhh…" He shut up as Yahiko rolled along the ground, furtively acting like a ten-year-old kid, laughing his head off. "Hmph," he snorted silently as he turned back around and jiggled his fish pole slightly, trying to ignore his brother who at the moment, looked like a fool.
* * *
At least two hours later, and four good-sized fishes in their hooks, they headed back to the Dojo, the two of them trading jabs and good-natured pokes with each other. If anyone saw them on the road, they would have thought the two to be either the very best of friends or brothers.
As they entered the entrance to the Dojo, Kenji noticed that everything was quiet…too quiet. No one was outside doing anything…
"Ano…what happened?" he wondered out loud.
"Let's go in," Yahiko's voice had a slight tinge of warning on it and they headed into the main entrance cautiously…
"YAHIKO!!! KENJI!!!" a bright, maybe too bright, voice greeted them and Kenji nearly dropped his fishing pole along with the two fishes he had caught as a blur of blue-pink ran up to him and hugged him tightly.
"Oroooo…" he managed to squeak out as he felt like this person, whomever it was, was squeezing him to death.
When he was finally let go, Kenji wheezed slightly and then let out a slight cough from the lack of air and from the injuries he had received from the burning Akabeko. It was also then that he felt numerous new aches brought on by the hug, but brushed it aside as he took a good look at the person who hugged him so tightly.
She was not much taller than his mother, and wore a pretty kimono of a dark blue that really brought out her eyes. Shot through it was pink sakura blossoms decorated with a bright pink bow behind her. Her hair flowed out in a long braid, and she didn't really look too familiar to him. Who was this woman?
It was also then that he noticed that everyone was sitting around a long table, tea and little snacks served out before them. Recognizing everyone except for three…two of whom were extremely cute kids, Kenji focused on the other adult that sat next to the kids. By his slender but powerful frame, he could tell that this person was someone not to mess with. Especially with short dark blue hair that fell over his eyes and the way his mouth didn't seem to smile a lot. But his eyes were gentle, as if someone had given them life again. Kenji could have well imagined that those ice blue eyes were haunted once before…wait…where did he get that sentiment?
"Misao! Weasel girl!" Yahiko called out a greeting to the woman who suddenly had a dangerous look on her face.
"Don't call me weasel girl, Yahiko-chan…" she emphasized the '-chan' part and Kenji just stared at them.
"Oro…" he whispered not really sure what to do when the woman, who completely acted like another ten-year-old hyper kid, in his humble opinion, popped up in front of him, smiling.
"Kenji-chan! Don't you remember me?" the woman asked and Kenji suppressed a grimace. This was one of his mother's friends…dear Gods; the world did come to an end…
"Uh…not really…can't say I do…" he scratched the back of his head with his bandaged arm, trying hard not to scuttle out of the room and run screaming down the streets of Tokyo.
"Aww," the woman looked a bit disappointed, "well…my name is Misao Shinomori." She paused for a minute to see if he had any reaction but the name sounded vaguely familiar but Kenji didn't really recall the name. But the last name of Shinomori…
It suddenly hit him as he realized that he had seen the two before…a bit younger, but nonetheless he had seen them before. "Ah! Misao-san, Aoshi-san," he bowed slightly in respect, "gomen nasai, I didn't recognize you before…"
"Ah ha! I knew that somewhere in his red-head that he would be able to remember us, isn't that right, Kenji-chan!"
"Uh…" he wanted to tell Misao to stop call him Kenji-chan but he knew that it wasn't polite to contradict an elder, especially with the prospect that Misao probably didn't listen to anyone except for her husband.
He had only met Misao and Aoshi Shinomori at least once or twice, the earliest he could remember is when he was very young, maybe the age of two or three, his family invited everyone who was a part of the Kenshin-gumi to come and watch the cherry blossoms. Back then, Misao hadn't married Aoshi yet, but was in the process of 'dating' him, if you could call it that… Aoshi's eyes were still hard and cold at times, but they were beginning to warm up and he remembered just freezing up whenever Shinomori's eyes raked over him.
But now…those eyes didn't seem as cold as before. It seemed that with the advent of fatherhood for Aoshi Shinomori, he had finally lost those cold eyes.
* * *