DISCLAIMER: I don't own RK!



*Chapter 7*


Kenshin slipped the key into his jeans pocket, glancing furtively around. He fingered the collar of his plain white tee-shirt and scrunched the slightly too long sleeves of his sweater further up his arms before setting off, head bent. He was probably being paranoid, but he was wearing Miname's brother's clothes. The last thing he wanted was to be spotted and chased down the street by that screaming kid.

He had no idea that his outfit was so plain as to be nondescript - it allowed him to blend easily in modern day Tokyo. He had been a little concerned about his hair and eye colours - they were always getting him unwanted attention where he came from - but as he looked at the people he passed on the streets, he began to realise that strange hair colour was not as uncommon in present day Tokyo as it was in the past.

Hmm. Probably all that processed food.

Kenshin had had several encounters with instant noodles and canned drinks.

His eyes widened speculatively as he caught sight of someone with bright blue hair. He got more accustomed to this as he continued his way to the park, although at one point someone had stopped him to ask who his colourist was. Huh?!!?

It was easy to retrace his steps- he had an impeccable sense of direction and had learnt to memorise routes quickly. Even though it had been sometime and he had been somewhat disoriented, he moved confidently through the streets, passing landmarks he had noted subconsciously on his first day there.

In no time at all, he had reached the clearing where he had first encountered Miname and the four boys - autumn leaves were still thick on the ground although the trees were now bare. From there, it was even simpler to retrace the exact spot of his appearance. He pictured the scene in his mind, remembering his approach on the clearing from the southwest. He could even remember the rhythm of his movements to the beat of his pulse, the exact number of steps he had taken - nine, at full running speed...

He found himself in the middle of a patch of trees, a spot no more remarkable than any other in the park.

What was so important about this location anyway? Kenshin reached unconsciously for his sakabatou, a reflex action when he thought - oh right. Miname had annexed it after the incident with her coffee table. He had turned the problem over and over in his mind, and the only thing he had come up with was that there had been some alignment between this location in the present and where he had been in the past. He had appeared near where Miname had used the pendant. Was it possible that he had been walking over this exact same ground over a 100 years earlier on his way home?

There would be only two ways of testing this. One was to use the pendant, which of course was where it usually was - around Miname's neck. The other way would be to verify if this really had been where he was walking that winter's night - by finding a common landmark.

He checked the position of the sun and turned in the direction he had been travelling when he had disappeared - north east. What landmarks would still exist in the present? The Senso-ji shrine at Asakusa had been ancient even in his day, so surely it would still be here. Even nearer though would be the imperial palace, Edo-jo. Tokyo as he remembered had been centred around the palace, with streets radiating outwards from it. Even the waters heading towards Tokyo bay had been channelled to circle the palace. It was hard to believe that it would not still exist in some form in the present day.

He supposed he could wait to check with Miname, but he was itching to do something right away. He closed his eyes and tried to layer what he remembered of Tokyo in the Meiji over its current sprawl. He knew how long it would have taken him to reach the imperial palace from where he had been that night, and the exact direction in which the palace would lie. Fixing that in his mind, he set off.

*****

It was difficult progress because of all the new and confusing streets, buildings and the sheer mass of humanity. Still, Kenshin marked his direction by the sun, as he always had, and doggedly persisted through the confused snarl. It was even harder to keep track of time with all the detours he was forced to take. However, he tried to maintain a good pace and adjust the timing for the delays.

In the end, he was more accurate than he thought he would be. He hit a road he thought he recognised as one of the major arteries leading to the palace, followed it, and sure enough, the palace appeared, set in magnificent gardens.

Kenshin pulled up short. He had been so absorbed in finding the place, he had blunted all his senses to his surroundings. Fully awake now, he drank in the sight, the familiarity of the structure, its architecture...and it all struck a chord deep within him. He realised that he missed the Meiji. His friends notwithstanding, modern conveniences notwithstanding, he missed the whole old-fashioned, inefficient era!

One more reason to go back...
And his mind willingly supplied him with many others. Mostly selfish ones though. He clamped down on these and tried to consider the matter coldly:

Fact: his absence would make his friends worry;
Fact: It would probably cause Kaoru more than just worry.
Conclusion: he should probably go back, and settle things with Kaoru. Yay - that was exactly what he wanted to do.
However...
Fact: His friends were often worried when he was around anyway, because of miscellaneous deranged psychos bent on revenge etc. etc.
Fact: Not only were they worried, they were also in physical danger.
Fact: Kaoru was only young yet and- he would probably get slammed with her bokken for this -really, how deep was her attachment to him? (Kenshin liked to ignore the fact that most girls Kaoru's age were married with kids because of the ravages this thought would inflict on his own age)
Fact: Even if her feelings ran really deep, given time, all hearts mend...

Of a sort, a small voice inside him pointed out. They mend... of a sort. He flinched back from the memory of the empty shell he had become after Tomoe. She's different - Kaoru-dono is in a completely different situation from where I was...

He wandered randomly around the park surrounding the palace, his eyes never leaving it. His movements mirroring the indecision in his heart. However, as he continued to turn the question over in his mind, one certainty began to emerge and to which he anchored himself - that Kaoru's ultimate happiness and safety were of the prime importance and that they would determine his choice

*****



Notes:
Sigh. Another serious bit. I'm having lots of difficulty writing KXK, even though I like them best! I guess I think that they went through so much stuff in the manga/anime, I just want them to go off, be happy and remain undisturbed. Kenshin's become rather irritable in these last two chapters, hasn't he? ^_^ x. One more serious chappie to go...