Changing Leaves
Part Six

Rurouni Kenshin Fanfiction
by Laura Gilkey

*

September 24

"NO! PLEASE!"

"Ready," Hakata ordered. Three hammers clicked into position.

Soujiro sized up the tableau in a fraction of a second. Fujikake was standing behind the others, his back turned. Shuku-chi—Soujiro could get a good push off the wall; he was fast enough to get past them and escape, but then it would be the same thing all over again. "Please, don't!" he cried, not moving from the spot. "I won't fight you! I won't run away anymore!"

"Aim."

"No!" I'm going to die I'm going to die... The panic stretched his lips into a giddy grin and he pleaded through terrified laughter. "Ple-hee-hease, don't kill me-hee-hee!" He squeezed his eyes shut.

The next sound jolted him as he knew it must be the fire command, the end—but it was Fujikake's voice.

"You! Stop! Freeze!"

POW!

Soujiro opened his eyes to see Sanosuke complete the arc of his punch in a flourish of black and white, sending Fujikake flying into one of the other officers. Another spun with his pistol just in time to take an uppercut, leaving only Hakata, who dodged out of the way and kept his gun trained on Soujiro.

Soujiro saw him and backed into the corner, still choosing not to run. Just as he knew the bullet would come in the next moment, the character 'bad' filled his vision as Sanosuke threw himself between him and the gun.

"Put it away!" Sano shouted. "I'm not gonna let you do this!"

"Get out of the way!" Hakata ordered, unflinching in his aim. "That man is a dangerous criminal!"

"I know who he is better than you do. I was there a year ago when he fought with Kenshin." Sano turned his head just a little toward Soujiro, not taking his eyes off his opponent. "What are you doing back there!? Shuku-chi! Run!"

"No!"

"Move!" Hakata repeated. "I'll try to do this without killing you, but I don't know what a ricochet might do in that corner."

"Sagara-san," Soujiro cried, "please, just do what he says!"

"Are you crazy!? He's going to kill you!"

"I don't want to run away anymore! Tomi-chan, and everyone—"

"Tomi!?" Sano cut him off. "You think she'll be happy when this guy shoots you in the head!?"

"I know... And I don't want to die, but even that would be better... When we ran away from the inn, I was carrying her, with her head on this shoulder... I know the bullet almost went through... No matter what, I can't do that anymore..."

"I see where you're coming from," Sano replied, in a calmer, steady tone. "If you want to get arrested, that's fine, but as long as I'm here, I'm not gonna let you die. After all, I promised I'd protect Tomi-chan, and if anything happened to you, she'd cry, so as far as I'm concerned, that promise includes you."

As he spoke, Sanosuke kept his eyes on Hakata, who stood listening, pistol still trained on them in steady silence, but his trigger-hand had slightly relaxed, and his face had opened up just slightly from his grim focus.

At the sound of footsteps, Sano glanced up the alley, then turned his head. "Well it's about time you showed up."

Soujiro turned to see. "Eh...? Himura-san!"

Kenshin hurried down the alley, dodging lightly between the unconscious officers to come up beside Hakata. "What's happening here? Hakata-dono, were you ordered to do this?"

For the first time, Hakata gaped at him, tongue-tied.

"That's a no," Sano pointed out.

"But if I don't, no one will!" Hakata burst out. "If anyone else... The men who took the blame for Okubo's death, they were killed; that's the law, but this... I was told to bring Tenken no Soujiro in alive, because they wanted a bargain! They wanted his skills! A year ago, I saw it happen with the others... It's like saying if a killer is skilled enough, it isn't a crime, like saying Shishio was right, and I won't say that! Not again, and not with the worst of them all..." His fingers tightened nervously around the handle of the gun, but not the trigger.

"So it's only justice if Soujiro dies?" Kenshin asked.

"That's the law," Hakata said with desperate calm. "We can't afford to place anyone above the law."

"You and your hypocritical crap!" Sano shouted. "You call this playing by the letter of the law!?

"Silence!"

"Hakata-dono." Kenshin took one step forward with flawless serenity, lay his hand on Hakata's revolver, and turned until he was holding its muzzle against his own chest through the loose-hanging collar of his kimono. Soujiro only managed a small sound of surprise before he was struck speechless. "If you really believe that Soujiro has to die for what he did, then you should shoot," Kenshin said.

"Shit, I hate when he gets like this..." Sano muttered.

But Hakata was now plainly thrown off balance. "I didn't mean that I would sacrifice someone like you for—"

"I know; I didn't mean that either," Kenshin replied. "I said this because Soujiro and I are the same. He under Shishio and I in the Bakumatsu, we each let ourselves be blinded by an agenda and killed and did horrible things. I realized my mistake, and have tried to live my life in a better way. You said yourself, I know Soujiro's mind better than you do, and now I see him trying to make amends for his sins, on the same path that brought me to the precious life I have now, and I want him to have the same chance that I had. If justice is to kill him, or me, it won't repair any of our mistakes, it will only be more death, more people who will be heartbroken to lose us.

"Because of that, I should apologize for decieving you, Hakata-dono," he said. "I told you I couldn't help you find Soujiro because I was the one who was hiding him from you."

"Himura-san! Don't!" Soujiro protested, stepping out from behind Sanosuke. Across the distance, his eyes met Hakata's, which were very changed and open with confusion, open enough to look Soujiro in the eyes for the first time.

Kenshin turned his head and lifted his hand into view—he was holding Hakata's gun now. "Thank you, Soujiro, but I'll be fine. Sano, take Soujiro back to the dojo."

"Sure thing." Sanosuke took Soujiro by the waist and steered him back up the alley. Soujiro kept his eyes fixed on Hakata and Kenshin, but didn't resist.

"Wait—" Hakata called out a half-hearted objection.

"Do you trust me?" Kenshin asked him, and offered his pistol back. Hakata sighed and took it, and was putting it away in his holster as Soujiro was pushed around the corner and the alley vanished from sight.

"Come on," Sano urged. He took Soujiro's right hand and tried to lead him by it, but the shackles pulled his left arm along, too, and he cried out in pain. "Damn! Sorry about that." Sano took one of the wrist-cuffs in his hand and aimed his knuckles at it. "Can't let Tomi-chan see these, anyway.(16)

**********

July 7

The fireworks were all over by the time Junzo came back to the inn. With a lantern in one hand, he carried Tomi—asleep with a pinwheel tucked under her arm—up the path from the gate as Reiko waited on the porch.

"I told you not to stay out too late," Reiko chided softly. "Poor little Tomi, she's all worn out."

"She had fun, though," Junzo whispered. "Where's Soujiro?"

"He went to bed early."

"I can see that, with how he was acting..."

Quietly, they went inside, where the lantern light turned the walls from blue to yellow. Junzo carried Tomi into the room that she and Soujiro still shared and quietly tucked her into bed as Soujiro lay sleeping, curled up on his side just a few feet away. He left them both to their dreams and snuck out of the room again. "Soujiro... is he all right?" he asked Reiko after he closed the door of the room. "Too tired to make Tanabata wishes, something's wrong..."

"He did make one after you left, and it seemed to perk him up a little."

"Oh? What did he wish for?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

Junzo paused for a moment, then walked out the the porch again and crossed the yard to the stand of bamboo.

"Now, honey, if he wants to keep it to himself..." Reiko protested, following at his heels.

"Come, now, don't tell me you aren't curious." Since Junzo had hung up most of the other wishes, it didn't take him long to find Soujiro's. He squinted at the blue paper in the lantern-light for a moment, then smiled and started back toward the inn.

Reiko hesitated, but at last the curiosity was irresistible and she held the wish where she could read it. 'Something impossible'...

When she had seen what was written on the paper, she released it gently and followed her husband back inside, but with a more somber attitude.

**********

September 25

It was very late at night before Tomi fell asleep and Soujiro, when he felt he had sufficiently memorized the image of her innocent slumber, crept quietly from the room and out to the porch of the dojo. There was a taste of autumn chill in the breeze that rustled the blue and silver leaves in the moonlight.

Kenshin was there, sitting cross-legged with his sakabatou propped between one knee and one shoulder. With his head bowed and his eyes closed, he looked asleep, but when Soujiro came close to him, he raised his head. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes. I told Tomi-chan that I'd go after she fell asleep, so she stayed awake until just a little while ago."

"Where are you going?"

Soujiro sat down next to him and looked up at the stars. "Back to Kyoto."

"Kyoto?"

He nodded. "To the police there. The more I think about it, the more I think that going to them is what I have to do now. It's something I have to face and get to the other side of, before my wish can come true. That's where I want to be going, to the place where my wish comes true. Not just for a little while, but so that I can keep it, for my whole life..." He turned to Kenshin. "Thank you so much for taking care of Tomi-chan, and for helping me. What happened with Hakata-san, anyway? I was sure he'd come, since he knew where I was."

"Our encounter confused him greatly. He told me he was going to confess to the incident and resign."

"Really?" Soujiro asked. "Ahh! You and Sagara-san scared me, getting in front of that gun!"

"Do you think you didn't scare us?" Kenshin asked him. "When I stepped in front of him, I was certain he wouldn't kill me, but he would surely have killed you. I know that you could have saved yourself, but you weren't trying to."

Soujiro laughed awkwardly. "Yeah... I feel bad for making you rescue me like that..."

"It isn't that," Kenshin said, and fixed him with an intense gaze. "Listen, Soujiro, don't forget that you are also part of what you're protecting. Your family in Yokohama, Tomi-dono, and all of us here... If at the end of this, we lose you, then we haven't won, so don't be too willing to sacrifice yourself. Remember that when you get to Kyoto."

Soujiro laughed again. "Don't worry; I think it'll be fine. Hakata-san said they wanted to bargain with me, and that's why I'm going back to Kyoto. This year I've stayed away from there because so many people there know me, but that'll make it hard for someone to do something to me secretly like that. And also... For ten years I looked at Kyoto all the time, but I never felt anything when I saw it. I hear it's a beautiful city, and when I try to picture it, it seems that way, but... I always wanted to see it again, just to know how it felt..."

"I understand."

Soujiro looked out at the rustling trees again and smiled, but as moments passed, a stronger gust of wind shook a swirl of leaves from the branches. His smile faded. "Sometimes I wonder..."

"What?"

"If there was something to what Hakata-san said. If it's really fair... You talked about atoning for my sins and here I'm chasing a peaceful, happy life... Maybe I shouldn't have that. Maybe after everything I did, I don't deserve it."

"I don't think that's so."

"But after all, it took you ten years..." Soujiro said. "Sometimes my mind says I'm stupid, to think it could be so easy, but... My heart says maybe it's enough, just to do some small thing that makes people happy..."

"You should listen to your heart," Kenshin said.

"You really think so?"

He nodded. "I know I've done the best I can to make amends, and when I think about it, the best parts of that weren't the great difficult things. The truth came from the small moments, sharing my life and happiness with everyone, with the people who became my family."

Soujiro laughed. "Are you just telling me what I want to hear?"

"No. I mean that completely."

"That's good to hear! I know that's what I want, right or wrong... But it's good to hear someone tell me it's okay," he said, turning a luminous smile to the stars.

The two of them sat like that for a moment.

"Soujiro, look at me," Kenshin said.

"Eh?" Soujiro turned, his face still glowing.

Kenshin smiled back at him. "It's wonderful to see your face when you're really happy."

"Is it? It's so different... The way I was, I never felt sadness or fear, but I also never felt like this..." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "I'm so happy for the way I am now... Thank you so much, Himura-san."

Kenshin shook his head. "You made yourself this way. I'm only honored if I could help."

Soujiro sat for a long moment with his eyes closed, listening to the wind ruffle the leaves. At last he took a deep breath and roused himself. "I'd better go before I fall asleep!" he said, and stood.

Kenshin rose and walked with him to the gate. "Good luck," he said. "Please write when you get to Kyoto. I want to know how everything goes."

"Okay. And I'll come back as soon as I can." He clasped Kenshin's hand. "Thank you for everything."

"You're quite welcome."

"Then, goodbye," Soujiro said with a smile, and set off down the street.

"Goodbye," Kenshin replied.

"Sleep tight!"

"Safe journey!"

Kenshin watched Soujiro walk away into the night until his white kimono became just a shifting patch of blue, then pulled the gate of the dojo shut and barred the door for the night. He agreed with Soujiro's reasons for turning himself in, and now he knew that doing so wasn't walking into a death sentence. The situation seemed to be looking up, but he couldn't quite share Soujiro's optimism. As he went back inside, he still felt uneasy about it...

**********

July 7

Soujiro vaguely heard Reiko and Junzo's footsteps in the hallway, and felt a warm light through his eyelids as the door was opened. He heard Junzo lay Tomi on her futon with a gentle shuffling of cloth that echoed loudly in the night stillness. As the light slid away, he heard the old couple's voices, muffled through the door, and he didn't bother trying to puzzle out their words.

When their voices and foosteps faded away, he still lay awake, staring at the insides of his eyelids. He was still distracted. How long would this taste of heaven last? After all, he was working room service now. A lot of people would come and go and see him—a lot of chances to be recognized, and him a sitting target. It seemed so stupid to do it, but...

The shuffling of Tomi's kakefuton brought him back to the present. "Onii-chan? Are you asleep?" Her whisper in the dark reached his ears more clearly than full-voiced speech in the daylight.

"No," he whispered.

She crawled quietly-loudly over to him and lay on his upraised shoulder as a sort of hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"But you wouldn't go to the festival with me," she argued. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, no!" he assured her, and turned onto his back so he could face her. "I just felt kind of bad... because I was thinking about my wish."

"You didn't make any wishes."

"I did one, after you left."

"Oh?" She sat back with a more playful tone. "What is it? What did you wish for?"

"Well... I can't tell you."

"Aww! Why not?"

"It was just... It was dumb of me. I wished for something I know I can't have. It was the only thing I wanted..."

"And that's why you're sad?"

He nodded.

"But if you could have that one thing, then you'd be happy?"

"Yes. Very happy."

She sat for a long time pondering. "Is it a pony?"

Soujiro laughed out loud, and his laughter rang so loudly in the dark that it seemed it must wake the whole city. "No, it's nothing like that! It isn't something I want to own, just something I want to have, in my life..." He knew that didn't make sense.

But with Tomi's next guess, she seemed to understand. "Is it a kiss?"

"Eh?"

"A kiss. Would it make you happy if I gave you a kiss?"

He smiled broadly. "That wasn't the wish, but yes. That would make me happy."

Tomi bent low over his face and gave him a dry, gentle kiss on the cheek. He smiled at the warm tickle of her breath on his cheek and his neck, and the just-barely-scratchy sensation of her hair through his nemaki as she lay her head on his shoulder and snuggled up against him. "Do you feel better now?"

"Yes, much better," he said.

"I'm glad," she said through a yawn.

Soujiro lay quietly for some time. Tomi's warmth against him, the rhythm of her breath, the wind sighing through the peach trees outside with a sound like ruffling ocean waves... It wrapped him in peaceful softness and deep contentment. The moment felt like an eternity in Heaven all in itself, and although Soujiro knew it wasn't as invulnerable as it seemed, who could ask for more than this?

After all, this is what I wished for, he told himself again. How had he managed to make a wish at once impossible and already true? I know, at least for a little while, my wish can come true... He closed his eyes and let himself drift away toward warm, soft sleep.

And I can just enjoy it... for as long as it lasts...

**********

September 27

When Yahiko had put away his dojo gear and gotten dressed in his everyday clothes, he walked past the porch. Kaoru sat there with her arm around Tomi, and they and Sanosuke watched Ayame and Suzume play hopscotch in the yard.

"Tomi-chan, come play this time!" Suzume called.

"Um, not right now..." Tomi said, and leaned on Kaoru more.

"Oy, Yahiko. Where are you going?" Sano asked.

"I'll be back in a little bit," he said.

"Well, check what Kenshin's up to in the kitchen, huh? I'm hungry already."

The kitchen. Yahiko ran to the kitchen door and opened it; sure enough, Kenshin was inside, hurriedly scrubbing cookware. Yahiko entered and closed the door slowly.

"I'll start on dinner soon," Kenshin assured him, turning with his left cheek, where the handprint bruise covering his cross-scar had turned blotchy and sallow. "I just put off washing these things and now I need them..."

"Um, Kenshin, I was... I wanted to ask you..."

"What is it?"

"Well, the other day, Sanosuke was telling me about when you fought Soujiro before, with Shishio."

"Ah, I see."

"But I mean, even if he hadn't held back, you still would have won, right?" he blurted. "I mean, he couldn't beat your succession technique, so..." His words suddenly ran dry and he trailed off.

Kenshin paused for a moment, considering as he scrubbed. "No."

"What?"

"If Soujiro had used his full strength on me from the first, I'm sure I would have died too soon to use my succession technique. This scar on my back... If he'd been resolved to do it, at that moment, he would've cut me in two."

"But... But you broke his resolve, right? So that's..."

"In this case, that's a pretty way of saying that he didn't kill me because he didn't want to. At most, I made him realize that."

Yahiko paused for a moment as Kenshin started rinsing the dishes in clear water.

"But I'm sure you could beat him now!" Yahiko insisted. "When he was here, he got emotional so easy, you could read him like an open book!"

"Probably, but he's still faster than me, and I don't think he's lost much of his technique. And if I had to fight him now, I'm sure it would be something he was fighting for with his whole heart." He scooped a pile of chopped vegetables into the clean pot and turned to show Yahiko a smile. "Thankfully, I don't think I'll have to worry about that," he said. "I'm glad that Soujiro is our friend now."

"Oh... yeah." Yahiko hesitantly agreed.

Kenshin handed him a bowl with more ingredients before picking up the pot again. "Can you help me carry this all out? I'm sure everyone's getting impatient."

**********

September 15

"Soujiro! Come out here, please?" Reiko called over the low wail of a distant train-whistle.

Soujiro dried off his hands and left the dishes sitting as he hurried out to her. She was standing under one of the peach trees by the front path, and like all the others now, its boughs dipped slightly under the weight of the blushing, plump fruits.

"What is it, Obachan?"

"I wanted to be sure and show you how to pick the peaches before they're all gone."

"Oh," he said happily, and took hold of one. "What do I do, then?"

"First you have to find a ripe one," she said. "Don't look at the blush, look at the under-color, by the stem." She took the one he was holding and pointed. "See, this one's not ready. You want one that doesn't look green here, and it should have just a little bit of give, but don't squeeze it." She turned toward the inn at the sound of footsteps. "Ah, Fujikake-san, you're leaving?"

"Yes, ma'am," Fujikake answered, pausing beside them on his way to the gate, with his pack over his shoulder.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay?"

"Yes, very much. Unfortunately I have to be on my way now."

"I understand. Please, come again anytime."

"Thank you," Fujikake said. "So..."

"Wait a second," Soujiro said. He'd been searching among the branches and finally plucked a peach and offered it to him. "Here," he said, smiling brightly.

"Ah, thank you," Fujikake said, taking it.

"Now, this is his first time, so try to understand if it's bitter," Reiko cautioned.

He took a bite. "No, it's very good."

"I'm glad!" Soujiro said.

"Well then, goodbye!" Fujikake said, and started down the path again.

Soujiro and Reiko saw him off with a chorus of "Goodbye! Safe trip! Come back again!" He could still hear Reiko's voice behind him across the yard. "Here's one." A snap as it broke from the branch. "Try it. Go ahead, just bite right into it."

Fujikake turned as he pushed the gate open and caught a glimpse of Soujiro laughing and wiping juice off his chin before he shut the gate behind him and set off walking for the nearest police station.

After a weeklong stay at the inn, everything fit; there was no mistaking it. That young man matched the description of "Tenken no Soujiro"—Fujikake had even seen him one evening while his uniform was being washed, wearing the blue kimono the reports described. He hadn't seen him fight, but the way he moved with his arms full of balanced trays—he seemed to have the kind of fine control of his body that a sword-master would have. And the girl with him, named Tomi and matching the descriptions of the kidnapped Inoue Tomi... It couldn't be a coincidence. It all fit together.

Except the peach. Except the openness with which Soujiro had offered it to him. Except Tomi running after him calling "Onii-chan!", and him carrying her around on his shoulders, and the old couple fussing over the two of them as if it were their own children. It was a far cry from what he'd expected, a hardened, emotionless killer... Calling the rest of his unit here to raid such a peaceful, friendly kind of place... He felt uncertain about it, in a way he hadn't prepared himself for. Well, it's not for me to decide, he told himself as he came to the police station and went inside.

"Can I help you, sir?" one of the local officers asked him.

"Yes, you can," he said, and produced from his pack the case that concealed his identification and his gun. The man started slightly when Fujikake opened it to show him. "I'm with the federal police. I need to send an urgent wire to the police headquarters in Kyoto, to Captain Hakata."

"Of course! Right this way."

He started to follow, but paused as he realized that he still had the peach in his hand. The one bite he'd taken from it was juicy and sweet. It seemed like a waste, but as he looked down at it, he knew it would sit heavily in his stomach if he ate it, so with a sigh, he tossed it into a wastebasket and followed the local officer back to the telegraph machine.

**********

October 7

Little by little, the Kyoto skyline emerged over the crest of the hill. When at last it was fully in view, Soujiro paused and looked down at it. A shimmering sea of buildings stretching on and on, presided over the the old temples whose roofs curled upward at the corners like leaves toward the morning sun. It really is a beautiful city, he thought, but the thrill in his heart was only half admiration, the other half fear. Today he'd be in Kyoto again, and he'd surrender himself to the police, finally. Today would determine where his life would turn from here...

But whatever turns it might take, in the end, he knew where he was going. Back to Yokohama. Back to his family and his Tanabata wish. He didn't know how far he would have to go, but he would get there, someday...

He looked down and saw brown fallen leaves blowing across the road, collecting in drifts against the grass on one side. It looks like Autumn has really started now... The dry leaves crackled and broke under his sandals as he started down the hill toward Kyoto.

Owari

Author's Note: That "Owari" means that this is the end of "Changing Leaves." These events will be continued in more "Autumn Arc" stories, which will be posted as additional chapters here, so watch for more updates to this story in the coming months.

Footnotes:

16. Since my fanfiction really ignores all the canon after the Kyoto Arc, which was over a year ago, I think it's safe to assume that Sano has his Futae no Kiwami back...