Apprentice

Chapter 21

A bad hair day

Yuki knelt on the floor, her face nearly touching her knees.

"Gomen naisai, Himura Kenji," she said, not raising her eyes from the mats on the floor of the sitting room.

Kenji, eyes still irritated from getting sand thrown into them, folded his arms across his chest and frowned down at his tormentor. Kaoru nudged him, none to gently, and whispered, "Answer her."

"I accept your apology," he said grudgingly.

"Now, Kenji, you apologize to Yuki," said Kenshin. "I suspect that this incident was not all of her doing."

Kenji opened his mouth to protest, looked at his parent's expressions and changed his mind.

He knelt on the mats and copied Yuki's gestures and words. She nodded at him, and said, "I also accept your apology," she said in a quiet monotone.

Kenji noticed that the knuckles on her right hand were bandaged. "Probably busted them open on my ribs." He rubbed the bruises on his side absently.

He looked up at his father as if to ask, "Good enough?" Kenshin nodded.

"You can get up now, Yuki," said Misao. She looked pained and gave Kaoru an openly regretful look.

"If I may ask," Kenshin said to Misao, "what is Yuki's punishment to be?"

Kenji looked puzzled. Who cared about that, he thought?

"She will be washing dishes in the kitchen for two weeks and weeding the garden. Also, she will sit in her room and meditate quietly with no distractions for one hour before bedtime," Misao recited.

"Kenji," said Kenshin, looking his son in the eyes. "You will help Yuki do her chores until we leave."

Kenji's eyes widened, but he knew better than to protest. "Hai, Otosan."

"Go with Yuki and get started, Kenji," Kenshin said. "I'll be checking on your progress soon."

Yuki and Kenji left, as did Kenshin, leaving Misao and Kaoru to visit.

Kenji looked over at the girl and rubbed the back of his head. It was still sore where she'd yanked it the other day, and he had a small bald patch. He noticed she was doing the same, rubbing a spot above her left ear.

There was a small patch of blue-black hair missing. Kenji grinned.

"Does your scalp hurt as much as mine does, Yuki-chan?" he asked ruefully.

"Hai," she said, still not looking at him.

"Kenji-chan?"

"What?" he asked guardedly.

"I really am sorry," she said in a small, sad voice. "I was so angry, I couldn't help it." She sighed, and rubbed her head again.

Kenji nodded. "I get angry too," he confessed. "I'm always in trouble because of my bad temper."

They were walking out back to the large garden.

"I guess this is going to take a while," Yuki sighed. "But with you helping, maybe we can get the gardening done more quickly."

"I help my to-chan do this at home all the time," said Kenji, squatting down beside Yuki to start weeding.

They worked in silence, trying to get done before the early morning sun got too hot.

"Yuki-chan?"

"What?" This after nearly an hour of working side by side.

"Why do you hate me so much?" asked Kenji. His back was starting to get stiff from the bending, so he stood up and stretched.

He really wanted to know. He still couldn't figure out exactly what he'd done to make Yuki so mad at him all the time.

Yuki was silent. Did she really want Kenji to know she was jealous of him?

"You didn't do anything," she finally said. "It's not your fault."

Kenji was surprised. "Then why are you so mean to me?" he rounded on her.

"It's hard to say," she said quietly.

"Is it something bad?" asked Kenji, equally quiet.

"Hai," she whispered.

"I won't make you say it, then," Kenji decided.

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Just stop being mean to me, all right?" he said, bending back down to work again.

"I promise," said Yuki. "I won't be mean to you anymore."

"You'd better not be," Kenji muttered under his breath.

Misao and Kaoru sat and sipped at their tea.

"I can't tell you how embarrassed I am about Yuki starting a fight with Kenji," said Misao.

"Should we wonder that our children have such fighting spirit,?" asked Kaoru. She shook her head.

"I remember the story of a girl who accosted a certain samurai upon the road to Kyoto and robbed him," Kaoru grinned. "And a certain girl who fought a scythe-wielding cross dresser and got her ribs broken."

Misao grinned slyly. "I think I know of this girl," she laughed. "And I know a young woman who fought this same scythe-wielder with a broken bokken and beat him."

"And I could still kick his scrawny white ass!" asserted Kaoru, setting down her tea cup. They laughed together, remembering.

Misao nodded her head, "I know you could. However, at the moment, I'm not exactly in fighting form," she chuckled, patting the bulge at her waistline.

"Yuki-chan will come around, don't worry," said Kaoru. "She is your daughter, and if she has half your loyalty and goodness of spirit, she will be a fine woman some day."

"Thank you, Kaoru," said Misao, putting down her cup and sighing loudly. "I hope you are right about that."

"I am," Kaoru said, reaching over to pat Misao's arm lightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kenji and Yuki had finished their gardening and reported to the Aoiya's large kitchen for their other chore. Washing dishes.

"Oh, well," thought Kenji, "at least my hands will get clean." He looked down at his stained and dirty hands.

"Good morning, Yuki-chan," said Okon, who was in charge of the kitchen duties that morning. "I understand you will be helping us here this morning."

She gave Yuki a raised eyebrow, hands on hips, looking down at the girl.

"And what are you here for, Kenji-chan," she asked, "Don't tell me you're hungry again already?"

"I'm here to help Yuki-chan with the dishes," he said, hanging his head. "My to-chan said I had to help her."

"I see," said Okon. "Well, there's plenty of work for both of you, we had a busy morning."

She handed each of them an apron, and indicated a large basin of dirty bowls, tea cup, plus many more stacked on the countertop.

"Get busy, and not one broken dish, do you hear me?" she admonished.

"Hai," said Yuki and Kenji together. "I understand," said Kenji. "Me too," said Yuki.

They helped each other tie up their sleeves with a strip of cloth that Okon handed them, and got to work.

One hour later, Yuki had a sweat drop hanging off the end of her nose when they finally finished. She wiped it away with a sudsy hand and sneezed. She was a mess, dirty knees, wet down the front and her hair hung in wisps around her delicate face.

"Is someone saying something evil about you?" Kenji teased.

He was likewise somewhat bedraggled, but his training under Shishou Hiko had toughened him up somewhat over the summer. He was more used to hard work, and older.

"Probably," said Yuki dispiritedly.

Kenshin came into the kitchen. "Okon-san tells me you're finished."

"Hai, to-chan," said Kenji, wiping his hands to dry them.

"Yuki-chan, I just left your father and he wishes to speak to you," Kenshin said to her.

She rose slowly and nodded her head. "Thank you, Himura-san." She drid her hands and walked slowly from the kitchen.

Yuki wondered what her father wanted as she went upstairs to his office. As promised, they had played chess again that morning. At least he hadn't taken away that privilege. Was that it, had he decided her punishment wasn't severe enough? She hung her head, biting her lip with anxiety.

She knocked before entering, as she'd been taught.

"Enter," came her father's deep voice.

"I'm here, otosan," said Yuki, bowing. She was still dirty and damp from her morning chores so she stood there, not sitting.

"I see you've been busy," said Aoshi, raising his brows at her.

"I'm finished for today, Otosan," she replied.

"I won't ask you to sit down, Yuki-chan," he said regarding her, "because you are...a mess."

"I know," she replied, "it's all right. What is it you want, otosan?" she asked. Might as well get it over with, she sighed to herself. More punishments.

"I wanted to...apologize to you," he said quietly, folding his arms across his chest.

"Apologize?" she asked. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. She looked so much like Misao for a moment, Aoshi almost smiled.

"Yes, Yuki-chan," he said. He cleared his throat. "It is not easy for me to admit this, but I am guilty of neglecting you. I beg your forgiveness."

Yuki was totally confused. Her otosan was asking her forgiveness? She sat down on the floor because suddenly, she had to sit.

"Forgiveness?" she repeated stupidly.

"I was not aware that my attentions towards Kenji were causing you such... pain," he said gravely. "I feel I am somewhat to blame for what happened the other day between the two of you."

Yuki felt tears threatening, and covered her face with her hands. She was unable to speak. She was exhausted and completely unprepared for her father's words.

"Yuki-chan?" he asked. She hadn't moved, but her shoulders were shaking as silent sobs wracked her body.

Aoshi sighed inaudibly. Tears made him acutely uncomfortable, but after all, she was a female. In his experience, females cried quite a lot. He supposed he might have to get used to that.

He rose and went around to where his daughter sat on the floor. "Get up, Yuki-chan, please," he said as gently as possible.

More sobbing.

"Yuki-chan," he sounded almost pleading.

Sobbing with hiccuping.

"Stop this," he tried a commanding tone.

Louder sobbing.

"That obviously didn't work," he thought.

He was very unused to feeling helpless.

He knelt down. "Yuki-chan," he was almost whispering.

Finally, she looked up. Her eyes were puffy, face red and her lips still trembled as she tried to contain herself.

With no warning, she flung herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He almost recoiled at this unexpected contact, but stilled his reaction.

His mind was blank. But, it seemed that words were unnecessary. She clung to him and her trembling gradually stopped. Tentatively, he reached up and stroked her hair. He felt the tension go out of her and her head rested on his shoulder.

Finally, she raised her head and pulled away. "I'm dirty," she said, looking down at herself. "I'm sorry, I got your shirt wet," she pointed to a spot on his shoulder.

"I can change," he said, rising to his feet, and pulled her up.

"I'm sorry I'm such a baby," she whispered, embarrassed.

"I won't tell anyone," he said, looking vaguely amused.

"Really?" she asked.

"I promise."