The Measure of a Man
Written by Jenna Muff. Based on the story Young Again by Fitz. 090003-??????
Disclaimer: Number one, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of the characters, places, or events therein. Number two, I don't own the original concept for this story; it belongs solely to Fitz-sama, who graciously granted permission for this little side story to be written. Domo arigatou, Fitz-sama!
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Kenshin flicked the last of the dish water from his hands and pulled himself to his feet, yawning and rubbing at his neck. His head felt twice as heavy as it should have been, and it was making his neck and shoulders ache. Weariness dragged downward at his eyelids. "Oro," he murmured dazedly, trudging away from the washtub, half-entertaining notions of curling up somewhere for a nap. By the Kami, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so sleepy…
Of course, the rurouni was usually a little tired—sporadic nightmares and the ever-present worry for his friends' safety kept him from a full night's sleep most of the time. Normally, though, he was able to shrug the drowsiness off without much problem. It's this child's body, Kenshin thought with a spurt of annoyance. The irritation, however, was swiftly replaced by guilt, as he remembered his earlier outburst. Tired or not, there was no excuse for such behavior. They don't deserve to be dragged into your personal problems, Kenshin berated himself.
The small redhead heard a muffled curse as he stepped out into the yard. Yahiko was kneeling at the laundry tub, scrubbing doggedly at a green gi—his own, Kenshin knew—which seemed to have a rather noticeable stain on the sleeve. The elder boy noticed Kenshin approaching and gave the rurouni an exasperated wave, then swatted a few bangs out of his eyes and started in on his clothing once more.
"What happened to your gi, Yahiko?" Kenshin asked, standing opposite Yahiko and peering curiously into the water.
"I accidentally dragged it through some stew the other night at the Akabeko," Yahiko muttered, and redoubled his efforts. "The stain just doesn't want to come out!"
"It looks like a grease stain, that it does," Kenshin pointed out. "You might have better luck if you add more hot water and soap, that you might."
"Uh…thanks. I'll do that." Yahiko stared at Kenshin for a minute, before breaking out into a fit of giggles.
Kenshin, for his part, gave a very childish pout. "What?" he asked, his high-pitched tone distorting his inquiry into a whine.
"Sorry, sorry," Yahiko snickered. "It's just that…well, it's weird enough getting cleaning tips from a guy, but it's even weirder getting them from a little boy, you know?"
The rurouni began to sigh, but instead broke into a jaw-cracking yawn. He noticed the look Yahiko gave him. "I guess I'm a little tired, that I am," Kenshin said with a sunny smile, tugging at his short hair and nonchalantly waving his free hand.
"You look a lot tired, not just a little," Yahiko told him. "You should go grab a nap."
With some effort, Kenshin bit back the retort that threatened to pop out. Nap indeed, Rurouni-chan! his mind echoed mockingly. "Thank you for your concern, Yahiko, but it's not necessary, that it isn't," he answered.
"I'm serious, Kenshin," the elder boy persisted. "You might think like an adult, but your body is a little kid, and—"
"Yahiko," Kenshin broke in, a bit more sharply than he'd intended. "I am fine, that I am." A beat of silence passed, with the biting words hanging in the space between them. Kenshin mentally smacked himself for his lack of control. Maybe I should take a nap, after all… "We should go look for Sano, that we should," he offered gently, almost by way of apology.
Yahiko nodded slowly and got to his feet, abandoning the stained gi for the moment. "Yeah, you're right. I'll get the busu, and we'll all go look for him." He hesitated, then continued, "Look, Kenshin, if you're upset because you're a kid again…well, if I did cause this whole thing, I'm sorry." With that, he quickly turned and walked away, ducking into the dojo before Kenshin could say anything.
Kenshin stared after him, realization dawning. Is he afraid I'm upset with him about this? "Well, look at how you've been acting, Himura," he muttered under his breath. He lifted one tiny hand and gazed at it thoughtfully, then smacked it against his own forehead. Kenshin no baka! He would definitely have to talk to the boy later on, after they'd made sure Sano wasn't getting into any trouble…
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Two hours of searching turned up absolutely nothing. No clues, no trails, and no Sanosuke. The sun was riding high in the sky when Yahiko and his two charges paused outside the police station, trying to think of any place they'd missed. They had gone to the Akabeko first, but neither Tae nor Tsubame had seen "that cute little Sano-chan" all day. Katsu, one of Sano's friends from his days in the Sekihoutai, was clueless about "Sanosuke's little cousin." As a last resort, Kaoru had suggested they try the police, in case anyone had taken Sano there, thinking he was a lost child.
"No one's seen him since he left the dojo," Yahiko said, kicking at the dust, his annoyance masking his worry. "Where the hell could he have gone?"
"Sanosuke would not purposefully hide from us, that he would not," Kenshin murmured, his large eyes narrowed and dark with concern. "He knows we would worry."
"You don't think something's happened to him, do you?" Kaoru asked anxiously. Her small hands were clutched together, and her ponytail swung behind her head as she looked back and forth between the two boys. "What'll we do now?"
"Well, we already asked everyone to keep an eye out for him," Yahiko said. "So, we can either go back to the dojo and wait for him to turn up, or we can keep walking through town, asking the vendors if they've seen a little boy in blue and white run by."
"I'm not going home, not until we've found Sano," Kaoru said immediately.
"I agree, that I do. We should continue searching, that we should," Kenshin added in. His left hand drifted to rest at his hip, as though reflexively searching for a sword that was not there.
That's exactly what he's doing, Yahiko realized with a shiver. Kenshin thinks something's happened. "All right then, it's settled. We'll keep looking. Come on, let's go to his place and ask the neighbors."
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Hiruma Gohei was mightily pleased. The gods had been frowning upon him for far too long, he thought, and it was high time something went according to his wishes. He'd been simmering in unfulfilled resentment for months now; every time he fumbled to grasp a dish, every time he nicked himself shaving, every time he tried to do his kata…he was reminded of his ruined thumbs. One had been mangled almost two decades before, by Kamiya Kaoru's father, the master of the Kamiya dojo and Gohei's former teacher. The other had been rendered useless much more recently, when he'd attempted to take his revenge on the Kamiya bitch herself. Damn that man, Gohei thought bitterly. His scheme had been working so perfectly! He'd taken on the name of Battousai, had tainted the reputation of Kamiya Kasshin by murdering men in its name, and he'd come so close to killing the bitch herself!
But he hadn't counted on the real Battousai showing up, much less interfering in a situation that didn't really concern him. Instead of killing him, however, the red-haired bastard had merely slammed the blunt edge of his silly sword down on Gohei's hand, permanently damaging his only working thumb. Damn him! Gohei snarled to himself, pounding one fist down onto the floor of his own small apartment. Battousai could easily have killed him, but had chosen not to in favor of crippling and disgracing him.
The humiliations hadn't ended there, though. Two more perfectly wicked revenge plots had fallen through since then, one thanks to Zanza, the fighter-for-hire, and the other thanks to the brat with the wooden sword. Gohei winced a little, remembering the maneuver the brat had used to bring him down in their last encounter. Thankfully, there hadn't been any lasting damage, but the indignity burned in his guts and made his blood boil. Still, though every thought screamed for vengeance, Gohei had just about given up. Three times he'd tried, and each time he'd been defeated, shamed, and injured in some fashion.
But…
The man's black glare settled on the small body lying crumpled against the far wall. The child—Zanza himself, Gohei knew, although he had no idea what had happened to him or the newly shrunken Battousai—was still unconscious, but breathing steadily. His skinny wrists and ankles were bound together, and his mouth was securely gagged with a wad of cloth stuffed inside to prevent him from screaming for help. "Sleep well, Zanza-chan," Gohei chuckled, fingering the trigger of his pistol almost lovingly. "I want you good and awake tonight, so you can watch your friends die, and so you can see my face just before I send you to join them…"
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Yahiko and the others ended up at the clinic for a late lunch. Megumi reacted to the news of Sanosuke's disappearance with her customary "idiot rooster" commentary, but her eyes betrayed her concern. Too, she watched Kenshin closely as the miniature rurouni slowly ate his rice. He didn't seem overly interested in the food, but ate almost mechanically, lost in his own thoughts again. Her questioning glances at Yahiko didn't afford her much in the way of reassurance, either. Ken-san is terribly worried, Megumi thought grimly, and that child's face isn't as good at hiding it.
"I don't know what else to do, Megumi-san," Yahiko said at last, breaking the gloomy hush that had fallen over the table. No one felt much like bickering, not even Megumi, who usually delighted in baiting the excitable Kaoru. "No one's seen Sano since he left this morning," the boy continued. "We checked everywhere. What do we do now?"
Megumi folded her hands in her lap and sighed, choosing her words carefully. "There isn't much more you can do, Yahiko. I think the best thing for you all to do right now is to go back to the dojo."
Kaoru looked up sharply. "But Megumi-san, we can't—!"
"Even if you run yourself ragged tonight, tanuki-chan, what will that accomplish?" Megumi chided gently. "One of two things has happened. Either the rooster-head has gone off and gotten involved in something and lost track of time, or he has gotten himself into some kind of trouble. If the former is true, he'll eventually show up somewhere, begging for a free meal. If it's the latter…well, exhausting yourselves won't help him."
"So, you're saying we should give up?" Yahiko asked, his voice sharper than usual. "Sano's our friend! We can't just go home now!"
"What if something terrible happens to him, all because we didn't keep looking?" Kaoru demanded piercingly. "What if he's hurt? What if he got lost?"
"You said yourselves that you have looked everywhere and spoken to everyone," Megumi answered, looking squarely at the three children seated across from her. She drew in a breath, then said, "If no one has seen Sanosuke by now, I don't think they will."
Kaoru and Yahiko froze, and their mouths opened, but Kenshin's quiet voice cut them off. "Megumi-dono is right," he said softly. His expression was hidden behind his bangs, and his chopsticks lay abandoned on the low table before him. "I do not believe Sano's disappearance is an accident, that I do not."
A moment of stunned silence followed. Kaoru's eyes brimmed with tears, and Yahiko muttered a curse under his breath. Megumi, though, kept her eyes on Kenshin. He did not once look up, but his fingers had curled into tiny, white-knuckled fists at his sides. The doctor felt suddenly, horribly helpless. What could she say to assuage their fears? What could she do to help them? Nothing, she thought bitterly. A talented doctor she was, and a sharp wit to boot, but the situation rendered her utterly useless. It was a hard thing to swallow.
"We should return to the dojo before the sun sets," Kenshin said suddenly, raising his gaze to meet Yahiko's. The rurouni's eyes seemed impossibly large for his small, pale face. "If those responsible for Sanosuke's disappearance wish to confront us, that is where they will go first."
"Why would anyone kidnap Sanosuke?" Kaoru asked lowly, wiping at her eyes and trying to blink back more tears. "What possible reason could they have?"
"Especially because no one knows who he is, besides us…" Yahiko added, tapping his fingers against his knee and frowning.
Kenshin's eyes vanished behind his hair again. "There are a great many people in this country who would like to see me dead, I am sure," he murmured, his voice barely audible, almost as though he were speaking to himself alone. "It has always been this way, that it has. My enemies seek to harm those around me. Others suffer in my stead."
"You think someone has discovered your condition, then," Megumi said softly, sympathetically.
"I do not know, that I do not," Kenshin answered, equally quiet. He gave a barely perceptible sigh, then looked up at Yahiko once more. "Yahiko, listen to me," he said firmly, his dark gaze practically boring a hole in the older boy. "If we are confronted, and if those responsible wish to take my life…you must let them do so."
"What?!"
"Ken-san, what are you—?"
"Kenshin, don't—!"
"I will not sacrifice any of you to save my life, that I will not," Kenshin interrupted, his child's voice ringing out over the tumult and instantly quieting the others' shocked exclamations. "Nor will I let anyone," and he stared at Yahiko pointedly, "needlessly put themselves in danger to protect me. If the price is Sanosuke's life, or any of your lives…it is far too high, and I will not have it."
"Wait a damned minute, Kenshin," Yahiko said hotly, sounding for all the world like Sano at his most riled-up moments, "you can't sit there and tell me to just stand back and let some asshole kill you in cold blood! It's not gonna happen! I'll protect all of you myself!"
"Yahiko," Kenshin said severely, "you must not put yourself or anyone else in danger, that you must not."
"To hell with that, and to hell with your stupid self-sacrificing talk!" Yahiko shot back. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt any of you! They want a piece of you, they'll have to go through me first!"
"And if they threaten Sanosuke? Or Kaoru-dono?" The miniature rurouni suddenly rose to his feet and stood face-to-face with Yahiko, his storming eyes mere slits of suppressed emotion. To Megumi's shock, he actually seemed to be trembling. "I told you that I first picked up a sword when I was this age," Kenshin ground out. "But I was far too small to wield it, and as a result, everyone who cared about me was slaughtered right in front of my eyes. Do you understand? The girls…they were cut down like animals, and I was too small to help…I couldn't stop it." With that, the little redhead's voice died out, and he hurriedly turned away to collect himself. When he spoke again, his tone was quieter, but no less fervent. "That will not happen again. I will not allow anyone else to die in my place. Not ever."
No one knew quite what to say to that. Kenshin eventually sat back down, but his features remained hidden. Yahiko stared down at his empty bowl, his astonishment written all over his young face. Kaoru's shoulders shook, and tears poured down her cheeks, but she was silent. Megumi, for her part, gazed sadly at Ken-san and wondered what kind of a monster would thrust a mere child into such horrors at all…
"I won't put us in danger, I promise," Yahiko said quietly, startling Megumi with the suddenness of his statement. "Trust me, Kenshin, please. I won't let anyone hurt Sano or Kaoru."
The little redhead looked up, and his eyes seemed much calmer. Gone was the black despair, the haunted wreath of pain that had so twisted his expression before. "I know, Yahiko, that I do," he replied gently. "But there are enemies against whom you cannot win, and if we are met with them, I would ask that you first think of yourself and the others, that I would."
Yahiko nodded slowly, reluctantly. "All right," he agreed. "All right, I will. I promise."
Kenshin gave him a smile—the rurouni's bright, cheery grin, blessedly normal—and nodded once. "Thank you. Now, we should be going, that we should, if we are to reach the dojo before nightfall."
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Sorry about the delay! Real life has chosen to dislike me at the moment…
Again, if Ken-chan seems overly emotive in this story, keep in mind that he's a small child, and small children aren't as good at hiding their emotions…plus, he's dealing with some pretty heavy memories and stuff. Give the poor guy a break! @_@
Thanks and rurouni-gummies go out to all the readers, reviewers and lurkers alike! Special thanks to Wakadori Ramen, Sarah Lee1, and tocole. You all rock! :D
Waaaaah! I am suddenly struck with a massive inferiority complex, after having read the latest chapter of tocole's magnificent Yahiko-centered fic, The Flower of Life!! (animuffin sobs) Go read it! It's fantastic! Totally blows this one out of the water (think Purgatory! ;D)!
Oh, and just for Wakadori Ramen, Aoshi has been magically transformed into an eight-year-old, and has stopped by to say a few words…
Chibi Aoshi: (glares up at animuffin) "Jen-san, unlike the Battousai, I am not too small to use my kodachi. Although, since my hands are now much smaller, I may make a slight mistake and leave you with an unfortunate maiming instead of instant death…"
(animuffin sweatdrops)
That's all for now! More to come soon!
Ja!
@Jen@