glossary:
gi = the floppy shirt Yahiko and Kenshin wear; also worn by Kaoru when training/teaching
niitan, -nii = denoting an older brother
tatami = a type of reed/grass from which Japanese mats are made to cover floors
kuso = curse word
shikashi, demo = but, however
"Kenshin no baka" = "Kenshin, you idiot!" or "stupid Kenshin!"
imagawa-yaki = Maeko's definition: small drum-shaped hotcakes hotcakes with sweet red bean inside, then sold by vendors in busy districts (again, arigatou!)
kowai = scary
ojiisan = grandfather
Tanabata = summertime festival kinda like the Western Valentine's Day (aw, come on... like you didn't watch the episode? ^.^)
shihandai = a dojo student advanced enough to teach lower students
deshi = student, pupil
otousan = father
Kinou no Kakera (A Piece of Yesterday)
by Mirune Keishiko
Three: Boys and Girls
Yahiko straightened his back with a sigh and stood up, carefully easing cramped muscles. He had been hard at work scrubbing the dojo floor all afternoon, and he looked with disgust at the dust and grime that had collected on his gi. Nevertheless, his diligent efforts had paid off. Yahiko beamed to himself proudly as he glanced around the training hall, seeing how clearly the sunlight shimmered on the wooden flooring.
"Too bad old busu isn't around to see how nice and shiny this place is now," he muttered to himself, wiping his sweat on his sleeve.
"Yahiko-nii!" There was a patter of little feet on tatami, and Ayame and Suzume burst into the dojo. Much to Yahiko's relief, they kept off the shiny wooden floor.
"Oi, girls," he greeted.
Ayame clung to the doorway and pouted. "It's so boring around here! And too quiet!"
"Yeah! 'Specially since Ken-nii is away!" complained Suzume, flopping down on the tatami. Rolling over on her back, she gazed pleadingly at Yahiko. "Play a game with us!"
Yahiko took one last, satisfied look around the dojo and slung the washrag over his shoulder. "Well, I guess I can take some time off. I'm finished here anyway."
"Yahiko-nii, where's Niitan?" asked Suzume, kicking her feet back and forth as she rode Yahiko's shoulders, tangling her little fingers in
his hair for balance. Yahiko winced as her heels knocked against his collarbone, but said nothing, bringing her and her sister back to the courtyard. "He's been gone for *hours*."
"Kaoru sent him out for all kinds of errands. And he's only been gone since after lunch, Suzume-chan."
"It seems like hours to *me*," said Ayame stubbornly, clutching Yahiko's hand. "And it's awful quiet around here without *anybody*
around. Kaoru-neesan's not here. Sanosuke-niichan isn't here either. Not even Ken-nii washing clothes or preparing a bath or
cooking or..." Yahiko stifled a grin and shook his head sheepishly. /Yare yare,/ he thought. What with Kenshin being the perfect housekeeper...
"Hey, you're awful quiet too, all of a sudden," Yahiko said. The girls had fallen silent, and although Ayame still kept pace with him, her head was, uncharacteristically, bowed. "Daijoubu, girls?" Yahiko asked, concerned.
A drop of something splashed wetly into his hair, followed quickly by another, then another. Startled, Yahiko carefully lifted Suzume off his shoulders and, holding her up before him, was astonished to see tears dripping from her eyes.
"Suzume-chan! What's with you?" For lack of anything better at hand, Yahiko quickly used his sleeve to wipe at her tears , only to realize that Ayame, too, was blubbering into his hakama. "Oi, Ayame-chan! Not you too!"
"Yahiko-nii," sniffled Ayame, and her eyes shimmered with wetness as she stared mournfully up at him. "Ken-nii... What if..."
"Not again!" and throwing her chubby arms around his neck, Suzume began bawling in earnest.
Thoroughly bewildered, Yahiko pulled Ayame aside and sat down on the porch. "Maa maa," he said soothingly, patting Suzume on the back as she sobbed incoherently into his gi. "Ayame-chan, why don't you tell me what the heck you're so worried about."
Ayame sat down beside him and clung to his sleeve despondently. "I was just thinking... what if... maybe Ken-nii would go away again --like before..."
Suzume hiccupped. "I don't want Ken-nii to leave again!"
/Kuso,/ thought Yahiko, staring helplessly at the two unhappy little girls with him. /I thought they'd forgotten all about that. That was months and months ago.../
"Daijoubu, Ayame-chan, Suzume-chan," he said, smiling at the two girls. Suzume's crying ceased at last, and she stared solemnly up at him with wide, serious eyes. "Kenshin isn't going away. Believe me. You shouldn't cry anymore."
"But he left that time," Suzume pointed out, rubbing her eyes.
"And ojiisan said he'd come back soon... but he didn't come back for a long time." Ayame sighed. "And it was sooo boring without him around. Not even you or Kaoru-oneesan around to play with."
"Shikashi -- he came back, didn't he?" Yahiko smiled. Wordlessly the two girls snuggled closer, and he hugged them gently. "You know Kenshin -- he always comes back. Sometimes he takes a little longer to do it, demo... he always comes back," he repeated quietly. "This is his home."
He remembered Kenshin's eyes, calm and shining in the deepening twilight as the tired party finally reached the dojo gates. He remembered the undisguised satisfaction and peace in the quiet voice.
/"I'm home..."/
"You really think so?" Suzume's voice was tiny, muffled against his sleeve.
"Of course I do! I said so, didn't I?" But the hurt in his tones was feigned, and Yahiko quickly extricated himself from the little girls' grip. As much as he liked playing oniisan to the two girls, hugging was just not his thing... "You'll see. He'll come back soon, and invent another nice game for you three to play, and Kaoru will come back all worked up after teaching blockheads at the Maekawa dojo all day. She'll yell at him" -- Yahiko's voice grew sharp and shrill -- "'Kenshin no baka! I'm hungry after all that teaching and you haven't even made dinner yet!' And then her bokutou goes *wham*--"
Ayame-chan giggled, her eyes brightening as Yahiko stumbled around the courtyard, going spiral-eyed in his best Kenshin-hit-over-the-head-by-Kaoru imitation. Beside her, Suzume laughed in delight.
Yahiko was just getting into the swing of things when a polite knock came from the dojo gate, interrupting the game. "Wonder who that could be?" Yahiko grumbled as he went to answer. He found an all too familiar figure standing outside.
"Ohayou, Yahiko-kun," said Keisuke, bowing deeply. "I hope you are well."
/You again,/ thought Yahiko tiredly. He was getting used to Keisuke -- the young man had been showing up at the dojo without fail every day for the past week. He always took Kaoru out for a walk. Yahiko found himself resenting Keisuke's presence for some reason, but as Kaoru's student, he had to be nice to the guy.
"Ohayou, Niimi-san." Rather stiffly, Yahiko returned the polite bow. "I am, thank you. But if it's my sensei you're looking for, she's not here. She's been out all day, teaching at the Maekawa dojo on the other side of town, and she won't be back until nightfall."
With a certain sense of satisfaction Yahiko saw a shadow of disappointment fall across Keisuke's face. /Kaoru didn't tell you that, did she?/ Yahiko thought smugly, preparing to shut the gate again. But the shadow was gone as soon as it had come, and when Keisuke suddenly smiled Yahiko felt his spirits sink.
"Daijoubu," said Keisuke cheerfully. "If you don't mind, I'd like to come inside and wait for her. It's only a few hours."
Yahiko shrugged. "Yare yare, if you wish. Come in, then, Niimi-san."
"Please," said Keisuke, walking past him, "call me Keisuke."
Yahiko decided not to. "If you'll wait in the front room, I'll get some tea."
"Thank you, but don't trouble yourself. You must be tired after all that hard work."
Embarrassed, Yahiko glanced down at his hands, smudged with dirt and sweat, and shoved them out of sight behind his back with a scowl as Keisuke winked at him conspiratorially. "Kamiya-sensei used to be strict about cleaning the dojo, too."
Keisuke's grin was as sympathetic as it was roguish, and despite his best effort Yahiko found himself warming up to the young man. /I guess he isn't as bad as he looks,/ he thought grudgingly. But, as friendly and infectious as Keisuke's smile was, Yahiko refused to return it. It felt too much like betrayal, somehow. Feeling confused, Yahiko simply nodded and bowed. "If you'll excuse me." Without waiting for an answer he ran off toward the outhouse for a much-needed bath.
Minutes later, he emerged, rejuvenated after his bath, rubbing his wet hair with a towel. He found Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan in the courtyard, scampering to and fro after a brightly colored paper balloon that a laughing Keisuke kept passing to them. Dressed in a Western-style vest and suit he looked like a strangely colored spider, jumping here and there with his long legs and arms. Not wanting to intrude on the scene, Yahiko hung back uncertainly.
But Keisuke saw him, and tossed the balloon to Yahiko with a grin. "Join us?" he asked cheerfully.
"Looks like a private party," said Yahiko hesitantly, catching the ball as it drifted down into his hands. He watched Suzume glomp gleefully onto Keisuke's leg and felt his heart sink within him. Looking away, he wondered about his own reaction.
"Hey, everyone's invited. It turned out that Ayame-chan still remembers who I am. Who'd have thought?" Affection shining in his brown eyes, Keisuke winked at Ayame, who happily cried, "Yaki-san! Yaki-san!"
/*Yaki-san?*/ Yahiko let his eyes do the questioning. Keisuke shrugged and grinned.
"When I was still a student here, Ayame was a little girl. Whenever she dropped by the dojo with Genzai-sensei I'd always take her out to buy her imagawa-yaki in the market."
Yahiko remembered them. Small pastries filled with sweet red bean jam, they were commonly sold by street vendors downtown. He remembered, sometimes his mother would spare him some yen so that he could treat himself to some. He was still such a child then...
"Oro?" Yahiko blinked, shaking free of his memories. Keisuke, Ayame, and Suzume were all looking at him expectantly. "Did someone say something?"
"Yaki-san said for us to fly kites on the riverbank," said Ayame patiently. "Come with us, Yahiko-nii."
"Haaai! Come with us!" Suzume squealed, then giggled as Keisuke lifted her to his shoulders. Suddenly her smile wavered as she clutched at Keisuke's shirt for a handhold and peered nervously down -- and down, and down, for Keisuke was definitely tall. "Kowai," gulped Suzume.
"Maybe I'd better take her," grinned Yahiko, and held out his hands for Suzume. "Gomen nasai, Niimi-san, but I guess she isn't used to being at such a height. She usually doesn't like to be on Sano's shoulders much either."
Keisuke laughed. "I guess sometimes it isn't so good to be as tall as I am."
The weather was sunny but windy -- perfect for kite-flying. Keisuke took them to a secluded part of the riverbank, where no one would interrupt their fun. "This is where Kaoru and I used to fly kites all the time when we were kids," he explained as he set down their things on the soft grass. "Kaoru and I made our own kites and we dueled all the time. Usually Kaoru won."
"Or you let her win," muttered Yahiko, watching Suzume fumble with the paints and brushes Keisuke had brought.
Keisuke chuckled. "I heard that." He was busy putting the last touches on his own kite -- a simple dark blue one with a pattern of white circles that reminded Yahiko of the sea. The boy had watched in fascination as Keisuke had deftly made a box-type kite. Although it was still a relatively simple and common design, it was interesting to see the transformation.
Off to one side, the girls were decorating their own, simpler diamond-shaped kites. "Mou!" Ayame chewed on the end of her braid. "This doesn't look like Ken-nii at all!"
Yahiko, turning to look, had to agree. It took supreme effort to keep from exploding into laughter at the stick figure of circles and lines, with the limbs sprawled at unnatural angles and the eyes focused in different directions. "Well, at least you got the colors right," he managed to say politely, noting the mess of red-orange paint and the great violet ovals at the head of the figure. Suzume, concentrating on painting her own kite with a cat, looked over and giggled.
They spent a peaceful afternoon flying their kites, and the dark shapes soared in the sky, seeming to compete with the clouds that raced past. After a while even Yahiko apparently forgot about his refusal to fly a kite of his own -- "Kites are for kids!" -- and, when Suzume grew tired and fell to napping on the grass, handled her kite with such skill that Keisuke complimented him.
"Aw, it's really pretty easy," said Yahiko gruffly, trying to hide his pleasure. "Even though I've never flown a kite before, I guess it's fun, after all."
"I can't believe you've never flown kites before. I'm glad you got to do this before you got any older." Keisuke spoke gently, careful not to disturb Ayame, who was asleep, curled up by his side. "I think every boy should know how to fly a kite."
Suddenly Yahiko thought of Kenshin. A man with such a tragic past, who had never known real happiness until he had gone through real suffering and sorrow -- had he ever known a day like this, peaceful and innocent, spent with no regrets over the past and no cares for the future? When his thoughts were not of blood or duty or death -- were only for the string in his fingers and the kite that tugged at his hands, the cry of the birds, the wind in his hair?
And Yahiko thought of Kaoru, laughing and childlike, her blue eyes glinting as she challenged Keisuke to a kite duel. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, her fingers sure and steady as she manipulated the string, giving and taking in the length as she saw fit. For one moment, cradled by the wind between sky and earth, she was young, unmarred yet by the harshness of life, mindful only of the flight of her paper toy.
"You're thinking pretty deeply."
Yahiko felt his cheeks heat and he glanced angrily at Keisuke, sensing some deeper underlying joke, but the young man was not looking at him. Instead, he was taking in his kite. "It's getting a little late," he was saying mildly. "We should get back. I know we left a note but Kaoru might get worried." He looked at Yahiko and smiled. "All right?"
Yahiko shrugged and began pulling in his own kite. He heard Keisuke move around quietly behind him, picking up their scattered things and packing them together in the bag he had brought.
As they walked home together in the setting sun, Yahiko cradling the sleeping Suzume while Keisuke carried Ayame against his shoulder, Yahiko asked quietly, "Keisuke?"
"Mmm?"
"How long've you known Kaoru?"
Keisuke paused. "Since she was about eight. Otousan began my kenjutsu studies when I turned ten years old."
Yahiko watched as a flock of cranes took flight, black, graceful outlines against the red of the sun. "So I guess you really know her well, ne? You seem to go back a long way."
"We were good friends. She didn't have any older brothers, and I guess she thought of me as one. When she grew a little older..." Here Keisuke stopped, smiling to himself.
Yahiko glanced at him. "Well?" Then he caught himself. "Sumanu," he said, shaking his head, "you don't have to answer that. I'm being too personal."
But Keisuke did not seem to notice. "I had this crush on her for the longest time," he said, absently, as if recalling pleasant memories.
"Finally I got up the guts to approach her. Not as her best friend, not as the guy who took her out to fly kites and play hide-and-seek in the woods, but as... something more.
"It was Tanabata, and we went to enjoy the festival. Since I was such a good friend of Kaoru's and one of Kamiya-sensei's best
students, it was easy to get her out alone with me. We had such a good time, looking around among the shops." Keisuke gently shifted his hold to a more comfortable position as Ayame shifted against him restlessly. "Finally I led her out to this place by the river that I knew she liked. It was out near the road, not too far from the dojo, and Kaoru always loved to see the fireflies in the summer evenings."
Yahiko said nothing. He had a feeling he knew the place Keisuke was describing.
"We had a long talk that night, and I discovered... that she could return my feelings for her. I was the happiest boy alive that night. When I took her home again I could feel my heart bursting in my chest like the best Tanabata fireworks." Keisuke grinned, shook his head. "It was bliss for months after that. Inside the dojo she was the shihandai and I was the deshi, but outside--"
Keisuke's eyes shone fiercely in the dimming light, and his voice was warm with remembered happiness. Yahiko looked away, not sure how he should react.
Keisuke sighed. "But it wasn't to last. The spring after that, otousan made me leave the dojo. It was time to take up more serious studies, he said. Of course, he wanted me to become a navy man, like him. The navy was being expanded and developed by the government, and new technology was advancing everyday. Otousan thought I'd have a better life if I joined the navy. I didn't really care where I ended up, but because he wanted us to move to Yokohama so that I could study there, I fought him." Keisuke smiled wryly. "It isn't easy to argue against your father, much less actually win. I didn't. But I didn't like long goodbyes, so I simply sent a message to Kaoru right before we left. We never actually got to say farewell to each other." He chuckled, rubbing his head. "She was plenty mad about that when I got back."
"So now you took the first chance you could to come back home, huh?" Yahiko still did not look at him, but instead stared ahead, as the familiar walls that surrounded the dojo loomed into view in the gathering twilight. "Hmph." Yahiko folded his arms behind his head and raised his eyebrows. "No offense, Keisuke, but I'm sure you could've had a bunch of prettier girls other than the busu. Why are you going to make yourself suffer? She can't even cook, and she hits people over the head all the time. She sure hasn't been any too gentle to me with that last part."
Laughing, Keisuke shook his head. "Well, I guess either I'm just an idiot or I just see her in a different light, Yahiko."
As they approached the gate, Yahiko stopped and caught hold of Keisuke's arm. Puzzled, Keisuke looked down at him, and he stared unflinching back.
"Tell me one more thing," he stated. "You wanna marry her, don'tcha?"
For a moment Keisuke was silent, his face in shadow. Ayame yawned and sat up in his arms, sleepily rubbing her eye with a tiny fist, and Keisuke carefully cradled her, making sure she kept her balance on his arm.
Taking his silence for indecision, Yahiko, satisfied, prepared to move on.
"Yahiko."
The boy stopped, looked back expectantly.
Keisuke was smiling broadly. "Why do you think I came back?"
Suzume stirred awake and slipped from Yahiko's arms, and clutching Keisuke's hand, hurried past the stunned boy through the gate, eager for home. Keisuke followed suit, long legs easily loping after the little girl.
Only when Keisuke had gone past him into the dojo, and Suzume and Ayame's joyful cries met Kenshin's gentle greeting, did the boy realize that he was still standing all alone outside, in the purple shadows of summer evening gathering beneath the gate.
* tsuzuku *
Ara... it seems I might have a slight gate fixation, ne? (sweatdrop) Everything just seems to happen at the gate. Yare yare...
gi = the floppy shirt Yahiko and Kenshin wear; also worn by Kaoru when training/teaching
niitan, -nii = denoting an older brother
tatami = a type of reed/grass from which Japanese mats are made to cover floors
kuso = curse word
shikashi, demo = but, however
"Kenshin no baka" = "Kenshin, you idiot!" or "stupid Kenshin!"
imagawa-yaki = Maeko's definition: small drum-shaped hotcakes hotcakes with sweet red bean inside, then sold by vendors in busy districts (again, arigatou!)
kowai = scary
ojiisan = grandfather
Tanabata = summertime festival kinda like the Western Valentine's Day (aw, come on... like you didn't watch the episode? ^.^)
shihandai = a dojo student advanced enough to teach lower students
deshi = student, pupil
otousan = father
Kinou no Kakera (A Piece of Yesterday)
by Mirune Keishiko
Three: Boys and Girls
Yahiko straightened his back with a sigh and stood up, carefully easing cramped muscles. He had been hard at work scrubbing the dojo floor all afternoon, and he looked with disgust at the dust and grime that had collected on his gi. Nevertheless, his diligent efforts had paid off. Yahiko beamed to himself proudly as he glanced around the training hall, seeing how clearly the sunlight shimmered on the wooden flooring.
"Too bad old busu isn't around to see how nice and shiny this place is now," he muttered to himself, wiping his sweat on his sleeve.
"Yahiko-nii!" There was a patter of little feet on tatami, and Ayame and Suzume burst into the dojo. Much to Yahiko's relief, they kept off the shiny wooden floor.
"Oi, girls," he greeted.
Ayame clung to the doorway and pouted. "It's so boring around here! And too quiet!"
"Yeah! 'Specially since Ken-nii is away!" complained Suzume, flopping down on the tatami. Rolling over on her back, she gazed pleadingly at Yahiko. "Play a game with us!"
Yahiko took one last, satisfied look around the dojo and slung the washrag over his shoulder. "Well, I guess I can take some time off. I'm finished here anyway."
"Yahiko-nii, where's Niitan?" asked Suzume, kicking her feet back and forth as she rode Yahiko's shoulders, tangling her little fingers in
his hair for balance. Yahiko winced as her heels knocked against his collarbone, but said nothing, bringing her and her sister back to the courtyard. "He's been gone for *hours*."
"Kaoru sent him out for all kinds of errands. And he's only been gone since after lunch, Suzume-chan."
"It seems like hours to *me*," said Ayame stubbornly, clutching Yahiko's hand. "And it's awful quiet around here without *anybody*
around. Kaoru-neesan's not here. Sanosuke-niichan isn't here either. Not even Ken-nii washing clothes or preparing a bath or
cooking or..." Yahiko stifled a grin and shook his head sheepishly. /Yare yare,/ he thought. What with Kenshin being the perfect housekeeper...
"Hey, you're awful quiet too, all of a sudden," Yahiko said. The girls had fallen silent, and although Ayame still kept pace with him, her head was, uncharacteristically, bowed. "Daijoubu, girls?" Yahiko asked, concerned.
A drop of something splashed wetly into his hair, followed quickly by another, then another. Startled, Yahiko carefully lifted Suzume off his shoulders and, holding her up before him, was astonished to see tears dripping from her eyes.
"Suzume-chan! What's with you?" For lack of anything better at hand, Yahiko quickly used his sleeve to wipe at her tears , only to realize that Ayame, too, was blubbering into his hakama. "Oi, Ayame-chan! Not you too!"
"Yahiko-nii," sniffled Ayame, and her eyes shimmered with wetness as she stared mournfully up at him. "Ken-nii... What if..."
"Not again!" and throwing her chubby arms around his neck, Suzume began bawling in earnest.
Thoroughly bewildered, Yahiko pulled Ayame aside and sat down on the porch. "Maa maa," he said soothingly, patting Suzume on the back as she sobbed incoherently into his gi. "Ayame-chan, why don't you tell me what the heck you're so worried about."
Ayame sat down beside him and clung to his sleeve despondently. "I was just thinking... what if... maybe Ken-nii would go away again --like before..."
Suzume hiccupped. "I don't want Ken-nii to leave again!"
/Kuso,/ thought Yahiko, staring helplessly at the two unhappy little girls with him. /I thought they'd forgotten all about that. That was months and months ago.../
"Daijoubu, Ayame-chan, Suzume-chan," he said, smiling at the two girls. Suzume's crying ceased at last, and she stared solemnly up at him with wide, serious eyes. "Kenshin isn't going away. Believe me. You shouldn't cry anymore."
"But he left that time," Suzume pointed out, rubbing her eyes.
"And ojiisan said he'd come back soon... but he didn't come back for a long time." Ayame sighed. "And it was sooo boring without him around. Not even you or Kaoru-oneesan around to play with."
"Shikashi -- he came back, didn't he?" Yahiko smiled. Wordlessly the two girls snuggled closer, and he hugged them gently. "You know Kenshin -- he always comes back. Sometimes he takes a little longer to do it, demo... he always comes back," he repeated quietly. "This is his home."
He remembered Kenshin's eyes, calm and shining in the deepening twilight as the tired party finally reached the dojo gates. He remembered the undisguised satisfaction and peace in the quiet voice.
/"I'm home..."/
"You really think so?" Suzume's voice was tiny, muffled against his sleeve.
"Of course I do! I said so, didn't I?" But the hurt in his tones was feigned, and Yahiko quickly extricated himself from the little girls' grip. As much as he liked playing oniisan to the two girls, hugging was just not his thing... "You'll see. He'll come back soon, and invent another nice game for you three to play, and Kaoru will come back all worked up after teaching blockheads at the Maekawa dojo all day. She'll yell at him" -- Yahiko's voice grew sharp and shrill -- "'Kenshin no baka! I'm hungry after all that teaching and you haven't even made dinner yet!' And then her bokutou goes *wham*--"
Ayame-chan giggled, her eyes brightening as Yahiko stumbled around the courtyard, going spiral-eyed in his best Kenshin-hit-over-the-head-by-Kaoru imitation. Beside her, Suzume laughed in delight.
Yahiko was just getting into the swing of things when a polite knock came from the dojo gate, interrupting the game. "Wonder who that could be?" Yahiko grumbled as he went to answer. He found an all too familiar figure standing outside.
"Ohayou, Yahiko-kun," said Keisuke, bowing deeply. "I hope you are well."
/You again,/ thought Yahiko tiredly. He was getting used to Keisuke -- the young man had been showing up at the dojo without fail every day for the past week. He always took Kaoru out for a walk. Yahiko found himself resenting Keisuke's presence for some reason, but as Kaoru's student, he had to be nice to the guy.
"Ohayou, Niimi-san." Rather stiffly, Yahiko returned the polite bow. "I am, thank you. But if it's my sensei you're looking for, she's not here. She's been out all day, teaching at the Maekawa dojo on the other side of town, and she won't be back until nightfall."
With a certain sense of satisfaction Yahiko saw a shadow of disappointment fall across Keisuke's face. /Kaoru didn't tell you that, did she?/ Yahiko thought smugly, preparing to shut the gate again. But the shadow was gone as soon as it had come, and when Keisuke suddenly smiled Yahiko felt his spirits sink.
"Daijoubu," said Keisuke cheerfully. "If you don't mind, I'd like to come inside and wait for her. It's only a few hours."
Yahiko shrugged. "Yare yare, if you wish. Come in, then, Niimi-san."
"Please," said Keisuke, walking past him, "call me Keisuke."
Yahiko decided not to. "If you'll wait in the front room, I'll get some tea."
"Thank you, but don't trouble yourself. You must be tired after all that hard work."
Embarrassed, Yahiko glanced down at his hands, smudged with dirt and sweat, and shoved them out of sight behind his back with a scowl as Keisuke winked at him conspiratorially. "Kamiya-sensei used to be strict about cleaning the dojo, too."
Keisuke's grin was as sympathetic as it was roguish, and despite his best effort Yahiko found himself warming up to the young man. /I guess he isn't as bad as he looks,/ he thought grudgingly. But, as friendly and infectious as Keisuke's smile was, Yahiko refused to return it. It felt too much like betrayal, somehow. Feeling confused, Yahiko simply nodded and bowed. "If you'll excuse me." Without waiting for an answer he ran off toward the outhouse for a much-needed bath.
Minutes later, he emerged, rejuvenated after his bath, rubbing his wet hair with a towel. He found Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan in the courtyard, scampering to and fro after a brightly colored paper balloon that a laughing Keisuke kept passing to them. Dressed in a Western-style vest and suit he looked like a strangely colored spider, jumping here and there with his long legs and arms. Not wanting to intrude on the scene, Yahiko hung back uncertainly.
But Keisuke saw him, and tossed the balloon to Yahiko with a grin. "Join us?" he asked cheerfully.
"Looks like a private party," said Yahiko hesitantly, catching the ball as it drifted down into his hands. He watched Suzume glomp gleefully onto Keisuke's leg and felt his heart sink within him. Looking away, he wondered about his own reaction.
"Hey, everyone's invited. It turned out that Ayame-chan still remembers who I am. Who'd have thought?" Affection shining in his brown eyes, Keisuke winked at Ayame, who happily cried, "Yaki-san! Yaki-san!"
/*Yaki-san?*/ Yahiko let his eyes do the questioning. Keisuke shrugged and grinned.
"When I was still a student here, Ayame was a little girl. Whenever she dropped by the dojo with Genzai-sensei I'd always take her out to buy her imagawa-yaki in the market."
Yahiko remembered them. Small pastries filled with sweet red bean jam, they were commonly sold by street vendors downtown. He remembered, sometimes his mother would spare him some yen so that he could treat himself to some. He was still such a child then...
"Oro?" Yahiko blinked, shaking free of his memories. Keisuke, Ayame, and Suzume were all looking at him expectantly. "Did someone say something?"
"Yaki-san said for us to fly kites on the riverbank," said Ayame patiently. "Come with us, Yahiko-nii."
"Haaai! Come with us!" Suzume squealed, then giggled as Keisuke lifted her to his shoulders. Suddenly her smile wavered as she clutched at Keisuke's shirt for a handhold and peered nervously down -- and down, and down, for Keisuke was definitely tall. "Kowai," gulped Suzume.
"Maybe I'd better take her," grinned Yahiko, and held out his hands for Suzume. "Gomen nasai, Niimi-san, but I guess she isn't used to being at such a height. She usually doesn't like to be on Sano's shoulders much either."
Keisuke laughed. "I guess sometimes it isn't so good to be as tall as I am."
The weather was sunny but windy -- perfect for kite-flying. Keisuke took them to a secluded part of the riverbank, where no one would interrupt their fun. "This is where Kaoru and I used to fly kites all the time when we were kids," he explained as he set down their things on the soft grass. "Kaoru and I made our own kites and we dueled all the time. Usually Kaoru won."
"Or you let her win," muttered Yahiko, watching Suzume fumble with the paints and brushes Keisuke had brought.
Keisuke chuckled. "I heard that." He was busy putting the last touches on his own kite -- a simple dark blue one with a pattern of white circles that reminded Yahiko of the sea. The boy had watched in fascination as Keisuke had deftly made a box-type kite. Although it was still a relatively simple and common design, it was interesting to see the transformation.
Off to one side, the girls were decorating their own, simpler diamond-shaped kites. "Mou!" Ayame chewed on the end of her braid. "This doesn't look like Ken-nii at all!"
Yahiko, turning to look, had to agree. It took supreme effort to keep from exploding into laughter at the stick figure of circles and lines, with the limbs sprawled at unnatural angles and the eyes focused in different directions. "Well, at least you got the colors right," he managed to say politely, noting the mess of red-orange paint and the great violet ovals at the head of the figure. Suzume, concentrating on painting her own kite with a cat, looked over and giggled.
They spent a peaceful afternoon flying their kites, and the dark shapes soared in the sky, seeming to compete with the clouds that raced past. After a while even Yahiko apparently forgot about his refusal to fly a kite of his own -- "Kites are for kids!" -- and, when Suzume grew tired and fell to napping on the grass, handled her kite with such skill that Keisuke complimented him.
"Aw, it's really pretty easy," said Yahiko gruffly, trying to hide his pleasure. "Even though I've never flown a kite before, I guess it's fun, after all."
"I can't believe you've never flown kites before. I'm glad you got to do this before you got any older." Keisuke spoke gently, careful not to disturb Ayame, who was asleep, curled up by his side. "I think every boy should know how to fly a kite."
Suddenly Yahiko thought of Kenshin. A man with such a tragic past, who had never known real happiness until he had gone through real suffering and sorrow -- had he ever known a day like this, peaceful and innocent, spent with no regrets over the past and no cares for the future? When his thoughts were not of blood or duty or death -- were only for the string in his fingers and the kite that tugged at his hands, the cry of the birds, the wind in his hair?
And Yahiko thought of Kaoru, laughing and childlike, her blue eyes glinting as she challenged Keisuke to a kite duel. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, her fingers sure and steady as she manipulated the string, giving and taking in the length as she saw fit. For one moment, cradled by the wind between sky and earth, she was young, unmarred yet by the harshness of life, mindful only of the flight of her paper toy.
"You're thinking pretty deeply."
Yahiko felt his cheeks heat and he glanced angrily at Keisuke, sensing some deeper underlying joke, but the young man was not looking at him. Instead, he was taking in his kite. "It's getting a little late," he was saying mildly. "We should get back. I know we left a note but Kaoru might get worried." He looked at Yahiko and smiled. "All right?"
Yahiko shrugged and began pulling in his own kite. He heard Keisuke move around quietly behind him, picking up their scattered things and packing them together in the bag he had brought.
As they walked home together in the setting sun, Yahiko cradling the sleeping Suzume while Keisuke carried Ayame against his shoulder, Yahiko asked quietly, "Keisuke?"
"Mmm?"
"How long've you known Kaoru?"
Keisuke paused. "Since she was about eight. Otousan began my kenjutsu studies when I turned ten years old."
Yahiko watched as a flock of cranes took flight, black, graceful outlines against the red of the sun. "So I guess you really know her well, ne? You seem to go back a long way."
"We were good friends. She didn't have any older brothers, and I guess she thought of me as one. When she grew a little older..." Here Keisuke stopped, smiling to himself.
Yahiko glanced at him. "Well?" Then he caught himself. "Sumanu," he said, shaking his head, "you don't have to answer that. I'm being too personal."
But Keisuke did not seem to notice. "I had this crush on her for the longest time," he said, absently, as if recalling pleasant memories.
"Finally I got up the guts to approach her. Not as her best friend, not as the guy who took her out to fly kites and play hide-and-seek in the woods, but as... something more.
"It was Tanabata, and we went to enjoy the festival. Since I was such a good friend of Kaoru's and one of Kamiya-sensei's best
students, it was easy to get her out alone with me. We had such a good time, looking around among the shops." Keisuke gently shifted his hold to a more comfortable position as Ayame shifted against him restlessly. "Finally I led her out to this place by the river that I knew she liked. It was out near the road, not too far from the dojo, and Kaoru always loved to see the fireflies in the summer evenings."
Yahiko said nothing. He had a feeling he knew the place Keisuke was describing.
"We had a long talk that night, and I discovered... that she could return my feelings for her. I was the happiest boy alive that night. When I took her home again I could feel my heart bursting in my chest like the best Tanabata fireworks." Keisuke grinned, shook his head. "It was bliss for months after that. Inside the dojo she was the shihandai and I was the deshi, but outside--"
Keisuke's eyes shone fiercely in the dimming light, and his voice was warm with remembered happiness. Yahiko looked away, not sure how he should react.
Keisuke sighed. "But it wasn't to last. The spring after that, otousan made me leave the dojo. It was time to take up more serious studies, he said. Of course, he wanted me to become a navy man, like him. The navy was being expanded and developed by the government, and new technology was advancing everyday. Otousan thought I'd have a better life if I joined the navy. I didn't really care where I ended up, but because he wanted us to move to Yokohama so that I could study there, I fought him." Keisuke smiled wryly. "It isn't easy to argue against your father, much less actually win. I didn't. But I didn't like long goodbyes, so I simply sent a message to Kaoru right before we left. We never actually got to say farewell to each other." He chuckled, rubbing his head. "She was plenty mad about that when I got back."
"So now you took the first chance you could to come back home, huh?" Yahiko still did not look at him, but instead stared ahead, as the familiar walls that surrounded the dojo loomed into view in the gathering twilight. "Hmph." Yahiko folded his arms behind his head and raised his eyebrows. "No offense, Keisuke, but I'm sure you could've had a bunch of prettier girls other than the busu. Why are you going to make yourself suffer? She can't even cook, and she hits people over the head all the time. She sure hasn't been any too gentle to me with that last part."
Laughing, Keisuke shook his head. "Well, I guess either I'm just an idiot or I just see her in a different light, Yahiko."
As they approached the gate, Yahiko stopped and caught hold of Keisuke's arm. Puzzled, Keisuke looked down at him, and he stared unflinching back.
"Tell me one more thing," he stated. "You wanna marry her, don'tcha?"
For a moment Keisuke was silent, his face in shadow. Ayame yawned and sat up in his arms, sleepily rubbing her eye with a tiny fist, and Keisuke carefully cradled her, making sure she kept her balance on his arm.
Taking his silence for indecision, Yahiko, satisfied, prepared to move on.
"Yahiko."
The boy stopped, looked back expectantly.
Keisuke was smiling broadly. "Why do you think I came back?"
Suzume stirred awake and slipped from Yahiko's arms, and clutching Keisuke's hand, hurried past the stunned boy through the gate, eager for home. Keisuke followed suit, long legs easily loping after the little girl.
Only when Keisuke had gone past him into the dojo, and Suzume and Ayame's joyful cries met Kenshin's gentle greeting, did the boy realize that he was still standing all alone outside, in the purple shadows of summer evening gathering beneath the gate.
* tsuzuku *
Ara... it seems I might have a slight gate fixation, ne? (sweatdrop) Everything just seems to happen at the gate. Yare yare...