Standard disclaimers apply!!
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"His name is Kenshin Himura," Enishi said. "And you nearly killed him." He waited with a smirk on his face for the shock that was bound to come. The raven haired girl with the sapphire blue eyes wouldn't take to kindly to the knowledge that she had nearly killed the red haired rouroni.
Karou started laughing. "Oh yeah, like I'm going to believe that!" she exclaimed. "And I hardly think that I nearly killed him, whoever he is. It takes a lot longer to die of starvation then a half an hour. It's not like I was gone for that long. And another thing, if he was in danger of dying, then that meant that you hadn't been taking care of him, and - "
Enishi's face acquired a sour expression as she was talking. What she was saying was true, but he wanted to make someone suffer so he had told a couple little white lies. But then the part about Kenshin being a baby was true.
He glanced at the fuzzy haired baby who was gurgling contentedly in his arms. "This is Himura the Battousai. . . . ." he said after a moment. "I saw him get turned into a child with my own eyes."
"Really?" Karou asked skeptically. "Kenshin's in Hokkaido delivering some medicine for a doctor friend of Dr. Gensai's. He won't be back for a couple - "
"Dammit! This is Kenshin Himura! I - I well. . . . " he fell silent, seething with frustration.
"If it's Kenshin, then prove it," Karou said with a raised eyebrow. There was no way that he would be able to prove something like that, so she was just humoring him. She was trying to get him to realize that she wasn't buying into his story.
In response, the white haired man ignored her and became very interested in bouncing the fuzzy, red haired baby on his knee.
Karou sighed. "There, see - you can't prove it. I don't know what kind of game that you're playing at, but it's awfully low for you to come here and try and pass that off as Kenshin. I'd believe you more if you had told me it was Kenshin's son," she added.
"Even if that would break your wee little heart?" Enishi demanded. "If I told you that this was Kenshin's son, then what?" He stood up abruptly, shocking the baby into tears and ear splitting wails. "Would you take care of him until Kenshin arrived? Would you look after him knowing that Kenshin had slept with another woman?!"
"Who is that child?" Karou demanded. She moved closer, and craned her head up to look at him.
Enishi stepped closer to her, so that the baby was pressed between them. "Tell me this," he spat venomously. His temper, his rage, non of it had been quelled. If anything, Karou's disbelief at his claim was fueling it into the unthinking rage that he had when he fought against Himura a little over a year ago.
That really surprised him. That he could get that upset about a simple conversation that was barely lasting fifteen minutes. Before, his rage had been building for years to reach that point. The fact that he was nearly as upset now. . . . . .it was unthinkable.
"Tell me this," he repeated in a forced calm voice. He took several steps away from her and turned his back, shifting his gaze to the helpless on of his brother-in-law. "What do you see when you look at this child? Are you so blind as to not notice that it is the Hittokiri Battousai?"
Karou froze. Something in his tone of voice. Something in the way he had spat the first words alerted her to the rage boiling beneath his surface. "Sorr-" she began to say, but checked herself. She couldn't be sorry for saying what she felt was true. She couldn't be sorry for turning his sharpened words away from her.
"Let me see the child," she said. She would look at it carefully and try and keep an open mind about it's identity, no matter how strange it might be.
"No," Enishi said sharply. "I'm taking him with me." He was cradling the baby to his chest lovingly, and rocking him gently to put him to sleep.
His words finally produced the sharp gasp that he had been waiting for earlier. "Why would you do something like that?" she whispered. "You don't strike me as the type who would want a family of any sort. . . . . . . . and if you truly believe that the baby is Kenshin, then . . . . . . why?"
"That's what I keep asking myself," Enishi muttered. "I. . . . . well, I just couldn't kill him or let him die. . . . no honor, or something like that. . . .But I thought I could bring him here and just leave him with you."
Karou walked around him, trying to pry his thoughts from his face. His eyes were tightly closed and he was holding the baby in a fierce embrace. "Don't look at me. . . .look at Kenshin," Enishi said softly.
"It it's Kenshin - " Karou whispered. Somehow, even with no proof or explanation his belief was starting to rub off on her. She was starting to believe that it was indeed Kenshin Himura.
"Oh, it is Kenshin. Why can't you believe me?" Enishi demanded. He opened his eyes, gazing at her intently.
Karou took a deep breath and let it out. "Because Kenshin is twenty-nine years old, not a little under a year."
"Is that your only reason?" Enishi asked.
"Well. . . . yeah. Isn't it a good one?" she asked in return. It seemed logical that the baby couldn't be Kenshin. It had to be true, didn't it?"
"In that case, let me explain what happened," Enishi said. 'As if saying it will make it more believable. . . .' he thought. The telling of the story would give him something better to do then sulk.
Karou nodded. "Let's go into the sitting room though. It's not very comfortable in here." She took his arm and led him out of the kitchen, noting that her soup, which she had put by the window, was getting wet in the rainstorm that had sprang up.
Enishi sat down, still cradling Kenshin to his chest. Karou sat down across from him. Both of them spent several moments staring in silence at each other before Kenshin started to giggle.
"It all started in Hokkaido," Enishi began abruptly. "I was still running from the police, trying to sort my life out after what you did to me - "
"What I did?!" Karou interrupted almost immediately. "You're the one who kidnapped me!"
Enishi waved off her comments, getting his hand snagged by Kenshin. "I meant all of you. Making me. . . . . . just the fight in general and everything that was said. I never really could decided what. . . . . and I still haven't. . . . . what to make of that information."
"Anyways, I happened to spot Himura, so I followed him. In hindsight, I should have just let him go! I didn't have a weapon or even a plan for attack. I was just following him to see how happy he was . . . . . " Enishi paused, in reflection. "And I wasn't even that upset when I realized that he was happy!"
"After a couple of hours I realized that he had spotted me. . . I'm kind of noticeable in that sense. . . ." Enishi paused again. "Dammit, I'm not good at telling stories!"
"You're doing fine," Karou said.
"No. . . Look, the long and short of the situation is this. As I was leaving, some Shinto priest popped up out of nowhere, (at least I think he was a Shinto priest. . )" Enishi glanced down at Kenshin. "He shouted, "Hittokiri Battousai! This it the last time you will take an innocent's life!" Hearing his name being called, I turned back to see an old man wearing robes."
"He had a long staff in his hands and Kenshin had that stupid look on his face that he gets when he's trying to make people believe he's innocent. But anyway, the priest wasn't buying it. "I know that my old bones are no match for your speed, but there is no way that you will escape!" the priest yelled. Then his staff glowed bright white light. When the light cleared, Kenshin looked only to be about five."
Enishi took another deep breath. "He looked over at me, and then suddenly he was a baby. The priest cackled evily. I hurried over and picked him up. I didn't really know what I was going to do. The priest looked furious, and I ran."
"You ran away from a fight?" Karou asked.
"Without my sword and against someone who could turn people into children at will.. . . . .hell yeah! What good would it do me to be a child?" he scoffed.
Then rapidly he changed gears. "Anyway, I guess I panicked, but it took a couple of weeks before I got here and when I did. . . . . ." His voice trailed off and he looked at her pleadingly. "I. . . . I can't help it, but I don't want to leave him here. I thought that if I left quickly I'd be able to forget about how he looks, but it isn't working. I can't do it."
"How he looks?" Karou repeated.
"I swear," Enishi said thickly. "It's just how I used to look at my sister, and now he's looking at me like that and I don't know what to do!" He raised his hand to his face and using the sleeve of his practice gi, he wiped some tears from his face.
Karou didn't say anything for several moments. "I think that you're still weary from your travels. You didn't rest at all, did you?"
Enishi shook his head. "No, I wanted to get here and be gone before it was too late," he murmured.
Karou nodded. "Come on," she said, standing up and heading over towards him. "You need to get some sleep. I'll take care of Kenshin in the meantime."
"Then you believer me?" he asked. He stood as she tugged on his arm to make him stand.
"Of course. I have to trust you on this one, although I do have one question if you don't mind." She paused and waited for him to nod his head. "Does he remember anything?"
Enishi shook his head. "I don't know. Like I said, I ran before any questions could be asked at all."
"Right," Karou said, nodding her head slightly. "I guess only time will tell." She opened the door to her bedroom and ushered Enishi inside.
He fell into the futon, his eyes closing in sleep before his head even hit the pillow. Karou pulled the blankets up around him and slipped out the door.
It was time to pay Megumi another visit. It was possible that the woman doctor would be able to help get Kenshin back to his proper age.
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A/notes
So there you have it! Kenshin trusts Enishi, so he feels compelled to protect him. A Shinto priest turned Kenshin into a baby to make it easier to defeat him, and I sure hope that it's plausible enough for everyone.
Thank-you for the pointers on Enishi's last name. Yukishiro, correct? I didn't get a chance to use it in this chapter, but it will be in the next one for sure.
Oh yeah, and please read and review!
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan
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"His name is Kenshin Himura," Enishi said. "And you nearly killed him." He waited with a smirk on his face for the shock that was bound to come. The raven haired girl with the sapphire blue eyes wouldn't take to kindly to the knowledge that she had nearly killed the red haired rouroni.
Karou started laughing. "Oh yeah, like I'm going to believe that!" she exclaimed. "And I hardly think that I nearly killed him, whoever he is. It takes a lot longer to die of starvation then a half an hour. It's not like I was gone for that long. And another thing, if he was in danger of dying, then that meant that you hadn't been taking care of him, and - "
Enishi's face acquired a sour expression as she was talking. What she was saying was true, but he wanted to make someone suffer so he had told a couple little white lies. But then the part about Kenshin being a baby was true.
He glanced at the fuzzy haired baby who was gurgling contentedly in his arms. "This is Himura the Battousai. . . . ." he said after a moment. "I saw him get turned into a child with my own eyes."
"Really?" Karou asked skeptically. "Kenshin's in Hokkaido delivering some medicine for a doctor friend of Dr. Gensai's. He won't be back for a couple - "
"Dammit! This is Kenshin Himura! I - I well. . . . " he fell silent, seething with frustration.
"If it's Kenshin, then prove it," Karou said with a raised eyebrow. There was no way that he would be able to prove something like that, so she was just humoring him. She was trying to get him to realize that she wasn't buying into his story.
In response, the white haired man ignored her and became very interested in bouncing the fuzzy, red haired baby on his knee.
Karou sighed. "There, see - you can't prove it. I don't know what kind of game that you're playing at, but it's awfully low for you to come here and try and pass that off as Kenshin. I'd believe you more if you had told me it was Kenshin's son," she added.
"Even if that would break your wee little heart?" Enishi demanded. "If I told you that this was Kenshin's son, then what?" He stood up abruptly, shocking the baby into tears and ear splitting wails. "Would you take care of him until Kenshin arrived? Would you look after him knowing that Kenshin had slept with another woman?!"
"Who is that child?" Karou demanded. She moved closer, and craned her head up to look at him.
Enishi stepped closer to her, so that the baby was pressed between them. "Tell me this," he spat venomously. His temper, his rage, non of it had been quelled. If anything, Karou's disbelief at his claim was fueling it into the unthinking rage that he had when he fought against Himura a little over a year ago.
That really surprised him. That he could get that upset about a simple conversation that was barely lasting fifteen minutes. Before, his rage had been building for years to reach that point. The fact that he was nearly as upset now. . . . . .it was unthinkable.
"Tell me this," he repeated in a forced calm voice. He took several steps away from her and turned his back, shifting his gaze to the helpless on of his brother-in-law. "What do you see when you look at this child? Are you so blind as to not notice that it is the Hittokiri Battousai?"
Karou froze. Something in his tone of voice. Something in the way he had spat the first words alerted her to the rage boiling beneath his surface. "Sorr-" she began to say, but checked herself. She couldn't be sorry for saying what she felt was true. She couldn't be sorry for turning his sharpened words away from her.
"Let me see the child," she said. She would look at it carefully and try and keep an open mind about it's identity, no matter how strange it might be.
"No," Enishi said sharply. "I'm taking him with me." He was cradling the baby to his chest lovingly, and rocking him gently to put him to sleep.
His words finally produced the sharp gasp that he had been waiting for earlier. "Why would you do something like that?" she whispered. "You don't strike me as the type who would want a family of any sort. . . . . . . . and if you truly believe that the baby is Kenshin, then . . . . . . why?"
"That's what I keep asking myself," Enishi muttered. "I. . . . . well, I just couldn't kill him or let him die. . . . no honor, or something like that. . . .But I thought I could bring him here and just leave him with you."
Karou walked around him, trying to pry his thoughts from his face. His eyes were tightly closed and he was holding the baby in a fierce embrace. "Don't look at me. . . .look at Kenshin," Enishi said softly.
"It it's Kenshin - " Karou whispered. Somehow, even with no proof or explanation his belief was starting to rub off on her. She was starting to believe that it was indeed Kenshin Himura.
"Oh, it is Kenshin. Why can't you believe me?" Enishi demanded. He opened his eyes, gazing at her intently.
Karou took a deep breath and let it out. "Because Kenshin is twenty-nine years old, not a little under a year."
"Is that your only reason?" Enishi asked.
"Well. . . . yeah. Isn't it a good one?" she asked in return. It seemed logical that the baby couldn't be Kenshin. It had to be true, didn't it?"
"In that case, let me explain what happened," Enishi said. 'As if saying it will make it more believable. . . .' he thought. The telling of the story would give him something better to do then sulk.
Karou nodded. "Let's go into the sitting room though. It's not very comfortable in here." She took his arm and led him out of the kitchen, noting that her soup, which she had put by the window, was getting wet in the rainstorm that had sprang up.
Enishi sat down, still cradling Kenshin to his chest. Karou sat down across from him. Both of them spent several moments staring in silence at each other before Kenshin started to giggle.
"It all started in Hokkaido," Enishi began abruptly. "I was still running from the police, trying to sort my life out after what you did to me - "
"What I did?!" Karou interrupted almost immediately. "You're the one who kidnapped me!"
Enishi waved off her comments, getting his hand snagged by Kenshin. "I meant all of you. Making me. . . . . . just the fight in general and everything that was said. I never really could decided what. . . . . and I still haven't. . . . . what to make of that information."
"Anyways, I happened to spot Himura, so I followed him. In hindsight, I should have just let him go! I didn't have a weapon or even a plan for attack. I was just following him to see how happy he was . . . . . " Enishi paused, in reflection. "And I wasn't even that upset when I realized that he was happy!"
"After a couple of hours I realized that he had spotted me. . . I'm kind of noticeable in that sense. . . ." Enishi paused again. "Dammit, I'm not good at telling stories!"
"You're doing fine," Karou said.
"No. . . Look, the long and short of the situation is this. As I was leaving, some Shinto priest popped up out of nowhere, (at least I think he was a Shinto priest. . )" Enishi glanced down at Kenshin. "He shouted, "Hittokiri Battousai! This it the last time you will take an innocent's life!" Hearing his name being called, I turned back to see an old man wearing robes."
"He had a long staff in his hands and Kenshin had that stupid look on his face that he gets when he's trying to make people believe he's innocent. But anyway, the priest wasn't buying it. "I know that my old bones are no match for your speed, but there is no way that you will escape!" the priest yelled. Then his staff glowed bright white light. When the light cleared, Kenshin looked only to be about five."
Enishi took another deep breath. "He looked over at me, and then suddenly he was a baby. The priest cackled evily. I hurried over and picked him up. I didn't really know what I was going to do. The priest looked furious, and I ran."
"You ran away from a fight?" Karou asked.
"Without my sword and against someone who could turn people into children at will.. . . . .hell yeah! What good would it do me to be a child?" he scoffed.
Then rapidly he changed gears. "Anyway, I guess I panicked, but it took a couple of weeks before I got here and when I did. . . . . ." His voice trailed off and he looked at her pleadingly. "I. . . . I can't help it, but I don't want to leave him here. I thought that if I left quickly I'd be able to forget about how he looks, but it isn't working. I can't do it."
"How he looks?" Karou repeated.
"I swear," Enishi said thickly. "It's just how I used to look at my sister, and now he's looking at me like that and I don't know what to do!" He raised his hand to his face and using the sleeve of his practice gi, he wiped some tears from his face.
Karou didn't say anything for several moments. "I think that you're still weary from your travels. You didn't rest at all, did you?"
Enishi shook his head. "No, I wanted to get here and be gone before it was too late," he murmured.
Karou nodded. "Come on," she said, standing up and heading over towards him. "You need to get some sleep. I'll take care of Kenshin in the meantime."
"Then you believer me?" he asked. He stood as she tugged on his arm to make him stand.
"Of course. I have to trust you on this one, although I do have one question if you don't mind." She paused and waited for him to nod his head. "Does he remember anything?"
Enishi shook his head. "I don't know. Like I said, I ran before any questions could be asked at all."
"Right," Karou said, nodding her head slightly. "I guess only time will tell." She opened the door to her bedroom and ushered Enishi inside.
He fell into the futon, his eyes closing in sleep before his head even hit the pillow. Karou pulled the blankets up around him and slipped out the door.
It was time to pay Megumi another visit. It was possible that the woman doctor would be able to help get Kenshin back to his proper age.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
A/notes
So there you have it! Kenshin trusts Enishi, so he feels compelled to protect him. A Shinto priest turned Kenshin into a baby to make it easier to defeat him, and I sure hope that it's plausible enough for everyone.
Thank-you for the pointers on Enishi's last name. Yukishiro, correct? I didn't get a chance to use it in this chapter, but it will be in the next one for sure.
Oh yeah, and please read and review!
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan
