Note: at the end of this ch, I'm gonna type up about a paragraph of my original fic . . .

emaNneP2: ~nods~ I wish my chapters were longer also . . . dun have the patience / time for it tho ^^; gomen

Aiko-chan: don't worry I dun know a lot've Japanese words also ^^ baka deshi = stupid pupil/student

moonlight2: o_O hehe . . . lots of ideas for me ^^ an nuthin wrong w/being paranoid :P

Hitokiri-san: really? Seems choppy to me . . . I may rewrite the Kenshin Soujiro first meeting . . . maybe ^^; thanks!

Lord Cirenmas: thanks for the review! Can't believe I got so many for 1 chapter . . . If I didn't reply to ur review . . . I did read it I just forgot to reply _ gomen!

Chapter 12- "Conversations"

On his hands and knees, Soujiro carefully wiped up the spilt water with a cloth. Hiko alternated from glaring at his still smiling baka deshi and at the three un-invited visitors who took up his doorway. There was a peaceful silence until Kenshin disappeared in the darkness, the wooden bucket in tow.

"Why did you just stand there?!!" Yahiko bellowed, turning chibi.

"Exactly! If you couldn't speak you should have started a fight!" Misao shouted, also going chibi and pointing at Kaoru who sweatdropped and then turned serious and looked at the floor.

"I suppose so . . ." she murmured, her eyes sad. Soujiro blinked and looked at the discussion out of the corner of his eye. Misao and Yahiko slapped their foreheads simultaneously.

"Just when it counts, this again." Yahiko sighed.

"So . . ." The three un-inviteds (A/N: I made I word! ^^;) turned to face Hiko, who glared at them.

'Hiko Seijuurou.' Yahiko thought. 'The current master of Hiten Mitsurugi.'

'The master who taught Kenshin all he knows.' Kaoru said to herself.

'But first, above all else~' Misao thought lastly.

"Let me ask you something." Misao and Yahiko chorused. "How old are you?" Soujiro quickly finished cleaning up the mess and walked across the room, sitting down on the floor beside Hiko.

"Forty-three." Hiko replied calmly. "Is there something wrong with that?" Soujiro sweatdropped as the two 'kids' started shouting at eachother.

"These are really interesting guests Hiko-sensei." Soujiro whispered, smiling first at his teacher then at the un-welcomed 'guests'. Hiko just snorted.

"How can Kenshin and this guy be so good?" Yahiko shouted, going swirly eyed and pointing a finger at Misao.

"Wait a minute, you mean Himura just looks young?" Misao screamed back, also going @_@ and pointing her finger at Yahiko.

"Yeah, he's twenty-eight."

"Twenty-eight?!"

"I got it! Hiten Mitsurugi must have a secret technique for the elderly!" Yahiko yelled, grinning.

"All right!" Misao yelled back at him. "I'm gonna learn it too when I'm old!" Misao blinked and then turned and pointed at Soujiro, who smiled back at her. "Wait . . . then how old is this guy??"

"This guy?" Soujiro asked, looking up at Hiko.

"Baka, that's you." Hiko growled down at his smiling student. He bopped Soujiro on the head. "That's why I call you baka deshi, baka deshi!"

"How old am I?" Soujiro said, repeating the question. "Um, I'm eighteen this year."

"Eighteen??" Misao shouted, pointing a quivering hand at Soujiro. "B~But . . . you look as old as Himura!!" Soujiro sweatdropped and shrugged as Misao turned and grinned at Yahiko. "That means your wrong!"

"Shuddup! Maybe he's just a novice!" Yahiko shouted back at her, waving his fist first at her then to Soujiro. "Yeah! I bet he just started learning!"

"You're right! And it'll take him years and years to master it!" Misao shouted, turning on Soujiro also. "You just started right??"

"Eh? Um . . ." Soujiro turned to look at Hiko with a question mark popping up on his head. "Am I a novice?" And he received another bop on the top of his head.

"Baka deshi!!" Hiko bellowed, glaring down on his student and then to the three who were standing nervously by the door. "Can I go on??" Kaoru nodded and grabbed the two by their gi collars, tugging them backwards.

"Please continue, Hiko-san." Kaoru said, holding the pair still.

"I know you know Kenshin, but why are you here?" Hiko asked, sitting back down and looking at them. Soujiro rubbed the top of his head, feeling for any lumps, before rummaging around and finding a pillow for Kaoru. He placed it on the ground and, smiling, quietly told her to sit on it.

Misao turned to Yahiko. "Go for it, Yahiko."

"So Kaoru could see Kenshin." Yahiko said, going chibi, before turning to Misao. "Your turn."

"Yeah, so Kaoru could see Himura." Kaoru blinked as both of them turned to face her. "You're up."

"Well . . ." Kaoru mumbled, "it was . . . to see Kenshin . . ." She stopped talking.

"And?" Misao and Yahiko asked, both leaning towards her. She blinked and looked a bit lost. The two of them thrust their faces close to hers, both going chibi once again.

"What did you come here for?" Misao shouted, glaring at her.

"To fight at his side?" Yahiko asked, also glaring at Kaoru, who looked more lost now.

"To go back to Tokyo with him?" Misao shouted again. "To confess your love for him?"

"How do they expect her to answer when they're bellowing at her like that?" Soujiro mumbled quietly, standing next to his sensei. Hiko sighed and shook his head.

"I ~ er ~ well ~ no . . ." Kaoru murmured, looking at her hands that rested in her lap. "I wanted to see him, so I left Tokyo . . . at that time, I really didn't think I would ever see him again. At the Shirobeko, I thought I would hit him or something . . ." Misao and Yahiko sweatdropped. "But . . . when I saw his face I just couldn't . . ."

"Hmm. I see." Hiko smirked and stroked his chin with his hand. "I don't know what you see in that wooden statue, but my baka deshi seems to be popular." Soujiro looked over at Hiko who shook his head back at him.

Yahiko stood up slowly and glared at the master of Hiten Mitsurugi. "Who did you call a wooden statue?"

"Yahiko!"

"No matter how much of a master you are, you only know Kenshin as a pupil. The Kenshin we know is definitely not a wooden statue!"

"Don't interrupt, child." Hiko grunted, making Yahiko blink and then growl in anger and Misao break out in giggles.

"Child?!"

"I stopped getting news about my baka deshi at the beginning of the Meiji era." Hiko said, glaring at the three. "I want to know what he's been doing with the skills I taught him. Not from him, but from those I don't know who came to see him~"

Soujiro listened attentively, leaning forward and watching the expressions of the three as they all talked over each other, adding their own bits of information about Kenshin. The three talked for ten minutes or so, and when they finished Hiko signaled Soujiro to get water for them.

"Hai, Hiko-sensei." Soujiro got up and quickly got three earthenware cups and filled them with water, handing them out. "Kaoru-san." He held out the cup, smiling as she took it from him and Kenshin entered the hut again. Everyone looked up immediately except for Hiko.

"Master, where should I put~" Kenshin began, before Hiko cut him off, smirking.

"You spent the last ten years wandering the country, righting wrongs as a vagabond." Hiko said, smirking as Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "It took you fifteen years to figure out the reason for Hiten Mitsurugi ryu? Or were you atoning for the lives you took as Hitokiri Battousai?"

Kenshin put down the buckets full of water and looked at his teacher from the corner of his eyes. "It was . . . both. And because of what I said to you fifteen years ago. Before my eyes, people are suffering. People are in misery. Whatever the reason, I don't want to leave them as they are . . ."

Hiko's smirk grew. "Even though you're a baka deshi, when the time comes to act, you talk like a grownup." Hiko suddenly stood up, gathering his cloak with one hand. "Follow me!" he shouted dramatically. "I will pass down to you, the final mysteries of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!"

Everyone in the room gasped, except for Hiko of course and Soujiro as well. "What?" Hiko asked, looking around. "As a great-hearted swordsman, I can't let Shishio Makoto take over the country." Soujiro stood up and leant against the wall, smiling still.

"Master . . ."

"And, I don't like leaving things half-completed." Everyone was silent, except for Yahiko and Misao who sweatdropped. "It'd be easiest to do it myself, but after all this time, I'd just rather not deal with it."

"Master . . ." Kenshin tried again, chibi this time. He blinked though, as Hiko turned to face him, his face deadly serious.

"You have a responsibility." Hiko said. "Stop Shishio Makoto." Without further words, Hiko turned and walkout out of the hut's ruined door, with Kenshin trailing behind. Soujiro got out of the hut third, with the rest of them following.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru shouted, making him stop. "I came to Kyoto, without even thinking about the danger . . . are you angry with me?"

Without turning around, his back still turned towards her, Kenshin replied. "Half of me is. But . . . for the other half, I'm somehow . . . relieved." He began walking again. "You don't know where Shishio's men could be hiding, so be careful."

"No need to fear when we're here!" Misao and Yahiko shouted, crossing forearms. Soujiro smiled and quickly ducked into the hut again for a moment.

'Kenshin," Kaoru thought. 'You couldn't even turn around and give me a smile like always.' Her eyes were wide as if in shock. 'But . . . but . . .' Soujiro jumped through the open doorway and lifted up the broken door to semi-close the door frame.

"Kaoru-san." Soujiro tapped her on the shoulder and smiled more when she turned around. "I'm going to escort you three back to where you're staying, if that's fine with you." She nodded wordlessly and he took the lead, on the trail that would lead them back to the Aoiya.

END

Original Fic:

I could say that time had stopped for me, but the truth was that it was just going extremely slowly. The bored, droning voice of my English professor, along with the muted rumblings of thunder outside our prison, created a dreary and torpid symphony that repeated endlessly in my tired ears. Gazing outside the clear, almost inexistent wall separating me from my freedom, I saw the first drop of rain fall from the sky, tears raining down for us.
I changed positions, resting chin on folded arms, my eyes finally turned to face Hojou Togashi-sensei. I began to think that I had been overdramatic in my previous observations, but a quick glance at the clock told me otherwise.

'When the hell will this class end?? Haven't I suffered enough?!'

oops . . . I lied ^^; said a paragraph an was . . . ~counts~ three paragraphs . . . kinda :P anyone want to read more? It gets more interesting . . . this was borin intro I think ^_^