Hiya! So far I've had requests for Misao (patience, White and Black people, patience!), Yutarou, and a sibling fight. We'll see. Speaking of Yutarou, I didn't know the manga version was WAY different from the anime version until now! Check out , the authoritative and the only Yutarou site. ^^ Thanks, Sabbie-chan. Your idea got me thinking. And, you got me reading maigo-chan again. Man, I have to go through the whole Jinchuu arc again! Well, I did get myself into this mess after all. ^^
Stuff in italics directly taken from maigo-chan's translations of Vol. 24.
………………………
An island………..
A house on top of that island………..my house. A summer house.
A woman………holding a tray. Now I remember. Kamiya.
"What are you doing?"
She replied. "Nothing. Only if you're cooking for one you might as well cook for two. You've barely eaten anything since you've been here. I know no one's using the kitchen but me. So eat up!….You can wash your own dishes."
I took up the soup she made.
It was awful.
…………………………
"Yahiko……..what have I told you about my sword?"
"I know……I know…….but, but, but, Kenshin……..!"
"No buts, Yahiko!"
So Himura Kenshin was home from work already. Which was not a good sign. It meant that he had been out for quite a while, longer than an hour. It had happened to him before, several times in the hospital. Like in this case, because he tried to piece together the complicated puzzle that was his life.
Very embarrassing. He found himself in the room Kaoru had said was his during his stay. It meant, the boy who challenged him had gotten into the further humiliation of having to carry him in. He could guess that, judging from the boy's relationship to Kaoru. He would be in no position to object. It would not help to improve his relations with him. Hadn't he had enough experience with businessmen and smugglers and lowlifes to know?………….What was that again?
His head began to hurt again. He HAD to stop thinking about his past, at least for now. He was causing too much trouble, and he was not one to relish accepting kindness from strangers. That kind of thing frequently obligated one to do a favor in return. He did not like having such obligations everywhere.
As it was, he already had too many favors done to him in the hospital. He had tried to be nice and polite, say please and thank you. He was dependent on these people for his life. He depended on them for information. Only he knew it was all a show for the doctors, a way to make those whitecoats look good in the newspapers and the journals. But as there was nothing else to do about it, he chose to play along. It was positively exasperating.
"But, Kenshin, that's Enishi we're talking about. Enishi!"
The voices came from the next room, separated only by a paper screen. He placed himself near the division and sat down, his back and aching head leaned on the wooden paneling.
"Even then, Yahiko! The sakabatou should not be used in cold blood! We've told you countless times that Enishi has changed for the better. He has a business in Kyoto, a legitimate and prosperous one. He helped Japan and China finish off a good part of the Shanghai mafia."
Really? He did? He did that? If he had a business in Kyoto, just who was managing it now? Wait just a minute…………Shanghai mafia?!
"Evidently he was caught before completing the entire mission, beat up and left for dead. Fortunately, he was rescued. His memory suffered for it, though."
Well, that explained a lot, without him having to think about it. Except that, why were these people not telling him all that outright?
"I swear, anata, I haven't told him anything!"
"But the doctor said that the fainting spells probably result from mental overload. I have only given him very little information, so unless you……….."
"I am telling you, Kenshin, I did not!"
"But why AREN'T we giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Kaoru, Kenshin?"
"Sessha prefers it that he find out for himself."
Is this redheaded man crazy?!
"Sessha thinks that if we tell him too much, we might get something wrong, and we might be accused of brainwashing. Besides, there is plenty about him even I do not know. Saitou might actually know more. Unfortunately he's in Hokkaido."
The eavesdropper sighed. Himura was not going to be much help. Find out for himself? Why? What was Himura hiding from him? Well, if Himura wanted him to find out for himself, find out he shall!
But just then the paper screen gave out from behind him! Kaoru had opened the division from the other room, and in he tumbled, snowy head first. The three just looked at him in surprise.
"H-h-how long have you been there, Enishi?" Kenshin stammered.
Of course he was not letting on how much he overheard! "Not long. I was tired of lying down." There, that was not a lie. He sat down again and rubbed his head. "When is dinner?"
"Dinner! Oh, NO! I forgot about dinner!" Kaoru panicked.
"You've even forgotten about Kenji!" Yahiko reminded. "Where is that little brat, anyway?"
In reply, they suddenly heard a loud wailing just outside the house.
"KENJI!"
"You and Yahiko take care of Kenji," Kaoru ordered, "I'll take care of dinner."
Yahiko looked at Kaoru, then at their guest, and asked, "Are you SURE, Kaoru? YOU will take care of dinner?"
"Just deal with Kenji, will you?!" Kaoru growled and ran off.
The men found the boy perched on the lowest branch of a tree, crying his heart out. His father immediately began to coo at him to come down, and caused him to cry harder. Yahiko tried to fish him out with the sheathed sakabatou, but Kenji was just slightly out of reach. Kenji only wailed louder.
"You're pathetic," the snowhaired guest smirked.
"Why don't you help us, you arrogant psycho, instead of calling us names?" Yahiko clenched his teeth. Only Kenshin's arm in front of him prevented the young man from charging again.
"But Yahiko does have a point," Kenshin added. "You are the tallest one here, so why don't you help us?"
"The boy doesn't need your kind of help," he smugly replied. He looked up. "Oi, Kenji. You got yourself in trouble, get yourself out. Stop relying on others to fix your problems." He turned his back on him.
"You're asking too much of a three-year-old!" Kenshin protested.
"You're asking too little," Enishi tossed his head and proceeded to the kitchen.
Kenshin shrugged his shoulders and Yahiko shook his head.
But, they noticed Kenji, slowly but surely, climbing down the tree all by himself!
Eyes almost popped out of sockets, as the little boy happily ran to the house.
"How did he DO that?" Yahiko asked with open jaw.
"Sessha does not know, de gozaru," Kenshin replied.
Dinner was served within the hour. It was eaten in relative peace. Kenji pestered the adults with constant triumphant reminders that "I climb down tree!" Yahiko, in blue gi and white hakama, constantly eyed the whitehaired guest. Enishi primly and silently moved chopsticks from rice bowl to mouth, and occasionally looked back at the young trainer with sharp eyes. Kenshin also quietly ate his food, sometimes praising the cook, as the guest rolled his eyes. Kaoru smiled at the praises and raised her nose at the scorns.
"Peasant food, but it will do," Enishi said at the end.
"PEASANT food?! Why you ungrateful---" the cook charged, restrained only by her husband.
"You've improved quite a lot since five years ago, Kamiya," he added as he finished his soup. "Your miso is edible now."
"Hmph! If I hadn't fed you then, you would have starved on the island!" the cook retorted.
"What island?" he suddenly looked absolutely clueless, and held his head.
"Your island!" Yahiko answered. "A small one in Tokyo Bay. You fought Kenshin there, you brought Kaoru there, don't you remember?"
"Come again?"
"Yahiko! What did we just tell you?" Kenshin warned, with an anxious look at Enishi.
Enishi began to feel a little dizzy, but brushed the disturbing thoughts aside. "I'm fine, Himura, I'm fine."
"No eat spinach!" Kenji complained to his mommy with a frown.
"Yes, you will, Kenji!" Kaoru ordered, raising her chopsticks to his mouth, a stalk dangling in them.
"No eat spinach!" the boy repeated.
"Pretty please?" Kaoru begged. "Daddy bought it from the market fresh, you have to eat it!"
"Not eat anything daddy buyed!"
Kenshin sighed and lowered his head. "Here we go again…." Yahiko griped.
"Ahou," Enishi scorned the father. "Are you seriously going to let the boy treat you like dirt?"
He did not allow him to reply. He quickly walked to where Kenji had his mouth shut like a vice, knelt beside him, and raised his index finger. He spoke in a voice that would send fear to the heart of the innocent.
"You will listen to your mother. You will do as she says, or you will answer to me. Understood?"
Kenji nodded.
"Good. I'll be outside on the front porch. Finish your dinner." And true to his word, he went out of the dining room.
At any rate, Enishi needed the peace and quiet of the night air to think. He leaned on one of the posts, and admired the clear starry sky.
Survival of the fittest. That was how he had lived, he thought he remembered. The sooner young Kenji knew that principle, instead of the idealogy of his parents, the better suited he would be for life. He was too spoilt right now, as it was. Kenji would not last that way on the streets………the streets? He had lived on the streets? What HAD happened to his sister?
So he once had his own island, he brought the Kamiya woman there, and for some reason he fought Himura there. If he recalled correctly, he brought Kamiya to the island, partly as bait for Himura should his plans backfire. But what were those plans again?
He closed his eyes. Now was not the time to be thinking of the past. More importantly, what was to happen to him in the future? He could not rely on external support forever! Housework was not his idea of living. Trading and selling, that was more of his forte. But what could he sell? The scrawny vegetables in the back yard?
He recalled the original information fed to him, that he was a businessman in Kyoto under the name Shiroyuki Shinichi. There must be a way to contact his company's managers, at least get stock for himself in Tokyo, so he could have a little spending money until he knew what to do next. He did have to pay back the immense hospital bills he must have incurred. That plan would have to do for now.
"Eni-chan!" Enishi felt a tugging at his clothes. "Wake up, Eni-chan!"
He drowsily smiled at his little friend. "Did you finish your spinach?"
"Hai!"
"Piggy-back ride?"
"Yay!"
Now was not the time to think about the past. Never mind that the past affected the present.
It was enough, to deal with the present.
………………………
I agree with Firuze that it really should be the Shanghai triads or something, but since Watsuki used "mafia" (I did see that in katakana) as the general term for the organization, I'm sticking with that.
According to the Kenshin Kaden, as of last reports Aoshi got, Saitou was reassigned (or reassigned himself) to Hokkaido. Far, far away from Battousai. ^^
JML—Well, once a hothead always a hothead. Besides, when it comes to Kenshin and Kaoru, Yahiko loses just a bit of his rational self. ^^
Sabbie—I actually got an old mopstick and swung it around within reasonable limits. And I've seen more than enough RK for my own good. ^^ Thanks for liking it.
Cat—Thanks much. We'll see about your request.
Dallisse—Thanks much, and no problem!
Beriath—Durian-top! Now that's the first time I've heard Yahiko called like that! Girlfriend? He has one. Turn over a new leaf? He already did, at least the way I already wrote it for White and Black. ^^
CardMistressSakura—Sugoi, you're back! I can't believe it! Arigatou! Domo arigatou gozaimashita! Admit, admit! You like Eni-chan, even a little, ADMIT!! ^^
Thanks much for reading!