Hi! Thanks for waiting. I am sorry for the LONG wait, though. Med school
is cool (hey, there are 2 guys in class who can match F4 in looks! And
they're pretty smart, too!), but I didn't have the chance to think up the
continuation of this story. My mind was in the cellular level all this
time, so I had no chance to think for the snow prince. It takes me three
days total to fix a chapter, and several hours in each of those days. That
is time I no longer have. As you could guess, the studying could adversely
affect the writing, or the writing could adversely affect the studying.
I'll try to make sure both are OK. But understand, the studying now comes
first with me. ^^ (bottom maigo-chan excerpt from vol. 23)
......
A child couldn't survive in Shanghai all alone....why was the boy not content to simply rob the family who adopted him, but had to murder them?
One. It was out of defiance toward the family.
Two. The boy was simply a psycopath.
Three. Since all happiness had been stolen from the boy whose dear sister had been killed by the cruel Hitokiri, he could not bear to see such a happy family.
I hardly need to say that the correct answer is three.
......
"Mommy, Daddy sick," Kenji noted, tugging at his mother's sleeve.
"Hm? What made you say that?" Mommy asked while she washed the dishes.
"Daddy....always sad now," he explained. "Like this." And he sat on the floor with a knee up, and leaned his head on it. He even added a sigh, like he always heard from Daddy.
"Uh-oh...Since when, Kenji-kun?"
"Don't know, Mommy, but many many many days!"
"You haven't noticed, Kaoru?" Uncle Yahiko added. He was sitting by the kitchen table, armed with a pork bun and a glass of water. "Maybe it's because we're getting more students and you've been busy. But he's been sad and serious-like since last week."
"Since he disappeared, right?" Mommy asked.
Uncle Yahiko nodded. Now Kenji remembered, he had not seen Uncle Eni- chan for quite a long time either. It was about the same time Daddy started looking sick all the time.
"Two weeks ago, he left the house early morning, with a small portmanteau," Kenji heard Uncle Yahiko tell a policeman one day. "He did not say where he was going, or when he will be back. Now, he always does that, leave without saying where; he says that it is not our business. But he did not return that night, and not since. We've asked everyone from the hospital director to the lowest bum, but nobody has seen him. Obviously he is not in Tokyo..."
The conversation was getting boring, so Kenji decided to go play outside, and try to cheer up his Daddy.
He knew that in Daddy's eyes he could do nothing wrong. He could pinch him hard and Daddy would only grin. He could cry his eyes out and Daddy would only fish him out of the problem. It was exactly why he liked Uncle Eni- chan more than Daddy. Eni-chan treated him like a big boy, not like a baby! For some reason, Daddy always wanted him to be a little boy he can rescue. Rescuing was a big part of Daddy's life, but Daddy didn't have to rescue him every time!
Mommy was always nice; that's what mommies were supposed to be. But Mommy scolded him sweetly every once in a while when he did wrong. He knew when Mommy was not pleased with him, and he made sure, in his little boy way, that he didn't do it again, when he remembered. Daddy, on the other hand, was hard to place. He did not know if he really pleased his Daddy or not. He actually treated Uncle Yahiko better! It was very annoying. That's why he hated him.
All that notwithstanding, Kenji still felt bad for his Daddy. Daddy wasn't smiling as usual. And when Daddy wasn't smiling, Mommy didn't smile a lot, either, and the whole dojo felt kind of sad as well. It did not feel great to be playing in a sad dojo.
"Why Daddy sad?" Kenji asked him, sitting with a big frown on the front porch.
"Hm?" Daddy looked up, gave Kenji a slight smile, and ruffled his red hair. "I am alright, Kenji. Just worried, that's all."
" 'Bout Uncle Eni-chan?"
"Yes, about Uncle Enishi."
"Daddy miss him, too?"
"Maybe...I am not sure." Daddy took him up onto his lap. "Kenji-kun, there is much you do not know about Uncle Enishi. Even if I told you now, you would not understand....."
"But I do, Kenshin, so at least talk to me," Mommy walked to the porch and sat down beside them, wiping her hands with a towel. She gave Daddy a little peck on the cheek and smiled.
Daddy nodded. "I think I was wrong to keep it from him...he was bound to know eventually....I have a feeling he already does. It was foolish of me, Kaoru-dono, very foolish..."
Mommy put a hand on Daddy's shoulder. "You did what you thought was best," and smiled at him. "It's getting late, anata. Your students will be waiting."
Daddy went to the police office in the mornings. Mommy said he went there because he was teaching people to be good policemen someday. To Kenji, it was alright. He had Mommy all to himself! He could watch happily as Mommy and Uncle Yahiko taught kendo at the dojo, without his annoying Daddy around.
Daddy eventually stood up. "You are right, Kaoru-dono. Thank you. I'm leaving now. Take care of yourselves while I am gone." He walked on and out the gate.
The rest of the morning was very much the same as always. Kenji ran around the dojo, went out, visited the Oguni clinic, peered at the nearby street stalls, returned home and chased a few butterflies.
Everything was quite normal that morning. So Kenji did not know how to explain that afternoon.
-------------------
Kenji knew Daddy had arrived an hour or two ago, and was in the front porch doing the laundry. He continued to play in the backyard, and just went front to get back his ball.
He noticed.
Daddy was standing with a sad face inside the dojo area, and he was talking to somebody. Somebody that looked very familiar.
It was Uncle Eni-chan! He wore new clothes, but Kenji knew his white hair anywhere.
Eni-chan! Eni-chan was back!
But why did Eni-chan look so serious? And why did he look angry at Daddy?
Then he saw Eni-chan run fast and push Daddy hard.
Kenji covered his eyes and face with his hands. This was not happening, was it? "Mommy!! Come quick!" He called.
He peered from behind his hands. It was real. He slowly walked, toward the dojo. From the door, he saw everything.
Eni-chan drove Daddy to the wall and nailed him there with his strong hands. Daddy was coughing and trying to free himself, but Eni-chan's grip was too hard.
Mommy came. "Enishi....we've been...looking for you......where have you been?"
"Where have I been?" Eni-chan talked to Daddy with a voice Kenji had never heard before..a very scary voice. "I've been looking for the answers you refuse to give me. You're too nice a man now, Himura. You think of other people's feelings. You thought you could keep me from the pain of bad memories? You thought you could safely keep the truth from me? I am sorry. In this case, you thought wrong...Battousai."
"Who is Battousai, Mommy?" Kenji asked.
But Mommy looked intently between Daddy and Eni-chan. Her hand in Kenji's was very cool and clammy.
"Kaoru-dono, get out of here, now. I do not want you hurt," Daddy faintly said from the wall.
"Oh, she won't get hurt, your woman," Eni-chan answered him. "Although, I will let her see the hurt YOU deserve for lying to me.."
Eni-chan gave him punch after punch after punch. Unlike Uncle Yahiko, who knew how to fight with his fists, Daddy ducked and dodged but did not fight back well. He had no sword, and he never used any of the swords on the wall. Very soon Daddy was very bloody and very sore, gasping for breath on the floor, his short red hair tangled and droopy over his face.
"It is too late to bring back the past. It is too late to bring back my sister. At least, I will have the satisfaction of dealing with her killer. He will pay double, for hiding the truth from me, and for not accepting the truth that is his!"
"Kenji, go outside, you do not have to see this," Mommy showed him the door.
"Kenji not leaving!" he stomped his foot, and fearfully grabbed his mommy's hand.
Eni-chan walked back a few steps, drew a large and fancy pistol, and pointed it as Daddy's head.
"NO, ENISHI!" Mommy cried.
"And who are you to tell me what to do, woman?" Eni-chan answered. "You are nothing to me. You replaced my sister, and you took away an eternity of misery that should have been Battousai's lot!"
"You do not remember everything yet! Think, Enishi! Think! Remember! Tomoe would not want this!"
"Your husband is the reason my nee-san is dead!"
All this did not make any sense to Kenji. He only knew that something was very wrong with what Eni-chan was saying. Uncle Yahiko tried once to attack, but Eni-chan pointed the pistol at him and stopped him in his tracks. He directed it again at his Daddy.
A second more, and Eni-chan would have fired.
Had not a speck of blue sped by.
The pistol was sent spinning far away from both Eni-chan and his Daddy. The speck of blue stopped near where Eni-chan stood, quite surprised.
Daddy slumped to the floor.
Mommy ran to his side and asked about him. Kenji was soon beside her.
Daddy spoke faintly, his head cradled in Mommy's lap. "Tell him what he needs to know. Tell him I am sorry." His eyes closed.
"KENSHIN!" Mommy screamed. She looked at Eni-chan with the sharpest eyes and biggest frown Kenji ever saw.
Eni-chan saw it, too. He no longer looked scary. He looked scared, very scared. His eyes went back and forth through the room. "N-N-Nee-san, Nee- san is frowning at me..." He saw the door and ran to it.
"You will stop right there, Yukishiro-san," the blue man said quietly, and pointed Eni-chan's pistol at him. Still with panicked eyes, Eni-chan stopped and raised his hands over his head.
"I know you," he said.
"Seta Soujirou desu." Kenji saw now the blue speck to be a man older than Uncle Yahiko, wearing a blue gi and hakama.
"How do you know me?"
The man in blue smiled. "I have received word in Kyoto that you had returned, and you are living here. Your---friends---are quite concerned for you and about your lack of communication. I have come to see exactly how you were. Evidently, it is good that I came."
Mommy interrupted. "You mean, Aoshi----"
"By other sources, yes, Aoshi knows, Kaoru-san. But he has kept it from Misao-san, and so have I," the man answered.
"Who is this Aoshi and Misao, pray tell?" Eni-chan sternly asked.
"We can talk after a while, Yukishiro-san," the blue man smiled again. "If you do not mind, I will go help with Himura-san. I leave you to cool down."
While the kind new man helped Mommy bring Daddy to their bedroom, Kenji stayed behind.
"Get out of here, boy," Eni-chan said to him with his serious look. "He doesn't deserve a boy like you."
Was it possible? Eni-chan did not want to see him?! But...but...wasn't Kenji Eni-chan's friend?
Kenji began to cry.
"A....Ah.....Um.....G-Gomen, Kenji-kun.....Gomen." But Eni-chan didn't come nearer and he didn't pat him on the head. "I.....I....forgot.....I forgot it was you."
"Eni-chan hates me.....hates me like he hates Daddy!" Kenji wailed.
"You do not understand, Kenji-kun....."
"But I'm a big boy now! Tell me!"
Eni-chan softened, and shook his head. "Sorry....Kenji.....even I do not understand everything....I was so angry for so long while I was gone....I did not know half of what I was doing. And now.....and now....nee-san is sad at me again...."
Now it was Eni-chan who was crying. Despite what he did, Kenji felt very sad for him.
He did the only thing he knew how to do. He went to Eni-chan, and gave him a hug.
..........
In my sphere of things, Soujirou does know Enishi, while both were in Kyoto, during the events in the latter part of White and Black. I'll explain further in the next chapter.
I think it's happening to me again, the problem I had in White and Black. If you can help, I'm open to suggestions. AaaaCK! This chapter took so long to construct! Pesky tiger... Really pesky Siberian tiger.... Thank Cat for pestering me often enough. This thing got finished on an anime night, a free evening filled with Scrapped Princess, The Wonderful World (new Wowow stuff, very nice, if only I could understand Japanese well enough ^^), Ayashi no Ceres, Ranma ½ and Gundam Wing. ^^
Wow! I have new readers! Thank you so much!
NightRain-Sorry for the trouble. I hope you like the other fics, too. I am trying hard not to string this story too close to the others, though. Sabbie-Sure! Come by my country in six years and I'll see what I can do. ^^ Cat-Thanks for all the compliments. Misao? In a few more chaps. Beriath-Thanks much! Dallisse-Yes, it is. Have you seen The Majestic? Very nice amnesia story, poor guy. Maeko-Nohara-Arigatou gozaimasu! Jenna- Thanks! Devil-Excellent? Thanks much! It took some hard thinking! CardMistressSakura-Tomoe? We'll see, we'll see. Bee-Thank you! BittersweetKandy-Misao? Wait a while. She'll be coming around. Short chappie? Yeah, a little bit. Again, one of those things that refused to become long.
......
A child couldn't survive in Shanghai all alone....why was the boy not content to simply rob the family who adopted him, but had to murder them?
One. It was out of defiance toward the family.
Two. The boy was simply a psycopath.
Three. Since all happiness had been stolen from the boy whose dear sister had been killed by the cruel Hitokiri, he could not bear to see such a happy family.
I hardly need to say that the correct answer is three.
......
"Mommy, Daddy sick," Kenji noted, tugging at his mother's sleeve.
"Hm? What made you say that?" Mommy asked while she washed the dishes.
"Daddy....always sad now," he explained. "Like this." And he sat on the floor with a knee up, and leaned his head on it. He even added a sigh, like he always heard from Daddy.
"Uh-oh...Since when, Kenji-kun?"
"Don't know, Mommy, but many many many days!"
"You haven't noticed, Kaoru?" Uncle Yahiko added. He was sitting by the kitchen table, armed with a pork bun and a glass of water. "Maybe it's because we're getting more students and you've been busy. But he's been sad and serious-like since last week."
"Since he disappeared, right?" Mommy asked.
Uncle Yahiko nodded. Now Kenji remembered, he had not seen Uncle Eni- chan for quite a long time either. It was about the same time Daddy started looking sick all the time.
"Two weeks ago, he left the house early morning, with a small portmanteau," Kenji heard Uncle Yahiko tell a policeman one day. "He did not say where he was going, or when he will be back. Now, he always does that, leave without saying where; he says that it is not our business. But he did not return that night, and not since. We've asked everyone from the hospital director to the lowest bum, but nobody has seen him. Obviously he is not in Tokyo..."
The conversation was getting boring, so Kenji decided to go play outside, and try to cheer up his Daddy.
He knew that in Daddy's eyes he could do nothing wrong. He could pinch him hard and Daddy would only grin. He could cry his eyes out and Daddy would only fish him out of the problem. It was exactly why he liked Uncle Eni- chan more than Daddy. Eni-chan treated him like a big boy, not like a baby! For some reason, Daddy always wanted him to be a little boy he can rescue. Rescuing was a big part of Daddy's life, but Daddy didn't have to rescue him every time!
Mommy was always nice; that's what mommies were supposed to be. But Mommy scolded him sweetly every once in a while when he did wrong. He knew when Mommy was not pleased with him, and he made sure, in his little boy way, that he didn't do it again, when he remembered. Daddy, on the other hand, was hard to place. He did not know if he really pleased his Daddy or not. He actually treated Uncle Yahiko better! It was very annoying. That's why he hated him.
All that notwithstanding, Kenji still felt bad for his Daddy. Daddy wasn't smiling as usual. And when Daddy wasn't smiling, Mommy didn't smile a lot, either, and the whole dojo felt kind of sad as well. It did not feel great to be playing in a sad dojo.
"Why Daddy sad?" Kenji asked him, sitting with a big frown on the front porch.
"Hm?" Daddy looked up, gave Kenji a slight smile, and ruffled his red hair. "I am alright, Kenji. Just worried, that's all."
" 'Bout Uncle Eni-chan?"
"Yes, about Uncle Enishi."
"Daddy miss him, too?"
"Maybe...I am not sure." Daddy took him up onto his lap. "Kenji-kun, there is much you do not know about Uncle Enishi. Even if I told you now, you would not understand....."
"But I do, Kenshin, so at least talk to me," Mommy walked to the porch and sat down beside them, wiping her hands with a towel. She gave Daddy a little peck on the cheek and smiled.
Daddy nodded. "I think I was wrong to keep it from him...he was bound to know eventually....I have a feeling he already does. It was foolish of me, Kaoru-dono, very foolish..."
Mommy put a hand on Daddy's shoulder. "You did what you thought was best," and smiled at him. "It's getting late, anata. Your students will be waiting."
Daddy went to the police office in the mornings. Mommy said he went there because he was teaching people to be good policemen someday. To Kenji, it was alright. He had Mommy all to himself! He could watch happily as Mommy and Uncle Yahiko taught kendo at the dojo, without his annoying Daddy around.
Daddy eventually stood up. "You are right, Kaoru-dono. Thank you. I'm leaving now. Take care of yourselves while I am gone." He walked on and out the gate.
The rest of the morning was very much the same as always. Kenji ran around the dojo, went out, visited the Oguni clinic, peered at the nearby street stalls, returned home and chased a few butterflies.
Everything was quite normal that morning. So Kenji did not know how to explain that afternoon.
-------------------
Kenji knew Daddy had arrived an hour or two ago, and was in the front porch doing the laundry. He continued to play in the backyard, and just went front to get back his ball.
He noticed.
Daddy was standing with a sad face inside the dojo area, and he was talking to somebody. Somebody that looked very familiar.
It was Uncle Eni-chan! He wore new clothes, but Kenji knew his white hair anywhere.
Eni-chan! Eni-chan was back!
But why did Eni-chan look so serious? And why did he look angry at Daddy?
Then he saw Eni-chan run fast and push Daddy hard.
Kenji covered his eyes and face with his hands. This was not happening, was it? "Mommy!! Come quick!" He called.
He peered from behind his hands. It was real. He slowly walked, toward the dojo. From the door, he saw everything.
Eni-chan drove Daddy to the wall and nailed him there with his strong hands. Daddy was coughing and trying to free himself, but Eni-chan's grip was too hard.
Mommy came. "Enishi....we've been...looking for you......where have you been?"
"Where have I been?" Eni-chan talked to Daddy with a voice Kenji had never heard before..a very scary voice. "I've been looking for the answers you refuse to give me. You're too nice a man now, Himura. You think of other people's feelings. You thought you could keep me from the pain of bad memories? You thought you could safely keep the truth from me? I am sorry. In this case, you thought wrong...Battousai."
"Who is Battousai, Mommy?" Kenji asked.
But Mommy looked intently between Daddy and Eni-chan. Her hand in Kenji's was very cool and clammy.
"Kaoru-dono, get out of here, now. I do not want you hurt," Daddy faintly said from the wall.
"Oh, she won't get hurt, your woman," Eni-chan answered him. "Although, I will let her see the hurt YOU deserve for lying to me.."
Eni-chan gave him punch after punch after punch. Unlike Uncle Yahiko, who knew how to fight with his fists, Daddy ducked and dodged but did not fight back well. He had no sword, and he never used any of the swords on the wall. Very soon Daddy was very bloody and very sore, gasping for breath on the floor, his short red hair tangled and droopy over his face.
"It is too late to bring back the past. It is too late to bring back my sister. At least, I will have the satisfaction of dealing with her killer. He will pay double, for hiding the truth from me, and for not accepting the truth that is his!"
"Kenji, go outside, you do not have to see this," Mommy showed him the door.
"Kenji not leaving!" he stomped his foot, and fearfully grabbed his mommy's hand.
Eni-chan walked back a few steps, drew a large and fancy pistol, and pointed it as Daddy's head.
"NO, ENISHI!" Mommy cried.
"And who are you to tell me what to do, woman?" Eni-chan answered. "You are nothing to me. You replaced my sister, and you took away an eternity of misery that should have been Battousai's lot!"
"You do not remember everything yet! Think, Enishi! Think! Remember! Tomoe would not want this!"
"Your husband is the reason my nee-san is dead!"
All this did not make any sense to Kenji. He only knew that something was very wrong with what Eni-chan was saying. Uncle Yahiko tried once to attack, but Eni-chan pointed the pistol at him and stopped him in his tracks. He directed it again at his Daddy.
A second more, and Eni-chan would have fired.
Had not a speck of blue sped by.
The pistol was sent spinning far away from both Eni-chan and his Daddy. The speck of blue stopped near where Eni-chan stood, quite surprised.
Daddy slumped to the floor.
Mommy ran to his side and asked about him. Kenji was soon beside her.
Daddy spoke faintly, his head cradled in Mommy's lap. "Tell him what he needs to know. Tell him I am sorry." His eyes closed.
"KENSHIN!" Mommy screamed. She looked at Eni-chan with the sharpest eyes and biggest frown Kenji ever saw.
Eni-chan saw it, too. He no longer looked scary. He looked scared, very scared. His eyes went back and forth through the room. "N-N-Nee-san, Nee- san is frowning at me..." He saw the door and ran to it.
"You will stop right there, Yukishiro-san," the blue man said quietly, and pointed Eni-chan's pistol at him. Still with panicked eyes, Eni-chan stopped and raised his hands over his head.
"I know you," he said.
"Seta Soujirou desu." Kenji saw now the blue speck to be a man older than Uncle Yahiko, wearing a blue gi and hakama.
"How do you know me?"
The man in blue smiled. "I have received word in Kyoto that you had returned, and you are living here. Your---friends---are quite concerned for you and about your lack of communication. I have come to see exactly how you were. Evidently, it is good that I came."
Mommy interrupted. "You mean, Aoshi----"
"By other sources, yes, Aoshi knows, Kaoru-san. But he has kept it from Misao-san, and so have I," the man answered.
"Who is this Aoshi and Misao, pray tell?" Eni-chan sternly asked.
"We can talk after a while, Yukishiro-san," the blue man smiled again. "If you do not mind, I will go help with Himura-san. I leave you to cool down."
While the kind new man helped Mommy bring Daddy to their bedroom, Kenji stayed behind.
"Get out of here, boy," Eni-chan said to him with his serious look. "He doesn't deserve a boy like you."
Was it possible? Eni-chan did not want to see him?! But...but...wasn't Kenji Eni-chan's friend?
Kenji began to cry.
"A....Ah.....Um.....G-Gomen, Kenji-kun.....Gomen." But Eni-chan didn't come nearer and he didn't pat him on the head. "I.....I....forgot.....I forgot it was you."
"Eni-chan hates me.....hates me like he hates Daddy!" Kenji wailed.
"You do not understand, Kenji-kun....."
"But I'm a big boy now! Tell me!"
Eni-chan softened, and shook his head. "Sorry....Kenji.....even I do not understand everything....I was so angry for so long while I was gone....I did not know half of what I was doing. And now.....and now....nee-san is sad at me again...."
Now it was Eni-chan who was crying. Despite what he did, Kenji felt very sad for him.
He did the only thing he knew how to do. He went to Eni-chan, and gave him a hug.
..........
In my sphere of things, Soujirou does know Enishi, while both were in Kyoto, during the events in the latter part of White and Black. I'll explain further in the next chapter.
I think it's happening to me again, the problem I had in White and Black. If you can help, I'm open to suggestions. AaaaCK! This chapter took so long to construct! Pesky tiger... Really pesky Siberian tiger.... Thank Cat for pestering me often enough. This thing got finished on an anime night, a free evening filled with Scrapped Princess, The Wonderful World (new Wowow stuff, very nice, if only I could understand Japanese well enough ^^), Ayashi no Ceres, Ranma ½ and Gundam Wing. ^^
Wow! I have new readers! Thank you so much!
NightRain-Sorry for the trouble. I hope you like the other fics, too. I am trying hard not to string this story too close to the others, though. Sabbie-Sure! Come by my country in six years and I'll see what I can do. ^^ Cat-Thanks for all the compliments. Misao? In a few more chaps. Beriath-Thanks much! Dallisse-Yes, it is. Have you seen The Majestic? Very nice amnesia story, poor guy. Maeko-Nohara-Arigatou gozaimasu! Jenna- Thanks! Devil-Excellent? Thanks much! It took some hard thinking! CardMistressSakura-Tomoe? We'll see, we'll see. Bee-Thank you! BittersweetKandy-Misao? Wait a while. She'll be coming around. Short chappie? Yeah, a little bit. Again, one of those things that refused to become long.