Author's Notes–Heh, finally! More content! ^^* Sorry for cutting the first part so short. I really didn't mean to! Anywho, I'm really working on this one more than my original fic. (TT*) BUT, I really love working on this one. It's practically all hand-written in a little composition notebook of mine, I just have to take the time to write it all out. O.o But, here's my little Earth-Shattering, Ch. 2. Again, one OC–Kaoru's little brother Shenjiyo. Ja. And there's a little bad-sadness in this chappie. O.o
Disclaimer–Nope, I don't own any of this mess. TT*
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When Kaoru awoke again, she found the same soft lavender eyes staring into hers. She rubber here eyes a bit and everything came into focus. Sitting up, Kenshin handed her a small cup filled with a strong-smelling green liquid. "Drink up, we're going searching today!" He said with a quiet smile.
Before Kaoru could ask, Kenshin rose from kneeling beside her. He picked up a sheathed sword from nearby. It was a traditional long sword, katana, by looks. She suddenly remembered. He was a rurouni. Samurai with a master.. or a destination. The lowest level of the samurai. But he seemed so kind. Who could not want to keep him as an envoy? Possibly, could he have been kicked out of a school or dojo? A secret in his past! Kaoru's thoughts raced on as Kenshin placed the sword at his hip. For a fleeting moment, Kaoru could have sworn that she saw him blush.
He stood near the door, but seemed hesitant to leave. Finally, he spoke, "Kaoru-dono, we are staying in an abandoned dojo. Everything around here was obliterated by the earthquake. It's a miracle that this old place withstood that kind of force."
"Mou," Kaoru said quietly, emptying her cup and setting it near the portable tea pot beside her. "Kenshin, what is searching?"
"Eh?" Kenshin asked, a bit surprised. He walked back over to her and sat down, unhilting the sword and setting it on the floor in front of him. A trademark samurai posture. "Well. I mean.. searching for survivors. That's how I found you. And helping them in any way that I am able. It's very humble work, but everyone that I've encountered seems to appreciate it.
"I haven't gone in a few days. An injured memory-less girl is enough to keep a rurouni preoccupied!" Kenshin said politely, laughing.
Kaoru bowed her head. "I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to be a burden upon you. I didn't mean to.. impose."
"N.. No, you haven't. Everyone else that I have found has been well and on their way." Kenshin responded quickly, blushing. "I meant that it's nice to have somebody be around longer. To be needed."
There was an awkward silence filling the room. Neither of them said anything until Kaoru answered with a curt nod, "Hai. I guess that it was nice having someone to look after me. Anyway, I believe that I'm ready to assist you in this.. searching."
"Right. Demo, your kimono is in tatters–-"
"Do you know where any might be?"
"Yes." Kenshin crossed the small room to a shoji with a picture of a mountain and a lake painted on its outside. He slid the door back slowly, revealing a wealth of lavish kimono and yukata. At the floor were small, square geta and zori, with tabi socks folded neatly at the shoes' bases. In the far corner were elaborate, long obi hung neatly. Kaoru stood up and stalked over to the closet.
"Mou! These are beautiful!" She stated, enchanted, as she ran her hands among the intricate patterns and soft silks. It was only after that moment or two that she realized it. There she was, her black silken hair awry and flowing, tabi-ed feet, and in naught but her underkimono. Right beside a man. Total embarrassment. They both turned the shade of Kenshin's deep-pink gi.
"Good. Anou.. the girl who seems to have lived in this room must have been about your age. The patterns are similar. I'll leave you to dress. I'll return in a few minutes. Please do not wander far, this is a very big complex." Kenshin rambled on, still blushing. On the way out, he grabbed the katana and then left the room in quite the hurry.
After only a few moments, Kaoru collected her composure. She shed her red underkimono and replaced it with a soft yellow one, clean and fresh-feeling. She selected a red kimono with a cherry blossom pattern. Professionally hooking the cords, she began an expedition for an obi.
She walked past a mirror to her right. Kaoru sideglanced, then stopped short. Her mid-back length black hair stared back at her. She found a pearl comb lying in a small chest in the closet. There were also hair ties, ribbons, and a few ornaments tucked away in a drawer of it. Kaoru softly combed her hair, somehow managing to work out the tangles. She pulled it into a high ponytail on the top of her head, securing it in place with a large red ribbon. She was set. Or so she tought.
Kaoru gave herself the once-over and nearly screamed. She had forgotten an obi! Cursing to herself, she paced back to the closet. She found a yellow under obi and wrapped it around her tiny waist three times, like she had done so many times before. Kaoru removed a pink outer-obi and began the long process of wrapping it. "Obi are such a hassle." She began tying the knot at the back, a highly difficult task. It could weigh upwards of five pounds! And it's just a knot and a bow!
Kaoru tugged and struggled against the obi, pulling it this way and that.. to no avail. It just did not want to tie. After several more futile attempts, a silent knock was heard at the shoji. "Kaoru-dono? Are you ready?"
"No!! You idiot!!" Kaoru yelled as the knot behind her fell once more.
"Eh..? Anou?" Kenshin questioned. This was rather awkward.
"No, no, not you. Stupid obi! It simply will not tie." Came Kaoru's voice, in obvious desperation. "I hate these things."
The door slid open once more and, suddenly, the voice behind it had a face. Kaoru stood, black hair falling over her shoulders, and in full kimono. They both found themselves breathless, though each for different reasons. Kaoru was the first to speak. "I wouldn't suppose that you know how to tie these things, ne?"
Kenshin, finally back to his senses, chuckled at the girl. "Actually, yes." Kaoru turned around to reveal the rumpled lump at the base of her obi. "I'm obliged." He shyly walked over to her and tied an expert bow.
"Thank you.. very much!" Kaoru called gratefully. "How do I look?"
"Eh.. Very nice." Kenshin answered blankly, yet he was gazing at her with a slight smile on his face. He again pulled out of his trance and asked, "Are you ready to go now?"
"Hai!" Kaoru seemed hopeful and eager. Kenshin turned and led the way through the long hallway. At the end, he slid open a large shoji door. Air rushed in and greeted Kaoru's face. Had she forgotten how good a warm, early autumn breeze could feel? Or could she simply not remember? Her thoughts trailed, yet again, as she took her first step outside. "It feels so much better out here."
"Feels better, yes, but looks much worse." Kenshin returned. He was correct. Off in the distance was the small village of Edo. All of the buildings appeared splintered and fallen.
Kaoru was shocked, suddenly being whisked away to a time of only a few days ago. Her wanderings for those three long days and nights. The devastation. The ruin. Everything was desolate, save for the recently flooded rice fields. Her eyes widened.
"Are you alright?" Kenshin asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yea." Kaoru answered in a whisper. "It just remembered. All of those houses along the river. They were fallen. Caved in. Sad-looking."
"That's how it is, though." Kenshin seemed at a loss for words, crestfallen. "It's a bit depressing. Have you remembered anything before then?"
"No. Just my journey along the road. And my little brother Shenjiyo. That's all." Kaoru continued in a whisper. Kenshin gave her a remorseful look, then held out a hand to help her down a few stairs. She blinked the tears out of her eyes. Now was not the time for remembering such sorrows, she took Kenshin's hand and stepped down lightly. They made their way to Edo.. together.
-~-~-~-~-~-
They came upon a small shack with straw all over its yard and the wood of the house burned to ash. A gate leading to the house had a nameplate–"Miyojin". Kenshin stopped and picked up a small piece of the muddy, scattered straw. "This was the roof. Thatched. Straw never holds, and burns very easily. Those logs over there were the corner pieces–" He pointed at four sticks of charred wood, slanted in varying directions. "This was a poor family."
Kaoru walked to where the family's entrance hall had once been. She removed her geta and left them by the doorway. Kenshin looked at her warily. She smiled, walking further in to the house. "Burnt or not, this was still their home. And I respect that. It's not polite to wear shoes in someone's house."
Kenshin instantly removed his zori and followed her. In a small corner was a patch of still-smoldering wood. According to what they could make of the size of the house, and the portions of unburned tatami, this would have been a closet. Kaoru knelt down and cast the wood aside. She screamed. Louder so than when her home had caved in. She recoiled her hand and stared in horror. Kenshin looked wide-eyed as well.
Kaoru turned quickly and buried herself in Kenshin's lavender gi, screaming yet again. Fresh tears burned at her eyes. In the back of her mind, an image she could not erase.. the sight that she had just seen. Under the smoldering wood was the half-charred corpse of a human child. A boy. About Shenjiyo's age of ten. He was sprawled out, the left half of his body was ash–fallen pray to the flames. The right half was still in tact, with a look of sheer horror frozen on the small child's face.
Tears flowed freely from Kaoru's eyes and onto Kenshin's gi. He embraced her comfortingly, then released her. He walked to the body, and replaced the wood over it. He walked to the far corner of the lot and began digging a small hole with his bare hands.
Kaoru was still very much in shock. And what was that Kenshin was doing? She watched him, still sobbing uncontrollably, and then realized it. He intended to bury the boy. The boy. All they knew about him was: he was a boy, surnamed Miyojin, and was about ten. The same age as Shenjiyo. Shenjiyo. He was ten, barely.. a few days before. And he was upset. Their father was not home one his birthday. Their father. Kamiya Koshijiro was in the army–the thoughts stopped short. Kaoru's forehead was throbbing again. Remembering still hurt.
She regained her composure and walked over to Kenshin, still digging away. Kaoru knelt at the base of the pit, which was now about three feet deep. She began pulling up the dirt as well. Kenshin paused momentarily, and glanced at her. "I'm alright, Kenshin. But, Mijoyin-san looked taller to me." She looked up and him and found that he had been crying as well.
The two continued on digging until about nine o'clock that morning. The hole was about four and a half feet deep, and possibly a few inches longer. Kenshin stood. "This will suit Miyojin-dono very well." He re-entered the burnt house and removed the wood covering the half-skeleton. Carefully, picking up the child between his arms. He walked back over to the grave, placing the child into the grave gingerly.
While he replaced the dirt over the boy, Kaoru shuffled over to the front gate. She pulled off the nameplate, not without a great struggle and plenty of effort. She walked back towards the grave once again. The makeshift grave had been filled. Kaoru knelt down once more and placed the nameplate on it. A makeshift grave marker. The two sat in silence, praying, for a while.
Kenshin pulled out a piece of folded parchment. "Kaoru-dono, you carried this with you whenever I found you." He handed it to her. He watch her unfold it vertically. The lines were creased and aged, as if it were years old. The ink was slightly faded and the characters on it were worn. Her eyes flew over the characters, left-to-right.
"Why does saying goodbye always have to be the hard part. Father." Kaoru read. Her voice was small. "Koshijiro.. san."
"Why would he your father give something like that to you. Your own okaasan." Kenshin asked, astonished that anyone would carry around a message like that.
Kaoru refolded the letter, as she had done many years before. "Five years ago. I was twelve. My little brother, Shenjiyo-chan, was only five. My father, Kamiya Koshijiro, was a samurai. At the shogunate's command."
"Mou." Kenshin said. "Army man. Are you remembering this?"
"Yes." Kaoru nodded. "The shogunate called his men-at-arms to calm a rebellion. My father just left. Never said goodbye. Just left me this note. I always.. carry it with me in case he returned." Kaoru rolled on, her voice was emotionless.
"Very good, ne? Now you know that you have someone out there that may be searching for you." Kenshin said hopefully.
"No." Kaoru responded quickly, still blankly emotionless. "He left. But that's all that I remember of him now. That, and anger. I felt that he had abandoned Mother. Me. Shenjiyo. We were all different that day. It was.. melancholy, if anything. Melancholy and angry." Kaoru's head was pounding within itself again. She sighed. "And that's as far as my memory will allow me to go right now." She placed the note in her kimono-sleeve.
"Let's move on, there are more houses down here." Kenshin smiled. They filed out of the now-nameplate-less gate and continued down the road. A small figure approached. A girl of about sixteen. With deadening blue eyes and black hair that surrounded her face, then fell into a very long braid down her back. She was barefoot and she wore a strange purple outfit–a half-gi with a pink obi and shorts? This was an odd child. She came neared the two and bowed rapidly. "Ohayou. I am Makimachi Misao. My village was destroyed, much like this one. But now I need a place to stay. Everyone else has turned me away, saying that they barely have enough for themselves. I assume by the state of your house the you two have nothing as well?"
Kaoru laughed. "This isn't our house."
"Oh." said Misao, not seeming interested. "So, can you help me or not?!"
"Well, she is very straight-forward. I'll give her that." Kaoru said to Kenshin.
"Yes. Anou.. Can you!?!?!??!?!" Misao seemed to scream
"Straight-forward, but impatient." Kenshin said blankly. "Hai, Makimachi-dono. We are staying in a very spacious dojo a few miles from here. I'm Himura Kenshin, and this is Kamiya Kaoru.. Kaoru-dono."
"Oh, so you two aren't married?" Asked the girl, obviously just trying to get retort for comments made about her. But Kaoru and Kenshin seemed unaffected. If anything, their moods lightened.
They took Misao to the dojo, where she fell fast asleep as Kaoru and Kenshin began to prepare dinner. Both happy and relieved, with something to take their mind off their troubles. And so the night continued.
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To the reviewer ^^*: Thanks so much! I've been working on this story for a few weeks now, and its taking even less time than I thought it would. I'm glad you liked it.. ^^*
To everyone else: okay, no Yahiko-fans come flame me! Honestly, I just needed to use a kid from RK. And I wasn't about to burn Suzume or Ayame, that would be too depressing. TT*. But I still got in about 4 1/4 pages of content. The longest chapter I've ever written. And the shortest one was the first. This is shaping up to be a weird fic. Please review!
^^* See ya in Ch. 3–Curiosities
Disclaimer–Nope, I don't own any of this mess. TT*
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When Kaoru awoke again, she found the same soft lavender eyes staring into hers. She rubber here eyes a bit and everything came into focus. Sitting up, Kenshin handed her a small cup filled with a strong-smelling green liquid. "Drink up, we're going searching today!" He said with a quiet smile.
Before Kaoru could ask, Kenshin rose from kneeling beside her. He picked up a sheathed sword from nearby. It was a traditional long sword, katana, by looks. She suddenly remembered. He was a rurouni. Samurai with a master.. or a destination. The lowest level of the samurai. But he seemed so kind. Who could not want to keep him as an envoy? Possibly, could he have been kicked out of a school or dojo? A secret in his past! Kaoru's thoughts raced on as Kenshin placed the sword at his hip. For a fleeting moment, Kaoru could have sworn that she saw him blush.
He stood near the door, but seemed hesitant to leave. Finally, he spoke, "Kaoru-dono, we are staying in an abandoned dojo. Everything around here was obliterated by the earthquake. It's a miracle that this old place withstood that kind of force."
"Mou," Kaoru said quietly, emptying her cup and setting it near the portable tea pot beside her. "Kenshin, what is searching?"
"Eh?" Kenshin asked, a bit surprised. He walked back over to her and sat down, unhilting the sword and setting it on the floor in front of him. A trademark samurai posture. "Well. I mean.. searching for survivors. That's how I found you. And helping them in any way that I am able. It's very humble work, but everyone that I've encountered seems to appreciate it.
"I haven't gone in a few days. An injured memory-less girl is enough to keep a rurouni preoccupied!" Kenshin said politely, laughing.
Kaoru bowed her head. "I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to be a burden upon you. I didn't mean to.. impose."
"N.. No, you haven't. Everyone else that I have found has been well and on their way." Kenshin responded quickly, blushing. "I meant that it's nice to have somebody be around longer. To be needed."
There was an awkward silence filling the room. Neither of them said anything until Kaoru answered with a curt nod, "Hai. I guess that it was nice having someone to look after me. Anyway, I believe that I'm ready to assist you in this.. searching."
"Right. Demo, your kimono is in tatters–-"
"Do you know where any might be?"
"Yes." Kenshin crossed the small room to a shoji with a picture of a mountain and a lake painted on its outside. He slid the door back slowly, revealing a wealth of lavish kimono and yukata. At the floor were small, square geta and zori, with tabi socks folded neatly at the shoes' bases. In the far corner were elaborate, long obi hung neatly. Kaoru stood up and stalked over to the closet.
"Mou! These are beautiful!" She stated, enchanted, as she ran her hands among the intricate patterns and soft silks. It was only after that moment or two that she realized it. There she was, her black silken hair awry and flowing, tabi-ed feet, and in naught but her underkimono. Right beside a man. Total embarrassment. They both turned the shade of Kenshin's deep-pink gi.
"Good. Anou.. the girl who seems to have lived in this room must have been about your age. The patterns are similar. I'll leave you to dress. I'll return in a few minutes. Please do not wander far, this is a very big complex." Kenshin rambled on, still blushing. On the way out, he grabbed the katana and then left the room in quite the hurry.
After only a few moments, Kaoru collected her composure. She shed her red underkimono and replaced it with a soft yellow one, clean and fresh-feeling. She selected a red kimono with a cherry blossom pattern. Professionally hooking the cords, she began an expedition for an obi.
She walked past a mirror to her right. Kaoru sideglanced, then stopped short. Her mid-back length black hair stared back at her. She found a pearl comb lying in a small chest in the closet. There were also hair ties, ribbons, and a few ornaments tucked away in a drawer of it. Kaoru softly combed her hair, somehow managing to work out the tangles. She pulled it into a high ponytail on the top of her head, securing it in place with a large red ribbon. She was set. Or so she tought.
Kaoru gave herself the once-over and nearly screamed. She had forgotten an obi! Cursing to herself, she paced back to the closet. She found a yellow under obi and wrapped it around her tiny waist three times, like she had done so many times before. Kaoru removed a pink outer-obi and began the long process of wrapping it. "Obi are such a hassle." She began tying the knot at the back, a highly difficult task. It could weigh upwards of five pounds! And it's just a knot and a bow!
Kaoru tugged and struggled against the obi, pulling it this way and that.. to no avail. It just did not want to tie. After several more futile attempts, a silent knock was heard at the shoji. "Kaoru-dono? Are you ready?"
"No!! You idiot!!" Kaoru yelled as the knot behind her fell once more.
"Eh..? Anou?" Kenshin questioned. This was rather awkward.
"No, no, not you. Stupid obi! It simply will not tie." Came Kaoru's voice, in obvious desperation. "I hate these things."
The door slid open once more and, suddenly, the voice behind it had a face. Kaoru stood, black hair falling over her shoulders, and in full kimono. They both found themselves breathless, though each for different reasons. Kaoru was the first to speak. "I wouldn't suppose that you know how to tie these things, ne?"
Kenshin, finally back to his senses, chuckled at the girl. "Actually, yes." Kaoru turned around to reveal the rumpled lump at the base of her obi. "I'm obliged." He shyly walked over to her and tied an expert bow.
"Thank you.. very much!" Kaoru called gratefully. "How do I look?"
"Eh.. Very nice." Kenshin answered blankly, yet he was gazing at her with a slight smile on his face. He again pulled out of his trance and asked, "Are you ready to go now?"
"Hai!" Kaoru seemed hopeful and eager. Kenshin turned and led the way through the long hallway. At the end, he slid open a large shoji door. Air rushed in and greeted Kaoru's face. Had she forgotten how good a warm, early autumn breeze could feel? Or could she simply not remember? Her thoughts trailed, yet again, as she took her first step outside. "It feels so much better out here."
"Feels better, yes, but looks much worse." Kenshin returned. He was correct. Off in the distance was the small village of Edo. All of the buildings appeared splintered and fallen.
Kaoru was shocked, suddenly being whisked away to a time of only a few days ago. Her wanderings for those three long days and nights. The devastation. The ruin. Everything was desolate, save for the recently flooded rice fields. Her eyes widened.
"Are you alright?" Kenshin asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yea." Kaoru answered in a whisper. "It just remembered. All of those houses along the river. They were fallen. Caved in. Sad-looking."
"That's how it is, though." Kenshin seemed at a loss for words, crestfallen. "It's a bit depressing. Have you remembered anything before then?"
"No. Just my journey along the road. And my little brother Shenjiyo. That's all." Kaoru continued in a whisper. Kenshin gave her a remorseful look, then held out a hand to help her down a few stairs. She blinked the tears out of her eyes. Now was not the time for remembering such sorrows, she took Kenshin's hand and stepped down lightly. They made their way to Edo.. together.
-~-~-~-~-~-
They came upon a small shack with straw all over its yard and the wood of the house burned to ash. A gate leading to the house had a nameplate–"Miyojin". Kenshin stopped and picked up a small piece of the muddy, scattered straw. "This was the roof. Thatched. Straw never holds, and burns very easily. Those logs over there were the corner pieces–" He pointed at four sticks of charred wood, slanted in varying directions. "This was a poor family."
Kaoru walked to where the family's entrance hall had once been. She removed her geta and left them by the doorway. Kenshin looked at her warily. She smiled, walking further in to the house. "Burnt or not, this was still their home. And I respect that. It's not polite to wear shoes in someone's house."
Kenshin instantly removed his zori and followed her. In a small corner was a patch of still-smoldering wood. According to what they could make of the size of the house, and the portions of unburned tatami, this would have been a closet. Kaoru knelt down and cast the wood aside. She screamed. Louder so than when her home had caved in. She recoiled her hand and stared in horror. Kenshin looked wide-eyed as well.
Kaoru turned quickly and buried herself in Kenshin's lavender gi, screaming yet again. Fresh tears burned at her eyes. In the back of her mind, an image she could not erase.. the sight that she had just seen. Under the smoldering wood was the half-charred corpse of a human child. A boy. About Shenjiyo's age of ten. He was sprawled out, the left half of his body was ash–fallen pray to the flames. The right half was still in tact, with a look of sheer horror frozen on the small child's face.
Tears flowed freely from Kaoru's eyes and onto Kenshin's gi. He embraced her comfortingly, then released her. He walked to the body, and replaced the wood over it. He walked to the far corner of the lot and began digging a small hole with his bare hands.
Kaoru was still very much in shock. And what was that Kenshin was doing? She watched him, still sobbing uncontrollably, and then realized it. He intended to bury the boy. The boy. All they knew about him was: he was a boy, surnamed Miyojin, and was about ten. The same age as Shenjiyo. Shenjiyo. He was ten, barely.. a few days before. And he was upset. Their father was not home one his birthday. Their father. Kamiya Koshijiro was in the army–the thoughts stopped short. Kaoru's forehead was throbbing again. Remembering still hurt.
She regained her composure and walked over to Kenshin, still digging away. Kaoru knelt at the base of the pit, which was now about three feet deep. She began pulling up the dirt as well. Kenshin paused momentarily, and glanced at her. "I'm alright, Kenshin. But, Mijoyin-san looked taller to me." She looked up and him and found that he had been crying as well.
The two continued on digging until about nine o'clock that morning. The hole was about four and a half feet deep, and possibly a few inches longer. Kenshin stood. "This will suit Miyojin-dono very well." He re-entered the burnt house and removed the wood covering the half-skeleton. Carefully, picking up the child between his arms. He walked back over to the grave, placing the child into the grave gingerly.
While he replaced the dirt over the boy, Kaoru shuffled over to the front gate. She pulled off the nameplate, not without a great struggle and plenty of effort. She walked back towards the grave once again. The makeshift grave had been filled. Kaoru knelt down once more and placed the nameplate on it. A makeshift grave marker. The two sat in silence, praying, for a while.
Kenshin pulled out a piece of folded parchment. "Kaoru-dono, you carried this with you whenever I found you." He handed it to her. He watch her unfold it vertically. The lines were creased and aged, as if it were years old. The ink was slightly faded and the characters on it were worn. Her eyes flew over the characters, left-to-right.
"Why does saying goodbye always have to be the hard part. Father." Kaoru read. Her voice was small. "Koshijiro.. san."
"Why would he your father give something like that to you. Your own okaasan." Kenshin asked, astonished that anyone would carry around a message like that.
Kaoru refolded the letter, as she had done many years before. "Five years ago. I was twelve. My little brother, Shenjiyo-chan, was only five. My father, Kamiya Koshijiro, was a samurai. At the shogunate's command."
"Mou." Kenshin said. "Army man. Are you remembering this?"
"Yes." Kaoru nodded. "The shogunate called his men-at-arms to calm a rebellion. My father just left. Never said goodbye. Just left me this note. I always.. carry it with me in case he returned." Kaoru rolled on, her voice was emotionless.
"Very good, ne? Now you know that you have someone out there that may be searching for you." Kenshin said hopefully.
"No." Kaoru responded quickly, still blankly emotionless. "He left. But that's all that I remember of him now. That, and anger. I felt that he had abandoned Mother. Me. Shenjiyo. We were all different that day. It was.. melancholy, if anything. Melancholy and angry." Kaoru's head was pounding within itself again. She sighed. "And that's as far as my memory will allow me to go right now." She placed the note in her kimono-sleeve.
"Let's move on, there are more houses down here." Kenshin smiled. They filed out of the now-nameplate-less gate and continued down the road. A small figure approached. A girl of about sixteen. With deadening blue eyes and black hair that surrounded her face, then fell into a very long braid down her back. She was barefoot and she wore a strange purple outfit–a half-gi with a pink obi and shorts? This was an odd child. She came neared the two and bowed rapidly. "Ohayou. I am Makimachi Misao. My village was destroyed, much like this one. But now I need a place to stay. Everyone else has turned me away, saying that they barely have enough for themselves. I assume by the state of your house the you two have nothing as well?"
Kaoru laughed. "This isn't our house."
"Oh." said Misao, not seeming interested. "So, can you help me or not?!"
"Well, she is very straight-forward. I'll give her that." Kaoru said to Kenshin.
"Yes. Anou.. Can you!?!?!??!?!" Misao seemed to scream
"Straight-forward, but impatient." Kenshin said blankly. "Hai, Makimachi-dono. We are staying in a very spacious dojo a few miles from here. I'm Himura Kenshin, and this is Kamiya Kaoru.. Kaoru-dono."
"Oh, so you two aren't married?" Asked the girl, obviously just trying to get retort for comments made about her. But Kaoru and Kenshin seemed unaffected. If anything, their moods lightened.
They took Misao to the dojo, where she fell fast asleep as Kaoru and Kenshin began to prepare dinner. Both happy and relieved, with something to take their mind off their troubles. And so the night continued.
-----------------------------------
To the reviewer ^^*: Thanks so much! I've been working on this story for a few weeks now, and its taking even less time than I thought it would. I'm glad you liked it.. ^^*
To everyone else: okay, no Yahiko-fans come flame me! Honestly, I just needed to use a kid from RK. And I wasn't about to burn Suzume or Ayame, that would be too depressing. TT*. But I still got in about 4 1/4 pages of content. The longest chapter I've ever written. And the shortest one was the first. This is shaping up to be a weird fic. Please review!
^^* See ya in Ch. 3–Curiosities