Cries rang through the house. Not cries of pain but cries of a new baby being born. Kenshin Himura held his new baby daughter happily in his arms. He looked over at his wife, Tomoe and smiled.
"She's beautiful," Tomoe whispered, obviously tired as Kenshin nodded in agreement. "What should we name her?"
"Not now, sweetheart. It is time to rest," Kenshin playfully scolded. Tomoe didn't even try to argue with him and closed her eyes quickly surrendering herself to sleep.
Kenshin walked out of the room still holding the baby and beckoned his first child, a son, Hisato, over to him. "Look, Hisato, you have a sister now."
Hisato scowled, "I wanted a brother though. Girls have cooties." Kenshin couldn't help but laugh. Hisato's scowl turned into a confused look. "What is so funny?" he demanded to know.
"Nothing, son, nothing," Kenshin ruffled Hisato's hair and walked over to the bassinette that had previously been Hisato's and now would be his daughter's. He gently placed her into it and could only think how good life was. At this time, he thought nothing could bring him down. He brought up a chair to just admire her beauty but he never noticed how tired he was. After awhile, his body slouched in the chair showing he had fallen asleep.
He wasn't woken up until hours later by screams, horrified screams, blood curdling screams. Kenshin's eyes popped open. He ran as fast as he could towards the yells, grabbing a katana on the way. When he got to the location, he stopped terrified. This was the room Tomoe was in. He quickly slid the doors open and his eyes widened horror-struck.
There lay his wife, his son, and the midwife that help Tomoe give birth, all lying in puddles of their own blood. Kenshin could not fight back his tears. He ran over to his wife and held her cold body in his arms as he wept.
"What kind of monster would do this?" he cried and was answered by a cynical voice, "That monster would be me." Kenshin whipped around to be faced by a man covered in bandages who held a bloodied katana.
"How could you do this? They were women and a child! They have never done anything to you!" Kenshin yelled furiously. Why a man would ever do this was beyond Kenshin's comprehension.
"Perhaps," the murderer drawled licking the blood off his blade. "But they were weak and... I needed some toys to play with." A laugh erupted sending chills down Kenshin's spine.
"You don't deserve to live," Kenshin growled as he lunged towards the man, blade outreaching. Their katanas clashed sending sparks everywhere. And over the blades, Kenshin looked into his attacker's eyes and saw nothing. He had an empty soul with no regrets, no doubts, no nothing.
"Well, neither did they," the attacker said with a malicious grin. This only made Kenshin attack harder. He wasn't going to let this man... no, this monster get away with what he did. Somewhere, deep down, Kenshin knew this was helpless but still, he kept fighting. Finally, he got a blow in, a slice on the arm. Not a very good blow but a blow still. "Is that the best you can do? Then I am afraid you are just as weak as them." The attacker suddenly at what seemed to be the speed of light knocked Kenshin down and prepared to strike the final blow. But as he raised his sword, voices could be heard.
"I heard screams coming from here!"
"The Himuras? Why would someone want to attack them? What if it was just Tomoe having her baby?"
"No, she had her baby this morning. Something is wrong!"
"Hurry up!"
The attacker decided not to kill Kenshin at the moment. He placed his sword into the sheath never letting that haunting smile leave his face. "I will let you live for now. This will be too amusing." And just like that, he disappeared. Kenshin was confused at what he meant but carefully got up jumping at every noise thinking it might just be the attacker changing his mind. But he had gone for good.
When the door slid open, Kenshin held up the katana defensively but was relieved when he saw it was the villagers. "He... he murdered them," he cried letting his tears pour out but there was no sympathy in this crowd. They stared at him, his bloody sword, and his bloody clothes. "He went that way!"
"Kenshin... we know where the murderer is..." the old woman from the next door told him.
Kenshin's eyes widened, "Really? Where?"
"Don't act like a fool!"
"Trying to trick us, huh? I never knew you were crafty, Himura."
Kenshin was very confused now. What were they talking about?
"We see the attacker right now." Kenshin whipped around looking for him but still, he saw nothing there.
"He is standing right in front of us..." Then it hit Kenshin. They were talking about him. They thought he murdered his family.
"It... it... wasn't me!" he tried to explain but his words fell onto deaf ears. The villagers were already advancing towards him. He looked for where he could escape. The window was easy enough to access but right before he was going to bold he remembered something, or should I say someone?
Kenshin took the villagers completely by surprise when he shoved through them, toppling people every which way. He couldn't leave his daughter. He refused to abandon his now only child. He hurriedly ran to the bassinette, wrapped the baby in a blanket, and held her as protectively as he could as he ran.
"We will get you!" one of the villagers cried after Kenshin but he didn't stop to see who it was. He wouldn't stop until he was sure they were in safety.
He could hear the loud, angry screams of the people. He could feel the warmth of their torches lighted with loathing. He could feel the stones underneath his bare feet tear his skin. But he did not care. Up ahead, he saw a forest, his only chance to escape. With an extra boost of energy, he finally entered it.
The villagers stopped right there at the edge. "The forest... he and his demon spawn will most certainly be killed there," the old woman said with a cackle. The crowd murmured in agreement and after a few minutes of just looking where Kenshin had gone, they dispersed.
But Kenshin did not stop though he knew that the people most certainly had not followed him into the forest. He could not take chances, not if he wanted to keep his daughter safe. And when he thought he could run no more, a break not too far ahead in the woods filled him with hope.
Kaoru Kamiya walked tiredly out to the field. Though she was tired and all she wanted to do was rest, she had noticed a cow still in the field and not in the barn. And since it was her duty to tend to the livestock, she had to go get it.
"Hey ol' girl," Kaoru muttered grabbing the rope that hung around the cow's neck. She tugged the rope to lead the cow back where it was supposed to go but the cow would not budge. "Come on. I don't need this right now." She tugged harder this time but still no results. "Come on," she growled but it was still to no avail. This was one stubborn cow.
And just as Kaoru was about to slaughter the dumb thing from anger, she heard something from the woods. Her eyes widened and her hands began to tremble. Something was coming out. Kaoru, being the superstitious person that she was, believed all those stories about monsters living in there. But not only was she superstitious, she was also curious.
She completely forgot about the cow and began to creep towards the forest. At that time Kaoru saw the thing stumbling out. At first, Kaoru thought it was a troll with flames for its hair but as it got closer, Kaoru noticed it was actually a small man with a bundle in his arms.
Kaoru rushed over to him to help. She immediately noticed the man was covered in blood but she suspected it was from the scratches that covered his body.
"Help... me..." he whispered pushing the bundle into Kaoru's arms and collapsing right away.
Kaoru did not know what to do. She had never dealt with a situation like this. "Help! Someone help!" she yelled beginning to runs towards the Manor not really noticing the bundle she was carrying. In a few moments, men rushed down to carry the man to the Manor to receive medical attention.
At that time, the thing in Kaoru's arms made a sound completely surprising her. Startled, Kaoru looked down to see another little face staring back. "A baby?!" she exclaimed.
When Kenshin finally awoke, he was very confused about where he was. He tried to sit himself up but his arms collapsed from exhaustion. "Where am I?" he croaked.
"You need to sleep; you will collapse again if you don't," a man Kenshin supposed was the doctor told him. "I don't know how you even made it out of that forest. You are obviously suffering from emotional and physical exhaustion."
"Where is she?"
"She? Oh, do you mean the baby?" Kenshin nodded. "She is in responsible hands, don't worry."
Kenshin once again tried to push himself up. "Let me see her."
"Sir, we will allow you to see her once you are rested," the doctor said pushing Kenshin down on the bed gently.
"No," Kenshin gave himself another shove and this time successfully made it out of bed.
"Sir, I must insist..." the doctor began but Kenshin was already out of the room. He opened random doors frantic to see his precious baby. Finally he picked the right one.
There in the middle of the room stood a bright-eyed, young lady with the most enchanting blue eyes holding the baby and softly cooing at her. She looked up startled when Kenshin entered.
She smiled, "I see you are feeling better. I am glad. Do you want to hold her?"
"Please." She walked over to him and placed the baby back in her father's arms.
"I am Kaoru," she told him. "What happened out there? You seemed as if the devil was chasing after you."
Kenshin hesitated for a moment. He did not know if he should tell her the truth or not. He just met her though she seemed trustworthy. In the end, he told her, "Bandits attacked my family and I was trying to escape."
Kaoru murmured an, "Oh." Her smile faltered for a moment letting a glimpse of sadness pass over her face. "She is a cutie. What is her name?"
"I... I don't know. We hadn't named her yet." Kenshin now wished he had let Tomoe named the baby when she said she wanted to.
"Do you want to now?"
"I am not good at these things. My wife is... I mean, my wife was the one who came up with the names. She was creative like that," He fought back burning tears that threatened to spill down his face. "I know this will sound weird. But can you come up with a name? I don't want to give her a stupid name or anything."
Kaoru smiled in sympathy and thought for a few moments. "How is Chiyeko? Chiyo for short. She looks like a Chiyeko." Kenshin's smile came back. He liked that.
"Beautiful... Hello there, Himura Chiyeko."
Author's Note: I hope that is good. Please leave me a review and if you have respectful criticism, please do not stop from telling me. Just please don't flame me. I am just a young writer and I am always looking for helpful tips. This story is going to be a K&K and I am not sure if I will have the other couples (but I most likely will). I will try to update as often as I can and try to make it a bit longer. And please excuse any typos in there