Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin
"Yes," Hiko looked down at Yahiko, "I remember you, a companion of my baka deshi."
"Yeah," Yahiko put on a confused face, "I'm Yahiko." He led Hiko inside. "Um, Kenshin!" Yahiko smiled uneasily at Kenshin's master. "There's somebody here to see you!!!" A few moments later Kenshin walked toward outside where Hiko and Yahiko were standing with a bright face.
"What is it Yahiko?" Kenshin suddenly noticed Hiko and quickly bowed in respect. "Hello master."
"Baka deshi!" Hiko smacked Kenshin at the back of his head causing him to cry out.
"Oro!"
"You send me an urgent message and am not prepared for my arrival!"
"Gomen na sai Shishou," Kenshin quickly uttered as soon as the world had stopped spinning. "Yahiko, why don't you go back to the dojo with Kaoru- dono and continue training while I speak with Shishou." Yahiko looked at the two uneasily, bowed his head and quickly left for the dojo. As the young boy's footsteps faded away Kenshin gestured toward his room. "Before I explain, please, I must show you something." They walked the few steps to stop before the red-haired swordsman's room as he quietly slid the door open. With the limited space that Kenshin had opened, Hiko peered in and nodded his head.
Kenshin slid the door back after Hiko was finished and sat down on the edge of the walkway distressed. Hiko sat next to him moments later, "So, you spoke the truth when you wrote the letter."
"Yes Shishou."
Hiko stared off in deep thought, never letting the emotions within reaching the surfaces of his face, "Tell me. Tell me everything." And so Kenshin did. He started from the rainy day when the stranger had first come upon the Kamiya dojo up until his master had come to the dojo not long ago. Time passed and neither noticed as the story unfolded, and as Kenshin's tale came to an end, he exhaled deeply, as if a vast burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
"I'm lost Shishou, I need guidance. A part of me never thought I would see Ayeka again. A part of me didn't want to, after all the horrible things I had done during the war. And Tomoe, I felt like I couldn't face her."
The older master shook his head consciously, "You and Ayeka knew what you were doing. I had nothing to do with-"
"Kenshin! Have you made dinner yet? I'm starving!!!" Sano rounded the corner with his arms laid back, supporting his neck with the usual fishbone in his mouth where he stumbled onto Kenshin and his master Hiko.
Kenshin only rolled his eyes and stood up, "Sano, you remember Shishou from Kyoto, don't you?" The young fighter for hire nodded solemnly. "I haven't started cooking and it probably won't be ready for awhile if I did, so why don't we all just head down to the Akabeko tonight?"
Sano shrugged, not knowing what else to do, "Yeah, sure Kenshin. Want me to go tell the missy and Yahiko?"
He smiled pleasantly, "Yes, that would be a good idea, that it would."
-----------
The walk to the Akabeko and the beginnings of dinner held an awkward silence. Kenshin went through reintroducing his masters with his friends that resided with him in Tokyo. They left the stranger remembering Megumi mention earlier that it would be fine to leave the stranger for short periods of time.
Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, and Hiko sat quietly around the table as Hiko silently sipped his sake. "How much do you know of this stranger Kamiya- san?"
Kaoru became surprised at the man's question but shook her head once the initial shock was gone, "Nothing."
Hiko gazed in the direction of his former apprentice, "And baka deshi, he has told you nothing of Ayeka?"
Kaoru quickly became confused, "Ayeka?" She asked aloud, the bewilderment apparent on her face as she turned to the swordsman that had saved her life so many times without any thought to himself, "Kenshin, what does he mean?"
Kenshin looked away, not able to hold her gaze, he pulled out of his robes some money and put it in the center of the table, "For your meal. I will see you back in the dojo." With his simple statement, Kenshin walked away from the table and out of the restaurant.
Sano looked around wonderingly, "What was that all about? And what do you mean that Kenshin hasn't told us anything?"
"My apologies, Ayeka brings back memories to my apprentice of which he thought he had left behind with the flames of the revolution."
"Wait," Yahiko began boldly, "who is this Ayeka you keep talking about? And what does she have to do with Kenshin?"
The older master continued to sip his sake and placed the cup softly on the table, "Ayeka was also my apprentice at one time." Hiko's statement earned several questioning looks toward Hiko from those gathered around the table. "Kenshin and Ayeka could also be quite the rivals at times, always sparring each other whenever they had the chance."
Sano's fishbone had dropped from his mouth as he persistently listened to Hiko's every word, "But wait, Kenshin's never mentioned anything about you having another apprentice. Let alone anyone named Ayeka."
"I can understand, my apprentice must feel as if he betrayed her, but at the same time, he still felt that he was unworthy to go back."
"Back to what?" Yahiko inquired apprehensively.
Hiko took another sip of his sake; "Perhaps it would be best, if I started from the beginning."
-----------
It was raining hard in Kyoto one dark night, a tall man had a sword fastened to his waist, which seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, carried jars of sake in his hand as a small boy walked hastily to keep up with the older man while he held various items in his arms, it seemed he also kept a small sword on his waist. "Come Kenshin, it is too late and raining too hard for us to go back now. We shall stay at the local inn, do you understand?"
"Yes Shishou," was all the small boy could seem to say. They kept walking until they had reached the inn's door. As the master spoke with the innkeeper, the boy called Kenshin heard a high-pitched scream. He instantly dropped all that he was carrying and ran towards the direction the scream had come from.
"Kenshin!" The boy ignored his master's call and continued to run, "Kenshin!" The man called again. But Kenshin could no longer hear his master, there was someone in trouble, someone he had to help. He followed the screams to an alley not far away where he saw two dead bodies on the ground lying in their own blood and a small girl cornered by two men, their swords drawn.
"Don't worry little girl," one of them started evilly, "we won't make this too painful." He ended laughing maniacally.
The other one joined him in the laughter but Kenshin pulled out the sword fastened to his waist, "You leave her alone!"
The two men turned around cautiously to only see a little boy holding out a sword, "And what are you going to do about it?" The second one asked grinning, "Or are you going to take us both on and rescue this little girl?"
"No, he won't. I will." A bold voice said from the entrance to the alley, the moonlight and rain exaggerating his true appearance, he held his sword drawn.
"Shishou!" Without a word, the man Kenshin called master disposed of the two menaces before they were given a chance to taunt him. The girl cowered in the corner, her blood covered with both old, dried blood, and blood that was shed only moments ago.
"Girl, are you all right?" The man asked as he held up his blade so that the rain would wash away the newest bloodstains.
She looked around shakily and crawled over to the two earlier bodies, "My parents, and those two men-"the girl suddenly broke into tears as Kenshin ran to try and comfort her.
"It's all right."
"Girl, did they hurt you at all? You have blood all over your clothes."
She looked at herself, finally recognizing the blood stains that covered her attire, "N-No, they, they didn't g-get a-a ch-chance."
The man looked around, the water still being poured from the sky, he unhooked his cloak and wrapped around it around the shivering girl, "Here, otherwise you'll catch your death after I've just saved it."
"Th-thank you." She answered him, "F-for saving me."
The man only nodded, "I'm going to carry you over the inn and see you get the proper treatment," he ended by giving her a questioning look.
"A-Ayeka," she answered him, "my n-name is Ayeka."
"Do you have other family in town Ayeka?" The man asked.
But the little girl shook her head as she still clutched his cloak closely, although it was not doing much to keep her dry as it was already wet, but she clutched it anyway. "N-No, those, those t-two men, they-they killed, m- my parents." She answered before drowning in her tears. She crawled to the two earlier bodies, "Mommy? Daddy?" She quietly questioned. But she received no answer as she turned over the body of a woman, and as she saw the fear struck into it, the girl called Ayeka fainted.
The swordsman's face showed no expression, he only picked her up and carried her out of the alley, "Come Kenshin, we will take this girl to the inn, do you understand?"
"Yes Shishou," was all the boy could seem to say.
-----------
With the finishing of his tale, Hiko took another sip of his sake yet again and nodded to Tae that he wanted more. He did not speak another word but he had gained the notice of all those who had sat in the table with him. "Well," Sano outburst suddenly, "what happened?"
Hiko's face remained the same expressionless void that it always was and calmly answered him, "We attempted to leave her at the inn a few days later when we were sure she was fine, the innkeeper was more than willing to take her in as his own, but she wouldn't have it. Over the few days she had gained an attachment to us, and that especially to my baka deshi."
"Because he got their first, right?" Yahiko asked.
The older man only nodded his head in response to his question, "I warned her of the ways in which my apprentice and I lived, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Eventually she ended up going back with us."
Kaoru suddenly spoke up, "But how did she become your apprentice?"
"Although she was a year younger than Kenshin, she knew many things, when my apprentice and I would sometimes return from his training we would find food already laid out and cooked for us. In time, she even taught my baka deshi to cook."
"Ha! See! He had to have learned it from somewhere! I knew it!" Kaoru suddenly jabbed a finger in Sano's face.
Sano only moved her finger, "You're absolutely right missy, I thought Kenshin just knew how to cook edible food when he was born. I should have known better."
Hiko coughed subtly and the table looked at him, "If I may, do you still wish to know more?"
Yahiko gave a glaring look at Kaoru and Sano, "Yeah, sure, of course! Please keep going!"
"How I noticed her ability was a complete accident. I also took a great risk."
-----------
"Here Kenshin, you have to add a little more spice, otherwise it won't come out even and it won't taste as good." It was a year later and Ayeka stood next to Kenshin with an apron around her clothes, Kenshin held a knife in his hand as he attempted to cut the vegetables that Ayeka had left. She looked at him annoyed at his actions in showed him how to hold the knife.
"Sorry Ayeka, I'll get it right this time, promise." He told her as he smiled. She smiled back but suddenly Kenshin had knocked over a block filled with sharp knives right by her. "Ayeka!" But they were already on the edge of hitting her when both Kenshin and herself caught the knives in midair.
Kenshin looked at her wonderingly with his still innocent eyes. Unbeknownst to the two, a knife had skidded into the floor by the doorway and Hiko had watched the entire scenario play out. For a fleeting moment, a sense of surprise grazed the features of his face, he looked down to see the knife that had landed there a moment ago and picked it up.
He looked carefully at the gap between his apprentice and Ayeka and let the knife cut through the air among them. To Hiko's amazement, Ayeka had caught harmlessly between her fingers, as Kenshin finally turned around to see what was happening. The two could see a rare flicker of a smile on the man's face, "Interesting," he said. And with the swish of his cloak he left.
Yeah, refer to the first and second chapters if you want the author's notes.
"Yes," Hiko looked down at Yahiko, "I remember you, a companion of my baka deshi."
"Yeah," Yahiko put on a confused face, "I'm Yahiko." He led Hiko inside. "Um, Kenshin!" Yahiko smiled uneasily at Kenshin's master. "There's somebody here to see you!!!" A few moments later Kenshin walked toward outside where Hiko and Yahiko were standing with a bright face.
"What is it Yahiko?" Kenshin suddenly noticed Hiko and quickly bowed in respect. "Hello master."
"Baka deshi!" Hiko smacked Kenshin at the back of his head causing him to cry out.
"Oro!"
"You send me an urgent message and am not prepared for my arrival!"
"Gomen na sai Shishou," Kenshin quickly uttered as soon as the world had stopped spinning. "Yahiko, why don't you go back to the dojo with Kaoru- dono and continue training while I speak with Shishou." Yahiko looked at the two uneasily, bowed his head and quickly left for the dojo. As the young boy's footsteps faded away Kenshin gestured toward his room. "Before I explain, please, I must show you something." They walked the few steps to stop before the red-haired swordsman's room as he quietly slid the door open. With the limited space that Kenshin had opened, Hiko peered in and nodded his head.
Kenshin slid the door back after Hiko was finished and sat down on the edge of the walkway distressed. Hiko sat next to him moments later, "So, you spoke the truth when you wrote the letter."
"Yes Shishou."
Hiko stared off in deep thought, never letting the emotions within reaching the surfaces of his face, "Tell me. Tell me everything." And so Kenshin did. He started from the rainy day when the stranger had first come upon the Kamiya dojo up until his master had come to the dojo not long ago. Time passed and neither noticed as the story unfolded, and as Kenshin's tale came to an end, he exhaled deeply, as if a vast burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
"I'm lost Shishou, I need guidance. A part of me never thought I would see Ayeka again. A part of me didn't want to, after all the horrible things I had done during the war. And Tomoe, I felt like I couldn't face her."
The older master shook his head consciously, "You and Ayeka knew what you were doing. I had nothing to do with-"
"Kenshin! Have you made dinner yet? I'm starving!!!" Sano rounded the corner with his arms laid back, supporting his neck with the usual fishbone in his mouth where he stumbled onto Kenshin and his master Hiko.
Kenshin only rolled his eyes and stood up, "Sano, you remember Shishou from Kyoto, don't you?" The young fighter for hire nodded solemnly. "I haven't started cooking and it probably won't be ready for awhile if I did, so why don't we all just head down to the Akabeko tonight?"
Sano shrugged, not knowing what else to do, "Yeah, sure Kenshin. Want me to go tell the missy and Yahiko?"
He smiled pleasantly, "Yes, that would be a good idea, that it would."
-----------
The walk to the Akabeko and the beginnings of dinner held an awkward silence. Kenshin went through reintroducing his masters with his friends that resided with him in Tokyo. They left the stranger remembering Megumi mention earlier that it would be fine to leave the stranger for short periods of time.
Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, and Hiko sat quietly around the table as Hiko silently sipped his sake. "How much do you know of this stranger Kamiya- san?"
Kaoru became surprised at the man's question but shook her head once the initial shock was gone, "Nothing."
Hiko gazed in the direction of his former apprentice, "And baka deshi, he has told you nothing of Ayeka?"
Kaoru quickly became confused, "Ayeka?" She asked aloud, the bewilderment apparent on her face as she turned to the swordsman that had saved her life so many times without any thought to himself, "Kenshin, what does he mean?"
Kenshin looked away, not able to hold her gaze, he pulled out of his robes some money and put it in the center of the table, "For your meal. I will see you back in the dojo." With his simple statement, Kenshin walked away from the table and out of the restaurant.
Sano looked around wonderingly, "What was that all about? And what do you mean that Kenshin hasn't told us anything?"
"My apologies, Ayeka brings back memories to my apprentice of which he thought he had left behind with the flames of the revolution."
"Wait," Yahiko began boldly, "who is this Ayeka you keep talking about? And what does she have to do with Kenshin?"
The older master continued to sip his sake and placed the cup softly on the table, "Ayeka was also my apprentice at one time." Hiko's statement earned several questioning looks toward Hiko from those gathered around the table. "Kenshin and Ayeka could also be quite the rivals at times, always sparring each other whenever they had the chance."
Sano's fishbone had dropped from his mouth as he persistently listened to Hiko's every word, "But wait, Kenshin's never mentioned anything about you having another apprentice. Let alone anyone named Ayeka."
"I can understand, my apprentice must feel as if he betrayed her, but at the same time, he still felt that he was unworthy to go back."
"Back to what?" Yahiko inquired apprehensively.
Hiko took another sip of his sake; "Perhaps it would be best, if I started from the beginning."
-----------
It was raining hard in Kyoto one dark night, a tall man had a sword fastened to his waist, which seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, carried jars of sake in his hand as a small boy walked hastily to keep up with the older man while he held various items in his arms, it seemed he also kept a small sword on his waist. "Come Kenshin, it is too late and raining too hard for us to go back now. We shall stay at the local inn, do you understand?"
"Yes Shishou," was all the small boy could seem to say. They kept walking until they had reached the inn's door. As the master spoke with the innkeeper, the boy called Kenshin heard a high-pitched scream. He instantly dropped all that he was carrying and ran towards the direction the scream had come from.
"Kenshin!" The boy ignored his master's call and continued to run, "Kenshin!" The man called again. But Kenshin could no longer hear his master, there was someone in trouble, someone he had to help. He followed the screams to an alley not far away where he saw two dead bodies on the ground lying in their own blood and a small girl cornered by two men, their swords drawn.
"Don't worry little girl," one of them started evilly, "we won't make this too painful." He ended laughing maniacally.
The other one joined him in the laughter but Kenshin pulled out the sword fastened to his waist, "You leave her alone!"
The two men turned around cautiously to only see a little boy holding out a sword, "And what are you going to do about it?" The second one asked grinning, "Or are you going to take us both on and rescue this little girl?"
"No, he won't. I will." A bold voice said from the entrance to the alley, the moonlight and rain exaggerating his true appearance, he held his sword drawn.
"Shishou!" Without a word, the man Kenshin called master disposed of the two menaces before they were given a chance to taunt him. The girl cowered in the corner, her blood covered with both old, dried blood, and blood that was shed only moments ago.
"Girl, are you all right?" The man asked as he held up his blade so that the rain would wash away the newest bloodstains.
She looked around shakily and crawled over to the two earlier bodies, "My parents, and those two men-"the girl suddenly broke into tears as Kenshin ran to try and comfort her.
"It's all right."
"Girl, did they hurt you at all? You have blood all over your clothes."
She looked at herself, finally recognizing the blood stains that covered her attire, "N-No, they, they didn't g-get a-a ch-chance."
The man looked around, the water still being poured from the sky, he unhooked his cloak and wrapped around it around the shivering girl, "Here, otherwise you'll catch your death after I've just saved it."
"Th-thank you." She answered him, "F-for saving me."
The man only nodded, "I'm going to carry you over the inn and see you get the proper treatment," he ended by giving her a questioning look.
"A-Ayeka," she answered him, "my n-name is Ayeka."
"Do you have other family in town Ayeka?" The man asked.
But the little girl shook her head as she still clutched his cloak closely, although it was not doing much to keep her dry as it was already wet, but she clutched it anyway. "N-No, those, those t-two men, they-they killed, m- my parents." She answered before drowning in her tears. She crawled to the two earlier bodies, "Mommy? Daddy?" She quietly questioned. But she received no answer as she turned over the body of a woman, and as she saw the fear struck into it, the girl called Ayeka fainted.
The swordsman's face showed no expression, he only picked her up and carried her out of the alley, "Come Kenshin, we will take this girl to the inn, do you understand?"
"Yes Shishou," was all the boy could seem to say.
-----------
With the finishing of his tale, Hiko took another sip of his sake yet again and nodded to Tae that he wanted more. He did not speak another word but he had gained the notice of all those who had sat in the table with him. "Well," Sano outburst suddenly, "what happened?"
Hiko's face remained the same expressionless void that it always was and calmly answered him, "We attempted to leave her at the inn a few days later when we were sure she was fine, the innkeeper was more than willing to take her in as his own, but she wouldn't have it. Over the few days she had gained an attachment to us, and that especially to my baka deshi."
"Because he got their first, right?" Yahiko asked.
The older man only nodded his head in response to his question, "I warned her of the ways in which my apprentice and I lived, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Eventually she ended up going back with us."
Kaoru suddenly spoke up, "But how did she become your apprentice?"
"Although she was a year younger than Kenshin, she knew many things, when my apprentice and I would sometimes return from his training we would find food already laid out and cooked for us. In time, she even taught my baka deshi to cook."
"Ha! See! He had to have learned it from somewhere! I knew it!" Kaoru suddenly jabbed a finger in Sano's face.
Sano only moved her finger, "You're absolutely right missy, I thought Kenshin just knew how to cook edible food when he was born. I should have known better."
Hiko coughed subtly and the table looked at him, "If I may, do you still wish to know more?"
Yahiko gave a glaring look at Kaoru and Sano, "Yeah, sure, of course! Please keep going!"
"How I noticed her ability was a complete accident. I also took a great risk."
-----------
"Here Kenshin, you have to add a little more spice, otherwise it won't come out even and it won't taste as good." It was a year later and Ayeka stood next to Kenshin with an apron around her clothes, Kenshin held a knife in his hand as he attempted to cut the vegetables that Ayeka had left. She looked at him annoyed at his actions in showed him how to hold the knife.
"Sorry Ayeka, I'll get it right this time, promise." He told her as he smiled. She smiled back but suddenly Kenshin had knocked over a block filled with sharp knives right by her. "Ayeka!" But they were already on the edge of hitting her when both Kenshin and herself caught the knives in midair.
Kenshin looked at her wonderingly with his still innocent eyes. Unbeknownst to the two, a knife had skidded into the floor by the doorway and Hiko had watched the entire scenario play out. For a fleeting moment, a sense of surprise grazed the features of his face, he looked down to see the knife that had landed there a moment ago and picked it up.
He looked carefully at the gap between his apprentice and Ayeka and let the knife cut through the air among them. To Hiko's amazement, Ayeka had caught harmlessly between her fingers, as Kenshin finally turned around to see what was happening. The two could see a rare flicker of a smile on the man's face, "Interesting," he said. And with the swish of his cloak he left.
Yeah, refer to the first and second chapters if you want the author's notes.