Okay * cracking knuckles *…I'm back and ready to roll…LMAO…Well, at least for now…I must apologize for the HUGE delay in the chapters, but life has not allowed me to get to the computer much lately and I'm still trying to adjust to being back at work, dealing with some issues with my son's school, and some family things as well…funny how stuff just snowballs on you…anyhoo, I hope you'll all forgive me, I am truly sorry! I cannot promise rapid chapter updates, but I will finish this story, dammit! LOL

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Chapter 15

Kenji pouted as his father helped him with his tabi. His small arms were folded in front of his chest and his face was set into a dejected frown. Today was not going to be a pleasant one, for that he was sure of, and the idea of spending an entire after noon with the likes of Hideki and Yu made his stomach hurt. He glanced at his father, who didn't look much happier than he did, and for some reason, Kenji suspected that the man wasn't looking forward to this little outing either. Why did his mother have to go and ruin a perfectly decent picnic by inviting that troop of mannerless goons? Was she trying to punish them for the other day? Kenji huffed, blowing his shaggy bangs away from his forehead. He'd tried to discourage his mother by throwing an impressive fit in the middle of the Aoiya, but he was no match for her lightening temper and relented quickly to save his hind-end.

He'd go with them, he had no choice, but no one could force him to have fun.

Finished with Kenji's socks, Kenshin eyed his son with a serious look. He could almost reach out and touch the irritation oozing from the child's demeanor, and when it came to Kenji, that was never a good sign. Kenshin sighed and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Kenji, I want you to be on your best behavior today, okay?"

Kenji nodded stiffly.

"No tricks or temper tantrums," Kenshin continued sternly," And absolutely no fighting, got it?"

Once again, Kenji nodded and glared at his father. He refused to make any promises, knowing all to well that if Hideki so much as laid a finger on him, he'd knock the older boys teeth into the back of his head.

Kenshin gave his son a halfhearted smile, trying to muster some sort of reassurance for the small boy. He failed miserably as Kenji only gazed back at him with cold, disconcerted eyes. Defeated, Kenshin sat down on the floor with a thump and ran his fingers through his thick hair. He took his son into his lap and hugged him close. "Listen chibi chan," he rubbed his nose through the boy's soft hair, "There are many things we must do in life that we dislike. Bearing these situations only makes us stronger and more wise."

Kenji was quiet for a moment, mulling over his father's words. How was spending a day with that evil boy and his family suppose to make him stronger? If anything, it would only make him angrier and get him in trouble. He scowled in his father's lap and snorted. "I hate him," he muttered to no one in particular, his tiny voice laced with venom.

Kenshin's violet eyes widened at the boy's tone, as well as his words. Kenji was far to young to understand what it meant to actually hate anything, but he did not doubt for a minute that his son disliked Saito's youngest boy immensely. Still, it was unsettling to hear his small son speak so venomently.

"Hate is a powerful word, Kenji chan," he replied gently.

Kenji squirmed and just shrugged, surprised that his father had actually heard him. "I know," he stated.

Kenshin shook his head slightly and turned his son around to face him. "No, you don't know Kenji. It's not right to hate anyone. To hate a person means you don't care if they live or die, and that is wrong. Hate is an evil thing, if it gets out of control, it will consume your very soul." Kenshin watched as his son's frown faded slightly.

"Really?" he breathed, growing a little worried. He liked his soul just the way it was, and the thought of it being eaten by anything was a bit bothersome. His eyes widened as his father nodded slowly. "Have you ever hated anyone, father?"

Kenshin started at the innocence of the boy's question. He felt his heart freeze over slightly and an old ache return to his heart as memories long buried returned to him. He would not lie to the boy and nodded once again. "Hai, Kenji. I have hated someone and it was a very terrible thing to do."

Kenji noted the sadness in his father's face and grew worried. Patting the larger man's hand, he urged him to continue with his story.

Kenshin stared blankly at the floor, uncertain of what to tell the boy. Finally he sighed and shifted Kenji closer to his chest, finding comfort in the boy's warm body and gentle touch. "It was a long time ago, chibi chan, and I was very young. I hated a person with all my heart and did not care if he lived or died."

Kenji looked up into his father's mournful face with large, amethyst eyes. "Why, father? Why did you hate him?"

Kenshin closed his eyes and sighed. "He took away someone I cared about very much. Someone I loved with all my heart."

"Oh," Kenji whispered, and then furrowed his brow. That sounded like a pretty good reason to hate someone to him.

Kenshin continued, feeling his son's confusion. "Hating him almost killed me, son. Luckily I saw the light and chose to forgive him instead. You see, it takes more strength to forgive someone who has wronged you, than it does to hate. Hating is too easy, it's a weakness.

Kenji's eyes widened, "Strength…to forgive?"

Kenshin opened his eyes and nodded, smiling slightly. "Hai. It's easy to hate, but takes enormous strength to forgive. Those who hold onto the easiest solutions, such as hate, are weak and never become stronger. Never fall prey to that kind of weakness, Kenji chan…never."

Kenji pulled away from his father and regarded him carefully. He wanted to ask more questions about whom his father had hated and who had been taken from him to cause him to hate, but the sadness in the older samurai's eyes forced him to bite his tongue. Instead, Kenji stood up and extended a small hand to his father, smiling softly. "Hai, father. I understand."

Kenshin felt his chains break free at the sight of his young son's smile. Kenji was a smart boy, far too intelligent for one so young, but he did not doubt for a minute that the child understood his words. It was a lesson Kenji would not likely forget any time soon. Maybe someday, he'd tell his son the entire story of his tragic life, but it wasn't likely. He'd prefer to keep his past as far away from his son as possible.

"I still don't like him though," Kenji's cherubic voice echoed, breaking Kenshin free of his trance like state.

Kenshin laughed and ruffled his son's hair.

********

They were a family of cheaters and sneaks, and Kenji could barely contain his frustration. He refused to go squealing to his mother like a whiny baby, knowing all to well that Hideki would use his tattle-taling as ammunition to start a fight. The minute the boy hit the clearing, it was obvious he was intent on making Kenji's day miserable in every way imaginable, but Kenji refused the bait and maintained his composure. Yet it was becoming more and more difficult to control himself as the three of them played a game of toss the stone.

Hideki had nominated himself the official score keeper and obviously assumed that neither Yu or Kenji could count to save their lives. What the older boy didn't realize was that Kenji was quite capable of counting, probably even more efficiently than Hideki himself, and his cheating wasn't going unnoticed. The dark haired boy kept adding points to his score, even when he managed to miss a toss, or he'd give himself two points when only one was earned, and the whole fiasco was starting to grate on Kenji's nerves.

It was bad enough when Yahiko tried to pull a fast one on him, and Kenji wasn't sure what made him angrier, the fact the other boy was cheating or that he thought Kenji too stupid to catch on. Which ever it was, it really didn't matter. In the end, the result was the same and Kenji felt his blood begin to boil.

"Look at that! I get another two points!" Hideki cheered, scratching a tally into the sand. Yu pouted and took her place at the line, ignoring her brother's gloating. The dark eyed boy smiled smugly and counted up his points for all to hear.

Kenji scowled, his fists balled at his sides, "That was only a one pointer, Hideki…kun, and you put down three instead of two. So you need to take away two of the points to make it right."

Hideki's eye's widened and Yu turned around to stare at her brother.

Kenji narrowed his eyes at the older boy, desperately trying to hold his dancing tongue, but his efforts proved futile. "You're pretty bad at counting, you know. Maybe I should do it from now on," he stated dryly. He wanted to clamp a hand over his own mouth, having promised his father he'd be on his best behavior and not start any trouble today, but he couldn't help it. He watched as the older boy visibly bristled and took a step in his direction.

"Oh boy," Kenji thought to, envisioning himself sitting in a corner for the rest of his life, after he finished thrashing Hideki. He refused to sit back and take a beating, and instinctively he crouched low, preparing himself for the other boy's attack.

"Why you," Hideki growled, his dark eyes glinting in the sunlight. He cracked a fist into his palm and sneered at the tiny Kenji.

Suddenly there was a loud thwack and Hideki fell forward onto his knees. Tears sprang into his eyes and he grasped the back of his head.

"BAKA! We're you cheating again, Hideki?" a furious Yu shrieked. Angrily, she picked up another rock and hurled it at her fallen brother. It landed hard against his back, causing him to cry out in pain and fall forward as if he'd been shot.

Kenji swallowed hard, growing nervous as the small girl picked up several stones, adding to her arsenal. "She's scary," Kenji thought worriedly as he gazed at the enraged girl.

Hideki was crying openly now, being pegged again by another one of his sister's granite missiles. "MOTHER," he yelped, struggling to his feet and trying to run from his little sister and her deadly aim.

Yu pulled back to launch another rock, her gold eyes dancing wickedly, and Kenji could swear the girl was out for blood. A feral smirk appeared on her face and she let the stone fly with amazing force.

A large hand snagged to stone from the air just before it connected with Hideki's head. It fell to the ground with a soft thud, rendered completely harmless. Hideki made a mad dash behind his protector's leg and peered out at his defiant little sister. "Yu, what do you think you're doing?" a raspy, yet slightly amused voice asked.

Yu straighten up and dusted off her hands, her eyes never leaving the face of her father. She was unafraid, if not down right daring him to punish her. "Hideki was cheating again," she snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the boy cowering behind his pant leg.

Saito glanced behind him and snorted at his youngest son. "So you felt the need to stone him to death, girl?" he asked, arching a brow at his tiny daughter.

Yu nodded and cocked her head slightly, "Well, ya," she replied, "He was to far away to punch in the face."

Kenji almost choked at her reply, his mouth falling open into an astonished gape.

Saito smirked slightly and turned to his son, "We're you cheating, boy?" he barked.

Hideki stared at his father with fearful eyes, stuttered slightly, and suddenly he pointed a finger in Kenji's direction.

Saito narrowed his eyes at the Battousai's child, then at Hideki. "I don't think so, Hideki. First you cheat, then you lie," he growled, "It's hard to believe you're my son sometimes, being such a sneaky, dishonest, cowardly brat that you are." He grabbed the boy by the back of his gi, and tossed him in the direction of his mother. "Go sit over there and be quiet. I'll deal with you when we get home." Hideki whimpered and hurried to where his mother waited, an angry frown on her face as well.

The wolf turned back to his daughter and Kenji, slowly reaching in his pocket and drawing out a cigarette. He regarded to two children quietly as he lit a match and took a long drag of the sweet tabacco.

Yu wrinkled her brow and put a hand on her hip. "Papa, those are bad for you, you know," she informed him, totally undaunted by his earlier display with her brother.

Saito's lip twitched slightly and he turned back to the adults. "Yu, don't throw rocks at people. You could put someone's eye out like that," he tossed over his shoulder at the girl, leaving the two of them alone on the bank.

Yu nodded to her father's retreating back and turned back to Kenji, a bright smile on her pretty face. "Okay, Kenji chan! Are you ready to play again?" she laughed, clapping her hands together happily.

Okay, that's it for now….sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but it's sort of written as a transition…so, for those of you who haven't given up on me and are still reading this…there is more! Thank you so much to all of you who've followed this story so far, you have no idea how much your comments and ideas mean to me….thanks again and take care….