Voices were feint, but nearby. He guessed by their location and the sound of wood clacking against wood that they were in the dojo training.
Somewhere closer to him, two little girls were running down the hall toward his room. Ayame and Sazume.
"Uncle Ken! Uncle Ken! It's time for lunch! Time to get up!" They yelled as they burst in the room, their constant childish hyperactivity making him smile as they tackled him where he sat.
"Hey ayame, Sazume. How are you two doing today?" He asked, laughing as one of them tugged on a lock of his firey red hair.
"We're great! Come on, uncle Ken, Let' go eat." Ayame said, trying to pull him up.
"Yeah, let's eat." Sazume echoed in her smaller voice, tugging on his other hand.
"Alright, alright." He stood, lifting both of them by the hands that held his own, throwing the two girls into giggling fits.
Laughing, he swung them both onto his back, letting them hang from his neck and shoulders.
"You're up. You gave us quite a scare earlier. Next time you decide to sleep on the roof, tell us first so that we'll know where to find you, okay?" Tien said to Kenshin when he walked into the training area with the two giggling girls.
"Aa." He said, staring at Kaoru, who crossed bokken with Aoushi.
Aoushi was clearly humoring the assistant master of the Kamiya kashin Ryu as he struck slowly and she blocked, then hit him over the head.
Aoushi stopped, making kaoru stop as well as the whole room turned to stare at Kenshin who had now let the girls down.
"Here, Kenshin. This is yours." Aoushi said, handing Kenshin the Sakabatou from among his clothes.
Kenshin stared down at the blade in almost awed curiosity. The sheath had been re-finished, the hilt had been re-clothed, and the metal of the hand guard shone like pure sunlight.
"Arigato." He said, looking up at the man who had given it to him like new.
"You want to thank me, then try it out." Aoushi said, hanging up the bokken and grabbing his own sword. Surprised, Kenshin was staring down the end of another reversed blade sword.
"So, you have adopted my nephews sword? Interesting." Tien said, his lips quirked in amusement.
Kenshin grinned, as did Aoushi.
Kenshin sheathed the blade, preparing for one of the hiten-mitsurugi style's most infamous attacks.
"Ready, kenshin?" Aoushi asked, his cocky grin even in his eyes.
Kenshin nodded, waiting for the black haired man to attack.
Aoushi ran at Kenshin, full force, brandishing the blade as if he had used it for his whole life.
kenshin disappeared, gliding to the side. Easily avoiding the other swordsman's attacks.
When a spot opened up, Kenshin attacked the other man, holding back so that he could have time to block. even though he knew Aoushi did not need it.
Aoushi dodged Kenshin's attacks with a little difficulty, but only a little. The Ruroni was still only partially healed, and his movements were slowed even more, though he could tell the red headed man was holding back.
"That all you got, Kenshin?" Aoushi asked, laughingly, as he started attacking again, forcing Kenshin to dodge.
"Not even." Kenshin laughed, dodging under his sword to poke Aoushi in the ribs with one hand while he slapped the back of his legs with the sword in the other.
Aoushi wasn't that far behind, though, and hit kenshin's shoulders as he spun.
As she watched the lightning attacks and blocks of the two swordsmen, the image of two little boys playing with bokken came into her mind.
When Kenshin poked Aoushi in the ribs, she knew that none of this was serious.
Somehow, everything seemed normal. The only thing the two in the center of the dojo could do to each other was bruise one another up.
Aoushi had become one of the most important people in the dojo. Especially when everyone thought Kenshin was dead.
The thought brought tears to her eyes, but she forced them back. Aoushi had protected them when a man had tried to rob them in town. He had held her while she cried for her ruroni. And he had promised to protect her.
Now, her ruroni was high in the air, plumetting down toward Aoushi.
He knocked the sakabatou out of aoushi's hands, then tossed his own onto the floor. Then, pinning Aoushi, he tickled the larger man until he was flung off.
Aoushi and Kenshin sparred, hand-to-hand combat. Somehow, Both of them knew karate. Sweat beaded on both men's foreheads and breathing increased until it was heavy beyond reason.
Kenshin matched his sparring partner in a double arm-lock, and, finally, the two men stopped fighting. Only to sit down at the table with everyone else.
"That was soo cool!" Yahiko said, still excited by the little sparring match.
Kaoru only sat close to kenshin and remembered when she had fed him, when she had slept, curled into his body, enveloped by his arms after her body had been savagely beaten.
"What's to eat?" Sanouske asked, his mind almost always on food.
"Beef stew." Tien said, grinning as he set down the large bowl in front of the hungry kenshin-gumi.
Hey, Another successful chapter! And it's the right one! Yayness! Thanks for sticking with me, guys.
I am me. -bagby. (My boyfriend)
