Disclaimer: Don't own it
The Secret Kept From Yahiko
Chapter 15
Yahiko awoke to darkened room. The first thought that popped into his head was that he was back in that room in the syndicate. It was then that he realized that he wasn't tied up, and he was resting in a futon. Warily looking around, his surroundings began to look quite familiar to him. He was at the dojo!
Yahiko made to get out of the bed, but due to his injuries from bumping around in the river he fell back onto his blanket with a small groan. From the light coming through the window, Yahiko judged that it was around six in the morning. He knew that Kenshin would probably already be awake and working in the yard, but the young samurai didn't want help getting out of bed.
Carefully gripping onto the wall, Yahiko pulled himself to his feet. He legs were shaking beneath him and could give out at any minute, and the room was spinning around in circles as a bout of dizziness hit him. Closing his eyes tightly, Yahiko waited for the dizzy spell to pass before opening them again.
After the spell had passed, Yahiko looked around his room with a small smile. It wasn't as messy as it had been before, Kenshin had probably come in and cleaned. A yummy aroma wafted down the hall and into his bedroom. 'Kenshin must be cooking breakfast, smells good.' Yahiko started to inch his way towards the door, using the walls as support.
Misao was also up with Kenshin. She wasn't the greatest cook, but she didn't burn simple things like Kaoru did. So that was why she was in the process of making a large pot of tea for the 'family.' "Misao-Dono," queried Kenshin from his seat where he was making rice balls to go along with the cold miso soup for breakfast.
"Yes, Himura? Do you need something?" Misao finished boiling the water was adding the green teabags to the pot.
"Hai, could you please go check on Yahiko for Seesha?"
"No problem, Himura. be right back." Misao skipped down the hall planning on just poking her head in the room to make sure that the boy was still asleep. What she did see certainly wasn't that. By that time Yahiko had made it to his door frame and was trying to decide how to make it to the kitchen. Misao gave a short scream before covering her own mouth, lest she wake Kaoru.
Kenshin came running down the hall to see why the young ninja had screamed. He gave a small smile on seeing why. He knew that Yahiko was not one to stay in bed when there was something better to do, even if he was sick. And Kenshin had a hunch that breakfast had aroused the boy.
"Good morning, Yahiko how are you feeling today?"
Yahiko gave a weak smile. "I've been better. Who's she?" he asked nodding at Misao.
"Yahiko, I would like you to meet Misao-Dono, Misao-Dono, I would like you to meet Yahiko."
"Pleased to meet ya, Yahiko," Misao bubbled, "I'm Makamichi Misao, second in command of the Oniwaban ninjas. And, err, shouldn't you be in bed or something?"
"Yes, Yahiko," said Kenshin, "what exactly are you doing out of bed? Megumi-Dono would not like that you are out of bed. Kaoru-Dono won't be too happy either."
"I was hungry." The boy's stomach growled in response.
Misao giggled, but then grew quite serious. "When was the last time you ate anyways?" she asked. Yahiko shrugged in reply. Truth be told, he couldn't remember.
"What is going on out here?" said the stern voice of Kaoru. The kendo instructor walked down the hall towards the little group, looking like she was going to yell at all of them for waking her from her beauty sleep, but instead did the unexpected. She bent down and threw her arms around Yahiko in a bone-crushing hug. "Don't you ever do that again Myojin Yahiko! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
"I'm sorry," whispered Yahiko softly. "I never meant for you to worry." Kaoru just hugged the boy tighter and started to cry. Yahiko thought that he had made her upset. "Please don't cry, Kaoru. I'm sorry."
"I'm crying because I'm so happy that you are alive Yahiko. I'm not mad at you, it wasn't your fault that those creeps got you. I should have kept a better eye on you."
Kenshin nodded his agreement. "I should have listened when you told me about your vision Yahiko. It certainly happened sooner than we expected."
"Kenshin, is breakfast ready?" asked Kaoru, "Yahiko needs to eat something." Placing a cool hand on her charge's forehead, Kaoru was happy to discover that his fever had broken.
"Yes it is, Kaoru-Dono." Kaoru smiled and picked Yahiko up and carried him to the kitchen amid his protests of how he was too old to be carried like a child, after all, he was not a kid.
Kaoru gently et Yahiko down at the table and sat down next to him as Kenshin bustled around the kitchen to bring food to the table. Kaoru was picking up Yahiko's chopsticks when Yahiko took them from her hand. "You know, Kaoru, I might be somewhat sick, but I'm not invalid."
The black haired woman smiled. "I know that, Yahiko, I just can't help it."
"Hey, Kaoru? I have a question. Could you start teaching my Kamiya Kasshin today?"
Kaoru choked on her tea. "Teach you Kamiya Kasshin today? Are you crazy Yahiko? You just got back, are still somewhat sick, and are in no condition to start learning a martial art!"
Yahiko twirled his chopsticks n his hands. "Well, I just thought that it would be a good idea to start today. I'm feeling fine, and if you think I start looking bad, we can stop, I promise."
His sensei looked at him skeptically. "I honestly don't know if I should believe you or not, my young apprentice. But we will give it a go. The moment I think you have had enough, we stop. Understood?"
Yahiko nodded in agreement and stood up from the table. "I'm ready, let's go get started now!"
The tanooki shook her head. "Let me finish eating Yahiko. While I finish, you go get dressed in a uniform. There's a chest of them in the training hall. I would suggest that you pick out the smallest pair you can find."
Yahiko dashed off and Misao shook her head in amazement. "That kid sure heals quickly, doesn't he? I mean this morning he was holding onto the wall for support, and now look at him go!"
"I must disagree with you, Misao-Dono. I believe that Yahiko is just running on his excitement of learning. Besides that, his injuries were actually not very bad at all. Just a bump on the head and burn marks on his wrists."
"Oh okay." Misao went back to eating her rice ball. "After I'm done, I'm going to go explore town, is that okay, Himura?"
"That is all right with Seesha, Misao-Dono. Just be careful."
"Oh, Misao? Could you do me a favor if you are going into town?" Misao nodded. "Good. Just stop into the Akabeko and tell Tae, she's the owner, that we are back and that Yahiko is with us. I'm she that she and Tsubame were worried about all of us, especially Yahiko. Also tell her when she has a chance to come up here and pick up her money."
"Sure thing Kaoru. I'll be back in a few hours minna!" Misao got up from the table and preceded back to her room to get dressed so that she could leave. At the same time, Yahiko came back into the kitchen, dressed in the white training gi that was customary for the students to wear.
"Can we go now, Kaoru? Please?" Kaoru just looked at her pupil and laughed. Even though the uniform that Yahiko was wearing was the smallest that the dojo carried, it was quite large on him and bagged just about everywhere, you couldn't even see his hands, the sleeves were much too long!
Kaoru just kept laughing and stood up and went over to Yahiko. She rolled his sleeves up so that he could see and use his hands, and then rolled his pants legs up to his knees. "That'll have to do for now until we can get you a proper fitting uniform," she sighed. "Go wait in the training hall, I'll be there in a few minutes. If you like, you can pick a shinai to use. Those are the-"
"I know what they are, Kaoru. I'm not that clueless about weapons, you know."
"All right. So sorry for insulting your intelligence," Kaoru said jokingly. "Meet you there in a few minutes. Kenshin, would you mind doing the dishes?
"Not at all, Kaoru-Dono. After that Seesha was thinking of doing some laundry." Kenshin then realized that he was talking to an empty kitchen, Kaoru had disappeared as soon as he had said yes. 'She probably knew that I was going to say yes anyways.'
Kaoru entered the training hall to find her apprentice looking at the pile of shinais stacked neatly in a corner waiting for use. Yahiko was in the process of picking up each one and testing it by tossing it from hand to hand before moving onto the next. After about going through eight or nine shinais, Yahiko seemed to have found one to his liking. Without even turning around to acknowledge his teacher, Yahiko said, "I'm ready to start now."
The kendo instructor was shocked. 'He knew I was here without even looking and I didn't even make a noise! That was just like Kenshin... creepy. I'll just act like I'm not surprised.'
"Kaoru? Are you ready to start now?" Yahiko turned around and looked at his teacher. "Is something wrong? You look sort of lost..."
"Oh, everything's fine. Just zoned out for a moment there. Shall we get started," Kaoru said shaking her head to clear it.
"I'm ready when you are." Kaoru set Yahiko up the basic stance and they began the basic strokes of the Kamiya Kasshin style.
Meanwhile, the Oniwaban ninja was strolling down the middle of a dirt road headed for the center of Tokyo. Misao was enjoying the fresh breeze that was blowing by her and gently shaking the leaves off of their branches.
"Ah, it is such a beautiful day," Misao exclaimed to herself as a pair of children ran ahead of their parents playing tag. "The birds are singing, the sun is shining and the children are playing, what could make it better?"
The tranquility was somewhat ruined when Misao reached the center of town; vendors on the side of the road were shouting out their wares, and talking was going on everywhere. Further down the road, Misao saw a sign hanging above a store front that said clearly, Akabeko.
"This looks like the place," Misao said smiling to herself as she entered the building. Upon her arrival waitresses all seemed to appear out of nowhere and welcomed her in unison. "Uhh, I have a message for Tae, from Kamiya Kaoru... could you tell me where I might find her?"
"Right this way, Miss," one of the serving girls said gesturing for Misao to follow her down a hall. The girl knocked softly on a shoji door and poked her head in. "Tae-San? There is a girl here with a message from Kaoru-San. Shall I let her in?"
"Please do, Annette," a kindly voice answered. Annette opened the door and let Misao in, then closed it behind the ninja and left to get some tea for the guest. As soon as Misao had sat down Tae started talking. "You have news of Kaoru? Is she well? Is Yahiko safe? And who are you?"
"Do slow down, one question at a time. I'm Makamichi Misao, Oniwaban ninja. Kaoru and Yahiko are back safe and sound, same as Himura. Kaoru says that when you get a spare moment you can come up to the dojo to get your money back that you loaned them."
"So they found the correct inn and rescued Yahiko?"
"Well they found the right inn, it was the one that I love at, the Aoiya, but turns out that Yahiko was in Tokyo the whole time! But I don't know all the facts, so it would be best if you asked Kaoru for the story."
A knock on the door interrupted the women's conversation. It was Annette with a tray of tea and a small pot of beef stew. Misao opened her mouth to say that she didn't have any money to pay, but Annette beat her to it. "It's on the house Makamichi-San."
"Oh, Thank you so much!" Misao broke her chopsticks and started serving the delicious smelling stew into two bowls, one for her and one of Tae. After taking a bite, Misao smiled in bliss. "This is a great tasting beef pot, Tae-San."
"Why thank you, Makamichi-San, but you need only call me Tae."
"All right, Tae, but you need to call me Misao. Makamichi-San makes me sound old." Tae laughed and the two women continued to talk until Misao said that she had to leave and bided Tae a pleasant evening.
Misao had a quiet walk back to the dojo, and when she arrived, she found Kenshin doing a load of laundry with Yahiko sitting next to him looking squeaky clean. There was steam coming from the bath so Misao knew that Kaoru must be getting cleaned up from her training session.
"How'd it go, kid?" she asked smiling down at Yahiko.
"It went well, I think I'm doing all right. Kaoru decided that I've had enough for the day and said that once she got out of the bath she was going to go start dinner." Yahiko shuddered. "I do not want to eat her cooking, she burns almost everything."
"Yahiko, that wasn't very nice to say about Kaoru-Dono," Kenshin reprimanded.
"It might not be nice, but it is the truth," Yahiko grumbled under his breath. Misao giggled. "Speak of the devil," Yahiko muttered as Koru exited the bathhouse looking much fresher and relaxed.
"I'm going to go start cooking dinner, Kenshin!" Kaoru called as she proceeded up the stairs and into the dojo. The locking of the door caught everyone's attention- with Koru now cooking they were in for a long night.
Author's Notes: Took me six months to update, but I am alive! -cheers- Hopefully the next chapter will not take six months to put up - I'm out of school as of today, and since I never got a summer job, don't have to worry about that, but my mom has long lists of stuff for me to do! I would like to give a big thank you to all of those who reviewed! Even though I wasn't updating, you guys kept reviewing and that made me make time to write this! Thank you for all sticking by me!
Reviewer's Comments:
SmilingCheerios: That's how I picture Misao and Sano acting when together, so I just had to throw it in!
Terra89: Raven episodes coming up soon! New episodes start tomorrow! If it's the Dragon Knights by RayEarth, I like those. I've never read/seen any of the others, but I have a friend who likes Case Closed
Yakiko4: And a happy belated New Year's to you -toasts-
Sister Jou-Chan: I finally had time to update! Glad you like it!
IcyPanther: I don't know if Soujiro will come in... guess we'll have to wait and see :P
Tocole: I'm glad you PC is back in working order n.n I've never seen OLS, so I'd have definite trouble with following along. My friend might have some of it, I'll ask her if I can borrow. Even though your lookup says you won't be, a revamp of FOL would be awesome!