Twins

(A Side Story for "500 Years and Waiting")

By swirly87

Author's Notes: I'm well aware that I should finish "500 Years and Waiting" before I write anything else, but this story happens to be a side story for it. It will help explain how Kenshin came to be the Kenshin we know without the help of Tomoe.

Disclaimer: Kenshin, Shinta, and all other characters of Rurouni Kenshin are the property of its original creator, Nobuhiro Watsuki. All characters that are mentioned in this story, but are not part of Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin are either my creations or are characters that have been changed a bit from their respected anime. This includes the characters of any other anime that is recognized.

Chapter Two: Childhood Pranks

"Shinta! Shinta!"

A little red haired demon looked up, glancing left and right, searching for the one that called his name. Bubbles flew up, tickling his nose as he glanced around.

"Shinta!"

His name was called again, but he couldn't find the source of the voice. 'Where was it coming from? Who's calling my name?' thought the little kitsune. Then suddenly out of nowhere, he was tackled onto the floor, splashing some of the soapy water on him.

"Oro oro oro oro…" said Shinta, his eyes all swirly from the abrupt attack.

"Shinta!" yelled an exact replicate of Shinta, who grabbed and began to shake his younger brother. "Shinta! Snap out of it! You have to help me! I gotta hide!"

Shinta's eyes stopped swirling as he began to comprehend the words coming out of his brother's mouth. He stopped his brother from shaking him any further and stood up.

"Hide? Hide from what? What did you do now, aniki?" questioned Shinta as he stared suspiciously at his older brother Kenshin.

"That's not important right now otouto. The important thing now is that I have to hide!" exclaimed Kenshin, as he nervously glanced around for his seeker and jumped when he hears a booming voice…

"BAKA DESHI!"

Shinta jumped at the same time as his brother. Recognizing the problem at hand, he quickly grabbed his brother's hand and led him to the storage shed. He pushed Kenshin inside, closed the door, and quickly ran back to where he was earlier, before his brother found him. Just in time too, for none too soon came the angry Youkai lord himself.

Lord Hiko was mad, beyond mad…he was FURIOUS. That baka deshi had embarrassed him during an important council meeting. 'Now if I can only find that little kitsune and squeeze the life out of him…" thought the angry youkai lord. Hiko turned the corner and found a red-head kitsune doing the laundry. 'Unfortunately, not the red-haired one I'M looking for,' thought Hiko.

"Shinta, where is that idiotic twin of yours?" asked an angry Hiko.

Shinta looked up from the cleaning, the arms of his green gi filled with soap bubbles. His nose twitched, trying to rid itself of some bubbles, before he answered, "Kenshin? Aniki?"

"Of course Kenshin! What other twin do you have?" exclaimed a frustrated Hiko.

"Sessha has not seen aniki all day, that sessha has not," answered a patient Shinta before he dutifully returned to performing his chore.

Hiko stared suspiciously at Shinta. Although Shinta was not known for lying, he was known to always protect his twin no matter what troubles Kenshin may have caused. Still, Shinta was such a kind kitsune that it would be wrong to squeeze the information out of him. 'Besides,' thought Hiko evilly, 'that baka deshi has to come out of hiding sometime and when he does…' Hiko imagined the many punishments he could inflict on the troublemaker. His mind must have drifted pretty far because the next thing he knew, something was shaking him and a little voice asked…

"Shishou-sama! Shishou-sama!"

Lord Hiko looked down at a pair of tiny hands and concerned amethyst eyes.

"Is Shishou-sama ok?" asked the innocent little boy, his wide bright eyes looking at Hiko.

Hiko couldn't help himself. The boy looked far too cute and innocent. 'The boy's innocent. There's no point in questioning him further. I mean no one can resist those eyes,' thought Hiko as he just ruffled the boy's hair.

"Shishou is fine. If you see that idiotic brother of yours, tell him to find me immediately," ordered Hiko. Shinta nodded his head and Hiko left the boy to wash the clothes. As Hiko left, he couldn't help but wonder how two such physically alike brothers could be so different…not knowing that in some ways they were alike…

As soon as Hiko was out of sight, Shinta immediately ran to the shed and opened the door for his brother.

"Thanks a lot Shinta for covering for me there. No one could ever resist that innocent act of yours," coughed Kenshin as clouds of dust followed him out of the old shed.

"But Sessha was not innocent. Sessha feels bad for lying, that Sessha does," admitted the guilty little red head, his hair covering his eyes.

"But if you didn't lie, I'll be dead by now," said Kenshin, trying to comfort his little brother.

"Demo…Shishou expected better of me and now that Sessha lied…"

"Cheer up Shinta. How about I make you a deal? I'll just wait until Shishou's temper cools down. And when I'm sure he won't suddenly blow up on me, I'll go find Shishou and let him dish out the punishments. That way, you wouldn't have been entirely lying," promised the older twin, his amber eyes concerned.

"Ok, aniki," agreed Shinta before he grinned at his older brother. "So aniki, what did you that made Shishou-sama so mad at you?"

"Oh, the usual," said Kenshin calmly, his amber eyes glinted mischievously, "I just made him let out some gas during his very important council meeting…it's amazing how a small sack of air could make so much noise when one sits on it."

"Aniki! That's horrible! You know how important that meeting was!"

"I know I know, but I couldn't help it. You should have seen the council members' faces when he let out that one. Heck, you should have seen Shishou's face!" exclaimed Kenshin before laughing at the memory.

Shinta couldn't help it; the image was just too hilarious. He laughed, "That is funny, de gozaru." Then Shinta stopped laughing and his eyes turned thoughtful and serious. "Sessha does not believe that Shishou will let you off very lightly…" commented a worried Shinta.

"Don't worry so much otouto. He'll cool off," said Kenshin calmly, his hand casually wiping away all worries. "Besides, at least I'm having fun. What about you? All you do is cook and do laundry? Isn't that boring at all, Shinta? You could join me in some of my pranks. I could even give you credit for some of them…"

"No thank you, aniki. Besides, Sessha is having fun. Sessha likes doing laundry and cooking," explained Shinta as he continued to wash some of the clothes.

"But that's woman's work Shinta! You know people will make fun of you because of what you are doing!" exclaimed Kenshin.

"Sessha does not care what others think. Sessha likes helping others by helping out. Besides, at least Sessha is not always getting into trouble like aniki," commented Shinta as he looked up from the laundry to stare at his brother.

"Fine! Do what you want! But if anyone makes fun of you because of what you do, tell me ok?" ordered Kenshin as he looked down as his gentle little brother.

"Hai hai aniki," promised Shinta, smiling because he knew his older brother was only looking out for him. "But promise not to hurt them ok?"

"Only if they don't hurt you in the first place," countered Kenshin.

Shinta nodded, knowing that was the best promise he could get out of his brother.

Kenshin looked at his younger twin worryingly. He and his brother had lived at the palace for almost 20 years already. Since demons grew up more slowly than humans, in human terms they were only about 8 years old. Still, Kenshin understood that what Shinta enjoyed doing would only give others their age or other the reason to make fun of him. Already rumors were flying around that Shinta must be a girl for he only liked to do womanly things like cooking, laundry, or tending the gardens. Kenshin, of course, knew that Shinta wasn't a girl and that Shinta was only….well, gentle. Shinta didn't like the violent parts of being a youkai. While Shinta did participate in the fighting lessons by Lord Hiko, he wasn't very good at them. In fact, Shinta was very clumsy. He was so clumsy that he often ended up hurting himself in those lessons, which was why while he, Kenshin, was starting to use a real katana, Shinta was only allowed to use a bokkan or blunt weapons that were light. If anyone bullied Shinta, Shinta would not fight back. He was too gentle and non-violent, always trying to use words to get out of an argument or fight. Besides, Shinta only knew how to defend since he was too clumsy and gentle to know how to attack.

Luckily however, even though Kenshin definitely outshone him in the fighting arts, at least Shinta was smart…very smart. That didn't mean Kenshin wasn't smart, he was. It was just that Shinta was smarter. While many say that Kenshin was smarter than those double his age, those who knew Shinta would say that Shinta was smarter than those triple his age. Still, Kenshin looked at his brother concerned; Kenshin was worried that someone would try to use his brother's kind nature for their own evil deeds. It was one thing for him to use his brother; it was another for someone else to.