Kenji to the Rescue

Disclaimer: Do we even need a disclaimer? I mean, what kind of freak lawyer would go on to search for people to sue? And, we're not even gaining any profit from writing these stories; why do we need a disclaimer? Well, just in case some desperate lawyer decides to come read this story: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Chapter 4: Blankie

Himura Kenshin stood at the doorway of the dojo; his sword drawn. There was nothing remotely gentle about him now. No traces of the pleasant violet- eyed man could be found. His pose was one of a swordsman, and an excellent one at that. His eyes were glowing in the color of liquid amber, his face was cold, and his mouth was set in a hard, rigid line. This Himura Kenshin gave off an aura that was pulsating with danger.

Battousai's mind analyzed the scene in front of him. The man's blade was two inches away from the slender neck of his wife, who had used her body to cover their son. She was hurt; her shoulder was bleeding and so was her right thigh, but there was a steady stream of blood flowing down her calf. She was losing a lot of blood. He would need to finish that man fast.

"You're finally here, Battousai, what took you so long?" the man said nonchalantly.

"Shut up and fight me," Kenshin replied.

"As you wish," the man replied, taking a fighting stance."

During their little conversation, Kaoru had inched away from the attacker, carrying Kenji with her. She was trying to put as much distance as she could between them. She did not want to underestimate a man who stooped low enough to attack unsuspecting children. Kenji whimpered and Kaoru held him tighter as she whispered, "It's all right, it's all right; everything will be fine." She was desperately trying to convince herself that it was true.

"You're going to pay for what you did today," Kenshin threatened with a growl.

"You don't scare me, Battousai," the man chuckled. The man blinked, and when he opened his eyes, the red- haired man was no longer in sight. He tightened the grip on his swords. Too late, he felt the tell- tale gust of wind. The only thing the man remembered was a pair of gleaming amber eyes before he blacked out from the pain of having his nine vital points being attacked at the same time.

Kenshin landed gracefully on the ground just as he heard a dull thud. He turned around and flicked his wrist. The sakabatou he held in his hand turned one hundred and eighty degrees.

Kaoru gasped.

"Kenshin!"

Then, there was a cry of pain. Kaoru had moved her leg the wrong way, causing a jolt of pain. Immediately, Kenshin was at her side, checking her injuries.

"Don't move," he instructed her. He tore off his sleeve and used it to bandage her wounds. Kaoru gazed into his eyes cautiously, as if she were afraid to find out what she would see there. Kenshin's eyes were a breathtaking blend of copper and molten gold. Very rarely did Kaoru get the chance to see this lavish display of color; in fact, it was the first time she had seen his eyes this color since he fought Saitou. Curiously, she found herself unafraid of him, unlike the last time. No, to be afraid of the Battousai was to be afraid of Kenshin, Kaoru mused, and she was definitely not afraid of her husband. Battousai and Kenshin; Kenshin and Battousai; two sides of the same coin. Suddenly, she had an urge to hug the man.

"Don't kill him," she whispered as she looked up at him from his arms.

His magnificent eyes bore into hers.

"Why not? He should die after harming you and Kenji. In fact, he should die just for thinking of harming you and Kenji," Kenshin stated matter-of-factly.

"Don't," Kaoru urged again, "You'll just be giving him what he wants."

"What he wants? He came here to have himself killed?" Kenshin asked, a little confounded. Then, his confusion cleared up at once. Of course. The man could not be stupid enough to assume that he could defeat the Battousai. He must have wanted to die, and instead of suicide, he chose homicide, though why he didn't just hang himself from a fucking tree Kenshin did not know.

"No, Kenshin, he did not come here to die; he came here to ruin you!" Kaoru exclaimed.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, waiting for further explanation.

"That man came here with the intention of killing you. When all he found was Kenji and I, his new purpose became killing us. All he wants is to see you suffer, Kenshin, and if you kill him, you'll be feeling regret for the rest of his life. Don't break your vow just for this man. If you kill him, he'll get exactly what he wants. Don't let him ruin your life," Kaoru finished with tears threatening to escape.

Kenshin softened. Kaoru was right. He shouldn't let the man ruin his life. Kenshin did not want to kill the man knowing that he would die happily. He tightened their embrace and nestled his face into her fragrant hair, breathing in the scent of peace and comfort. Kaoru sobbed lightly, relived that everything did turn out all right.

After Kaoru's sobs receded into hiccups, Kenshin leaned back and wiped her tears tenderly with what was left of his gi. Kaoru gave him a watery smile.

"I'm sorry; this was all my fault," he apologized softly.

All at once, Kaoru's relief turned into anger.

"Kenshin, I thought we went over this already! Stop blaming everything on yourself! It's not your fault that some psycho killer decided to drop by, it's not your fault that we ate all of the tofu for dinner last night, it's not your fault that I didn't get enough sleep, and it's not your fault that Kenji decided to become a night owl all of a sudden!" she ranted as she glared at him.

Kenshin wanted to remind her that it was entirely his fault that there was a Kenji there to keep her awake during the night in the first place, but after seeing the fierce expression on her face, he wisely decided against it. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her.

Kaoru smiled.

"That's better," she said.

Suddenly, a look of fright came over her face.

"Where's Kenji?" she gasped.

Kenshin was amused with the expression on his wife's face as she went on and on about all the terrible things that could have happened to a poor, defenseless baby.

"I swear I was holding him just five minutes ago! He could have been kidnapped by another psycho killer, or he could have crawled into the street and got run over by a carriage, or he could have tried to eat something from the ground and choked to death, or he…." her voice trailed off as Kenshin tapped her on the head.

"Or," he said softly, "He could have fallen asleep."

He pointed to a little red head curled up in what seemed like a yellow blanket.

"Oh," she replied softly.

Kenshin walked to pick up Kenji and handed him over to Kaoru. Kaoru carried their baby with her good arm.

"How about if I get you to the clinic?" he asked.

"But Kenshin, I can't walk with my leg like this! I can barely stand-!"

Kaoru's protest was cut short as Kenshin lifted his wife.

"Well now, I can't be as cruel as to disappoint a lady in distress, can I?" he asked slyly. Kaoru laughed and patted him playfully on the head.

"Well, since my knight in shining armor has already so graciously offered help, it would be very unladylike for me to refuse, ne?" she played along. Just then, Kenji stirred and buried his tiny head deeper into his mother's bosom.

"I think we better get going," she whispered.

"Hai," her husband replied. He would go to the police station and tell Saitou about the bastard lying on his dojo floor after he dropped Kaoru off at Dr. Genzai's. He would make sure the bastard got what he deserved under Saitou's care.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked suddenly, interrupting his thoughts about how best to torture the man.

"Hmm?" he answered.

"Was that my new kimono that Kenji was using as a blanket?"

x x x x x

A strange man stepped into the Kamiya dojo. He looked, to say the least, abnormal. The sickly white pallor of his skin indicated that he had never spent a day in the sun. His eyes were a beady black, and they had a certain look of malice. He was dressed, from head to toe, in white. A grin basked his face, and it made his eyes crinkle and turn into narrow slits. In some ways, he resembled a serpent, sly and ready to strike at any time.

During the fight, he kept carefully out of sight. He only knew of the results because he had seen Battousai walk out with his wife and child. His research told him that some swordsmen were capable of sensing "ki", so he kept a careful distance. As soon as he knew he was out of range, the man had snaked back into the dojo.

The man cursed the fool who failed his mission. He walked briskly to where the injured man laid and spat on his face. He then proceeded to nudge the man's face with a leathered foot. After a few moments, the man stirred. A few seconds later, one eye cracked open.

"Ah… boss…." He wheezed.

"Here, drink this," the man in white offered kindly. He took a small vial out of his pocket and handed it to the man on the ground.

The injured man looked confused.

"It makes all the pain go away," the serpent explained.

The man nodded gratefully and swallowed the contents of the vial with one gulp.

Suddenly, he thrashed violently, as if under excruciating pain. The thrashing eventually withered into twitching, and there he remained twitching for a few more seconds until he stilled.

"Such a repulsive brute," the white- clad man announced. Then, he turned around and left.

Author's Notes: First of all, THANK YOU, PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED! I'm overzealous because of your comments.

Sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been pretty busy so far. My summer is composed of four classes a week, two classes a day, excluding Saturday and Sunday. (Well, Monday too; I only have one class on Monday).

A couple of things I need to clear up: 1) This story is not as short as some believe, 2) There IS more than one baddie in here, as you can see from the end of this chapter, 3) Kenji's kick ass scene does not come until the last part, 4) This isn't really important, but remember that "long piece of yellow colored material" that Kenji was playing with in Chapter 3? It has reappeared in this chapter.

Hmm… I think that's all the confusion I need to clear up for now. Once again, thank you, reviewers. And I also thank the other people that continue to read this story. Until next time!

Reviewer's Corner:

Peacebunnie- You thought the fight scene was clear? Cool. I had a lot of trouble with that one.

WhiteRabbit5- You know what? When I was typing "Pink was Dada," I thought you might have like it. As for your comment about why Kaoru wouldn't put Kenji down. Well, I thought that a man who was low enough to an innocent child would do anything to get his way, so I think Kaoru might have been worried that the bad guy would take a stab at Kenji if he had the chance. You had to write an essay on Freud? You probably take psychology right? I only know about Freud's theory because my English teacher was talking about him when we had a discussion about "Lord of the Flies." (I'll be 15 this coming September 8 and a sophomore in high school). I really appreciate your lengthy reviews.

kenshins-babe- Aw, you love my story? Thanks. I promise I'll try to write as well as I can. Thanks for the support!

1KENSHINLOVER- Sorry you didn't get the explanation you wanted; as you can tell, the bad guy from Chapter 3 isn't all that important, so I didn't bother giving a history behind him. All I tell you guys is that he was hired by a creepy guy. I'm lazy.

hisui-chan02- Yeah, I have tons of grammatical errors. Like Dent pointed out, I wrote in one sentence, "… Kenji managed to catch Kenji before he hit the ground". It was supposed to be Kaoru managed to catch Kenji, but stupid me. I will do my best to keep Kenji as cute as possible.)

Miharu Kawashi- Thanks, I'm happy when you're happy. 

Kalai Eljahn- Thanks for the compliment! You know what, I actually wanted it to be labled Romance/ General/ Humor/ Action, but I guess a story with too many labels is confusing.

Prince Aoshi- Thank you, and as you can see, I did continue the story.

chibi-oro-redhead- Thanks for the support! Your wish came true- Kenshin did kick the dude's ass. Are you British by any chance? You spell "ass" "arse". That's British. Right?

Dent- I know you love me, Claudie, but two reviews for one chapter? That's touching. Lol! You make me look so desperate! You actually put my name instead of your name in the "Reviewer's Name" thing. Lol. Nerd! You are a idiot, but thanks for reading my story! I love that you love it. Don't worry; your review isn't wasted. I'm actually double checking my work for grammatical errors! gasp

alex- So, you FINALLY decided to read my story have you? You poor thing, you have to go study… well, Wendy, Angela, and I are all suffering with you, but Wendy gets it easy cuz it's her last week of school… not fair. Angela has to go to school from like 8:00 to 6:00; that's a long time. You have classes in the afternoon while I have to wake up at 6:30 every morning. Yup, this summer has been pretty boring, but at least you're out of country. I'm stuck here in Fremont/ San Jose.