Kenji to the Rescue
Disclaimer: I am not earning any profit from writing this. Really.
Chapter 6: The Baby and the Sitter
"Cro-a-a-a-a-k."
At first, Kenji was only dimly aware of that noise beside him. It reminded the little boy of the time Mommy and Dada brought him to a place with muddy brown water and tall green plants. It was night, he remembered, and a glowing bug landed on his hand. He tried to pick it up, but it flew away in a blink of an eye. Kenji recalled the deep, throaty sounds coming from a tall patch of grass growing beside the mucky water.
"Croak."
He had trotted towards the sound and waited. Finally, he saw something move from the corner of his eye. It was a big, brown thing with bumps all over its skin. As Kenji stared, the brown animal did something incredible. Its mouth suddenly swelled, like a balloon. Then, it made the sound.
"Croak."
Kenji goggled, wide- eyed, as the thing did it again.
"Cro- croak."
Kenji was reminded of Uncle Yahiko; whenever he came to eat, his mouth would always look like that, so puffed up that Kenji thought it would burst. Of course, that was only if his Dada was the one in the kitchen. Whenever it was Mommy, Uncle Yahiko would turn an odd shade of green.
"Cro-a-a-a-a-a-k."
Kenji snapped back into reality. He was wide awake now, and determined to find the brown thing hiding somewhere in the room.
"Cro-a-a-a-a-a-k."
Kenji paused and turned to his right. The only thing he saw was Uncle Yahiko, who was still sleeping. Kenji was confused. Where could it be?
"Cro-a-a-a-a-a-k." The sound was coming from UncleYahiko's mouth, which was wide open. Revelation dawned on him. But of course! He reached towards Uncle Yahiko's mouth slowly, cautiously, as to not scare the animal hiding in there.
Kenji stuck one tiny hand in the huge cavern of Yahiko's mouth and moved it around. There! He felt something soft and wet. With a giggle of triumph, he pulled.
"YWOAR!"
x x x x x
The disgruntled teenager glared at the red-haired child beside him. Sometimes he swore that, aside from Kaoru's brilliant blue eyes, Kenji inherited the habit of tormenting him to no end. Like now.
Yahiko wriggled his tongue experimentally. Good. At least it was still there. For one terrifying moment, he thought Kenji had torn his tongue clean off. He shook his head in disbelief. Who knew a seemingly harmless little baby could possess so much strength?
"Kenji, you bad boy; you almost ripped my tongue off! What were you thinking! After I was nice enough to baby-sit you for a whole week too! You're a very bad boy!" Yahiko reprimanded.
Kenji did not understand the gibberish that Uncle Yahiko was saying, but he did understand two words.
Bad boy.
Kenji whimpered. His lower lip started quivering dangerously. His eyes widened; then narrowed. His face scrunched up in a pained expression for a moment before-
"Oh shit," Yahiko muttered.
"WAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Yahiko jumped up and immediately took Kenji into his arms. He had been dealing with Kenji long enough to know what to do in a situation like this. With one arm, he held Kenji firmly against his body, and with the other, Yahiko patted Kenji rhythmically.
"Okay, Kenji. Don't cry, Look, I'm sorry okay? You're not a bad boy; you're a very good boy; the best, in fact. Be nice to Uncle Yahiko and stop crying okay, Kenji?" he pleaded while pacing slowly around the room.
Eventually, Kenji's wails reduced to whimpers, and his whimpers reduced to hiccups. He snuggled closer to Yahiko and laid there, contently.
Yahiko smiled. Kenji could reduce the heart of even the toughest street brawler into a puddle of melted butter in a matter of minutes.
"Come on, Kenji. Let's go eat breakfast."
x x x x x
While Yahiko busied himself in the kitchen, Kenji decided to go exploring. He had been to Uncle Yahiko's house only a few times before, and this time he was determined to give this house a thorough investigation.
After inspecting the dining room, Kenji decided there was little of interest there. At first, the large pot hidden away at the corner of the room held great expectations, but when Kenji finally lifted the lid, he was greeted by something that could have been rice once but now looked like colorful turquoise bubbles on top of a layer of burnt… something. Kenji turned around, uninterested. Nothing he hadn't seen before, living with Mommy.
His next target was the living room. He glanced around, hoping to find something worth his time. There was a small, dried-out fishbone tucked beneath a cushion, and that only kept him entertained until he accidentally broke it in two. Just as Kenji was about to move onto the next room, his eye caught something along the wall.
It was a long bundle, wrapped very neatly by a blue cloth. Kenji felt like he had seen it before. Assuming Kenji knew French and was already fluent in translating his thoughts into words, the phrase he'd pick to describe this feeling would be, undoubtedly, déjà vu.
Kenji crawled closer towards the bundle. When he was only a hair's-breadth away, he reached out and touched it. He could feel that, underneath the layer of cloth, the object was very solid and sturdy. Kenji tugged on it and was surprised when it didn't budge. It was heavy, but that didn't discourage Kenji at all. He kept on pulling and pulling, until at last the long, blue thing lost its balance and tipped over with a loud thunk.
A split-second later, Yahiko rushed towards the scene. When he saw the bundle laying on the ground and the guilty expression on the baby's face, he connected the dots and immediately knew what happened.
Yahiko bent down to lift Kenji up with one arm and pick up the fallen object with the other. He removed the cloth around it with little difficulty and revealed a graceful sword, nestled in its sleek, black sheath.
"This was your dad's," he informed the child softly.
The small red-head reached out and touched the sakabatou softly.
"Dada," he whispered.
Yahiko nodded.
"You remember, Kenji? You were so small then, even smaller than you are now, as hard as it is to imagine. Your dad gave it to me."
Yahiko was lost in a world full of memories, when they had been one big family. Back when Sano hadn't left. He missed those times. He hadn't realized it then, but out of his whole life, the four years he had spent in the Kamiya dojo were the only ones that allowed him to be, well, a kid. They all had different roles to play; Kenshin, Sano, Kaoru, and even Megumi. They had to be a sibling and a parent at the same time. Yahiko could only imagine how tough that must have been.
Just as he was taking a stroll down Memory Lane, an unpleasant odor brought him back to reality.
"What the…"
Yahiko's nose twitched.
"Oh shit! The rice!"
x x x x x
As Yahiko scurried back into the kitchen, Kenji scrabbled into the bedroom. Even though he slept in the room the night before, he was too sleepy to check it out. Until now.
Kenji surveyed the room. There. On a small, flat piece of wood, there was a plate. Full of black stuff. Kenji remembered this. Mommy had one just like it back home. Once or twice, he had seen her put it around her eyes. He thought she looked really pretty after she was done. Kenji wanted to look pretty too.
There was a big stick, with fur at the end right beside the plate. Kenji had seen his Mommy put on the black stuff with a smaller stick, but the bigger the better.
Kenji dipped the rod into the inky puddle. Then, he began to brush his face with frenzy, just like he had seen Mommy do it.
x x x x x
Yahiko sighed in defeat. No matter how much he teased Kaoru, no matter how much he hated to admit it, Kaoru could cook better than he can.
Oh well, it was almost noon anyway. They could always eat lunch at the Akabeko. Yahiko stilled for a second. Today was the day. He had poured his heart into the letter he wrote last week, but every time he wanted to go deliver it, he chickened out at the very last moment.
"Oh man, Yahiko, you're turning into another tori-atama," he had mumbled to himself.
He resolved to give her the letter today. And he was not going to chicken out. No, he wasn't.
"You're a man now. Yahiko," he told himself. He sighed.
"Come on, Kenji, we're going to the Akabeko now!" he yelled out.
"Kenji!"
Yahiko searched the living room and the dining room. Nope, no signs of a trouble-making red-head anywhere. The teenager opened the door of the bedroom.
"Kenji!"
The boy lifted his head and looked at his caretaker with wide, innocent eyes. Yahiko had to laugh. The kid managed a clueless expression that would put Kenshin's rurouni face to shame, while holding a brush in one hand, half of his face completely black. The ink was especially concentrated around his eyes, which made him look like-
Yahiko burst out laughing. He couldn't help it.
"Yup, Kenji," he managed to say between guffaws, "You are definitely busu's kid! Racoons, both of you!"
x x x x x
"Ah- choo!"
"Are you all right, Kaoru? Do you feel cold?" Kenshin asked worriedly,
"I'm fine, Kenshin," she assured her husband. Kaoru didn't why she sneezed all of a sudden. She had been fine a moment ago.
"Somebody must have been talking about me." Kaoru made a face.
"I'm sure they were," Kenshin chuckled.
The couple stood outside the Yamada-san's dojo. Kaoru smiled.
"Shall we?" Kenshin asked graciously, and then he took another step forward and knocked.
x x x x x
Yahiko only stared, his mouth wide open, in shock. He had just finished giving Kenji a bath and a new change of clothes. The raven- haired boy was about to clean up his desk when he spotted the ruined letter. The letter that he had spent more than an hour writing, the letter that he had poured his heart and soul into, the letter that was supposed to be delivered to a certain brunette today.
"Kenji…" Yahiko managed to say.
Suddenly, the little boy became very nervous. He had a feeling that he did something very, very bad. Kenji wanted to say something, anything to express his regret. He racked his brain for the right word.
"Bye?" the baby said, a little uncertainly.
Yahiko looked at the baby. A second before, he had been on the verge of tears, but after the one word of encouragement from little red-head…
"You're right, Kenji!" Yahiko stated firmly, banging his fist on the table.
"It's time for us to go! I'm gonna tell Tsubame myself, right now!"
With that, the teenager scooped up his charge and marched towards the general direction of the Akebeko.
Confusing thoughts were flying around Kenji's mind like a swarm of angry flies. What had just happened with Uncle Yahiko? There was one word that was perfect for the occasion. He had heard Dada say it so many times. What was it again? O…o… oh, now he remembered.
"Oro!"
x x x x x
"Yamada-san!" Kaoru exclaimed as soon as she saw the old man
"Kaoru! What a surprise!" the old man chuckled, and indeed, there was a look of astonishment on his face.
"I've got to hand it to you, Yamada-san, you do make the best jokes," Kaoru laughed.
The man looked confused.
"Jokes?" he asked, puzzled.
There was a moment of awkward silence. Kenshin chose that time to introduce himself.
"Hello. My name is Himura Kenshin. I'm Kaoru's husband," he said.
Yamada smiled.
"Oh, Kaoru got married? Well, she made a fine choice, marrying a nice young man like you."
"I thought you already knew I was married," the woman said, befuddled.
"Really?" the man asked with one brow raised.
"Yes, you mentioned Kenshin in your letter," she explained.
"Letter? What letter?"
x x x x x
Yahiko took a deep breath. It was time.
He plucked Kenji down onto the nearest seat.
"You stay here, Kenji. I'll be right back."
With firm resolve, Yahiko headed for the pretty young waitress with the auburn color hair.
Kenji laughed. He had a feeling something good was going to happen. The little boy turned around to get a better look at the couple.
Just at that moment, a cloaked man swooped in. After glancing around for a few seconds, he picked the baby up and headed out the door, leaving no indication that he had ever been there.
Author's Notes: I just reread my last entry and, to tell the truth, it sucks. It really sucks. I felt so horrible that I wrote something so bad, and then I read your reviews and all of them were so encouraging that I felt immediately better. Thanks you guys! 9 reviews! I'm so happy! I tried to make this chappie as fun to read as I could, but I'm worried that you guys won't understand what I'm typing. Trying to write from a one-year-old's point of view is pretty hard.
OHMYGOD! I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to read any fics at all! I've only had time to type a little each day. Hey, you guys, if you find any good fics, tell me about them! I'll definitely find time to read next week.
If you guys checked out my profile before, look at it again! I've updated with another weird incident! This week features: How I Lost My First Tooth.
About this chapter:.1) Yahiko snores like a toad. I'm sorry if the beginning confused you. But if you think about it, a snore does sound kinda like a croak… kinda. 2) Heh, if you totally did not get the Yahiko and the letter thing; Yahiko wrote a Tsubame a letter confessing his feelings for her, and Kenji splotched ink all over it 3) gasp What's this? Kenji got kidnapped? And Yamada-san's "letter"? What's up with that? Read to find out!
Know what? I've got a compromise of sorts. I get an average of 7 reviews per chapter, and I update about one every 20 days, so… for every review I get that's over 7, I'll update the chapter one day faster. That means, if I get 8 reviews, I'll update in 19 days. If I get 10 reviews, I'll update in 17 days, and so on and so forth.
Come on people, let's get reviewing!
To All the Wonderful People who Reviewed:
crazyanimefan101- Eh, Yahiko's not all that grown-up. I try to make him still a little childish. Thanks for editing.
hisui-chan02- Ha ha. Well, the way I think of it, Yahiko does owe Kaoru a huge favor, Megumi went back to her hometown, and Sano already left for God-knows-where, so, naturally, Yahiko gets stuck with Kenji. Thanks for reviewing!
Ayuka- Yeah, the last chapter wasn't so great. I hope this one was better! Lol. Yeah, garlic was the first thing I could think of. But I've heard that ginseng tea is supposed to be good…
Kalai Eljahn- As you can probably tell by now, the tournament is nonexistent. Why? And who did write that letter? Ha ha, you have to read the next chapter to find out! Please continue reviewing!
1kenshinlover- I'm glad you liked it! Did you like the LEGO ® incident? Read my updated one then!
kenshins-babe- Good things happening? Well, good things are happening to my story, but not to poor Kenji. Thanks for taking the time to review!
haruko sohma- Ha ha, isn't Kenji the most adorable little thing ever? I tried to make him extra cute in this chapter! Sorry I take so long to update, but this chapter was really long, so I guess that makes up for the wait time!
Joker- Heh, it's okay if you don't review the first time you read my story; just as long as you review! I'm glad that you like my LEGO ® incident. If you liked it, check out my profile again for another one! Thanks for reviewing!
Miharu Kawashi- Yeah, poor Yahiko… but I would take Kenji in any day! No, Yahiko doesn't get any help, and what will he do now that Kenji's gone!