Disclaimer: Like I said, the only thing I own here is the storyline. Please don't steal, I'm broke enough from buying my DVDs already! SOB sobsobsob…
Kenshin: meri-san is saddened by her bankruptcy, that she is…
Saitou: How interesting. NOT
Kaoru: Nani? I thought I'M the sad one here!
Meri-san: sniff sniff Aah, Kaoru-chan , we are all sad girls here!
(meri-san and Kaoru: Waaaaaaah…….)
Saitou: che ahou…
Kenshin: Kaoru-dono…Shessa is too grieved to do the intro to this chapter, someone else has gotta do it…
Saitou: (TT) fine… This storyline belongs to the one who wrote it. Don't steal. Or else you shall experience AkuSokuZan. There. I said it. Now start reading Chapter Two and leave me alone.
Chapter Two – Changes
Tokyo hasn't changed one bit, Kenshin thought to himself as he walked past familiar places. Outside the Akabeko, he stopped and smiled as he saw Tae and Tsubame busily serving their customers. He decided to stop by later.
Soon, he reached the Kamiya Dojo. Kenshin was surprised to see that the Dojo was in better condition than when he left it- maybe Kaoru had managed well without him. Hesitantly, he knocked on the door.
The door opened and Kenshin was shocked to see Hiruma Gohei. The man who had pretended to be him in order to destroy Kamiya Kasshin's reputation was actually staying at the Dojo?
Hiruma Gohei had an equally shocked expression etched onto his face too. He blinked once or twice in surprise before remembering his enemy, then his face drew in a malicious-looking sneer.
"Well what do we have here, Battousai?" he snarled, "Why are you here, you little scum? Well, I'm not going to be bothered to deal with a worthless piece of shit like you… Oei, Kaoru!"
Kenshin became more confused when he saw Kaoru heading toward Gohei with a small boy tagging along behind her. He gasped; the boy looked like him.
"Deal with him yourself," said Gohei and left.
"Kaoru…" said Kenshin.
Kaoru's sapphire orbs- they looked so empty- flickered to him, then quickly darted away.
"Kenshin," she replied in a soft voice, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Kenshin was caught off guard by the sudden anger in her voice when she uttered the word "hell".
"Isn't it the life of a rurouni that you lead now?" she continued. "The drifting… without anything to tie you down?"
Hearing those words broke Kenshin's heart, but he held back. Instead, he nodded towards the kid who was now staring at him through the same ocean blue eyes as Kaoru's.
"Is he your…?" Kaoru nodded. "And Gohei…?" He couldn't bring himself to say it.
Kaoru felt a wave of anger surge at him.
"Things have changed, Kenshin," she replied curtly. "Get used to it."
…
"KAORU!" Yahiko yelled at Kaoru for the umpteenth time. She's totally spaced out, he thought to himself. If it's something Gohei did… Angrily, he gripped his bokken.
"What is it, Yahiko?" asked Kaoru.
"You seem so… spaced out." Stated the teenager. "Did something happen while I was at the Akabeko?"
Kaoru was touched as well as amazed at how observant her student was. Maybe he's not as insensitive and thoughtless as I thought, she mused, smiling quietly to herself. Just like Kenshin… no, the unfeeling bastard who abandoned her couldn't have feelings… but why would he come back?
Why?
Maybe her young apprentice had the answer she was looking for…
"Kenshin came back this morning."
The words left Yahiko numb with shock.
"Nani?" gasped a stunned Yahiko. Kaoru shook her head, saying that she had to go.
…
Megumi tucked back her midnight black hair behind her ear. Time for a break, she thought to herself. I've been working my back off the whole day. Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," said Megumi. In walked Sanosuke, the love of her life.
"How's my fox lady… OW! What did you do that for?" he cried rubbing his head.
Fox ears appeared on his lover's head. "HOHO!" she laughed. "Because a) I'm not a fox, b) I'm not "your" property and c) Where were you the whole day when I needed you?"
"Oei, oei, I didn't know that you missed me," Sanosuke chuckled as he reached out to pat her fox ears. Megumi's fox ears, however, disappeared into her black hair. Damn, he thought to himself. I'll have to figure out how she does that ear trick.
Megumi smiled the confused look on her beloved rooster head's face.
The "romantic" moment was tragically cut short when Yahiko burst into the room, panting.
"Megumi!" he stuttered. "K-k-ken…" Sanosuke, who was annoyed with Yahiko's un-wanted interruption, knocked him on the head. "Oei, speak properly, kid."
"I'm NOT a kid!" came Yahiko's indignant retort.
"Enough squabbling," said Megumi, "Yahiko, take a deep breath and take your time to tell us what happened."
Yahiko did as he was told. The adults responded with shocked expressions on their faces.
"Ken-san's back?" Megumi couldn't believe he ears. The two adults exchanged shocked looks- both knew were aware confused and depressed Kaoru became when Kenshin left for good… and how her life turned upside-down after that.
"You think he knows about-?" Questioned Sanosuke. Megumi shook her head. "Unless he went into the dojo, but knowing how he's always hanging around Jou-chan…"he continued.
The former Zanza stood up and started to leave the clinic.
"Where are you going?" questioned the lady doctor, puzzled that he would take flight in a time like this.
"I'm gonna look for that bone-head," replied the skilled fighter, cracking his knuckles. "I've got a score to settle with him."
And with that, he left.
…
In the crowded streets of Tokyo, the townsfolk went about their own business, oblivious to the red-haired man who wandered Japan with a sakabatou.
So many things had changed in his absence…
"Hold it!"
Kenshin turned round and came face to face with the same police officer who had chased after him from the heart of the town to the outskirts of Tokyo.
"Orooo!" he said, his eyes resembling big round fishballs.
"How many times do I have to tell you that carrying of swords is illegal- hey! Matte!" Kenshin had turned round and started running.
Maybe some things never change at all, regardless of the time that revolves around them…
Soon, Kenshin had managed to get away from the persistent police officer. He stopped by the sakura trees to rest. As he stood there, he noted the beautiful petals that were just starting to unfold…
The rurouni's peaceful thoughts were shattered as a hard fist sent him flying into a tree. "Nani?" he cried getting up. "Sanosuke-? But, why…?"
Sanosuke half-smirked, and stated, "That's how I always greet people who hurt Jou-chan." He cracked his knuckles again for emphasis.
…
Kaoru hefted the rub of wet laundry and prepared to hang them out to dry. Finally she was able to get the washing done, after assuring Yahiko that all was well.
Were they, though?
Of course everything was fine. All was going as per normal as it should be… except for that morning when a certain someone had stopped by to intrude on her life, but she was fine. Really.
"Mommy!" cried the bundle of joy that brought a smile to her usually somber face. "Megumi-san is at the gate." The small boy clung on tightly to her kimono. The young mother made her way to the gate.
"Megumi-san," she greeted, "What is it that you come for?"
"Yahiko told me-? Megumi began, "Kami-sama, what happened?"
"Oh, it's nothing," replied Kaoru hastily, unrolling her sleeves to hide the bruises that showed. "I- fell… this morning…"
The lady doctor looked at her worriedly; she knew what Gohei's violent tendencies could do: for she had treated Sanosuke after one of his fights with him, and she had no intention of doing so again.
Megumi took the younger woman's hand gently. "Yahiko told us about...Ken-san," she explained, "And he wasn't too happy about it, am I right? Kaoru-san, I think you should tell him about…"
"Dame!"protested Kaoru vehemently, her eyes wide in fear. "It'll shock him…he won't be able to take it… please, please don't tell him!"
"All right," Megumi reluctantly agreed.
…
Megumi ran as fast as her legs could carry her to Sansouke's apartment. I've got to keep my promise to Kaoru before that baka rooster head tells Ken-san, she thought anxiously. As soon as she got there, she threw open the door and stepped in- only to find the apartment empty.
"Oei, Kistsune," said Sanosuke from behind her. "What did your mother teach you about not sneaking into other people's houses and sneaking around?"
Too relieved to speak, she grabbed Sanosuke by the ear and dragged him to a corner.
"Sanosuke," she said anxiously, "Have you told Ken-san about Kaoru-?" The tall man shook his head. "Thank goodness," sighed the lady doctor, relieved. "Well, don't tell him anything about her, or Gohei, or…?
"The kid?" he finished. Megumi nodded. "She made me promise not to let the cat out of the bag," she explained. "Anyway, I think that it's best that we keep Ken-san…"
Sanosuke frowned but nodded and added, "for now."
…
Kaoru stood backed up against the wall, quacking in fear. Across the dojo hall, Hiruma Gohei approached her, an evil smirk on his already ugly face. She should've gotten used to this by now' the same thing had happened almost every day for five years now, but this time it was accompanied by a raging fire of anger burning in his eyes…
And she was afraid, so afraid that the anger would be vented on him…the one she had never stopped loving for half a decade, the very one whom she treasured and protected with all her life.
She felt his hard fist coming to smack her face, but the successor of the Kamiya Kasshin Rye made use of her skills in kendo to avoid the punch… though she was not fast enough.
"You bitch!" snarled Gohei, all the while hitting her, "I told you that the Battousai is dead! DEAD! Don't even think about that rotten pile of scum! 'Cuz if you ever do… he will be the one to pay…"
He ended off by cracking his knuckles menacingly, knowing the reaction he would get from her.
"Dame!" screamed Kaoru, terrified of what the bastard would possibly do to her son. "Don't hurt him!"
Gohei, being the sly scum that he was, seized the advantage instantly. "Then why the hell would he come back after five years!" he yelled, grasping her long raven ponytail and yanking it hard, making her yelp in pain.
He may have held her got only a few minutes, but to Kaoru it seemed like more than three hours. His ranting was lost as Kaoru's thoughts were focused on all her loved ones being harmed…
And all because of her.
The only way to keep Gohei "under control" was to abide by his rules, one of them was which to live as if Himura Kenshin never existed at all. If she refused…no one could really tell what terrible things would happen next.
That was why she had to change. For their sake.
Authour's note:
So… I finally made that change, didn't I? I really have to thank Twilight Amarathine for pointing out that Gohei's last name is indeed Hiruma and not Himura.. baka me! I really can't believe that I actually got that bit wrong! bangs self on table a hundred thousand and one times
Also, I took the opportunity to change Gohei's reaction when he saw Kenshin… makes a difference, ne?
Well well, so here's chapter two of timeless love… notice that Kenshin says nani instead of oro when Sanosuke punched him…sorry about the minor OOC-ness in that, I wanted to make him say oro instead but as one of my friends pointed out, it would sound kinda awkward in that kind of situation…please let me know if there is any way I can improve on that, as well as on other areas!
I also tried to make this chapter longer than the previous one… many thanks to one of the reviewers for "enlightening" me on that…tee hee D. oh well… the next chapter should be coming up shortly, once I finally find time away from all my work… the stress levels are SKY HIGH here, luckily there's fan fiction to keep me sane…