Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin aint mine.
Note: Thanks everyone, for reading and reviewing! It's fun writing this, I've always wanted Saitou tortured by Kenshin's kid. It just seems...fitting.
Not to give anything away of course. :D
The inspiration for this fic is drawn upon from an experience I had with a friends little bro. I was over at her house playing withthe kidwhen a cop came to the door asking for his dad. Turns out the cop was a friend of his dad, and needed his help with something, but the toddler went all crazy and thought he was taking his dad away. LOL, you just had to be there!
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Chapter Three: Not Nice!
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Saitou straightened as he saw Kenshin approach.
He put his box of matches back in his pocket and took a drag off the fresh cigarette. "You're back." he commented, smug as ever. "Your spawn giving you trouble?"
Kenshin scowled, folding his arms across his chest.
"Tell me Saitou, in twenty five words or less, why I have been arrested. Then I'll decide whether I'm coming with you. My son was very upset that I had to leave him, that he was, so I'd prefer it if I wouldn't have to."
"The reason you have been arrested is complicated. I'd much rather explain it when we get to the station, but since you're in such a pitiful state, I'll tell you now. You see..."
Kenshin frowned as Saitou trailed off, shifting his amber gaze to a point behind the smaller man. He suddenly looked annoyed and took a long puff of his beloved nicotine to calm himself.
"Because of what Saitou! Just say it, please!"
But Saitou was still staring beyond Kenshin, his eyes narrowing more and more until they became slits. "I thought you said you were going to put the brat away?"
"Oro?" uttered Kenshin, turning around.
He was just in time to see a blur of red, grey and green barrel into his legs. He was bewildered, to say the least. Didn't he just hand him over to Kaoru? How did he get back so fast? Kenji clutched a good handful of his father's hakama. "Coming with Tousan," he whispered defiantly.
Kenshin peered down at him. Were those tears on his face? His chest immediately constricted.
There was no way he could stand to see his son cry. He bent down and pulled him into a tight hug. "Kenji-chan..." Kenji sniffled against his father's shoulder. He was not going to let him be taken away by the bad pleeseman. And if he couldn't stop the bad pleeseman, well then, Kenji would make sure to go with his Otousan.
"There is no need for you to cry, that there isn't! Tousan will come back to play with you, as soon as he is finished with the policeman. Okay Kenji-chan? You can go back to Okaasan now, I won't be long." But Kenji would not be swayed.
He protectively tightened his hold around Kenshin's neck, then turned his head to glare at Saitou, who was clearing his throat again. "Battousai, my patience is wearing extremely thin. If you don't come with me, you will be facing additional charges. Resistance against an officer of the law is one. Now will you send your brat along?"
"Not nice!" Kenji suddenly shouted, taking Saitou by surprise. He pointed a chubby finger at the man. "You not nice!"
"Well excuse me," Saitou coolly responded to the kid, whose eyes only narrowed further.
Kenshin sighed as he tried to pry Kenji's arms off his neck for fear of being strangled. "Kenji-chan..How did you leave Okaasan in the first place?"
Kenji smiled proudly, momentarily distracted from trying to make the bad pleeseman's head go explody with his eyes. Uncle Sano had told him he always did that with pleeseman.
"Kaasan give me to Yaako," He explained in his father's ear, still not willing to release him.
"And?"
"And I bite Yaako!" He grinned merrily.
"Well isn't he a charming one," Saitou commented sarcastically. Kenshin ignored him.
"Kenji-chan, remember how I told you pulling Tousan's hair is not nice? Well, biting people is not nice either."
Kenji nodded. "Biting not nice," he repeated.
Truth was, the toddler did feel a little guilty for causing his brother pain. But he had to come back to his father, or the pleeseman would have taken him away!
Kenji remembered a time when he was smaller than he was now, when a very tall man came to his house and took his father away. Kenshin had hugged him and told him he would be back, that he had to help some people, but he hadn't been back for days.
Kenji had begun to wonder if it was his being naughty that had made his Otousan leave. He had never felt so worried and upset, especially since his Okaasan had been worried too...He thought his father would never come back... He was not going to risk the same thing happening again. what if this time, Tousan really did leave forever?
"KENJI, WHERE DID YOU GO, YOU RUNT!" a loud and irritated voice rang out across the dojo.
Kenji suddenly released his grip on Kenshin, distracted out of his thoughts by Yahiko's voice. He cautiously moved a few paces forward to try and see which direction the young Kendi Master would be coming from.
Kenshin straightened immediately, and Saitou wasted no time at all in clapping the handcuffs around his wrists.The rurouni glared at him.
"You don't actually think I'm going to walk into town with these on do you?"
"Battousai, we must keep up appearances," Saitou hissed through clenched teeth. "I said I'll explain when we get there. That should be good enough for you."
"NOOOOOOOO!"
"Huh?"
"Oro?"
With lightning speed, Kenji hurled himself at the startled Saitou, ferociously kicking him in the left leg with all the strength he could muster. And it just so happened that today he was wearing his favourite wooden sandals.
"Arrghh, you demon!" Saitou howled, dropping his cigarette and clutching his leg.
Before Kenshin could reprimand him however, Kenji rushed forward and anxiously started tugging at the handcuffs binding his father's wrists. "Oro!" cried poor Kenshin as he pitched forward.
"Kenji! What are you doing!" He exclaimed as he struggled to stay upright. He rubbed his sore wrists, wincing.
"Take off, take off!" Kenji insisted, his voice rising.
"Kenji-chan, these can't be taken off like that, they're locked! And apologise to Saitou-san right now, kicking is definitely not nice Kenji!"
"No!" shouted his little progeny, refusing to agree with him on this matter.
"No, no, no! Pleeseman not nice! Pleeseman hurt Tousan! Kenji kick Pleeseman!"
Kenshin blinked in surprise. Oro?
"Pleeseman not taking Tousan away!" The boy's eyes were watery now.
Kenshin stared at his kid in amazement.
He's trying to protect me! He thinks that Saitou is a threat to me, and he's trying to protect me! He's only three years old... he doesn't understand what's going on... He affectionately gathered Kenji into his arms, patting his head as best he could with the handcuffs on.
"My sweet little boy," he said softly. "The policeman is not going to hurt Tousan. You need to say sorry Kenji. Kicking is never a good thing to do, that it isn't. Good boys don't behave that way."
''Sowwy," Kenji said grudgingly, not looking at the tall man. Saitou glowered at him.
"Battousai, leave your brat, and come with me now, unless you want more trouble than you are already in."
"No!" Kenji hollered, blue gaze darkening once more. "You not taking Tousan!"
"Kenji-chan.." Kenshin attempted to explain again. "Tousan wants to go with Saitou-san. I promise I'll be okay, that I will. You run along now, alright?"
Kenji blinked. Tousan wanted to go with the bad pleeseman? He scrunched up his face as though he were considering the situation. Kenshin watched him with bated breath.
Tousan thinks pleecman nice! But Kenji knows truth...Kenji must protect Tousan...no matter what Tousan says...
Kenji gave a quick nod. Saitou could have breathed a sigh of relief if it weren't for his pride. He feared that if the boy was in front of him any longer, he would be forced to extend his life's philosophy to include the brat.
"Then I comin with Tousan," Kenji announced after his deliberation.
Kenshin groaned. He had never seen his son so determined in his life. He knew however, that once Kenji had made up his mind about something, it was nearly impossible to change it. Kaoru often liked to say that this was a trait he'd inherited from his father, although Kenshin insisted he most certainly got it from her as well. Yahiko had aptly commented that Kenji probably had an overabundance of determination genes because of that, making him a mad demon. Needless to say, he had received a painful whack on the head for saying that.
"I'm sorry. It looks like my son is coming with us."
Kenji grinned. He was coming!
"I think it'd be wise for you not to test my limits Battousai."
"Well, would you like to pry him off me then?"
Saitou glanced at the toddler. Kenji bared his teeth at him. Abruptly, he turned from the gates and started walking.
"Hurry up," the ex Shinsengumi growled. "We've already wasted enough time."
"Yahiko!" Kenshin called out, lowering Kenji to the ground to shut the gates. "Kenji-chan is coming with me so please let Kaoru-dono know!"
"Wait Kenshin!" the irritated teenager called as he came running from around the side of the house. "Your kid just bit a hole in my hand! Come back here!"
Kenshin sighed as they began walking down the path. He would have to make sure Kenji properly apologised to Yahiko when they got back. The tall teen was still waving his reverse blade around, looking very mad. "Come back here Kenshin! Kennnn shiiiiiinnnn!"
As they walked through the Tokyo market place, Saitou kept in front, allowing sufficient distance between him and Kenshin, because Kenji bared his teeth at him in warning whenever he thought the 'bad pleeseman' was coming too close.
In a way Kenshin was glad Kenji was accompanying him. One, he would have been feeling very bad if he'd left him crying at the dojo, and two, with Kenji sitting in his arms, the townspeople couldn't really see that he was wearing handcuffs. A few were whispering though, and some were nodding their heads. Kenshin ignored them.
I'll find a way to make sure Kenji doesn't have to hear the reason for my arrest..maybe another officer will be willing to watch him...
As Saitou strolled along, his left leg still throbbing painfully, he entertained himself by imagining all sorts of interesting ways in which the two red heads could be snuffed. Maybe I'll lock the brat up in a cell when we get to the station, he thought to himself, cheering up immediately.
Since it will no doubt become his permanent home in the future. Hmmpff!
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