Heart Of The Battousai

Chapter 8 - Tonoi

Tamaiya woke up early the next morning and headed off to find her father, finding him in the kitchen finishing up breakfast, "Hey Daddy."

Kenshin paused what he was doing and smiled at her, "Hey there, I was just about to come and get you, that I was."

"Well I'm already up, that I am, do you want me to help you?"

"No, I'm finished, that I am, let's go now."

Tamaiya bounded off and Kenshin followed her out to the backyard before he took out his sword and removed it from its sheath. He handed the sword itself to Tamaiya while he kept the sheath, "What're we going to do first, Master?"

Kenshim smiled to himself, even though she'd done it for years it still sounded strange to him when she called him 'master.' She only called him that when they were training or when she was really mad at him but it never failed to throw him off guard slightly, "We're going to just run through everything we already know and then I'll see what we need to work on from there, now attack."

A few minutes later everyone else woke up and headed into the kitchen for breakfast. After they were finished Kaoru looked around for Kenshin, becoming slightly worried when she was unable to find him anywhere he normally was, "Have any of you seen Kenshin?"

"No, did you look where he does the laundry?" Sanosuke asked

"Yes and he's not there, I wonder where he could be..."

All of the sudden they heard a loud clang like swords hitting together and they ran to the backyard, peeking around the corner to see what it was. They saw Kenshin and Tamaiya practicing, she was sitting on the ground looking upset while Kenshin was trying to explain something to her. Hiko couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, "Well, well, it looks like my stupid apprentice has a student of his own now."

"No wonder she kicks my butt all the time, Kenshin trains her." Yahiko grumbled quietly to himself.

They watched for a few more minutes then Hiko decided to make a pest of himself and went up to Kenshin, "Hey Kenshin?"

"Huh? Oh... Master... I can explain..."

"No need, she's your child, you can teach her to defend herself if you wish. So, how long have you been training her?"

"Since she was four, almost six years now."

"Six?"

"She wasn't with me the past two years so I couldn't train her."

"I see." Hiko watched as she tried to perform an attack, smiling when she failed but tried again, "She's pretty good, considering she learned from my stupid apprentice."

"Thanks Master, it's nice to know that you have so much confidence in my abilities as a swordsman."

Hiko laughed and turned his attention back to Tamaiya, grinning inwardly when she started grumbling to herself about what she was doing wrong, "Which attack is she trying to do?"

"The Do Ryu Sen."

"Well let her practice, you come with me."

"Why do I have to go?"

"Because I said so, you don't need any other reason, now come on."

"Make me." Kenshin challenged bravely.

Hiko smiled evilly and grabbed Kenshin's ponytail, leading him off to the other side of the house to leave Tamaiya alone to concentrate on her training. About an hour later she finally managed to do the attack then she started working on her speed and accuracy with it. Yahiko had been watching her for sometime, he'd stayed behind after the others had left to do other things and he couldn't help but feel a little anger towards her. She was so good, almost as good as Kenshin, but he guessed it was where she'd been training and practicing for years where he'd only just started a couple of years before. He finally found enough courage to go up to her and tap her shoulder, "Hey..."

Tamaiya spun around and put the tip of her sword against his neck, gasping when she realized who she was attacking, "Yahiko... I'm sorry, that I am, you startled me, that you did."

"It's ok."

"Is there something you need, besides the restroom, that is?"

Yahiko smiled briefly at the playful comment before he turned serious again, "Yeah... I want you to teach me some tricks."

"What?"

"I want you to teach me some tricks, no attacks or anything just... a couple of good moves."

"I'm not good enough to teach someone, Yahiko, that I'm not, why don' t you ask my father to teach you?"

"Because he goes way too easy on my when he trains me, I want to learn from you, please teach me?"

Tamaiya thought for a long moment before she smiled cheerfully at him, "Alright, go get your sword."

"Alright, thanks! I'll be right back!"

Yahiko took off and returned a few moments later with his sword, listening intently as Tamaiya started to explain some basics to him. Unknown to the two young swordsman was that they were being watched from the nearby corner by eager, amused eyes, "I think they like each other."

"Sanosuke has a point, I mean... just look at how nice she's being to him and how... polite he's being to her." Kaoru giggled

"Maybe so..." was all Kenshin would say on the matter, his eyes narrowing protectively as he watched the two train side by side.

Later that day everyone headed off into town to get something for dinner. On the way back they heard someone call out, "Tamaiya!"

They turned around and saw a young man run up and hug Tamaiya tightly. He was a handsome young man with shoulder length black hair and very dark eyes, the small scar shining on his chin as he smiled, "Long time no see, girl."

"Tonoi? What are you doing here?"

Before he could answer Kenshin cleared his throat, catching their attention, "Who's this, Tamaiya?" he asked in the 'dad' tone.

"This is my friend Tonoi, he's the one who helped me run away, that he is."

"Oh I see, well nice to meet you, Tonio, I'm Kenshin Himura, Tamaiya's father."

Tonoi smiled and shook his hand, bowing politely to him, "Nice to finally meet you, sir."

Tamaiya smiled at the introduction before she nudged Tonoi in the arm, "You didn't answer me, that you didn't, what're you doing here?"

"I got adopted and this is where my new family lives."

Tamaiya cheered and clapped loudly, "That's wonderful, that it is! I'm so happy for you, that I am!"

"Thanks, so where do you live now?"

"At the Kamiya dojo."

"Really? That's not far from where I live, now we can hang out and get into trouble just like we used to."

Tamaiya giggled and shook her head, "No, no more trouble, my father wouldn't be too happy about me making trouble, that he wouldn't."

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're getting soft on me."

Tonoi laughed and rubbed her bangs backwards, getting her to groan and try to bite his hand, "Don't do that!"

"It's fun to torment you, though."

Tamaiya opened her mouth to make a comment but stopped when they all heard someone yell for Tonoi. He turned around to see a woman waving to him and his face lit up with joy, "Come on Tamaiya, I want to introduce you to my new mom."

Before she could object Tonoi grabbed her wrist and pulled her off to greet the woman nearby, not noticing the suspicious look that Kenshin shot at his back as he did so. Kaoru noticed his glare and tapped his shoulder, "Um... Kenshin, why are you giving Tonoi the 'I'm going to kill you, that I am' glare?"

"He seems a little too... how do I say this... touchy... literally."

Hiko laughed at his student's reaction, "Relax Kenshin, the boy hasn't even touched her yet and you're already thinking of ways to hide the body."

Kenshin smiled evilly, "Who said anything about hiding the body?"

Kaoru and Hiko both hit him upside the head as Tamaiya and Tonoi came back to rejoin the group, "I like your mom, that I do."

"Yeah, she's great, I hate to but I've gotta go."

"It's ok, I have to get home too, that I do."

"Alright, see you later, nice to meet you, Mr. Himura."

Kenshin waved at him and watched him leave before tapping Tamaiya on the head, "What kind of trouble was he talking about?"

Tamaiya flushed, "Pranks... fighting... just being evil in general."

Everyone laughed and started back towards the dojo, not noticing Yahiko looking back to where Tonoi was a few minutes ago, "There's something about that guy that I don't trust, I don't know what it is but if he touches Tamaiya he's gonna get it."

Hey there folks, answer me a question, do you like fighting and competition between two guys over a girl? Well, it's gonna happen in the next chapters to come so keep reading and I'll try to have the next chapter up later today, thanks gang, have fun :).