Sailing On Crystal Wings

By: Hitokiri Musei

Rated: T

Summary: Kenshin is different, but how he doesn't learn until the 11th anniversary of his mother's death. What he learns is both shocking and amazing, and it will take him away from the home he's always known.

Warnings and Disclaimer: AU fic. I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, no matter how much I beg and plead. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

I am different. I don't know why, my father refuse to tell me. My name is Kenshin Himura, and I am 15 years old. I live in Kyoto, in the mountains with my father. My mother died long ago, when I was 4 years old. I don't remember much about her, except her gentle voice and touch. My father is very strict and gruff, but I love him and I know that he loves me. He's all I've ever had, and we almost never leave our small cabin in the mountains. My father has taught me his sword style, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu(sp?), and I've been training with him since I was 9.

As I said before, I am different from other people. My father has told me this, but I have yet to understand it. He says that I will know, when the time comes. I just wish that I knew now, so I wouldn't be so curious all the time. I do know in one way that I am different. My senses are very strong, stronger than my father's are. When I was little I found something in the bottom of the river, something that my father couldn't even see because the water was so dark. I can always tell what my father is cooking for dinner, even if I am at the river, which is nearly 2 miles away from our cabin. My hearing is excellent; I've heard my father whisper to himself in his room across the cabin from mine. These are the only differences I've ever noticed, and I don't know why they are there. I suppose I will learn soon, as my father has told me……

(1864, Kyoto Mountains)

"Kenshin! Kenshin, get over here!" I could hear my father calling for me, but I was only half paying attention. I was currently balanced in a tall tree, watching with curiosity as men walked through the woods near the river.

"Kenshin!"

I sighed. I could tell by the volume of my father's voice that he was at our cabin, so I knew the men couldn't hear him like I could. Turning away my curiosity I leaped lightly down from the tree, landing silently in the pine needles. I trotted towards our cabin, my red hair flowing behind me.

I reached our cabin in record time, all those years that my father had trained me giving me endurance. My father was standing in front of our cabin, onyx colored eyes serious and slightly worried. I narrowed my own violet eyes. Worried? My father? That was a new concept. My father never worried.

"Kenshin, there you are! Where have you been?" he said sternly, striding over to me on his long legs and looking at me sternly.

"Just over by the river tousan, why?" I replied, studying his expression. Normally he kept no sign of what he felt on his face, but I could see something buried in his features. "Is something wrong?"

He sighed and shook his head, then put one muscular arm around my shoulders and pulled me forcefully to our cabin. I nearly stumbled, but managed to keep my footing and walk along with him. "Do you know what day it is Kenshin?"

I looked down, my red bangs falling over my eyes to cover my emotions. "The day that kaasan died…"

My father squeezed my shoulders in a loving way, and I sighed again. That had been why I was out in the woods in first place. My mother's favorite place had been that tree I was sitting in, according to my father. I loved to sit there, as it made me remember her voice and touch a little easier, and it did help to ease the ever-present ache in my heart.

"Are you alright Kenshin?" my father's soft voice broke into my thoughts, and I looked up at him.

"Hai tousan, I'm fine." I said quietly, as he opened the door and pulled me through with him. "Demo, tousan?"

"Hm?"

"Is something wrong with you?" I asked.

His face grew more serious, if possible, and he tugged on my shoulders. I winced. "Tousan, you're hurting me…."

He released me abruptly and I fell onto my futon with a gentle 'thunk.' "Gomen Kenshin. I was only thinking. You look so much like her, your kaasan." I stared at him with wide eyes. My father never talked about my mother around me. "You have her hair, but darker." He fingered my ponytail lightly, as I watched him with shocked eyes. What was he talking about? His fingers slipped beneath my chin, lifting my face higher. He smiled. "And you have her beautiful eyes, such a rare color."

I was shaking now. "Tousan, what are you doing?"

He smiled at me and shifted his hand to pat my head gently. "Don't worry Kenshin. I am only wondering, will you be like her in another way?"

I frowned. "What do you mean tousan?"

"Your mother was very special Kenshin, just like you. And today, we will find out if you are like her in the way that I think you are, if you will become what she told me you might today in exactly 4 minutes." His voice was quiet, and I watched him wide-eyed as he knelt beside me. "Now Kenshin, you must listen to me, and listen well."

I nodded slowly, fear coursing through me for the first time in a few years that I could remember well.

"Your mother did not tell me much, but I do know what thing. This will be painful. Very painful. You must trust me to keep you safe. I will not leave you, for I do not know how long this will last." He sighed. "You can get through this my son."

I studied him with pensive violet eyes. I had never heard my father talk this way, and it was intimidating, if not slightly frightening. I opened my mouth, but at that point I felt a pain greater than anything I had ever felt course through me. Instead of words a pained scream escaped my throat as my face twisted in agony. 'What is happening to me!'

(Hiko (Who is Kenshin's dad, if you didn't catch that))

I watched my son's face contort in pure suffering and as a scream wrenched its way from his lips. He fell to his side on the futon I had carefully directed him to earlier. I frowned, and watched as he clawed at his gi in pain, and I saw the scars he had always had on his back begin to open and bleed.

He looked up at me with glazed violet eyes, tears coursing down his face. "T-tousan…..wh-what……." His question ended in another cry of torture.

I looked down. "I'm sorry Kenshin. I did not want you to go through this. I'm so sorry….." I gently wiped up the blood pouring down his back from the wounds, doing what little I could for him in this time. He twisted away from my touch as though I caused him pain simply by touching his skin, another scream escaping him. He curled up into a fetal position on the bedding, clutching at his stomach as he convulsed.

I watched helplessly as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, still more tears of pain streaming down his face. He suddenly threw up violently over the side of his futon, still clutching at his stomach. I wanted to reach out to rub his back, comfort him in some way, but when my fingers touched his skin he screamed and twisted away from me again. There was nothing I could do.

Suddenly he rolled onto his knees on the futon, his back arching towards the ceiling. I watched in elation as a ripple passed down the skin of his back. With another cry he tucked his head down against his chest. Two great wings burst from his back, covered in blood and the feathers slicked down against the skin. They stood erect in the air for only a moment, before my son slumped to the bedding and they crumpled over his body.

I sighed in relief. It was over, surprisingly quick. My son had completed the transformation. I reached out and gently touched his shoulder, and he gave no response. I picked him up gently, carefully shifting for the wings now hanging limp from his bloody back. His face was covered in tears and sweat, but relaxed in the peace of unconsciousness. I lay him on my own futon, placing him on his side. I returned to the main room and collected a bucket, filled it with water, and went back to my room where Kenshin lay.

I washed the blood from his wings with gentle fingers, carefully cleaning each glistening white feather. When I finished the bucket of water was stained red, and Kenshin was sleeping a natural sleep, at least from the sound of his breathing. It was no longer strained, instead long and slow. I smiled, and then left him to sleep for a while longer.

(Kenshin)

I came back the world of the living slowly, blinking sleep away from my eyes. I felt no more pain, and some part of me wondered if the whole thing was just some demented nightmare. I rubbed at my eyes, and then looked in shock at the blankets in front of me. There lay a single white feather, very nearly sparkling in the sunlight. I sat up, and then froze.

There was an extra weight on my back. Heavy, but not so much as to impose on my movement. I turned my head, and gasped. I had wings! Two great white wings, the same color as the feather lying in front of me on the bed. My father's futon, I noted as I pulled myself into up farther. I unconsciously moved my left wing out of my way, and then stared at it in shock. I tried again, and easily moved the new limbs. It was just like having another arm, only much bigger and slightly more agile. I could twist those wings in ways I could not my arms, but they moved very much the same in my mind.

I closed my eyes and focused my hearing, searching for my father. He was in the main room, and heading my way. There was a louder noise behind the door, and then it opened to show my father's worried eyes. "Tousan." I murmured.

He smiled widely, striding towards me. "Kenshin, how are you feeling?"

I glanced at him quizzically. "Fine, considering I now have wings. What happened?"

"You went through the transformation fairly quickly, and then passed out. You've only been sleeping for a few hours at the most. Are you sure you're alright?" he asked with a nearly anxious tone.

I frowned. "Hai tousan, I'm fine." I watched him as he instantly seemed to relax. "But you're not." He looked up at me. "I can tell tousan. What happened that's got you so…" I searched for the word. "Emotional? Did I do something that I can't remember?"

He shook his head. "No, not at all Kenshin. I was only frightened." My eyes widened. Frightened? I let him continue. "No matter how much I wanted to help you I couldn't touch you. It caused you more pain." He smirked lightly. "I'm alright now, no need to worry."

I smiled back at him. "Okay then. I only have one question for you. What am I?"

He sighed, and then settled into a cross-legged position in front of me. I copied him, knowing it was going to be a long, serious talk. "Your mother was an angel Kenshin." I gaped at him. He smiled slightly at the expression on my face. "I didn't know that when I first married her, but she told me by the time our first anniversary came around. I was a bit shocked at first, but I got over it. After that it was a common thing to see her outside stretching her wings. That's why we got the cabin up in the mountains, so she could fly freely. That tree you like so much is the one she often landed and took off from, and her favorite tree in the whole forest because of its height."

I shifted my wings slightly, trying to absorb all of this. I slowly brought my wings down to rest on my shoulders, then wrapped them around my shoulders and completely relaxed them. They weighed on my shoulders, but it was no discomfort, and it relieved a bit of the ache on my back.

"We were married for about 4 years when she came to me and told me that she was pregnant. I was so excited, so happy to know that I would soon be a father. She gave me you, but soon after she became ill. I still don't know the cause. You were born with those scars on your back, telltale signs of your wings to come, by what she told me. I don't really know if I was ever sure that you would grow wings like hers until I began to notice your heightened senses. She had the same specialties that you do." He finished with a flourish, and watched me quietly.

"So I'm, half angel?" I asked slowly, unsure. He nodded. "Wow."

He chuckled. "That's one way to sum it all up." He stood and walked towards the door. "You'd better get some sleep. This has probably taken a lot out of you." I opened my mouth to protest, but was caught in a yawn.

I sighed. "Alright. 'Night tousan." I heard nothing but a gentle chuckle from him as I curled up on my side on his futon. I was slightly surprised he was letting me sleep in his room, but I wasn't complaining. I shifted my wings uncomfortably, then managed to drift off to sleep with one draped over me like a blanket, and the other stretched out behind me.

Translations:

Tousan – Father

Hai – Yes

Kaasan – Mother

Demo – But

Gomen – Sorry