AN: Did you think I planned on never coming back?… actually you would have been right, but I wanted to find a good fanfic ( what better place to look). Now, you have to understand that this has no particular setting in the series, It's just a story floating in the realm of endless Kenshin…ENDLESS KENSHIN! GLORIOUS!… now read it :D
oh! By thw way, I have Kenshin say "I" sometimes instead of Sessha or This one, just because it flows better.
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" Ok! I'm done now! You can stop standing around already."
Kenshin smiled lightly at the boys comment.
" Who's standing around? We were waiting for you!"
"Right! And I'm here now, so we can go!" Yahiko responded to his sensei's comment and pushed ahead through the gate to join them on the other side.
Only just a few days ago had either Kenshin or Yahiko even heard about the trip. But, in fact, Kaoru had been planning it for a few months. She'd decided that the residents of the Kamiya dojo needed to get out for a while, So she started saving up months ago, taking just a little money out of the weekly budget and putting straight into her own secret 'travel fund'. If they were going to go on a trip, they'd need money.
They were both quite surprised when Kaoru had announced that they were taking a vacation. Sano wasn't invited to come for two main reasons.; The first being that there was no way she could have saved up enough money for all four of them to go. The second reason was simply due to the fact that Sanosuke already had plans with a few of his gambling buddies for the upcoming week, and he couldn't have just broken them off even if he had the funding to go.
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" Hey, Kaoru, can we take a break already? We've been walking for three straight hours at least!" Yahiko let out a faintly exhausted sigh and dropped his pack at the base of the nearest tree.
"Aa, actually This one was getting a bit tired as well, de gozaru." the rurouni chimed in.
"Hm… well, our first stop is still a few miles away." Kaoru smiled and set her things bag down next to Yahiko's. " Are you really that tired already? "
"Actually that hill was rather steep, de gozaru.." the rurouni mumbled in a quieter tone.
" Yeah! No kidding! You didn't tell us we'd be mountain climbing!" the boy added in resent. He picked up his pack again (by now he was simply keeping the shinai strapped on and holding his bundle in either one or both hands) and looked questioningly at the girl. " I'm getting hungry…can we eat?"
" You're gonna have to choose between hungry and tired," The tanuki stated rather flatly, " Because the only way we'll make it into town in time for lunch is if we keep going."
Deciding they were all a lot more tired than hungry, they all had a good rest before setting out again, and by noon, they'd made it into town.
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"Alright! Lets here it for food!" Yahiko's eyes lit up at the sight of the restaurant.
It was packed inside, and they actually had to wait a few minutes for some other people to leave before there was any space for them to eat.
"Bonjour! Thank you for choosing our restaurant!" a fairly tall and rather attractive looking woman greeted them once they'd been seated. She had a very unique accent, and her hair was short and curved. It was obvious that she wasn't Japanese ( at least not entirely)
"a-ano…" Kaoru looked a bit intimidated as she tried to find a response. Did we… is this… a foreign restaurant? If, indeed, they were in a foreign restaurant, she had no idea what to order.
The woman noticed the perplexed look on the tanuki's face and smiled sympathetically. "Would you like me to order for you?"
"Ah, hai! Arigatou." Kaoru eased up a bit and smiled at their hostess. At least, now, she didn't have to ask. The woman laughed lightly at the look on the tanuki's face. " We get this all the time with travelers, don't worry about it." with a wink, the woman set off towards the kitchen.
Kenshin, Kaoru and Yahiko, just looked at each other, equally embarrassed and excited.
"Hey, do you think this is some kind of western place?" Yahiko mused to no one in particular.
" That might explain the crowding, I suppose." The rurouni added with a smile. " In any case, it couldn't hurt to try something new."
A while later, the waitress returned to the table with three plates of spaghetti with marinara sauce.
"Whoa! What is this stuff?" the boy was overjoyed.
later than evening!
"Wow! I'd never had noodles like that before!" Kaoru smiled , continuing to walk down the dirt path.
"Mm, but did we really have to come back for dinner too?" The red-head smiled with a look of faint amusement in his eyes.
"Yahiko was hungry." she responded quickly. Yahiko nudged her with his elbow from the opposite side.
"Come on, admit it, you wanted to go back too! That food was awesome!"
" Sessha liked the bread with the garlic, de gozaru yo."
"Aha! So you liked it too!" the tanuki smiled at him with a sense of victory.
" Heh, busted, Kenshin!"
"Oro…"
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"So, we're really camping out?" Yahiko looked back from seat by the river.
"That's why I bought the tents, yes.." Kaoru gave him an odd look, making it perfectly clear that she thought it was a dumb question.
"Demo, Kaoru-dono, couldn't we just have bought the cloth and set it up instead?" Kenshin watched the tanuki struggling to connect the metal poles.
"No way!" she kept fiddling. " These have a bottom! The futons won't even get dirty!" The last pole clicked together. " There! That wasn't so bad!"
" That was just yours…What about mine and Kenshin's?"
"…You can put your own up."
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The fish sizzled on the make-shift grill as the crickets started to chirp. The sun was getting lower it the sky. In a few hours it would be dark.
Yahiko was off playing with a bunch of kids from the area. It had been a while since he'd had any playmates his age, and the other kids seemed to be just as excited to play with someone new.
"Ano…Kenshin?"
The rurouni looked up from the grill " Gomen, Kaoru-dono, this fish isn't ready just yet"
"It's not that…um…there's…" he noticed her eyes starting to tear a bit.
"Nani?" he asked, a hint of concern in his voice
"There's… a bird…and…I-I think it's hurt-" she paused with a little sniffle "- pretty bad.."
"Here." the tanuki indicated to a small, chirping, feathery lump near the base of a bush. "I-I almost stepped on him, but it started screaming…he can't fly…when he tries he just flaps and falls over…"
It was a medium-sized bird, with blue and red feathers. Kaoru had never seen a bird like that, so the thought had crossed her mind that it might be someone's runaway pet.
"Ano… it's wing may be broken de gozaru…" he trailed off, wondering, faintly, why it had concerned the girl so much.
Before Kenshin could put in a word of protest, Kaoru had reached over and picked up the injured bird. To his surprise, it didn't protest much.
" I think it has a home…" she said faintly, stroking it's head with the back of her finger. "He's used to being pet…"
The rurouni sighed in defeat. She'd obviously already made up her mind to help it, and he didn't see the point in trying to talk her out of it. "I suppose we could make him a splint, if he'd allow it, de gozaru ka."
And so, they'd fitted the bird with a make-shift splint, despite some protests from the patient, and brought him back to their campsite.
When the sun was just nearly, setting, Yahiko returned, accompanied by some of his friends who'd come to walk him back.
As they were about to leave, one of the girls noticed the small bundle in the tanuki's arms and shouted out in excitement.
"SORA!" the bird chirped excitedly in response to her voice. The girl ran over and kneeled down next to Kaoru, with tears in her eyes. "Sora, you stupid bird, I thought I'd never see you again! And you got hurt! My poor baby-"
"He's yours?" the tanuki asked, a little surprised. The girl looked up at her, wiping her eyes frantically.
"Y-yes! He got out of his cage! Almost 3 weeks ago!" she scooped him up into her hands. "Thank you so much….I'll take him home now."
" …don't let him out again.." the tanuki smiled ruefully at the little bird.
" I won't…" She turned to Yahiko " Bye, Yahiko-chan!" and with that, they left.
Yahiko would have been extremely embarrassed if it weren't for that fact that's he'd noticed she'd call all her friends 'chan'
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uhh.. I didn't know how to end this chapter! The whole thing is very spur-of-the-moment… as if you didn't notice. I know I said thsi one wouldn't be mini...um.. i lied...maybe next time. Anyway, I plan to have some KK waffiness in the next chapter 3 hurrah!