Chapter 7

The Long Kept Truth

(Kenji)

I yawned, stretching from my position in my futon. I didn't want to get up, but I instinctively knew that I really should. It was nearly time for breakfast, and it was my turn to cook. Mom and Dad were probably still sleeping. I knew that they had been up late last night, for reasons I didn't know. They had been sitting in the practice room, just sitting there. It had been confusing to me, but I had left them alone and gone to bed.

I stood, pulling off my yukata and getting dressed in a clean gi and hakama. I combed out my loose red hair and then tied it in a topknot, leaving the room. I sighed slightly as I began the meal, thinking back to the last year.

Dad had been permanently blind and deaf for a year now, and to my relief things were getting better. He no longer reacted violently if you touched him or woke him, he would first seek out a hand or a face. He could easily communicate with us, though he still had some trouble reading what we said in our lips. We had to speak more slowly for him, and sometimes repeat it.

I still hated the fact that I was the cause of this pain for him. If I hadn't been born the way I had been, he would still be relatively healthy, not a dying blind and deaf man. Aunt Meg had been right, Dad's heart was growing weaker, he had trouble breathing now, he couldn't run, he couldn't do anything strenuous, even lifting the laundry basket or helping with cleaning the dojo. It was too much for his heart and lungs; he would loose his breath easily, and then have trouble regaining it.

I wished often that there was some way I could help him. Something I could do to give him back what he had lost, to help him live a normal life just like he had done for me. I had tried often to talk with the gods, but they never answered me, they remained silent.

I suddenly heard a cry, and I looked up sharply. 'Mom!'

(Kaoru)

I woke to a twisting body beside me. My eyes snapped open and I looked instantly to Kenshin. He had a hand clenched in the cloth of his yukata over his heart, his body bucking as he struggled to breathe. He was choking and gagging, his face growing pale. I screamed, shooting upright on the bed.

I quickly tried to hold Kenshin down, trying to get him still so I could give him air. He fought me, white glazed eyes wide and staring straight through me. "Please Kenshin!" I said pleadingly, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. He still fought, body twisting in a frantic attempt to get away from me.

Kenji ran into the room at that moment, swearing under his breath when he saw what was happening. If I hadn't been so worried I might have stopped to tell him not to swear, but at that moment Kenshin opened his mouth, letting out a piercing scream. I pulled away from him at that, fear flooding into me.

Kenji closed his eyes and covered his ears at the sound, cringing away from his father. Kenshin kept screaming, his body still twisting and bucking. Now I realized, he wasn't trying to get away from me, he was trying to escape the pain.

I stood, frantically running to get a shawl and wrap it around my shoulders. I ran from the room, one purpose in my mind. Get Megumi.

(Kenji)

When I opened my eyes Mom was gone, and Dad was no longer screaming, but still obviously in pain. I ran to his side, pulling one of his hands from where they were both fisted over his heart, wrapping my fingers in his and showing that I was there for him.

His grasp was tight, his fingers curled into vice-like grips. I continued to hold his hand, though I was terrified. After a while Dad's body began to stop moving and he sank back into the blankets, his grip on my hand loosening and finally going limp.

I sighed, releasing the limp hand and taking a cloth from my gi. I wiped the sweat from Dad's face, and then cleaned away the blood trickling from between his lips where he'd probably bitten his tongue. 'How many times am I going to have to do this?' I thought worriedly. 'How much longer is Dad going to be able to hold out against this massive pain?'

I felt anger flare up in me and I raised my face to the sky. "How much longer is he going to suffer?"

My breathing was heavy, caused by my heightened emotions, and I looked back down to Dad's pale face, sighing as I wiped the cloth over his forehead one last time. What I didn't expect was to be answered.

How much longer, Himura Kenji?

I gasped, looking around frantically. I suddenly realized that I was finally being answered. "What do you want? Why do you allow him to suffer like this!"

There was a chuckle. He exchanged his sight and hearing for your own Himura Kenji. This is simply a side-effect.

I growled. "The side-effect is pain? Maybe even his life? Do you want him to die?"

Well, actually, you seem to have pinpointed my purpose.

My jaw dropped. "You…you want him to die?" I blinked, looking back down at my father. "Why? What has he ever done? He's a good man!"

Again that chuckle that drove me insane. Ah, so he is now, but what about in his younger days? Have you forgotten that time Himura Kenji?

I blinked, confused. "Younger days? What did Dad do?"

You don't know? I see, he has been afraid to tell you. Well, I'm no longer giving him that choice. You will see now, you will know. And you will understand why Himura Kenshin's life is mine to claim.

The walls around me began to swirl together, and I felt my body growing light and weightless. Black crept in, and I fell across my father's body as I sank into the blackness.

I opened my eyes with a start, sitting up straight. I shook my head, trying to clear away the last vestiges of dizziness. When I had done so I looked around myself curiously.

I was in Kyoto! I could see familiar buildings, and I stood, walking around slowly. But, it was different somehow. There was something that wasn't quite the same. I looked through the dark window of one of the shops, trying to find a clue about what was going on. There was no one around; there was no way to find out anything.

Suddenly a man stepped from around the corner. I automatically took a step back, blinking at the sight of him. He was tall, wearing a cloak that concealed his entire being, and possessed calculating crimson eyes. "Come Himura Kenji. I will show you the reason behind my doings."

I knew that this was the mysterious voice I had heard, and I followed him silently and with no complaint. He led me through the darkened streets, and I finally decided to ask him where we were. "What's going on?"

I could hear the faint chuckle from him easily even though he wasn't facing me. "Kyoto, 1864."

I blinked. "1864?"

"Indeed. Himura Kenshin is currently 15 years old. He is fighting in the Bakumatsu, leaving his own mark upon the history. Ah, there he is now."

I looked up to see a figure standing in front of me, staring ahead of him with intent. There were three other people walking along, chatting idly as they did so. I looked back to the person standing in front of me, and I recognized Dad's crimson hair, even in the shadows, tied in a topknot like mine. 'Dad never puts his hair up like that…' I thought faintly.

As the men passed my father took a step, his hand tightening around a hilt at his side. "You are Jubee Shigekura, of the Kyoto Shoshidai, aren't you?"

I blinked. "What is he doing?"

The figure beside me shook his head. "Just watch Himura Kenji, you will see."

"And now old man, you will pay for your tyranny."

At that moment my father was rushed by one of the men, but he dodged easily, slamming the sheath of his sword into the man's eye, unsheathing the sword and slicing through the man in one fluid motion. I gasped, taking a step back. Dad slaughtered all of the men there, only earning himself one stripe of what would later become the cross-shaped scar that marked his face.

I looked to the man beside me, terror on my face. "What's going on? Tell me why you're showing me this!"

"Because this makes Himura Kenshin the strongest, and this is why I wanted to destroy him, and why I ended up losing my life for that purpose. It is not fair that he continues to live on, unspoiled by what happened to him."

I realized now that this man was crazy, that I needed to go back to my father. "Take me back home!"

The man shook his head. "Iie Himura Kenji, you have yet to understand what I want to show you. You do not know the extent of your father's crimes."

Images began to flash before me, men being sliced in half, heads rolling, bodies falling, blood spraying. And my father, my gentle, peaceful father, was the wielder of the sword that did it all.

"No! Stop! Stop it! STOP!" I screamed, shielding my eyes frantically. The images finally stopped moving, and I looked at the man standing beside me. I didn't realize that there were tears on my face until I felt the warmth of them rolling down my cheeks. I wiped them away frantically, staring through clouded blue eyes at the man that had taken me here. "What do you mean to say by this?"

The man shook his head. "You still do not understand. Himura Kenshin, your father, was the Hitokiri Battousai, responsible for hundreds of lives being ended, for shedding the blood that made Kyoto's streets turn red."

This hit me like lighting, and I felt my knees give out. "W-what? Dad? A…murderer?"

"Ah, so you see it now. Do you know now why I want your father's life, Himura Kenji?"

I couldn't speak, couldn't think. 'Dad…what have you been telling me all my life that I never knew this? What have you been hiding from me? And why?'