Disclaimers: Second verse, same as the first...
Notes: Thanks for the response. I'm sorry this took a little while to get out, but this took a little bit for me to outline. I'm sure you all understand, right? Anyway, please enjoy.
Special note: Kenji's acts in this chapter are based off the mini love of my life, Alan (age 3) who I will be spending Valentine's Day with. The kid is literally this cute. Go find out.
Reflections
by Sean Montgomery
Kaoru had always thought that Kenshin and Kenji were adorable together. Some might think that obvious, with her being the wife and mother of the two currently running from each other in the front yard. However, there was just something inside of her that couldn't help but swell with pride at seeing the two of them together. Maybe it was a motherly instinct that had been discovered while she was pregnant.
Kenshin, of course, had been utterly terrified throughout her pregnancy. The thought of being a father, someone who this child would look up to, was the most resolve shattering thing he had ever thought of. He explained this to her one evening, his hand lightly resting on the swell of her stomach that was seven months old. When she announced she was pregnant he couldn't have been anything else but overjoyed. It seemed that the bulge in her stomach brought him back from whatever place he might have been.
"I've been terrified," he had admitted. "because now I realize that this isn't a dream anymore, and this little one will not only be relying on you, but on me as well. It's a large responsibility, that it is."
Her hand covered his on her belly. "But it's one you're willing to take, right?"
He lifted himself from his place on the futon and moved his head, resting it on her stomach. The baby kicked him in the cheek, and his eye twitched. Kaoru thought then that he had never looked more handsome. "I am."
She was thrilled he had said this. Three months later, after Kenji's birth, he had become a nervous wreck again, but eventually get the hang of being a parent.
Three years later, his hakama was covered in dirt as he was toppled to the ground once again by his son, struggling to get his arms around his father's neck.
"Hang on!" Kenshin warned, moving his own arms behind his back to support Kenji. The boy laughed merrily, burying his face in his father's hair, almost as if to hide the sound. Kenshin ran around the yard, making sure to add a bounce to every step so his son would enjoy the ride even more. Kaoru stood by on the stoop, watching them with a glowing smile on her face.
"I want down!" Kenji said suddenly, grabbing onto Kenshin's hair and sliding down the length of it to land on his feet. Kenshin cried out a bit when he did this, giving his son a mock-stern face with hands on his hips. Kenji only laughed more, reaching up his hands to his father. Kenshin, while smiling and his eyes filling with an unfathomable amount of love, crouched down and took his son in his arms. Resting his head on his father's shoulder, it was then he noticed Kaoru. "Okaa-san!" he said, pointing a finger to her.
Kenshin lifted his head and smiled at Kaoru, pleased at Kenji's ability to annunciate difficult words for children his age. "Where?" he asked playfully.
Kenji pulled back and pointed at Kaoru again. "Right there." he said, letting his arm drop.
"Where's Otou-san?"
Kenji extended his arm in his father's direction. "Right there."
"And where's Kenji?"
Kenji paused for a moment, as if considering what his answer was going to be. Suddenly, his hand went up and pointed to himself. "Right there."
Kenshin gave a delighted smile. "Very good." he said, snaking his arms around his sons tiny waist. Without warning, he pulled Kenji close and fell to the ground, his son's laughter ringing throughout the dojo. The whole thing soon resulted in another tickle fight before they chased each other around the yard again. Kaoru smiled, pleased that her husband and son were having fun with each other, and went over to the training hall.
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"Otou-san, what are you doing?"
"Cooking dinner, Kenji."
"Cooking dinner?"
"Yes."
"I can help."
Kenshin grinned, chopping up more pieces of fish. "I know you can, Kenji. But this is going to be a hot meal, and I don't want you to get burned, that I don't."
"Get burned?"
"If you get too close."
"Oh."
Kenshin's grin grew with his sons wonderful sense of logic. Simplicity was the factor behind it all, it seemed. He heard Kenji's steps retreat into another room where Kaoru waited. "Okaa-san, Otou-san says it's too hot."
Kaoru gave an amused chuckle. "Well, it is too hot in there right now, Kenji."
"Yeah." he simply answered.
"Maybe you can help with dessert later." she said, leaning her head toward Kenshin, who looked at her with a slight smile.
"If dessert decides to be part of the meal." Kenshin said, handing his son a small slice of vegetable.
Kenji gladly took it and placed it in his mouth. "I want dessert." he said, his words slurred by the food.
"We'll see."
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"Story, Otou-san?"
Kenshin smiled at his son, kneeling by the futon and pulling the blanket over his small shoulders. "Not tonight, Kenji. It's too late."
"No." Kenji whined, his face contorting into a miniature picture of disappointment.
Kenshin knew that face very well and decided his son was a genius to have been able to wrap his father so easily around his fingers. He sighed, feeling his resolve slip away with another glance to his son's pitiful face.
The child had him. He knew it.
"What kind of story, Kenji?" he said, settling himself by the futon and preparing for a long evening.
"A good story."
"Do you know any good stories?"
"I dunno." Kenji answered, his childish voice squeaking slightly.
"Well now, let me think here for a second..." Kenshin searched his mind frantically, thinking of anything that would entertain his son for the night. He had never been told stories as a child - Hiko would never do such a thing, and any stories of his past would surly do more harm than good.
Unless...
"Did you hear about the time when I was kidnaped by pirates?"
"Nu-uh!" Kenji answered, a mischievous smile growing on his face.
"It's true! They were about ready to take Okaa-san, but I let them take me instead. They held me captive for a while."
"No they didn't!" Kenji said, sitting up as if to challenge his father, the smile still in place.
"Oh, they didn't? Then maybe you can tell me what happened."
"You fell over!"
Kenshin felt his own smile grow. "I fell over?"
"Yeah!"
"I did not."
"Yes you did!"
"When did I fall over?"
"You fell over!"
"When we were playing today?"
Kenji nodded his head in the way only two year olds could.
"Only because you tackled me."
"No."
"Then what happened?"
"You fell over!" he said again, his voice hitting a bit a frustration.
"I know I fell over!" Kenshin answered, and attacked his son with tickles, trying to hold him down and let his fingers dance across little ribs. "You tackled me!"
Kenji could only continue to laugh, trying his hardest to remove his father's hands, but failing. Kaoru, watching from the door, was ready to enter when Kenji asked for a story, stopping herself when Kenshin actually accepted his son's plea. Part of her wanted to interrupt the tickling, knowing her son would be up and about if he got too wound up, but stopped herself when she saw Kenji willingly falling on his father's shoulder, obviously tired from the day anyway. When Kenshin added a soothing hand on Kenji's back and started rocking back and forth, Kenji was asleep almost right away. Setting him back on the futon, Kenshin lightly kissed his son's forehead and stepped out of the room, making eye contact with Kaoru after he closed the door.
"You're incredible." she whispered.
"Why do you say that?"
She wound her arms around his neck, holding him in a comfortable embrace. "Because I don't tell you that enough."
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Kaoru wondered where all those happy moments had gone after Kenji had left. It seemed nowadays that the only time Kenji ever came to visit was to see her, wanting nothing from his father. Not even his attention.
Not even his love.
That thought terrified Kaoru to no end. Kenshin gave love where he went. It was who he was, a person who desired to show that he cared rather than letting any part of his world feel the sting of hate. When Kenji had left in his anger, in his silent rage and fury at his father, Kenshin only smiled.
"Everything will be alright, that it will." he had said. "Kenji just needs to learn a few things for himself."
His smile would fade so quickly after speaking that Kaoru often wondered if he knew he was doing it. He would look at the dojo door, eyes clouded with an unbearable sadness but an overwhelming amount of love for his son who had left them because of him. And he would wait. Wait to see his son come through those doors again only to be rejected for the length of his visit.
It was at those times that Kaoru would cry for him, feeling her husband shake with his quiet tears of pain late at night when he thought she was asleep. Often times she would turn and cuddle against his back, letting him know she was there if he needed anything.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She smiled at his concerned nature that - she prayed - would never change. "I should be asking you that."
He sighed, deeply and sadly, turning to face her. In what little light they had, she could still see the tear stains that streaked his face. "He's left because he doesn't know your reasons, not because he doesn't love you."
For the first time in a long number of years, Kaoru saw what he was truly feeling inside. His eyes held slight panic, his face full of anguish. "He should never have to know my reasons."
"A child of ours accepting things as they are? Did we ever? You know we always needed explanations. We were so persistent to find out why *you* were the one that needed to take care of Shishio, remember?"
"You needed a good explanation for it. Even when I left, you still decided to follow, wondering why I had to do it alone."
"Kenji doesn't understand why and he won't accept that. He's very independent. He just went ahead and learned Hiten Mitsurugi without knowing why you couldn't pass it down."
"He doesn't need to know. Not right now." he paused, trying to put his reason to words. "I don't want him to know who I was."
"He'll find out." she said quietly, knowingly voicing his fears.
"When he does, I'll be the one to tell him."
Kaoru lifted a hand and brushed away the remaining tear streaks on his face. "Are you sure?"
Kenshin breathed deeply. "I'm sure."
She took his face firmly between her hands, making him look at her. "Promise yourself. If you don't, you'll never do it."
Kenshin smiled, happy that she knew him so well. "I promise."
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And at four pages, this is officially the length of "One Of Those Days". I will get a longer chapter out sometime, I swear. Maybe when I can stop feeling guilty about taking so long to write this thing and trying to pull it all out at once... until then, however...
Please be patient with me. I personally kinda dislike it when writers say that because I know that it can take a long time for them to update again, but Spring Break is next week. I might be able to work on it then, but I really don't know. I'm sorry if I can't get anything out very soon. Please understand that I hate doing this, but school is being school and will be school until May. It shouldn't take me THAT long to produce another chapter. Anyway, thank you for reading and looking through my little fic.
See you all next chapter!