Disclaimers: Fourth verse, same as the first...

Notes: I'm sorry this took a while. One of my favorite worship leaders said, 'Creative people are depressed'. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was true. I've been sitting on my butt staring at this story thinking about what a piece of crap it was, and how the style of writing is no where as good as my other stories (namely 'Healer'), and how I couldn't believe that you people are still reading it... but then that's where it hit me that you guys are reading it because you really enjoy it, and that encouraged me to continue. Don't worry; I won't abandon this fic. I just have to get over the remarks from my most demanding critic - myself. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your encouraging and helpful words.

Okay, enough of that... :)

Reflections

By Sean Montgomery

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Everything was chaos after that night.

Kaoru was the one who noticed it first, or at least gave credit to herself for seeing it. Everything about Kenshin seemed to fade away, from his unmade dinners to neglecting his chores. There were some evenings where he would merely sit on the porch for hours and brood. It was one evening when she found him this way that she decided to take the matter into her own hands.

"Kenshin?" she asked quietly, more than certain that he knew she was there. "Come inside. It's getting late."

"{It's getting late?}" she mentally screamed. "{He know's that, baka! He isn't four years old!}"

His lack of response nearly made her hit him with the cloth she carried. Instead she opted for placing her hand gently on the locks of his red hair. He never moved.

"What are you thinking about?" she questioned quietly, moving to sit next to him.

For the first time he turned to look at her. Sadness and struggle she expected to see, but resolution and quiet peace took her by surprise. His arm moved over her shoulders, pulling her closer to his warmth in the cool evening. "I've been thinking this through very carefully, that I have. I've come to the conclusion that if you can't explain one thing, fate will find some way to do it for you."

"You've spent four evenings outside and you've just now come to that conclusion?" He nodded his head. "Kenshin no baka."

The affectionate term brought a small smile to his face. Kenshin took a deep breath and looked at the night sky. "He knows now."

"Yes, he knows."

A pause. "Master Hiko told him. Master Hiko... of all people, he was the last I had expected to tell Kenji about my past."

"You said it yourself, didn't you? 'If you can't explain one thing, fate will find some way to do it for you.'"

"Fate has an odd sense of humor, then."

Kaoru leaned her head on his shoulder. "Of course it does. Do things ever happen the way we want them to? Did you propose to me the way you wanted to?"

"I did, actually." Kenshin slightly smiled at her change of face, trying to come up with another example quickly. "I understand what you're saying, though. We never told him, and he found out in a way that we didn't want him to."

Kaoru lifted her head from his shoulder and glanced at him, noticing the worry engraved in his eyes and the pain that refused to leave. The years of having a family had been well to him, but they also left wounds that would stay. She regarded him for another moment. "How have you been doing? With everything that's gone on, I mean."

He turned and looked at her. "It took me a while to... clarify everything. My son knows who I am. It's my fault I didn't tell him."

"Kenshin..." Kaoru said, slight warning in her voice.

"It is." he argued. "We have to accept that. We both have to deal with the idea that everything is going to be different than how we wanted it to be."

"And Hiko?" Kaoru asked quietly.

"Hiko..." Kenshin answered, speaking the word softly as if to see how it would come out of his mouth. "I need to speak with Master Hiko."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Very sure. He has a lot of explaining to do."

The anger that suddenly appeared worried her for a moment until she realized that she felt the exact same way. She cupped his face in her hands. "You know, you're taking this much better than I ever thought you would have."

"How did you expect me to handle it?"

"Brooding. Walking around the house as silent as the grave. Neglecting your chores, which you've done."

His moved his head so that it rested against hers. "I realized that there was nothing I could do about the situation, but I needed to solve it in some way. I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow to talk with Master Hiko and maybe bring Kenji back to explain everything to him the way we should have." He turned and looked into her eyes. "And I'm not going alone."

Kaoru whole-heartedly agreed with him after he said this, but the sudden humor and confidence in his eyes made her wonder what he was thinking. He told her later that he would love to have her around, that he bond between them would help him when finally talking to Kenji, but, for the time being, it would only distract Kenji and possibly make him more angry. She tried to argue her case, but Kenshin wouldn't have any word of it - his mind was made up, and someone was going with him.

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Which is why he decided to chose Yahiko.

"What do you mean you need me to go with you?" Myojin Yahiko exclaimed one evening later, setting his cup back on the table after nearly spitting its contents onto the person before him. "You can handle something like this on your own!"

"The truth is, I can't. There will be no way that I'll be able to talk with Kenji while I'm with Master Hiko, and I'm sure that if I try, he won't listen to me. I need someone to speak with him, someone who he trusts and who he won't be afraid of talking to."

"So why don't you take Kaoru with you?"

Kenshin locked eyes with Yahiko. "Because she is going to be busy, and she doesn't need to worry any more about this than I do."

Yahiko analyzed Kenshin's face for a moment. "You're really putting all the blame on yourself, aren't you?"

Kenshin paused. "No matter what Kaoru-chan says, it is my fault that he doesn't know."

Yahiko clutched the cup in his hand, growling a moment before slamming it on the table, startling other customers in the restaurant. "That's the biggest load of crap I ever heard! It wasn't your fault! Kenji would have found out one way or another! What if you had died somehow and he had found out? Would you blame yourself in heaven?!"

Kenshin opened his mouth to say something. Yahiko beat him to it. "Of course you would! But hopefully you'd be too dead to realize that he found out!" The young man's figure slumped. "You've got to stop doing this to yourself Kenshin."

Another pause. "The only way this is going to be resolved is if I can convince Master Hiko to let me have Kenji for a few days so I can explain everything to him."

"The man better let you have him if I have something to say about it." Yahiko muttered into his upraised cup, taking another long drink.

"But while I'm talking to Master Hiko, someone needs to talk with Kenji." Kenshin glanced at Yahiko, noting the boy was oddly fascinated with the swirling contents of his cup while he played with it.

"Pep talk?" Yahiko asked.

"No. Just helping him understand what's going on."

The Tokyo Samurai suddenly drained the cup of its beverage and slammed it on the table, standing and grabbing a coat at the same time. "You've got it then. Just tell me when and where and we'll be set for Kyoto. Just don't make it tonight. You and I need sleep, and you need to tell Kaoru everything. No sneaking off without her knowing, got it?"

Kenshin smiled, admiration for the boy glowing in his violet eyes. "Got it."

"I mean it, Kenshin. As a married man, you need to tell her these things!"

Kenshin's smile turned into a grin, filled with the humor at the thought of Yahiko giving him marital counseling when the boy was trying to sustain his relationship with Tsubame. "How have your relationships been going these days, Yahiko?"

Yahiko stared a moment before pointing a finger at the former manslayer. "That's not funny."

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Kaoru was already settled in the futon by the time Kenshin got back. At the sound of the shoji sliding open and shut, she reach to light a candle and turned to face him. He obviously didn't know she was awake.

"Did I wake you?"

"No. I was waiting up for you. How did it go?"

He removed his yukata from out of the shadows. "He accepted. He didn't understand at first..."

"Of course." she quietly interrupted, slightly rolling her eyes at her former student.

"...but after I told him my reasons, he began to see why I needed him. He also demanded that I talk about this with you first before making any arrangements. One of my duties as a married man."

Kaoru raised a skeptical eyebrow. "This coming from a boy who is trying to save his relationship with Tsubame?"

"That's exactly what I thought, that it was." Yukata tied into place, he settled beside her and allowed his torso to fall into the futon, unaware that he nearly fell on Kaoru's arm. "Kami-sama, what am I doing?"

Kaoru's eyes turned to sympathy at his sudden deceleration of his feelings. Frustration was bursting from the seams. "You're trying to help him. That's all."

He gave a small, sad grin. "Isn't that what we said when he decided we weren't going to tell him?"

She gave an irritated sigh. Gently, yet firmly, she took his face in her hands and made him look at her. The direct change of attitude in her face was so surprising he couldn't help but mutter his trademark. "Oro?"

"If you're going to let this sadness overwhelm you all the time there will be no point for encouragement. So, if all else fails, remember this - you may think you're the biggest failure for a father and the walking scum of the earth, but I could not be more proud of you than I am, because in my eyes, you're being the best father you can be."

With that, she released his face and turned to her side, fully intent on going to sleep, and praying with all her might that he would listen to her. Though, somewhere inside her, she knew he would.

And he did. She couldn't hold back the smile that formed when he gently put his arms around her, whispering assuredly in her ear two simple words that were heartfelt and held the most honest sincerity he could possess.

"Thank you."

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More romance. And more drama! And I'm fully aware that these are short chapters - maybe this means I'm one of those authors that write things that are 50 chapters long with two pages to a chapter or something. Hopefully, if I ever get an original idea published, the story will be more beefy (for lack of a better word) so the book isn't waif thin. Anyway...

Reviewer Responses:

KYRENE - You're right. I could only answer one of those questions. :) You gave me the idea of putting Yahiko in the story, actually. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he could be a good character to be in here. It all came together perfectly. Thank you! Your other questions will be answered in later chapters (as expected). :)

MAEVE RIANNON - Yeah, I know he was a brat. That's so hard for me to imagine, though, which is really odd for me because I can usually catch what people are trying to say, but that one...that one was tough. Oh, well...

KOBE-MAC - Why, thank you! I'm very happy to hear you have enjoyed it! I hope the story continues to meet your expectations.

LYNN10 - A hot glue gun? Um... ow. That sounds a bit more painful, but then again, my finger has been healed for a while so I've kinda forgotten the pain... I'm glad you where able to feel the pain of Kenji being innocent one chapter then angry the next. That's exactly what I was going for. Do you have a local video store around? I was shocked to find one in my hometown that sells anime. Hope you can find one. Those OAV's are pretty tasty. :)

MISAOSHIRU - Makes more sense, eh? That's quite a complement! I beat an OAV! Yes! :)

TANUKIGIRL22 - You finally saw it, huh? I can't watch it now without crying, being the sentimental sap that I am. I do mean to get around to your stories soon - I'm sorry I haven't yet. In fact, after I post this, I'll check them out.

MS. ZEAL - You know, I really like you. You're very 'to the point'. Good trait. Your first question will be answered next chapter, and the second will show up later.

UNDERASTORMCLOUD - Oh, my...falling over... air!! :) Thanks for comin' around! I hope you continue to enjoy!

CHIBI YUUSHI - Dude, you've broken six fingers? And you're fifteen?! Man... your reviews make you sound mature! That's a good thing. It's good to know you can understand from personal experiences (not that the personal experience in itself is good, but the understanding of it... oh, nevermind). That helps make everything more real, I think. Personally, this has never happened to me, so that's a very big encouragement! Thank you!

See you all on the next chapter!