"HYAH!" Yahiko shouted, letting the bokken fly in a downward swing. Again, and then a third time, he let the bokken take its course through the air to a parallel position above the ground.
The sound of the gate echoed like a distant parting call. "Sano must be going to the Akabeko," Yahiko mused, taking some time to think. Perhaps he had been a little harsh to Kaoru…just a little.
"Stupid!" Yahiko shouted at the wall as if some unseen opponent stood before him. Finally, he plopped down in the middle of the practicing floor, arms crossed in frustration. His mind began to wander aimlessly about in a dark, depressed abyss. Why had Kenshin left? For what reason did he leave? Why was this trip so important? Didn't Kenshin leave one time before? Was he still a rurouni?
"He's coming back," Yahiko growled, mentally slapping himself for even doubting that fact for a minute. Hadn't Kenshin promised to come back? He hadn't ever gone back on his word before, why would he now?
Yahiko looked out the open door to the yard beyond. A soft snow had begun to drift down like downy white feathers. The wind sighed across the yard, causing the snowflakes to curl upward, and do somersaults as they made a slow decent to the cold, white carpeted earth.
Yahiko looked down at his lap, staring at the bokken dumbly for a while. A melancholy feeling embraced his soul as he thought of all he'd said to Kaoru, and of how Sano had been right – in his own way – about that being a bad thing to say at such a moment. "Guess I should go say sorry," he snorted reluctantly.
Suddenly, a growling rumbled from deep in his stomach. How long had he been sitting here? Ten minutes? Twenty? Surely not long enough to make him hungry again. He stood and walked to the door. He slid on a thin layer of ice that had accumulated on the deck. That hadn't been there before, and it wasn't cold enough to have frozen there immediately. Could it be possible that he had been sitting there for that long?
He looked up at the sky, now darkened by thick, bellowing clouds full of snow. An even darker rim of clouds hung in a mass out toward the north. It was possible that there was a storm on the way. How far was it to Kyoto? A day's walk, perhaps?
That, Yahiko knew, was a bit hopeful. Anyhow, it was already a lot later than he'd expected it to be. He almost laughed at the thought of him sitting there in the middle of an empty room, arguing with himself. Sano would've said he belonged in a "nut house".
Yahiko's stomach growled again, reminding him that it was still lunch time. The thought of Kaoru's cooking was very close to a nightmare, but he was hungry and just about anything was better that going hungry.
Finally, with a sigh, he left the practicing room for Kaoru's bedroom. He still had an apology to make, anyhow.