A/N: Well, here's my next chapter! Sorry it took so long, school is keeping me very preoccupied lately... Ah well, we'll start out this chapter and see how things look from Kenshin's point of view! Yay! Read to your heart's content.
Kenshin sat down by a pond, eyes softening as he looked at a tiny pebble in his hand. It had been three days since he left Osaka and was hopefully going to return to his wife and son in a matter of a week. Kenshin was aware of the fact that he had often left his love behind, constantly raising Kenji on her own. He knew how difficult it was but Kaoru had said countless times that she hadn't minded. Clenching the pebble in hand, he tossed it lightly and watched as it skimmed across the blue water's surface. The tiny ripples that emanated from his throw gradually widened in diameter and slowly spread throughout the pond until they could no longer be seen. Kenshin sighed heavily and let his shoulders drop.
"Is everything all right, Himura-san?" came the small voice of the woman that Kenshin aided from a band of thugs not too long ago. Kenshin looked back at her and smiled. She wore a bright lavender kimono, the bow that rested against her back was a calm navy color. In many ways, he was reminded of Kaoru. "You've been sitting here for the past three hours instead of coming inside. My family is in your debt for what you did--"
"Forget it. I felt inclined to help," he replied in a gentlemanly tone. "I was just sitting here and thinking, that I was, Natsume-dono."
"May I ask of what…?" Natsume questioned as she watch Kenshin's frame tense up.
"Oh," he muttered inaudibly as he stared back at the water. "Of…the people waiting for me to return in Tokyo." Natsume tilted her head to the side. Kenshin averted his eyes once more and his rurouni grin was plastered upon his face as he made eye contact with Natsume. "You're probably wondering why I'm idly sitting here when I could return, aren't you?"
"Well, it's just that…if they are important people, I would do anything to rush back to see them again. I don't know how you do it then, Himura-san." Kenshin shrugged slightly and his face no longer held a smile. Natsume knew that Kenshin seemed to be troubled for whatever reason. "Himura-san, maybe you should return to the people who are waiting for you. Are they very important to you?" Natsume muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"My wife and my son," Kenshin replied.
Natsume's eyes widened several fold. "You're…married?" came the blurted out response. Kenshin merely nodded and held his head down. "B-but you look like you're in your twenties! Am I way off here or--"
"Forty-three. I was very much alive during the Revolution and afterward, that I was." Once he realized that Natsume was relatively shocked to hear such and answer, Kenshin smiled nervously. "It seems I don't look my age at all, that I don't."
"Well that's an understatement if I ever heard o--"
"Natsume!" came the chiding, reprimanding voice of her father. Natsume eyed her father in question but decided to let him speak. "Do not bother Himura-san after everything that he has done for you. And besides that, I would feel that it is in my best interest to speak with him at the moment. After all, discussions about ages are hardly relevant." Natsume bowed slightly and turned to leave.
"Natsume-dono, are you sure you're all right?"
She nodded before promptly giving Kenshin and her father some privacy to talk with one another.
"Himura-san. I overheard that you have family waiting for your return in Tokyo, am I not correct?" Kenshin nodded and smiled. "Forgive this intrusion on my part but it has been long enough. You have already stayed here for three days. That's three days where you could have been with your wife who cares for your and your son…"
"I…know…"
"Himura-san, I am aware that you were formerly known as Hitokiri Battousai and you have a desire to repent for all the sins you committed in the past. I know that you are trying to make up for those losses here in this present day and age. But the problem with that is that what you have done in the past can never be erased. It is engraved in history and will be throughout." Kenshin's eyes widened. "Whatever you do now will not change the fact that you had slain many almost thirty years ago."
"But I am able to find happiness by doing so." Kenshin muttered, as if he were feeling guilty.
"I am aware that you are trying to be at peace with yourself and I acknowledge that from the bottom of my heart. However, don't you believe… that you are finding peace and going about it by shunning others around you?" Kenshin suddenly felt his heart pound and quickly averted his eyes. "Take this into consideration, Himura-san: you have a wife at home who most probably mourns for your absence day in and day out. She too, most probably has scars. Not physical ones like you do, but ones deeply embedded within her heart. How long can she last without the person she loves most?"
Kenshin dared not say anything. He had missed Kaoru deeply, and more than that if possible. He would want nothing more than to be with her and love her unconditionally. But…
"I am certain that she cries for you when you are away. No one can comfort her in the way you can," Natsume's father continued. Kenshin had truly felt torn.
"But she understands me. She knows that I do this and she is so modest about it. I know that it hurts her. I can see that whenever I leave our home. But she knows of who I am and who I once was."
"Ah yes, but as long as the two of you rest on your past, you will forever be haunted by the Bakumatsu. If you cannot somehow move forward, the constant pressure of always wanting to help people in repentance will eat you and your family alive. Himura-san, the more you unconsciously struggle to repent for your past, the more you are stuck. Immobile. Unable to live your life with the people who care about your with their every being. These are the people who you should focus on for the rest of your life because they are your family and they love and care for you without a doubt, I am sure of it."
Kenshin stood up and took one last forlorn glance at the pond that he was gazing at not too long ago. "I want to see them. And even more so than before…because I've hardly been there for my son."
"How old is your son now?"
Kenshin sighed heavily and brought a hand up to gently rub his forehead. "Fifteen… I have been wandering throughout his existence. And I am sure he hates me for it."
"Himura-san…fifteen long years…" he echoed worriedly. "That's just too much. And even with a child." Kenshin looked down again, shielding his eyes with his long crimson bangs. "I am aware that your intentions are good ones and you wish to seek out every problem you come across. I am eternally in your debt for saving Natsume from those thugs." Kenshin shook his head. "However, the time that you are taking to help other people is astoundingly enormous. And after the Bakumatsu, many crimes have died down. You need not worry about things like this anymore! Please return home to your family. I am sure that they would want nothing more than to see your face again."
"But I--"
"Don't say anything. If you committed yourself to your wife all those years ago, here is your chance to make good on promises kept. Please move on with her. Move on with your life. This is the flow of time and for you to try and always look back… Himura-san, it will not benefit you."
Kenshin clenched his left fist and began to walk in the direction opposite of the setting sun. "Himura-san! Allow me to provide carriageway! At least to Nagoya. Or possibly even Tateyama, perhaps! It is the least I can do."
"Thank you very much," Kenshin muttered, suddenly getting on his knees to bow fully. "I…don't know how I can thank you for this. For talking with me about something that has been troubling me for the majority of my life. It…seems as though I am ready to return…and remain with my family for the rest of my life. I can't bear to think of my wife crying or my son resenting me. And now I realize that they are the ones who I should focus my attention on. And so there is no need to provide a carriage. This talk was compensation enough in the truest sense, that it was." Kenshin smiled. He knew he would be thinking of Kaoru and Kenji the entire way home.
Kenji stopped short, eyes widening in fear when he noticed another Shiruken wedged in the main door of the doujo. "Yahiko!" he called out as he proceeded to travel ahead to retrieve the note. Angrily pulling out the star, Kenji's hands began to bleed violently. He hadn't cared, for his tolerance for pain was very high. As he tried to free the note from the Shiruken, Yahiko noticed that Kenji had been badly hurt. "Hey help me out, would ya?" Kenji cried releasing the star and waving both hands as he winced.
"Leave all the sharp objects to me," Yahiko muttered as he untied the note and snapped the paper open. "'We have not harmed her…yet. She is merely aware of the fact that we are going to get what we want. And soon.'" Yahiko tore up the letter and banged his fist against the doujo gate. "Dammit," he hissed. "What's all this about?"
"You think I know! Look, all I want to do is make sure that my mother is going to be okay! If I have to fight a Yakuza to do it, well then so be it!" Kenji interjected impudently.
"Don't rush in! And don't fight unless you have to," Yahiko scolded. "Being angry is easy to do but being angry for the right reasons is a difficult thing to do."
"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," Kenji said in a sarcastic manner, folding his arms and looking away from the older boy. "But I don't get angry all that easily, ya know!" Yahiko cocked an eyebrow. "WHAT? The reason why I'm so mad right now is because a bunch of morons are threatening my mother! I don't know if this occurred to you or not, but she's the only person I've got left! Father left, and mother has always been here for me. And I've made sure to take care of her in return. I think that I have a right to be angry and I know those reasons are right."
Yahiko smiled. He was aware of Kenji's amazing strength from within and his courage was also potent. "You remind me of myself when I was younger," Yahiko muttered.
"And is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Kenji inquired sardonically.
Yahiko shook his head. "Has anyone ever told you that you're too serious for your own good?" Kenji looked away. "But anyway, we should get going. Maybe people have heard of things going on around town. There's bound to be someone we can ask. Maybe Tae… what do you think?"
Kenji nodded. "Then let's get going!" Kenji had gripped his katana hilt with his left hand and started to sprint for the Akabeko, Yahiko following quickly behind him. "So," Kenji said, forgetting to manage his breathing as he ran forward. "What's the plan for when we get there? Ask Tsubame-chan and Tae-san?" Yahiko blushed fiercely.
"Is there a particular reason as to why you want to interrogate Tsubame?"
"Nope," Kenji whistled. "The more people we ask, the better." Both boys continued to sprint and had managed to make it into town within a matter of minutes. Both Kenji and Yahiko had to do their best as to not bump into the bustling crowds that usually passed through town around that time. Kenji hadn't liked crowds much and felt inclined to continue past until they reached the Akabeko.
It hadn't taken more than a minute longer of running before Kenji and Yahiko reached the Akabeko. "Tae-san!" Kenji cried out, wasting no time in looking for someone he could question. "Tae-san, this is important!" Many people looked at Kenji in question and began to wonder what was going on.
"Oh Kenji-san," Tsubame squeaked as she rushed over and bowed slightly. Yahiko smiled. "Your mother is here right now. Is that why you were calling out for Tae-san just now?" Kenji's eyes widened. "W-what's the matter?"
Kenji hadn't replied but instead ran into the restaurant where he saw his mother slowly eating a bowl of plain soba. "Mother!" Kenji called, walking swiftly over to her. Kaoru lifted her head and her eyes widened in surprise to see her son standing before her. "You… you had me so worried…"
"Kenji? What on earth are you talking about? And didn't you leave this morning to go train?"
"You don't get it do you? Yahiko and I received messages from two Shiruken and there are people threatening you! You're in danger!" Kaoru's eyes widened. "Please get home mother, I'll take you." He cupped her hands in his and winced slightly, realizing that the brushing up of Kaoru's hands had reopened the wounds on his hands.
"W-what happened?"
"Forget it, it's nothing!"
"Your hands are soaked in blood," Kaoru exclaimed, studying her son's fingers and palms. "I want to know what happened to you."
"The Shiruken. When I tried to get the letters from both of them, I hurt myself. But it's fine. Really. You're the one who should be worrying! Yahiko knows the whole story too--"
Suddenly, Kenji whipped his head around as a loud crash sounded in the front of the restaurant. The resonating ki that he picked up seemed to be very strong. "This time, it may even be stronger than Yahiko's… and then what? Will we both lose?" Kenji grit his teeth. "Mother, someone's here for a fight. And I'm not backing down either. That's not how I fight."
"Where is she?" A roaring man's voice yelled as he entered the Akabeko.
"Forget about her for now," Kenji replied calmly as he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose. "I will be your opponent today. So you can just forget about hurting anyone else in this fight that's only between you and me, you got that?" The man glared at Kenji with mild interest and grinned. He was very tall in stature and had a weapon that resembled a wakizashi. Kenji sneered. "You're going to fight me with that? What tricks do you have up your sleeve?"
The man grinned evilly. "Nothing, except for the fact that today is your dying day. Are you prepared?"
A/N: Well, I hope you liked it! I'm not sure if the first chapter was a bit of a slow start but this is a relatively new genre that I'm trying out. Oh and two things:
The Seisouhen was a great movie...don't get me wrong. But I just hated the way that Kenshin acted. A man like him is deemed to always press onward and move forward with his life. I prefer that he realize the things important to him and closest to him, which is why the man that he had helped talked with him about it in this chapter. Now, it may seem farfetched that Kenshin would listen. However, concerning the matters of his wife and son and coming to a realization that he had strayed far away from them long enough showed that he was too caught up in his past to learn of the feelings of those close to him. Aaah, well it makessense in my head at least... and look at it this way, Kenshin's going to return soon, which should make things preeetty interesting. Woo! (shifty eyes)
Another thing, I'm not sure if it's spelled Shiruken or Shuriken... (sweatdrop) but they're defined as throwing stars that shinobi often use... if anyone can let me know of the definite term, it would be much appreciated! I'm always one for chatting
Well, there you have it! Kenji's about to go into what looks to be an important battle. How will he do? And the real question! Why are these men after Kaoru? Is it up to Kenshin to save her or can Kenji handle it on his own? Woo there, got carried away! Heh heh, well anyway, please review for this humble author! (bows) Domo!
Son Christine
