Author-chan's notes: Hey everyone. Sniffles a bit. I'm still getting over the last chapter…Hiko…I'm sorry I killed you; it was for the good of the story! Bawls like a baby.
Key:
"talking"
'thoughts that can only be heard by thinker, a.k.a. private thoughts'
/thoughts that can be heard by thinker and spirits, a.k.a. telepathy/
writing in a letter
qpqpqpqp indicates scene/time change
Like Father Like Son
(Chapter Twenty-four: Graveyard)
Kyoto
Enishi sat at his dinner table, finishing off a late meal with Akimoto. It wasn't unusual for Enishi to invite the young spy to his home though they had to be careful to make sure no one saw them together or else Akimoto's cover would be blown. The two white-haired males hadn't spoken a word throughout the entire mean when suddenly, Enishi thought of something.
"Akimoto?"
"Hai, Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto replied respectfully.
"Remember how I promised I would show you that grave?"
"The grave of the one Hitokiri Battousai spared?" Akimoto clarified.
"Yes, that one," Enishi nodded, "We could go tonight."
"It's late."
"What better time?" Enishi replied, as he stood up, shrugging on a jacket to ward off the cold.
"Very well," Akimoto nodded, secretly curious, "Yukishiro-sama? How did you know this person?"
"Simple," the former crime boss replied, "She was my sister."
"Sister?" Akimoto's eyes widened, "Your sister was killed by Battousai?"
"Aa," Enishi nodded as he and Akimoto headed outside, not even bothering to put up the dishes. On his way out, Enishi grabbed a paper lantern, quickly lighting it to provide illumination for their walk.
"But you defended Battousai," Akimoto said slowly, confused, "Why?"
"Why wouldn't I defend my nii-chan?" Enishi chuckled.
"Nani?.!" Akimoto gasped, his normal cool manner lost, "Battousai was your brother?.!"
"To be more precise, he is my brother-in-law," Enishi amended, "My sister Tomoe married him."
"Tomoe," Akimoto murmured, "Battousai killed her."
"Aa."
"Why?"
"It was an accident," Enishi confessed, "When I was young, I had thought that Battousai had murdered my nee-chan in cold blood, but that wasn't the case. I used to hate him."
"What made you stop, Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto asked.
"Various reasons," Enishi answered noncommittally, waving a careless hand, "One of the most important being that no matter our differences or how odd it is, he is my only family. Family is very important to me, Akimoto. If things had been different, if I hadn't been such a hothead, or if nee-chan's death never happened, we might have been closer."
"Why say that, Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto questioned.
"I told you already," Enishi answered, "He has a soft heart. There is no doubt that if I hadn't been trying to kill him, he might have had room in that soft heart for me. But then again, maybe I was already there."
"You say such strange things, Yukishiro-sama."
"I suppose," Enishi chuckled, "I lost my family when I was young. My mother and then my sister died. My father had little to do with me. I suppose, thinking on it, I want some sort of family, even if the only family I have is an estranged ex-hitokiri brother-in-law."
"Do you know what happened to him?" Akimoto asked, "Battousai?"
"A little bit," Enishi confessed, "The last time I saw him was around the 12th year of the Meiji. He was no longer the hitokiri of legend and was a protector who never killed. He married again…had a child, my almost nephew Kenji."
"Most say that he died during Toba Fushimi," Akimoto commented, "That was not the case?"
"No," Enishi agreed, "It wasn't. I kept some tabs on him over the years, but it's been hard. Since Meiji 12 there was only a small trickle of information on him, most of which was old. Then, by Meiji 17 there was nothing. I suppose he's still alive, happy with his family. At least I hope so."
"You hope so?" Akimoto blinked.
"Even legendary demons need to rest sometime," Enishi shrugged, "For as long as I've known him, he was never allowed to rest. Used by the Meiji government, then hunted down by revenge seekers, myself included…Maybe, now that information on him is so scarce, he's found peace."
"Maybe," Akimoto murmured, "Yukishiro-sama, do you think that we should bring flowers for your sister?"
"Good idea, Akimoto," Enishi agreed, "No one's selling at this hour though. There's a field nearby. We'll just gather some. I doubt nee-chan would mind."
qpqpqpqp
Hiko's hut
Blip. Blip. Plop.
The hut was almost silent. Except for that sound…
Blip. Plop. Blip. Plop.
Kenshin found that he could not breathe. Could not think. Could not move.
But he could listen.
Blip. Blip. Blip…
The sound of blood and tears dripping onto the floor…
It filled his senses.
Kenshin scrubbed his eyes with his sleeve.
"Sessha…"
Bloodshot from crying and a bit glassy, his eyes were still violet.
Violet.
The one who had killed Hiko Seijuuro was Himura Kenshin.
The rurouni, not the hitokiri.
The mind-dead numbness that the amber gleam in his eyes usually gave after a kill was not present. All that was left was pain.
Pure pain.
Slowly, Kenshin began to move. There was curt flick of his wrist to get rid of the dripping blood on the blade in his hand, only to discover some of the blood still lingered, forcing Kenshin to pull out Hiko's sword cleaning kit find something to wipe the blade clean before sheathing it.
Hiko would have his head if Kenshin disrespected such a fine blade.
But Hiko was dead now.
The full saya was jammed into Kenshin's obi, where it rested, feeling comfortable. It had been so long since the reliable weight of a sword had been at Kenshin's waist…he had missed it.
Kenshin easily found a clean cloth among Hiko's belongings and laid it gently over Hiko's face, before grabbing a blanket to cover Hiko's bloody body.
The blanket was dyed crimson in a heartbeat.
Lastly, the red-haired boy built a fire in the hearth to ward off any animals that might trying sneaking following the scent of blood.
'Sessha is sorry for not burying you, Shishou,' Kenshin thought quietly, as he stood up to bow respectfully to his master, 'I'm sure Kenji and the others would like to say goodbye one last time.'
Then, as silent as a shadow, Kenshin left.
He had no idea where to go.
He couldn't return to the Aoiya…it would have been too painful.
Without really thinking, Kenshin took off, sprinting down the mountain towards Kyoto, racing at a breakneck speed with no clue to the finish line.
Anywhere was better than there.
qpqpqpqp
Outside the Aoiya
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Takumi asked Kiyosato. The former Mimiwarigumi member was wringing his hands like there was no tomorrow. His partner Kaito was equally worried and Kaito expressed it by putting his head on his shoulders than taking it off. To anyone watching it looked like the beheaded Shinsengumi ghost kept ripping off his head then instantly healing himself. Around them, various other ghosts looked on curiously, including Kiyosato's wife, Tomoe, Kaoru, Okita Souji, and Katsura Kogoro.
"Everything will be fine," Kiyosato assured, the slaughtered bodyguard looking cheerful, "See, I've already activated the Spirit Focus."
In his hand, a bright red flower glowed an ethereal white.
"Now what?" Okita asked as he transformed into his Shinsengumi uniform.
"We wait for Kenji-kun to come outside," Kiyosato answered, "Remember, Kenji-kun can only see PBKB members. That means he won't be able to see any of the others. And the magic of the Spirit Focus is limited. If we get more than fifteen shaku away from Kenji-kun, he won't be able to see us, so we have to stay close to him."
"So Kenji won't be able to see me?" Kaoru asked, feeling a bit down.
"Sorry, Kaoru-san," Kiyosato sighed, "I know this is going to be hard. It'll be hard on the PBKB too, since we can't tell Kenji everything."
"Eh?"
"It's part of the rules of being a PBKB member," Takumi clarified, "Although we can interact with the living world more easily than other ghosts, we can't tell the living any of the really important information, like the fact that Kenichi-kun is actually Battousai-kun."
"That's a stupid rule," Kaoru muttered.
"But it's one that we have to follow," Kaito sighed, "If we don't follow the rules, bad things tend to happen. Believe me, I know."
"Poor idiot tried to tell this live girl that she was going to get pregnant," Takumi whispered secretly to Kaoru, "The Powers That Be didn't like that, fried the poor idiot over there enough to be knocked out for a year, and made the poor girl get pregnant with twins. Then too top it all off, she ends up knocked up again nine months later with another pair of twins."
"Ouch," Kaoru winced sympathetically.
"Yeah, that's why even Kaito follows that rule," Takumi nodded sagely, "Bad things tend to happen when you break the rules of the Spirit World. We can however tell Kenji that 'Kenichi' is missing, but that's about it."
"Look, everyone, there's Kenji now!"
The door to the Aoiya had opened, and out came Kenji, still dressed in a sleeping yukata, looking very confused and holding the red flower that Kiyosato had given him nine years ago when Kenichi was kidnapped by the thieves.
"Let's get this party started, eh?" Kaito grinned as he glided over to Kenji, his head in one hand, and his spear in the other.
"Kaito, wait up!" Takumi protested, following his partner, "You'll scare the living daylights out of Kenji-kun!"
qpqpqpqp
Graveyard in Kyoto; Midnight
Kenshin wove his way through the various monuments and offerings for the dead clumped around the graveyard. It had been several years since he had visited this place, but his feet still knew the way.
In seconds, he plunked down on his knees in front of a very familiar gravestone.
Tomoe's.
While Kenshin knew he did not need to be by the grave to talk to Tomoe anymore (in fact, the spirit of his first wife visited him as often as any other PBKB member did), just to be near the familiar place comforted him.
He did not pray or offer incense or flowers; he knew that those actions would only alert Tomoe (as well as the rest of the PBKB and Kaoru) to his whereabouts.
Just for tonight, he didn't want to be found or comforted.
He didn't deserve it.
Smiling sadly, Kenshin lay his head on top of the cool rock of Tomoe's memorial tablet. The coldness of the stone helped clear his thoughts, and he knew that Tomoe would not mind that he had not kept the respectful distance from her memorial.
As hot tears slowed to a slight trickle down his cheeks, Kenshin looked up into the night sky. The stars glittered like gems and no cloud covered the silvery beauty of the moon. It looked like a peaceful night.
Kenshin almost laughed at the irony of that. This night was anything but peaceful. His mentor/father dead by his hand…a kami, a friend, he thought he could trust showing a dark side…
The sky should be raining as the heavens mirrored his tears.
His life had started to make some sense, and then that peace was shattered by one quick blow of a sword.
The move that had ended his shishou's life was only a simple battoujutsu, not even any of the trademarked Hiten Mitsurugi moves. Not only that, but the move was imperfect, due to Kenshin's smaller body and weaker muscles. Kenshin was glad that he was able to pull even that move off. Had he not been training with Kamiya Kasshin, then it was likely that he wouldn't have been able to hold the sword straight.
He prayed to every kami out there (even Shinigami) that his shishou had felt no pain.
Kenshin stayed like that, his cheek pressed up against cold stone, and let his mind wander even when the sound of footsteps and the brush of ki alerted him to visitors.
He was too tired to care anymore that a slight spark of amber entered his eyes.
qpqpqpqp
Enishi fussed a bit with the freshly picked flowers in his hands. Akimoto kept silent, but secretly thought that his boss was a little bit too obsessive. Akimoto lifted the lantern higher as they entered the graveyard.
"Which one is it, Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto asked, staring at the sea of engraved stones rippling before him.
"Follow me," Enishi answered, stepping around the upright stones, "It should be right around…"
Suddenly, Enishi stopped talking, and stared right ahead. Akimoto opened his mouth to talk, but was silenced curtly by Enishi. The elder white-haired man moved silently towards an oddly shaped grave marker. Akimoto followed silently, wondering what was going on.
Then suddenly Akimoto's vision cleared. The oddly shaped lump was no gravestone. It was a body. A small one…a child's.
"Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto whispered as they approached the small child.
"Sssh," Enishi cautioned, reaching a hand out to the still form.
Suddenly, a pale face looked up to glare at the two men. Akimoto's breath caught in his chest as he stared into those swirling amethyst/amber eyes. Those eyes seemed to draw him in, to drown him. Akimoto's trembling hand lifted the lantern a bit higher, letting the beams of light catch on red hair and red liquid clinging on gray clothing.
"Y-youkai," Akimoto whispered fearfully, positive it was some sort of supernatural force before them. Beside him, Enishi was frozen in place, almost to the point where he no longer breathed.
"Leave me alone," came the icy voice of the bloodstained child, before that pale face turned away to rest a cheek on the cold gravestone.
Akimoto was all but willing to comply. There was something deadly and dangerous about this child and he wanted nothing more than to leave this place. Enishi on the other hand, had other ideas.
Before Akimoto could stop him, Enishi had grabbed the child's shoulder and spun the small form around and knelt down to get a good look.
The child was dressed in a gray yukata with a dark blue obi, both of which were spattered with fresh blood. Red hair framed a pale face, streaked with tears and blood. Those whirling eyes that Akimoto had glimpsed before were now hidden by that thick red hair. To Akimoto's surprise, resting at the child's side was a black katana.
Enishi slowly tipped up the small face before him, stroking the red strands of hair, trying to soothe the child. Suddenly, as Enishi got a good look at the elfin face before him, words slipped out of his mouth, unbidden.
"Hi-Himura Kenshin…"
Violet/gold eyes widened, and looked at the old face with the untamed white-hair and looked past the years as the spell lock on a pale throat loosened for the second time that night.
"E-Enishi…"
Slowly, the former crime boss nodded, giving the red-haired child a small smile.
A dam broke, and Enishi found a small form latched on his chest, crying heavily.
"I didn't want to…" the plaintive teary voice mumbled into Enishi's chest, "S-sessha should have found another way…Sessha really is a baka deshi…"
"Sssh," Enishi murmured, rocking slowly to calm the crying boy, "It's alright."
"S-shishou…Shishou is…"
Akimoto wasn't sure how long it lasted, but after awhile, Enishi stood up, the tiny red-haired bundle asleep in his arms.
"Yukishiro-sama?" Akimoto questioned, looking at the small form in his boss' arms.
"I'll explain later," Enishi murmured, stroking red hair absently, "We have to get out of here though and get Kenshin out of these clothes."
"You know him?" Akimoto tilted his head towards the sleeping child.
"I-I think so," Enishi began slowly, "It's complicated. I don't understand myself. Hopefully Himura will be able to explain."
"Himura?" Akimoto blinked, "Is that the family name of…"
"Aa," Enishi nodded, "Let's head back Akimoto."
"Hai, Yukishiro-sama."
qpqpqpqp
Meanwhile at the Aoiya
Kenji blinked, 100 percent confused. He was standing outside of the Aoiya in nothing but his sleeping yukata holding that red flower that ghost gave him all those years ago back when Kenichi had been kidnapped. Kenji was confused as to why he was outside, and why the flower was in his hand. He didn't sleepwalk outside. It was almost as if he was compelled to come, as if someone was calling him. He stared at the flower in his hand as if it had all the answers.
'Didn't I leave this back home?' Kenji thought absently.
"Konbanwa, Himura Kenji-san," a voice greeted.
"Who's there?.!" Kenji demanded, reaching for his sakabatou, only to realize that the sword was not there. His eyes searched for the speaker, but all he saw was the darkened street.
"Relax, Kenji-san. We've met before," that bodiless voice assured him.
As Kenji watched, white cheery blossom petals seemed to float out of nowhere and form together to solidify into a person.
Or to be more precise, a ghost, one that Kenji remembered very well.
"You!" Kenji gasped, staring at the bloody spirit, "You're the one who gave me this!"
"Quite right, Kenji-san," the ghostly form of Kiyosato Akira smiled lightly, "It's nice to see you again."
"What are you doing here?" Kenji asked bewildered that the mononoke that had visited him when Kenichi had been taken by Genji and his gang of thieves was there before him.
"We have a bit of a problem, Kenji-kun," another voice answered. Kenji looked over to see another ghost, his eyes widening as he stared at the large wound in the ghost's abdomen from which blood and a piece of severed intestine seeped out.
Apparently, the ghost died from disembowelment that had been done too swiftly.
"This is not happening," Kenji whispered staring at the new ghost, "This is so not happening…"
"It's happening!" a perky voice claimed cheerfully behind him.
Kenji turned to the voice, his eyes widening as they landed on a beheaded ghost twirling a spear in one hand, and holding his grinning head in another.
"Kami-sama!" Kenji breathed, trying not to throw up.
"Stop. You're scaring the poor child," a woman's voice scolded, just as a female ghost with a fresh dripping wound on her chest appeared next to Kenji, reaching over to steady him, "Relax Kenji-chan. We won't hurt you."
"I blame this all on you, Kiyosato," the beheaded ghost snorted at the ghost Kenji recognized from nine years ago, "You're the one who scared poor Kenji-chan."
"I did nothing of the sort," Kiyosato sniffed.
"Yeah right," the beheaded ghost scoffed, "You're the scariest one of us all! Tomoe-san here was only stabbed, Takumi was only disemboweled, and I was only beheaded. You, sir, were stabbed, disemboweled, and should have been beheaded, but then again, a katana through the throat with an added twist more than makes up for it."
"This is insane," Kenji whispered, closing his eyes and hoping it will all go away.
"Alright, now that we have clarified that Akira had the worse death of the entire PBKB Club," the ghostly woman holding Kenji sighed, "is it possible that we can get down to business before Kenji-chan faints? It would be in everyone's best interest that Kenji-chan remains in the best of health."
The three male ghosts winced at her words, all of them thinking of an angry bokken-wielding tanuki and her less than pleased ex-hitokiri husband who had killed each and every one of them.
"Ah, yes," the ghost Kenji had met before coughed, "Kenji-san, I'm terribly sorry, but I don't believe I introduced myself properly before."
"No, I suppose not," Kenji squeaked trying not to let the strangeness of the situation kill his brain and make him pass out.
"I am Kiyosato Akira, of the PBKB Club, formally a bodyguard to one of the officials of the Tokugawa shogunate" the most brutally killed of the ghosts began with a bow, "With me, is my wife, Tomoe, also of the PBKB. To your left is Sakurazawa Takumi, also of the PBKB, formerly of the Mimiwarigumi. To your right is Nakamura Kaito, again of the PBKB, formerly of the Shinsengumi, 10th unit."
"Nice to meet ya!" Kaito grinned at the paling redhead.
"Nice to meet you…" Kenji nodded, his blue eyes wide on his pale face. Slowly, he gave Kaito a small shaky smile.
"Aww, you're so cute!" Kaito squealed suddenly, sounding like an anime fangirl, "I remember when you were born…So cute and round and chubby with the most adorable button nose…Your parents were absolutely thrilled."
"Kaito, that's enough," Takumi hissed.
"He already knows that ghosts have guarded the dojo," Kiyosato assured, "I told him the first time we met."
"Aa," Kenji nodded, finally feeling a bit calmer, "I remember. You said you knew my father."
"We all did," Tomoe nodded, "Some of us more than others."
"You also said that this," Kenji added, holding up the flower in his hand, "was a gift. You never said what it was though."
"You didn't tell him what it was?.!" the other ghosts shrieked at Kiyosato.
"I wanted him to figure it out himself," Kiyosato said sheepishly.
"You, you, AHOU!" Takumi snarled, "How is he supposed to figure out that it's a Spirit Focus?.! No one living except for a spirit medium knows what a Spirit Focus is!"
"It was a good idea at the time," Kiyosato coughed, his face slightly red. Takumi looked ready to strangle Kiyosato.
"While it is entertaining to watch dead people try to kill each other," Kenji said dryly, "would one of you please tell me what's going on?"
"What you have in your hand is a Spirit Focus, Kenji-san," Kiyosato began calmly, ignoring the enraged Takumi, "A Spirit Focus allows you to summon certain ghosts whenever you wish. You can speak only with the ghosts that the Spirit Focus is able to summon. That means that even if there is another ghost around, if it doesn't correspond with the Spirit Focus, you can't speak with them. And you can't talk to any ghost if you don't activate the Spirit Focus. You can ask the ghosts summoned by the Spirit Focus to do you favors, get information, so forth and so on. In exchange, the ghosts that the Spirit Focus calls upon can also call upon you. However, you don't necessarily have to do anything for us. The only time we can call upon you is to tell you information that you might think necessary or important."
"Alright," Kenji nodded, "What do you want to tell me?"
"Eh?"
"I'm not stupid," Kenji snorted, "I'm guessing that you want to tell me something important. What is it?"
"It's about Kenichi," Tomoe murmured, her dark eyes overcast.
"What about Kenichi?" Kenji asked, his muscles going tight as he suddenly looked from Takumi to Kaito to Takumi again, "Wait a moment. Takumi and Kaito…You were the ones talking to Kenichi this morning! The ones helping to get him dressed!"
"Guilty as charged!" Kaito grinned.
"He can see you?" Kenji whispered, "Without a Spirit Focus?"
"Kenichi-kun is…special," Takumi shrugged, not bothering to elaborate, "Don't worry Kenji-kun. We don't want to hurt him. Quite the opposite."
"What's going on with Kenichi?" Kenji asked, fear coloring his voice.
"We can't find him," Takumi said tightly, "We keep tabs on him, but now we can't find him."
"NANI?.!" Kenji roared as he stormed into the Aoiya.
"Kenji-san! Matte!"
Kenji didn't listen. He was in full panic mode now. Quickly entering his sons' room, he glanced around, only to see Sasuke. Kenichi was nowhere to be found.
"KENICHI!"
qpqpqpqp
Somewhere in Kyoto, a red-haired not quite a child, slept, unaware of the panic being caused.
Elsewhere in Kyoto, Hamano Genji gathered his most loyal among the yakuza, and prepared.
At Hiko's hut, a kami examined a covered corpse, green/gold eyes whirling, pleased that his former assistant was still as proficient as he used to be. Behind him, a large ghost wearing a white cape drank sake, revealing in the drink he had been denied for the past few months.
Glossary-
shaku- an old form of measurement. A shaku is a little bit less than a foot
matte- "Stop"; "Wait"
Author-chan's notes: And there you have it! This chapter is much more calm compared to the last chapter, but things will start heating up again.
Wow…I spent twenty-three chapters without having anyone find out who Kenshin was and then suddenly in the last two chapters, two people find out! Not too shabby.
Watch for the next chapter. There's going to be another explosion.