Author-chan's notes: Hiya all! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I'm so happy!
For anyone who cares, there is some fanart for this story. You can check out my profile for the links for all the artwork. Artwork includes a wonderful pic of Kenichi/Kenshin by werewolfs-curse (both black and white and colored), a lovely pic by pikagalmish of Shinomori Michiyo, and two pics by me, one of Michiyo and another of Kaito and Takumi. Please do have a look.
Like Father Like Son
(Chapter Thirty: Sword)
Kyoto streets
Akimoto ran.
The world around her became a blur as she rushed head on. Yukishiro-sama told her to run and run she would. She paid little attention to where she was going; she could have been going in circles and not have cared. All that mattered was following Yukishiro-sama's orders and getting the sleeping bundle across her shoulders away to safety.
Then suddenly, she stopped, her features pale with surprise as she felt something move.
Twitch…
"Himura-san?" Akimoto murmured to the sleeping boy. A groan answered her.
"Aki…Akimoto…do…no?" a tired voice wavered.
"Himura-san! Daijoubu desu ka?" Akimoto gasped loudly, kneeling down and helping the man turned child down from her back. The white-haired girl frowned as Kenshin stood. The redhead could barely stand, and his legs quivered even as she supported him.
"Daijoubu, de gozaru," the former rurouni smiled to reassure the girl, his face pale and sleek with sweat. Akimoto simply snorted.
"On my back, Himura-san," Akimoto said curtly, her reddish eyes stern.
"Sessha is fine, de gozaru," the redhead smiled weakly, "We are away from the wards."
"Himura…"
"Wait."
"Eh?" Akimoto blinked, surprised at Kenshin's curt way of cutting her off. Kenshin's eyes were strangely focused on the distance, his face stern and almost cold. It was odd seeing such a serious look on such a young, childish face. Akimoto had to suppress a shiver.
'If he was older…Would that be what the hitokiri would have looked like?' Akimoto thought. Something in her replied no, no the hitokiri would not have looked like that.
This was only the scraping the surface.
"What is it?" Akimoto murmured, glancing around her.
"There's something wrong," Kenshin murmured, his eyes sliding shut to focus better, "Someone's ki…Someone familiar…Someone wants to fight…to kill…"
Kenshin's eyes suddenly snapped open, his throat letting out a harsh cry.
Akimoto covered her ears. She could not tell if what fell from the redheads lips was a name, a command, or an instinctual bestial cry.
"Himura-san!" Akimoto gasped, as she quickly grabbed the child as his body began to shake, "What is it?.!"
"Kenji," the small redhead gasped, "He's in trouble, de gozaru yo!"
"Do you know where?"
"Close by," Kenshin replied, scanning the streets, "You should stay here. Sessha will go find him."
"Iie," Akimoto said sternly, "You are still weak from the wards, and your short stride will not get you to Kenji-san in time. On my back, Himura-san. You navigate, I will provide the transportation. Do not even think about arguing with me on this."
"Aa," Kenshin nodded curtly, his lips pressed together tightly as he did as she bid, "We must hurry, de gozaru."
qpqpqpqp
Elsewhere in Kyoto
Seishiro sighed as he sat on the railings of a deserted bridge, his feet kicking out childishly.
"So bored," Seishiro sighed, his form drooping wearily.
"Maybe you should kill someone," a voice next to him suggested. Brightening, Seishiro turned to face the newcomer.
"Kasa-san!" Seishiro grinned, clapping his hands like a child half his age, "How did it go?"
"Easy but fun," the hat wearing man smirked insanely as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, "Yukishiro Enishi, the 'White Tiger', eh? Nothing more than a toothless kitten."
"Maa, maa, Kasa-san!" Seishiro laughed, "Enishi-san is quite useful. No need to insult him."
"Hn," Kasa snorted, blowing out a stream of smoke from his cigarette, "True enough. And it was most enjoyable. Almost like painting or writing poetry, only much more fun."
Seishiro simply laughed. Kasa took a drag from his cigarette again, and handed Seishiro a long wrapped package that had been leaning against his thigh.
"Yukishiro had this on him," Kasa explained as Seishiro took the package and proceeded to unwrap it, "Don't mind the bloodstains on the packaging. The item itself is fine."
"Enishi-san didn't give it to Battousai-san?" Seishiro blinked as he ripped apart the package paper. Kasa took another drag from his cigarette and didn't bother to answer.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter now," Seishiro sighed as he finished unwrapping the package, "We can just give it back to Battousai-san ourselves once he finally accepts Enma-sama's offer to join us."
Lying in Seishiro's lap was a black-hilted katana, the very same one that was used to kill the thirteenth practitioner of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
"It's very pretty, ne?" Seishiro commented, smiling softly as his thumb rubbed over the cherry blossom engravings on the tsuba. Kasa grinned manically.
"I have to admit, Seishiro," Kasa grinned as he eyed the katana, "our 'friend' out did himself creating that thing."
"Aa," Seishiro nodded smiling happily, "Maybe I should commission one from him as well."
Kasa snorted, blowing smoke from his cigarette.
After carefully rewrapping the sword, Seishiro jumped down from the railings and onto the bridge.
"Oi, you going somewhere?" Kasa questioned, looking towards the teen.
"Kyoto makes wonderful candies," Seishiro smiled, slinging the wrapped katana onto his back.
"Sweet-tooth," Kasa snorted, his eyes glinting strangely. Seishiro laughed.
"I probably should get a box for Tou-chan too," Seishiro mused, glancing over his shoulder at Kasa, "Do you have any money with you?"
"What am I, your personal wallet?" Kasa grumbled, as he reached into his yukata to dig out a few coins.
"Arigato!" Seishiro sang as soon as he got the money, and began skipping down the street.
"At least get me some sake while you're down there, brat!" Kasa yelled after the younger male. Seishiro waved back at him.
"Kuso," Kasa muttered leaning back against the railings of the bridge, "If he wasn't so good with a sword…"
Kasa took another long pull from his cigarette. He blew out the feathery smoke, letting the white clouds frame his face. Things were boring again, now that he had nothing to fight and kill.
qpqpqpqp
The restaurant Yuki
No one dared to breathe for fear what would happen next. Sai and Shinya found themselves frozen at the sight of Kenji mere hair's breath away from murdering a certain yakuza right before their eyes.
"Hamano," Kenji began in that chilled voice that accompanied those amber eyes as his borrowed katana pressed more firmly at Genji's throat, "tell me where Kenichi is before your head leaves your body."
"Sh-Shimatta," Genji whispered, eyeing the katana that held his fate.
"Red! Are you insane?.!" Sai yelped, backing away slightly.
"Perhaps," the redhead murmured, his dead eyes boring into Sai, before turning them back to Genji, "I'll give you one more chance, Hamano Genji. Where. Is. My. Son?.!"
"I don't know!" the yakuza boss yelped as the katana edge nicked the skin of his throat.
"Then you are of no use," Kenji said in a cool calculating voice. Genji's eyes widened in pure fear.
Kenji drew back his arm to strike.
"WAIT!"
Kenji jerked to a halt, startled by the sound. Genji whimpered in fear and relief.
"Why did you stop me," Kenji asked quietly, turning his head to the one who shouted, "Shinya?"
Shinya gulped, his hands clenching spasmodically on the sakabatou in his hands, the one he had stolen from his sensei. Kami-sama, but his sensei's eyes were so frozen, "B-Because, Himura-sensei. You are a master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu! The first rule of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is to never kill! A sword is a tool to protect people with! You taught me that!"
"A sword is a weapon of murder," Kenji hissed, his golden eyes narrowing, "Kenjutsu is the art of murder. That is the only truth."
"Well, I believe in a different truth!" Shinya yelled, tears of fear running from his eyes. This man before him wasn't sensei! But if this man wasn't sensei, was he Shinya? Well, damn it, if Himura-sensei wasn't going to be the Kamiya Kasshin master, he was!
"Although I am not your best student, and I have not completely lived my life according to the ideals of our style, I believe in the truth of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. I-I have to believe in it…because at the moment, you don't."
Still shaking, Shinya drew the sakabatou in one fluid motion.
"Do you remember this, Himura-sensei?.!" Shinya yelled, holding up the blunted sword and trying to hide his fear, "This is the symbol of all your ideals, of all your truths that you have taught me and all the other students of our style! I realize now why I wanted the sakabatou so much. I've lost track of all the times I've seen you wield this sword to protect people, to protect them without killing! I wanted to be a hero like you, Himura-sensei. I wanted to be acknowledged, but I took it too far, just like you are taking it too far now! If you kill that bastard of a yakuza now, you won't be a hero, you'll be a murderer!
"And," Shinya sighed, his eyes closing as he finished his speech, "I doubt Kenichi would want you to kill anyone to save him."
Clang!
Shinya's eyes flew open at the sound.
Kenji had dropped the katana he held at Genji's neck, his amber eyes wide and his face pale with shock.
"Himura-sensei," Shinya smiled as he watched his teacher step away from the yakuza boss, "It's going to be alright."
"And you're under arrest!" Sai crowed as he slapped on a pair of handcuffs on Genji, "And for extra measure…"
Whap! Sai grinned evilly as Genji crumpled to the floor unconscious with a groan. Sure, Sai couldn't shoot his former boss, but he did have a hell of a time smacking Genji's temple with the butt of his gun.
Meanwhile, Kenji sat down hard on the floor, still pale. Shinya moved towards him.
"Iie!" Kenji rasped out, staring hard at Shinya.
"Sensei," Shinya whispered, his eyes staring straight into his sensei's, "Your eyes…they're still…"
"Aa," Kenji hissed, pressing a hand to his head with a wince, "I don't…I don't feel right."
"We should take you to Megumi-san!" Shinya babbled, feeling panicked, "Tou-san was saying that she's a great doctor and I'm sure…"
"Iie," Kenji shook his head, still wincing, "I don't think I can handle being around anyone right now."
"Eh?"
"It's not finished," Sai's voice suddenly floated over to the two Kamiya Kasshin practitioners, "Red's rage still isn't satisfied. I'm guessing he's not very stable right now."
"Kuso," Shinya whispered, before shoving the sakabatou towards the redhead, "Here. This is yours."
"Idiot!" Sai yelled as Kenji took the sword, "I just said he's unstable! You don't give an unstable man a weapon!"
"You do if it is the sakabatou," Shinya said firmly as his sensei curled around the blunted sword like a child holding tightly onto comforting blanket.
"And it just gets weirder," Sai muttered running a hand through his tousled hair, "Look, Shinya-baka, we need to find Kenichi-kun fast before we get another rendition of Hitokiri Battousai on our hands."
"Hito…kiri?" Shinya blinked, looking over to Kenji, "So it is true. Your father was Hitokiri Battousai. And that sword, the sakabatou really was Arai Shakku's last work."
"Aa," Kenji hissed, his eyes closing as if in pain, "Where is Kenichi?"
"We'll get a search party –"
"O-Otou-san!"
"Oh my fu…" Sai began to curse in English, "Kenichi-kun?.!"
"Kami-sama must be looking down on us," Shinya gasped in amazement as he watched the small redhead run up to his astonished father, "Kuso, Kenichi, where the hell have you been?.!"
"Kidnapped by yakuza unfortunately," a calm voice from the doorway sighed. Shinya blinked at the white-haired figure that had entered.
"Kenichi," Kenji sighed as he hugged his son, burying his nose in the soft red strands, "Don't you dare disappear like that again."
"Gomen, O-Otou-san," Kenichi murmured, his hands fisting on Kenji's gi, "Are you…are you better now?"
"I…" Kenji murmured, before closing his eyes.
"Himura-san has been quite worried about you, Kenji-san," the soft voice of the white-haired youth that came with the small redhead murmured.
"You were the one who found my son?" Kenji asked, looking up at the stranger.
"Yes and no," was the reply.
"O-Otou-san, this is Akimoto-san," Kenichi explained, "We…"
"We are friends," Akimoto smiled softly, "Despite our age differences and our strange meeting."
"Aa," Kenichi nodded, "Despite that."
The pair of them grinned at the joke that only they could understand.
Shinya felt a bit cheated. He had gone off, poured out his soul in the tension filled room, only to have that tension completely disappear at the arrival of a tiny redhead that barely reached his chest. It seemed almost anti-climatic.
"Sheesh, Kenichi," Shinya grumbled, "You just had to ruin the mood there."
"Oro?"
Shinya laughed. Perhaps it was for the best that the mood was ruined.
"Good to have you back, chibi."
qpqpqpqp
A little while later, the small group had finished cleaning up the small restaurant and was preparing to go their separate ways.
"I'll take Genji down to the station," Sai explained as he heaved the still unconscious yakuza over his shoulder, grunting a bit at the weight, "Boss Broom is going to have fun interrogating you, oh yes he will…I think he has some new katana he wants to test out…And I want a new dummy for target practice!"
Sai laughed madly, the others sweat dropping at his tone.
"Don't forget to take this with you," Kenji added as he jerked his head in the direction of the katana he had borrowed from Chou.
"No worries, Red," Sai nodded, "I am never leaving you with a katana ever again. That sakabatou of yours may be a hunk of scrap, but at least you're sane with it."
"Anou, I suppose we should get back to the Aoiya," Shinya scratched his head. Then suddenly he froze and swore, "Shimatta! Tou-san is going to kill me!"
"Hn," Kenji nodded.
Shinya, Sai, and Kenichi all frowned. Kenji's eyes had yet to turn back to their usual shade.
"I should head back to Yukishiro-sama's house," Akimoto murmured, "Hopefully he got away and will be waiting there."
"'Yukishiro-sama'?" Sai's eyebrow rose, "You don't mean Yukishiro Enishi?"
"Hai," Akimoto nodded once.
"I have some questions for him," Sai said, "Can you come with me to the station to drop this idiot off, and then we can go see Yukishiro?"
"That's fine," Akimoto answered, "But we need to hurry."
qpqpqpqp
The Streets of Kyoto
"Himura-sensei?"
"Hai, Shinya?" Kenji answered softly as they walked together, Kenichi clutching his father's hand.
"You're still not okay yet, are you?"
"Iie," Kenji replied honestly, "But I'm feeling better."
Shinya pursed his lips as he stared up into his sensei's eyes. Surely enough, the bright amber from before was broken up by vivid blue swirls.
"O-Otou-san will be better when we get back," Kenichi murmured, squeezing Kenji's hand softly.
"Aa," Shinya agreed, looking back towards the crowds, "Um, Himura-sensei?"
"Aa?"
"Do you think Tou-san will be mad?"
"If anyone should be angry it would be me, Shinya," Kenji murmured, staring into Shinya's dark eyes.
"Are you?"
"Yes and no," Kenji shrugged, "On one hand, you stole my sword, made everyone worry about you on top of Kenichi disappearing, and got involved with the yakuza. On the other hand, if you had not been there with the sakabatou, I would have surely killed Hamano. For that, I thank you."
"Himura-sensei?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you mean what you said?" Shinya asked timidly, "About a sword being a weapon of murder."
"Hai."
"Then are the teachings of Kamiya Kasshin wrong?"
"The teachings of Kamiya Kasshin are sweet lies, Shinya-kun," Kenji and Shinya blinked as Kenichi answered for his father. "They are the words of those who have never killed. In the real world, kenjutsu is the art of murder. All it does is kill. It does not save like Kamiya Kasshin does. However, these lies of the Kamiya Kasshin are the ones that should be the truth, ne? It is our duty to change the truth, to make our style's lies become reality. That is our task as Kamiya Kasshin Ryu students."
"That's right, Kenichi-kun," Kenji smiled as he rubbed his son's head gently, the gold in his eyes all but banished, "One day, Kamiya Kasshin will be the truth."
"I think it already is," Shinya huffed, then blinked at the two redheads stared at him with twin smiles on their faces, "What?"
"You've grown up," Kenji grinned, his eyes now fully blue again, "I'm proud of you."
"Does that mean I'm aloud to have the sakabatou?"
"Not in this lifetime."
"Damn."
Kenji laughed, his student pouting slightly, which only made Kenji laugh harder because he could tell that the expression was completely fake.
"Yare, yare," the young Myojin huffed, "That stupid thing was too heavy for me anyway. What did you do to it?"
"Hmm, now that you mention it, the sakabatou does feel a bit heavier," Kenji frowned as he touched the hilt of his sword, "I don't understand why."
"Maybe it's magic?"
"Maybe," Kenji murmured, looking up at the sky.
'Yahiko once told me that the sakabatou was heavy because it reflected the weight of the guilt on my father's shoulders,' Kenji thought to himself, 'Does it feel my guilt now? I almost killed…'
Kenji didn't comment how silent Kenichi was as they talked about the weight of the sakabatou. He was too busy trying to figure out this strange little mystery.
Kenshin knew and realized. He knew why the sakabatou was heavy.
It had everything to do with his bloodied yukata, the corpse left laying in his first childhood home, and the black hilted katana with the sakura motif on the tsuba.
Kenji looked down at his son, worried at his silence, "Is there something wrong, Kenichi?"
"I…"
"Oof!" Kenji gasped as someone ran smack into him, causing the redhead to step back a bit. Small packages fell down on to the street.
"Ah, gomen, gomen!" Kenji gasped, reaching down to help the person he had bowled over, "Daijoubu ka?
"Daijoubu," a laughing voice answered as Kenji helped up a young teen with brown hair and aquamarine eyes, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Gomen."
"No, we're fine," Kenji smiled as he helped pick up the packages, "Nothing is broken I hope?"
"Everything is fine," the teen nodded, accepting his parcels, "Quite sorry about that."
"No worries."
"You forgot one," Kenshin said, handing over another small box.
"Oh thank you!" the young man grinned as he took the box, "Those imported chocolates took me forever to find. I would be devastated if I lost them!"
Kenshin stood quietly as the man rearranged his packages. There was something about that boy…Something about him that seemed so very strange and familiar.
"Anou, is there something on my face?" the youth blinked at the smaller redhead.
"Gomen," Kenichi shook his head to clear it, "You look very familiar…"
"Ara?" the young man blinked, "That's certainly very strange. If we have met before, I would have certainly remembered that hair! And your eyes, what a peculiar color…"
"Oro," the two redheads blushed in unison.
"Yare, yare," Shinya sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Well, sayonara," the teen waved as we disappeared in the crowd.
"What a strange guy," Shinya murmured, "Never once stopped smiling. It was kind of freaky."
"Don't say things like that, Shinya," Kenji scolded, "We only saw him for a short time."
"I suppose," Shinya shrugged, "Oh well. He's not as strange as anyone of the Himura family."
"Oro…"
"Mentioning about strange things," Kenji murmured, looking at Kenichi, "What do you know about ghosts?"
"Oro!" Kenshin gasped, his eyes wide.
"It was very strange," Kenji murmured as he began to rummage around in his clothes, "I met this group of ghosts calling themselves the PBKB, whatever that means. They said they knew my father…"
"You were probably just imaging things, Himura-sensei," Shinya scoffed.
"No, it's true!" Kenji protested, "I could summon them with this flower! Now where is it…"
Kenji patted down his clothes, searching for the red blossom he had for years. But try as he may, his search was in vain.
"That's strange," Kenji murmured, "I could have sworn…"
"It was probably just a dream, sensei," Shinya shrugged, "Some dreams can be very realistic. Maybe it's the atmosphere of Kyoto getting to you."
"Aa," Kenji nodded, giving up his search, "Kyoto is very strange. And you're probably right Shinya. I mean, why would a bunch of ghosts try to contact me!"
Elsewhere in Kyoto, Seishiro handed over several of the packages he had in his arms over to Kasa.
"Finished your shopping, boy?" Kasa grunted, wincing at the sweet smell of candies permeating the air.
"Aa," Seishiro grinned as he pulled something out of his pocket, "I was even able to pick up a little extra when I bumped into Battousai-san and his son."
In Seishiro's hand was the blood colored blossom of the Spirit Focus.
"Enma-sama will be pleased," Kasa smirked at the flower.
"Yes, such a powerful tool should not be in the hands of our soon to be enemies," Seishiro nodded, "The control of such a large group of cursed spirits should only belong to our allies, ne?"
"Hn," Kasa agreed as he lit up a match.
Seishiro smiled as he fed the flower to the flame, watching the petals burn.
-
Author-chan's notes: There! Now hopefully many more people are satisfied. Yes, I know the psycho Kenji thing was kind of anti-climatic, but since I'm already building up a new, better climax everyone should be satisfied. We don't want Kenji to go off killing everyone. And Shinya is not a bad guy; he just takes things too far sometimes. Don't worry though, he's still going to get a sound beating from Yahiko, and there are still going to be issues of his to be worked out. You see, the thing with Shinya is that he can only be the good guy when the usual good guy is currently the bad guy. It's part of his nature.
Next Chapter: Shinya gets a dressing down from Yahiko, Akimoto reunites with Enishi, Aoshi takes on a student (maybe), and the PBKB confront the god of death himself.