Yeah this is my favorite couple to write about and not because I like it. It's because I don't like them, that I like to write about them. Yes I am weird. And yes, I can't leave this couple alone. And no, I do not own these characters…if I did this couple would have never been conceived. On with the story…
The child knew. He could sense it. I did not love his mother. How cruel it sounds, but it was the truth.
This woman lying besides me, her sleeping soundly, breathing softly, did not deserve this. She gave him her everything, and what had he given her? His deception.
It was ironic, the child slept between them, like a barrier so they would not touch. The child knew. That was why the child rejected him. Of course, the child would be attached to the woman who gave him life, more than to the man that caused his mother pain.
It hurt. He loved this child more than anything, but the child was angry with him. He would not let him touch him. He would bite his hand whenever he tried to pat his head.
Five years had passed since then. Since the day he had committed his greatest sin, and that was to have married her. As the years passed, and he got older, his heart let him lie less and less to himself. He did not love her, no matter how hard he tried.
This woman had offered him everything. When he was at his breaking point, she had offered him a home. When he was alone, she was there. At his darkest hour, when the greatest demon from his past returned, she did not condemn him, and she had given him the most important thing in his life. His child. Yet, he could not love her.
He only married her out of gratitude. He did not know how to thank her for her kindness, and the only way he found was so cruel. He asked her to marry him. How did he feel seeing that radiant face, those teary eyes, telling him that he had just made her the happiest woman on the planet? It was a nauseating feeling. He felt like throwing up, like taking back those words, but he couldn't. He couldn't break that heart that was so pure, so innocent.
It was only when the child was asleep, that he could caress his child's red hair, and tell him how much he loved him. It was only then, that the child's guard was down. Tears fell from his eyes. This was his punishment for deceiving her. Not having his child's love.
"Did you sleep well last night?" his wife asked.
"Don't worry about me. I am fine." He assured her.
She looked at him, worry reflected in her blue eyes. "Maybe we should get Megumi to take a look at you."
"It is nothing. It is just that the years do not pass by in vain."
"You are not that old. You are only 33." She pointed out.
He just smiled at her. Even now, she still worried about him. "Where is Kenji?" he asked, inquiring about his child.
"Oh?" she said, just as Sanosuke came around with the child in his arms.
"What are you doing with my child?" Kaoru asked.
"Nothing. I was just playing with the little guy." Sanosuke said.
"I don't want you to teach him your bad habits!" she said.
"Hey Kenshin, defend me. Say something in my favor!" Sano asked of me.
I just smiled. "Kaoru's the boss."
Kaoru took Kenji from Sano's arms.
"Let's go to your father." She told him. Kenji pouted. When she tried to give him to me, he refused to leave her arms.
"I guess the child still doesn't like me." I said, plastering a smile on my face.
Kaoru gave me an apologetic smile. "He will. Just be patient."
I kept that smile on my face. No, the child was never going to like me, because I will never love his mother.
"See what happens when you are over protective? The kid develops a mother complex and rejects the father." Sano said jokingly.
Kaoru glared at him.
"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked.
"I came to visit."
"You mean freeload." A voice said.
They all turned around to see Yahiko standing there.
"That was low, you runt." Sano said.
"That is the truth. Every time you come along, is to freeload."
Yahiko could be called our first "child."
Shortly after my arrival at the Kamiya Dojo, we encountered Yahiko. At the time he was a young thief trying to buy his freedom back from some gangsters. But that was then, now he is s formidable young man.
He was ten, I was 28, and Kaoru was 17. He could very well have been my biological son, but he isn't.
Yahiko always respected me, and wanted to be like me, but I swore that nobody was going to inherit my fighting style, the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryo. Instead, he learned Kaoru's fighting style, a style created by her father, the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryo.
"Now, now, everyone, stop acting like children, you are not children anymore." Another voice interrupted my thoughts. It was the family's friend and doctor, Megumi Takani.
"Meguni-dono, what brings you here?" I ask.
"I had the feeling that you are not feeling well?" she asks.
"Megumi! Yes, he has not been feeling well." Kaoru interjected, worry audible in her voice.
"Ken-san?" she asks.
"Do not worry about me, it is true that I have been feeling a bit restless, but it is nothing to concern yourself with." I say, plastering yet another fake smile on my face.
Meguni-dono can see through my façade, but she lets it pass. She has always been a very mature person.
"How's the little one doing?" she asks Kaoru instead.
"He's at that age, you know? He's a bit rebellious."
"Hmmm, spoiled one isn't he?" Megumi asks jokingly.
"Kenji, come greet Megumi." Kaoru calls for Kenji to approach Megumi-dono.
"My, he's gotten bigger. He looks like Ken-san more and more everyday."
"He does. He will be one handsome boy." Kaoru boasts.
"It's true. Ken-san, you have a beautiful child." Megumi-dono tells me.
I smile at her.
"He'll want to be just like his father." Kaoru tells her.
My smile falters. No he won't. He would like to be as different as me as possible. He would never be proud of me being his father.
The conversation goes on, but I am not there with them.
