A.N. Welcome back, Minna, to my Fifth chapter of 'Fading Futures'. Now Shinya's in the past, the real fun's about to startI want to thank everyone who read my fic so far and is now giving this chapter a go too, so arigato gozaimasu! Also thanks to Beth-kun, my faithful reviewer. Your reviews are so heart-warming (Sniff). I want to thank you soooo much for your great loyalty to my little fic. You're helping The Kenshin-Gumi and me out big time! Your review's are giving us ideas and also give us motivation to get better and better, so give yourselves a big pat on the back too! Hope you like my next chapter!

Once more, the bit solicitors are watching for, the disclaimer. As said many, many times, Chosha Kurenai – no matter how much she wants to – does not – I repeat, does NOT – own Rurouni Kenshin. But Shinya and this little fic are MINE!

Last time on Fading Futures:

Shinya made his way to the past, but has already had to deal with bandits who tried to hurt an old priest.

Tanoshimimas! (Enjoy!)

Chapter Five

Past and present collide

Shinya sighed as he finally left sight of the Shrine. He couldn't help but feel guilty though. The priest, Takeshi Kojima, had not only given him several new sets of clothes for the journey to Tokyo, but also food and a hell of a lot of money. Okay, he had to admit the money would come in useful and it was nice to have enough clean clothing and sandals that would help him fit into the Meiji era. However, it made him feel even worse that he had to lie about his identity to the kind old man. Carefully, he shifted the weight of his bag and continued to walk towards Tokyo. Ever eager to please, Takeshi had told him to follow the east sea road to the next town, as it would be the quickest rout. As Shinya hadn't even a map of Meiji era Japan, he followed the old man's advice and took to the road. He carefully avoided the innkeepers calling out to passers by to stay at their inns and weaved through the crowds, soon passing out of the town and along the smooth road.

As Shinya walked, he mused about what he would do once he got to Tokyo and how he was going to get his ancestors together once he got there. Perhaps, he could secretly nudge them into getting closer and watch out for any problems from hiding. Maybe if he pretended to be someone wanting to learn swordsmanship at the Kamiya dojo, he'd get close enough to actually help the two personally, instead of relying on chance. Either way, he had little time to do anything. That in mind, he quickened his pace.

It was almost evening when Shinya finally reached Tokyo, but the streets still bustled with people. He couldn't help but stare. Meiji Tokyo was so much different from modern Tokyo. Almost all the buildings were in the traditional Japanese style. Men wandered around in similar clothing to what Shinya wore now, while women wearing beautiful kimono, delicately patterned, pattered along in high geta. Shinya couldn't help but slow down to examine the stalls, see the oh-so-different sites and smell the mix of aromas from local restaurants and perfume shops. Several children raced after each other in a game, laughing and giggling. Shinya smiled after them.

Finally, Shinya pulled his eyes away from a silk merchant's stall and began to search for the Dojo. At first he just randomly searched the streets, but when all it seemed he was doing was getting lost, he began to ask people for directions. Some people admitted they weren't sure where it was, while a group of people began arguing amongst themselves about the exact location that Shinya gave up. Another seemed to know exactly the directions, but Shinya just got lost.

It was almost sun set when he found himself standing over a bridge somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, still nowhere nearer to finding the Kamiya dojo than he had been when he had arrived. With a sigh, he leaned on the rails and looked out over the water. The river shone in the orange glow of the dying sun, like thousands of diamonds sewn across the surface. The river chuckled and gurgled as it flowed downstream. He watched as a fish swam lazily, just below the surface. A cold wind blew from the north, making him shiver violently, despite the dark blue haori the priest had given to him. Shinya hunched over slightly and tugged it further over his slim form. It's no good searching anymore today, he thought miserably. Perhaps he should just go to one of the inns he had seen around town, pay to stay a night and continue on in the morning? Deciding that was the better option than wandering the streets all night, Shinya picked up his bag and turned back the way he had come.

Wham!

"Orooo…"

Shinya stumbled back swirly-eyed and fell over. He had just walked straight into a man going the other way. He looked up and gasped.

Before him stood a man that looked like an older version of Tomoji. His dark hair stood up in all directions and looked a little like a rooster's. He must have been around Six foot something a least. He wore white clothes lined in navy blue or black (he couldn't quite tell in the fading light), his shirt open to reveal a slim, but rather muscular chest. Around is head was a red headband, the ties were blowing behind in the wind. One eyebrow was raised as he looked down at him.

Shinya suddenly remembered his manners. "E-excuse me, Sir!"

The man leaned down and with one hand grabbed the back of his gi and hauled him clean off his feet before setting him upright again, but didn't let go. His brown eyes looked at him in surprise.

"Do I know you?" his voice was quite deep and seemed to hold humour behind it.

"O-Huh?" he corrected himself quickly (remember, no oro! he snarled to himself silently) He flashed him a disarming smile. "Nope, I don't think so, sir. I only just arrived in Tokyo today."

"Hmm? Perhaps you just look like someone I know. Watch where you going next time, 'kay kid?" as he turned away, Shinya was surprised to see the Kanji for 'bad' written on his shirt. Perhaps he was trying to start a new fashion, but…

He had begun to stride off when Shinya decided to throw caution to the wind and give asking directions one more shot. "Hey mister! Do you know how to get to the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu dojo?"

The man turned and looked at him again. "Know where it is? I practically live there. I'm going myself." Suddenly he became deadly serious "Why you wanna know?"

Well, I might as well go with the second plan. This guy looks as if he thinks I'm gonna kill someone. Shinya smiled again "I want to become a student to learn swords" he said pleasantly. "I heard Kamiya Kasshin-ryu was a Katsujin-ken and I'd really like to learn a sword style that could help people." He prayed he sounded convincing.

"New student, huh? Well, Jou-chan'd kill me if I didn't tell ya."

Shinya frowned slightly "Jou-chan?"

"Kaoru Kamiya, the assistant master"

"Oh"

"Listen, you come with me and I'll show you where the Dojo is."

"R-really? Thanks mister!"

The tall man shuddered slightly "would you stop with the 'Mister' thing. The name's Sanosuke Sagara"

Sagara? Wasn't that the name of the captain of the betrayed Sekihotai? Quickly he pushed the thought away and grinned in return. "I'm Shinya Harada"

0

"Yahiko, concentrate on your swings" Kaoru Kamiya shouted for what seemed the umpteenth time that day. Yahiko Myojin, first apprentice of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, gritted his teeth.

"It'd be so much easier if your Ugly face wasn't distracting me!"

Snap! Kaoru's temper got the better of her.

Kenshin Himura sweat-dropped as the young Kenjutsu instructor stormed after her apprentice, Shinai raised high as Yahiko bolted round the room. Not again…

"Come back here, Yahiko! I'll teach you for calling me Ugly!"

The young samurai laughed and continued his torments "Ugly, Ugly, Tanooki!" in a sing-songy voice. However, this time he wasn't fast enough and Kaoru managed to smack the Shinai hard on his head. The lump steadily grew bigger. "Ow! What the heck was that for!"

"Well if you respected your Sensei, I wouldn't have to hit you now would I?"

"Well, if you weren't so ugly, then I wouldn't have to call you an ugly girl!"

"YAHIKO!"

Kenshin raised his hands and edged towards the two now pulling at each other's faces. "Now, now, don't you think you should stop fighting? You'll wake Ayame and Suzume, that you will." But they ignored him. He sweat-dropped again. "Oro…"

The door clattered as Sanosuke slid the door open "Hey Kenshin. They fighting again?"

"Sessha's afraid it's been pretty much like this all day…" he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh man…" he sat down next to the red haired swordsman. Just then, Kenshin sensed another presence and a head peeped around the corner of the open door. "Oro?" he gasped. The boy gaped back at him. It was no wonder really. If it weren't for the fact that the boy was obviously younger than he was and had black hair instead of red and no scar, he would have been his double. He was about a head shorter than he was with unruly hair and warm, amethyst eyes, wide as plates at the moment. The other two finally stopped fighting to look at the new comer.

"Oh yeah," Sanosuke said, as if only just remembering something important "this is Shinya Harada. He wants to learn Kasshin-ryu from ya, Missy"

The boy smiled pleasantly and bowed. Kaoru's bad mood vanished instantly. "Really! I'm Kaoru Kamiya, assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu. Glad to meet you, Shinya"

"Pleased to meet you too, Sensei" He answered politely. The boy had a soft speaking voice.

"Cool," Yahiko chimed in. "Another student! I'm Yahiko Myojin, first apprentice of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu!"

"Nice to meet you, Yahiko" Though he looked confused by the change in attitude. Kenshin couldn't blame him really. Shyly he glanced at Kenshin.

"Sessha is Kenshin Himura. Pleased to meet you."

Shinya started at the name. So, just as he thought, this is his ancestor, the ex-hitokiri, Battosai turned Rurouni. "I'm honoured, sir"

Kenshin saw the surprise flash in his amethyst eyes and felt a little uncomfortable. Did he know who Kenshin was? However, Shinya's ki was strong, but honest. Perhaps he had just imagined the look in his eyes…

"Come in, Shinya. We're just about to have dinner. Why don't you join us?" Kaoru asked with a smile "You must have travelled a long way"

Shinya grinned back "Quite a long way. I'm new round here, though, so it took me a while to actually find the dojo, Kamiya-san." He laughed as he rubbed the back of his head with a hand in embarrassment.

Kaoru gave Yahiko a side-glance and said, "At least someone knows when to respect his teacher!" Yahiko just stuck out his tongue. She turned back to the new boy. "You can just call me Kaoru, though."

"Sure, Kaoru-san" Shinya smiled and sat next to Sanosuke when Kaoru waved him to sit down. Yahiko sat down next to him on his other side. Shinya glanced at him under his bangs. Yahiko looked as if he was about 10 or 11 years old, but his ki was proud and a lot more stubborn than any other boy of that age he knew. He could see the warrior's spirit in his red-brown eyes. Shinya guessed he was of a samurai decent. Quickly he looked away when Yahiko turned to him so he wouldn't catch him looking.

"So, where do you come from then?"

Kaoru glared at the boy, but said nothing. Shinya, however, smiled. Just stick with the story…

"I'm from Yokohama, or at least, I was"

"Why come to a crappy little dojo like this? Surely there was at least one in Yokohama?"

"Probably, but I was moving to Tokyo anyway and I heard about the 'sword that protects'. Really, it sounded like a good style to learn." His mind started to come up with reasons to why he would think so. Yahiko looked as if he was becoming rather interested in him.

However, it was Sanosuke that glanced at him. "So, you came with you're family, huh?"

This caught him of guard. "M-my family? No, I came on my own. My family is… they're…" What? He was sure saying 'my family vanished into thin air' might raise some suspicions. But when he looked up, he saw Sanosuke exchanging glances with the others. Shinya realised with a jerk that they thought he meant they were dead! Well, he guessed that, in a way, they were right. Shinya's family hadn't been born yet, and as they had just vanished because they didn't exist, it meant the same thing really.

"I'm sorry, Shinya-kun" Kaoru said quietly.

"It's okay, Kaoru-san. Besides, they wouldn't want me to mope about or get depressed." He smiled reassuringly.

They all fell silent for the moment. Finally, Sanosuke said, "um… who cooked tonight?"

"Sessha did" Kenshin answered with a smile, "it should be ready soon, that it should"

Both Sanosuke and Yahiko looked relieved. Shinya had to stifle a laugh at their faces. Leaning to Yahiko, he whispered "I'm guessing Kaoru's a lousy cook, huh?" The younger boy laughed.

"If you had to eat Kaoru's food you're first day here, you'd probably leave straight away."

"That bad, huh?"

"You'd probably die of food poisoning!"

Whack! Kaoru struck Yahiko hard on the head. Shinya sweat dropped. This was going to be interesting… Sort of.

He sweat dropped again as Yahiko leaped up and, despite the growing lump began bickering with the woman as if they were siblings. He was really starting to be glad he was an only child!

Kenshin returned and began to pass out soup and rice balls. Shinya's mouth watered slightly. He remembered he hadn't really eaten anything since breakfast back at the Shinto shrine with the old priest, except for the rice ball he had eaten when he had been walking. When Kenshin smiled and passed Shinya his, he grinned and thanked him. Yahiko and Kaoru were suddenly sitting round the table as if nothing had happened.

As Shinya began to eat, he watched as his two ancestors sat next to each other and Kenshin passed a bowl to Kaoru, from under his bangs. He watched as Kaoru blushed slightly when her hand brushed against his. He saw something flash in Kenshin's eyes before they took up a slightly guarded expression. He was sure that they had almost forgotten the rest of them were around. Shinya almost felt embarrassed to be watching them, but they broke apart and, blushing furiously began to eat their own meals. Shinya looked into his own bowl to think for a moment. The feelings were there, so it mightn't be as hard as he had thought it might be, but there was something else that worried him. When Kenshin had looked at Kaoru, it was almost as if he didn't think he should. As if he didn't think himself worthy. Perhaps those 'sessha's' he said, he actually believed…

His train of thought was broken when Sanosuke and Yahiko began to make sounds that greatly imitated a pig as they ate so fast it was almost as if they thought the food would run off there plates. Unable to stop the temptation, Shinya prodded Sanosuke and smirked. "The food is dead, you know, it's not gonna get up and walk."

Kaoru snorted and everyone burst out laughing as Sanosuke grumbled under his breath. However, he did slow down…a little.

Shinya was quite surprised at how welcoming they had been to him. He was a complete stranger, for Pete sake! Yet, they made him feel at home instantly. Maybe that's why Kenshin stayed in the first place. Kaoru had seemed annoyed when Yahiko was prying. Perhaps she just didn't care about whom people had been. He secretly gave her his respect.

After they had finished, another argument broke out across the table about who would do the dishes.

"Oro…"sighed Kenshin.

"Um…they always like this, Kenshin-san" Shinya asked him in an undertone.

"Pretty much – ORO!"

Shinya and Kenshin ducked as Kaoru began hurling things at Yahiko and Sano who had run behind them. "You freeloaders!" she screeched "you're always eating our food and you don't do anything! Get back here!"

"Hey, I'll do them, Kaoru-san…" anything to get her to stop throwing missiles!

"Sessha could do them –"

"No. Shinya, you're a guest and you've made dinner tonight, Kenshin" finally she grabbed Yahiko and Sanosuke as they groaned with bloody lumps on their heads and dragged them off.

"And I thought grandpa was bad," Shinya muttered.

0

Not long after Kaoru had set up Sanosuke and Yahiko (kicking and screaming) with doing the dishes, Kaoru and Kenshin gave him a tour of the house and dojo before showing him where he would be sleeping while he lived with them. Of course, Shinya already knew the layout of the house, but pretended that he had never even seen the place before. To Shinya's surprise, he was given the exact same room he would occupy in the future. He made sure he hid his surprise though and, after saying goodnight, entered, closing the door behind him.

The room looked much bigger without the desk and computer that would later inhabit it and was much more simply decorated. Carefully, he placed down his bag in the corner and unrolled his futon. He took off his clothes and slipped into his Yukata, but didn't go to sleep just yet. Cross-legged and sitting in the dark, he took out the talisman and looked at it as he contemplated what he had seen.

At least Kenshin and Kaoru did have the feelings, so he didn't need to be too forceful or anything, therefore that wouldn't be too much of a problem. But the look in Kenshin's eyes, the sadness, it was stronger than what he had seen in the picture. Kenshin obviously hated what he had had to do during the revolution, so that could possibly explain why he wouldn't think himself worthy of the happiness, but then there was the other thing he had seen. Now he came to think about it, it seemed that something else was holding him back. Was it something to do with that tragedy the book had mentioned?

Shinya groaned slightly and flopped back onto his futon. He was just too tired to think about it just then. However, it was long after he heard the last door close as the others went to bed, and he heard Yahiko snoring before he finally managed to drift off to a fitful sleep.

To be continued…

AN. Ah, poor Shinya's already feeling the strain and he's barely started! I had been trying to think how Shinya would meet up with everyone, but it was rather difficult. Then I came up with a possible title and the Gumi turned on the light bulb. So, how was it, Minna? Good, bad? You just keep those reviews coming! We're always happy to get constructive comments!

A little note on 'Tanooki'. A Tanooki is a Japanese mythical monster also known as a 'Racoon-dog. Kaoru is described as a racoon at some points, so naming her Tanooki seemed an appropriate insult for Yahiko.

Next time on 'Fading Futures'

Shinya starts practice at the Kamiya dojo, but has some plans up his sleeve about what he's got to do, but Kenshin and Kaoru aren't making it easy for him. Not to mention the story Shinya has to tell as to why he wants to learn Kasshin-ryu! What happens? Find out on the next chapter of Fading Futures: 'Truth of Feelings'

Mata Aimasho, Minna-san! See you next time…

Chosha Kurenai xXx