Sorry it took me so long to get back to the story. I hope you like this one. So here it is finally…Chapter one! … Oh and I don't own Rurouni Kenshin! I half to say it… damnit! But I sooooo wish I did…or could…

AnimeFoxy!

Birthdays

Chapter one

Shinya opened the door to the Kamiya Dojo in a hurry. It was Kenji's 14 birthday and he wanted to be the first to say happy birthday. Shinya yelled for Kenji when he came in. With no sign of life in the dojo, he headed towards the bedrooms. Shinya's black hair didn't move on his head as he ran through the sliding doors to where everyone slept. He ran outside and cut across the yard, slipping and sliding on the wet grass, fresh with dew. He tripped and fell in a puddle when he came to the steps leading to Kenji's door.

"Kenji!" Shinya yelled opening the heavy sliding doors. Kenji was still asleep on his futon. Shinya ran up to him, trying to shake him to wake up.

"Kenji! Wake up! Hey Kenji!" He pushed him over on his back, trying to wake the 14-year-old as best as a 9-year-old could.

"Don't bother dear." Shinya turned around to see Kaoru standing at the door with a towel in her hands. She had just gotten up to see what was all the fuss about. She had on her robe over her nightdress. Her hair wasn't up like it normally was and it flowed down her back, ending around her knees. She yawned as she walked up to Shinya. She knelt down on her knees so she could wipe some of the mud off his face.

"I really wanted to say happy birthday to him." Shinya said hanging his head. He turned to see Kenji go back to the way he was before Shinya moved him.

"Oh you will. But Kenji is just like his father, unless it is an emergency, he won't wake up. I should know, I'm his mother." She gracefully stood up and took Shinya by the hand. "He's hard headed. I've broken some good training swords over that boy's head and his father's as well. He won't wake up, so don't try, you'll gust be wasting your voice."

Shinya giggled at what Kaoru was telling him. He couldn't believe that his friend was so hard headed in the morning, but he could see Kaoru braking swords over his head. He let Kaoru walk him out of Kenji's room to outside. Kaoru turned around and shut the sliding doors back before leading Shinya to the kitchen.

"Now," Kaoru said opening the doors to the kitchen. "I'm going to guess that your mother doesn't know you are here, is that right?"

She looked at the little boy, trying to get the rest of the mud off his outfit. Her blue eye's hazed over as she remembered standing here like this with Yahiko when he was a little older than Shinya. Shinya looked just like his father. His hair had the same way of spiking; his red eyes had the same determined glow that Yahiko had at his age. She smiled at Shinya when his face twisted in frustration when he couldn't remove a bit of mud off of his butt.

"Ok, that's enough." She said taking the towel. "I will get Kenshin to wash your things when he gets up. How about you help me with making breakfast?"

"But that's a girl's job!" Shinya said.

"So," a familiar voice said from outside the door.

"I help my wife out as much as I can." Kenshin said as he walked into the room. "There is nothing wrong with doing something that will help another one out. That and it would be a nice surprise for Kenji to have his best friend make him breakfast."

Shinya looked at Kenshin's smiling face and then at Kaoru. "Ok, I will help. I forgot to bring his gift anyway, so this will do good for now." Shinya walked over to the water bowl and washed his hands.

Kaoru smiled as she walked to Kenshin and gave him a kiss on the lips. "Sorry I woke you up when I left." She said to him.

"That's ok. I needed to get up anyway."

"Well now that you're up, you have a mess to clean up that you and your son made last night."

"I'll get right on it." He kissed her one more time before walking out of the kitchen.

"Now," she said washing her hands too. "You never answered me when I asked if your mother didn't know if you were here or not."

"Oh, she doesn't. I didn't tell dad either, but they should know that I'm here."

"Ok, I just don't want you to get in trouble."

Shinya and Kaoru started on the breakfast. They only talked when Kaoru needed him to do something

Kenji rolled over on his futon and opening his sleepy eyes. He sat up looking out his window. The sun had come up now and was warming up the inside of his room. He started to wonder why no one had woken him up yet. Then it hit him; it was his birthday.

Kenji got up quickly and changed clothes. He picked his favorite outfit. It was the one that his dad had given to him on his 13th birthday. He was told that it was the same type of outfit that his dad had when he was a Hitokiri.

He walked over to his wash bowl and cleaned up his face. He brushed out his long orange hair and pulled it back like his dad always has it. He sighed as he though about how long it looked compared to his dad's when he was younger. But now that his dad had grown his hair back out, Kenji's hair looked incredibly short. He pulled a few strands in front of his eyes like his dad all ways has it.

Kenji walked out of his room; the floor was colder outside than it was inside because fall was coming soon. Kenji walked to the Kitchen to see if his mom needed any help with the cooking. When he opened the door, no one was there. He walked out of the room and into the garden to see if his mother had gone to pick some herbs, but she wasn't there either.

"MOM!" He yelled, "DAD! Where are you?"

He continued to go through all the rooms to see if they were there. But there was no sign of them anywhere.

He finally looked in the Dojo to see if they were there. When he walked in, it was dark and creepy. He opened the doors wider to let the sun come in. Then without warning, everyone jumped out and yelled surprise! Kenji looked around. His deep blue eyes fell on his mother's face, his father's, there was Yahiko-san and Tsubame-san, Megumi-san, Tae-san, Sano-san, and his friend, Shinya-chan. He smiled a great big smile; forgetting being scared that he couldn't find his mother when he needed her.

"Happy birthday Kenji!" Everyone yelled. Kenji walked over to his mother who had a gift in her hands. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, wanting to make sure that she was real. His body shook as silent tears came out of his eyes.

"Are you ok baby?" She asked him. He nodded as he wiped his tears on his sleeve.

"Yeah, It just surprised me that you all would do this for me. Thanks everyone."

"Yeah no problem little man." Sano said, coming up and rubbing the top of Kenji's head' messing up everything that Kenji did to it.

"Hey Kenji." Shinya said walking up to him. "I have a present for you."

Shinya pulled out a small blue stone shaped like a crescent moon that was tied on a black string. Kenji held the stone up to the light and watched the colors inside it turn from a dark blue to a sky blue. Kenji tied it around his neck and smiled.

"You didn't half to give me anything." Kenji said.

"Yeah I know. But I found this a few days ago and thought that you would like one. See I have one too."

Shinya pulled out a red stone from under his top. It looked the same and it too was tied around the same type of black string as Kenji's.

"Thanks Shinya! This is so cool!"

"No problem. What's a friend for, right?"

"Boys!" Kaoru yelled, "It's breakfast time! Don't keep us waiting! We know that it's your birthday and we love you, but we're hungry. So come now."

The two friends laughed and walked to the table. The stones shined in the sun as they walked to all of their family and friends. They would never know that this is the last time that they would be with everyone. Or smiling the smile that they had now.

I hope you like it! It might be a little while for me to get back to the story, so don't hate me! Please review!