THE IMPOSSIBLE
By: Chiki Yumeshisa

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin…all original characters/Ideas are mine to claim though.

AN: Here is the second chapter. I hope you like it. Kenshin as a little boy is so cute, I couldn't resist writing it. Enjoy.

Chapter 2:

- Becoming A Parent isn't Easy-

Hiko took the item from Nakamura's outstretched hand. It was really light and felt really old. He held it gingerly, afraid to crush it. He finally found his voice. "I will keep this for the time being – it would be better." He composed himself, shaking himself from the initial shock. How Kenshin could have it – this item – amused him and at the same time, confused him. He put it in his pocket, before returning to sit by his nephew's bedside.

In the middle of the night, Kenshin woke. His face scrunched up, almost like he was going to cry. But he didn't: instead, he rolled away from that spot on the bed and threw the covers over his head, shaking.

Now, Hiko knew that his behavior was not normal. He got up, towering over the child, who cowered away some more. His face was still scrunched up, and the child sniffled miserably.

"What's wrong?"

The child didn't answer, of course, still shaking fearfully. Hiko saw tears fall down the chubby cheeks, and didn't know whether or not the child was afraid of him or the dark, so he hesitated before going to pick Kenshin up. He stopped, realizing what was wrong. He felt both disgust and understanding for the boy, but overall, panic.

"Hn……..you wet the bed." He murmured.

Kenshin began to sob.

Panic was still vivid. "Don't cry!" Hiko said quickly, panic rising. "It's going to be all right." He pat the boy's back soothingly, wishing that Nakamura was there. Kenshin gripped onto Hiko's shoulder, crying into it miserably, his little body shaking.

Hiko soothed the child until he stopped crying before setting to work cleaning him up. As there were no children that lived in the mansion prior, Hiko had no clue where to get clothes small enough to fit the figure he held in his arms. Finally, he took off his shirt, draping it around the boy after giving Kenshin another bath.

Topless, Hiko brought Kenshin over to the chair he had seated himself into by the bed, and sat him down. He began to rummage through the closets for some new sheets. He knew he could wake up a maid, but he felt bad to – they were probably all sleeping, those of them who had not gone home that is.
He could find none, so he decided the child would sleep in his bedroom. Kenshin refused to sleep on the big bed, and preferred to sleep in Hiko's arms.

Nakamura found them the next day: Kenshin sleeping in an awkward position in Hiko's slack arms. Hiko had no shirt – now that was a sight to behold. She saw it was because Kenshin was curled into the overly large shirt, and she smiled.

Gently, she woke Hiko, whose eyes snapped open, and Kenshin woke with a small yawn.

And the parenting began from there.

He was quiet, and refused to say a word. Actually, he didn't make so much as a single peep. He just followed whatever he was told to do. He went with Nakamura silently as Hiko went to prepare for that morning's business meeting.

Nakamura took the small hand in hers and talked to several people about the subject of clothing. Pretty soon, the little Himura was dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans. He kicked his feet when she tried to put the sneakers on, and she argued with him for a while, Kenshin returning that stubborn gaze.

He didn't want to wear anything on his feet. He just didn't feel like it, so Nakamura didn't force him. She tried to make him eat, but Kenshin ran away from the spoon again, into Hiko's study.

"What do you want?" His uncle asked exasperatedly.

Wordlessly, Kenshin clung onto his Uncle's leg, shying away from Nakamura's figure when she came in after him.

"I'm so sorry, Master………he's being difficult."

"Kenshin, I'm busy. Go play with Nakamura." Hiko told him.

Still, Kenshin wouldn't let go. No matter what they tried to do, he kept a firm grip on the man, be it on the man or the man's clothing, it didn't matter. He was going to stay with Hiko no matter what.

And so, that was why Hiko ended up bringing his nephew to the meeting.

The delegates sat there, staring at the silent child who sat in Hiko's head chair, staring at them all with big purple eyes.
"Let's get down to business." Hiko started.

"Excuse me, sir, is that your son?" One asked. They hadn't heard that Hiko had gotten married.

Hiko glanced at Kenshin briefly. "No, he's not. He's my nephew – but he will be living with me. He might as well be my son: he will take over the Mitsurugi Ryu Inc."

Another person coughed dryly. "Yes, babysitting during a meeting is hardly what I call professional."

Hiko couldn't help but glare. He looked at Kenshin again for a moment before snapping, "I can assure you, Aizawa-san, he will not say a word or be a nuisance. We can pretend he's not even here." He picked up his sheet of paper, praying that Kenshin would behave. "Now, as I've already announced: let's begin."

Thankfully, Kenshin didn't say a word through the whole thing. He did nothing but play with paper and a pen that one of the delegates had given to him, and halfway through the meeting, there was a break in which Hiko got the kid some toys to play with in the corner.

The child refused to eat for almost a week, not wanting anything Nakamura gave to him, and not wanting to accept anything anyone else tried to give him.

She became worried; that was not normal childish behavior. She had taken care of children before, and almost considered taking Kenshin to the doctor. Hiko had patiently assured her to wait.

Kenshin was caught, however, in the kitchen one afternoon, perched on the table, munching on an oatmeal cookie. That much was a relief: at least he had begun to eat something.

After that, Kenshin accepted the meals given to him. While he learned to co-operate with his newfound "parents", he still didn't learn to speak.

For more than 6 months, he remained silent. He smiled when he was happy, he cried when he was sad. He pointed when he wanted something, and he gave hugs to show his appreciation, but he never said anything. He would mostly pout or sit still in a corner. Nakamura learned how to negotiate with Kenshin rather than argue with him.

However, now, even Hiko was worried:

Ever since he had picked the child up from his previous home, he had said nothing. He wondered if Kenshin was really dumb. (someone who can't speak).

They tried to get him to scream with fear just to make sure he had a voice, but they couldn't get even that out of him. He was fascinated with spiders, didn't flinch when it came to needles, and merely cried when he was punished. He didn't bawl loudly. He sort of just let tears fall.

There was something they did know though: Kenshin was afraid to sleep in the room alone. At first, Hiko and Nakamura took turns staying with him in his room at night. But then, it became something that they rotated when they wanted to. Sometimes, Kenshin would stay with them in their rooms.

He became fiercely attached to the two, and would go with no one but them. In the back of his young mind, he wondered when it would be okay to go see his mother again. He missed his father's hugs and his mother's stories before he went to bed. Most especially, her kisses on his forehead……

Of course, he couldn't express any of that. Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night crying, and Nakamura and Hiko didn't know why. They couldn't figure it out. He couldn't tell them that he wanted a story, or that he wanted and needed the affection.

"He's too quiet, Master….." Nakamura said to him one day as Kenshin sat facing the corner, surrounded by toys. He was building a tower out of lego, and having a gozilla toy come over and break it down. He was delighted, and decided to do it again. "I'm afraid he's become mute."

"He's not mute." Hiko argued. "He's just…..well, quiet." He put in lamely.

"Do you suppose it's something we did?" She asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "I don't think so."

Into his 7th month of staying there, Nakamura was dressing Kenshin up for the day. He let her put on his shoes, somewhat resigned. He was tired of arguing with her, and besides he was hungry. She was talking to him again, something about learning how dangerous it was to walk around with shoes that weren't tied. He listened respectfully, and just to annoy her, he began to swing his legs when she tried to tie the laces. She pinned his feet down though. So much for his fun.

"It's cereal or oatmeal: which one would you like?" She asked him.

She knew he wasn't going to answer, but she always tried. She was proven right when he simply looked the other direction. Maybe he didn't understand her.

Nakamura sighed inwardly. Oh well. It didn't matter, she continued to talk. She began to comb out his hair which she had become so fond of. It wasn't often redheads were present. "You know, Kenshin, next year, you will probably go to school. You can make friends."

He turned his attention to her. That sounded interesting. "Then, you will be able to learn new things." She fixed his collar, and reached over for the powder. "You'll also grow up to learn that life can get very hard. And that sometimes, it is fun, sometimes, it is very sad."

Curiosity perked, Kenshin sat down. "Why?"

"Well, because….." Nakamura stopped in her response. She almost missed the fact that Kenshin had spoken! Excitedly, she looked at Kenshin again. "Did you just ask….."

"Why?" Kenshin repeated. His voice was small, somewhat weak from not being used in quite a while. It was heavy with interest.

Nakamura dropped the powder container, spilling the white substance on the floor, and, telling Kenshin not to move, she ran out. She came back a few moments later with Hiko in tow.

"I swear, he spoke!" She told him. "He said one word."

Hiko looked at Kenshin expectantly. Kenshin looked back at him blankly. What was going on? Were they mad that he spoke? He decided not to speak again.

"Go on, baby, say the word." Nakamura begged him. "Say 'why' again."

Kenshin refused to. He shied away, feeling both confused and frightened by the sudden reaction he had gotten.

"Come on, Kenshin…..say something." Nakamura said pleadingly.

When he never said anything, Hiko gave her a strange look. "Maybe you were just imagining it….."

"I wasn't! He spoke." She cried defensively.

"He'll talk in time." Hiko told her. "Just like when he didn't want to eat." He looked up at the ceiling. "Of course, you know, if he doesn't speak, the word monster will come and get him now that it knows he can speak but doesn't want to."

Both Kenshin and Nakamura looked at him. Nakamura in confusion and Kenshin in fear. A word monster?

After a prodding nudge, Nakamura latched onto the game. "Oh! The word monster! Right! The one that hides under the bed all the time!"

Hiko nodded. Then he ruffled the kid's head and left the room.

That night, they played a rather nasty trick on the child, but it got the desired effect that they wanted. They wound up a pair of chattering teeth and set it under the bed when Kenshin was asleep.

It woke the kid up as it began to rattle underneath him. He got up, rubbing an eye and looking to see if Nakamura was there. She was, and she began to wring her hands nervously in mock fright.

"Oh, Kenshin, it's the word monster." She told him, seriously. "He's probably here for you….."

Kenshin began to cry. He didn't want the word monster after him! Nakamura began to steal out of the room. "You'd better say something or else he'll come out from under the bed." She warned. She hoped that it wouldn't get him to go into a further shock and never speak again.

However, he cried out. "Nakamura-san, don't go!"

She smiled to herself. Hiko came running down the hall at his plaintive cry. "Don't leave me!" He heard Kenshin call. "I don't like word monsters!"

Cute.

Feeling sorry for him, Nakamura re-entered, Hiko right behind her. "Don't worry, Kenshin," His uncle said gently, "The word monster is gone. It went away after you spoke." He tried his best to contain the laughter bubbling inside him. Luckily, the chattering teeth had wound down and shut up.

And for the next three weeks, Kenshin slept in Hiko's bed. It was his fault after all…..

After that, Kenshin spoke, but not a lot. His words were chosen, and he didn't particularly like talking. He began to forget about his parents: Nakamura gave him bedtime stories now, and even kissed him goodnight.

What he liked the most was that she always told him he was a handsome boy. It made him feel good inside and proud. His Uncle always told him that too, and he was promised that he would be a strong, powerful man when he was older.

As Hiko was walking down the hallway, he stopped by Kenshin's room. The child was probably asleep already. But….that was strange: he thought he saw a shadow of someone against the wall. He was worried: that was definitely not Kenshin's shadow. Especially not the shadow of a woman so it couldn't possibly be Nakamura. He saw the shadow again and in the hand of this man, he held a sword.

Hiko's heart stopped beating.

Kenshin was in there with a murderer!

To Be Continued...

AN: Thanks for the support everyone! I'm glad to see some people are reading this as well as WTWRAY. Speaking of which, WTWRAY will not be updated this weekend but next, so I hope to see everyone next Sunday! Before you exit this window, kindly leave me a review. Thanks for reading,

-Chiki