In case no one caught on, and most people probably did, this title is a horrible joke off the title What The Rain Said. But...it sort of works, if you think about it in metaphorical terms.

Kyuzo was an impressive woman. She had mastered three languages, fought in two wars, helped to take down the Capital, protected Kanna against the nobuseri, served some of the highest lords, her skill earning her name prestige. She had come as close to perfect at honing her skill with her famous twin blades as anyone could hope for, she had killed countless people, scaled buildings with her bare hands, and was (secretly) able to play the shakuhachi. And all by the age of...well, Kyuzo hasn't provided her age. But readers can assume she would be considered 'young' to have achieved all this.

And yet, finally, Kyuzo the Swords(wo)man had met her match.

….Eh? No, not her husband.

Her impressive adversary came in the form of her four year old son, Hayato.

She had tried to be discreet, and prepared everything when he wasn't looking, but the second the child caught sight of his mother pulling out the washtub, he ran.

Catching his escape over her shoulder, Kyuzo sighed. This was never easy, but there was nothing she could do. The kid had to bathe.

So, mentally preparing herself for the new battle ahead, Kyuzo began her search. She had carefully locked all the doors and windows leading outside the house.

Kyuzo listened carefully for any sounds, footsteps, the jiggling of locked doors, anything. But the boy was being especially careful this time, and she heard nothing.

With another sigh, Kyuzo rolled up her sleeves and padded silently down the hall in her bare feet. Where were his favorite hiding places? Hayato liked, of course, to hide in small places, where his mother wouldn't be able to easily find him. She had secured the door to the cellar, and to the attic. He would surely try those first. In the past, they had been his default routes.

But she hadn't heard anything; he must have been clever enough to guess his mother would lock those doors. Weren't children supposed to be simple thinkers?

The bedroom...the thought struck Kyuzo, and she quickly ascended the stairs. Very simple. She walked into Hayato's room. She noticed his pillow was missing. What could that child have possibly done with it?

After checking the closet, checking the blankets, and inside the chests, she came up with nothing, and frowned.

Would he be daring enough to hide in his parent's room?

Deciding to check, Kyuzo proceeded to her and Kambei's room, and quickly made note of the bundle hiding under the sheets.

Quietly, she stepped over to the bed, and quickly snatched the lump with both arms.

Expecting a suddenly kicking and screaming child, she was instead greeting with...nothing.

Her expression suddenly turned sour.

At least she knew where his pillow had gone.

After irritably throwing the pillow back into her surprisingly crafty son's room and slamming the door, Kyuzo went downstairs again, and into the main living room. She was every bit as irritated about being tricked by her son as she was about having to commit to this chase every time she had to bathe him.

This was, of course, why she and Kambei took turns doing it. Neither of them liked this particular chore. And neither of them had the faintest idea what was so vehement to their son about bathing.

"Hayato." Kyuzo said once, firmly. She was about as verbal with her son as she was with everyone else. But the one-word command usually worked. Her son knew when his mother was being serious. He also knew to obey her.

But this time...nothing.

Kyuzo caught some movement above her, and her eyes widened at the sight of her son's foot poking out from the top of the highest bookshelf. How the hell did he even get up there!? Even Kambei had to strain to reach the top shelf.

Nonetheless, she wasted no time in pulling over a random box, stepping atop it, and was met with a childish cry of surprise when she suddenly popped up to greet him.

Kyuzo quickly grabbed him around the middle, and because it was a smooth surface, was able to simply slide him off.

Still, it didn't make this fight finished. Struggling to keep a firm grasp on him, Kyuzo raised an eyebrow at the dark mop of hair that almost touched his shoulders.

He needed a haircut, too.

She rolled her eyes.

…..Kambei could do that.

"Hayato!" She ordered, and he gave up, completely still in her arms.

She sighed with relief.

Unfortunately, too soon.

Hayato took advantage of the relaxed grip to slip out of it, and made a mad dash for the hallway.

Kyuzo, of course, took off after him. Weren't children supposed to be SIMPLE thinkers!?

Able to catch his left turn into the hallway, Kyuzo kept her eyes on him, and wondering why, at the doorway, he had jumped-

Now, Kyuzo only tripped perhaps once in a decade.

But her son had, somehow, in the time she had spent looking for him, managed to tightly adhere string to the doorway, to, say...about the height of Kyuzo's ankles.

Stumbling, Kyuzo caught herself on the opposite wall of the narrow hallway, and blinked for several moments, braced on her hands.

Curiously, she looked over her shoulder. Apparently, her son was perhaps somewhat precocious. Or a reincarnated ninja, as the author would suggest.

But she would have to dwell over this later, and instead continued her pursuit for her son.

Kyuzo headed to the front door, unlocking it and closing it securely behind her. She then leaped to the top of the porch's ceiling. She was certain the ruse would assure her son to run outside and try and escape while he thought his mother to be looking for him. She waited for him to exit the house, and was prepared to leap down and capture her target.

However, the surprise was Kyuzo's. Instead of running outside, Hayato came from around the corner of the house and slipped inside.

Kyuzo blinked, staring after him. How and when did he get outside?

With a snarl of annoyance, she leaped down from the porch and ran back inside after him.

Quickly, she relocked the door behind her, and saw him run back into the living room. Chasing him, she sighed, annoyed, that he had crawled underneath the low table.

But this wasn't going to stop her.

There was a reason Hayato was especially frightened of his mother more than his father. And it would be an example that instead of demanding he come out, or even trying to grab him from the side, she simply fastened her hands on either side of the table and hauled it completely up and away from him.

Kyuzo glared down at her troublesome son, with the table hoisted above her head. Hayato stared in a mixture of disbelief and terror up at his mother.

"Hayato." She ordered, "You're. Bathing. Now."

Instead of bathing, of course, Hayato ran off down the hall again, and Kyuzo was (slightly) tempted to throw the table through the nearest wall instead of setting it back down. She fought this urge, and placed the furniture back into its original place.

But she heard the front door open again. Had she forgotten to lock it!?

Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit.

Kyuzo sprinted down the hall, intent on catching him.

She ran so fast, upon turning the corner, she nearly ran into Kambei, who had just walked in.

Kyuzo blinked, and Kambei took in the sight of his frazzled wife, who noticed their son trying, in vain, to hide in his father's robe, his form clearly visible through the white coat.

"Bath time?" Kambei guessed, and Kyuzo frowned before she nodded.

"Hayato." Kambei sighed, and eased his son out from under his coat. "You need to clean."

"NOOOO!"

Oh, no, Kyuzo was not about to let the little bugger run off again, and when he tried, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, promptly threw him over her shoulder, and ignoring his childish pleas, strode, to Kambei's curiosity, out of the house.

"Kyuzo?" He called anxiously. "Where are you going?"

He received no answer, and followed.

As it happened, Kyuzo was taking Hayato to the yard. Kambei was a little surprised to have his son tossed into him from several feet away. Of course, he caught him, and the poor little boy clung to his father who had, actually, just proven to be no protection against his determined mother.

But he watched Kyuzo, frustrated, storm over to their well and began hauling up the bucket.

"Kyuzo?" Kambei lifted an eyebrow, and as Hayato calmed down, distracted at his father at the spectacle. Kyuzo finally pulled up the pail, and unceremoniously threw the entire container of water over father and son. Of course, it doused the both of them, and while his son lamented the cold shower, Kambei blinked the water out of his eyes and somewhere between amused and bewildered, saw his wife walk back into the house. When she reemerged, she threw a towel at him, and thrust a pair of scissors into Kambei's free hand.

"Done." She snapped. "Cut his hair."

And Kambei had no way to argue as his irate wife slammed the door behind her, neither in the mood to take the trouble to give Hayato a proper bath or help her husband with his new task. He sighed.

"Well." He set his son onto the ground and toweled the boy's hair off. "I guess you need a haircut."

"NOOOOOO!"

Kambei winced.

This was not going to be easy.

So maybe it's not the best chapter, but I hope it makes you chuckle a little.
The name "Hayato", as I found it, was from "falcon" and "person". Falcon person?...Yeah.
Why not? Ehehe.

That kid is pretty scary, when you think about it. He's pretty smart...but in Kyuzo's defense, who would be expecting all that?