When Sakura Blossoms Fall
Chapter 3: More than Just a Cold
Time.
It was a funny thing, really. Everyone in his life, Kenji included, had considered the emotional recovery of the young swordsman after the incidents in Tokyo an impossibility.
It wasn't that he struggled with the reality of having no parents. In fact, more than one of his friends wished it were only that simple. At least then he would have been behaving like a normal person. But no, instead their concern lay in his mind-engulfing bitterness and hatred. One would do as much as mention his father's name, and be left stunned in the wake of his disintegrating glare. There was no cure for that kind of animosity.
But they forgot about time.
"You're what?" Kenji had questioned dubiously when Hiko had informed him that he would no longer be training him in his father's style. The young man had been livid. But as the weeks passed his frustration ebbed; his anger was doused. Kenji promptly got over it.
After all, he still spent an unhealthy amount of time practicing, even without Hiko's tutelage. And Aoshi almost always proved to be a willing sparring partner. He continued living with his former master, but saw less and less of the old man as weeks turned into months. Gradually the invisible fragile sign that most of the Oniwabanshu had placed on him after his parents' deaths faded into oblivion, and it was as if that fateful visit to Tokyo had never even occurred. It was so much simpler to pretend it hadn't happened.
The ensuing months that Kenji experienced truly became the most peaceful of his life thus far. As he often had nothing better to do, he found himself frequently among the paddies, harvesting rice alongside Soichiro (and occasionally Chizuru), who made a living by assisting the farmers of the area. On occasion he was even put to work at the Aoiya, where Chizuru worked as an indispensable asset.
Anniversaries and birthdays passed, and a surprising but not unexpected announcement was made. Kenji nearly blacked out when he heard the news that Misao was pregnant.
Aoshi. A father.
Almost before anyone had realized it, a year had passed in Kyoto. And as far as anyone could tell, Kenji had healed. As long as Kenshin's name passed no one's lips, the young man behaved as would be expected of one with a completely average childhood.
Was this how normal people lived?
"Oooo . . . that looks painful. What happened?"
Kenji swatted Chizuru's curious fingers away from his bruised arm.
"Don't touch it."
He and Aoshi had just finished another session of "sparring." Or, to be more precise, the ninja had beaten him to a pulp.
"Stupid inhumane excuse for a—"
"What?"
"Nothing," Kenji muttered. All right, so his anger wasn't completely under control yet.
Chizuru shrugged and turned back to the potato she was peeling, humming a simple, wandering tune to herself. Her dangling legs swung gently back and forth with the notes, and Kenji chuckled at the picture of innocence she made. She was so guileless, so childlike, so . . . vulnerable. Kenji sighed. One as young as she was shouldn't have been required to work just to survive. He knew Soichiro worried about her. After all, she was just a little girl.
He turned his eyes to the potato, where her experienced fingers wielded a small knife with nimble ease. An idea was born in his mind as the blade caught a ray of sunlight.
"Chizuru-chan" (her fingers slipped, removing a hefty chunk of the root, though Kenji failed to notice), "why don't you do some kind of training? You and Soichiro live here after all, I'm surprised you haven't already been recruited to be ninjas. Misao and Aoshi are some of the best, you know."
She laughed. "Oh, I couldn't, Kenji-kun. I'd rather resolve things peacefully. Besides, if I'm ever in any kind of trouble, I'll have you to take care of me, right?"
She grinned sweetly, and he couldn't help but match the expression.
"Right."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She tossed him the knife and potato and stood, brushing her hands off on her kimono.
"Well then, it looks like you're staying for awhile, so you might as well help out." An impish smile spread across her face before she disappeared into the Aoiya.
"Thanks!" she called. Kenji sighed.
That girl.
Kenji found himself oddly disappointed a few days later when he found the paddies Soichiro usually worked in empty. The sun was just setting, and the farmers had apparently called the day early. That is, all but one.
Kenji squinted into the dying light at the lone figure wandering up and down the rows of rice, as if in inspection. The sun was behind the worker, only giving Kenji a view of his or her dark outline in contrast to the glowing orb. The farmer was thin and fairly short, and held an odd degree of familiarity. He held a hand to shadow his eyes from the blazing remainder of the sun. That confirmed his suspicions, and he smiled.
"Chizuru-chan!" he called as he neared her. As was becoming customary, Chizuru lobbed the nearest object at his head in protest to the "chan" he had assigned to her name, a small pebble in this case. Just recently her dislike for the honorific had become manifest in violence. As usual, however, Kenji smoothly stepped to the side, letting the offending object whiz past him, barely missing his ear.
"Your aim is getting worse," he teased as he waded through the water toward her, "I think you're starting to miss on purpose. In fact, I think you actually like it that when I call you that."
The next rock was much larger and more aerodynamic, but most importantly, completely unexpected. Chizuru watched with strongly mixed satisfaction and horror as it struck Kenji squarely between the eyes, leaving him staring blankly in surprise, one hand holding his forehead.
Chizuru ducked her head and covered her mouth with the guilty hand. When she had regained her voice, she hurriedly sputtered in a tone brimming with shame, "I'm sorry! I didn't think I'd actually hit you!"
He turned two wide eyes on her, causing her to shrink back fearfully even further.
"Why you little—"
Chizuru screamed and splashed away as he sent a deluge of glittering droplets into the air and toward her with a swift kick in the water. His lips curled into a roguish smile, and he sprinted after her. It didn't take long to catch up. She squealed again as he tackled her from behind, forcing her down into the few inches of water swishing around their ankles. She good-naturedly shoved him off, wiping a strand of dripping black hair out of her eyes and splashing him in the face revengefully. Kenji laughed, actually laughed he realized, and extended a hand to help her to her feet, fully expecting her to shove it aside and stand up by herself as she always did. He had to refrain from physically jumping as he felt her clammy hand slide easily into his.
He watched with an arched eyebrow, not sure whether to be glad or disappointed as she pulled herself to a standing position with his help. She glanced up after wringing some of the water out of her hair, but her lighthearted smile slowly faded.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
The girl shook her head and turned away, heading out of the field, as sunset was growing steadily nearer. Kenji followed slowly, shaking his head. Why had he been so surprised anyway? It wasn't that important.
The sun was nearly gone before they made it back to the interior of Kyoto. Chizuru sneezed once or twice on the way, and even though she assured Kenji that she was fine, he continually watched her out of the corner of one curious eye, just to be sure. The evening air was getting cooler with every step they took, and he was beginning to get goose bumps on his arms. And he was the dry one.
After the fourth sneeze, he turned his head to openly observe her.
"Chizuru-chan, you're shivering."
"No I'm not, Kenji-kun." Kenji noticed with some surprise that her honorific was slightly delayed, as if she had almost forgotten to add it, as she did when she was angry with him.
"And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me thaa—choo!"
"Why didn't you say you were cold? You're going to get sick."
Chizuru sniffed and straightened stiffly, wearing a hard scowl. It didn't take her long to realize that Kenji had stopped walking, but when she turned around to rebuke him, the malevolent words died on her lips. He was standing right behind her, bare above the waist, his blue gi extended toward her on his right arm. She glanced from the piece of clothing to his face with questioning eyes.
"It's dry," he explained simply. "You'll be warmer if you wear it. After all, it's my fault you got wet in the first place."
And Chizuru surprised him for the second time in one day by accepting the offer with nothing more than a soft smile.
"Thanks, Kenji-kun."
Kenji jogged quickly through the crowded streets, easily dodging and ducking to avoid the massive amounts of people, and making sure to jostle the contents of the bag at his side as little as possible.
He skidded to a halt after crossing the threshold of the Aoiya, breathing heavily.
"Misao!"
The kunoichi popped into the room, smiling. "Well that was fast."
Kenji shrugged the comment off. "I've got Chizuru's medicine." He shoved his hand into the slightly crumpled bag and quickly withdrew a bottle of dark liquid. Misao's eyes bulged.
"I didn't give you enough money for that much!"
"I threw in some extra pocket change."
"Extra pocket change! That must have cost at least—" she stopped, a knowing smile appearing on her face.
"What?"
"You're really worried about her, aren't you?" Misao asked gently.
"I—"
"It's all right, Kenji. That was really sweet of you."
The young swordsman turned away with a frown.
Misao slipped from the room with a sly smile, leaving Kenji to pace impatiently across the wooden floor alone. Before long, however, Soichiro entered the room, a wide smile across his face.
"Hey Soichiro. Is Chizuru all right?"
The other young man chuckled. "Of course Kenji, she's fine. She just had a cold. But thanks for the medicine, I'm sure it will help."
"Are you sure it was just a cold?"
Soichiro glanced at him inquisitively. "What does that mean?"
"She was acting kind of strangely yesterday, not quite like herself. Usually she's more stubborn. I thought maybe something more was wrong."
Kenji got the disconcerting impression that his best friend was barely repressing laughter. He smiled mischievously, an expression rarely seen on the collected young man's face.
"Kenji, you're an idiot."
He didn't have time to ask what Soichiro meant, as a protesting groan was heard from the adjacent room, from which Chizuru had apparently been listening.
"Soichi!"
Chizuru's brother chuckled softly, ignoring her discomfort. "Go ahead," he said, "you can see her."
"But—"
"Just go on."
Kenji stepped forward and slid the fusama open without further delay, only to be met by an angry screech and a jar flying rapidly toward his head, which he caught easily before ducking out of Chizuru's range.
"Don't come see me like this!"
Kenji shut the fusama with one foot and sank to the floor against the opposite wall, smiling.
"Well, she's definitely feeling better."
"Sorry, Kenji-kun."
Kenji looked up from where he was polishing the sakabatou. Chizuru was standing just behind him, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Feeling better?"
She nodded quickly. "I guess I overreacted back there."
You guess?
"I didn't mean to throw that at you . . ." she trailed off, both knowing that she was telling a boldfaced lie. "Well anyway, thank you for bringing the medicine."
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Why?"
"It's not like you to apologize."
She looked surprised at first, but then met his eyes with an arrogant smile.
"Well don't get used to it."
"Now that's the Chizuru-chan I know . . . ow! What was that for?"
"I told you not to call me that."
His smile broadened as Chizuru seated herself next to him. Her almond-colored eyes began to follow the methodical movements of his hands over his blade, amused but interested."Aoshi-san said that you're a really talented swordsman. How long have you been training?"
"Almost since I could walk. I didn't train seriously until I came here, though."
"Amazing . . ." she whispered, her voice filled with awe. "And this was your father's sword? It must hold a lot of memories for you."
Kenji shrugged, suddenly feeling the urge to put the sakabatou away. "Not really."
Chizuru noticed that his eyes had once again taken on that cold and detached look he had worn in Tokyo. She wisely decided to change the subject.
"You know Kenji, what you did back there . . . it was really kind of you."
Kenji arched an eyebrow in confusion, unaware that she had abruptly switched topics.
"When you lent me your gi," she clarified.
"Oh. You're welcome."
He had expected the conversation to end there, but apparently Chizuru wasn't finished saying thank you. His entire body tensed as he felt her slowly lean against his side, sighing in contentment. He looked down at her face, his own expression bordering on shock.
She turned to look at him as she realized he was staring. Her cheeks and nose were covered in a rosy blush, her lips curled upward in a small and unsure smile. But her eyes were what threw Kenji off the most. The usually defiant, headstrong orbs were just barely betraying an emotion he had never expected, never even dreamed of seeing in them. It was difficult for him to interpret, a warm sort of attachment, or possibly . . .
Kenji felt his left eye begin to twitch involuntarily, no doubt as a result of his current discomfort. He could hear his heartbeat palpitating rapidly, and he had to look away as his own face started to redden.
What on earth is she looking at me like that for?
But Chizuru apparently didn't notice or chose to ignore his embarrassment, as she merely turned forward again, neglecting to lean away from him.
Kenji stared forward as well, though his expression betrayed much more distress. The heat emitted from his face was steadily intensifying, and he had to let out a deep, slow breath in an attempt to remain calm. His entire body was rigid, and the steady thump of his heartbeat grew so loud that he was positive that she could hear it. But she didn't react.
So much for normal.
I think it was time for a more upbeat chapter. Anyway, thanks a lot for the reviews, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well. Feedback is always appreciated! Suzu