Chapter 6 - The Cage of the Dragon

"Kaoru-san," Soujiro plucked respectfully at her shoulder to draw her attention away from the quivering boy in her arms. "We should go. I may know where Himura-san is."

Kaoru's eyes widened in sudden hope and Kenji's head lifted in curiosity and she nodded for Soujiro to continue. "South of here, in the Gifu prefecture," Soujiro continued. "Our best bet will be the capital."

"Oi," Sano leaned closer with Yahiko peering around his shoulder. "Someone's seen Kenshin?"

Soujiro shook his head negatively. "No, Sagara-san. But the slavers I've been following are widespread and are being turned in to the authorities with many broken bones and concussions, but no deaths."

"No deaths but severe injuries," Sano mused. "I suppose that could be Kenshin, but that's not exactly enough evidence for me."

Soujiro raised an eyebrow and then schooled his expression to his cheerless smile. "It's more evidence than you have found, Sagara-san."

While Sano worked to find something to say, Yahiko spoke up to try and break the tension in the group. "Well, at least if it's Kenshin, we know he's still kept his vow."

Kaoru reached over and smacked the back of Yahiko's head. "He's missing, not insane."

"Kaoru, it wasn't that bad an idea," Sano said dryly. "We don't know why Kenshin hasn't come home. It had to be something extreme."

Kenji raised his head to look at his mother. "Tousan's in… Gisu?" He tested the word out. "How far is that?"

"Gifu, Kenji-chan," Kaoru corrected gently. "And it's a few more days over those mountains there." She pointed to the bluish peaks that were still capped with white snow before turning a glare on Sano. "Sano, extreme would be Kenshin spending two weeks playing rurouni hero and forgetting to send a note. Reverting back into Battousai would be catastrophic."

Kenji wrinkled his nose in distaste, and mumbled under his breath, "Tousan doesn't like that name."

"I do not think we have to worry about that, Kaoru-san. We would have heard if he had reverted to Battousai," Soujiro said.

"My point exactly," Kaoru said triumphantly.

"But if he has, as I suspect, reverted to rurouni…" Soujiro's voice trailed off. Sano met his eyes and nodded.

"Don't do that alpha male communicating without words…" Kaoru paused for a moment, then covered Kenji's ears, "…bullshit. Tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that we had better move quickly, Kaoru-san," Soujiro said gently.

"When did you stop training?" Soujiro asked quietly as he poked a green stick in the flames from the other side of their small campfire they shared. Kaoru looked up and tilted her head quizzically.

"Me?"

Soujiro nodded, his eyes remaining on the curling flames rather than returning her confused look. "Yes. You have trained in the past, but your stances look unfinished. When did you stop?"

"I ... I didn't. My father died before he completed my training, but I completed it myself," Kaoru admitted, and ran a soothing hand over Kenji's hair, who was sleeping with his head in her lap. "He wrote down most of what I needed to know and I created the rest."

"It had to be something you were passionate about." At Kaoru's quizzical look, Soujiro smiled and Kaoru could almost detect emotion in it. "I can see it in your eyes when you hold your bokken; in the way you teach Kenji."

After a long moment, Kaoru shrugged and looked down at her son. "I still am. Passionate about it, I mean. It meant so much to my father to see his school carried on. But he will ... in Yahiko."

"And you?" Soujiro pressed quietly.

Kaoru thought about it for a moment, her hand drifting to absently caress the hilt of her wooden sword. "I love to teach," she answered truthfully.

"To be a teacher is a great ambition, Kaoru-san," Soujiro said, and turned his face away for a moment while he thought. "But is it really yours? You only improve if you face challenges." The wood of the fire crackled in the stillness until a snore shattered it and Soujiro's pensive mood. "I am sorry, Kaoru. I do not mean to press. It is just that you have great potential."

Kaoru stared at him, eyes wide in disbelief and surprise. "Soujiro-san ..."

Soujiro stilled her denial by holding up the stick he was roasting and watched the smoke curl lazily from the end. "You do. As does your son; though Kenji-chan won't learn your style."

Kaoru's disbelief sharpened into disapproval and a glare. "Of course he will! Kenji is too gifted not to be taught!"

"In this case, Kaoru-san, it is his gift that will prevent him from learning your style. Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is a very fine style, but it is not the style of a warrior. It is the style of a protector. Kenji needs Hiten Mitsurgi Ryu. And soon he will ask for it. Perhaps not vocally, but he will become harder to direct during lessons. Already he melds the styles he sees his parents practicing."

"…But Kenshin insists," Kaoru protested, and stopped as she saw Soujiro's eyebrow rise. She calmed herself with a deep breath and tried again. "Kenshin insists that Hiten Mitsurgi Ryu dies with him."

"Then he will poison your little dragon."

"Kenshin would never do anything to hurt either of us," Kaoru defended, eyes flashing in anger.

"Harm doesn't have to be intentional."

"I'm not sure I like where this is going, Seta-san."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to frighten you, but potential stifled often becomes frustration, which can lead to rage … And your son has a great deal of potential."

Soujiro tossed the remainder of his stick in the flames and climbed to his feet. He bowed slightly to her before walking away to take his turn at watch.

The next morning, Kaoru seemed significantly more subdued. Subdued, but not inattentive. She kept Kenji's hand firmly in hers, as she had no desire to repeat that morning's experience involving a raccoon and a very tall oak tree, which took several minutes to rectify.

"Hey, Kaoru," Sano said as he strolled, not having to work to keep up with the pace because his legs were so much longer than everyone else's, "you feeling okay? Not giving up hope, are you?"

"Of course not. We'll find Kenshin." Kaoru shook her head and held up her bokken thoughtfully. "I'm wondering at which point I forgot how much I love this."

"What, your bokken?" Sano asked, looking at the length of polished wood in confusion. Kaoru smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Kenjutsu, Sano. I didn't pick up a sword just because I lived in a dojo, or entirely because of my father's sword school. I picked it up because I wanted to become stronger and because I loved it." Sano shrugged. "You're a good fighter, Kaoru. If you're wanting to start training again, I'm sure there's all kinds of dojos that would be happy to have you."

"It's not training, it's ... I want to use my father's style," Kaoru mused. "I haven't had a chance to since I was eighteen. I don't know if I can anymore. Besides, I don't know if Kenshin will like it."

"Challenging you means finding guys to fight that are better than you," Sano shrugged. "Doesn't seem to me like I'd like my wife putting herself in danger either, but I don't really see as how Kenshin's got much room to talk in that area. Just don't go around challenging random swordsmen. Hell, last time you did that, you ended up married to the miscreant."

Kaoru laughed. "It's going to be a long conversation, in any case."

"Loosen him up first," Sano suggested. "Kenshin's such a lightweight. I tell you what, it only takes a couple shots of sake…"

"Kenshin's smarter than that," Kaoru pointed out, wrinkling her nose. "He'd make sure I took a drink first."

Sano shrugged. "I can't help it that you're not devious enough to trick your own husband."

"I think it's more a matter of respecting him too much to get him plastered before we have a serious discussion," Kaoru said, unable to keep the laugh out of her voice.

Kenji tugged her hand immediately. "Kaasan…"

"Kaasan's talking right now, Kenji-chan."

Kenji huffed a bit at being thwarted and looked around for options. His mother was distracted with her conversation, but still had a firm, experienced, grip on his hand. Yahiko was further ahead with Soujiro, and too far away to recruit or warn. Kenji sighed and took a few experimental swings with his shinai before changing his grip like he had seen his father do the times they had gone to the river and hitting the ground. Dirt and grass erupted along a shallow crack in the road.

Abruptly, Sano stopped. "Kid," he said softly. "Don't swing that stick like that unless you're aiming at somebody, and then you had better have a darn good reason for it. A shinai is not a toy."

Kenji saw his opening. "Sano-nii, somebody is looking for us!"

"What do you mean, somebody?" Soujiro asked, turning swiftly. "Lots of someones, Kenji-chan?"

"No," Kenji said, a bit irritable that no one was picking up on this. "One somebody who is looking for us… but he's busy at the moment. He's fighting lots of bad men."

Soujiro took a deep breath and seemed to be listening intently for several moments before shaking his head and swearing softly. "Behind us and to the east. But not far. We should be able to hear the battle shortly if we retrace go back or they come closer."

"How did Kenji know?" Kaoru demanded.

Soujiro raised a grim eyebrow and pointed at the small crack in the packed earth with the hand that wasn't occupied clutching at the hilt of his sakabatou. "Your son can manipulate ki, Kaoru-san. What makes you think he can't read it as well?"

"Okay, Kenji-chan, new rule. After we go see what's happening, any time you develop a new skill, you have to tell Kaasan."

"Hai!" Kenji said, and tugged on her hand. "Hurry, Kaasan. There's lots of bad men."

The group moved off, traveling as fast as Kenji's little legs could carry him until Sano snatched him up. They came over a hill and turned towards the east. As soon as Kaoru could see, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Hiko-san."

"You know that guy, Jou-chan?" The rippling expanse of grass spread below them was dotted with a loose ring of rough-looking men surrounding a lone figure of billowing white and red. "Damn, there's gotta be over ten thugs down there!"

"Local yakuza, most likely. And all of them with ki soaked in blood." Soujiro flicked a few inches of steel from the saya at his waist. "He will need our help."

"Right." Sano cracked his knuckles and grinned. "One of you want to stay up here with Kenji?"

Yahiko threw his shinai over his shoulder and stepped forward to grab their shoulders and hold them both back. "Don't," he said firmly.

"Yahiko, they've got him outnumbered ten to one!" Sano protested.

"That's a shame," Yahiko said, "because it's not nearly enough."

"Not nearly en ..." Sano started, until the screams began. The man Kaoru had dubbed "Hiko" flickered out of sight and the nearest man's head disappeared into the grass, leaving a bloody trail as the body followed. Hiko reappeared beyond the dead man, and flicked the blood from his blade with a quick twist of his wrist. The other would-be attackers remained stunned for a heartbeat, regarding their impassively amused prey before attacked en masse with a collection of hoarse shouts.

They fell with impressive speed, with Hiko appearing an instant before each died then moving on to the next. In the end, he stood alone with a bloody sword and the mortal remains ten men lying around him.

"You know that guy!" Sano fairly yelped. "He fights like ...like ..."

"Like Himura-san," Soujiro finished for him.

"Exactly! Like Keshin!"

Kaoru coughed delicately, and uncovered Kenji's eyes. "He's Kenshin's sensei." she said to Sano. "Or, as he prefers, shishou."

"... Oh." Sano said, and scratched his head.

The swordsman turned and his lips quirked upwards as he saw the group. He flicked the loose blood from the blade before he swept past the bodies and towards them. Sanosuke set Kenji down, and noted with annoyance that even he had to look up to the man. Hiko halted a few meters from them and regarded them with a condescending smirk. "You're late."

Kaoru felt, as she always did, like a very small child under the weight of his gaze and fought the urge to apologize. She was soon distracted from her terror by the sight of her son, standing with his hands on his hips as he looked up.

"Can I tell them about you now?" the child asked impetuously.

Kaoru stared at Kenji, feeling a little lightheaded. When did she get so blind she missed out on important things like ki-reading and meetings with Hiko in her son's life.

"There was a small incident involving barrels full of eels," Hiko said evenly, and regarded Kenji very carefully for a moment before speaking again. "You realize, young man, that you have distracted me from my sake-buying trip? Inconvenient, just like your father."

"Kaasan! Are you just going to let him talk that way about Tousan?"

Kaoru laughed, unable to help herself, glancing from her son to the swordsman and back again. Neither knew just quite how to handle the other. "I cannot stop him, Kenji-chan. Hiko-san has known your Tousan a long time."

Kenji thought for a long moment and then turned to Hiko. "You can help us find him. But only if you're nice."

Hiko looked dumbstruck for a moment, which Kenji took for acceptance. "Let's hurry. I want to find Tousan soon."

"So do I, Kenji-chan," Kaoru said, took her son's hand, and started walking again. "So do I."

Chi's Notes: We brought Hiko back!

Kat's Notes: We're so sorry we missed updating last week! There was ... stuff and life. I think the plan is a double update this week, if we can swing it. We'll have to see how that goes. I hope so, as there is (more) Kenji-Hiko interaction next chapter and I love those two.