I have always LOVED when in fanfics there is a Big Battousai Reveal towards early/mid fic. Uuuuhhhggggg i drooolll over it!

I want to take this opportunity to give laurels to authors on this forum that have truly and deeply inspired me within the RouKen genre and beyond. Basically if you sort by most favorited, rated all, english, status complete, you will find them.

Ayezur, Ravyn, lossehelin, Indygodusk, broomclosetkink, hoshi-ni-onegai

You guys are my heroes. And its not just because you're incredible writers who have incredible ways with words and storytelling. Its also because your stories have carried me through life. I have been a fan of you almost all my own writing life. Ravyn in particular, I was finding your stories around 2008-2011 while I was going through *middle school* and I swear you added new wiring to my brain.

All of your stories helped me formulate who I am as a person, and you helped shape the way I choose my path forward in life. I have dreamed of the way Kenshin is depicted. I want a partner with his depth of character and devotion, and that has kept me safe all my life, knowing that it can exist. Because I have seen it written into being. I dont know how to properly explain it, which is ironic. But you authors listed above, if you ever read this, know that I was once clay in your hands. Your stories of passion and love and fantasy saved me from my darkest places, and shone a light on everywhere I could take myself in my creative mind.

This story is for all of you.

AND TO EVERYONE ELSE fuck bro go read their stuff if you haven't! ;D

I love yall and thanks for reading! I dont own any of the charactersssszzzzzz herein

For having only short moments before felt like he was a part of this space crew, certainly now Kenshin felt out of place.

The long shadow of his identity from the War stretched before him, darkening the faces of all its occupants. A few sharp intakes of breath, but no other outward expressions. He was grateful for that - at least his shame would not be amplified. He felt cold again and wondered if it was the room, or the retraction of warmth from the blue-eyed captain perpendicular to his left. So close that their knees had innocently brushed under the table during dinner.

Now the space between them felt like a chasm.

Oddly enough, it was Sano who spoke again first. He grunted, and his expression went from angry to unhappy neutral. "Thought so." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his broad chest. For a moment Megumi wondered at how strong and sturdy he looked, stalwart against the suddenly uncertain and fearful atmosphere of learning Kenshin was what had been legendarily described as a demon.

Kaoru looked from Sano to Kenshin, her eyes slightly wide and her body stiff like everyone else other than Sano. Aoshi hadn't seemed to change either, but his gaze had narrowed significantly on Kenshin after Sano's confirmation.

Like shutters bursting open in the windows of her mind, several important things occurred to Kaoru all at once. She knew, they all knew the legend of the Battousai. He had helped truly push back against the powerful Circuit forces and without him, the rebellion would have completely folded and been destroyed. He had some innate strength and power that gave him incredible agility and speed, although he used a primitive weapon, 'A sword,' whispered against the walls of her skull and cemented there. He had been the rebellion's assassin and last resort in combat. More than anything else, he had instilled fear in the Circuit leaders.

Then, math began to fold into her factual review of the legend. The man seated before her looked to be no older than her, barely 30 years old. But the war had ended twelve years ago, and based on the years Battousai had been involved, Kenshin would have been fighting in his very early teens. 'Older than he looks,' She decided, licking her suddenly dry lips and thinking back on the times she felt most connected to him through their auras.

The legends said that Battousai wielded a power greater than the weapon he bore, which served to enhance and demonize his ability to strike down another human's life force. He was untouchable, a spectre that haunted the nightmares of every wealthy aristocratic Circuit dweller with ties to the War. He was merciless.

But he was also sitting there, in her galley, and though she couldn't clearly see his face, she knew that he was afraid. Her lips pursed and she felt their auras gently touch, the barest glancing touch in the fractions of seconds that had passed since Sano spoke last. He wasn't afraid of his past, his aura was washed in it - it was the feeling of shame. He was afraid of their rejection. So quickly had his heart grasped at their world, like a drowning wretch he flailed for their lifeboat, never having expected to encounter it. Her heart ached for him.

And he felt it.

Warmth spread over Kenshin again, kindling inside him and making the tips of his fingers and toes feel like they'd been stung. The sensation reminded him of that moment on the bridge earlier that day, when Kaoru had turned her ire for Sano onto him without realizing it. And when she had withdrawn, the sensation had been soothing and gentle. This time it was firmer, banishing the stain of his fear with a gentle brush of raw emotion. Kenshin's whole body shivered and he looked up suddenly like he'd been plucked up from falling on the street and set back on his heels again. The crew's expressions were switching between themselves now, but still no one else had spoken. Aoshi and Kaoru exchanged one such moment, and it made Kenshin practically twitch. The combination of his and Kaoru's energies had amplified his resiliency, bouncing him back up out of the low the admission had brought him to. He noticed, quite acutely, that it also amplified his other feelings. This particular one was absurd jealousy at the quick trade in looks between Captain and Security Officer.

"Pledge now that you will do no harm to this crew or this ship," Aoshi's words cut across at Kenshin in a very clipped and direct tone. He had turned his head just slightly to look directly at, or slightly down and at, the redhead man.

'Usually you'd say that sort of thing the other way around.' Kenshin's brain was not working. What was happening? He was overwhelmed with the tenacity of his own emotions, amplified by the innocent but maddening aural connection he had with Kaoru - something he would have to closely consider later - and then in addition to all that instead of screaming and running and locking him up, this crew had somehow silently decided together to have him make a pledge to them?

'This isn't real, this can't be real. I died in that escape pod. This is death,'

"Kenshin - …. Kenshin, hey, hello -" A little hand was waving in front of him from the right. It was Misao's. He blinked stupidly at her, his eyes a blend of rich purples and amber golds. He hadn't realized he was glazing over until her little waving, snapping hand had drawn him from the stupor. Once his eyes focused on her delicate and somehow still engine-greasy fingers, they followed it down to her face, which was smiling over at him as she leaned on the table to get a touch past Aoshi with her flailing appendage.

"We've all taken it, the oath I mean! C'mon we already talked about letting you into the club!"

Kenshin's breath hitched in his throat as he tore his eyes away to look at the rest of the faces around the table. They all, in some form or another, were solemn with their agreement. Even Sano, who looked the most discontent of them all, was merely wary in a glint of the eye meant only for Kenshin to see.

"But - I thought you would -"

"What? Jettison you into space? We discussed that already too," Sano snorted while ruffling Yahiko's hair beside him, getting a snarl out of the young teenager. Before more chaos could erupt, Kaoru straightened up and put her hand down on the table firmly, though not hard. Immediately the others were quiet again.

"Kenshin," Reluctantly, almost with a whimper, his eyes came to land on hers, knowing what they'd find there. He could have melted. In them shone such a strength that he had to swallow the lump in his throat lest he stop breathing. His lips pursed together to hold himself in check. Her aura had pulled back and their ki was no longer such an inflamed distraction to him. But now, with her full attention on him, he wasn't sure the path forward was any easier to bear. Her spine was straight and her shoulders back, but she had such a confidence of regality about her that it didn't seem forced or rigid. A little bit of blue-black hair had fallen forward over her shoulder.

"Kenshin, if you take this oath, it doesn't mean you'll have to stay with us. You still have the choice to leave. If you swear this to us, you'll be as much one-of-us as you choose to be. If you don't, we will have to confine you again." Her explanation was like that of an affectionate mother to a child, not patronizing but crystal clear about consequences and opportunities for growth and change.

Where had he ever encountered such a person before? And a crew made up of a half dozen just like her, in various shapes and shades of her color anyway. They harmonized with her leadership in a way he had never seen before. Family, crew, all of it blended together into this concept of community and togetherness that he had not seen or felt in decades. Like a language he had forgotten he could speak, he was slowly relearning the nuances in conversation. He swallowed again, then rose and bowed deeply to the group.

"I would be honored to take this oath, Captain."

Kaoru beamed. "Good!"

—-

After the meal had been cleaned up and everything stowed neatly away, the crew mostly filtered away to attend various responsibilities before bed. They would be emerging from their hyperspace travel soon, then it would be rotating shifts through the remaining few hours of regular flying before they reached their destination. Kaoru tried to keep their comings and goings as guarded as possible, which meant emerging in unexpected places when arriving at a destination.

Sano was already on the bridge, fiddling with controls as he made preparations to resume manual navigation. Megumi had retired to her area in the large lifeboat-style escape pod on the upper level of the ship, joined by young Tsubame on the pretense of rolling bandages when in reality she wanted company with all the new information they had to sift through.

Aoshi had obediently followed Misao back to the generator bay where the hyperspace maintenance would begin after it went offline, engrossed in yet another story about a dream Misao had the night before as it compared to the one a week ago. Kaoru smiled a little as that pair strolled away, selfishly absorbing a hint of their attachment to each other and tucking it away inside herself for later.

Yahiko had gone to bed in preparation for his upcoming shift at the helm. Sano was teaching him the ropes of being a pilot, and the youth was as engaged with the education as he was in her family fighting technique. She had to admit, the kid had promise all around.

That left only Kenshin and Kaoru in the kitchen.

Even though Sano had been ordered as punishment to do the dishes for the next month, Kenshin had humbly offered to take it up that evening. He claimed he enjoyed the ritual of cleaning things, and Kaoru had to admit that as shocking as it was, this legendary man had a genuine preference for scrubbing dishes. She could tell he was telling the truth, getting bolder as she read an interpreted the energies only they could feel.

His oath had happened smoothly, once he was clear headed enough to understand what they were suggesting. It wasn't just about him, he had realized, but about all of them. If he had bad intentions, he now would have to pose a threat to them within the confines of having told them all to their faces that he would not do so. It was not a foolproof defense, but - he quirked a little smile as he stole a glance at the slim woman next to him finishing putting the last latch over a nearby cabinet of plates - it was a defense she would believe in. Of course she would.

Because it would work on her, and that was the trust she placed in her crew.

"Miss Kaoru," Electricity sizzled across her awareness and she started a little, turning her face towards Kenshin with a slightly parted set of lips. Quickly they were brought back together and turned upward into a smile that reached her eyes. He wondered, was it their energy or… could it just be in saying her name? He rejected the idea of anything beyond their aural connection.

"Thank you," He continued in a low tone, "for explaining things to me, earlier. But.." He trailed off a little here, looking down again. He saw her lower half turn from this vantage so she was fully facing him. They were only a foot or two apart. "I still don't quite understand. Why would you still give me the opportunity to be free amongst your crew, now knowing who I am?" Taking a page out of the Captain's book, he had turned her directness back on her. But without the pressure of the whole crew around and the comfortable mingling of their auras as they'd puttered together, he felt like it was a liberty he was allowed to take.

She snorted, and he almost fell over.

"It's not that big of a deal," She said a little derisively, one hand on her hip and the other flapping at him dismissively.

He stared at her, wide eyed and shocked. It wasn't his ego that had taken a hit, though that was clearly the jab she was attempting in, dare he say it, a joke? He hadn't realized it but he was still holding a tea towel, one with sweet little embroidered ducklings on it, clearly very old - he was clutching it with a white-knuckled grip. "Y-you really -"

"Kenshin, lighten up a little," Kaoru started again with a little smirk and a poke to his chest.

'She got closer to do that,' he noticed as he tried to unwind himself from the tightly coiled knot he'd become.

"It's not that we don't take your past seriously, trust me, we do." She paused there to have a moment of seriousness, looking up at him through her dark lashes. He bit his cheek again to stop himself from leaning towards her, noting it was still sore from when he did the same action earlier. More time with this woman would bring him to chewing his whole face off from the inside out! Thankfully, she swayed slightly back and he could take a breath without the scent of jasmine in it.

"But when we sat together as a crew and discussed the information we had on you, we knew this was a possibility." Kenshin was stunned. The reaction tonight had been so entirely placid because it was an eventuality that they had already considered?

"How did you…" He trailed off, surprised violet eyes looking not only at her face but into her aura, trying to read it like it could help shed light on their ease.

Kaoru shrugged. "Well, you have all the right hallmarks," His hair, the scar on his cheek, check and check. He hadn't had a sword when they'd found him, so that didn't factor in. "And Sano fought in the final year of the War - he was really the one with the hunch after spending some time with you in the infirmary." Kaoru had also noticed that there was something unique and utterly powerful about him, and while the others couldn't feel it like she could, they took her word for it. There had been lots of ideas suggested about who he was, she explained, and in the end it hadn't mattered.

"Because you showed us who you were, when you were in the infirmary and today. Today is what really sold everyone, I think. You were everyone's favorite part of the tour," She finished with another smile and a little wink. He tried to take it all in - the tour had been a test, dinner had been a glimpse, everything had been laid out for him to show them what he was like as a person and how life would be if he wanted in. That was the basis of their offer. Whoever he had been or why he had been that person was irrelevant.

And for the first time in decades, Kenshin actually believed that himself.

At some point they'd begun the journey back to his quarters. Kaoru had expressed that she'd been impressed that he'd made it to dinner on time, that some people found the ship to be like a maze. He could hardly tell her that he'd followed the pleasant sparkling of her aura like she'd laid a trail for him to follow - no, that probably wouldn't be smart. 'She might think I'm creepy,' he fretted internally with a grimace.

They'd been walking in relative quiet together until they reached the door that led to his little room. As it opened he stepped inside, but this time Kaoru did not leave him. She hovered in the doorway looking around the room with a soft smile, eyes a cornflower blue as they took in the space. "Are you comfortable in here?" She asked, turning that bright expression towards him with her hands behind her back.

He looked at her from behind his bangs, "Of course, it's more than I deserve, that it is."

She nodded once in reply, not in agreement but acceptance, her hand running over the ledge of a nearby shelf. "It's my old bedroom," She offered, more quietly than before. Kenshin's attention drew completely to her, then looked around the room again with a renewed lens. 'Of course..' The blue paint, the many books and cubbies of trinkets and tools. But there was empty space too, mixed in among the bright colors. "Ah, then it is far more than I deserve, that it is." Kenshin amended his earlier statement. "It is very cozy in here, Miss Kaoru, you made it feel quite like a real home." Was that a blush that he caught? Yes, there, just before she had turned away..

"I bunk in the Captain's quarters now, in order to be closer to vital controls. And since my father passed, it seems only right that I occupy that space as his successor." Kenshin sucked in a breath. This conversation was straying into territory he was certainly not sure-footed on. The photo from earlier came burning into his mind, its physical self resting just behind him tucked into the old book still. This was a slippery slope.

"When did he pass the command to you, Miss Kaoru?" He asked, trying to form innocent inquiries that skirted around information he already had. If he tried to be deceptive about his knowledge, he would never forgive himself - so in that moment he braced himself for her to ask the right question, and he would have to tell her. He didn't think he would ever be able to keep anything hidden from her. Keeping firm control of his aura and, hopefully, the expression on his face, he looked at her.

Kaoru had settled somewhat at the question, the happiness of sharing her old bedroom with Kenshin had begun to fade a little in the harsh light of reality. When did her father leave her with the Cassiopeia? 'No, ' Her mind corrected, 'He didn't leave us, he was taken, that's different.' With that seemingly small battle won, she gave Kenshin a somber smile.

"He died when I was sixteen, that's when I became Captain." Kenshin's jaw dropped a little at this new revelation. A Captain at sixteen? Even as the daughter of the previous Captain it was still completely novel to him. "He was killed in the War," Here Kenshin stilled and his mouth closed, his gaze drifting down to look at the floor in quiet reflection.

"I'm sorry," He offered eventually, his words rich with truth. Kaoru's smile deepened a little in gratitude. "That was fourteen years ago now, it's been a long road, and you can see all the hanger-on-ers I've collected since!" Her tone brightened a little. "That's the legacy my father left behind. He imparted to me the importance of the bond between crew-mates, that it was as a bond between family. I've always believed that was the answer to all the woes of the world. If we could care more for each other, I think we'd all be better off." Wistful at the end, she brought her eyes back to Kenshin who was staring at her in wonder. Naïveté blended in equal measure with maturity, ferocity and gentleness, love and strength. A tigress.

They were close again somehow, only a few inches apart. Their energies had begun to crackle against one another as she had spoken, and now that she was finished their ki rushed to fill the space. It was a blessing, Kenshin thought offhand, that they were the only two who could really experience the sensation that their manifested auras generated. He was sure they'd all be tackling him now for his indecency, his raw vulnerability laid out and exposed to her, if the crew only could read him like he knew was possible. The question was, how well could she do it? He hoped, because they'd only so recently met, that her translations of his aura weren't too accurate yet - broad strokes were okay, but if she became able to put a fine point on it...

It had been so long - so, so long - since he had felt this sensation. Being raised in his clan imbued a heavy familiarity with aural expression, woven into the fabric of their community life. Bonding and sharing ki energy was a piece of his very nature and the flavor, texture, the feeling of it was something as familiar to Kenshin as breathing. It had been decades since he had encountered anyone even tangentially blood-connected to his clan enough to have this experience with. But no, it was more than that. Kaoru's aura was different.

It was like fireworks and cotton candy and the dew on the grass of a cool summer morning. It sparkled with purity and made him feel refreshed. His own people's energy was denser in a way, more concentrated, and it leaned towards the negative spectrum of human emotion. Kenshin was at his strongest when he was angry, or passionate - it was part of what made his eyes change, his emotions come across so vividly unless he forcibly hid them. Jealousy, bitterness, anger - these activated his remarkable ability to deal death unto others.

But Kaoru's energy was not like that. At least, it didn't seem so to him. It had the same basic makeup, he had ascertained that, but it was altogether strange to him. No one he had ever encountered had wielded such a strange-feeling aura.

Well, almost no one.

They had been standing together in the room longer than they'd probably thought, exploring each other's energetic selves and seemingly being content to do only that. If anyone had been looking in on them, they would have seen two remarkably attractive people just… staring at each other. But in truth they were having a different type of conversation. Kenshin had been like a man long in the desert who finally finds an oasis, and is drinking from it as desperately as one would. A lifeline in the middle of an abyss. Kaoru, being the oasis, had no recognition of her own value in the exchange; she only observed with mute fascination the many new sensations the connection brought. Thread after thread wove between them, braiding themselves into thick cords that translated the same heartbeat.

It thumped in her ears as she shook her head and realized that they were no longer across the room from each other. Now they were inches apart, centimeters from touching. Kenshin's hands twitched at his sides and raised halfway as though to grasp at Kaoru's arms, but they didn't quite get there. She was staring up into his golden eyes, they swayed together and their energy overlapped just a bit more -

Almost imperceptibly, Kaoru's vision sharpened and she turned her head slightly to the side. A second later the spacecraft shuddered and the vibrations constantly humming around them changed tune.

"Ah, we've dropped out of hyperspace," She said, although sleepily in a way as though still trying to rouse herself from the entanglement of their ki. Kenshin hoped she wouldn't notice the longing that had been bleeding through his control.

Kaoru took a step back, seeming to be back to her normal self again, and made a little nervous laugh while looking down and away from Kenshin. "I'm sure you want to get some sleep, we have about six hours until we drop anchor, so, rest up." She seemed to hurry through her parting advice and scurry out the exit before Kenshin could even fully lower his hands back to his sides.

As the door slid into place behind her, Kenshin's body sagged, free of the rapture of her aura.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There were some fun easter eggs in there, throwbacks to the inspiration for this fic and some pretty decent foreshadowing if you know what to look for! ;)

I hope this satisfied for anyone wanting more interaction between our star couple ^_^

Would LOVE to hear what you think! Thanks for reading!