AN: Did you get an alert that a new chapter for a super old fic just got posted? Well, sorry to disappoint you. It's not really a "new chapter."

I strongly encourage you to visit Chapter 1 to read my Author's Note before reading the chapter below.

And I apologize in advance for any confusion and/or disappointment. :(


sheath
.:chapter twenty-one:.


The gentle thud of a knife blade hitting the wooden cutting board tickled his ears as Kaoru painstakingly sliced vegetables in the kitchen, and the nostalgia of the moment lifted the corners of his lips as he closed his eyes to listen.

Each cut was slow and careful. By the sounds alone, Kenshin knew she was working hard to avoid making any mistakes.

She tries so hard, Kenshin thought, feeling strangely homesick. It was ironic that Kaoru could be so skilled with a sword, even if it were a bokken, and yet have so much trouble slicing vegetables of uniform size. It was a quirk he always thought was rather cute.

Kenshin left his seat overlooking the yard and moved to stand in the doorway of the kitchen. Wearing a kappougi to protect her kimono from stains, she began slicing the last diakon. Beside her sat a simmering pot of wakame.

She was making miso, and so far, she was doing everything exactly right. He watched her for several moments, considering how he should speak to her about Yahiko. He had an idea of how to help the boy, but he wasn't quite sure how she would feel about it. Hopefully, she would understand and not feel rejected and hurt.

A feeling of being watched settled around him, and Kenshin immediately glanced to his left. With an open book sitting in his lap, Enishi stared at the rurouni. Kenshin offered a disarming smile while Enishi simply pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose as he watched him.

Guess now is as good a time as any to speak to her, Kenshin thought with a sigh. Enishi is going to be annoyed no matter what I do.

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, causing the young woman to stutter in her work.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Yes?"

Kenshin smiled in a friendly manner, "May I speak to you for a moment?"

Kaoru paused and bit her lip. "Can it wait?" She asked and nodded toward the pot of wakame. "I might ruin something if I leave."

"I can slice the rest of the vegetables, and we can talk in here, if you'd like," he offered.

She considered it for a moment and then stood aside, opening the cutting board to him.

"Alright," she said. "You slice and I'll stir..?"

He smiled, nodded, and then stepped forward.

"I'm finished with the daikon, but I still need the onions and carrots done."

She handed him the knife.

Kenshin immediately went to work on the onions as Kaoru added the daikon to the miso.

"Thank you for going after Yahiko earlier, Kenshin," she said quietly as she stirred.

"I'm glad to help."

Kenshin finished one onion and reached for another. "Kaoru-dono?"

"Hmm?"

"I was thinking," he said, making his first cut. "Perhaps it might be a good idea for me to take Yahiko with me when I leave again."

She blinked and turned to look at him fully.

"Wh— what?"

The color drained from her face when the rurouni didn't immediately answer.

"Why?" she asked.

Kenshin considered his next words carefully. Based on his conversation with Enishi, it was clear Kaoru was still unaware of how deeply he felt for her. And although he wasn't standing in the room with them, it was very likely that he was listening to their conversation.

"Kaoru-dono, you and I both know that Yahiko is having a very difficult time right now," Kenshin said, careful not to mention Enishi outright. "I believe it would help ease some of the tension if he spent some time away. Nothing permanent, of course, just a month or two of travel. I think it would help him to gain some perspective."

She paused in her stirring of the miso to stare at him.

"And maturity," Kenshin added, then handed her the finished onions. She seemed at a loss for what to do with them until he pointed at the pot.

Kaoru dumped the onions into the miso with a despondent air. Then began to stir the soup slowly, methodically. Kenshin watched her out of the corners of his eyes and knew she was taking the suggestion the wrong way.

"Kaoru-dono?"

"Did he say he wanted to leave?" She asked without looking at him.

"No," was his quick response. "He doesn't know anything about it. I wanted to talk to you first and find out how you feel."

Kaoru gave a languid nod.

"If you think it's a bad idea, then I will withdraw the suggestion—"

"Did he say he wanted to leave... me?" She asked, almost timidly.

Kenshin hedged. Yahiko said a lot of things, and much of what he shared should be kept confidential, at least for now. The wounds from this morning were still far too fresh, and she'd likely misunderstand. But if he lied outright, she would know.

"He doesn't want to leave you, Kaoru-dono," he said, adding emphasis where necessary to reassure her heart. "This is his home, but he isn't ready to accept Enishi's presence here yet, either."

Kaoru gave a slight nod. "I see."

She took the carrots from him and stirred them into the miso. The smells filling the kitchen made his stomach growl. He hadn't planned on eating dinner at the house. It seemed unreasonable to him to expect Enishi's tolerance of his presence to last through an entire meal. His brother-in-law needed a break, so Kenshin thought it wise to leave for a few hours, and he intended to take Yahiko with him. Besides, he had yet to stop by the Akebeko and say hello.

"Where will the two of you go?" Kaoru asked, disturbing his thoughts.

The rurouni tilted his head as he considered.

"I haven't decided," he said. "Perhaps he would like to visit Aizu? Or, we could head north, toward Niigata?"

Kaoru nodded. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing Megumi." She stared into the swirling pot of miso, "A month or two, you said?"

"It could be shorter," Kenshin quickly said. "That depends on both of you. He may not want to go, and he is your student. I am merely offering to take him on a short journey that I believe will benefit him in the long run."

Sighing, she turned away from the cooking meal and leaned against the counter as an introspective look filled her eyes.

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, seeing her uncertainty. "It's okay if you don't want him to go..."

"Do you really think it would help him?" she asked.

"The only thing that would satisfy Yahiko right now is for Enishi to leave," Kenshin pitched his voice so only Kaoru could hear. "But I believe sending him away would be a mistake. You know that, too, don't you?"

She glanced past him, where she knew Enishi was sitting only a few feet away, before returning her gaze to him and nodding.

"I can't think of any alternative, can you?" Kenshin asked gently. "A lot has changed for Yahiko in a very short amount of time, and there's been a lot of hurt to go with it. I think if he were to have a break from the tension and a chance to work through his feelings, he would be able to see the situation more clearly."

Kaoru chewed her lip thoughtfully, then sighed.

"What you're saying," she began quietly. "It makes sense, but..."

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said when her voice trailed off. "If you don't want him to leave, you can say no. The decision is yours to make."

"No, it isn't," she said, her voice taking on a hint of resolution.

She paused as she considered. Then, lifting her eyes to meet his, she said, "The best thing to do now is to let him decide. If Yahiko wants to go on this journey, he has my blessing."

• • •

With spring quickly giving way to summer, the mornings lost their comfortable coolness quickly. The bastard and the brat were planning to leave early, long before noon. To say he was looking forward to their departure was to vastly underestimate his desire to be free of their company.

Kaoru didn't seem bothered about Battousai leaving again, but she was unhappy about letting the boy go. Enishi suspected she was worried the brat wouldn't come back. For as strained her relationship with the boy had become, he saw quite clearly the familial love between them.

Kaoru had nothing to worry about. The boy would return.

Rising from his futon, Enishi stretched and turned, working sinews still tense from another night spent wide awake and anxious. Clearing his mind and anticipating a day free of Battousai, Enishi left his room. Kaoru's door opened a few seconds after he stepped into the hall. He said nothing, waiting instead for her to look up and see him. She didn't. Head down and attention clearly elsewhere, Kaoru walked directly into him.

"Oh!" She stepped back, a blush already coloring her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

The first thing Enishi noticed about her was that she was wearing her hair differently. Rather than having it in a high ponytail, she only had the front section of her hair pulled back, leaving the rest down around her shoulders. A few locks of hair, not yet long enough to be secured, hung around her face. With so much of her bangs away from her brow, Kamiya's eyes suddenly seemed quite large and bright.

"I guess I'm still a little groggy," she said apologetically, pushing a lock behind her ear. It fell forward again seconds later.

Enishi wanted to push the lock away from her brow, but didn't.

"Your hair is different," he said, stating the obvious.

Kaoru touched the top of her head and fingered the tie holding her hair in place.

"Yeah," her blush deepened. "I got tired of having to deal with my bangs in my eyes all the time... but they aren't long enough yet to pull back into a ponytail, so..."

Enishi's eyes moved over her face, soaking in her features. His scrutiny made her uncomfortable, but she didn't look away. Unable to resist any longer, he pushed the stubborn lock away from her forehead and smiled, "I like it."

They found Yahiko and Battousai already up when they entered the sitting room. The brat was triple-checking his pack as Battousai sat by and sipped his tea.

Traditional morning greetings were exchanged with sickening politeness. Then the small talk between Battousai and Kaoru began. Through it all, Enishi noticed the unusual expression on the brat's face as he eyed his sensei. When she excused herself to fix them some food for the road, Enishi took the opportunity to comment on the way the boy was looking at her.

"Not so 'buso' is she, brat?"

Yahiko glared as Battousai chuckled into his teacup.

Then silence.

Battousai kept his attention fixed on a squirrel climbing a tree in the yard, and the boy resumed his packing. Enishi watched Yahiko take a mental inventory of the items he was taking with him. For being such a major pain in the ass, the brat was surprisingly organized for a kid his age.

Enishi had been like that, too.

The parallels between himself and the brat were almost eerie. Enishi first felt empathy toward the boy almost a year ago when he demanded Kaoru be released from her island prison. Since his return to Tokyo, those parallels became increasingly glaring, almost to the point of being funny.

Damn, I was a rotten kid, Enishi thought as an image of Tomoe filled his mind, I'm sorry, nee-san. I didn't mean to cause you so much heartache.

The image of her in his mind shimmered and changed. When it reformed, his heart stuttered. She was smiling. For the first time since her death, she was smiling for him.

Jinchuu suddenly whirled through his mind — he had bled for revenge, starved for it, killed for it. And in the end, it led him... home.

To this place.

To her.

• • •

Kenshin knew that the moment for goodbyes would come far too soon for Kaoru, but she held herself together admirably well. She hugged the boy fondly and gave him some last-minute instructions on what skills he should work on while he was gone, and Yahiko rolled his eyes but agreed to do as she asked. An awkward span of silence filled the space between them for a few seconds, then she gave an impatient huff and hugged the boy again.

"I love you, you dummy," she said, squeezing him.

To Kenshin's surprise, Yahiko didn't balk at her sisterly affections. Instead, he mumbled, "I love you, too, Buso. I'll be home soon."

They stepped away from one another, and Yahiko shouldered his pack, a slight smile lifting his features. He knew the boy still harbored resentment for a variety of reasons, but the potential for adventure, to go places he'd never been to before, and a chance to see new things and meet new people had lifted his spirits considerably.

Kenshin knew Kaoru had noticed it, too, but she didn't comment on it or outwardly react in any way. He was sure that she would, later, when she could be alone, and Kenshin's heart tightened in sympathy. For as brave and supportive as she was right now, Kenshin knew this departure was hard for her, and it was only made worse to see how eager Yahiko was to leave.

Reluctantly, Yahiko turned toward Enishi, and his features immediately tightened. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and stared at the other man for a few seconds before grunting. To everyone's surprise, Enishi simply smiled, then gave the boy a respectful nod. It wasn't much of a gesture, but it was a more courteous acknowledgment than Kenshin expected to see out of him.

When it came time to say goodbye to the rurouni, Kaoru hesitated. Kenshin knew she was struggling with what would be appropriate at that juncture, and it made for a few uncomfortable seconds with Enishi standing right next to her, but his expression remained neutral.

Kenshin smiled and promised once again to make sure Yahiko kept up with his training. And he reiterated his intention to return within three weeks (at the latest, four weeks).

The interaction felt terribly impersonal, so at the last moment, Kenshin stepped forward and hugged her — Enishi's feelings on their friendship be damned. The embrace was brief, but sincere. Before Kenshin released her from his arms, he gently whispered a truth in her ear that he hoped she would think on and come to understand fully.

"You are to Enishi what Tomoe was to Battousai."

AN: Okay, some terms may need to be defined if you're not familiar with them.

kappougi - it's basically an apron designed to fit over a kimono

wakame - seaweed

daikon - Japanese radish