Kaoru's face was glowing, Kenshin noted with
a smile. Today, she and Yahiko were training the beginning level group
of the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu. She certainly had a lot of energy today. A whole
lot. But just this morning, it had been a totally different story.
"
Ohayougozaimasu
, Kaoru-sensei!
Ohayougozaimasu
,
Yahiko-sensei!" the students chimed out in greeting. The sounds of practice
soon filled the dojo's training hall.
Five years after he had first began his stay here, the
Kamiya Dojo had become a busy place. The promised peace that the Meiji
Era tried so hard to bring about was finally being acheived. It was now
the prerogative of the government to absorb as much Western technology
as they could to make the nation stronger. The government promised to use
the strength learned from the West to protect their country from the West.
At least, Kenshin thought, there were changes being made to the society
as a whole. Slowly but surely, there was more acceptance of the modern
era, even though there was still room left for improvement.
"That's it, Yahiko!" Kaoru smiled as Yahiko twisted in
the air and knocked the bokken out of her hands. "I think that this week
you can start teaching class," she said, panting.
Yahiko blushed, rubbing the back of his head as he grinned.
He turned to the students, knodding and began to demonstrating a new technique.
At 15, he had grown taller than both Kenshin and Kaoru. Kaoru was giving
him more and more responsibility now. They were finally accepting that
he was an adult. He turned to his students and smiled with just a hint
of malice. Yahiko was going to work with them so that they would be the
best that they could be. And boy was it going to be hard. At least on them....
Kaoru watched as Yahiko put them through the paces he
himself had gone through a few years earlier. Her eyes teared up a bit
as she acknowledged that he was growing up.
Dang it! My emotions are
so out of whack!
She rubbed at her eyes. What in the world was wrong
with her?
Lately, for some reason, she had been feeling so nauseous
in the early hours of the day. But she had not actually gotten sick until
this morning. Kenshin thought she was coming down with something and insisted
she visit Megumi after he woke up before dawn to see her run off, trying
not to get sick in front of him.
"Kaoru, you have to go see her!" Kenshin demanded as he
helped her compose herself afterwards.
"But Kenshin, I feel fine! It was probably something I
ate or something. I
don't
want to bother her about this. Especially
now!"
"Kaoru."
Whenever Kenshin said her name that way, she knew that
she was going to lose. He was so stubborn when it came to certain things.
She protested for a few more minutes before giving in to the inevitable.
"Fine," she muttered, giving in. Then Kenshin smiled his
goofy smile and walked out of their room to make breakfast.
Sometimes she could not believe that they were finally
married. Her life had changed so much since Kenshin had come into it. She
could never imagine life without him, without Yahiko or Megumi or Sanosuke.
She sighed as she got dressed for the day. She was feeling
so tired lately, too. It was really strange. Sometimes she felt so exhausted
around midafternoon that she just wanted to nap. But the rest of the day,
she was just fine.
"
Geesh.
. . . What the heck is wrong with me?"
*****
"Kaoru! How are you?" Megumi greeted her with her usual
half-smile.
"Hmmm, fine. Um, well. . . ." Kaoru didn't know what to
tell her.
It's all Kenshin's fault! He made me come here!
Megumi
didn't need to be bothered so close to her time! "How are you? How's the
baby?"
Megumi's stomach was huge. Kaoru put her hand over the
baby and was rewarded with a hard kick by a tiny foot within. Kaoru thought
that Megumi looked wonderful. She was less than a month off from her due
date and it totally showed. Pregnancy agreed with her. She ran around,
doing her usual activities without batting an eyelash.
"He always wants taro mochi." Megumi's smile widened.
"Poor Sanosuke. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and making
him get some for us."
Megumi and Sanosuke's love-hate relationship had turned
out to be more love than hate. After a very turbulent courtship, they got
married and Megumi promptly got pregnant. (It could have been the other
way around, but no one ever said that out loud. Sano was not someone to
piss off and neither was Megumi....) Their 3-year-old son Shinnosuke was
going to be a big brother. And soon.
"He?"
"At least that's what Sano declares the baby is going
to be."
"How does he know?"
"Sanosuke says he has a feeling about it."
"Heh. The only feeling that Sanosuke is right about is
when food is gonna be on the table! He's uncanny when it comes to that."
"Uh-uh. He said the same thing when we were going to have
Shinnosuke. He was absolutely positive. 'It's gonna be a boy.' That's what
he said to me as soon as we found out we were going to have Shinnosuke.
He said the same thing this time."
"Really? Maybe he is more useful than he seems...."
"He is. Most definitely," Megumi returned with great feeling,
grinning wickedly.
"Megumi!"
"I'm sure Ken-san is
just
as useful."
"Me-gu-mi!" Megumi merely smiled back, unrepentant.
"Kaoru- what's wrong?"
She looks worried about something
,
Megumi thought to herself. It had been 5 years since they had all met.
So many things had changed, but some things never did. Megumi had always
teased Kaoru like a younger sister. Kaoru and Megumi could say whatever
they wanted to each other. Always.
It had been Megumi who had urged Kaoru to seduce her redheaded
love. The time had definitely come for it. Kenshin, Megumi declared, would
never make a move on her unless she forced his hand (and other things)
first. So, she told Kaoru what to do. As a result, Kenshin and Kaoru were
finally together. Of course, certain things took a lot of explaining on
Megumi's part. Kaoru, for all her time alone in the world, was truly sheltered
when it came to lot of things.
"I don't know. Kenshin wanted me to come over. He was
worried and wanted you to check me out. I, um, well...," she hesitated.
"I've been getting sick in the mornings... I don't know what's going on.
I feel fine afterwards. Nothing really bad until this morning. So Kenshin
made me come here. He used his 'I'm-not-backing-down-so-you'd-better-do-it'
voice. So I gave in."
"You're getting sick in the mornings?" Megumi asked, leaning
forward to look closely at Kaoru's face, smiling slightly. "Hmmm..."
"'Hmmm....?' What does that mean?" Kaoru looked worriedly
at Megumi. Megumi smiled even wider.
"The 'hmmm' was just me thinking. Is anything else going
on that you want to tell me about? Do you get really tired, especially
in the afternoons?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Ah, Kaoru-chan. You remember when we had that discussion
about men and women?"
"Yes."
"You remember how I said that women got pregnant from
men and how everything happened and why."
Kaoru turned red. "Of course I remember what you told
me! What does that have to do with anything?"
"Kaoru-chan. It looks like I have a bit more to explain.
Have you had your monthly visitor?"
"M-My what?"
"You know...."
"Oh! Ah, um, let's see.... Now that I think of it, no.
I'm a few weeks late...."
"Kaoru-chan. All the symptoms you have point to one thing."
"Symptoms? One thing? You know what's wrong with me?"
"From all indications, you, Himura Kaoru, are most likely
gonna be one busy
shihondai
in around 7 or 8 months, in more ways
than one," Megumi explained. "It looks like Ken-san made you pregnant."
At that, Himura Kaoru promptly fainted.
*****
Megumi sent Sanosuke and their son over to the Kamiya
Dojo to get Kenshin after Kaoru was put onto a futon to sleep off her shock.
She needed the rest. Kaoru's body was going through a lot of changes and
that took a lot of energy.
"Don't tell him she fainted. Knowing Kenshin, he might
go crazy with worry."
"Yeah. I got it. Come on, Shin-chan."
Shinnosuke looked like a tiny replica of his father, much
to his mother's chagrin. Megumi declared it was completely unfair that
Shinnosuke should look so much like Sano. She did all the work. To that,
Sanosuke muttered something about her liking all the activities and stuff
beforehand and that she should be happy with such a drop-dead gorgeous
son. Then he grinned and asked if she wanted to try for a daughter.
"No way! I have to recover first."
"Heh. You say that every night."
"Sano!" Sanosuke was the only man who could make her blush.
Megumi had seen a lot of things as a doctor. What went on between men and
women did not shock her at all after all this time. It was just something
about Sano that made her feel like a teenager with her first
kareshi
.
"Jou-chan's okay, right?"
"Yes. She's just surprised about something...."
"Fainted from surprise, huh?" Sanosuke drawled. "So, Kenshin
finally knocked her up."
"Sanosuke!"
"Megumi-chan!" Sano returned, winking at his wife.
"How did you know?" Megumi demanded.
"Kenshin and Kaoru have been married for how long? I'd
say that it was about time. Actually, I was expecting it much sooner."
"Don't ruin the surprise. Kaoru gets to tell him."
"Okay! I got it. Shin-chan, don't say anything about what
'kachan and 'touchan were talking about to Ken-niichan. 'kay?"
"
Ai!
" Shinnosuke grinned his father's grin back
at him.
"
Yosha
! Here we go!"
*****
Kenshin and Yahiko sat on the porch of the dojo, the shade
of the overhang offering them some relief from the heat of the summer sun.
Kaoru left to visit Megumi hours ago. They probably were talking. Or she
was playing with Shinnosuke. Kenshin was getting worked up over nothing.
Something probably just disagreed with her stomach. What did they have
the night before? Maybe it was the mushrooms in the miso soup, or bad tofu.
But Kenshin and Yahiko were both fine, so it couldn't be that....
"
Oi!
Kenshin! Yahiko!" Sanosuke's familiar growl
announced his arrival at the dojo's front gate.
"Heh! Sanosuke! How's Megumi holding up? Last time I saw
her, she looked ready to burst!" Yahiko yelled out in greeting. He got
up from the stoop to meet them. He grinned when he saw that Shinnosuke
had come with his father.
"Megumi? She's fine. I'm the one who has to try to find
taro mochi in the middle of the night," he stated, rubbing at his head
ruefully. "Nothing ever slows that woman down, huh Shin-chan?"
"Ai!
Kon-chiwa
, Yahiko-niicha! Ken-niicha!"
"
Konbanwa
, Shin-kun." Yahiko began to dance around
the toddler, making faces and funny noises to entertain him while Kenshin
and Sanosuke talked.
"Heh, Shin-chan really loves when Yahiko does that....
Kenshin. You better get over to our place and pick up your woman."
"Eh? What's-"
"Megumi's orders." Sanosuke broke in before Kenshin could
finish. "You don't want to cross that woman when she's this pregnant."
He held out his arms to demonstrate just how big Megumi was at the moment.
"She says it's important. Get Yahiko, too. We can use him to distract Shin-chan
while you all talk. That way, Megumi and I get a break too! Shinnosuke
has more energy than his mother and I do combined sometimes. And don't
worry about Jou-chan. She's fine. Megumi just wants you two to come over,
since Kaoru is already there. You can eat at our place. Megumi says that
she misses seeing you two now that she's so close to her time. You know
she can't walk down here to visit. Let's go!"
"Oro~!" Kenshin said as Sano began to drag him out of
the dojo.
"Come on, Yahiko, Shinnosuke. Megumi-sama is waiting."
"Kaoru is okay?"
"Yeah. But you all are definitely not gonna be the same
after this." Sanosuke grinned. This was gonna be more fun than watching
Kenshin and Kaoru finally get together. Yup. There were big changes coming
up for everyone at the dojo.
