DISCLAIMER: Rurouni Kenshin characters (c) Watsuki Nobuhiro, Shueisha, Sony Entertainment and whatnots. I am borrowing characters, not making any money out of this and not worthed suing. I'm a poor student interested in writing stories to make others happy... so...

Chronicles of a Rurouni

Part 1: Winter's Rendevous

This is my journey, journey through life.
With every twist and turn I've laughed and cried
As the road unwinds
This is my journey, and I've learned to fight.
To make me strong enough, to lift me up
To bring my dreams alive...
~ The Journey
911

He stopped abruptly in his tracks, cocking his ears for the shrill whistling sound disturbing the peace of this beautiful, misty morning. It soon disappeared into something down the road which seemed tolerable enough for the young man, so he left it how it was and went on his way.
*This is so tiring...* He decided before finally slumping down onto a huge tree beside the deserted back alleys of town, checking his belongings for anything edible or thirst-quenching. Having found none, he simply sighed in resignation and rested his arms behind his back as he faced the lonely, thick mist with wide, deep eyes.
He wasn't surveying the land, or doing anything in particular. How was it possible, anyway, in the solidness of the fog? A mere rest, he thought to himself. A mere indulgence one of superior sword skills could only allow oneself once in a long while.
And he laughed at the ironic way he portrayed himself. One of superior sword skills? Oh how anyone would laugh at him if he said it. True, perhaps only few know of the truth behind the matter, but Soujirou himself would not stop anyone from laughing at him for being silly. For he was.
How could he possibly be anyone who knew how to handle a sword, when he didn't have a sword by him? How pointless it was to try to even convince anyone otherwise... Soujirou gave himself another one of the seasoned smiles used for hiding true emotions, then dropped it as a horse carriage could be heard approaching.

"Yahiko! Yahiko you bum! Get off the roof sun-tanning yourself this very instance!"
The one called Yahiko turned his head from his lying position on the roof to stare into the face of his very infuriated Master. He sat up lazily, running his hand through the custom shaped black spikey hair he always had been proud of possessing.
"What is it?" He could barely mumble.
"WHAT IS IT?!?!" The female voice streaked out again. The next moment, while Yahiko took his time trying to open his eyes in the rising sun, a shinai flew through the air to land point blank on Yahiko's forehead.
Well, that forced his eyes wide open, anyway.
"It's the 21st. Just in case you forgot..."
This one had a very ambiguous sound to it.
"Yes. I did forget." Yahiko took the shinai and leapt off the roof, landing spectacularly on his Master. "Thanks for reminding..." He stopped, scratched his head and stood up, followed abruptly by his very crazed looking master, foaming at the mouth in absolute anger. "... for reminding..." He stopped again, face contorted with perplexity.
In the distance, the dojo doors could be heard sliding open, with a click which presumably denoted the limits of how much the wood could reach.
A familiar voice sounded out.
"Ah! Tsubame-dono!"
In the next instance, Yahiko was at the door, panting and wheezing from covering too great a distance with too little time. Tsubame looked on with no amusement or anger, merely embarassment, as she always felt when Yahiko was around. She shifted her weight around endlessly and waited for someone else to break the ice.
"Go... Gomen!" Yahiko immediately started. "I... totally, by golly... FORGOT about promising to help out at the restaurant today!"
Tsubame blushed a deeper flush of red as Kenshin went on to snapping the dirt out of the white clothes, which were, by the way, what he ever seems to be washing anyway.
"No... it's... all right actually..."
Kaoru came from behind and interrupted abruptly. "No it's not all right! Students of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu never forgets what promises they've bore! Get out! NOW!!!!" She yelled despite herself.
Her tone was harsh... yet soft... and, surprisingly enough to Yahiko, imploring... with some speckles of embarassment perhaps. He turned to the familiar redhead of the house to extract perhaps a confirmation of what was happening, but if Kenshin had heard the tone of Kaoru's voice, he did a very good job in hiding the surprise.
"Listen to your Master, Yahiko." Kenshin only smiled at him and snapped out some more dirt from the new batch of white clothes he was dipping into the bucket. These words worked magically, and Yahiko was on his way immediately with a cheery 'YES SIR!'. There was no hiding that Kenshin was Yahiko's goal in life. He was everything Yahiko could ever hope to want to be, for he was STRONG... although the meaning of 'strong' could mean so many different things. He was just... unique, different in so many ways. Kenshin was his role-model and a replacement of paternal love Yahiko himself never received in full. So naturally, Yahiko did everything Kenshin requested of with utmost pleasure or just feeling happy that he could please this one he so much respected.
And the one called Kenshin continued washing and snapping the dirt out of the poor clothes as Yahiko and Tsubame disappeared down the misty road. Kaoru sighed in relief, her lucious black hair whipping about in the slight breeze, tied up in a high ponytail behind her. Her dancing eyes turned to the only other person in the courtyards with a slight glimmer of hope in it.
*She's looking surprisingly fresh for someone who usually gets up so late...* Kenshin mused to himself, and waited patiently for her to state her reason, or point, or whatever it was that made her get up so early.
"Err... Kenshin..." She started, unsure of what do say... or how to continue. Kenshin flipped a piece of cloth about in front of him and peeked over it cautiously.
"Kaoru-dono... ?"
"I was just wondering if you'd like to... erm... well..." Kaoru gave herself a mental slap. HARD, on the face. She'd been planning this for so long, how could she stumble at the last minute now? GO ON, KAORU YOU FOOLISH FEMALE! She chided herself. GO ON!
She had a huge intake of air.
She couldn't continue. She would... later, but not now. Not when she was so... oh never mind...
However, it wouldn't entirely be too good to end the conversation just there, so...
"Iwasjustwonderingwhetheryou'dliketoteachmehowto cooksomethingreallyniceandnottoodisgustingforachange..."
Kenshin continued snapping the dirt out of the clothes, brows creased in slight amusement. "Kaoru-dono?" He gently inquired again, concerned. Ah, how that voice, how that snapping-the-dirt-out-of-the-clothes action always made poor Kaoru want to swoon... and she would too, if she didn't flee from the courtyards soon enough...

Soujirou winced. He could feel his expressions going dead-pan, something he had been devoid of for ten years and recently regained. Even he himself admitted he was not too used to this facade, however more normal it made him...
He could remember an incident like this too, many many days ago, when life had been but a passing phase of living strongly. There he was, hidden in the shadows of the shady trees, and there it was, beating furiously down the tracks of a lonely alley, creating dust storms when it passed through. In it held an important man. In him held an important message to be relayed to one who could twist the fates decided for Japan then...
... and Soujirou had his orders to relinquish those thoughts in Okubo Toshimichi.
Every single muscle in Soujirou tensed up again to be going through something of such similar nature. He could hear the horses heavy gallops fast approaching, and every bit of him felt tempted enough to chase after the carriage with the super-human speed he possessed.
Yet as he stood up, he hesitated. What was his mission this time? No. He had no mission this time. He had no message to relay to the person in the carriage now, so why was he...
He sat down abruptly, disturbing the peaceful leaves which had long fallen from their mother branches. This was a trick he had learnt through all these time spent wandering around the country aimlessly, seeking to help and to be helped.
Placing two fingers from each hand on each temple, like in deep concentration, Soujirou frowned and held his breath for three seconds, before letting go abruptly and regaining his smile.
*That's better.* He gave himself a mental jerk and looked at the boiling orange ball rising from the bluish horizon, creating a beautiful contrast in accordance to the misty dark alleys.
Somewhere in the back of his head, yes, somewhere in the back of his stomach as well, cries of 'HELP! FOOD! NOW!' could be heard. The grumbling of his unhappy stomach, Soujirou was sure, could be heard rebounding through infinite echoes all across the lonely walls of...
*What's the name of this place again?* Soujirou scratched his head. He had developed an incredibly lackadaisical attitude with an extremely failing memory while he roamed. He could remember, nearly ten steps back from where he was he had asked as to which place he currently borrowed dwelling on, and trust him to forget ten steps later...
*It doesn't matter...* He lifted himself off and continued on his journey, this time for food, amongst the streets of a familiar, yet not so, city.
~It doesn't matter...~

"Hmmm... Akabeko restaurant..."
Soujirou looked up in the skies. He had been looking for two hours, and by now the sun had risen to a quite considerable height in the skies, while he continued his food quest.
Nothing he'd seen on the way quite impressed him enough. Either they didn't look like restaurants, so much so that he missed them completely, or they simply didn't look hygienic enough for a wanderer like himself could survive on.
Not that it all mattered anyway. Soujirou had been living from hand to foot for quite some time now, and he really needed some comfort, even if it meant losing the rest of his days to extinct privilege...
He stepped cautiously into the noisy restaurant, absorbing the place with as much details as he could. There were many chamber like compartments, and almost every single one were filled with happy customers feasting away. The air of slight ease was present all over. Every group of people were separated into different bunks so that they could enjoy even some slight privacy in a public place... an ingenius idea indeed, something seldom seen, Soujirou put two fingers on his chin.
"Good morning and welcome!"
A voice so cheery and out of this world shocked him right to the ribs as a waitress jumped out of seemingly nowhere to usher him into the restaurant into an empty bunk.
"Would you kindly sit down, sir? What would you like, sir? How about more tea, sir? Is it okay if I..."
Bombarded by questions, Soujirou simply stared helplessly at the over-friendly waitress with a look which denoted "I'm-sorry-but-could-you- repeat-that-again?"
She seemed to have caught the clue, and was about to restart her flurry speech when someone called her name down the hall.
"Excuse me, I'll send someone back." She sweetly smiled and rushed off to answer the concerned customer's voice. The entire place was bustling with activity, something Soujirou would have liked to avoid if otherwise. He sighed and checked the money he had carefully counted before stepping in. Would it be enough? Oh he wished he'd just chose something simple, something by the side inns instead...
He was so waist deep engrossed in his personal thoughts that he didn't even feel or see the shadow of another dropping by close beside him.
"Not enough spare change?" A youthful voice knocked him out of his ponderation. Embarassed, he turned his head to the new entrance.
A young boy, near 10 to 12 possibly. Soujirou sighed in what, relief? Discomfort? He surveyed the boy for a split second, before choosing a greeting. "Hello, little kid... I was just..."
A look of an absolutely peeved youngster flashed across the young waiter's expressions as he reached behind to grab something. "Don't call me little kid!" He barely managed to stifle his anger. "'Coz I could beat you to pulp anytime I wanted for insulting me like that!" He lifted a little of his shinai kept protectively behind him to show Soujirou of the fate he would have received if he didn't keep his words polite and un-demoralizing.
"I... Iie!" Soujirou quickly held up both his hands to protest even in the most feeble way that he was insulting the little boy... "I was... I meant..."
He thought he heard the young boy growling, and decided it was time to hit the gears...

Yahiko growled at this young... man? woman? in front of him. No one calls him 'little kid', especially not after what he did to Hennya at Aoiya. He wouldn't allow that even if nothing happened at Aoiya anyway. He had a pride, and he was keeping it. This young... man, yes, man, Yahiko decided, was nothing but another weakling beggar (judging from the way his clothes were so...) trying to get a free meal on Tae-san's account.
Not that it was his business whether Tae wanted to treat every poor looking soul who comes in and goes, but they were having too many of these free-loaders lately, especially with the incoming winter. With that in mind, Yahiko kept a clear lookout for anyone even slightly resembling a beggar, and did his best to subtly chase them out of the restaurant.
Although in a way, Yahiko's "subtly" was...

"I will take my leave now, kodomo-kun..." Soujirou barely managed. He hated trouble, he didn't want any, not anymore. And he had thought of this journey as a ten year challenge issued from someone who obviously knew the delights and tortures of travelling inside out... what great dramatic irony. He nervously mused.
"Yeh! If that's the case! HIT IT!" Yahiko practically yelled, which was absolutely necessary anyway, considering the amount of noise everybody in the restaurant was collectively making.
Without a word, Soujirou stumbled out as fast as he could... well, no, not really AS FAST AS HE COULD (for we all know how fast that would be), just... as fast as he thought he should. Yep. That's right. He could feel the young boy's eyes watching him leave the restaurant in the huff, and was glad to be able to slam the door shut as he leaned slightly onto it.
Letting out a sigh of relief while looking into the skies, he smiled again, at how many interesting experiences of such he could discuss with Himura-san in ten years.
Provided he even lasted that long.
Feeling free of obligations, as he always did when he travelled, Soujirou gathered up his belongings which had fallen to the ground in his rush and gently strode along, basking in the relaxed glory of morning sunshine.

*Hm. Coward.* Yahiko inwardly sneered as the flustered man stumbled clumsily out of the restaurant and slammed the door shut. Although as much as he would like to denounce this man again, he couldn't help but feel a little similarity bursting from this man's unique aura. He was polite, and calm, and for once Yahiko didn't get some response in his threatening to fight every guy off the street mode lines.
This man in blue... very tattered blue, was nervous in a strong sort of way, and deliberately obliging in a respectful manner of etiquette. He had slightly long hair... twinkling eyes that were too old to fit that youthful looking face. And even as he was without a sword, he was just like...
... Kenshin...
Instantly Yahiko shook his head to brush off the thought. He could not deny that this man in blue had too much similarities with his greatly respected Kenshin, but he was only alike with the pure Rurouni in Kenshin. No, the true Kenshin, which Yahiko had grown to love and understand, was far far more deep and wholesome than what this young man in blue could offer to him by aura and by charm.
Yet Yahiko wondered how much more about this young man he could pry about if he was to communicate more. Too bad... he'd blown the chance already.
He sighed and picked up the huge basket he had been assigned to for buying some restaurant needs.

Kaoru laughed at the monkey displaying his acrobatic skills in front of the impromptu crowd. At first she had intended to get a whiff of fresh air, and then she had discovered she really needed to get something for that night's dinner, so she stayed out a little longer, knowing the dojo was safe in the hands of the family's beloved Rurouni, to enjoy the open air and people's warmth as well as the laughy crowd gathered at the stand now...
*At least I won't look like a liar when I get back.* She smiled to herself, then spontaneously broke into huge laughter when the monkey did more absurd stunts at it's master's bidding.

The laughter drew the young wanderer near as he curiously peeked over the shoulders of a few shorter ladies. He smiled as he saw what it was. A monkey performance.
*Well, how many of those have I seen thus far?* He began counting. Ah, life was so relaxing like that, counting things of the most insignificant orders and busying himself in the most ridiculous affairs. Yet he could not deny that he liked it, very very much indeed, for the skies were his compass and the lands were his home, while the seas were his companions and the birds were... never mind.
He turned to leave, when something caught his eye.

Yahiko dragged the now heavily imbued (wrong usage, but I don't really care) basket behind him, panting in his step. Twacking the drops of sweat off his brow, he checked the shopping list again for any missing items before finally feeling satisfied with what he had.
He stopped at an entire crowd of laughing people and wondered briefly what was going on behind the curtain of people. Him, being pretty much shorter than most of the people there, could not catch a glimpse of what was going on no matter how much he poked. Finally, deciding he had had enough, he started dragging the basket all the way back.

He watched carefully, not wanting to misunderstand or anything, or cause a great big commotion so that too much attention would be attracted. Yes. It was confirmed. That man was stealing from an unknowing young lady enjoying herself watching the show. Soujirou's eyes narrowed. How dare he. It was now the sacred Meiji Era, how dare he pick on other's disadvantageous...
A few moments later, the man had gotten the money pouch that had been hanging from the young lady's obi by the side. Realizing that the young lady would not notice this for a long time, Soujirou looked around for anything that could be used, anything at all, as a weapon against that unlawful man. Yes... that was the young gentleman from the restaurant wasn't it? His shinai would do good... except that he was like 50 metres away from the crowd already?
Soujirou could rectify that.
In about one second, he had swiftly reached the young boy's back and gently eased the shinai out of its original lodging place, with inhuman speed, no less, and returned to the crime scene where the criminal was just about to make his getaway. With the split second this unlawful beast took to turn his head to the direction he had chosen to get away with, Soujirou thwacked him on his left shoulder, point blank, emitting a sickening, cracking sound.
Gasps resounded throughout the entire onlooking crowd.
"Jeepers... NO!" Soujirou placed a hand on his forehead and started to curse himself. He lifted the shinai up to investigate it, heaving only a very tremendous sigh of relief when he confirmed no scratch on the shinai. For if otherwise, he would not have dared faced the young waiter in the restaurant ever again...
The thief was on the ground, eyeballs rolled and foaming at the mouth. *Oops.* Soujirou thought, the moment he relaid his eyes on the man. *I never thought a shinai could be of so much bodily harm...* He bent down to the man and lifted the pouch easily from his boney fingers.
"I presume this is yours, Miss?" Soujirou held it out to an astonished looking Kaoru.
"M... Mine?" Kaoru started, checking around for her money pouch, which was indeed not anywhere on her at the moment. "MINE!" She yelled in joy and almost snatched the pouch from Soujirou. "Thank you, very very much!" She smiled, while the crowd simply gasped in awe.
"You're welcomed, but if there isn't... well I think I should take my leave now." He smiled warmly and turned his back immediately. Another thing he had learnt during his wandering days, was that one must always leave before one could make any real acquaintance with anyone, for it would be shearing to attempt going off afterwards.

Kaoru stared in amazement at the air surrounding the young... wait a minute... oh yes, should be a boy. Yes, the air surrounding the young boy. Clad in blue with a well-trained smile, the way he simply tore himself away from simple acquaintance was uncannily alike to...
... Kenshin? Or that of every Rurouni in the land?
*And I thought I'd be able thank him properly... must be a rurouni like Kenshin...* She smiled at the thought. ~Kenshin...~
That reminded her. She'd better get the stuff soon and return to make sure he doesn't fall ill or anything washing the clothes out in the open, since it was really getting very cold around...
As if to confirm, she shivered in the chilling breeze just arrived.

Sanosuke swore. It wasn't the first time he swore that day, and in fact, he highly suspected there were more to come, once he found his vocabulary.
He looked up to the skies and swore again when a breeze swept by. "Ch, hadn't expected winter so soon this year." He grumbled, kicking away a large pile of gathered leaves beneathe the cherry blossom trees. It was getting cold. Too cold to walk about anymore. He couldn't understand this sudden temperature change, but which direction the skies were going to didn't concern him directly.
"Hmm, maybe if I go to the fox doctor's clinic I can find a cure for weather's tempermental behavior."
Ah, the things people did to see someone they yearned to, the excuses they came up with... so cute...

*Oh dear oh dear...* Soujirou winced scanning the streets with flustered cheeks. *The boy's gone, and I am NOT going to step inside the restaurant to create more trouble with and for the boy again...*
Gently, he knocked himself on the head with the shinai. The boy was going to go KAPUT! when he realized his shinai was gone, and seeing the kind of temper he had as a preview in the restaurant previously, returning it now would be a definite NO-NO, as he was clear it would only create more havoc than what he already did at the monkey performance stand just now.
*And to think I actually enjoy doing all this...* Soujirou grinned weakly at himself, hand grabbing tightly onto his belongings hung over his shoulder, the other one gently handling the shinai.
He stopped in his step, testing the winds for a while. It smelled of winter, something he hadn't expected till quite late in the month. True, he hadn't been really keeping tabs of the date, but still he did know the seasons if anyone asked.
He stared at the abnormal skies, wondering. Something behind all this sudden weather change? Highly unlikely, probably just a weather spectre, or the clouds just forgot to set their alarms properly. Again, a sigh of unconfirmed emotions escaped his lips.
*So. Where to now?* He took a quick glance around his surroundings. Someway or another, in the process of wandering around aimlessly, he had found out that lonely back alleys, or just about anywhere void of a lot of people, were what Soujirou personally preferred.
Maybe he was just anti-social?
A piercing scream winged swiftly through the air, bursting Soujirou's eardrums. This was followed up soon by yelps of "HELP! THIEF!"
In the next moment, Soujirou had traced the source of the sound and promptly hit the spot. A woman was kneeling on the ground, crying, with a child by her side. This child... this child was... bleeding! Profusely! Soujirou did not have to wonder long to figure out what exactly was going on. The alleged thieves, three of them, had a bundle in their arms, presumably of the lady and her child's, as well as a bloodied katana...
All of Soujirou's belongings slipped from his shoulders in a fluid movement, but he held fast to the shinai. It was not as if he had not seen such bloodied and brutal scenes before, though... it was just that...
A child... innocent, and pure to the world. The future... and now he lay mutilated in a sobbing mother's arms...
"YOU!" He looked up at the robbers with pure fury in his eyes, lifting the shinai to be pointed at them as he spoke.
They merely laughed. "You dare challenge us, fool?" The one with a scar across from the forehead to the lid of the eye mocked. "You don't know what you're asking for..."
*Idiots. I didn't ask for a challenge.* Soujirou grimaced.
They arranged themselves to block of access to the lady and her child hidden behind in the shadows of a dead-end path behind them. Soujirou swung the shinai to his side and faced them, brows knitted in anger.
"Hand them over, and you won't get hurt." He lowered his voice dangerously. The two followers cowered at his tone, but the leader smirked again. Now his eyes were narrowed dangerously into slits, and he took one step nearer the trio. "I repeat. Hand. Them. Over."
He was being ignored, and he was ready to destroy them for not doing as he was told. If the child didn't get to a clinic soon... Soft laughter from the leader slowly reverted to hysterical laughter. His steel blade reflected beautifully in the morning sun, a sick irony, considering how much blood were on the blade now. Blood of a child... of innocence...
"We are the three notorious warriors of Tokyo!" A sudden declaration was made, shifting Soujirou's attention back to the leader. "NO ONE, challenges us! Besides, we're not done with the lady and her child yet." He shot his best glare at Soujirou, who merely shot one back and bested him.
"I don't care who you are, three nutritious warriors or not." Soujirou calmly expressed what he thought of these three idiots in front of him. "Because if you don't hand them over, I will personally make sure your notorious reputation ends right here and NOW."
There were boiling emotions from the three of the addressed men. Possibly, no one had ever said things like that to them and lived to tell it, judging from the way their faces distorted in rage. Soujirou lapsed into a guarding stance, knowing how low idiots like these would stoop to gain an advantage...
True to his thoughts, the first one charged at him from his left with a cry which probably translates to 'Curse your mother, your father and all of your ancestors and oh by the way watch me kill you now!' As soon as the wooden sword he had was brought down, Soujirou brought his own shinai up and pushed him slightly backwards, watching him stumble, stunned. Then, in a whiff of smoke, he vanished and reappeared behind the man, shinai already deeply buried into the back of his neck.
This man gapped wildly, eyes bulging in disbelief before collapsing into subconsciousness. *No time to even scream, but just as well... don't want to attract too much attention...* Soujirou did not wait for the next man to get over from his shock. Borrowing the wall beside him, he leapt off it to arrive behind the man in yet another flash.
Unfortunately, the man had somehow anticipated this move and now was wildly thrashing his weapon backwards. After his fling however, Soujirou saw that he was completely open to any attacks, and promptly stuffed the top end of the shinai into his stomach, rendering the poor man unconcious as well.
Instincts hit him as he swiftly ducked, just in time to avoid the blade of a real sword aimed accurately for his head. The leader withdrew his attack with a low grunt of displeasure and prepared again.
Soujirou leapt two steps backwards, shinai in hand.
"Will you release them to me now?"
The leader just kept glaring at him. "You're fast, kid." Soujirou could spot the tremor in his voice. Good, he needed the leader to feel as frightened as he could. "Fast..." he trailed, then regained composure. "... but I'm faster! You watch out! YAAAAAAA -- !"
His blade gleamed, but never touched the target.
"What the..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his sword was thwacked out of grasp and the hilt of the young man in blue's shinai caught him straight on the forehead...

Soujirou got up, weary from the fight. It had been pretty easy though, he admitted. He examined the three unconcious bodies in front of him and then trottered quickly over to the young lady.
"Are you all right?" His eyes gleamed of concern. "Can I help, in any way at all?"
The lady looked up with pleading eyes. "Thank you..." She barely managed to mutter. "... there's a clinic around here..." She glanced briefly around in a fluster, with crying eyes. The child stirred in her arms as Soujirou signalled for him to be handed over.
"There there... you'll be all right..." Soujirou's soothing voice protruded through the thick, stiff morning air. He saw the lady pick up his travel belongings for him as she picked up her own bundle and smiled. She was a very responsible lady indeed, he thought, chucking the shinai to the side of his hakama and shifting the boy slightly so he would be in a more comfortable position.
To his surprise, the boy grabbed at his gi and wrenched open one bloodied eyelid. "Okaasan..."
"She's all right." Soujirou assured, and as if on cue, the so said Okaasan gently held onto one hand of the young boy. Soujirou looked at the young boy, wondering what he had done to provoke the robbers into attacking, presuming that these robbers hadn't just attacked on sight.
"They were doing something funny to Okaasan..." The boy choked, as if he could read Soujirou's thoughts by merely looking into his questioning eyes. Soujirou simply smiled for reassurance. "... I wanted to protect her... thank you for helping..."
Soujirou looked forward into the path with a mother's son gathered in his arms and the mother sobbing in touched concern beside him, as he continued his journey in the direction of the clinic.
"You are a brave boy." He gently announced, and not for the first time that day wondered if THIS, was his motive in journeying...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Tsubame tried to pacify the furious Yahiko, who was ruining everything in the backyard of the restaurant. He had even tried to throw some veggies and fruits down the water well as well, but was convinced otherwise by the ever present Tae. So he contented himself with kicking, screaming, punching and blaming instead.
"It's all your fault! How could this have happened!!?? NOOOOOOO!"
"Yahiko-kun..." Tsubame was weeping softly. She hated violence, and she really didn't know what to do with the situation at hand. Yahiko had always been well-behaved, no matter how rough, in front of her...
"Yahiko-kun..." Tae echoed, large sweatdrops dripping off her hair and forehead. "... it wasn't anyone's fault that your shinai..."
"NONONONO!NO!O!O Don't talk about my shinai anymore! AREGGHGH!"
Tsubame grabbed onto Tae's apron and hid her face from the fuming Yahiko, still busy punching the wall in anger. His shinai! Lost just like that! How could he not have noticed! More importantly...
WHO DID IT?!?!

"Sanosuke?" Megumi stopped mid-way in bandaging the injured hand of a patient. "What brings you here?" She half-mocked, noticing the usual sturdy 19 year old shivering slightly as he stood out in the open courtyards of the clinic.
"Ch, can't I come for no reason at all?" He stepped into the slightly warmer clinic, as Megumi turned to finishing up the final wraps of the patient's arm.
"No you can't. This is a clinic, not an inn or Kaoru's dojo." Megumi grumbled, writing out the prescription for the patient in the room before handing it over with a few instructions. The patient thanks her and made his exit. By that time, Sano had seated himself comfortably in a small corner of the room, trying to make himself as inconspicious as possible.
"I don't care. It's a public place, and that entitles me to free coming and going." Sano bit furiously on his fishbone, hands wrapped around himself.
Megumi frowned, then got up to exit the room. She came back soon with a blanket which she flung violently towards Sano, covering him up entirely in the meantime.
"Take this. I don't want anyone to freeze to death in the clinic... not a very good reputation it'll make..." She mumbled the last few words, herself taking her customary position in the doctor's chair. "Although I must admit, I didn't expect winter so quickly in the year..."
"As if I did." Sano's muffled voice came from beneath the blanket, where he struggled to get the corners of so as to control how he was to be covered.
Megumi ignored him for a while, staring at the skies in concern. "I wish I had a cure for that too..." She lamented. "... many people falling ill over this weird weather pattern..."
"If you didn't like the trouble of all this curing, just say so."
"I didn't ask for an opinion, mind you!"
"Then what am I supposed to do? Sit here and watch you cut up mysterious looking plants all day?"
"You could jolly well leave if it bothers you so much."
"Right, and..."
Their conversation (conversation? What conversation?) was stopped by the sudden appearance of a weeping lady leaning on the door frame for support, holding in her hands the small form of a young, injured child. "Please help..."
Sano caught her before she fainted. Megumi moved in to lift the child from the mother's embrace. After a quick check, she looked up at Sano with alarmed eyes.
"Emergency!" She whispered and ran deeper into the room with the boy in her arms. Sanosuke merely nodded and lifted up the mother from the floor into the room as well. He'd been around long enough at the clinic to know what exactly Megumi was going to do, and he knew she'd need all the help she could.
Before he left however, he thought he could spot a pair of eyes peering through the clinic front doors. He blinked, and the doors slid shut silently.
Was he dreaming, or were those eyes... !!

His eyes were wide with disbelief. Him? Here? Oh no... then indeed, this place...
He stole a quick glance around, then briskly geared up his engines. Previously, he had wanted to personally bring the young kid into clinic, but the mother wouldn't allow him to trouble himself over her family matters anymore, so he had to relax his principles and return the previous possession back to the original owner.
Still his heart wasn't at ease. He had to see the boy being delivered straight into the doctor's arms before he could leave, so he managed to slide a small slit from the clinic's front doors to peek, and satisfied that it was enough, watched for a while.
Yet... yet...
Soujirou had to hasten, before Himura-san's companion recognized him and gave chase. The boy was safely delivered, he knew that, and he really had no face to see any of Himura-san's friends or Himura-san himself as of yet.
Soon, he was a far way off from the clinic, back at some old mazey alley with no one at all. Just as well... He breathed in a large amount of the morning air. Soon it would be afternoon, then evening, then night... then the next day would come... on and on and on, this would continue until his own designated ten years was up. Yes... ten years...
*Well, I've done my second good deed of the day, yet I've still not gotten anything to eat...*
Lamentations, lamentations... he gently rubbed on the shinai hung absently around his left side. It was a silly place to chuck a shinai, since that was where a sword should go, but that was the only place Soujirou could think of...
He stopped dead in his tracks, realizing something. Quickly, he dropped his travelling boxes and drew out the shinai with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
True enough, on a small part of the wooden blade, there were a few carved words. Soujirou squinted.
*Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Dojo. Myoujin Yahiko.*
Soujirou smiled. At least that gave him something to work on. Maybe, if he was quick enough, he could just leave it in the dojo without anyone suspecting and the young waiter of the restaurant wouldn't jump at his skin for taking off with his shinai without permission...
*Thank you for swordsmen who cherish their swords enough to leave name and address...* Soujirou sighed.

After asking around for a few more minutes, he nodded and was on his way.

Kenshin wearily tried to shield himself from the cold breeze, although he merely ended up shivering more violently. He groaned and sat himself on the ground. Now where did Kaoru-dono say she was going to? Oh yes... she figured they had ran out of ingredients required for the cookery lesson and was promptly on her way to shop, although what Kenshin couldn't understand was why one needed to leave to do one's daily shopping with such a red face...
Kenshin had no idea why whatsoever as to why she felt this way. And as much as he wanted to know...
He noticed a piece of paper on the usually clean dojo courtyards (of course, with Kenshin around, the dojo courtyards would always be clean...), and moved to pick it up. There were some curious looking words on it, nothing more, but they were looking *extremely* alien to the confused bishounen staring at it, nonplussed. *Gaijin words* he decided before tucking it away securely for future retrieval.
With a sigh, he turned to finish up the laundry when he launched himself into a tremendous sneeze. Jeepers. It was really getting *that* cold around here. Although he couldn't help highly suspecting that the sneeze from beyond the dojo doors too were anything but an echo...
The dark figure stepped into view with the half-opened dojo doors framing his shivering body. He rubbed at his nose, then looked up in mock surprise at the redhead boring his violet eyes into him.
They locked sights for a good 3 seconds before Kenshin dropped everything in his hands and gapped.
"Soujirou... ?"
Soujirou's mock surprise changed into one more real.
"Hi... Himura-san!"

END PART 1

bread@bread.freeservers.com
23/4/98
Revised 24/4/98
Re-revised 15/5/98


Go to Part 2