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 Two: Let it snow

The weather outside is frightful,
Is so delightful.
But as long as you love me so
Let it snow
Let it snow
Let it snow...
~ Christmas carol
unknown singer

They came, and fell in their twinkling glories. One by one, drop by drop, like little droplets of crystallized rain sprinkling onto the coarse land to form a protective carpet over.
Their delicate beauty lies not merely within the cooling relief they brought. Not too, was it within the clear taste it formed when melted within the heat of your rolled up tongue. The way they presented themselves, was graceful and irrefutably unique.
Floating peacefully down like little petals of roses dropped from a heaven-ward source. Landing gently onto the soft earth and then patiently awaiting their companions to join them in their dwellings. The beautiful snowflakes drifted and soared all over the land of Japan, casketing it, encapsulating it in shimmering lights of an all seasoned pattern...
Round and round they went, shining through the sun still up in the horizons, reflecting in them distorted images of the people hurrying about in Tokyo streets, buying and stocking up for the sudden windstorm. Images of lives all about, one by one, trapped in the circled graces of the now wildly arriving snowflakes...
They floated here and there... there and here and finally satisfied themselves with settling down on the roof of a wooden dojo. One flake slipped from it's companions to arrive, still peacefully and gracefully, onto the corridors of the dojo, just in time to reflect the image of a young man putting down a cup of steaming liquid to face another across him from the table.

Soujirou dusted the snow he had gathered on his head previously when they had suddenly descended upon him. He fingered the cup of hot liquid in front of him on the table which he had just put down, nervously, looking up at the always alert Himura-san seated across him, holding his own cup in his cold fingers.
Soujirou could not find his tongue in a rush. There were so many things to say... yet nothing to express... he lifted up his cup abruptly again, half of him wanting to feel the warmth soaking up his trembling flesh, the other half wanting to simply hide his embarassment at being so entirely tongue-tied seated across the 'strongest man in history'...
He stared in awe at the aura of experience surrouding Himura-san. It was not everyday one came in contact with a person who had eyes too old for comfort and too mysterious to fit onto a scarred face...

Kenshin sighed and put his cup down, staring at the obviously embarassed Soujirou. He was a little... confused too as to why Soujirou had appeared here. Not that it mattered, still, for from what he had heard from Chou, Soujirou was going to devote his life to wandering, just like what he himself did for ten years... to 'find his true self', to seek out whatever truth there was left to seek...
Somehow, the redheaded bishounen figured out that Soujirou was not in a very conversational mood today, as he could feel from the way Soujirou molded his expressions into when he was invited in. He tapped impatiently on the low table, trying to curb the irascible curiousity setting in him about what Soujirou would possibly say... if he said anything...
Even if Soujirou intended to keep quiet throughout this entire session, Kenshin was making sure this air of discomfort dispelled soon.

When Soujirou finally found the courage to look up at the man across him, he saw that Himura-san was deeply engrossed in sipping the hot liquid out from the cup. Both his eyes were closed in a relaxed manner, as if meditating on something...
He wondered what the man felt towards him. After Shishio, no one else ever treated Soujirou like a teacher teaching the principles of life to him, and after Shishio, no one else had managed to influence Soujirou into making a life altering decision with just one small 'knock knock are you there' thing on the head.
"Soujirou..." A gentle and soothing voice drifted from beyond the cup held in Himura-san's hands. Soujirou intensified his stare on Himura- san, drinking from his own cup, just as the latter popped open one eye in a mischievious nature. "... I'm sure, as *the* topic of discussion today, we would all like to find out what a bad boy you have become..."
The cup almost slipped from between Soujirou's thawed fingers. "I have become *WHAT*?!?"
A small laughter of triumph was heard across the table.
"Bad... bad boy... very naughty..." Kenshin continued to mock, placing the cup on the table and meeting Soujirou's confused look halfway across the table. "... like, for starters, how long your hair is now."
Soujirou unconciously reached to touch the slightly tied up hair halfway behind his head, staring in amazement at Kenshin. He hadn't thought about it, but he really had no time (and no money for that matter) to worry about how long his hair had grown.
"But, Himura-san..." He frowned, releasing his hair and bringing his hand back to the front, "... you have longer hair than mine!" he mildly protested. "Doesn't that make you downright rotten, if one were to judge badness by length of hair?" Soujirou smiled innocently, a smile quite lost since eight years old.
His reply was to get a burst of laughter from Kenshin.
"That's the whole point, see? Now you're talking, and it eases up the air... A LOT." Kenshin finished off by finishing up his tea and standing up to clear the utensils. "I'll bring these to the..."
Soujirou did not take long to consider. "No, Himura-san, let me." He reached out for the cup, the pot and smiled again, very sweetly. "You can clear up the mess on the courtyards outside..." He guiltily pronounced, remembering he had made Himura-san drop all of the laundry onto the floor by suddenly appearing in the doors of the dojo.
Kenshin looked back hesitantly at Soujirou, before also smiling and handing over the pots and cups. "Don't you dare break anything, though..." Kenshin warned. "... because if you do, I'm not going to be answering to the owner of the dojo..."
Kenshin further shuddered at the thought of Kaoru chasing him halfway around Tokyo with her bokken in hand.
Soujirou simply acknowledged it with a slight salute and promptly made his way off. Kenshin stood and watched Soujirou disappear into the kitchen, which had been pointed out to the latter after Kenshin invited him in to serve as a topic of distraction...
He turned his head to stare at the gently cruising snowflakes, then at the basin of laundry, some done, some un, in front of him. One flake managed to touch his face coolly and numbed the nerves all around. When was it that he last felt like this... ?
"Snow..." He couldn't help but feel a terrible jab of pain inside him. He remembered... snow being mixed with pure red blood... a tanto flying backwards...
... and the last time he ever shed a tear...
*Yet that is not the concern now.* Kenshin frowned. *Snow so early in the year? Something is DEFINITELY wrong...*

By the time Kenshin had fully packed up the laundry and brought the basin (clothes included) into the main dojo hall, Soujirou was standing at the doorframe of which led to the inner rooms, smile in check and a shinai present in both his hands. He walked forward, still smiling warmly, as if he had found the smile after being embarassed for so long. He held out the shinai for Kenshin.
Kenshin put the laundry aside and took the shinai. "This is... ?"
"This dojo's shinai... I..." Soujirou's cheeks flushed a bright red in utter guilt. "... borrowed it to... err... stop a thief from robbing a young lady on the streets today..."
Kenshin shook his head, silently chidding the young boy in front of him. "And you dare say you've not been naughty?"
Soujirou scratched his head in embarassment. "Okay." Kenshin leaned the shinai against the wall next to him. "I'll return it to... saaaay, you've never really met Yahiko before haven't you?"
"No... not until today..." Was the frank reply. "Although I seem to have heard of him somewhere... was it the Aoiya match with Hennya... ? Oh never mind..." Soujirou placed his hand at the back of his head and started scratching his hair again, his face still set in bright pink. "SAA! HIMURA- SAN! LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT OTHERS!!"
He stopped to note a very weird looking Kenshin looking at him.
"There is no need to shout or give me a saliva-storm, Soujirou."
"AHAHAHAHA! GOMEN!!! HIMURA-SAN!"
"Yikes! And I thought snow was bad enough! Umbrella! It's gonna rain!!"

"They'll be all right." Megumi wiped the sweat off her brow, looking at the worried-clad face of Sanosuke towering tall behind her. He made no move.
"I said: they'll be all right, so there's no need to look so worried!" Megumi snapped, releasing the band which held her hair up while the operation was being performed. She looked at Sanosuke, expecting a crude reply or a sarcastic remark, but... there was none...
Whatever it was bothering him, Megumi soon figured out it wasn't the young boy or his mother, currently sleeping peacefully now. Sanosuke's frown deepened and he turned from the room to go out to the main clinic hall, stuffing his hands in the slits of his pants as he walked.

He stared deeply at the snow now gathering at the courtyards, the front door, everywhere they could land... snow... something was not right. Yes, the weather was not right, the time was not right, and the place was not right. Wherever this snow had come from, it did not come from a natural, heaven-sent source.
Or maybe it did.
As Sanosuke's eyes turned to leave the snow, he caught sight of the clinic doors, now slid shut when it had been slightly ajar some time ago to reveal the shining eyes of...
"... Seta Soujirou..." Sanosuke mumbled to himself, grunting while he was at it. He would never admit it openly, yet he had saw it with his own eyes how the little kid of 18 was faster than the Rurouni of Kamiya dojo. Indeed, Sanosuke knew that Kenshin was not superhuman or anything, for he had too many enemies for his own good. Soujirou was a totally unexpected foe at this, and during that duel, Sano, for the first time after meeting Kenshin, seriously considered how his death would be for everyone...
*It couldn't have been him.* He tried to reassure himself, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on the doorframe, looking out into the snow-filled garden. He himself did not know if Soujirou was, like Shishio, bad by nature. He did know however, that if one of Kenshin's previous foes appeared where he lived...
He snapped at the thought. *Ojouchan! Yahiko!* It was only a remembrance, yet with all the memories of the duels between Kenshin and his enemies, those who knew him well enough, knew where to strike to hurt the Rurouni most... and even if it wasn't Soujirou... no, Sano could not afford to think in 'what ifs' and 'it couldn't have beens'.
He sped off, leaving Megumi a broken pillar to repair and a new door to be ordered.

The snow was getting irritating. It bunked down in huge chunks on the two delicate looking characters stomping their way from the backyards of Kamiya Dojo to the front courtyards. The red-haired one was carrying a basket of reddish looking fruits and the one clad in blue was whistling cheerfully despite the snow practically engulfing him from any external view.
"You seriously don't think we're going to cut up tomatoes in a snow- filled dojo front courtyard do you, Soujirou?"
Soujirou merely smiled and waved the sakabatou (which we all know where he stole from) in his hands.
"Sou. We could stay in the kitchen if you wanted to."
"Non on ono on ono... I give up, we'll do it in the courtyards..." Kenshin feebly mumbled, before heaving and stopping in front of the log which was normally used for chopping firewood. He placed the basket of tomatoes on top of the log, trying fruitlessly to get enraged at Soujirou.
He hadn't analysed Soujirou thoroughly when he stepped in, but like him, Kenshin thought Soujirou's speed would have decreased after wandering around for so long. What was more, Kenshin totally trusted Soujirou to not act against him. Who would've thought...
Kenshin never saw the hand come in to snatch his sakabatou away from where it usually hung.
THEN Soujirou had suggested a demonstration of his culinary skills, being the natural sweetie he was, and he wanted a demonstration done with Himura-san's precious sakabatou, no less. Kenshin's reaction was classic, (or so Soujirou thought) but when Soujirou started mentioning all the hand- swinging, earth-thumping, wooden dojo kitchen floor slamming actions he was going to require to practice his culinary, Kenshin immediately shot off a suggestion which he instantly regretted.
But why the sakabatou?
"It's sharp." Soujirou examined the blade carefully. *And I don't want any resistance when I pull this off on you...* He thought with a maliciously mischievious grin, although he simply said aloud, "It even broke my sword... so using it to prepare a great meal would be..."
"Soujirou, all I wanted was a decent dinner when the owners of the dojo return..." Kenshin managed one last feeble protest, shaking his head furiously in a futile attempt to stop the snow from collecting on his hair anymore. It was getting thicker and thicker by the moment, as so was the temperature growing more and more bitter with the sting of ice. Soon, he resorted to shaking his hands to keep warm, although they weren't helping in Kenshin in achieving anything other than looking like a complete idiot in the thick mist of snowflakes.
The boy, however, did not seem to have heard anything at all. He stood in ready position in front of the tomato basket, determination gleaming in his eyes. Oh Himura-san was going to see exactly how naughty he had turned out to be...
"Stand back, Himura-san..." He warned mildly, before rising the sakabatou high above his head...
... and Kenshin immediately knew what he was trying to do.
"DAME DE GOZARU!! SOUJIROU!" Kenshin reached out, but the tomatoes were already all squashed up by then, their red juice flying all over the courtyards to decorate the top of the snowflakes already landed with a bright pigment.
Kenshin himself was not let off all the tomato sauce, and hoped that Kaoru-dono had remembered tomatoes on her trip... How could he not have seen it coming? One never got off from playing a prank on a youngster with such innocence without getting one prank back.
Well, not only was the basket ruined, so was the huge log usually used for firewood chopping. Kaoru-dono was going to really see red...
And as for the all innocent, all jokey Soujirou, he was already laughing out loud for the sake of it, sakabatou stabbed into the ground beside him, full of squashed tomato sauce and tomato seeds. He clutched his stomach in all mirth, and managed to give Kenshin a glance which mainly contains the message, "I-wanted-to-say-gotcha-but-I'm-rather-out-of-breath- right-now..."
Kenshin returned it with one which said, "I-swear-when-I-get-my-sakabatou-back-you-will-pay-a- heavy-price-for-coloring-me-red".

"It's... snowing... ?"
Kaoru shielded her eyes from the flurry of snowflakes suddenly descending upon the land. She had been walking at a snail's crawl initially, but realized that if she wanted to get shelter before the snowstorm started getting heavier, she had to really hurry up.
*SNOW???* She mused again, gravely, in her head while she ran along, feet squashing whatever flakes already gathered on the ground. Her kimono and basket of food were seriously slowing her down while she ran, but her mind distracted her enough to let them fall secondary.
The snowflakes struck her face as if they were rain. She shook them all off and hurried again. This was getting too weird... they've had early snow before, but snow *this* early was getting to be a really great natural phenomenon. She wondered how everyone was... Yahiko, Sano, Megumi-san...
"KENSHIN!" She gasped aloud to herself. He had last been left to himself washing the laundry in the front courtyards. Suppose he...
Even so, Kaoru decided, a grown man like himself shouldn't have any problems when it came to protecting himself against the cold. Kenshin often left her deep in worry, that she would never see him again when she woke up, that he would have left for another journey... that he...
Yet his nature... so aloof, like the whole world was not going to care if he died... it was something about Kenshin which made Kaoru want to cry with worry everytime too. Sure Kenshin killed... the legendary Hitokiri Battousai who had been passed down the analects as someone heartless, cold and utterly merciless. Kaoru herself knew and saw how much these broken memories tore the poor man down in his life, as too did she see how much, to a certain extent, these legends had been false.
Even the fight with Shishio. After the match, everybody worried and worried... yet Kenshin was the one who was seemingly without a care. He was happy that it was all over, but he could never reassure his companions, especially Kaoru herself...
She shook her head. She had many questions to answer to, but the answer was to be found later.

"Sanosuke! Stop stop STOP!!"
He turned his head around, screeching to a stop and squinting his eyes to make out who it was screaming after him. The voice came out again, somewhere to his right, and he shouted out an acknowledgement.
"Yahiko! Where in all this stupid snow are you???"
"HERE!"
This time it was directly to his right, so he swung out an arm and heard it connect with something... someone actually. The body collapsed heavily to the floor, transformed into a moaning creature in utter pain. Sano turned to squat down on the floor, groping all over for the little boy he just hit. When he found him, Yahiko slapped his arm away, growling with fury.
"What in Tokyo was that for?"
He got up, followed by Sano, who stuffed his hands into his slits on the sides of his pants and glared down at Yahiko. "For finding someone as short as you, that's the only thing to do."
Yahiko immediately got busy in climbing onto Sano's head and biting continuously on the hair. Sano let him, since there was nothing Yahiko's teeth could do to hurt him anyway. Growing impatient, Sano finally grabbed Yahiko down from his shoulders and snapped.
"Get real, kid! Have you seen Seta Sou-"
"THE ONLY THING I'VE SEEN ALL DAY IS SNOW!" Yahiko yelled cutting off Sano's question. "I was going to return to the dojo when this snowstorm started, and now I'm LOST!"
Sanosuke narrowed his eyes. He knew the snow was very bad, and he knew himself that his own sense of direction was worse. Although he could probably claim to know Tokyo inside out, there was no way he could find the dojo in this horrendous blizzard.
"WELL?" Yahiko continued to yell. "Are you going to do anything about it now?"
Sanosuke ruffled Yahiko's similar spikey hair with one free hand. Instantly, Yahiko grabbed onto the red band flowing behind Sano to help himself onto his head for another biting session.
Bearing with it before he exploded from rage, Sano simply stated, "Let's just try to locate the dojo, okay?" He reached out to grab Yahiko by the back of his gi when he felt something wrong. "And while we're at it, tell me what happened to your shinai."
"Long story."
Sanosuke briefly looked around at the thick fog of snow covering up all his sight without the 5 metres radius. "I have a feeling we'll have a lot of time for that."
They walked together towards where they thought the dojo was.

"SOUJIROU!!! I AM GOING TO..." Kenshin stopped, remembering his manners all of a sudden. He grimaced, controlled himself and breathed in as calmly as he could, although with all this snow, it was really very hard to comply comletely.
"... get my sakabatou back." He completed the sentence with his usual solemn and polite speech, as he walked forward to pull his tomato-stained sakabatou away from the snow filled ground. Soujirou managed to regain his composure, wiping a few tears from his totally set in laughter face.
There was a brief examination of the reddish disaster on the front courtyards while Kenshin wiped the tomato away from his sakabatou and sheathed it, chucking it where he usually did on the left side of his hakama. He turned around to address Soujirou, unaware of the troubles already planned for him...
The first squashed tomato hit him straight on the nose. Before he could get over his shock, however, the rest came flying in different directions, at top speed... which he could only attribute to someone like Soujirou.
"What the-" Kenshin tried desperately to evade the incoming tomatoes, which was really difficult in the thick snow, plus he was tired... the snow had not showed any intention to stop soon, and in fact was doubling it's efforts to bury the dojo under it. A small laugh came from an undefined direction, but Kenshin caught it quickly.
He leapt, and collided into Soujirou in mid-air, knocking the boy down while Kenshin himself flipped away from falling onto Soujirou.
"Isn't it about time you grew up, Soujirou?" Kenshin got into a defensive stance of a battou-jutsu. Oh no don't worry, he wasn't going to chop anyone up, but I wouldn't say much for the tomatoes though...
Soujirou stood up, wiped frozen tears from his pale face and gave an unreadable expression to the fuming Himura-san. "Himura-san..." He dropped his hair over his eyes. "Did I ever tell you that I hadn't much of a childhood to grow up in?"
Kenshin started for a while, then realized that Soujirou was fingering a squashed tomato in his hands as he did. He knew Soujirou didn't have a great childhood to begin with, and he probably wanted to catch up on what he missed then... still...
"Well, then did I ever tell you that other than rendering enemies of mine unconcious, I can also render tomatoes into tomato sauce at a speed that will dazzle even you?"
Soujirou peeped up, eyes glinting despite the snow hiding most of the light. He held the tomatoes like daggars and prepared himself.
"I'd love to see that."
Kenshin bent lower.

Kaoru heaved a huge, and yes I do mean *HUGE* sigh of relief as she lingered on the entrance to her dojo.
Drat the snow, it was so thick, it almost blinded her usually perfect sense of direction. She shifted the basket of food uncomfortably in her arms, sore from carrying so much at once, and definitely unused to having run such a distance with so much. Stupid snow never knows the right time to fall or the right time to stop.
*I just hope Kenshin is all right...* She drapped her fingers over the slot which would help slide the door open...
... and lucky for her, she was quick enough to avoid a tomato whizzing dangerously past her ear.
Immediately she slid the entire door open, dreading the worse.
"KENSHIN!"
Unfortunately, she could see nothing, and do nothing for now. Not all of a sudden, though, she intensified her distinct dislike for snow. She wished, that as soon as they could, for the snow to disappear from her dojo forever. But the heavens weren't controlled by her, and the snow would not stop for now. What she could only do, was to helplessly listen to the commotion going behind the thickly veiled courtyards.
Those were definitely... sword sounds. Of sword cutting through the air as if they had a vengeance against it. Not only were there sounds like that, something sounding very sinister was being splattered all around the snow...
... but that didn't link with the innocent laughter flowing to her ears. Neither did she see what tomatoes had to do with all these...
Thank goodness though, that the sword sounds were solitary, not clashing with the blade of another sword. Kaoru wasn't reassured, and damn she was more worried than she could ever get. She needed to feel safe, she needed to know that Kenshin was safe.
"KENSHIN!" She screamed again, and felt brave enough to venture into the dojo even with the snow severely handicapping her. She caught a flash of something bright glimmering as it stroked through the air, separating something into two, and as she followed the light to it's source, found it's owner almost instantly.
Kenshin turned around with his child-like violet eyes to face what he thought was the figure of the girl he wanted so much to protect. It turned out that it was, anyway. Kaoru stared in shock at the red-splattered Rurouni in front of her, drenched from top to toe with bits and drops of red...
"Kaoru-dono! Stay awa-"
Poor guy never got to finish his statement, as one tomato landed on his right cheek, the other on the hand holding the sakabatou and yet another on the corresponding leg.
Kaoru stared, and didn't know whether to burst out laughing, or to sink to her knees and cry at Kenshin's feet for always making her worry.
"Oho! A new addition to our tomato feast!" A voice drifted from in front of Kenshin. Kenshin returned his attention immediately.
The male in blue who had returned Kaoru's money pouch previously in the streets stepped into a more clear distance, smiling sweetly as he did. He flashed out two more tomatoes from the smashed basket in his hands and grinned. "Shall we invite her in, Himura-san?"
Instantly, Kenshin was in front of Kaoru, hands spread about in a protective manner, eyes threatening death should Soujirou land one drop of tomato sauce on her. This Soujirou caught quickly and kept the tomatoes for future use. He manifested his all-too-familiar smile and dropped the basket onto the floor.
There was a rustling noise from without, and suddenly, a sinister pause permeated the air. Both Soujirou and Kenshin's eyes narrowed, uncannily mirroring the other, then dipped into guarding blocks again.
Here, there, there, here... their eyes darted in all directions, trying to catch the sudden transgression in the air, both recognizing the presence as something almost unwanted. The confused Kaoru stood between them, unsure of what to do but stay still and be the damsel in distress again. She hated that, but knowing the kind of enemies Kenshin had...
A blade was drew, and it connected with another in a bright spark of conflict, before a daggar dropped noiselessly onto the snow-filled ground. Kenshin swerved around to catch anymore incoming daggars, and apparently there were none until...
Soujirou turned to his left, face set in determination. His left hand, outstretched, protected Kaoru's face as the next one came in. It hit, dead center, onto his left forearm and sent him collapsing onto the ground in pain.
"Soujirou!" Kenshin yelped, then seemingly teleported from where he stood to be in front of the fallen character while Kaoru knelt down and tended to him. He was just in time to knock away the next five daggars aimed at where Soujirou previously stood.
And just as suddenly as they arrived, the daggars were retracted with some invisible force. But for Kenshin, it was obvious enough what was wrong. Strings were pulling the daggars back to the original owners, so that no evidence of this invasion would be left...
... and in the thick snow, Kenshin could not see the face of this new foe.
"WHO GOES THERE???" He yelled again, furious. Soujirou half screamed out in pain as the daggar which had lodged itself into his arm was yanked away by the attached strings as well. But still, he found the strength to pick himself up and stand beside Himura-san.
After a few more tensed moments, Kenshin lowered his sakabatou.
"I can't feel them. Let's go into the dojo."
Soujirou seriously wondered whether the snow had anything to do with this sudden attack. Not that the snow bothered him as much as the crazy wind was though...
"Well, in any case, I really need to take my leave now..." Soujirou reaffirmed his stand, glancing at Himura-san for at least an approval or anything. Apparently, his companions have seemingly dissolved into the pure white snow...
Kaoru caught his hand, suddenly appearing to his left. "Oh no, you got injured trying to protect me. I'm not letting you leave just so."
And away he got dragged into the dojo, minorly protesting.

"How long do you suppose the snow will last?"
Kaoru looked up to see Kenshin staring deeply at the snow outside. "I don't know... but judging by how early it started, I certainly hope it ends just as early..."
"That's right! Don't want to walk around in the blizzard all winter you know." Soujirou pipped up and cheerfully announced, brushing away some of the snow on his red-stained blue gi. Kenshin laughed softly.
He moved to walk into the kitchen.
"Kenshin!"
"Kaoru-dono, don't worry, I'm just going to heat up the shower. You must be very cold now..." He smiled sweetly, completely forgetting the fact that he *himself* was in desperate need of a bathe.
Kaoru relaxed a little and went back to her kneeled position by the small table moved out to be in the main dojo hall. Soujirou kept his smile and continued dusting himself, trying to rub off the tomato stains with some snow. He weakly tested his left forearm. Still weak, but it should heal by the next week, and by then, he should be ready to venture into the snow.
Looking uneasily at the young man in front of her, Kaoru managed a feeble, and probably insincere, smile. Soujirou noticed, and was quick to smile sweetly back.
"So you must be the girl who defeated Kamatari-san in Aoiya... Kamiya-san... ?"
She started at how he could have knew this.
"Ah, must have forgotten my introduction, how impolite..." Soujirou pouted in a kiddish way and then politely recollected himself. Bowing slightly, he spoke softly to Kaoru, "My name, Seta Soujirou. How I knew about the Aoiya affair, was because I was personally involved in the Kyoto saga."
Kaoru briefly remembered that Chou, the broom-head had turned up at the new Aoiya in Kyoto to explain the fate of the Juppongatana, and surely the name 'Seta Soujirou' was mentioned somewhere which she misplaced in her memories as something insignificant...
Soujirou was still deeply caught in his slight bow, in a kneeled position, no less. "I was in Shishio-san's Juppongatana."
Kaoru felt like edging away, far, far away...
"Ten Ken . Soujirou. I admit I held onto a belief only befitting what Shishio-san himself could even think of, but it was a belief which kept me alive for ten years..."
He stopped, eyes wide with spilling emotions which Kaoru herself found fascinating. Did he say he was only 18?
"... nevertheless, Himura-san adjusted my viewpoints so that I could see where Shishio-san's teachings went wrong. But he did not give me a point blank answer... and I knew how was I to go about finding it."
He flashed a peace sign and earned a sweatdrop from Kaoru.
"That is to roam among the people to find out what *their* answer to this question of life. Then based on them, I find my own... I think, Kamiya-san, that should bring an end to my short introduction."
She nodded, looking at the dojo grounds in the meantime. A noise came from the kitchens and a muffled 'ORO!' came from without. Soujirou stiffled a giggle, whereas Kaoru merely stared pensively in the direction where Kenshin last walked in, seriously contemplating whether she should go see what the problem was.
Her eyes glimmered with sadness. There were surely many things Kenshin had not revealed to his Tokyo family... and it would take a whole lot to get him to confess more.
Soujirou could have been knocked over by the sense of uneasiness the moment Kaoru stepped in, and although Himura-san himself swept it off with a laugh and an expression radiating ignorance, he could not deny that Himura-san himself was much much more aloof in his nature, since he had been like that for ten years, and it was not easy to alter his character just like that. Soujirou had that little bit more perception than Himura-san had, or was hiding, and if it could do to help...
First, he had to shoot the correct question. He managed to catch the flash of confusion lingering in Kaoru's bright, innocent eyes. Eyes he had when he was young... no wonder Himura-san gave his everything to protect her, to keep this rare and beautiful human race going on...
Soujirou smiled, finding the question he knew would stab Kaoru straight in the heart. He had a lot to learn from Himura-san...
"I am sure the exact complexities of a Rurouni baffles you."
Kaoru snapped and turned, at breakneck speed to face Soujirou, whose face remained hidden under his hair as he fingered the fresh tea cup on the table. How... how did this man know? How come he seemed to know everything??
"And the many things unexplained leave you confused."
Kaoru noticed that Soujirou phrased his questions as facts, and not uncertainties. She listened on, compelled to. Perhaps in this man, she could find the answers to the knots in her mind she fought so hard to untie, and yet could not...
She was shocked when Soujirou looked up with deep, knowledgeable eyes. His face was suddenly old, illuminated by the lamp placed nearby, accompanied with the soft sound caused by the falling of the flakes. He spoke, softly.
"Well if it's my mission as a Rurouni to offer assistance, let me help you unravel your mysteries."
Kaoru slacked back a little, surprised at the directness. Again she found herself looking on the ground. She had been wanting the answers to the questions in her hearts for so long, and now that it was offered to be answered to her at no extra charge of an aching heart...
... she didn't know what to do with the chance. He was, after all, not Kenshin. He couldn't answer in full... he couldn't...
... but she wanted to know... she really wanted to...
The suspense... it was killing... Soujirou's anticipation was great, but not as painful as Kaoru's desires fiery within her to find out. It was a contest of endurance and patience, but Kaoru's uncertainty lost evetually.
And the questions came snowing like heavy flakes...
"Why?" She spluttered, softly. "When everyone worried, especially after Kyoto, why did Kenshin not care or feel this way?" She briefly choked, trying to stop herself from saying anymore she didn't want to. But once the gears were set in motion, she could not stop...
"Why did he hesitate to accept love?" Kaoru cried in a stifled whisper. "Why did he stop to think twice when a hand is offered in assistance?" She broke free, having summarized everything she wanted to know, top priority.
But Soujirou himself did not hesitate. He smiled, answer already at hand, and went all out.
"Because he doesn't understand."
"What doesn't he understand?" Kaoru snapped back.
"He doesn't understand why should anyone even care for him. He puts himself in such low castes that everyone becomes a master to him, and he becomes a servant generally to the world. He doesn't ask for much, he's just glad enough that a roof, food and a substitute family has been given to him and yet still, he doesn't ask for their concern, or respect." Soujirou paused for effect, allowing the information to sink in.
"He merely asks for forgiveness." He continued, after the short silence. "He thinks that by putting on that mask, he will get no one else to worry for him. He doesn't want anyone to worry. It's very simple. He doesn't even think that he is WORTHY of worry.
"When he sees you all getting upset, he doesn't know it's because of him, Kamiya-san. The thought will never have crossed his mind in one snowing day or whatever, that someone would actually worry for him."
Kaoru lowered her eyes so they were hidden, but Soujirou knew she was crying even without seeing.
Yes. The truth always hurts.
"Himura-san acts as if he doesn't care. As if it's not his business if he dies or not, for he believes he would leave no pain, no regrets and no scars behind."

Kenshin stopped in mid-step, sneezing.

"But he does. Even subconciously, he does. He is happy, Kamiya-san, to have lived this life once, with his loved ones, with you, with his family and all those he cares with his life for. He may not have known how much he actually meant to you all before, but he does now."
There was something more to educate Kamiya-san about, but that was enough drilling for one day... *I know all these because I feel this way too...* Soujirou sadly admitted to himself, watching Kamiya-san with a slight concern. She was taking very long to lift her head up...

Kaoru looked up finally, eyes filled with hopes and tears. "Excuse me..." She managed to mutter before finally stumbling to her feet and throwing herself out of the dojo doors onto the common corridors. After running for some time, she stopped, painfully repairing the answers offered to her as truths.
The truth...
... was it the truth?
She could not deny that, however painful these answers struck her, in so many ways it actually lifted her up. After being so confused as to what exactly was going on behind Kenshin's mind, she finally had a chance to preview that bit by another of similar nature.
The snow were falling, and the afternoon was stiff and frozen. If it was night, Kaoru could have sworn these snow fell in grace as unwanted stars in the heavens. Were they crying with her?
Somehow, this snow was more sinister than innocent.
But suddenly, Kaoru half-wished that the snow would fall forever. "Just let it snow..." She silently whispered to herself, staring at the flakes falling to the ground of her dojo courtyard. "... just let it snow..." She didn't know why she was saying all these, but she just wanted the snow to fall... thick snow...

Soujirou got up, nontheless satisfied at his deed. Well, things should be much better now that he had opened up a few things for Kamiya-san to understand. Now it was up to Himura-san himself to patch up some other loopholes he didn't catch precisely, provided Himura-san cared to explain...
One thing left unsettled. The daggar...
Soujirou brought his bandaged left hand to examine. Nothing serious. If only, though, the daggar had not been retrieved with that string, they could examine it more thoroughly and came to a reasonable conclusion. Much as he wanted to unveil this mystery, he had to leave as soon as his hand healed enough so that Kamiya-san didn't need to feed another mouth on her hard-earned expense.
A cracking sound was heard, and six daggars flew into the main dojo hall, aimed straight at Soujirou's startled face..

END PART 2

bread@bread.freeservers.com
27/4/98
Revised 28/4/98
Re-revised 29/4/98
Re-re-revised 15/5/98


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