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 Three: Too Much of Everything

Too much of something is bad enough
But something's coming over me to make me wonder...
Too much of nothing is just as tough
I need to know the way in which to keep me satisfied...
~ Too much
by the Spice Girls

They were just millimetres away from their mark... when the intended subject swerved in a clumsy attempt to steer clear. Five of the daggers flew safely past Soujirou's head to the dojo walls, sticking deep in it just as Kenshin walked out to call for Kaoru-dono. Immediately the former ducked instinctively behind the door frame to await further movements. He took a small peep at the situation in the main dojo.
The last dagger had nicked Soujirou by the right cheek just below his eye. Soujirou twisted his body out of the way of three more daggars just as the first six daggars were retrieved with the invisible strings. Kenshin stared in utter disbelief. The only way for the daggers to get in was through the dojo doors, how did so many come in at once...
He heard Soujirou shout in agony as one of the many daggers in the confusing myraid of coming and goings stabbed into his left leg, falling him to one knee. There was no hesitation though, in his next move. He had to roll to one side to avoid more daggers, and yet more came in. Speed would not have been a problem for Soujirou, and Kenshin, watching with doubt, knew that. However, the space within the dojo was restricting Soujirou's abilities, and it was too alien to the boy.
The daggers were coming and being pulled back to create a maze of illusions. Whoever did this was smart, for he knew that Soujirou, the target, could not escape into the courtyards where there were more slightly more freedom, in the blinding snow. Had he taken advantage of this early downpour in snowflakes into account, or had this new enemy even conjoured up this snow?
Kenshin didn't believe in controlling snow, not even for explaining something as incredible as snow in pre-season. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

Soujirou winced and came down to the wooden floor after yet another somersault. His eyes took in as much as the scene as he could. The daggers were confusing him, some coming and others being dragged away. His eyes widened at the sight of another one aimed straight as his face, determined to split him open for dinner.
He leapt, hit the roof and then used his inhuman speed to force the gravity into negligibility while he sped across the ceiling like a bat. He wasn't stupid, he knew the only way the daggers could come in was through the opened door of the main dojo... if he was quick enough...
Landing heavily in front of the door, Soujirou reached out his right hand to grab thin air... only that what he got wasn't merely thin air, it was a string of some kind, probably attached to one of the daggers dancing gleefully in the dojo main hall right now.
The enemy was probably outside at the dojo courtyards even as Soujirou glared. Yet the snow was hindering anything from being perceived, stopping all evidence to the eyes, and if this was his only chance to confirm what he feared was true...
With a jerk, he yanked the string away from the original owner's grasps. He thought he heard a grunt of dissatisfaction from where the snow blocked out access to the eye, and suddenly, all the daggers were starting to be retrieved. Good, the enemy intends on a retreat now, now was his chance...
Soujirou pulled at the string in his hands, pulling also the dagger attached to it. The hilt was about to hit Soujirou when he opened his palms to grab it, then, shifting his view, he took a quick analysis at where all the daggers were returning to, mapping the locus hastily.
He flung the dagger, hurtling at top speed towards the unknown subject.

*Smart...* Kenshin smiled despite the situation. He knew he didn't have to worry for Soujirou, and the latter would have probably flared up at him for interferring if it had indeed happened. He had observed Soujirou for a few more moments before seeing what plan formulated behind the young Rurouni's mind, and gave him credit for creativity. And as soon as the enemy decided to make a hasty retreat when one of the strings were pulled away by Soujirou, Kenshin stepped into the dojo.

There was a small silence as the dagger sliced through the air and snow to reach it's target. The oppressive silence was impregnated when the heavy sound of steel against steel clanged into the ears of both Kenshin and Soujirou. The latter quickly stood up and cocked his ears, the only other sense apparently working in the snow, to listen for more.
*Maybe the dagger is in the snow...* Soujirou pondered. *... whatever it is, I have to find out if 'he' is really behind this...*
Soujirou took a step to exit the room, when a hand landed on his shoulders, demanding in a subtle way that he stopped and looked back.

"Soujirou." Kenshin's voice was firm and father-like. The moment Soujirou turned to face him, Kenshin's eyes were already on the snow outside, still drifting down against the light of the sun. The boy waited patiently for Himura-san to turn his eyes back to him, hoping for some 'professional' advice. All he got was a slight shake of the head. "The weather is against us, Soujirou."
"But the daggers..."
"We'll go back for them after the snow stops." Kenshin grimaced. *Provided the snow even stopped...*
The younger boy slumped into a hunch, still not removing his glance from Kenshin. Somewhere, behind the depths of those souls held a faint hint of knowing... and Kenshin only wandered deeper into Soujirou's eyes.
Dare he suspect that Soujirou had in mind who their enemy was?

He couldn't tell him. No... Soujirou knew it would be wrong to involve Himura-san and his peaceful family with affairs of his own. And yet when the daggers had attempted to attack Kamiya-san, had it not already made clear that now Himura-san and company were no longer onlookers to this game?
Well well well, Soujirou would never have thought how much one could hold hate against another. Maybe Soujirou had made a wrong decision then, but to pursue it till now, to here... ? He brushed another look by Himura- san, wondering if he ever had to make decisions like he had then during his period as a Rurouni. Anyway, Himura-san was looking hilariously serious, very truly so indeed, for Soujirou could not believe how Himura-san could look so serious even though he was thoroughly drenched in tomato sauce.
He couldn't stand it anymore, trembling with uncontrollable tremors of laughter. He bowed his head and hid his laughing face behind his clasped hands, avoiding the weird stare of Himura-san.
But then again, Soujirou himself was in quite a tomatoed state...
"Wh... What happened to my dojo?!"
Kenshin and Soujirou looked up at an exasperated Kaoru who was just re-entering the dojo from her previous exit. From the way she looked, if anything did happen before, she hid all traces of knowing, only displaying the absolute look of disbelief and frustration as she stepped into the dojo again, and for the first time, noticed how pathetic it was currently looking like...
She shifted her glance from the red-stained floor to the two guys dripping tomato sauce on her dojo floor. Already her bokken was in sight... One could see the dark clouds gathering above Kaoru's head, blazing an unprecedented amount of lightning bolts as she tightened the grip she had on the bokken.
Immediately, Kenshin ducked, knowing full well the fate in store for him should he not do that. Soujirou however, was in full ignorance of anything else, and stood there as the bamboo sword came crashing down...
"BAKA!" Kaoru screamed, thwacking Soujirou repeatedly on his now very sore head, while a dazed Soujirou stood and let her hit. "You've ruined my beautiful dojo floors!" She swung the bokken again. "And for a punishment you shall now remain here and clean up the house till I'm satisfied!!"
"Owo wo owOWWW!" Soujirou tried helplessly to release himself from Kaoru's vice-like grip. "Ka... Kamiya-san! I... understand! I'll stay I'll stay! I'll do all the housework in the house if you'd please... just stop hitting me please!"
Kaoru mustered up the last of her final fury to lift the boy up into the air (amazing! How does she do that?) and send him crashing into the corridors outside the dojos. Kenshin merely smiled impishly and held his hands behind, remaining rigid as he informed Kaoru, "Your shower is ready."

"Kisama... will this snow ever stop?"
"DON'T, complain." Sano snarled at Yahiko. "It's bad enough I have to perch you on my shoulders to avoid getting you lost, and now you're trying to tell me about stopping snow? Leave those cursings to me!"
Yahiko merely boiled up and shouted. "YOU DARE SCOLD ME?" Fangs appeared from beneathe his lips and instantly Sano's head was being chewed on. Well, they didn't hurt the skull-thick Sano, naturally, and the tall teenager merely continued wandering about.
Until he saw the light of a lamp ahead...
The snow hit down harder, and Sano squinted. The lamp was approaching them, as if it's orginal target had been them all the time...
And Megumi stepped into sight.
"Humph." She brushed away a drop of snow landed on her hair. "Some kind of help this lamp is turning out to be..." She grumbled out loud, to no one in particular, when she spotted the two figures standing in front of her... two heads?
"Hey, vixen!" Sano acknowledged before she dropped the lamp in shock. Recovering quickly, however, Megumi narrowed her eyes but decided against stuffing the lamp down Sano's throat there and then. "What're you doing here?" Sano inquired, while Yahiko merely stopped biting and looked at Megumi.
"Same thing you are." Megumi retorted. "I'm looking for the dojo... aaaah... I wonder if Ken-san is all right..." She dreamily held a hand to her cheek, then exploding into a mischievious fox laughter. "And since I won't be expecting any patients in this weather..."
"Hn."
"... and since I need someone to pay me the debt of knocking down a door and subsequently a pillar..."
"It WASN'T my fault!"
And so the trio trottled towards what they thought was the direction leading to the Kamiya dojo, beset with furious debates of anything and everything...

"Here you go." Kenshin dumped the last of the household clean-up materials in front of a *very* resigned looking Soujirou, and smiled. "You can start with the dojo main grounds then follow up with the corridors, but in any case... you'd better clean it all up before Kaoru-dono finishes her shower..." He lowered his tone to a harsh whisper, looking in the direction of the shower room.
Sighing a light-hearted sigh, Soujirou picked up a broom and got to work. After three sweeps, he looked up at Himura-san standing by the side, immersed with thoughts of his own, and frowned a little. "Are you going to supervise me? Or just make sure I'm not lazing on the job?"
"Nothing of the sort..." Kenshin smiled widely, holding up both his hands. "I was just wondering whether I could see if Yahiko is all right outside in the snow..."
Instantly, Soujirou's face brightened. "Sure! I'll go, you take over sweeping and I'll make sure I bring him back."
And instantly too, the hilt of a sakabatou 'DOING!"ed on his head.
"Over my dead body."
Frankly, Soujirou got out of his stupor a little too quicker than Kenshin expected. So poor little Himura-san could only gap in surprise as Soujirou grabbed onto the hilt of the sakabatou and for the second time in that day, claimed the sword.
"You were saying, Himura-san?" He grinned widely. Kenshin merely narrowed his eyes with a lopsided frown and got into ready stance in where he stood, the sheath of the sword in hand.
"I said, 'Over my dead body'," Kenshin repeated, then smiled. "And I add, 'If the dojo gets messier than this, you shall be the one cleaning it up'..."
In a few swift moments, nothing was seen other than a few blurs jumping around the walls of the dojo, creating tremendous hairline cracks on the floor and actually bringing down some of the ceiling concrete... Sounds of metal hitting against metal could be lavished from every echo of the room...

... and Kaoru wasn't very pleased at this. She sat in the bathtub, silently contemplating getting her hands on one of those gaijin explosives then setting the entire dojo on fire, Soujirou and Kenshin inclusive... but shrugged the thought off in a mere instance.
*Is it just me, or am I just getting goofier and goofier...* She twirled the water into little hurricanes with her fingers, splashing a few drops in overflow. More metal clashing sounds... and something that sounds like Kenshin going, "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu... Ryuu Tsui... OUCH!".
Oh well. One Rurouni was bad enough... now she has two under her wings. Not that she didn't like it, of course, she in fact most heartily welcomed this, however much it may seem otherwise. Rurounis were really starting to stray into her dojo in astounding numbers... not to mention stay in her dojo... even under her invitation.
Ah well. She'll forgive the two silly Rurounis probably fighting each other to no end in her main dojo for now...
... if only she knew what her main dojo looked like now...

The two opponents did a dead stare at each other, panting like wild dogs on the loose preying on the same target. Soujirou ignored the perspiration trickling down his cheeks and gripped tighter onto the hilt of Himura-san's sakabatou... staring at the red-headed man while he was at it.
Of course, Kenshin himself wasn't near anywhere on giving up point. He gathered his sword sheath into both hands, wearily planting himself into a guarding block again. Lucky for him, Soujirou was wielding his sakabatou, otherwise, he'd have to pay a visit to the sheath-maker soon...
Both parties took one further step forward, face clad in all the entire world's seriousness...
... and promptly fell onto the dojo floors.
"I... (pant pant)... I can't... (pant) do this anymore..." Kenshin's muffled voice came from the floor.
"Neither... (pant pant pant) can I... (small innocent laughter)" Soujirou's reply came mumbling.
"Next time... next time you (pant) need a sparring (pant pant) partner, get Sano..." Kenshin offered, trying to help himself up from the floors. He succeeded and promptly recoiled into a sitting position. "And... and just try to avoid grabbing my (pant) saka (pant) ba (pant pant) dou all the time would (pant) you?"
Soujirou tried to do the same, and merely got himself on all fours. "I'll try, Himura-san..."
They surrounded themselves in mutual silence, slowly trying to catch the breath they lost a long time ago due to overly exerting their inhuman speed in friendly sparring battles.
Finally, the eerie, snowy silence was broken by Kenshin.
"I'll be at the kitchen. I think I need to heat up for dinner. And *YOU*," Kenshin looked at the dojo main hall, shaking his head in disbelief. "you had better clean this place up as best as you can..."
Soujirou stood up just as Kenshin had and gave an assuring smile. He'd have to do all these housework anyhow, so why not make the place messier in the first place? Turning it into an eyesore then smoothing it out was one of Soujirou's newly discovered passion for perfection... that was partly why he fought Himura-san in the first place.
And the other reason, was to make sure Himura-san was still the Himura-san in Kyoto... so that he could be assured that Himura-san wouldn't be easily taken in by Soujirou's old enemy...
He watched Himura-san disappear into the kitchen, the latter shaking his head continuously at Soujirou's innocent naivity...
*Just something I have too much of, Himura-san...* Soujirou mentally excused himself. *... something I have too much of...*
Oh no! Himura-san's sakabatou! Soujirou turned to want to chase after Kenshin to return the sword, but a humongous crash outside the sliding doors stopped him in his tracks.

"Woah! I don't believe you found it!"
"Shut up."
"Woah... what language for a doctor!"
After what seemed like milleniums of searching and digging themselves through the tunnel of snow filled carpets in Tokyo, the trio of Sanosuke, Yahiko and Megumi finally got to their destination, Kamiya dojo...
"They left the door open." Yahiko whistled and strode through the dojo sliding doors, standing in the misty front courtyards of the dojo. The snow was starting to get consistant, so their eyes had quickly adjusted to all these eye jamming interference. Sanosuke and Megumi followed in soon after, Megumi still with her lamp.
"People tend to get forgetful." Sanosuke offered.
"I guess they do..."
They walked along the courtyards, happy that they were in familiar grounds finally, and knowing that wherever they walked here, it would eventually lead to the dojo main house, no doubt... until...
Yahiko stopped as his left foot squished into the soft snow, making them scream a groan of displeasure. He stopped and looked down at what he was stepping on.
"Sanosuke."
"Hmmm?"
"Have you ever heard of red snow?"
"Red snow?" This time it was Megumi's voice.
"Yes. Red snow."
"No, I've never heard of red snow."
"So what's this all about red snow?"
Simultaneously, three pairs of eyes darted to the grounds in which Yahiko's left foot was stuck deep in, and noticed the dark hue of red which seeped and spread a little wider as Yahiko attempted to shift the weight of his leg around.
Red... snow?
The fishbone fell out of Sano's mouth, Yahiko's face facefaulted and Megumi dropped her lamp as well as her jaw.
"Kenshin!"
"Kenshin!"
"Ken-san!"
And in a flurry of feet movement dislodged the three of them onto the main corridors, looking in on a very very *very* messy and dilapidilated room of what used to be a dojo main hall... And that noise they made while running to the dojo. It probably have woken the entire Tokyo by then...
It was a young girl... boy? Dressed in blue and standing in the dojo rooms, which was by now an entire wreck. He was looking awkwardly comfortable in his surroundings despite being a mere stranger... or was he a stranger?
The long-haired bishounen turned around to face the three new visitors with a look of plain innocence. Sanosuke remembered seeing a scene like this somewhere in Kyoto, and remembered clearly that the room Soujirou had been inhabitating was actually reduced to a familiar state as of now which he was staring at...
Yet that wasn't all. Soujirou's blue clothes were tainted with dried scraps of red, some even on his face. His hands had the most red on them, and the most horrible sight which hit three of them in the face was...
... he had Kenshin's sakabatou!
If Kaoru wasn't here, Kenshin wasn't here, the entire place was reeking with red liquid and Soujirou had Kenshin's sakabatou...
"Ah!" Soujirou immediately gave a warm smile. "You must be..."
His sentences were cut short with the pouncing of the three on him in perfectly unplanned coordination.

*Strange...* Kenshin turned his head from the boiling pot to look in the direction of the dojo. *... thought I heard Soujirou screaming.* He listened again, then shrugged, observing the snow outside the bamboo barred windows in silence, fanning the flames under the pot. Somehow, there was this feeling of unassurance... something was missing...
Kenshin snapped. *Oh my goodness... sakabatou!* He checked promptly, and found only his sheath. Only then did he realize that he had forgotten to reclaim the sakabatou from the naughty Soujirou, and in an instance was up and towards the dojo.
As he neared, yes, now Kenshin could *swear* that he was hearing Soujirou screaming... but as to why, he still needed to find out... though he wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not...
He found out anyway.
"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" Soujirou's voice came resounding into his ear drums, threatening to shatter them. A cloud of dust had formed and he could faintly catch four figures wrestling among each other inside... no no, it was three figures wrestling against one poor soul...
"What's the matter?" Kenshin asked, confused.
"Himura-saaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Soujirou's voice went into eventual high-pitch. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!"
Kenshin merely stood and watched with slight bemusement as his three SD friends beat up a very very *VERY* resigned Soujirou. Finally, realizing that Soujirou was about to become a pancake on the dojo floors if he didn't interfere soon, Kenshin stamped his right feet loudly and gave his biggest 'AHEM'.
Sano, Megumi and Yahiko all looked up.
"KENSHIN!" Bellowed the two males.
"KEN-SAN!" Went the female.
And in an instance, Soujirou was forgotten. Kenshin started as the three headed for him instead, hands reached out, bent on finding his neck and then breaking it. The three of them looked absolutely horrid, like snow creature running rampant throughout the Kamiya dojo. At the same time, red specks of tomato sauce had been rubbed onto their snow-filled outfits, courtesy of Soujirou while he was struggling to get away from their assaults of course... so when Kaoru, with a towel at her hair, stepped into the dojo which was, by now, entirely ruined due to the surprise practice session Soujirou had with Kenshin...
A scream so blood curling it could evaporize all your blood, rose into the mid-afternoon airs of the soft falling snow.
The acts of the evening and the night were so... inconceivable, that it is perceived unsuitable for people as general. Just be known that Kaoru had thrown everyone out in the snow, then called them back again to engage their services as slaves to the Kamiya Dojo as usual... you don't want to know the details... and I'm too lazy for that too... (If I write more, I'll never finish the chapter...)

The next day, Soujirou woke up to find that all the snow had stopped. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and gracefully stretched himself, throwing off the blanket Kamiya-san had agreed to lend him for the night if he'd promised to help fix the dojo the next day.
He briefly glanced at the blurry outlines of the snow carpeted all over the dojo courtyards. There was nothing eerie about them, for they acted like and was really, just normal snow. Soujirou stared in silence at the pure white snow glistening in the slightly arose sun shining into his eyes, noticing that the clouds had cleared enough for the seemingly long gone ball of light to finally peek through.
By the way, Soujirou had slept on the dojo main corridors. And yes, he had to do that because there was no other suitable place in the dojo to house another man. Yahiko had picked Kenshin, while Sano went ahead to the storage room and dusted a place for the night. Megumi merely camped in with Kaoru and Soujirou couldn't possibly sleep in the main dojo in such a mess so...
... the corridors it was!
Sweet Soujirou didn't forget his manners of course, and quietly folded the blanket and put it aside, while sliding into the front courtyards in all inaudibility.
His first step off the dojo woodframe saw that he dropped all the way into the snow up to his ankles. Grimacing at how thick the snow was, he realized too that the snow had not fully diminished, merely reduced to quite a negligible amount and size.
He took note of the noise he made by squishing the sandles into the snow, then walked all the way right up to the middle of the courtyards.
*Where is it where is it???* He frowned, bending down as he did to inspect the pure white surroundings. Everywhere, it was the same, and not a spot of imperfection marked the whiteness enclamping Soujirou now. He stood, wind whipping in his face and lashing out at his hair as he turned from this direction to that. Once again, he started to analyse the possible locus of the dagger yesterday, mapping the main dojo door then tracing an imaginary line...
*SQUISH!* Went the ice as Soujirou's hand dipped deep into it, feeling for anything metallic or whatever. A few moments of digging later, his hand emerged into the light again, Soujirou's eyes already concentrated on somewhere else. He did another invisible mapping, eyes darting quickly around the courtyards, familiarizing himself as much as possible. Walking to another possible spot, he plunged his other hand into it, feeling the bottoms for anything metallic or similarly made. There was nothing.
And he repeated the process all over again, determined that nothing, not even this snow, was stopping him from finding the truth in the dagger.

Kenshin yawned and got up, gently tugging Yahiko away from him. Boy that Yahiko really slept when he did! Kenshin gently smiled at the young and innocent look in him when he was asleep and not striving so hard to be strong and of some use...
... not knowing that he as himself was already much use to Kenshin. To Kenshin, Yahiko was more than a mere pickpocket picked up from the streets... despite his lineage and all, Kenshin knew that Yahiko was, like Kaoru and so many others, representatives of the new era coming out fresh from the old. They lived in the peaceful era and they shall reside in it as long as Kenshin could help it.
And for the danger he put them through, he would pull them out.
In a swish of fabric, Kenshin grabbed his sakabatou and proceeded out of the room to prepare for the day before anyone else was up. He stopped as he entered the corridor, noticing that the skies were considerably clear and the sun was actually out. Best thing was, the snow had actually stopped, well, reduced anyway...
There was a sound coming from the courtyards as Kenshin even stood there. He walked further into the corridors, noticing that he was reaching the corridor outside the dojo hall when he saw a stack of blankets neatly folded up in one side. Turning his head the other way, Soujirou was there, back-facing him and digging his hands into the snow as if for something.
He watched the young boy and wondered why he ever chose to live the life of a Rurouni, just like he himself had. He wondered why Soujirou never had a chance to live the life Kenshin had wanted the new era to be, so that the answer would be clear without having to wander around for it... Soujirou was, by right, someone who belonged to the survivors of the new era... why was he still surrounded with the air and ideals of the old? It was wrong... all wrong...
But he couldn't blame Soujirou for that... Soujirou had not wanted it to be so too. Somewhere in Soujirou, just somewhere, there was a child who had been suppressed. Things he had been taught with, they all led to surviving in a world which no longer existed, which no longer held importance to people of peace. Shishio Makoto...
Kenshin stopped in his thoughts, noticing that Soujirou had stopped digging in the snow and was staring at something. Now was the time to make his move and announce his entrance.

It was him all right.
The dagger he held in his hands were gripped tighter. The strings were still attached, and the blade was still gleaming like yesterday, as if it had a debt to be collected from Soujirou, but Soujirou's eyes spelt a totally different feel to realization...
... it held fear...
Although he no longer believed that 'the strong survive and the weak perish' was the truth in living, neither did he totally discard it. There *was* some truth in that phrase. Sometimes, the strong *does* survive while the weak *would* perish. It was all very hard to say. But...
Unconciously, Soujirou wrapped the end of the string to his finger and released the dagger from his grasp. It slipped, blade first, towards the snow-filled grounds... Then as Soujirou jerked his fingers upwards suddenly, the dagger BOUNCED upwards back to Soujirou's hands and then fell fluidly towards the floor again, bouncing back up when Soujirou repeated the motion. Author: Behold. Japan's first yo-yo.

And as Kenshin watched on, standing on the main corridor of the dojo, Soujirou started to perform stunts with the dagger! Jerking it into motion in all directions he wanted to, while the dagger merely followed the given instructions, cutting through the air with a whizzing danger which told Kenshin that he had been wise to stop there at the corridor and not walking right behind where Soujirou was.
Finally, Soujirou stopped and twirled the string around an extended index finger, the dagger was eventually forced to wrap itself around the finger. He turned and was surprised to see Himura-san staring at him.
"Good morning." Kenshin greeted wryly, staring at the dagger in Soujirou's hands with much interest.
"Good morning." Soujirou replied, looking at Himura-san, who was now looking at Soujirou with the look which clearly emitted... *tell me what's going on*. Soujirou merely sighed and pushed Kenshin to one side, settling himself beside the folded blanket with a heavy thump.
Kenshin settled down beside him, sakabatou in hand.
"You know who he is, Soujirou." Kenshin began.
Soujirou allowed his expression to be covered from view, twirling the string which attached the dagger in his fingers, looking down on the floor. "I... I... don't... don't know, Himura-san."
Kenshin frowned. Soujirou *knew*, but he just wasn't ready to tell him what was going on. He narrowed his eyes and wondered whether further interrogations would bring him anywhere.

He was shocked at how he replied. Inside, a tiny voice was telling him to, practically screaming at him to tell Himura-san... tell him all that was going on, and how a mistake he had made in the initial parts of his journey had probably changed a person's life forever...
But it was just getting too much for him to bear. Although he needed someone to share it with, he just couldn't get his mouth going in motion. He needed help... he desperately did, for the memories would not stop haunting him until all was settled... but how to settle this mess?
How could Himura-san understand this? It was too sticky for anyone to fully understand... perhaps walking away from all these was a better choice. He would not tell Himura-san. As long as he could hold it within him, he would not tell Himura-san. And he would have to leave the dojo soon, for staying would endanger Himura-san and his family... as if Soujirou himself wasn't trouble enough already... maybe he would steal away... tonight would be good, now that the snow had stopped being a hindrance and now that the dojo was almost finished and fixed, freeing him from any obligations to this family and Tokyo in general.

A few more seconds of observation, Kenshin sighed and got up from his previous sitting position, casting a softly exasperated glance in Soujirou's way before heading towards the kitchen.
He wanted answers, but the hurt in Soujirou's eyes was far worse than what he thought he could expect from the strong boy. If anything, he knew where he'd seen this look before, and he knew how such a sensitive issue could not be pursued any further, unless the person himself wishes to speak and share...

Soujirou raised his eyes into the skies, the clear blue skies... but could not see beyond it. Was life just so? A superficial glean on the very deep waters of true human nature? Would ten years journey really bring him the answer? Did Himura-san already find the answer so that he was comfortable enough to pursue personal happiness finally?
Sometimes, being a Rurouni really hurt... especially at the brains. Now that the issue was refreshed in memory, it would be hard to put down. Conflict, one after another would arise and finally engulf Soujirou so much the hole to communication would once again close up.
The daggers... if HE had come so far, certainly HE would have something of great importance to want to use against Soujirou. Maybe he had a great and important message that could only be conveyed through some kind of stupid code through all these dagger throwing and rebounding back? Yeh, knowing HIM, HE probably did. HE came up with the most ridiculous games sometimes and expects everybody to endorse in it with the most wonderful compliments... HE was lucky Soujirou didn't have a sword with him in his journey...
Suddenly snapping out of his sarcastic stumber, Soujirou's eyes widened, only to refocus on the blur outlines of the dojo walls and roofs.
He buried his head deeply in his hands, shaking the former as he did. *What am I thinking about?* He inwardly groaned. *Just WHAT was I thinking about... ?*
To his left, footsteps were softly approaching. Pressing his lips and all feelings of frustration inside him, he looked up at a weird-faced Kamiya-san.
"What're you still doing here? Go go, clean up the dojo! You won't get breakfast till you do!"
Soujirou stood up, brushing his hakama of dojo dirt as he did, smiling his most brilliant morning smiles. He gave a nod of agreement before Kaoru stepped into the main dojo halls, and Soujirou turned to follow...
... just in time to stop another dagger hurled straight at Kaoru.

END PART 3

bread@bread.freeservers.com
24/5/98
Revised 30/5/98


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