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All That Matters
(Chapter 2)
by Risu-chan
(dlstrong@prairienet.org)
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Disclaimer:
All hail Watsuki Nobuhiro-sama, creator of the RK universe! All hail Sony and Shueisha for distributing them for us! And --(grovelling lawyerwards)-- please don't hurt me for borrowing them for a few pages! Arigatou gozaimasu.
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Chapter 2
"Still so young to travel so far,
Old enough to know who you are,
Wise enough to carry the scars
without any blame (there's no one to blame)..."
--Crowded House, "Distant Sun"
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Kaoru and Kenshin were still furtively stifling yawns when Yahiko and Sano arrived in the afternoon. Kaoru had spent two hours wrestling with the wrapping-fabric, trying to make a presentable gift of Yahiko's belt and her own old white-oak bokken; Kenshin had offered to help, but she shooed him into the kitchen.
"Onegai?" she added wistfully. "It's a party for him; I really want it to be edible..." The corners of his eyes crinkled, and she belatedly realized what she'd just admitted. Blushing fiercely, she said, "Never mind. Just go cook. Please?"
So they had a very nicely-cooked dinner that evening... but Kenshin simply wasn't up to the Akabeko's level of artistry. Yahiko picked up a vaguely carved white piece of something, turned it over, turned it upside-down, and finally asked, "What is it?"
"A bunny rabbit," Kenshin said, vaguely indignant around a mouthful of noodles.
Yahiko turned it over again, squinting. "You carved it with the sakabatou?"
"Just eat it already," Sanosuke said, reaching for more noodles.
Yahiko took a bite, and grinned, chewing, at Kenshin. "Tastes good anyway," he mumbled.
"Arigatou de gozaru."
When everyone had finished, Kenshin picked up the dishes, but didn't leave with them, smiling at Kaoru; she smiled back, and reached under the table for the present.
"See, Yahiko, I remembered my promise..."
Yahiko's eyes widened at the shape of it. "...That's for me? Sugoi!"
"Wait just a minute," Kaoru said, struggling for a straight face. "You really ought to show us you know your kata first..." She shifted to stand, and found Kenshin's hand on her shoulder.
"May I?"
Kaoru opened her mouth to protest merrily that she wasn't an invalid... until she saw Yahiko's face. To be allowed to cross 'blades' with the person he most idolized in all the world as part of his belt ceremony...
"I think he wouldn't mind," Kaoru said wryly; Yahiko jumped to his feet, ablaze with enthusiasm.
"I'll be right back --" He sketched a bow at both of them, then took off at a run for the dojo and the rack of bokken despite Sano's laughter.
"Oi, Yahiko-kun, not over the dinner table!"
Yahiko spun on his heel, stuck out his tongue at Sano, and kept running.
"...He would, too," Kaoru groaned, and unfolded herself from the table with a sigh. "Come on, you two, we can't afford a new set of dishes."
As they walked -- at a distinctly more sedate pace than Yahiko's -- Kenshin asked in an undertone, "What do I do?"
"Hmm?"
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu is... different. I don't really even know how to use a bokken. What are the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu ceremonies, and what do I do?"
"Oh, dear--" Kaoru thought quickly; she'd actually never conducted one of these herself, and had vaguely been hoping Kenshin would know the forms. "You've watched me work kata with him, right? Check his form, and spar with him a little--" they turned the corner, and were almost run down by Yahiko, clutching two bokken. He skidded to a stop, wild-eyed, and tried frantically to scrape together some dignity, bowing to them before he offered Kenshin a bokken. He stood glowing with speechless, wriggling-puppy delight when Kenshin gravely bowed back and tucked the bokken through his belt in place of the sakabatou.
Watching the pair of them, Sanosuke murmured to Kaoru, "I can't even tease him. I must be getting old."
"Or just sentimental..."
"Oi. Sentimental? Me? Jou-chan, honto ni..."
"...Right. I forgot I was talking to rooster-head."
"Look who's talking, tanuki-girl."
"Hey," Yahiko said, visibly itching to get on with it.
Kaoru couldn't resist teasing just a little: "You know the drill, Myoujin."
Trying not to sigh too visibly, he knelt next to Kenshin, facing the scroll on the wall. As sempai, Kenshin murmured the points of obeisance: "Shoume ni rei... sensei mi rei... kataname ni rei..."
"Hai, wakarimasu," Yahiko answered, and waited almost patiently for Kenshin to stand and re-'sheathe' his bokken.
Kaoru called to Yahiko, "Ichimonji joudan."
Yahiko drew and swung... but Kenshin wasn't there anymore. Yahiko spun on his heel in panic, then froze when he felt the touch of the wooden point... very, very gentle, but a clear warning.
Both of them realized what had happened a minute too late, as Yahiko stared up the edge of the bokken at Kenshin. Hastily, Kenshin pulled back -- "Gomen ne, Yahiko..."
"...I need to go faster, then," Yahiko said determinedly. "Right." He performed chiburi and notou almost perfunctorially, and squared off again.
"Keisa," Kaoru called.
"Kyaaaaaa--!" --crack--
This time Kenshin stood under Yahiko's blade, blocking with his own bokken, sober-eyed but almost smiling. Yahiko was so startled to have connected with anything that he stood frozen until Kaoru took pity and called, "Chiburi, Yahiko. Chiburi, notou..."
Embarrassed, he resheathed his bokken; so did Kenshin, with a different, sharper variation on chiburi. Kaoru and Yahiko both stared at his hand, then up at his face -- Kenshin blinked violet eyes at them.
"Oro...?"
They both relaxed, visibly, and saw each other relax, and fought back slightly hysterical giggles.
"What is it?" Kenshin asked wistfully.
"Gomen ne, love," Kaoru said, just as wistful. "With a bokken, chiburi's just a gesture."
"You've actually done it before," Yahiko added, much less tactfully. "Shaking the blood off the blade..."
"...Aa."
A minute too late, even Yahiko realized how unkind it was to say that to Kenshin; his eyes widened, and he pulled his bokken out to thwap himself in the face. "Boku no baka, baka, baka..." he dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the floor in front of Kenshin. "Gomen -- gomen nasai --" he looked anxiously up at Kenshin, then decided the view would be improved if he hit himself until he lost the ability to focus. "Myoujin Yahiko no baka..."
...the bokken wouldn't move.
...Kenshin was holding it, kneeling beside him. "It's nothing but the truth," he said quietly. "Don't ever chastise yourself for the truth."
"Demo..." The tears trembling unshed in his eyes weren't entirely from pain. "There are ways not to say stuff, and... and times not to say stuff..." Yahiko shut his eyes and knocked his forehead against the motionless bokken once; when he tried a second time, it wasn't there. Kenshin had patiently tilted it out of the way. "Gomen ne, Kenshin..."
"There's nothing to forgive."
"Yes there is," Yahiko said miserably.
Kenshin put on his best diversionary smile. "Then I forgive you de gozaru yo!" He reached out and brushed a stray tear from Yahiko's cheek, then added, "You've got about fourteen more ways to try to bash my skull in, ne? We can talk about apologies after that..."
After a moment, Yahiko gave a hiccupy giggle, and stood up again. "Right..." He scrubbed the back of his hand across his face, and got a better grip on the bokken. "Right."
Kenshin stood still as a statue to block Yahiko's strikes -- whether to give an identical target or to be sure he didn't move too quickly for Yahiko to follow, Kaoru couldn't tell. With a little trepidation, she called, "Now do the same thing as an exchange: each of you strike, then block; Kenshin, just mirror him..."
After the first exchange -- which, technically, Yahiko blocked, although his grip was like a stunned rabbit and wouldn't actually have blocked anything if Kenshin hadn't been aiming exactly for his blade -- Kaoru relaxed a little. Kenshin learned quickly; he mirrored everything, not just the cut. He matched Yahiko's speed exactly, matched the pattern of strike, block, hesitate... which was something she'd have to train out of him later, but it was a little inevitable when she was teaching him counted kata. And apparently Kenshin had judged Yahiko's strength just as exactly; when the blades met, Yahiko's sometimes wavered but always managed to hold. Kaoru considered that for a moment, then said, "All right; free form."
Yahiko absolutely froze. Kenshin immediately dropped out of stance, and asked, "Are you all right? I'll be careful... but if you don't want--"
"Yes, I do," Yahiko said, suddenly as fiercely determined as a terrier pup. Kaoru hastily hid a smile; Sano didn't bother hiding his. Kenshin relaxed, and bowed slightly.
"Thank you for trusting me."
Yahiko was wearing his best manic, cocky grin. "Kenshin, I'm not even remotely thinking about trust right now..."
Which was in itself an even higher compliment, Kaoru thought wryly; Yahiko knew Kenshin's strength as well as any of them, and he'd just admitted he would lay his life in Kenshin's hands without a moment's hesitaton or fear... and she could see the same thought mirrored in Kenshin's eyes as he bowed again. Yahiko knelt to return the honor, a samurai's gesture of fealty to his leader... and then he looked up with devilment in his eyes a split second before he came straight off the ground for Kenshin's throat.
--crack--
"Don't look up first next time de gozaru," Kenshin advised. Yahiko's only response was that fierce, determined grin and another angle of attack.
Kenshin didn't move except to pivot in place no matter how Yahiko swung at him; panting, Yahiko noted it with narrowed eyes, then charged -- leading as much with his shoulder as with the sword. Kenshin actually chuckled--
--and wasn't there when Yahiko's bokken and shoulder shot through what would have been the middle of his ribcage. Frantically, Yahiko backpedalled to keep himself from crashing headlong into the wall, and spun around looking for Kenshin--
--who landed in precisely the same spot he'd leapt from, made an ironic little bow, and sheathed the bokken with the same assassin's snap to chiburi that had startled them all earlier. He stood smiling with his sword hand poised a hand's breadth from the hilt, battou-jutsu stance...
Beaming from ear to ear, Yahiko charged again...
And this time Kenshin didn't move at all. Yahiko realized it in a millisecond's shocked panic and tried to pull his strike...
...but Kenshin had already moved. First the bokken went flying and then Yahiko did, around a wild arc at the length of Kenshin's arm; Kenshin let his own bokken fly to be able to pull him in and stop the spin before centripetal force could tear the boy loose and slam him into the wall next to their discarded blades.
"Are you all right?" Kenshin asked, breathless with fear; just as shaken, Yahiko nodded against his chest. "Why on earth did you try to change the angle?"
"...didn't want to hurt you..."
Sano hastily clamped a hand over his mouth; Kaoru nudged him in the ribs. Not gently. Because Yahiko was innocently, intently serious about the idea that he might have hurt Kenshin...
Kenshin didn't reply, only held him close, bright head bowed over Yahiko's.
"...sorry... should've known you'd know what to do... did I just screw up?"
"Iie," Kenshin murmured, without moving or letting go.
After a moment, Yahiko said ruefully, "Kenshin, you're short, but you're not that short."
"...eh?"
Yahiko kicked his feet in the air, and said, "Tabi. Mine. Ground. Used to be attached. Kind of used to it by now. --Thanks," he added as Kenshin put him down hastily to avoid further ruffling the boy's pride. Yahiko looked up at him speculatively, then over at the bokken.
"You want to try that again?"
"Iie! Dame -- I almost didn't catch you that time!"
"So I hit the wall," Yahiko shrugged. "I bet Hiko hit you harder than that when he was training you."
"That's different de gozaru yo--"
"How?"
"I don't ever want to hurt you!"
Yahiko found himself squeaking around the lump in his throat. "...Oh. Okay. If it's for you, sure..." Yahiko moved to pick up the bokken, looked them over for scratches or nicks, and offered one to Kenshin before kneeling in front of the scroll for the closing-class rituals. Kaoru watched Kenshin hesitate, one hand reaching toward Yahiko's tousled hair, for his own reassurance more than the boy's... and then he stopped himself, for the sake of Yahiko's pride, and quietly knelt beside him in the sempai's place. She smiled, and took the sensei's place, and beckoned Sanosuke over into their line.
Despite the fact that none of them knew the ceremony, Yahiko was more than happy with it; he demolished Kaoru's two hours of folding in about three seconds, then stared at the white-oak bokken with wide eyes. "Thank you..."
"You've earned it," Kaoru said, smiling. "But you'll have to keep practicing by yourself for a while..."
Sanosuke cut in abruptly, wide-eyed. "Are you... Jou-chan, you're pregnant, aren't you. I knew it..."
"You're what?" Yahiko yelped.
Kaoru burst out laughing. "Ne, Sano, you knew it, did you? Since when?"
"I've been wondering all month..."
"Rooster boy, I've been pregnant for six!"
Sano fell flat on his face.
"Five," Kenshin corrected mildly.
"Five and a half..."
"No way," Sano managed, picking himself up enough to lean forward and reach for her waist. Kaoru smacked his hand lightly.
"Don't be rude, rooster boy."
"Che, tanuki-girl, don't you tease me like that..." He curved his hand to her side, and blinked. "You're not teasing."
"You mean..." Yahiko looked remarkably like a landed fish. "You mean you're going to have a baby?"
"Honto ni," Kaoru smiled. "How do you feel about being 'nii-chan'?"
If anything, Yahiko's expression looked even more peculiar. "That's fine, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Whatever. 'Scuse me..." He scooped up his bokken, bowed to her and to the scroll reflexively, and took off at a run. Kenshin traded one startled look with them, then sprinted to follow.
"Oh dear," Kaoru said, looking up at Sano. "Why's he so upset?"
"How am I supposed to know what's going on under that mop of his?"
"You're a guy, aren't you?" Kaoru asked. "Don't guys just know these things?"
"Nah."
"...Oh, dear."
In the garden, Kenshin watched Yahiko scuffle gravel with his toes for a moment, then said carefully, "Are you angry with me?"
"With you?" Yahiko asked, so astonished he squeaked.
"Well... with Kaoru-dono and with me..."
"Heck no! Why would I be?"
Still faintly puzzled, Kenshin asked, "Then what's wrong?"
His face a portrait in sheer misery, Yahiko said, "What'll I do now? She's pregnant! Which means I can't fight back!"
Kenshin fell over in the middle of the garden, hit by the lightning bolt of more comprehension than was good for any poor rurouni's equilibrium. Kaoru and Yahiko's entire relationship had been based on the sibling principle of cheerfully sadistic mutual abuse, verbal or physical... but a pregnant Kaoru was an entirely different matter than a tomboy Kaoru; a pregnant Kaoru was someone that Myoujin Yahiko the Tokyo Samurai had to defend from everyone... including himself... and it didn't put the same restrictions on her at all...
Yahiko bent over him. "Kenshin?"
"...ororo...!"
Yahiko blinked. "What'd I say?"
Kenshin picked himself up and brushed gravel out of his hair ruefully. "...Yare yare. I don't know, Yahiko-kun. Maybe you could try not fighting at all?"
Yahiko looked at him as though he'd utterly lost his mind.
"...Or maybe not," Kenshin finished, resignedly. "It was just a thought. Never mind me, I'm just the silly rurouni who tries not to fight..."
Yahiko snorted his opinion of that. "Yeah, and look how much luck you've had with that one." He flopped down in the gravel beside Kenshin with a heartfelt groan. "What am I gonna do...?"
Kenshin didn't turn his head as he casually stretched one hand behind Yahiko's head -- which left it out of the boy's field of vision long enough for him to flash a shooing gesture at Kaoru and Sano behind them both -- and then he stood up to brush the dust off his hakama. "I don't know about you, Yahiko-kun, but I'm going to wash the dishes..."
Now that her 'secret' was out, Kaoru didn't bother with a formal obi; it was getting more and more difficult to tie smoothly, and more and more awkward to wear. Without the obi, though, her shape was quite visible, particularly when she sat or knelt; Sanosuke had a tendency to stare, with an expression blended of amusement and adoration, and Kaoru tried not to let him make her uncomfortable. Yahiko moped for a few weeks; Kenshin had tried to explain the 'problem' to her that first evening, but he kept slipping into muted hilarity. Kaoru still wasn't sure she understood Yahiko's problem, but accepted Kenshin's wry assurance that he'd get over it. Privately, Kaoru was almost dreading his recovery; she wasn't looking forward to the fat-hag comments, least of all since she was growing so round... but there were also some advantages to letting them know. Now, if the baby aimed a good kick at her lungs, she could just go ahead and wince...
"...ouch!" Kaoru looked down at herself in astonishment at lunch. "What's wrong with you this morning?"
Kenshin curved a hand to her side -- it was almost frightening that he never had to ask where. "Bored, I think," he said wryly. "If you were expecting twins..."
"...I'd be as big as a whale. No, thank you." The baby kicked again, but less fiercely; Kaoru sighed, and smiled at him. "How do you do that?"
"It's just..."
"...chi, I know," she finished for him. "I mean, how do you do that?"
Kenshin shrugged a little, rubbing the back of his head.
Sanosuke, with his heart in his face, murmured, "Jou-chan... can I...?"
Surprised, Kaoru glanced at Kenshin, who if anything looked just as imploring. Well, after all, it's my body, but... "All you had to do was ask," Kaoru said.
Delighted, and almost anxious at the same time, Sano reached toward her kimono's soft bulge, then hesitated. "Kenshin. That chi stuff... I couldn't... can you teach me... I can't hurt her by accident, can I...?"
Kenshin said nothing for a long moment.
Kaoru reached out, cupped a hand behind each one's head, kissed each cheek in turn, and then crisply knocked their foreheads together. "All right, bakatachi, let's settle this. One. Neither of you are going to hurt the baby with your fighting chi. Two. If you even think you are, I'll knock your heads together again. Three. If that doesn't work, I'll go get Saitou and he can knock your heads together..."
"Easy! Easy, there, Jou-chan," Sano said hastily, rubbing his skull. "...Sorry, Kenshin. I shouldn't even have asked."
"No, that's not it at all," Kenshin said. "It's just that I don't know how to teach it without teaching you Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu... and I won't teach that to anyone... so..."
"Hai, hai," Sano said, sitting back on his heels, trying to look like he wasn't really disappointed and didn't really want to know. Kaoru nudged Kenshin lightly; he returned a faint smile, and silently reached over to catch Sano's hands. "Oi, Kenshin, it's all right," Sano protested.
His voice cut off short when Kenshin curved his hands to Kaoru's middle just in time to feel the baby move. Sano sat mute, his jaw hanging open, staring down at his hands and Kenshin's hands and the gentle rounding of Kaoru's kimono.
"Happy now?" Kaoru teased.
Sano swallowed hard, and breathed, "Holy shit..."
Kaoru dissolved into giggles. "...I'll take that as a compliment...!"
Yahiko couldn't stand it any more; he shoved his way into the circle, doing his best not to look curious or wistful and mainly looking strange because his scowl kept slipping. "Hey, let me in too..." He looked at Kaoru's midsection for a moment, then said with a flash of his old attitude, "Good thing you're getting so fat; otherwise there wouldn't be room for all our hands."
"Why, you little..."
Kaoru picked up the nearest swingable weapon, which proved to be the ladle from the miso soup; but Kenshin caught her wrist before she connected with Yahiko's head. He murmured softly into her hair, "Maa, maa... daijoubu..."
Kaoru followed the line of his gaze, and realized why he'd stopped her; token gesture toward attitude satisfied, Yahiko had cradled his hands against her abdomen with utter mushy adoration in every inch of him. He felt their eyes, looked up, and hastily scraped together the defenses again: "Hey, tanuki-girl, Kenshin's right; you got to quit being so violent all the time. You don't want to predispose the kid or nothing. 'Course, I can see why you'd get grouchy; I'd be grouchy too if I was as fat as you are..."
Trying to smile, Kaoru asked Kenshin through ground teeth, "Can't I even hurt him a little?"
"Ano..."
"Here, let me," Sano said helpfully, wrapping one arm around Yahiko's neck, then trying to twist his head off with the other hand. "I'll fix his attitude problem if I can just get his head on straight again..."
"Oi, rooster-head, watch it with the twisting people's heads off or I'll have to go get a broomstick and show you how they do it to chickens..."
They went rolling across the floor in a small cloud of dust and flailing limbs; Kenshin sighed faintly, and Kaoru laughed.
"Back to normal?"
"Looks that way. --Yare yare..."
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Author's notes:
Thank you to Tae-san for the title (from "Only You" by Pat Benatar)
Thank you to Tae-san, Raya-san, and everyone who read it and told me "you know, it's not as bad as you think it is..."
Thank you to Ardith-san for kindly taking time out of her busy study schedule to correct my Japanese for me. Any mistakes remaining are entirely my fault, as is the glossary. Warning: I've been "studying" Japanese through osmosis (aka 5 hours every Saturday at the UIUC anime club), so my interpretations may be out of sync with reality. Also... scene with Yahiko borrowed heavily from watching a few shinkendo lessons (arigatou, Kai-sensei, and I hope I didn't mess up too much since I've never actually seen the words written).
Glossary:
Ano: technically it's an actual word, but everyone seems to use it for "um... er..."
Boku: juvenile/masculine form of "I"
Gomen, gomen ne, gomen nasai: I'm sorry
Jou-chan: Sano's nickname for Kaoru: "missy" / "little lady" / something to that effect
Nii-chan: cute form of "big brother"
Onegai: please
Sugoi: awesome! cool! (colloquially, not temperature-wise)
Shinkendo terms:
--At the beginning and end of class, everyone kneels with their swords / bokken beside them and bows (head to the floor) to the scroll on the wall, to the sensei, and to do reverence to the sword. I've heard the words Kenshin uses... just haven't seen them...
-- Ichimonji -- can mean things ranging from "word" or "character" to "spatula", and in this case seems to refer to the first series of cuts taught in class...
-- Joudan, chudan, keisa, etc. are some of the different strokes. Just like Kenshin's nine-headed dragon strike, there are nine angles you learn. However, one slight bone to pick with Saitou: the thrusting angle is taught so that the blade is angled flat -- so it goes between the ribs, not through them...
-- When you sheathe the blade / bokken after a kata, you do chiburi (really based in shaking the blood off the blade) and notou (putting the blade back in the sheath, preferably without needing to look and without cutting your own fingers off.)
Tabi: the socks with the split toes
-tachi: makes a collective (atashitachi: us, omaetachi: you (plural)). Have to admit I've never seen the form Kaoru uses on Kenshin and Sano, but "bakatachi" seems like convenient shorthand for "you morons..."
Yare yare: oh dear / good grief / verbal sigh
Next time:
Kenshin's part-time job (and a Comic Operetta Extra!) O-tanoshimi...
--Risu-chan