From: "Sekihara Tae" All That Matters Risu-chan(dlstrong@prairienet.org) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 (part 1 -- dream, vision, and nightmare continued...) -------------------------------------------------------------------- "It's easy to forget what you've learned, Waiting for the thrill to return, Feeling your desire burn and drawn to the flame..." --"Distant Sun", Crowded House "ENISHI--!" Kaoru turned in shock when she heard Kenshin's wild cry. The wind screamed around him, torn by the force of sword-chi; he blurred into a barehanded strike-- Kaoru flung herself in the way, arms flung wide, shouting, "Kenshin, no!" Her protest had a lower-pitched echo-- --Aoshi? That looked like Aoshi-- --she stumbled when she realized Kenshin was already behind her, facing the pale-haired man, the air around him all but shimmering with his rage. She caught at his shoulders. "Kenshin-- Kenshin, no, it's not what you think--" He knew it too; he had to know it. He wouldn't still be standing there if he hadn't realized. But his shock and anger still held him tightly drawn. "Explain yourself," he snarled. Kaoru took a step sideways, to try to mediate between them, Kenshin stepped with her, so that he still shielded her with his own body. Anxious, grateful, and irritated all at once, she stroked his back a little. "Kenshin, listen. This is Yutarou's friend, he's from Germany..." "Heidel Danzig. Pleased to meet, yes?" the tall white-blonde man said brightly. "Are you Kaoru-san's sister? Almost the same height; and such lovely hair, lovely color-- unusual for a Japanese, yes? Explain yourself also?" This man had absolutely no idea how close he had stood to a maiming, or death. They both stared at him; Tsubame was cowering even further behind her tray than usual. "A-ano... ojisan..." "I'm her husband," Kenshin said tightly. The gaijin's eyes widened, and he fumbled with his glasses, bending closer to Kenshin's height. "Oh my gracious. Very much sorry; my silly eyes..." He blinked, and reached for Kenshin's face in alarm. "Hurt...?" Kenshin turned his scarred cheek sharply away from the seeking fingers, and for the first time, the gaijin realized something was wrong. "You are angry?" He sounded like a bewildered child. "I was not meaning for offense, only my eyes are very bad, but... --oh. Yutarou-kun, am I being too much forward?" Yutarou, standing behind him in the Akabeko's door, had buried his face in his hand somewhere around the word 'sister'. He said, half strangled, "Heidel, you have no idea. Forget it. Himura-san..." He stopped, bowed stiffly, and said all in a rush, "Himura-san, I'm so sorry, can we please start this whole fiasco over like it never happened? This is my friend Heidel; he came with me because he wanted to see Japan... while he can still see. Heidel, this is Himura Kenshin, a very great swordsman from the war-- and don't just try to touch his scars, all right?" he added, with a boy's painful embarrassment at a friend's gaucherie. Softly, Kaoru leaned forward and murmured to Kenshin, "It's all right, love. He doesn't even know about Enishi." Kenshin looked over his shoulder at her for a moment, and then up at Heidel, then stepped carefully out of his battle-ready posture; she breathed a sigh of relief. Then he startled her again; he bowed deeply and very humbly to the gaijin. "Gomen nasai de gozaru yo. Sessha wa... sumanai de gozaru. There is no excuse. You are not the blind one; I am. Blind with fear and memories... can you forgive me?" Now Heidel was utterly bewildered. "Whatever for?" "For allowing my eyes to blind me." Kenshin didn't move, refusing to straighten or meet his eyes until Heidel released him; but the gaijin had no idea what was going on. He looked around helplessly, fidgeting with the handle of a silver-tipped cane. Kaoru said into the void of their mutual incomprehension, "Sir, to us, you look very much like a man who... hurt us both, badly. He was tall like you, with glasses and very pale hair, paler than yours even, and... my dear silly husband is very anxious for me now. He thought you were threatening me, and was angry, and... at times he can be very dangerous if he is angry." "A great swordsman, yes?" Heidel said ruefully. "I am expecting that would make dangerous to have angry." "I was blind," Kenshin said, "to look only with my eyes--" "How else is there to look?" Heidel asked, and made an awkward attempt at imitating Kenshin's bow. "I am very sorry also that I cannot look very well at all, and I am much not meaning to have made offense... please?" He straightened just enough to be able to peer at Kenshin. Yutarou said with a sigh, "Daijoubu da yo! Everybody's sorry, everybody forgives everybody, let's go get some food while we sort the rest of it out, deshou?" He looked up at Kaoru and added, "'Enishi'? Blood-kin and fate? What are you talking about?" Kenshin said wearily, "That is a very long story, and I'm afraid I can't offer it now. But would you and your friend come to stay with us at the dojo tonight? I owe you at least that much -- the story, and the hospitality; and it's a long walk to your home." After a moment's thought, he added, "Even better: Kaoru, stay here with them, and I'll be back as soon as I can. Stay here, rest, talk about happy things; just don't follow me--" He stopped himself a minute too late; Kaoru glowered at him with both fists on her hips. "Don't you even think about leaving me behind. I walked all this way to watch you -- and, all right, her too -- and them -- and, honestly, the walk gets longer every week! And I'm not about to have wasted the trip! And I'm sure Yutarou-kun will find it fascinating, won't you?" "Nani...?" "Say yes," Kaoru warned him through clenched teeth. "Ano... hai, Kaoru-shihondai!" "There, you see?" she told Kenshin with a fixed smile. "Let's just make it a party. And... I could have sworn I saw Aoshi. When you... when you were... --there was a tall man in something pale staring at you, and I could have sworn..." She turned around to look . "...Not there now. But why would he even come to Tokyo? Did you--" Kenshin said to Yutarou hastily, "Take everyone to Miya-dono's melon stall in the market; I'll meet you there." He took off at a dead run; Kaoru yelped, outraged. "That's not FAIR! Kenshin, that's not fair at ALL-- you know I'm too heavy now to chase you down! --Mou!" Yutarou said uncomfortably, "Kaoru-san... what's going on?" Heidel's face cleared. "Oh, nice. Happiness knowing I am not the only confused people here." "No, you're not," Kaoru sighed, rubbing her back. "I think we're all confused. But I promise I'll get you some answers as soon as I can get both hands around his neck long enough to shake something loose, ne? Come on." She set off at her most determined waddle for the market. Heidel said to Yutarou wistfully, "I am hoping I misheard that." "I don't think you did." "No, I am thinking not either. But hoping is still good." He followed her down the steps, vaguely checking the edges with the cane, and Yutarou sighed and followed him. When they'd turned the corner, Tsubame eased her tray down from in front of her face. "Kowaiiii...!" she breathed, and darted into the haven of the Akabeko again. As they walked, Kaoru and Yutarou took the time to catch up a little. Yes, his arm was doing better; yes, she and Kenshin had married last winter, and the child she carried would be their first. Apologetically, she explained a little -- a very little -- about Enishi for Heidel. "Honestly, if it weren't for Yutarou, you'd have startled me too," she sighed. "It's just that blonde people look so much alike... no offense, of course. Why are you two here? A vacation?" "I'll be of legal majority this summer, so there are things I'll have to arrange about the estate management," Yutarou said, "and Heidel's wanted to see Japan for years, and... he sort of needed to come now." He dropped his voice a little, in hesitant sympathy. "In a couple of years he'll be blind." "Oh, I'm sorry," Kaoru said, startled. "I'm so sorry. --And I'm very bad at telling foreigners' ages; is he your uncle? With such light hair..." "No, no," Heidel said hastily, smiling. "Only twenty; the hair was always this way. And it's not grandfathers'-eyes exactly... well, it is, only not when I am a grandfather, yes? There are... clouds. So I am coming with Yutarou-kun now, and he tells me much stories. I am happy now, meeting his lady sword-teacher! And also... I am very much not knowing about offense here, please to forgive if I do; only very very curious..." "Very," she agreed with a giggle, remembering his reaction to Kenshin. "Daijoubu, Danjiigu-san, I'll try to explain things too." "Oh, call me Heidel, yes please?" "Haideru?" "Fine," Heidel said wryly. "Fine enough. Also, not for offense, but I am very bad at foreigners' ages too; you and little husband-san seem not very older than Yutarou? In Germany I am barely called adult; I am surprised a little at you..." "Goodness," Kaoru said, curving a self-conscious hand to her belly; she hoped the burning in her cheeks was mostly the winter breeze. 'Little husband-san' indeed; thank heaven Kenshin had run off before he heard that one. "I suppose you would be surprised, then. But I'm almost your age, I'm several years older than he is..." "Ah. Then he is Yutarou's age?" Kaoru blinked, then said very carefully, fighting back a smile, "I meant I'm several years older than Yutarou. Kenshin's almost thirty." Heidel stopped in the middle of the road. "Three tens, not ten and three?" Kaoru nodded, biting her lip. "Oh, dear. --Wait. He's older than me?" She nodded again. "You're not serious? --Are all you Japanese so little?" Kaoru couldn't help laughing as she reached up to pat his shoulder. "No, not all of us; are all you foreigners so tall?" "Most of 'em," Yutarou said wryly, and gave Kaoru a good imitation of Yahiko's wanna-be-a-brat-now grin. "Between Himura-san and you, I'd have bet your baby's going to be tiny too, but you sure can't tell that by looking, Kaoru-san!" Her jaw dropped open. "...You little... that's not fair! You haven't even seen the brat for years and you sound like him again!" Then, stricken, she turned to Heidel and wailed, "Am I really that big?" Heidel looked remarkably like a landed fish, stunned and gaping. "You... er.... you... --I don't know..." He fiddled with the glasses more out of habit than out of hope, and bent to peer at her middle dutifully; Kaoru squirmed. "Well?" "Er..." He tilted his head to one side, considered, and lifted curious fingers to the soft rounding of her kimono. His eyes widened when he realized what his hands told him. "Good gracious me--" Fiercely embarrassed, Kaoru said, "Mou! Never mind! Come on, we're going to be late." She hurried down the street again, adding under her breath, "I'm not even into my eighth month..." Stricken, Heidel stared after her, then down at Yutarou. "Very much sorry -- it was my fault? I should not have...?" Yutarou sighed a little guiltily, and patted Heidel's arm in reassurance. "No, it wasn't you; I was teasing her. Let me do the apologizing." "I don't understand this country," Heidel groaned, and followed them. Ayano attached herself to Kaoru's knee as soon as she stepped into the melon stall; startled, Kaoru reached down to stroke the child's hair as she made introductions. "Miya-san, this is my former student, Yutarou-kun, and his friend Haideru-san from Germany; the little one here is Ayano-chan. Honey, what's wrong?" Ayano mumbled something into Kaoru's hip, all but trembling. "She's been upset all week," Miya said carefully, trying not to laugh at her daughter. "She's rather ferociously convinced that the bad policemen broke the rules." "Broke the rules...?" "According to little silly here, the rules are all very clear. Foxtail-san runs around and the policemen pretend to try to catch him and make targets of themselves. They're certainly not supposed to catch him, or hurt themselves, and she's quite put out with Shiro-san for ruining the game..." "...bad!" Ayano said fiercely, still buried in fabric. "I see," Kaoru said, amused. "Tell you what, Ayano-chan. Nasty old mister wolf hasn't shown up yet, right? So when they get here today, what do you say we help Foxtail-san? After all, I'm sure he can use help throwing things; there are lots of targets and just one of him." Miya put her face in one hand; Ayano looked up immediately, eyes aglow, surprisingly ferocious for a toddler. "Wai! Arigatou, Foxtail's-lady-san!" "My name's Kaoru, remember?" Kaoru prompted, smiling. "Kaoru-san," Ayano agreed happily. "Wai!" Yutarou was muffling hilarity with both hands; Ayano looked up at him skeptically. "Who're you?" "Yutarou," he said, with laughter in his eyes. "What is all this about throwing things at cops?" "It's a foxhunt," Ayano said, in a voice that said clearly, For someone so old, how did you manage not to learn anything? "Foxtail-san runs, and they trip a lot. And we help." "I'm sure you do," Yutarou agreed hastily, grinning. "Fox-hunt?" Heidel repeated carefully. Ayano looked a long way up at him, considered being terrified, and then got too curious, wandering over to lean on his knee thoughtfully. "Come down here," she said. "'Please', Ayano," Miya sighed. "Say please." "Please. Now come down here!" Dutifully, Heidel bent and picked her up. "Good?" She chewed on a finger, staring. Heidel stared back, trying to puzzle out her expression. Finally, Ayano reached over, caught a handful of his hair, and tugged; he yelped. Ayano fumbled with his glasses next; those came off. Since they weren't a permanent feature, Ayano lost interest, letting them drop; Yutarou lunged to catch them hastily. "Ayano, stop that!" Miya protested. Ayano leaned forward until her nose was almost touching his; they blinked in unison, and she looked up and tugged on his hair again, a little more gently this time. "Dandelion?" Yutarou chortled at that. "Tall, skinny, kind of weedy-looking, and lots of pale fluff on top? Yeah, that fits. Want your specs back, Heidel?" "I think not perhaps until little one is done poking my face?" "Good point." Ayano reached up to twine both hands through his hair. "Dandelion!" She patted some of his hair into his eyes and giggled when he tried to blow it out of the way, then grabbed at his nose and ear. Miya reached up for her daughter ruefully. "Here, I'll take her, sir." Ayano hung on tightly: "NO!" "...ow ow OUCH ow..." Miya coaxed Ayano's hands free despite fussing protests and bowed quickly, head bent. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm so sorry. --Ayano, stop it." "Daijoubu, yes?" Heidel said, carefully making sure his ear was still attached correctly. "Nothing wrong." Ayano told her mother in a loud whisper, "His eyes look like the sea. All mixed up 'tween green and blue and white. That's weird." "Ayano!" Miya wailed, and Yutarou started laughing again. "Kid, I like you!" Kaoru winced at a particularly emphatic kick from within, sagging back against the wall and rubbing the top of her belly until she could breathe again. Two more months of this -- and then ten or fifteen years of that? Good heavens, WHY did I let him talk me into this? Talk? a sly voice in her head reminded her. He wasn't talking at all; his lips were occupied much more pleasantly than that... and so were yours... Shut up, Kaoru told herself, and directed a wistful thought downward: you in there, if you feel like listening, and if we have gaijin come to visit, just leave their scalps and their ears attached, ne? ...ouch. And if you could try not to kick me right there-- I think that used to be an important internal organ... A gentle hand touched her shoulder. "Daijoubu, no?" Startled, Kaoru looked up at Heidel. "Oh! Yes, but... how did you know?" He shrugged a little. "Your face I don't have, but... the angle of you says hurt? The standing like this--" he dropped his shoulders and bent his head, then straightened again and patted her head anxiously. "I can still see the shape of you hurting. Is it baby-hurting?" "Nothing to worry about, really," Kaoru said quickly, embarrassed. "I'll be fine. Thank you." Perhaps it was because his vision was so poor; perhaps he'd never seen clearly enough to understand how much could be read from an expression, or perhaps he was always so guileless, but his face was as transparently skeptical as if he'd shouted a protest aloud. Kaoru tried not to let her amusement show. "Honestly, Haideru-san. It's nothing to worry about. Sometimes I just have to hurt for a while; it's... simply part of my condition. But it's sweet of you to be concerned." Heidel shrugged again, awkwardly avoiding her eyes. "Little husband-san would be much unhappy if you hurt. So would I." "His name is Kenshin," Kaoru said carefully, hoping against hope that Heidel wouldn't mention that description again. "You can use our names... in fact, please do. And I promise I'll be fine." She hadn't convinced him in the least; he smiled for her, with the rest of his face still protesting, and turned slightly away so he could still look at her sideways without having to turn his head visibly. Kaoru doubted if he could see her smile, but quickly put a hand to her lips just in case. He was probably firmly convinced this was subtle. Maybe among gaijin it was; she had no idea how people expressed concern in Germany... ...ouch. Kaoru closed her eyes and pressed the other hand awkwardly to her side, silently wishing for Kenshin's gentle hands and his uncanny gift for soothing the child. It was good to know the little one was strong and healthy, she reminded herself firmly, even if once in a while she wished for fewer reminders. And less visible girth, particularly when she was around Yahiko and his ilk; why did Yutarou have to learn that from him too...? She shouldn't have closed her eyes. She opened them again when she heard running feet, but by then it was too late; Yutarou was gone up the street, and Heidel was doing a very, very bad attempt at innocent-and-harmless. Kaoru reached up and wagged a finger under his nose to get his attention. "What did you do?" "Me?" "Yes. You. Dandelion-san. What did you do?" She tried to glare, but couldn't when her lips kept twitching into a smile. "Nothing, nothing..." He tried to whistle. Very badly. Kaoru ran a hand down her face. I should do him a favor and have Kenshin teach him how to do this. He still wouldn't fool anyone, but at least he wouldn't be doing it so... terribly. "Miya," Kaoru asked, "what did he do?" Miya had fingertips over her mouth, but it didn't mask the laughter in her eyes. "Haideru-san didn't do a thing, really..." A conspiracy of fools. Kaoru groaned aloud, shifting her weight to the other foot; Heidel asked immediately, "Daijoubu?" "That was exasperation, not pain," Kaoru said resignedly, and bent a little to face Ayano. "Honey, what made Yutarou-kun go running off like that?" "Dandelion-san leaned over and--" Miya got a hand over her daughter's mouth quickly. "Shh. It's a little surprise, ne?" "Oh!" Ayano beamed at her mother and made buttoning gestures over her lips; Kaoru threw her hands in the air. "If I have to go hunt him down myself..." "No, no," Heidel said hastily. "You stay here and rest, yes? I go." "Haideru-san... you can't see." "I can see colors mostly, and shapes. You are red and blue and purple, and also a bit of roundness in front; little husband-san is rose-color and white and that lovely hair; Yutarou-kun is his hat, and his jacket, and the right shoulder is up a little from habit and he stands up to my elbow and..." "Never mind." "But I'm taller than you also; I can see from higher..." "It's all right. He'll be back." "Yes he will," Heidel agreed quickly. "So you stay here and rest." It really was funny, Kaoru thought sourly. If Kenshin hadn't been so shocked by the sight of a tall pale-haired bespectacled man bending towards her, he might have gotten to know Heidel well enough to realize he couldn't have left her with a more overprotectively anxious chaperone short of staying with her himself. But then she'd have had to deal with both of them double-teaming her consciously instead of accidentally... horrible, horrible thought. Far better as it was. Kaoru began to wonder exactly how long she could keep Kenshin away from Heidel. ...Running feet again; Yutarou was back, holding something very awkward behind his back and wearing Yahiko's best I'm-gonna-get-it-but-it's-worth-it grin. "Yutarou," Kaoru said, "you do realize you are still my student?" "Hai, Kaoru-shihondai." "Don't annoy your teacher, Yutarou." "Hai, Kaoru-shihondai." Kaoru waited. And waited. And-- "Well?" He tried to present it with a flourish, but the flourish dropped a leg and made a tangled mess of the fabric and he scrambled to catch it and tried to untangle it some more and-- Kaoru stood rubbing her back with one hand and her temples with the other, fighting off a sense of doom. "What is it?" Yutarou put it down, wrestled with it for another minute, scratched his head, pulled a leg through... and the mess untangled itself somewhat. "A chair," he said proudly, beaming. Kaoru stared back and forth between Miya, Heidel, Yutarou, and the... ahem... "chair." It looked more like four sticks and a piece of fabric masquerading as a torture device. She had enough trouble getting herself to the ground and back anymore, and there was a lot of ground, which made it difficult to miss while you were awkward and ungainly, and she trusted the ground not to break under her recently-increased weight... With a sickly smile, Kaoru said, "Thank you, Yutarou-kun, really, but I'd rather stand; I'd like to see what happens--" "But that's why I got you a chair," Yutarou said. "You can sit down and your head will still be high enough to see over the display, like this!" He perched himself on the chair without a wobble, but then he was a skinny young boy. Kaoru tried again at the smile. "Really, thank you, but..." "You're pale," Heidel said softly. "Please to be sitting down, yes?" Kaoru bit back the observation that any woman well advanced in her pregnancy would go pale at the prospect of a contraption like that. Yutarou settled the "chair" next to the wall for her; he took her arm, and Heidel put careful hands to her waist, and between the three of them they eased her into the thing. It wasn't as uncomfortable as she'd feared, but she was afraid to relax and overbalance herself by accident until she realized that the wall was close enough to lean against. She settled herself more comfortably with a faint sigh, and smiled for them: "Thank you." She couldn't tell them that she thought she couldn't possibly stand again without help; that could wait for later. Right now they were all too pleased with themselves. Miya was making delighted sounds at Yutarou, who was beaming from ear to ear; Heidel slid down the wall to sit beside her, apparently fascinated by the way she breathed. He was staring at her middle... "Haideru-san?" He blinked, then realized how he'd been staring. "Ah... gomen! Gomen nasai... um... I was not realizing that you... um... You look much more enrounded now. Is that a word?" Kaoru tried not to squirm too visibly. "I get your point." He blinked again. "Was I not to say that?" Yutarou, rubbing his head, said, "Heidel, just shut up, okay?" "...Oh." He looked pitifully downcast now; Kaoru reached over and patted his hand gently. "Daijoubu," she said. "I don't mind. Or at least, I'll try not to, ne?" Poor boy, if he wants to stare, let him; he may never see his own wife carrying a child... or his baby's face. "Really?" he asked. "Promise." Yutarou said wryly, "You're braver than I am, Kaoru-san." Heidel made a face at Yutarou, and propped his chin in his hand, studying her middle with fascination shining in his strange eyes. And something else... something familiar; she'd seen it before... on Sano, in fact. The struggle of wistful yearning and embarrassment... "Oh, here," she said, smiling, and reached down to catch his free hand, then cradled it against her fullest place. "There, feel that? That's kicking. --Ow. Definitely kicking." "Oh!" Startled, he bent closer, one finger to his lips anxiously: "Shhh. Little one, carefully. Don't--" Kaoru couldn't help giggling. "Haideru-san..." "But it hurts you!" He felt another kick and winced for her: "Shhhh. No, please--" "Heidel, the baby can't hear yet," Yutarou said tiredly. "And even if it could, it hasn't learned Japanese." "Oh. Yes." He switched to German, an incomprehensible and somehow wolf-voiced collection of half-strangled coughs and howls-- "Heidel." "What?" "Babies aren't born speaking German either." He thought about it for a minute, then pulled both of his hands back, head bowed. "Sorry... much sorry. Much a fool." "Iie," said a soft voice from outside; Kaoru looked up in startlement. "Kenshin?" "Foxtail!" Ayano crowed, and ran to fling herself at his knees. He scooped her up and cradled her in the crook of one arm, smiling. Heidel was wide-eyed with guilty panic. "Gomen... gomen nasai... very not meaning forwardness with little wife-san..." "I know," Kenshin said mildly, and ducked into the stall to sit on his heels beside them. Heidel shut his eyes tight. "Very very much a fool..." "Iie," Kenshin repeated. "Very gentle-hearted, yes; very easily caught by your concern..." "That's the polite form of 'scatterbrained ball of nerves?'" Yutarou guessed, and Heidel flinched again. "Gomen..." "Stop that," Kenshin said lightly. "You're still a child yourself; still learning the world, particularly here. How could I blame you for that?" "Chotto matte yo," Kaoru said. "I'm younger than he is!" "Aa," Kenshin agreed, perfectly mild, and looked at Heidel again. "If anything, I'd thank you for your concern. Because I can't stay with her right now..." Kaoru opened her mouth to protest, hurt, then closed it again. All right, maybe I am younger, maybe he does think of me like... but... but I'm not! I'm old enough to fight; I'm even older than he was when he... And I'm old enough to bear his child! Argue it with him later... "Darned right you can't stay," she agreed, trying to keep her voice steady without success; Heidel looked at her anxiously. "What are you doing here anyway?" "Coming to visit!" Ayano said happily, patting his shoulder; Kenshin looked almost apologetic. "Sessha... um... well.. I sort of lost them. I didn't mean to; they thought it would be a good idea to scatter and try to surround me, and... um... it wasn't. And Shiro-dono shouldn't have come; he's still dizzy in spells, no matter how much he tries to lie to me. I wonder if I can convince him to stay here." "You lost someone?" Heidel asked. "Should we look?" "Actually, they're supposed to look for me," Kenshin said. "They're supposed to look harder than they did. But I expect at least Shiro-dono and Tanaka-dono will remember about this place, so I thought I'd wait for them. After all, even criminals have to shop for groceries de gozaru ne..." "Criminals?" Heidel asked, now definitely concerned. Kenshin gave Kaoru a faintly desperate look; his eyes said woefully, You mean you didn't explain anything to him? She squirmed a little: "I didn't exactly have the chance..." "Dandelion-san doesn't get it," Ayano said sagely. "Dandelion? ...oh." Kenshin ruffled Ayano's hair lightly, smiling at her. "Do you think you can explain for him?" "Try to." She sounded skeptical of anyone's chances. Kenshin didn't respond for a moment; his eyes were focused somewhere else entirely... and then he relaxed and smiled again, setting Ayano down beside him. "You do that, and I'll be back soon." "Awww..." When Kenshin stood up, she attached herself to his leg again, hanging on with both arms. A little startled, he laughed and bent over and tugged gently... only Ayano didn't intend to surrender. "Dameeeeee!" she wailed, clinging for all she was worth; Miya hastily came over and tried tugging too. "Ayano, stop it!" "Ayano-dono, please, I do need to go now..." Yutarou said gleefully, "Greatest legendary swordsman in the world, and the two-year-old's winning?" "She's a very determined two-year-old," Kenshin observed, wincing at the sound of a darn tearing loose. His hakama had been mended so many times that it was sometimes difficult to tell what was cloth, what was patches, and what was darning... until it tore. He looked down at his knee ruefully, and Ayano giggled at his expression. "Ayano!" Miya lifted a hand to smack her; Kenshin caught her wrist hastily. "Daijoubu de gozaru yo-- I can fix it later..." "Thanks for keeping him still for me, Ayano-chan," Tanaka observed from in front of the stall, smiling; Ayano let go immediately, wide-eyed and guilt-stricken. "Mou!" She grabbed a piece of melon and flung it at him; he dodged hastily. "Stop that, Ayano!" Miya scooped her up before she could cause any more trouble; Ayano wailed and reached blindly for Kenshin. "Gomen!" she sobbed. "Foxtail, gomen--" Kenshin reached up and smoothed her hair gently. "It's all right, Ayano-chan. I was waiting for them anyway." Heidel scrambled to his feet; he might not be able to identify Tanaka among the squadron, but Tanaka's uniform was obvious enough for him. "Officer-san, this is wrong? Swords are much bad, yes, but this one has no sword now. And also please, for wife-san's sake..." Kaoru struggled with the accursed chair. "Haideru-san, it'll be all right, really. Mou..." Her belly was too round to let her bend forward far enough, and the wall wasn't sturdy enough to push very hard-- Kenshin knelt in front of her, looped her arms about his shoulders, and curved his hands to her waist; he went straight up in one quick smooth motion, and Kaoru was almost startled to find herself standing in his embrace. She clung to him for a moment, breathless, then carefully let go and stepped back. "I love you. Be careful." "I love you too. Promise me you won't try to follow." "I promise." Kaoru smiled for him, but her heart still caught in her throat when he smiled back. It's not fair how he does that to me... Shiro came running up panting, and he brightened when he saw who was standing in the melon stall. "Yatta! Good idea, Tanaka-kun... --Now, Himura-san, come out nice and slow; you don't want to ruin Miya-san's shop, ne?" "Caught me shopping," he said agreeably, both hands up. "Sure you don't mean shoplifting?" Shiro teased. "No," Heidel said, shocked. "No, he didn't--" "I know," Tanaka said to Heidel. "We're just going to take him to the station for questioning." Yutarou said under his breath, with wary eyes, "Heidel, leave 'em alone; that uniform... they're sword-bearing police, even if they haven't got their swords along." Ayano was still wailing in the background; torn, Heidel whispered, "But he has done nothing..." "It's all right, Haideru-dono," Kenshin said gently, and stepped into the street. Shiro and Tanaka, not being fools, lunged for him the minute he cleared the overhang of the stall, and were actually vaguely astonished that they caught him even when he'd been boxed in on five of six sides The lunge, and Ayano's clear misery, and, possibly, even Kenshin's perfect resignation were too much for Heidel; with a strangled cry, he flung himself at Shiro, swinging wildly. Yutarou groaned aloud and ran to grab Heidel; two policemen further up the street blew their whistles and came pounding down the road. Tanaka let go of Kenshin to try to pry the tangle of Heidel-and-Yutarou off Shiro. Kenshin glanced around frantically for a moment-- --he focused on something else that reassured him even before he smiled at Miya, who was mutely pointing to a tray with bruised and split melons on it. Kaoru leaned out of the stall to try to see what he'd seen; Miya hastily stashed Ayano under one arm and caught Kaoru's obi with the other, tugging carefully. "You and Ayano and I are all staying out of this one..." The police up the road were getting closer, and they weren't part of the training squad. Tanaka shouted, "No, leave us alone, this is a drill--" "Are you crazy?" the other policeman shouted back, lifting a club as he ran. "Forgive me," Kenshin breathed; he lifted a cracked melon to judge the weight, and threw. It didn't hit the policeman; it hit the ground two running steps in front of him, and made a juice-and-pulp-slick mess. The one with the club went sprawling; his partner tripped over him. Tanaka let go of Heidel to glare at Kenshin. "Hey, they're bystanders!" "They'd have broken his skull--" Kenshin ducked into the melee, caught Heidel's hands, and pulled them off Shiro's uniform with a twist none of them could follow. He said to Heidel fiercely, "Stay with Kaoru-dono!" "--Hai!" Even with Yutarou dangling from his neck, Heidel snapped a salute. Kenshin nodded sharply, ducked under Shiro's grab even with his back to the boy, and dodged into the street. The other two were picking themselves up, and they were really angry. Kenshin took a step back, feinted sideways to avoid Tanaka's lunge, found himself nose-to-tray with the melons, and grabbed two of them. Tanaka wailed, "Not us--" Shiro was still glaring back and forth between Kenshin and the unrepentant Heidel wearing a scowling Yutarou-cape over one shoulder, trying to decide who he wanted more; the impact of a handful of soft and thoroughly overripe melon against the side of his head made up his mind. Shiro let out a snarl of sheer animal rage-- "I just got this uniform cleaned from the last time!" He charged Kenshin with his head down. "Iie," Kenshin said flatly. "Never take your eyes off the target. And stay here." Melon-handfuls hit Shiro quite precisely: the top of his head, to drip into his eyes when he straightened; his face, when he did; and the ground in front of him, when he couldn't see for trying to scrape pulp out of his face. The last melon hit the stick-wielding policeman in the chest to knock him back a few steps; Kenshin dashed through the hole of where he would have been to avoid Tanaka long enough to leap for a rooftop. Wheezing, the policeman with the stick blew his whistle for all his lungs were worth, which wasn't much at the moment; irritated, Tanaka slapped it out of his hand. "I told you it was a drill-- he wouldn't have had to use those bloody melons if you hadn't charged in here swinging that club around..." "Are you insane? We're on your side!" Tanaka watched Kenshin vanish over the peak of the roof and growled, "Shut up and run. I'll try to explain while we're catching him." Shiro was still lying on the ground groaning; Kaoru walked into the street, careful to avoid the melon-puddles, and bent over him anxiously. "Shiro-kun, daijoubu?" He made a wheezing sound that was part groan and part laugh. "'Least... not as far... falling this time... didn't jump first..." "Well, you're learning, then," Kaoru said, trying for cheerful. "That's good, right?" "Yes'm." The club-policeman's partner stalked toward them, scowling. He said to Shiro, "Get your sorry tail off the ground and help me haul them in." Heidel finally pried Yutarou off his neck and left him next to Miya; he strode over and planted himself between Kaoru and the policeman, braced and tense. Belatedly, she realized he was imitating Kenshin's posture when Kenshin had give the same forbidding to him. Of course, Heidel couldn't manage the sword-chi that made the wind scream with rage; but since he was half a head taller than the policeman, he might not need it. "Want me, then take me," Heidel said, looking down his nose with a scowl. "Leave little wife-san with peace. She hurts no one. You are not to be frightening her now." "Right, then," the policeman said, and twisted Heidel's arm into a wrist lock; he yelped in surprise and pain, bending forward to ease the pull. "You," the policeman told Shiro, "get yourself up, get the women and the kids--" "No," Heidel grated through clenched teeth, and pulled against the wrist lock. The policeman took a step sideways and shoved, and dislocated Heidel's shoulder; with a strangled shriek, he crumpled like a doll, gasping on the ground. Kaoru cried out in angry disbelief. "Dame! Dame -- he's foreign, he's confused, don't hurt him any more--" Yutarou hit the policeman at a dead run and actually knocked him sideways a few steps: "Stop it! He was only worried! Leave him alone, leave them both alone--" Shiro tried to push himself to his feet and slumped again, eyes closed, clutching at the ground like it was spinning under him. The policeman shook Yutarou off and flung him towards Shiro. "At least get the kid, I can handle the others--" --the world blurred pale-- --no, that was the trenchcoat. ...the trenchcoat? "Aoshi?" Kaoru whispered. "If you want the others, take them," the okashira said. "If you want her, I will take her. And I will take her gently. There is no excuse but spite for harming her. Do you understand me?" "Who are you?" Aoshi sighed very faintly. "There is a pleasant way to resolve this, and there is a simple but very unpleasant way. Choose." "Who are you?" "Stop," Shiro gasped, still sitting dizzily in the road. Aoshi didn't spare him a glance; neither did the policeman. "He's wearing swords," the policeman protested. "Get over here and..." "Officer," Kaoru said carefully around Aoshi's shoulder, "please, I'll go to the station if you like, we all will, but... he's wearing swords because he knows them. You see? And... he doesn't have much of a sense of humor. So please choose very carefully. And... please, will you let Yutarou-kun go to the clinic for Takani-sensei? Poor Haideru-san, and Shiro-kun too; he hit his head badly last week, he's still not well..." "I'll be okay," Shiro protested, head still in his hands. "Just... let the street stand still for a minute..." "You're hurt," Kaoru said unhappily. "You should have known better than to come. And Kenshin-no-baka should have known better than to trip you..." "Think he just wanted to make sure I stayed put for long enough that I couldn't follow them," Shiro said ruefully. "I kind of lied to him about my head..." "Last week?" the policeman cut in. "What's going on here?" "Go follow your friend," Aoshi said. "Trust me. He'll need your help if he's hunting Himura-san." "He's right," Shiro said desperately. "Listen, you go help him, and-- Tsurara-san and I can take care of these." "Tsurara?" the policeman repeated disgustedly, looking at Aoshi. "Don't tell me this is another of Saitou's plainclothes freaks-- all right, I'll catch the debrief at the station, but this had better be good!" He ran toward the alley Tanaka and the other policeman had taken. Aoshi turned slightly to look over his shoulder at Kaoru and Shiro. "She's wrong, you know. I do have a sense of humor. If I didn't, you'd be regretting that, police boy. 'Icicle-san' indeed... but at least we followed his request, didn't we?" He knelt by Heidel; Yutarou crept over to join him, afraid to touch lest he make things worse. "His request?" Kaoru echoed. "Not to tell him that I was one of Saitou's plainclothes freaks." If Kaoru didn't know better, she'd have called the quirk at the edge of his mouth almost a grin. "Thank you for the pseudonym, even if you don't know my name. I'd prefer to keep it that way. Can you..." He looked at Shiro, then at Kaoru, then at Heidel, and sighed. "Never mind. Forgive me for this... you, boy, go find his glasses." As soon as Yutarou moved, Aoshi jerked Heidel over flat on his back with a knee in his ribcage and wrenched-- Heidel screamed, and Yutarou turned on his heel, staring at Aoshi in shock. "What was that for?" "The longer his shoulder stayed dislocated, the harder it would be to reset it." He flattened a hand against Heidel's chest to keep him still. "Not just yet. Kaoru-san, I need a strip of cloth and two short straight objects. He shouldn't move the arm or the shoulder until your friend the doctor can look at him; he might have chipped bone. Boy, he'll still need his glasses." "...Oh. Right. Sorry, sir..." Yutarou looked around, and spotted them in the street; he picked them up and cleaned them carefully on the end of his shirt. "Heidel... Heidel, I'm awfully sorry..." Hazy with shock and pain, Heidel said dazedly, "Daijoubu ne, Yutarou... Not sure why but it's better now, Tsurara-san; thank you I think..." Kaoru, looking at the horrible chair, asked, "How short and how straight?" Aoshi followed her gaze and nodded. "Give me that. The cloth will suit also." In one sharp pull the chair disintegrated; for Yutarou's sake, Kaoru tried not too look too happy. Aoshi tore a strip off the seat with the edge of a kodachi, bound two of the legs to Heidel's forearm to keep his wrist straight and his elbow bent, then made a sling of the rest of the fabric and knotted it over his other shoulder. Then he looked up at Kaoru in speculation. "Can you get them both to Megumi by yourself? I can't be recognized here..." Kaoru nodded, a little stunned. "Ao-... I mean... Tsurara-san, thank you... but what are you doing here?" "Holding him to his vows." He looked past her, and his eyes widened for a moment; from Aoshi that was practically a scream, and she spun on her heel... ...and cursed herself for a fool the next minute, because when she turned back he was gone. "Mou! That wasn't FAIR! Oldest trick in the book -- cheap, icicle man, really cheap! --Some pathetic excuse for a warrior I am... and..." Holding him to his vows? Kenshin...? Why would he need to be held to his vows now, more than any other time? And what does 'Tsurara-san' think he can do about it...? But that means Kenshin DID see him earlier, too. He wouldn't have dodged the subject if he hadn't known... I'm just going to have to shake him for a good long while, that's all. Mou. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes... gomen nasai, I never meant to leave the delay between sections like that... arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san who put up with me -- have lost track of how many people have told me "so WHERE is chapter 6 hmm?" recently... thanks particularly to Tae and Sae and Naga and Tatsuko for C&C and for not strangling me for the cliffhanger at the end of 5... Short dictionary: Dame -- don't, useless, etc. Kodachi -- one of the words for a short sword; fairly sure Aoshi's two-blade style uses kodachi rather than wakizashi... Tsurara -- icicle Yatta! -- all right; way to go! About Heidel: I'm a tech writer and a product tester, and sometimes I get a little bored running the same tests 35 times in a row, so I start inventing other people who are doing the tests from different points of view (it makes it a lot more fun running security software tests when your cast set is the James Bond villains). Heidel was one I invented for a German-language test (which would have been significantly easier if I spoke any German at all): tall lanky professorial heron-type, beaky with wire-framed glasses and shaggy thatch of pale blonde hair, terminally curious... and then I put him in anime and realized "wait a sec, he looks WAY too much like Enishi..." ...so I couldn't resist. And then I came up with a plot hook for him, and... His dialect... um... I've got Heidel speaking "Japanese" the way I speak French -- vocabulary pretty much understandable but speaking-speed conjugations occasionally a little odd, some confusion between words which seem like they ought to act the same but don't (very vs. much etc.). Another detailing bit: I'd imagine Yutarou's likely the only one who can actually pronounce his name correctly... okay, fun bits now! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omake Theater: MST3K version of Chapter 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenshin: Time to go, Kaoru-dono! Kaoru: Kenshin, what's wrong? Kenshin: Wrong? Oh... nothing de gozaru. Kaoru (a little skeptical): Are you sure about that? Kenshin (blazing yellow eyes and the silly smile): I said, nothing. Kaoru (sweatdrop): All right, all right, whatever you say! Kenshin (still with yellow eyes): Want to visit Tae-dono for a while? Kaoru (terrified grin): Sure. Anything. Whatever makes you happy. Can you stop doing that now? Kenshin: Doing what? Kaoru: Nothing. Nothing at all... let's go visit Tae-chan. [In the alley, Kenshin's walking along trying to whistle; it doesn't work when his face keeps twisting into an incredibly lethal version of that smile.] Kenshin: Here, little fishie. Nice fishie de gozaru. Come take the bait. Let's do lunch. Whose lunch, we'll discuss later... [SNAP] Kenshin (shark-teeth locked around Aoshi's elbow, while Aoshi is sitting in lotus position six feet in the air): ...mmphrrgh?! Aoshi: Do you mind? I'm trying to meditate here. [Kenshin looks down... and his eyes bug out, and he glomps onto Aoshi's arm, clinging with both arms and both legs and shivering all over.] Aoshi: Excuse you. [With a slight effort, Aoshi bends the arm again to return his hands to the meditative temple-shape; Kenshin bends with him, ankles crossed around his wrist, hands knotted in the shoulder of the trenchcoat.] Kenshin (sweatdrop): H-h-h-how...? Aoshi (sigh): What? [Kenshin points down. Aoshi looks at the six feet of empty air between him and the ground, and gives Kenshin a vaguely surprised and condescending look.] Aoshi: It's all a question of discipline. Self-control. Which, I might add, you seem startlingly lacking in today. Kenshin: B-but... Aoshi: Calm yourself. (And let go of me. You're wrinkling the sleeve.) Kenshin: L-let go...?! Aoshi: Yes. (pries Kenshin off his arm and holds him dangling by the collar.) As I said, calm yourself. Kenshin (dangling from Aoshi's fist and staring down): Easy for you to say de gozaru, you're not in my position. Aoshi (very pointedly): ... Kenshin: All right. All right. (How did you pronounce that anyway?) [Kenshin tucks his feet into lotus position midair and sits with palms upturned on his knees... or would if his sleeves weren't cutting into his arms because Aoshi's grip on his collar is all that keeps him midair.] Kenshin: Are you sure about this...? [Aoshi lets go. Kenshin very quickly learns how to fly... and also learns that continuing flying requires missing the ground when it lunges at you.] Kenshin (big tearful lavender eyes, rubbing his tailbone and wincing): Itai! Hidoi... Aoshi (eyes closed, meditating aggressively): I said to control yourself. Kenshin: I was controlling myself just fine! It's gravity I've got the issue with. [Kenshin glowers up at him, and then tries patting around Aoshi's knees, then his feet, then the trenchcoat, then...] Aoshi (faintly pink-cheeked): Don't get fresh, Himura. [chibi-Kaoru looking in from the corner of the alley: ORO?!] Kenshin: So would you deign to rejoin the rest of us gravity-afflicted mortals? [Aoshi sighs, uncrosses his legs, and drifts back to the ground.] Aoshi: All right, as a personal favor for you. Kenshin (dryly): I'm unworthy. Aoshi: Yes, I know. [Kenshin glares at him with a flicker of gold in narrowed eyes.] Aoshi (hastily): Wait, wait, not your cue yet, go down there and do that again... Kenshin: What? Aoshi (just as hastily): Oops. Sorry. I mean stay right here. Don't look. (thought bubble: Reverse reverse psychology, ow, think I just hurt my brain shifting gears too fast...) [Aoshi takes off at a run for the street.] Kenshin (running after him): AOSHI--! Aoshi (over his shoulder): Wrong cue! Read the script! Kenshin (at the corner of the alley, double-take): ENISHI--! Aoshi: Right! Right, you just keep glaring over that way. [Aoshi goes tiptoeing in the other direction fast.] Aoshi (to himself): whew! Don't like it at all, being the focus point when his eyes are doing ...that. Saitou and Shishio and Enishi (standing around the corner Aoshi turns): Tell us about it. Aoshi: *urk* Kyaaa--! (sweatdrop) Don't do that to me! What are you doing here anyway? Saitou: Waiting for our chances at him, of course, ahou. Aoshi: What do you mean, your chances? You already had your chances! And you, you're dead... Shishio (smirk): Details, details. Listen to talk like that very long and you'll never get anywhere with a good coup d'etat. Aoshi: Well, you didn't. And you, what are you doing here? Enishi: Oh, I'm not waiting for him anymore. I'm waiting for you. Aoshi (sweatdrop again): M-me? Enishi: Yes. (whips off the glasses and replaces them with sunglasses with lenses cut in heart-shapes) You're the only one in the series who's anywhere near as beautiful as my sister, so I thought I'd obsess over you for a while. Come on over here, big guy. Aoshi: KYAAAAAA--!! [Kenshin, Kaoru, and Heidel all turn to stare as Aoshi goes sprinting by with Enishi right on his heels, and Saitou five steps behind laughing hysterically.] [Aoshi's VO from well offstage: Dammit, Saitou, why don't you Aku Soku Zan this freak already?!] [Saitou: Because it's so much more fun watching him run you all through hell in a handbasket, ahou!] [Kenshin and Kaoru stare at each other and blink several times. In unison.] Kenshin (faint): Was that...? Kaoru (just as faint): Just don't think about it. Kenshin (hand trembling slightly as he points after them): Wearing... h-heart-shaped...? Kaoru (palm to forehead, eyes closed in pain): I said don't think about it. Kenshin: I think I need to lie down somewhere... Kaoru (blink blink, slow grin): Why, what a coincidence. Me too. (She loops an arm through Kenshin's and leads him off toward the dojo...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next time: more of chapter 6 -- Ayame and Suzume's Revenge... o-tanoshimi ni! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! A NextCard Platinum VISA: DOUBLE Rewards points, NO annual fee & rates as low as 9.9 percent FIXED APR. Apply online today! http://www.onelist.com/ad/nextcard1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------