Legacy

 

An RK Fanfic: i.e. the author doesn't claim rights to the anime used.

 

 

 

Chapter 15- Family

 

 

 

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We're in this together now.

 

                                                           -Nine Inch Nails

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"Yahiko! C'mon wake up!"

 

"Yahiko? Are you alright?"

 

The boy's face was deathly pale, Kaoru and Kenshin exchanged worried looks as Kaoru hoisted his limp body onto her lap and gently slapped his cheeks. "C'mon honey, wake up, please?"

 

The child stirred, and after several attempts his eyes finally fluttered open to rest on his teacher/foster-mother's face. Once she came into focus his terrified look returned and he pulled away violently. Scampering away from her arms he regarded her with distrusting eyes.

 

"What…" he managed to whisper, "What the hell are you?"

 

As soon as the words left the boy's mouth, Karou's face crumpled into the most miserable look Kenshin had ever seen. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a strangled sob. Covering her mouth with one hand she regarded the boy that she loved so dearly with anguished eyes for a single moment before getting up and running away to her bedroom.

 

Yahiko watched her go with a mixture of guilt and relief. He tried hard to fathom what he had just seen. Kaoru had kissed Kenshin, nothing new there, but then the she began to…glow. He had no other way of describing it. White light covered her, radiated out of her very body and then they both began to lift toward the ceiling. He had seen more things than a normal twelve year old had a right to, but this, this was just too much.

 

Kenshin's heart almost tore itself into two as his beloved Kaoru ran away from them sobbing, he almost went after her, but right then the best way to help was to stay with the child that looked at him with fearful and questioning eyes. Relenting to the task, he sat down on the floor next to the boy who considered him a father. 

 

"Yahiko," he tried to explain, "Kaoru's still the same as she has always been. What you saw just now, has always been a part of her. She just never showed it to us because she didn't want to scare us."

 

He reached out and touched Yahiko's forehead, stroking his hand backward over his unruly hair. "She was just showing me how much she loved me by revealing her power to me, even though she was unsure of what my reaction would be," he pursed his lips thoughtfully, "The truth is that right now, she's probably more afraid of us than we are of her. Can you understand that?"

 

Yahiko sat with his head bent so his expression was hidden under his tuft of thick, black hair. When he raised his head again the fear he had displayed earlier had faded into slight trepidation and his guilt had increased tenfold. "I'm sorry Kenshin," he apologized, "You and Kaoru have been nothing but kind to me from the first day we met. " He hung his head again, but this time it was in shame, "She even came rescue me from the Yakuza all by herself, even though she didn't know me from Buddha," he raised his head again, "How is she gonna forgive me for what I said?"

 

Kenshin smiled so that the lines around his eyes crinkled, "Why don't you go apologize to her," he said, "After all, this is Kaoru we're talking about, she can't stay mad at anyone for too long."

 

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Kaoru stood near the open shoji, trying hard not to scream and cry for all she was worth. She knew that look so very well, but never had she thought it would come from one of her loved ones. She bit down on her bottom lip as Yahiko's words echoed in her brain. "What are you? What are you? What are you?"

 

"A freak." she muttered miserably, "A hopeless freak."

 

"Kaoru, may I come in?" a timid voice asked from outside the door.

 

Kaoru's heart jumped all the way up into her throat with hope at the sound of her ward's voice. She forced herself to calm down before answering.

 

"Of course you may Yahiko." she said warmly.

 

The child slid the door open slowly and hesitated for a moment before finally stepping inside. Looking up he considered her tear-streaked face with a look of profound shame. "Kaoru," he said softly, "I'm sorry, I had no right to say that to you."

 

Kaoru's lips threatened to pull downwards; she forced herself to smile instead. "I'm the one who should apologize Yahiko, I'm sorry that I frightened you so badly. I shouldn't have chosen to do something so stupid and reckless. I'm sorry for a lot of things…but none so much as deceiving you and everyone else. I don't know what possessed me to think that I had a right to be in the company of normal people."

 

Yahiko forced himself to laugh at the comment, "Us, normal?" he guffawed, "What planet have you been living on Busu? You live with a pickpocket, an ex-gangster, an ex-drug manufacturer and the greatest swordsman in the whole of Japan! You're the most normal one in the group, save for the ugly face of course."

 

Kaoru's eyes began to shimmer as her smile widened, "Don't call me ugly, you brat." she scolded him teasingly.

 

Yahiko's eyes twinkled, "Who's gonna make me?" he asked.

 

Unable to help herself any longer, Kaoru opened her arms and leaned forward. Losing his self assured, adult manner, Yahiko showed just how much of a child he was and ran straight into those waiting arms.

 

Holding him close to her Kaoru allowed the tears she'd been holding in to flow down her cheeks in a wash of relief.

 

"Aishitteru Yahiko-chan." she said.

 

"Don't call me chan." Yahiko scolded in a choked voice, "I love you too Kaoru."

 

Kaoru pulled away and looked into his soft brown eyes. "No more secrets?" she asked.

 

"No more secrets," he agreed. Then his eyes narrowed as a thought came to mind.

 

"Kaoru," he asked, "Exactly how did you? …You know."

 

Kaoru's eyes sparkled with playfulness, leaning toward him she whispered secretively into his ear.

 

"Magic."

 

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Hideki picked up one of the long red tassels on the cord that was attached to her sword's hilt and combed it playfully with her fingers. Before long, Aoshi found himself following their every movement, noticing with interest as the threads caught on her fingertips sporadically testifying to the presence of rough calluses there. Calluses probably earned in training sessions like the one he'd witnessed previously.

 

"I've never seen a sword style like that before," he said casually, "Do you mind if ask where you learnt it?"

 

Hideki looked up from the fringe she'd been toying with and smiled, "I kind of made it up," she said sheepishly, "My father taught me his family's sword style and then we started traveling when I was around sixteen. Here and there I found a move or a principle that tied in well with my basic training, so I incorporated it into my method." She then turned her face toward the sky, apparently relishing the feel of the leaf-dappled sunlight on her skin with half closed eyes; "I learned a lot more than better survival techniques though."

 

"Like what?" Aoshi asked, noticing how smoothly her silky hair fell away from her attractive face. 

 

Hideki smiled again, "How to live." she answered simply.

 

Aoshi's eyes softened affectionately, "You remind me of someone." he mused aloud.

 

"Misao-chan?"

 

Aoshi raised an eyebrow, "How did you know that?" he asked.

 

Hideki opened her eyes fully, watching how the sunlight sparkled in the treetops above, "It's just the way you look at her." she replied.

 

"And how is that?"

 

"Like the one that got away."

 

Aoshi was silent for a full minute, "You're an observant woman Kusokube." he said finally.

 

Hideki let her eyelids drop again and shrugged, "Comes with the territory." she answered.

 

Aoshi's eyes narrowed into amused slits, "Touché." he said.

 

"Oui monsieur." Hideki answered without the slightest trace of an accent.

 

Aoshi found that he did not want anything more than to spend more time with this woman, and he came up with a plan to do just that.

 

"Would you mind if I came here tomorrow to spar with you?" he asked, "I'd like to see how my technique stands up against yours."

 

Hideki didn't open her eyes, "Do as you wish," she replied evenly, "However, I could use the practice."

 

Aoshi almost smiled, "Good," he said softly, "It's settled then."

 

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