Episode 4:
Déjà Vu; Haven’t We Met Before?
The next morning, Aneko woke up in a
state of confusion, her mind first registering the unusual brilliance of the
light in her room that even her closed eyelids could not block out, and then
the unfamiliar (and rather hard) bed upon which she was laid. She stiffened and frowned, attempting to get
her bearings, and opened her eyes a crack, very nearly panicking when she found
herself on the floor of a plain room with very little furniture. The light was from a large shoji screen which
was slid halfway open, allowing sweet, spring air and warm sunlight to stream
into the room. The light hit the
rice-paper walls of the shoji and lit them in brilliant white, thus the reason
for the unusual brightness of the room.
Aneko sat up slowly, feeling her head
throb with the movement, and suddenly her memory of the former day’s events
came back in a flood, making her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in
alarm. She half wondered if she was
dreaming the entire thing up, but the pain in her head was genuine, and her
surroundings were entirely too realistic to be mere dreams. Besides, if it was a dream, as dreams tend to
go, there’d probably be something weird like a giraffe sitting in the corner
reading a newspaper, or maybe a cherub flying through the air over her head
flinging snowballs at her or something.
But, as she sat looking around
dazedly and attempting to get her bearings, Aneko couldn’t help but think that
there was something…strangely familiar about this room she was in. She tilted her head and frowned, examining
the structure more closely. Wooden
floors…paper walls…it was a typical, Japanese-style house; simple and pleasant,
and obviously well-cared-for. Her
grandmother used to live in a house like this before she’d died; it was
something that her husband (who had died before Aneko was born) had
commissioned for her as a wedding gift when they’d first gotten married, to
remind her of her former home in
Hmmm…
She frowned thoughtfully. It was the
most logical explanation, but it somehow didn’t feel right. No, this was something else. It was like a sense of déjà vu…almost like
the feeling she’d had when she was in Chase’s room, and he’d been staring at
her so strangely. A sense of having been
here once before, of knowing this
place and yet not knowing how or why she knew it.
She shook her head. Of course that was impossible. She could have never been in this house
before, considering she technically wasn’t even born yet. It was just her
brain playing tricks on her, probably due to smacking her head against a rock,
she told herself wryly. That did tend to addle a person’s wits. With a mental shake, she shoved the strange
feeling to the back of her mind to focus on more important things, such as the
fact that her clothes appeared to be missing.
As confusing as everything had been,
she hadn’t even realized it at first, but now that she was able to find some
semblance of normal thought, she realized that her muddy clothes had indeed
been replaced by what looked like a soft, cotton bathrobe. No, not
a bathrobe. A yukata,
she told herself. How she had gotten
into it was anyone’s guess; she could only assume that Megumi had changed her
out of her soaking clothes while she was unconscious. At least she hoped that was the case; the thought of Kenshin having been the one
to remove her clothes (although, as formal as he was, she highly doubted that
was the case) was enough to make her blush fiercely. Ack! You gutter-brain! Chase was right; you are a pervert, she scolded herself.
The thought of Chase made her sigh deeply,
slumping unconsciously as she remembered that he wasn’t there with her and she
doubted he ever would be anymore. She
really missed him. It had been at least
two days…or was it three? How long had
she been out, anyway? At any rate, he
was probably well aware that she was gone by now, and was worried to death about
her whereabouts. She felt horrible,
wishing there was some way to let him know that she was all right. She always seemed to be putting him through
some kind of trouble or other. At a time
like this she could have really used his advice, but he was on the other side
of the world, not to mention a good century or two away from her. She had never realized how lonely it was to
not see his face constantly. He’d been
with her since…well…forever, it seemed like, and they’d always been just a hop,
skip and a jump away from each other.
She sighed again, her hand lifting unconsciously to clutch at the
pendant that hung at her throat…only to meet with bare skin, instead.
Her eyes widened as her heart gave a painful
thud, looking down in alarm as her lips parted slightly. “Oh no,” she squeaked, realizing for the
first time that the silver pendant was no longer around her neck. “Oh, no, no, no. My necklace!
Please tell me I didn’t lose it!” she whimpered, scrambling to her knees
to frantically search through the bedding for any hint of the silver
pendant. Her side protested the sudden
movements, and her skull ached, but she barely noticed in her panic to find her
treasure, the only thing she had left to remember Chase by. How could she have lost his gift? Her most prized possession?! Chase would never forgive her!
Aneko wasn’t a crier by nature, but now she
couldn’t quite fight back the sting of tears behind her eyes, and her throat
felt suspiciously tight as the bedding revealed nothing but rumpled blankets
and padded mattress. But just as she was
about to give up and let herself have a good sob, the door to her room slid
open, and Kenshin stepped inside, bearing a tray of food. Aneko hastily gulped back the tears, gave a
quick swipe at her eyes, and managed a fairly convincing smile for her host.
“Good morning, Johnson-dono,” he greeted her quietly, setting the tray down beside
her futon. “How are you feeling this
morning?” His gaze rested on her face,
as though he was searching for something, and she forced her smile to
widen. If he noticed the rumpled state
of her bedding, he gave no clue.
“I’m fine! Just peachy!” she chirped, although her voice
was suspiciously strained. “I think my
fever’s gone, and my hand doesn’t hurt so much.
My head and side are still kinda sore,
though.”
Kenshin’s smile was gentle. “Is that the reason for the tears?” he asked
her knowingly, and she blinked at him in surprise, before allowing her
composure to slip…just a little. “I…I
can’t find it,” she muttered hoarsely, swiping irritably at her eyes as they
began to burn and blur again. “It got
lost…”
“Oro?” Kenshin tilted his head to one side. “What has been lost?”
She swallowed the lump lodged in her
throat. “My necklace,” she replied. “I was wearing a necklace but…I think I lost
it…in the forest.” She squeezed her eyes
shut to ease their burning, determined not to embarrass herself in front of her
host.
“Do you mean the silver dragon?” he
asked her calmly, and her eyes snapped open to meet his.
“H-have you seen it?” she asked
hopefully, her voice coming out in a squeak.
He smiled and set the tray beside
her, before rising to his feet and drifting to the other side of the room. He bent down to retrieve something, and it was
then that she noticed, for the first time, that her large pack had been placed
in the corner, beside the low table so that it was nearly hidden from her
view. Its contents had been removed and
laid out beside it, probably so they could dry out, and she noticed that her
clothes—the jeans and t-shirt she’d been wearing—had been folded neatly and
placed with them. They looked like
they’d been cleaned thoroughly. She had
to blush, though, upon realizing that her blue cotton bra had been laid out on
top of the pile. She had to smile a
little, though, as she wondered what whoever had washed her clothes had thought
about it. Sports bras hadn’t exactly
been invented yet, after all…
Kenshin had found what he was
looking for and now returned to her side, a familiar pendant dangling from his
fingers. “Is this it?”
“Yes,” she breathed in relief,
reaching to take it from him and fasten it around her neck again. She sighed and clutched the dragon in relief,
as though to make sure it was really there, then smiled, feeling much better.
“The necklace is very important to
you, that it is, to worry you so about losing it,” Kenshin stated amiably.
She fingered the dragon, letting the
light flash from its emerald eye. “It
was a gift,” she explained, “from my best friend, Chase. He gave it to me when we were entering
seventh grade. It wasn’t even my
birthday or a holiday or anything. He
just gave it to me because he said it reminded him of me and he thought I’d
like it. I-it’s my favorite
necklace. I’d have been really upset if
it got lost in the forest.”
She didn’t realize how her eyes had
softened as she spoke of her friend with such fondness, but Kenshin did, and he
smiled inwardly. “This…Chase…is very
special to you, that he is,” he commented quietly as he poured some tea for
her.
Aneko blinked, and a slow blush
crept up her face. “Well…y-yeah. He is,” she stammered, a little flustered as
she caught the hidden innuendo in the man’s tone. “I…I mean, he’s my best friend! I can tell him anything. And he’s…my hero, too.”
“Your hero?” Kenshin looked amused, and she ducked her
head and chuckled.
“When we first met, we were only in
sixth grade. Um…that’s the way we do
schooling in my ti..er…country, going by grades. It starts with kindergarten and goes to
twelfth grade and then you can go to college after that and…” She shook her head, realizing that she was
confusing him. “Anyway, being a sixth
grader, I was new to the school, and I’d just moved to the area with my
family. I didn’t know anybody, and I was
kind of scared to be at this school.
These two boys—they were in the eighth grade which made them like the
seniors of the middle school—so anyway, they decided that I’d make a good
target to pick on, since I was kind of by myself all the time and had no
friends to back me up. They cornered me
after school one day, when there weren’t any teachers around, and they started
to make fun of me.” Her brow furrowed. “I think it…might’ve gotten worse from there,
except that all of a sudden, this guy was standing between me and the bullies
and basically telling them to go take a long walk off a short pier.”
Aneko smiled to herself at the
memory, pushing her hair behind her ear as she shook her head. “This kid was like…half their size. He was a sixth grader like me. He was just this scrawny little shrimp of a
boy who wore glasses and everything, and yet he was telling these two bullies
that if they didn’t leave me alone he’d see to it that they’d get a taste of
their own medicine. So, they attacked him instead. I was sure he was dead, but then he started
totally whooping their asses. He was
little but that guy was fast. I’d never seen anyone move like that
before. It was like I was watching some
Jackie Chan movie and of course Jackie totally
kicks ass and…” She stopped herself
abruptly upon seeing Kenshin’s face clouding with confusion, realizing abruptly
that she was getting carried away. If
she wasn’t careful she was gonna blow it. He’d think she was some fruitcake off the
street, kick her out, and that would be the end of it for her. “Ah…eh…so anyway, he beat the guys up,
although he didn’t come out of it without some bruises of his own, and they
went on their way and never bothered me again.
Ever since then, Chase has been looking out for me. He’s my own personal protector,” she finished
with a soft smile.
“You miss him greatly, that you do,”
came the gentle observation.
She blushed. “Yeah,” she replied softly. “I really do.
Even more than my family…I miss Chase.”
She sighed. “It’s strange him not
being here. I see him almost every day,
and it’s been seven years since we first met.
It’s just…strange to think I might not see him anymore. I miss my family, too, of course. My mom and dad and little brother,
Jonah. But…I don’t even miss them as
much as I miss my best friend.”
“You haven’t yet told us where your
home is, that you have not. Otherwise,
we could send word to your family that you’re safe,” Kenshin was saying,
bringing her out of her thoughts.
She shifted uneasily, wondering how
to go about explaining something as unbelievable as time travel to someone like
him, who’d probably never even heard of such a thing before. “Well…you see…it isn’t that simple,” she
muttered uncomfortably. “If it was just
a matter of me coming from a different country, it’d be one thing. But I’m afraid my situation is a little
more…complicated than that.”
“Complicated?” Kenshin frowned a little and took a seat
beside her, legs folded under him primly and hands resting on his knees. “Perhaps you can tell me of this complicated
situation of yours,” he suggested, “and then I might be able to help you find a
way out of it, that I might.”
Aneko bit her lip, wondering on
whether or not to take him up on that offer.
In the exceedingly short time
she’d known the man, she’d grown to like him.
Aside from the fact that he was one of the most attractive creatures
she’d ever set eyes on, he was kind and obviously cared a great deal about the
comfort of others, even complete strangers like her. There was just something about him that made
her instinctively want to trust him. It
was that déjà vu sense again, she realized, the flash of familiarity that told
her that she somehow knew him. She studied his face silently, trying
desperately to figure out why he was so familiar to her, and suddenly it hit
her, causing her eyes to widen briefly. Chase, she thought in bewilderment. Good grief, why hadn’t she noticed it
before? Were her wits really that addled
from her fall? Himura Kenshin reminded
her almost overwhelmingly of Chase.
Following swiftly on the heels of her
surprise was a rush of relief at having finally
figured out why she kept getting that sense of déjà vu, glad that she wasn’t going crazy, after all. Yes, she realized, Himura Kenshin definitely
reminded her of her best friend. It was
probably because they acted very much alike, she thought. Chase was kind and gallant and cared about
people—especially those that were weaker than others—but so obviously did
Kenshin. And there was also, she
suddenly realized, a great deal of physical
resemblance between them. Heck, they
could probably have been brothers or
something had they been born in the same timeline (and by the same parents, of
course). Or…well…maybe Kenshin could
have been his great-great-grandfather or something in this timeline. That was, of
course, if Chase had actual Japanese blood in his veins. But his lineage stemmed mostly from
And he was also still waiting for
her answer, she remembered with a guilty start.
She bit her lip, unsure of what to do.
If she told Kenshin the truth—that she was from the future and had
somehow gotten flung back in time by a stray bolt of lightning—he’d no doubt
have her committed to a psych hospital or something, assuming something like
that even existed in this time. She
couldn’t stand the thought that Kenshin might think she was totally off her
rocker. It was bad enough that she
halfway thought it about herself.
Still…she couldn’t very well lie to him or change the subject, neither
of which she was very good at, anyway.
If she didn’t tell him something, he would probably start getting
suspicious and maybe even start to wonder if she was some kind of homeless
mooch who made a habit of falling off porches just so she could get free meals
and some TLC from mysterious, handsome swordsmen.
“Johnson-dono?”
Kenshin questioned softly. He was
growing a bit worried at her silence.
She blinked and glanced up at him, offering him a hesitant smile.
“You can call me Aneko,” she told
him vaguely. “I don’t mind.”
“Aneko-dono,
is there something wrong?” he questioned.
“I…I…the truth is, I don’t know what to tell
you,” she admitted quietly.
“It’s…well…you wouldn’t believe me even if I did tell you. Heck, I hardly believe me and I’m the one who
lived through it! I just…don’t want you
to think I’m some horrible liar or some kind of nut who wandered in off the
street. I’m really not crazy, you know.”
“Of course I know that, that I do,”
he replied, frowning slightly. “Why
would you think something like that?”
Aneko sighed. “Well, I guess the only way to find out is to
tell you where I came from. You might
want to get comfortable. It’s…kind of a
strange story.” She hesitated for
another moment. Then, at the
encouragement she saw in his eyes, she took a deep breath and began to relate,
as quickly as possible, the events that had brought her to his doorstep and
into his life. She didn’t dare to look
at him as she spoke; if he didn’t believe her, she didn’t want to see his
expression.
When she had finally finished her tale, some
time later, she sat fidgeting nervously and waited for the sword to drop, so to
speak. When a minute had passed, and
still nothing had been said, she sneaked a glance through her lashes at his
face. His expression was perfectly
composed, and he seemed to be deep in thought.
His eyes were steady upon her, though, and they made her squirm even
more. “Well?” she finally cried, exasperated. “Say
something already! Don’t just sit there
like a lump! Tell me how nuts you think
I am! Tell me I need to be locked up! Just…tell me something, okay? Get it over
with.”
Kenshin blinked slowly. “Your tea is getting cold,” he replied amiably. Aneko nearly shrieked in frustration, her
fists clenching in her yukata.
“I knew it. I knew
it! I told you the truth, and now you
think I’m a total freak, and I still
don’t know how to get home again!” she wailed, tugging on her long hair, which
had been plaited into a messy braid sometime during her bout with
unconsciousness. The action brought a
sharp reminder of the lump on the back of her head, and she released her hair
with a wince and took a deep breath. “So
are you gonna toss me out in the street then? I mean, not that I’d blame you or
anything. Who the hell knows? Maybe I am
nuts. Maybe I’m home right now, sleeping
in my bed, and I’m dreaming this
entire thing. And any minute now my
mom’s gonna pound on my door and threaten to kick me
out in my pajamas if I don’t get up and get ready for school. Or maybe Chase’ll
come in and dump a cup of ice over my head—He’s done that before, you know, to
wake me up, the jerk—but maybe I won’t be able to wake up ‘cause I’m not
actually asleep and I’m really stuck in some kind of coma, or maybe…oh, geez! Or maybe I’m dead!
What if that lightning really did turn me into Kentucky Fried
Aneko?! Although this isn’t how I
imagined the afterlife to be. I mean, feudal
Japan? Come on! How weird is that? I never cared about world history when I was
alive, so why stick me here when I’m dead?
What do I know about Japan, anyway?
That’s Chase’s forte! And anyway,
I—”
Aneko abruptly found her words being
cut off as a hand clapped over her mouth, and she blinked in surprise as she
met Kenshin’s worried gaze. She realized
suddenly how she must have sounded, babbling on like that. Just like a crazy person, no doubt. She’d probably scared the poor man out of his
wits (or at the very least confused the hell out of him) with all that
psychobabble. She shot him an apologetic
look out of the corner of her eye, and Kenshin released her mouth. “Uh…sorry,” she mumbled sheepishly. “I guess I…um…panicked a little. Please don’t send me to the crazy home.”
“I don’t intend to send you
anywhere, that I do not,” Kenshin replied soothingly. “You have every right to be distraught after
such an ordeal. I assure you, though,
that you are quite alive, that you are.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that to keep me from
freaking out?” Aneko squeaked.
He smiled amusedly. “Well, there’s that, too,” he replied. “Sit now, and eat your breakfast while I
prepare a bath for you. It will help to
soothe you, that it will.” He bowed to
her formally, as he always did, and started for the door.
“Himura-san!” Aneko called after
him, her voice urgent. He turned back
and regarded her mildly. She hesitated,
biting her lip, before questioning, “Y-you do believe me…don’t you? You don’t think I’m…crazy?”
His smile was gentle as he regarded
her. “I have seen many things in my
lifetime, that I have,” he replied, “and not all of them would be considered
believable by normal people. Your story
is not the strangest thing I’ve ever heard, or seen, for that matter, that it
is not.” He saw the hope growing in her
eyes as he bowed to her. “I promise to
do everything in my power to help you find a way home again, wherever—or
whenever—that may be.”
And Himura Kenshin, Aneko somehow
knew, was not a man who ever willingly broke a promise.
~~~{~@ ~~~{~@
~~~{~@
Several minutes later, Aneko was
busily wolfing her food down like a starving jackal—it wasn’t as though anybody
was around to witness her poor table manners, after all—when a soft noise
coming from just outside her room caught her attention. She paused mid-chew and looked toward the
outer doorway, where the shoji screen had been opened halfway to allow the
bright sunlight to pour into the room.
Silhouetted against the screen was a
small shadow, crouched just around the corner in stark contrast to the sunlit
squares of paper. She grinned; it was
probably one of the little girls she’d met.
She hadn’t seen either of them since yesterday, although she’d heard
their voices in the yard several times.
As she watched, the shadow moved, leaning forward until a small head
appeared around the corner, a pair of large, bright eyes peeking at her
curiously…until the owner abruptly realized that Aneko was watching, and
quickly vanished again.
Aneko held back a laugh and calmly
sipped her tea. “Do I hear a little
mouse scurrying around out there?” she questioned, loudly enough for the
“mouse” to hear her. The reply came in
the form of a small giggle, and the shadow squirmed and backed away from the
open doorway. “Hmmm…no, sounds too loud
to be a mouse,” she continued conversationally.
“It must be a squirrel.”
Another titter sounded. “No?
Well…how about a cat then? Or
wait! I know what it is! I’ll bet
it’s a kangaroo!”
This statement was greeted with
puzzled silence. Then the shadow crawled
forward and once again, a little head peered around the corner, wide eyes
filled with questions. Aneko smiled
gently and beckoned the child forward, and it shyly approached. It was neither of the two she’d met
yesterday. In fact, she realized
suddenly, it wasn’t even a little girl.
“She” was actually a “he”, and a very young he, at that. The child couldn’t have been more than four
years old. She was even more surprised
to note that the boy sported a mop of longish, pale red hair that was pulled
back into a cute little topknot, and his eyes were a bright, sparkling amethyst
only a shade lighter than Kenshin’s. His
features were delicate and almost feminine, just like Kenshin’s were; he’d no
doubt be very attractive when he grew up.
Just like Kenshin, she thought
with a small blush.
“Well, look at that,” she murmured
softly. “It’s not a kangaroo after
all. It’s a little person.” She smiled gently and added, “I bet I know
who you belong to.” She fought back a
small swell of disappointment. After
all, if Kenshin had a child, it meant he probably had a wife somewhere around
there, too. Although…if that was so,
then why hadn’t she made an appearance yet?
The child was smiling shyly as he
stopped beside her futon, hands clasped behind his back while he studied her
with a curious expression. “What’s a…kan-gah-roo?” he asked, pronouncing the foreign name
carefully.
Aneko’s smile widened. “It’s an animal from a country called
The child looked skeptical and she
grinned. “It’s true. Kangaroos are real animals,” she
insisted. Then, holding up her hand, she
added seriously, “Scout’s honor.”
“Scout’s…honor…” He looked puzzled again, apparently mulling
the strange phrase over in his mind.
“My name is Aneko. Do you have a name?” she asked.
He nodded again, still regarding her
quietly. Her lips twitched. “Are you going to tell me what it is? Or am I supposed to guess?”
His eyes lit up; he apparently loved
that idea. “Guess!” he replied eagerly.
Aneko laughed, rubbing her head with
one hand. “Ah…okay, I’ll try. I have to tell you, I’m not very good at
guessing games,” she warned him. “Now,
let’s see. Is it…George?”
The boy blinked, then let out a
squeal of laughter. “No!”
“Okay, then. How about…Bobby?”
He crossed his arms and shook his
head firmly.
“Billy? Zoe? Okay…um…how about Cornelius?”
The child collapsed into a pile of
giggles at the outlandish guesses and Aneko grinned again. “Okay, I’ll bet your name is Kenshin,” she
finished smugly, crossing her arms.
“No!
That’s my papa!” the child protested, still giggling.
Aneko looked uncertain. “Are you sure?” she teased. “You look just like him…”
“No, I don’t! He’s this
big!” The boy got to his feet and
stretched his arms over his head as far as he could reach. Even so, his hands probably didn’t pass much
above Kenshin’s chest.
“Oh, well, I just thought maybe you
shrank or something,” Aneko replied, sounding quite disappointed. The boy seemed to find that thought
hysterical; he threw himself down onto her bed and rolled around in a fit of
giggles. Aneko couldn’t help but laugh
at the sight he made.
“So this is where you’ve gone off
to…”
“Papa!” Laughter immediately forgotten, the child scrambled
off Aneko’s bed and threw himself at Kenshin, who was standing in the open
doorway. He latched his arms around one
leg and grinned up at his father, who smiled tenderly in return and stroked his
son’s mussed bangs away from his face.
“Are you being a bother to Aneko-dono?” he
scolded gently, and was rewarded by a wide-eyed look and a firm shaking of the
head.
“He isn’t bothering me,” Aneko put
in, smiling at her host. “We were just
playing a little game. Weren’t
we…Tom? Or is it Jerry?”
The child laughed delightedly and
ran around behind his father’s leg, peering out and shaking his head
vehemently. “No, no, no, no, no!” he
exclaimed between giggles. Then he looked
up at Kenshin and added with great delight, “She said I was you and she said
you shrank!”
“Oro?” Kenshin blinked at Aneko questioningly.
She grinned sheepishly and scratched
her head. “I was just teasing him. I’m trying to guess his name,” she
explained. Then, with a cheeky grin, she
added, “If it makes you feel better, it wasn’t Cornelius, either.” She sighed and shook her head. “I give up,” she said mournfully. “Will you tell me your name now?”
“One more!” the boy begged, skipping
out from behind his father’s leg. “Guess
one more! Say a funny name!”
Aneko chuckled. “Okay, okay.
How can I resist that face?” She
reached out and tweaked his nose. “Let’s
see now…” She narrowed her eyes and
thought hard. “Might your name possibly
be…Kenji?”
There was a moment of silence while
both father and son blinked at her, and then, “You guessed it! You guessed it!” the boy suddenly yelled,
jumping up and down excitedly. “Papa,
she guessed my name!”
Kenshin smiled patiently down at
him. “Yes, that was a good guess, that
it was,” he replied. “Why don’t you go
find Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan
now? They’ve been looking for you, that
they have.”
“Okay!” Kenji chirped and bolted out
of the room as fast as his short legs could carry him.
Kenshin smiled after him, then
turned to address Aneko, only to frown at the strange expression on her
face. “Is something the matter, Aneko-dono?” he inquired politely.
She blinked and looked up at him,
her expression never changing. “That
was…weird,” she said softly.
“Oro?” Now it was his turn to blink.
“How did I know his name?” she
asked, reaching up to rub her temple.
“A lucky guess, that it was,” he
replied calmly.
“Yes…but…that wasn’t the name I was
going to say,” she explained. “I’d been all set to say ‘Ziggy
Stardust’—like a joke, you know?—but…Kenji
slipped out instead. And it was
right, and…I knew it was right, even
before he said so. How did I know that?”
“Perhaps you overheard someone speak
his name and your subconscious remembered it?” Kenshin suggested.
“I don’t think so…I didn’t even
realize you had a son,” she replied a bit sheepishly. “He’s really cute though. How old is he? Four?”
“Yes, he’s four years old, that he
is.” Kenshin’s smile was that of a proud
father, and she had to smile back at him.
“So do I get to meet his mother
anytime soon?”
Almost before the words had slipped
out, Aneko realized that she had asked the wrong question. She didn’t know how she knew that, but her
hand had already covered her mouth in horror, even as Kenshin’s smile slowly vanished
from his face. “Kaoru-dono—Kenji’s mother, my wife—died four years ago, just
after Kenji was born,” he replied, so softly that she could barely hear
him. “There were…complications during
the birth. She could not be saved
without risking the life of our son. She
refused to do so, and chose to die in his place.”
Aneko’s throat burned, as did her eyes. “I-I’m sorry…” she mumbled. “That was a really insensitive thing for me
to say…”
“No, no, it was not your fault, that it was
not,” Kenshin assured her gently. “You
did not realize.” His smile was back on
his face; the gentle, innocent smile which, as Aneko was fast coming to
recognize, managed to hide a world of pain from those who didn’t know him.
“All the same, I’m still sorry,” she
replied, trying to blink away her tears.
One managed to escape and made a glimmering track down her face, which
she hastily scrubbed away with the sleeve of the yukata. She managed a tremulous smile of her own as
she added, “Not that it matters what I think or anything—I mean, I’m just a
stranger, after all—but it looks to me like Kenji is being raised in a
wonderful home as it is. I think
that…your wife is probably very proud of
you for doing such a good job.” She
blushed a little and cleared her throat, gazing steadfastly at her half-eaten
breakfast, hoping she hadn’t stuck her nose in any further than it already was.
After a moment of silence, Kenshin replied
with a quiet, slightly-choked, “Thank you, Aneko-dono.” Then, in a quick change of subject, he added
with slightly more cheer, “The bath I’ve drawn for you is ready, that it
is. Would you like to take it right now,
or would you rather finish your breakfast first?”
“Oh!”
She blinked, then quickly gulped down the remainder of the rice balls on
her tray, so fast that he fairly gaped in astonishment, wondering how she
managed not to choke (or if she even chewed her food). She swallowed the last bite, blushing a
little at his expression. “Um…sorry
about that,” she said sheepishly. “It’s
kind of a habit I picked up from school.
Lunches are only half an hour long, and it takes almost twenty minutes
just to get through the line if you don’t get there before everyone else. It’s either learn to inhale your food like a
possessed vacuum cleaner or starve for the rest of the day.” She chuckled a little to hide her
embarrassment as she carefully rose to her feet, testing her balance. Once she was steady, she made her way over to
her pack in the corner. Digging through
her now-dry belongings, she found a small makeup bag, which contained
travel-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner, as well as a bar of Dove soap
and a compact brush. These she kept on
hand for those particularly sweaty gym classes, and they assuredly would be
coming in handy right now. She also
grabbed her freshly-cleaned clothes, then turned to give Kenshin a bright
smile. “Well, that bath sounds pretty
good right now,” she stated cheerfully.
“Thanks for drawing it for me. I
appreciate it, really.”
He merely nodded and gestured for her to
follow him. As he preceded her out of
the room, the only thought on his mind was, I
wonder what in the world a vacuum cleaner is…