Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ —¤: Boy meets dad :¤— ❯ Talks & Explanations ( Chapter 4 )

I own Rurouni Kenshin and my very own country.

Shyeah right!

 

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Previously on Boy Meets Dad…

 

“Hiko-sama sent me!” He blurted the sentence out, hoping that mentioning their mentor's name would make the hitokiri trust him enough or at least stop attacking.

 

Kenshin face faulted at the mention of his shishou's name. `How did this boy know about shishou?'

 

“Explain yourself.”

 

Boy, did he know how to dig a hole deep or what!

 

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- CHAPTER 4 -

 

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Kenji re-sheathed his sword again, this time, doing it like it was the most fascinating thing to do, trying to buy himself some time. “Well, I don't know where to begin.” he said, which was a hundred percent true. He really didn't.

 

“How do you know shishou?” Kenshin asked, lowering his sword a bit.

 

“I'm related to him in a way, I guess.” Kenji replied. It wasn't as if he was lying, because in a way, he really was related to Master Hiko. After justifying it with his conscience, he felt more confident in the half-truth that he assumed for himself and his resolve strengthened.

 

“Um, do you mind if we continue this conversation elsewhere?” He motioned to the people laying on the ground near them. “Somewhere we can talk in private perhaps?” He walked over to where he dropped his belongings before he came to his father's `rescue' and picked them up.

 

He could tell that the Battoussai was still wary of him but the younger man put his sword away and nodded.

 

“Himura!” Called a voice suddenly. Both Kenji and Kenshin turned to look at a figure approaching them. “Are you done with your job for tonight? Well that was quick huh?”

 

The guy stopped short when he noticed that the Battoussai wasn't alone. “Friend of yours?”

 

“No,” Kenshin replied curtly.

 

Iizuka couldn't read the young man's expression. Talking to Himura was like talking to a brick wall. He was lucky if he got whole sentences aside from the customary one-word replies or grunts from the guy. He sighed. “Are you going back yet?” He threw an inquiring look at the Battoussai's companion, as if waiting for some sort of introduction.

 

Kenshin didn't satisfy his curiosity. “I'll see you back at headquarters,” he turned around without adding more, and Kenji assumed that he was expected to follow so he trailed behind the Battoussai quietly after giving the man, whom he assumed was some sort of ally, a small sheepish smile.

 

The streets of Kyoto he was walking on right now looked the same yet so very different from the one that he was accustomed to, back in the Meiji Era. Or maybe it was just because of the fact that they were travelling in the shadows like hunted men that was making Kyoto look so different… either way, his mind was working overtime as he weighed the ramifications of his current situation.

 

Number one, Kenji thought to himself, it seems like he traveled back in time, to the years of the Bakamatsu.

 

His father was still Battoussai the manslayer, the infamous hitokiri.

 

Judging from how he looked, Kenji surmised that he hasn't met Tomoe yet. He had no scars on his face. That was a dilemma. Will he be able to stomach seeing his father with his first wife, considering how he felt about her? How was this going to affect his father in the future? If he doesn't meet his first wife, doesn't kill her… does that mean that there's not going to be a rurouni Kenshin?

 

Number two, he interfered with one of the Battoussai's assassination assignments tonight. Those three men were still alive, no doubt about that. He struck just to immobilize, never to kill. How was that going to affect history?

 

Number three, Why was he here? Was he sent back in time to change history? He frowned. Was he even allowed to do that? Judging from what he did tonight, he didn't think he can do more damage than he already has. And, he reasoned, if he wasn't allowed to change anything, shouldn't he have NOT been able to go back to the past in the first place?

 

And what about going back to the future? CAN he go back? When will he go back to his own time? Not that he had any living relatives back at home in his own time, but he had friends and almost-adopted family that would be worried about his disappearance. How long was he going to stay here? Days? Months? Years!? Was he stuck here?

 

If he was supposed to stay here, he can't remain a pacifist. Both of the sword styles that he mastered were about protecting the people, protecting the weak. Kenji Himura wasn't going to sit on the sidelines while the weak were being oppressed. And besides, if he joined the Cho Su faction, it will give him the chance he wanted to get to know his father better.

 

He was so lost in his own thoughts that it took him several moments to realize that they had stopped walking. The Battoussai was looking at him expectantly. “Talking to yourself again?”

 

Kenji laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment. “Bad habit I got from my mother.”

 

“Start talking.”

 

Alright, didn't know he was so impatient when he was so young, but then so was I, I guess… Kenji realized he was `talking to himself' again so he cleared his throat and threw caution to the wind.

 

“Alright, where should I begin?”

 

“Who are you. Why are you here. How do you know Shishou… what do you know about me?”

 

Kenji blinked. He didn't really expect an answer to his rhetorical question. “Well, I'm Kenji Hi - Kamiya,” Crap! He almost slipped and introduced himself as a `Himura'. Adapting the same last name as the Battoussai wasn't going to get him on his young father's good side, that was for sure. The first name that popped into his mind was his mother's however, and it was too late to take it back even if he wanted to. “I'm here to offer my assistance,” he continued, more secure in his half-truths this time.

 

His father was a stranger to him, and the thought of being friends with the stranger who fathered him was more than a dream come true. He still harbored some resentment, but somewhere in the back of his mind was a little voice telling him that this Kenshin Himura hadn't done anything that the future Kenshin Himura had done yet. He hasn't abandoned Kenji or Kaoru yet, he hasn't gone off all over Japan and even to Shanghai to `save the world' at the expense of his family. Maybe he can finally have that relationship he wanted so much with his father, Kenji thought almost gleefully.

 

“I am trained in the Kamiya Kasshin style of fighting. What I know about you, I learned from Hiko-sama,” mother, Yahiko, Miss Tae, Miss Tsubame, Doctor Genzai, Megumi, Ayame, Suzume, Aoshi, Miss Misao, Chou the broomhead and heck, even that old wolf Saitou, he silently added to himself. “Seijuro Hiko and my parents are… close family friends, almost like family.” Like you wouldn't believe how close, he mentally added. “I ran away from home several years ago and stayed with him. He told me stories about you, his first apprentice. When my parents passed away, I went back to visit Hiko-sama again. I was on my way home today and went to visit someone before I ran into you earlier tonight.”

 

Kenji was proud of himself. He didn't lie at all, he just withheld information; Information that the Battoussai didn't need to know anyway.

 

The young Kenshin still looked skeptical and boy, Kenji thought, he was a very suspicious fellow. He offered his condolences regarding Kenji's parents, but also spent the next thirty minutes or so asking Kenji pointed questions about his background. Kenji answered each question as truthfully as he could, leaving out pertinent details such as what year he was from.

 

He discovered that he was actually 2 years older than his father right now, which felt really weird. If he was older did that mean that the younger man was supposed to show him respect? Heh.

 

Kenshin didn't believe the teenager at first. His gut feeling was telling him that the teen was telling the truth, but part of him was still suspicious… like there was something the guy wasn't telling him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. For the first time since he left his master, he found himself talking more than normal. This past year had been making him feel like he was slowly dying from inside out every time he took someone's life away, no matter how just his cause was, so he kept to himself and talked only when necessary. The only person he was forced to say more than one-word replies to was Katsura-san. Tonight however, he found himself almost bombarding the strange teenager questions, trying to judge his character. Somehow, he felt like he had found a kindred spirit.

 

After a while, the interrogation turned into friendly chatter, yet the younger man's face remained impassive as his right hand clenched and unclenched. “How is shishou?” He asked in a tight voice. He was wondering what his master thought of him now, the baka deshi.

 

“He's doing alright,” Kenji said thoughtfully. He didn't have any idea of what Hiko-sama was doing on this day and age, but he seemed pretty alright when he left this morning, in his own time. “He worries about you.” He wanted to say more, but he didn't want to tread on any wounds the separation might have caused.

 

A corner of the Battoussai's mouth quirked upward, almost as if he found the statement amusing, and specs of violet danced in his amber eyes, reminding Kenji of his rurouni father. It was almost a smile but not quite. He was surprised that the Battoussai hadn't noticed the similarities in their appearance yet. Although Kenji had a shade darker of violet eyes than his father had, and red hair also a shade darker, he looked uncannily like Kenshin. Maybe he's not one for mirrors, Kenji thought wryly.

 

He felt like he was given the benefit of the doubt thanks to his intimate knowledge of Hiko-sama and the Battoussai finally relented about taking him to their headquarters.

 

Never in his wildest dreams had he been able to imagine being able to have the chance to offer his sword to the cause of the Ishin Shishi warriors.

 

It also felt surreal, talking to his father like this. Surreal yet very welcome indeed. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to whoever made this possible as he followed the young hitokiri back to the inn.

 

Back at home in his own time, whenever his father was alone, he barely shared a word or two with him because he was usually busy shutting the shoji doors at his father's face because of resentment or getting annoyed at the preaching of the old man.

 

A feral smile made its way to the young Himura's mouth and he grinned even wide, inwardly to himself. If he was going to be stuck here he might as well make good use of the situation ne?