Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ ��: Boy meets dad :�� ❯ Quietly Awakening ( Chapter 24 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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CHAPTER 23 - QUIETLY AWAKENING

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“Wake up.” The voice said.

He groaned, feeling like he had just been ran over by a thousand horses.

“Mezameru, baka kodomo.”

No, his mind rebelled. “Must go back to sleep,” he said out loud.

“Wake up right now, baka!” Someone shouted at him so loud that his eyes shot open and he tried to sit up quickly. He groaned as his headache doubled and he heard a giggle when he reached up to clutch his pounding head.

He flopped his head back down on the pillow and looked around.

“That's what you get,” Misao told him as she dipped a piece of cloth on a shallow bucket of water. He watched her as she repeated the process several times and then squeezed the excess liquid out of the cloth before folding it neatly and wiped his brow with it.

He just stared at her rather dumbly.

“Misao-dono?” He looked at her with wide eyes and mouth open in disbelief. “When did you get so big?”

The adult-looking Misao raised a brow at him and planted her palm on his forehead. “Do you have a fever? I told you that you could stop by the Aoiya anytime you want whenever you're in Kyoto.” She frowned at him and repeated her earlier ministrations with the cloth. “You Himuras are so stubborn, I swear!” She ranted off.

Kenji was at a loss for words. Here he was at what he assumed and - dare he say it - recognized as one of the rooms in the Aoiya and an adult Misao was taking care of him. The last thing he remembered was feeling cold and succumbing to sleep being carried on his father's back. Had he fallen asleep that long? He couldn't have, could he?

He knew… he was sure that he wasn't just hallucinating… was he?

They had just finished beating up a shinobi-tachi and… His eyes widened into saucers, recalling his stupidity. He stepped in front of his father's blade! He groaned and painfully sat up for the second time. His body was on fire, as if somebody took a stick and beat him with it. He was still feeling the aches and pains from his stunt.

His mind was drawing a blank as to how Miss Misao had gotten so big all of a sudden. Surely nine months wasn't that long of a time for a young girl to turn into a woman all of a sudden. Try as he might though, he couldn't gather any intelligent thoughts for the moment. He looked at her again just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and there she was, attending to him like his own personal nursemaid.

And where the heck was his father!?

“Anou…” he asked tentatively, “Misao-dono…”

“Hai?” She said as she continued to mop his brow.

He didn't know where to start. `Where is my father, what happened after he stabbed me, when did I get here' were the questions at the tip of his tongue but he found himself unable to ask them. “What happened?” He inquired instead.

Misao stopped her ministrations for a moment, setting the wet cloth aside before she answered him. “Approximately three days ago, you finished your training with Hiko-sama and decided to go home.” She glared at him. “You didn't even stop by the Aoiya for a hello or a quick bite. I don't know what you were thinking but you somehow made it to the cemetery and collapsed.”

Huh? Three days ago?But… his mind rebelled… I've been gone for… “At least nine months,” he whispered more to himself than for the other two people with him.

“What was that?”

“Are you sure it's only been three days?” He questioned. “It couldn't have been!” He rebelled. “It's been…” A really foggy memory nagged at the back of his head…

“Three whole days!” Said a voice from outside of the shoji door, just before it opened and revealed a tall man wearing a flowing white cape.

“Hiko-sama,” Misao mumbled a greeting discontentedly. Throughout the years she still hasn't entirely let go of her minuscule dislike for the arrogant Hiten Mitsurugi master.

The Hiten Mitsurugi master invited himself into the room and took a seat beside Misao with an elegant swish of his cloak.

Kenji felt like a small kid again when his master and surrogate grandfather turned his intense gaze at him. What did he do? Why were they ganging up on him like that?

“Was the training too intense for you, boy?” Seijourou Hiko scoffed. “I told you to be careful and then I receive word from the Oniwabanshuu hours later that you passed out in the streets! Such shame you bring to the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu! What would your father think if he ever found out! Even your father didn't do anything so pathetic as fainting in the middle of the street for nothing!”

Misao snorted.

Hiko-sama narrowed his eyes at her and turned them back to Kenji, clearly he wasn't finished with his sermon just yet. “Do not make me regret making you a successor! I was convinced that you were tough enough after completing the training, but days later you still haven't woken up from your fainting spell and I get summoned from my mountain cabin to play nursemaid for you.”

Considering that Misao had been the one taking care of him, he didn't believe the nursemaid part of his shishou's rant one bit. He could tell that his master was just worried for him, so he stayed quiet and let him continue with his tirade.

He was still perplexed with the whole situation. He could have sworn that he was just in the Bakamatsu with his father… and it took him a long time to actually accept that fact convinced that he was dreaming then. But… how come he was now talking to a grown up Misao-dono and Hiko-sama looked just like how he remembered him -right after when he left for home after his training?

He shook his head, totally at a loss for words. Was he dreaming? Did someone drop an anvil on his head and cause him to have delusions? Was he… dead…?

There was that vague memory again, clawing at the back of his head… He tried hard to remember it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on anything solid. He could tell it was something important though…

He was now in the Meiji Era… what the fu-

“Oy!” Hiko-sama yelled at him.

He had the decency to flush a bright red for his lack of attention.

Hiko-sama eyed him with exasperation. “Omae wa yappari baka kodomo da ne. Maybe the heat has fried your small brain.”

“Serves him right for not visiting when all it would have took was several minutes,” Misao-dono continued to sulk. “Wait til I tell your—“

“Misao -” said a third voice from the hallway. “Hiko-sama, maybe you should give the boy some room to rest, ne? I'm sure he's still suffering from heat exhaustion. Three days without waking up and you bombarding him with questions and lectures as soon as he does is not good for his recovering health.” Aoshi Shinomori said from the doorway. The man looked as resolute and curt as always, but there was certain softness in his eyes when his gaze turned to the lady attending him.

Despite that, Kenji couldn't help but feel thankful for his intervention. So many questions were plaguing his mind right now but his mind is addled. A lot of things weren't making sense, and he kept feeling like he was missing something. Something very important… he couldn't point out what specifically, but he just knew in his gut that it was important.

His appointed nursemaid and master who hasn't finished lecturing him yet voiced their protests, but they fell on deaf, stoic ears. Aoshi Shinomori merely stood there with steel ice blue eyes and told Misao that someone named Miaka and Tasuki needed her.

She huffed indignantly but gracefully stood up from her position beside Kenji's futon. “I'll be back to check on you later,” she said. And then she promised to have someone bring him some food later, in case he got hungry.

Kairi. He thought, and wondered where the thought came from.

Hiko-sama shot him a quick “go back to sleep and get some more rest” speech before he strutted out of the room, intent on indulging in some early saké. Things haven't changed at all. Hiko-sama was still a saké-lover, Misao-dono was still vivacious and Aoshi-sama was still an ice block.

Kenji laid back down on his futon, pondering the mystery of his weird dream; his weird but very realistic dream. He could have sworn that it was real, if not for the fact that he was laying down on a futon in the Aoiya right now and people like Misao-dono and Hiko-sama telling him that he had been sick for the past three days.

It had felt so real. Almost as if he really was back in the past, and he lived each and every day of it with his father.

How weird.

Did he contract some kind of illness that gave him memories that seemed too real? He could still remember that first night, out in the dark streets of Bakamatsu Kyoto. He could still remember his first assignment, having to go against the wolf whom he admired so much. He could still remember the look on his father's face when he gave him that first horizontal slash, remember their talk afterwards. He could almost feel the heat of the Kohagi Inn burning down to the ground as Katsura-san told them to hide in Otsu.

He remembered all the times when he and his father indulged in saké to celebrate their victories and triumphs. He could remember his young mother's cute little face as she bossed his father around. His heart clenched as he recalled watching the fireflies with his parents. Out of all the memories he had, that was his most favorite. It made him feel like he had a family once again, despite the fact that he was older than his parents were.

Had none of those things happened? How, why, when, where, who… so many questions were left unanswered, and he didn't even know where to start looking.

Maybe, he thought to himself, suddenly remembering, maybe he should start with going to Tomoe's grave once more… afterall, that was where it all started.

Yes, that was what he was going to do. He wanted to help solve the mystery of his `fainting spell', as the others called it. He refused to believe that he had just dreamed all of the vivid memories that he possessed. Some stuff kept overlapping against those memories though, but they were foggy recollections that he couldn't firmly grasp with his mind.

He wanted to solve this mystery. Find out what happened to him and then go home and probably ponder his thoughts quietly in his room. The futons on the Aoiya were comfortable, and he was glad that Hiko-sama cared enough for him to come down from his mountain retreat, but for some reason, he really wanted to go home.

He couldn't explain what happened, but he had no other logical explanation for it. The more that he thought about it, the more that the answers seemed to keep eluding him.

He fell asleep several minutes later.

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When he awoke the next time, it was to a darkened room, with only one candle lighting it and his shishou was lounging in the corner, seemingly fast asleep. It looked like he slumbered for the whole day, and he felt utterly rejuvenated. Whatever he had been suffering from during the previous days was still there, hovering just below the surface, but he didn't feel faint anymore. The aches and pains of his body were beginning to get tolerable as well.

Since he forgot to do so before, he checked himself for the injuries he thought he suffered, but there were none. The gaping hole he expected to be present in his chest was nowhere to be seen, and oddly enough, he felt sad.

No wound means that he dreamt the whole thing, right? It all seemed so real though… the emotion, the adventures, the blinding pain in the end… he shook his head at his thoughts. Maybe he was just going crazy. Or the training really did take its toll that's why he collapsed from exhaustion and was now suffering from delusions.

He needed to relieve himself, so he slipped out of his bedding as quietly as possibly, so as not to disturb his master.

“Where are you going, boy?”

He almost jumped out of his skin when his master spoke. He thought the man was sleeping peacefully. “I need to use the bathroom, Hiko-sama.”

“You sure you can stand up? I don't want you fainting on us again.”

He answered with a small smile and a shake of his head. “I feel better now,” he replied. “I'll be just a minute.”

“Hurry up.”

He nodded and quietly made his way to the bathroom and then back to the room again. Hiko-sama was wide-awake when he returned to the room, those black orbs of his carefully watching Kenji's every move. The man really did care for him, he thought. He just didn't like to show it, because he kept this I'm-so-cool-and-I-don't-care-about-the-world façade, but deep down, if you knew him enough to look, you could see that he was deeply concerned about the people who mattered to him.

Kenji even suspected that he cared enough for Misao-dono, respected the fact that she liked to speak her mind even. Their odd bunch of scattered surrogate families were the most unlikely bunch you would ever picture caring for one another - but a former pickpocket, a distinguished swordsman whose skills have remained unsurpassed despite his age, a weasel girl, a renowned lady-doctor, a man who was on the run from the law, a former okashira who was on the verge of insanity and the others - were the only family he had left.

“What are you thinking about, boy? You look like you're worried,” Hiko-sama interrupted his thoughts. “If you keep that up, I won't be surprised if you fainted again.” He scoffed at him, making Kenji feel like fainting was one of the worst possible sins he could have committed.

“I was just thinking, shishou.” He politely replied.

“Well you can think while you're resting. Get back to bed right now and stay there. Don't want you tarnishing the good name of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu more enough as it is,” he grumbled.

Kenji smiled, secretly knowing that Hiko-sama was just acting like a tough guy but deep down, he was concerned for his pupil. “Hai,” he readily agreed and eased back into the futon.

“Of all the things to do…” his master continued to mumble under his breath.

“Don't worry Hiko-sama, I feel totally fine now.” He assured his master.

His master snorted. “You say that even if you don't feel alright. Quit lying to me, boy!”

“But master, I'm not lying, I really do feel fine. I don't know why I fainted in the first place.”

“Oh I know why you did.”

Kenji blinked. He did?

“You fainted because you're such a weak child, that's why! You're so skinny people would think I starved you while training. Oh the shame of it all!” His master said dramatically.

He resisted the urge to laugh, thinking that if he laughed he wasn't going to be fine after his master beat the crap out of him. “I don't remember fainting,” he said again.

“Of course you don't, baka! You don't plan things like fainting in the middle of the day in a cemetery out of all places! Why were you there anyway!?”

He paused, remembering his reason. “I was… visiting a friend.” He didn't want to say her name out loud, but Hiko-sama should be able to figure out who this `friend' of his was who was buried in the cemetery. He had no other `friends' nor did he know anyone else who was buried in Kyoto, since his parents were both buried in Tokyo.

His master snorted again. “Well, the next time you decide to visit this `friend' of yours, be sure to eat first. Or if the weather is too hot, find yourself a nice shade so you don't collapse from heat exhaustion! You should have told me you were hungry. We could have eaten first before you went down. What if you got mugged or worse when you were out cold, huh? What if the Oniwabanshuu who found you didn't recognize you? What if no one found you? You probably would have slept for more than three days, baka kodomo!” And the rant continued.

Kenji didn't take personal offense to his shishou calling him a baka, an ahou and several other obscenities. He let the old man rant to his heart's content, understanding that it was only his way of showing that he cared about his student.

It must have been hard for him, Kenji thought. Having a student pass away before he did, especially since that student was considered to be his son. He felt bad thinking about how his shishou must have reacted when the Oniwabanshuu sent word to him that the boy who had just finished succeeding him had been found unconcious and then proceeded not to awaken for three straight days.

He endured his master's long speech patiently, allowing the man to get his worry off of his chest. When he was over, he huffed and crossed his arms haughtily across his broad chest, almost as if daring Kenji to say something back.

He smartly kept his mouth shut.

“Go back to sleep,” ordered his master. His tone brooked no arguments.

He wasn't sleepy, but he thought it to be a good idea to comply with the orders.

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He spent the next day in bed, due to the insistence of his master and Miss Misao who threatened to give him a spanking if he didn't rest. The next day he felt totally fine, and he was allowed to walk around the Aoiya. People around him were still skeptical about his health, but he was feeling restless.

During the days of his confinement, he kept getting flashes of blurred memories. It was driving him crazy, and all he wanted for the moment was just to go home so he could gather his thoughts.

Hiko-sama and the rest of the people in the Aoiya were still concerned, but he really felt better now and told them so.

After careful deliberation, and more mothering from Misao-dono, they finally relented and allowed him to go home, but only if he allowed used the train ticket that they had bought for him.

To say that he was embarrassed was an understatement. It was bad enough that he had inconvenienced them for several days after dropping unexpectedly into their doorstep, but now they had to spend a lot of coin into purchasing a train ticket as well.

He refused it, telling them to get a refund instead, totally horrified at himself. He argued with Misao and the others until Aoshi Shinomori finally stepped in and basically ordered him in an okashira voice to use the ticket or else Misao was going to be very displeased. That translated to `if Misao is displeased then so would I be' and a displeased Aoshi was not a good sight.

He took the ticket.

Hiko-sama proclaimed that he was going to escort Kenji to the train station, just to make sure that he didn't faint on them again, and the two of them were soon off towards the train station.

“Hiko-sama,” Kenji said as they stepped out of the Aoiya and into the crowded streets of Kyoto.

“Hn.” The Hiten Mitsurugi master replied.

“Can we stop by the cemetery first?”

His master looked at him for a moment, as if he was judging his sanity, but he relented. He could make out the words “stubborn” and “stupid”, but he paid no heed to them nor did he take any offense.

They turned a corner and headed towards the cemetery.

Kenji was very familiar with this path, since he took it several times before. This was where his father's first wife was buried. This was where his dream started.

“Are you going to visit that friend of yours again?” Hiko-sama asked after several minutes. They were at the cemetery already, they just had to walk to the right spot of the grave.

“Hai,” he replied.

He stopped right before the grave and stared.

Hiko-sama lounged against a nearby tree, seemingly bored by the whole thing. “Is this going to take long?” He asked rather rudely.

Kenji didn't reply. He merely stared at the grave site.

“Kenji?”

There was no response from the kid.

Seijouro Hiko disengaged himself from the tree and walked towards the gaping teenager. “Oy Kenji,” he asked the kid as he nudged his shoulder. His gaze followed whatever the kid stood there gaping at. “I thought you said you were visiting a friend?”

Kenji seemed at a loss for words. He pinched himself several times and even asked his shishou to pinch him.

Hiko reached over and forcefully whacked him at the side of his head.

“Ow!” He complained as he rubbed his sore head. “What'd you do that for?”

“Baka kodomo, what did you bring me here for?! Are you sure this is the right place or are you just being a regular brat? What's going on with you?” Hiko said, irritated.

He leveled purple eyes at his master and replied solemnly. “I don't know how to answer that, shishou.”

Kenji stared at the space where he knew one Tomoe Himura was buried.

It was empty.

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Major Gundam Seed Destiny pimpage: Hehe, I started a new Gundam Seed alternate universe story. (grins) “Heart in Motion” inspired from the Destiny OST Life Goes On. All Gundam Seed fans who are reading this should check it out and please review. Hehe

Oh, and please review this fic, too. This was the longest chapter in this fic I think, but I didn't want to break it down. :P I'm kind of frustrated, since every time I feel like I could end this fic, I remember something else and I feel like I have to tie loose ends. lol But then my Gundam Seed muse is trying to beat my Kenshin muse into submission, so I'm going to hurry up and try to finish this one already before I have a full out war between my muses.

Hai, I know I sound crazy. =P lol I can't help it… I have these two chibi muses beating the crap out of each other right now. O.o