Rurouni Kenshin:A New Era - Part 1

Rurouni Kenshin: A New Era

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Disclaimer All rights and privileges to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. The characters of this series are used without his permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.

Yoko-chan (ardith@oocities.com)

http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/1149/

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A New Era: Part 1- Beginnings

Kaoru's face was glowing, Kenshin noted with a smile. She and Yahiko were training the beginning level of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. She certainly had a lot of energy today. A whole lot. But just this morning it had been a totally different story.

"Ohayogozaimasu, Kaoru-sensei! Ohayogozaimasu, Yahiko-sensei!" The students chimed out.

The dojo was a busy place now. The promised peace that the Meiji era was supposed to signal was finally in full bloom. It was now the prerogative of the government to absorb as much western technology as they could to make the state stronger. The government promised to use the strength to protect their country from the west. At least, Kenshin thought, there were changes being made to the society as a whole. Slowly but surely, there was more acceptance of the modern era.

"That's it, Yahiko!" Kaoru smiled on as Yahiko twisted in the air and knocked the bokken out of her hands. "This week you can start teaching class."

Yahiko blushed and grinned. At 15, he had grown taller than both Kenshin and Kaoru. Kaoru was giving him more and more responsibility now. They were finally accepting that he was an adult. He turned to his students and smiled with just a bit of malice. Yahiko was going to work on them so that they would be the best that they could be. And boy was it going to be hard. At least on them.

Kaoru watched as Yahiko put them through the paces he himself had gone through a few years earlier. Her eyes teared up a bit as she acknowledged that he was growing up. Dang it! My emotions are so out of whack! She rubbed at her eyes. What was wrong with her?

She had been feeling so nauseous in the early hours of the day, but she had not really gotten sick until this morning. Kenshin thought she was coming down with something and insisted she visit Megumi after he woke up to see her run off, trying not to get sick in front of him.

"Kaoru, you have to go see her!" Kenshin demanded as he helped her after she threw up.

"But Kenshin, I feel fine! It was probably something I ate or something. Anyway, I don't want to bother her about this. Especially now!"

"Kaoru."

Whenever Kenshin said her name that way, she knew that she was going to loose. He was so stubborn when it came to certain things. She protested for a few more minutes before giving in to the inevitable.

"Fine," she muttered. Then Kenshin smiled his goofy smile and walked out of their room to make breakfast. Sometimes she could not believe that they were finally married. Her life had changed so much since Kenshin had come into it. She could never imagine life without him, without Yahiko or Megumi or Sanosuke.

She sighed as she got dressed for the day. She was feeling so tired lately, too. It was really strange. Sometimes she felt so exhausted that she just wanted to nap. But the rest of the day, she was just fine.

"Geesh. . . . What the heck is wrong with me?"

******************************************

"Kaoru! How are you?" Megumi greeted her with her usual half-smile.

"Hmmm, fine. Um, well. . . ." Kaoru did not know what to tell her. It was all Kenshin! He made me come here! Megumi did not need to be bothered so close to her time! "How are you? How's the baby?"

Megumi's stomach was huge. Kaoru put her hand over the baby and was rewarded with a hard kick by a tiny foot within. Kaoru thought that Megumi looked wonderful. She was less than a month off from her due date and it totally showed. Pregnancy was a state that agreed with her. She ran around, doing her usual activities without batting an eyelash.

"He always wants taro mochi." Megumi's smile widened. "Poor Sanosuke. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and make him get some for us."

Megumi and Sanosuke's love-hate relationship had turned out to be more love than hate. After a very turbulent courtship, they got married and Megumi promptly got pregnant. (It could have been the other way around, but no one ever said that out loud. Sano was not someone to piss off. And neither was Megumi. . . .)Their 3-year-old son Shinosuke was going to be a big brother. And soon.

"He?"

"At least that's what Sano declares the baby is going to be."

"How does he know?"

"Sanosuke says he has a feeling about it."

"Heh. The only feeling that Sanosuke is right about is when food is gonna be on the table! He's uncanny when it comes to that."

"Uh-uh. He said the same thing when we were going to have Shinosuke. He was absolutely positive. 'It's gonna be a boy.' That's what he said to me as soon as I told him that we were going to have Shinosuke. He said the same thing this time."

"Really? Maybe he is more useful than he seems. . . ."

"He is. Most definitely," Megumi returned with great feeling, grinning wickedly.

"Megumi!"

"Kaoru-what's wrong?" She looks worried about something, Megumi thought to herself. It had been 5 years since they had all met. So many things had changed, but some things never did. Megumi had always teased Kaoru like a younger sister. Kaoru and Megumi could say whatever they wanted to each other. Always.

It had been Megumi who had urged Kaoru to seduce her redheaded love. The time had definitely come for it. Kenshin, Megumi declared, would never make a move on her unless she force his hand (and other things) first. So, she told Kaoru what to do. As a result, Kenshin and Kaoru were finally together. Of course, certain things took a lot of explaining on Megumi's part. Kaoru, for all her time alone in the world, was truly sheltered about a lot of things.

"I don't know. Kenshin wanted me to come over. He was worried and wanted you to check me out. I, um, I've been getting sick in the mornings! I don't know what's going on. I feel fine afterwards. Nothing really bad until this morning. So Kenshin made me come here. He used his 'I'm-not-backing-down-so-you'd-better-do-it' voice. So I gave in."

"You're getting sick in the mornings?" Megumi asked, leaning forward to look closely at Kaoru's face. "Hmmm..."

"'Hmmm....?' What does that mean?" Kaoru looked worriedly at Megumi. Megumi smiled even wider.

"The "hmmm" was just me thinking. Is anything else going on? Do you get really tired, especially in the afternoons?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Ah, Kaoru-chan. You know when we had that discussion about men and women?"

"Yes."

"You remember how I said that women got pregnant from men and how everything happened and why."

Kaoru turned red. "Of course I remember what you told me! What does that have to do with anything."

"Kaoru-chan. It looks like I have a bit more to explain. Have you had your monthly visitor?"

"M-my what?"

"You know...."

"Oh! Ah, um, let's see. . . . Now that I think of it, no. I'm a few weeks late. Around 4, I think."

"Kaoru-chan. All the symptoms you have point to one thing."

"Symptoms? One thing? You know what's wrong with me?"

"From all indications, you, Himura Kaoru, are most likely gonna be one busy shihondai (Kendo teacher) in around 7 or 8 months, in more ways than one," Megumi explained. "It looks like Kenshin made you pregnant." At that, Himura Kaoru promptly fainted.

****

Megumi sent Sanosuke and their son over to the Kamiya Dojo to get Kenshin after Kaoru was put onto a futon to sleep off her shock. She needed the rest. Kaoru's body was going through a lot of changes and that took a lot of energy.

"Don't tell him she fainted. Knowing Kenshin, he might go crazy with worry."

"Yeah. I got it. Come on, Shin-chan."

Shinosuke looked like a tiny replica of his father, much to his mother's chagrin. Megumi declared it was completely unfair that Shinosuke should look so much like Sano. She did all the work. To that, Sanosuke muttered something about her liking all activities and the stuff beforehand and that she should be happy with such a drop-dead gorgeous son. Then he grinned and asked if she wanted to try for a daughter.

"No way! I got to recover first."

"Heh. You say that every night."

"Sano!" Sanosuke was the only man who could make her blush. Megumi had seen a lot of things as a doctor. What went on between men and women did not shock her at all after all this time. It was just something about Sano that made her feel like a teenager with her first kareshi (boyfriend).

"Jou-chan's okay, right?"

"Yes. She's just surprised about something. . . ."

"Fainted from surprise, huh?" Sanosuke drawled. "So, Kenshin finally knocked her up."

"Sanosuke!"

"Megumi-chan!" Sano returned, winking at his wife.

"How did you know?" Megumi demanded.

"Kenshin and Kaoru have been married for how long? I'd say that it was about time. Actually, I was expecting it much sooner."

"Don't ruin the surprise. Kaoru gets to tell him."

"Okay! I got it. Shin-chan, don't say anything about what 'kachan (mommy) and 'touchan (daddy) were talking about to Ken-niichan. 'kay?"

"Ai! (Japanese baby talk for yes ^_^)" Shinosuke grinned his father's grin back at him.

"Yosha (all right)! Here we go!"

Kenshin and Yahiko sat on the porch of the dojo, the shade of the overhang offering them some relief from the heat of the summer sun. Kaoru left to visit Megumi hours ago. They probably were talking. Or she was playing with Shinosuke. Kenshin was getting worked up over nothing. Something probably just disagreed with her stomach. What did they have the night before? Maybe it was the mushrooms in the miso soup, or bad tofu. But Kenshin and Yahiko were both fine, so it couldn't be that....

"Oi! Kenshin! Yahiko!" Sanosuke's familiar growl announced his arrival at the dojo's front gate.

"Heh! Sanosuke! How's Megumi holding up? Last time I saw her, she looked ready to burst!" Yahiko yelled out in greeting. He got up from the stoop to meet them. He grinned when he saw that Shinosuke had come with his father.

"Megumi? She's fine. I'm the one who has to try to find taro mochi in the middle of the night." He stated, rubbing at his head ruefully. "Nothing ever slows that woman down, huh Shin-chan?"

"Ai! Kon-chiwa, Yahiko-niicha! Ken-niicha!"

"Konnichiwa, Shin-kun." Yahiko began to dance around the toddler, making faces and funny noises to entertain him while Kenshin and Sanosuke talked.

"Heh, Shin-chan really loves when Yahiko does that.... Kenshin. You better get over to our place and pick up your woman."

"Eh? What's-"

"Megumi's orders." Sanosuke broke in before Kenshin could finish. "You don't want to cross that woman when she's this pregnant." He held out his arms to demonstrate just how big Megumi was at the moment. "She says it's important. Get Yahiko, too. We can use him to distract Shin-chan while you all talk. That way, Megumi and I get a break too! Shinosuke has more energy than his mother and I do combined sometimes. And don't worry about Jou-chan. She's fine. Megumi just wants you two to come over, since Kaoru is already there. You can eat at our place. Megumi says that she misses seeing you two now that she is so close to her time. You know she can't walk down here to visit. Let's go!"

"Oro~!" Kenshin said as Sano began to drag him out of the dojo.

"Come on, Yahiko, Shinosuke. Megumi-sama is waiting."

"Kaoru is okay?"

"Yeah. But you all are definitely not gonna be the same after this." Sanosuke grinned. This was gonna be more fun than watching Kenshin and Kaoru finally get together. Yup. There were big changes coming up for everyone at the dojo.

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