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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.
The characters that I create belong to me! Donít use them
without my permission.
Warning:
Some SPOILERS for the Kyoto
Saga!!!!
Enjoy!
Yoko-chan
(ardith@oocities.com)
http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/1149/
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A New Era: Part 3 --
Anticipation and Arrivals
The dojo was quiet when Yahiko got
up for the day. The peaceful time before the dawn was one of his favorite.
No one was up yet, so he began to do the basic morning chores. Five years
before, waking up to appreciate the dawn was something that was on the
bottom of his lists of things to do on a given day. He had been a virtual
slave to that Yakusa gang. He thanked whatever gods watched him that he
had met up with Kaoru and Kenshin.
He would never tell them
because he did not want them to worry, but sometimes, late at night in
those early days, he would wake up from nightmares. Nightmares that no one
was there to help him. That he had to stay in that hellhole. That no one
cared.
That was the thing about mornings. They made him
philosophical about his past. Training in the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu also
forced him to reach down deep to his soul for answers. It was a school
that forced you to grow as a person, to think before you act. Though he
certainly would not admit it to Kaoru, it was that inner strength that he
gained that helped him get past those nightmares.
"Yahiko. Ohayo
(Good morning)"
"Ah. Kenshin. Ohayo."
"Is Kaoru up
yet?" Kenshin fell in beside him, helping to fetch water for the morning
meal. Kenshin still woke up early to make breakfast, since it was the meal
Kaoru was worst at making.
"No. She's still
asleep."
"She's feeling okay, then. Last night she was still
acting a little weird."
"Megumi said that she was fine. Ano,
Yahiko-kun...."
"Yeah?"
"We have to
talk...."
********************************
"She's WHAT?!?"
Yahiko yelled. The birds took acceptation to his loud outburst, flying
from the trees, squawking indignantly.
"Kaoru is pregnant. We are
going to have a baby." Kenshin stared up at the sky. He knew that Yahiko
had to have time to get use to the idea. He still felt dazed himself about
it all.
Yahiko shook his head, trying to clear the confusion from
it. A baby? Kenshin and Kaoru were going to have a baby? It wasn't that
it was so surprising. Okay. It was that it was so surprising. Even though
Kenshin and Kaoru were married, there was still a sense of continuity with
all their relationships. In many ways, Kaoru still seemed like the
teenager that he had met all those years ago. Now Kaoru and Kenshin were
going to be having children? It boggled his mind.
"A baby.
Kenshin, you and Kaoru are going to be parents...."
"That's why
Kaoru has been feeling strange lately. They are the signs of the early
stages of pregnancy." At those words, Yahiko grinned.
"Congratulations! It's about time!" Yahiko patted the
father-to-be on the back.
"Oro~!"
"I mean, you two have
been married for almost a year, right? I figure, you two have been busy
enough." He winked and nudged at Kenshin, who's face was a very
interesting shade of red.
"Oro-ro-ro~.
Yahiko-kun...."
"I can't wait!" Yahiko grinned even wider.
"Having a baby around the dojo is going to be great. Hopefully this baby
will be a little more behaved than Megumi and Sanosuke's kid. Whatever you
all need, I'm here to help. You are going to be a great father. And
Kaoru. She's already had practice being a mother with me. And she's done
a good job these last five years, if I do say so
myself."
"Yahiko." Kenshin put his hands on the young man's
shoulders to look into his eyes. "Thank you."
"So ...," the
teenager drawled. "That's what you two were talking about last night by
the water. Heh. I hope you didn't tire her out last night
celebrating."
"Oro~!" For some reason, Kenshin turned even
redder. Yahiko grinned and shook his head as he walked towards the dojo
for his early morning meditation. Life since he came to the Kamiya Dojo,
he acknowledged, had been pretty good for the most part. And it looked
like it was going to get even more interesting very
soon.
********************************
Kaoru slowly stood up,
mentally checking her body for any protests. There was no nausea or
anything. She grinned to herself asshe got dressed in a blue walking
kimono. Maybe it was the fact that Kenshin was being so kind and sweet.
He had brought her a cup of hot tea before she was awake to help soothe the
morning sickness away. He was being so attentive since she broke the news
to him last night.
She felt her cheeks heat when she thought of
last night. They had celebrated the news by making love. Kenshin had been
so gentle and careful with her. He touched her like she was made of glass.
His hands were rough and callused from working with his sword, but they
moved so gently on her last night. Kenshin looked at her body, trying to
see the changes that the baby inside her was making. Everything was so
wonderful, she felt like melting just thinking about it again.
She
sighed as she finished tying her obi, making sure the bow was centered at
her back. She did not know she could have been more happy than she was
until she found out that they were going to have a baby. But she had some
questions for Megumi. She hoped that it would be all right go over and
talk about what other changes were going to be in store for her.
It had been over 3 years since Megumi's first pregnancy. Since
she and Sanosuke had gotten married and moved in together into the house a
few blocks from the dojo, Kaoru was not around to witness the morning
sickness or what other changes that occurred with Megumi those first few
months. She had always visited her in the afternoons, to help Megumi with
her regular patients.
And during the early part of this pregnancy,
Megumi was very healthy. She did not havy any morning sickness at all.
Kaoru had asked her about that. Apparently, for Megumi, this second child
had not made her sick at all.
"Maybe Sanosuke is wrong and it IS a
girl, this time," Kaoru teased when they had a bit of time alone last
night. "A girl might be more considerate of her mother."
At that
Megumi tilt her head in consideration. "Hmmm. Maybe. But he says he has
the strongest feeling about it. We'll see when this little one decides to
come out." Megumi replied, rubbing her belly with a soft
smile.
Kaoru did not even know how much it was going to hurt.
Yesterday afternoon, before the others arrived, Megumi described how
everything worked during the birthing process, but she did not mention how
it would feel. Now that she had time to think on it, the logistics of it
all pointed to a rather painful experience.
Not that Kaoru
regretted being pregnant. She loved the fact that she and Kenshin were
going to have a baby together. A living symbol of their love. It was just
that she needed to know more about what was going to happen before she
started to scare herself silly imagining horrendous pain or whatever. She
needed to visit Megumi as soon as possible, she
decided.
********************************
"Kaoru," Yahiko
said as he stood up from his sitting position on the dojo floor. He
grinned and ran over to her.
"Ohayo, Yahiko."
"Kenshin
told me the news. Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Kaoru's eyes
filled with tears again. Her emotions had been very much on the surface
for several weeks now. Now that she knew the reason why, she seemed to be
even more prone to cry.
Yahiko came forward to stand before his
teacher. He topped Kaoru by several inches now that he was hitting his
growing time. He gently wrapped his arms around her and hugged
her.
"That was for being there for me all this time,
Kaoru-sensei." Yahiko knelt down and rubbed her stomach gently. "Now I
can help you," he whispered to the baby within her.
"Yahiko.
Thank you. That's sweet." Kaoru hugged the young man and wiped the tears
from her eyes. "Now, see. You make me cry. And happy. You made me
happy."
"Well, I haffta keep an eye on these kids, you
know."
"You are certainly one of the best older brothers that I've
ever seen around. Shinosuke loves you to death."
"Yeah well.
Anyway, where are you off to so early?"
"Megumi's. I have a
couple of questions for her. Can you teach the afternoon class if I don't
get back in time."
"Yeah. Don't worry about it. Later on
tonight, though, I'm off to the Akabeko."
"Heh. To visit
Tsubame-chan?" Kaoru teased. It was Yahiko's turn to turn
red.
"Um. Yeah. Anyway, I might stay to help out over there," he
rushed on. Yahiko's part-time job at the Akabeko was pretty much an
established institution. The regulars knew him well.
"Fine. Be
careful coming home at night."
"Of course," Yahiko
grinned.
"Kaoru. Yahiko," Kenshin's soft voice came from behind
them. He stood in the doorway leading into the practice
room.
"Ah, Kenshin. Ohayo. I'm going to Megumi's to
talk."
"I'll walk you over
there."
"Thanks."
********************************
"Megum
i?" Kaoru called when she got to their house. "Where are
you?"
"Kaoru-chan?" Megumi's voice came from the bedroom. She
sounded winded.
"Megumi. What are you doing-- Oh my... You're
having the baby?!?"
"Yes, well, he doesn't seem to want to wait.
Shin-chan and Sano went to the river this morning. I just started..." Her
eyes rolled back with the pain of a contraction. She sucked in air and
began to pant. "... s-started right after they left."
"Wait here.
I'll go get Gensai-sensei." Kaoru turned, poised to run to the
clinic.
"That's not going to do any good. He and the children
went to visit his sister yestereday. They'll be gone for a week. I was
not supposed to have the baby for another month."
"Megumi?"
"You'll have to help me, Kaoru-chan."
"What do I have to
do?"
Megumi told her to gather supplies and to how much water to
boil to clean the baby afterwards. She panted out the instructions from
her position on the futon on the ground. Kaoru took a calming breath and
swiftly moved to follow Megumi's directions.
"Why did you come
over anyway?" She asked during a lull between contractions.
"I
was going to ask about how everything was going to feel when it happened.
But I guess I'm going to witness it, huh?" She smiled down at
Megumi.
"Yes. Of course, first babies usually don't arrive this
fast. I was in pain for several long, long hours before Shinosuke was
born."
"Really."
"Yes. It hurt a lot. A whole lot. But
it was totally worth it." She grinned, but it turned into a grimace as she
felt the pain course through her.
"Kaoru-chan. I think the baby
is coming."
"Now?!?"
"Yes. NOW!" Kaoru held out her
hands as Megumi pushed, bringing in a new life into the
world.
********************************
"Tadaima! Yo!
Megumi? Where are you?" Sanosuke came in to the house with Shinosuke on
his shoulders.
"Sanosuke! We're back here!"
"Kaoru?
What are you doing he-" He entered the bedroom he shared with his wife.
Megumi was holding a squirming bundle to her
breast.
"Okaerinasai," Megumi whispered in a tired
voice.
"You had the baby?!? I was gone for 3 hours, tops. You
had the baby?" Sano was totally shocked. He could not speak for a few
minutes, just open and close his mouth. When Shinosuke finally began
squirming to be let down, he woke from his stupor. He lowered his son down
and turned to examine his wife closer, his face took on a look of concern.
"Are you okay? Nothing went wrong."
"Yes. Kaoru had stopped by
for a visit just in time." Sano turned to look at Kaoru, who was rocking a
squirming bundle of her own.
"It was wonderful, Sanosuke. Messy
and bloody, but beautiful!" She grinned at him with tears in her eyes.
"I'm glad that I was here to experience this."
Then he looked back
at his wife. He counted in his head. Then he used his fingers, just to
make sure.
"T-two?!?"
"Yes, darling. You were right. We
have a boy. AND a girl." Megumi grinned tiredly. "Next time, you are
doing the work!" But Sano did not hear the last part of Megumi's tired
pronouncement. He promptly passed out.
"Oh my. It looks like we
managed to surprise 'tochan big time."
Go to
the
next chapter!
I don't
have one yet! It is coming, though.
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