1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

rurouni kenshin week, set alpha, day 1 – alternate povcharacters: hiko seijuurou the 13th, kaoru kamiyarating: tsetting: canon, the night after the battle with shishioword count: 2843notes: thank you animaniacal for your help in editing and pinning down an idea for this prompt.

steel

if there was one thing hiko had learned, it was that children changed you. whether you'd fathered the runt yourself or picked them up by the roadside, the details didn't matter. you could call yourself their master, teacher, or caretaker to keep the relationship more distant, but as long as you took them under your wing, the change took you by storm.

at twenty-three, hiko had been nothing but a bitter, angry ronin, who had no purpose to his life and whose only goal for the day was to see the bottom of a sake jug. he had wandered the countryside, using his sword to solve problems such as bandits, thugs and other miscreants hampering the livelihoods of good, ordinary people. he'd lived in the moment, never thinking more than a day ahead – but even if he'd had plans, he certainly wouldn't have intended to pass down his sword style anytime soon, or to become a substitute parent/primary caretaker for a damn tiny half-

eed runt sold to a procurer.

but somehow, he had, and in short order, he had been forced to evaluate his lifestyle, fix the worst of his bad habits, and find some manner of steady income. hell, he had even moved back into his old master's cottage in nagato despite the bitter memories it held, just to secure a roof over their heads for the winters. sure, he told himself all sorts of justifications: that it was necessary for the training, more convenient to stay in one place, more efficient… but honestly? it was all for the kid.

for kenshin.

funny how kids grew on you. like mold, or fungus, or a bad rash that was impossible to get rid of. he lived nearly six years with this tiny life relying on him, pretending not to notice how the boy looked at him like he was the best thing that had ever happened to him, wise and all-knowing… until suddenly he wasn't.

you don't understand! we have to leave the mountain and help the people! the nave, angry words the boy had flung him then flitted by, clear as if he had heard them yesterday.

the boy's words were folly.

he knew now, as he had known then, that the revolution was a nasty business that would happen with or without one more sword. the last thing his gentle-hearted apprentice had needed was to get mixed up in it. but nothing, no angry words, no

utal honesty or the harshest of argument had made his young, idealistic idiot of an apprentice understand this.

hiko scowled, peering down on his saucer. was it just the weight of old hurts, or was the translucent wine tinged with red? he took a sip, letting the bitter tang laced with a hint of copper seep on his tongue.

it tasted like blood.

the sole lantern at the edge of veranda didn't give much light, but after turning the saucer in his hands, he noticed a darker stain on the edge. he didn't have to think twice to realize where it had come from and yes, at the side of his forefinger was a fleck of blood, a leftover from his time helping upstairs.

it was darkly amusing to him that the taint in his drink and his black mood could both be traced back to the same source – to kenshin.

"might i join you, hiko-san?" asked a light voice.

he glanced in the direction it came from, noting how the owner of it didn't bother to wait for his reply before joining him on the veranda. that courtesy that wasn't seemed to be on par with what he had come to expect from the stubborn, heart-strong kamiya kaoru so far.

she was here for a purpose, then – and she wasn't taking no for an answer.

hiko let out a minuscule sigh, trying to stifle his annoyance.

"feel free," he said, and motioning with his saucer, invited her closer.

"thank you," she murmured, lowering herself to kneel, all proper and demure like, but then changed her mind and sat beside him instead, letting her legs dangle off the veranda's edge.

it made her seem even younger.

a small, dainty girl with big heart, good intentions, and a worse tendency for naive optimisms than his foolish apprentice had ever professed. oh, dear buddha, he could only imagine what she was here for. hiko took a good swig of his sake in a preparation of having to dodge her doleful gazes and concerned inquiries without saying anything needlessly cruel.

"so, what

ings you here, girl?" he prompted, eager to get this over and done with. "i'm hardly the best company tonight."

she shrugged. "it's a long night. no one is sleeping and you looked like you needed company."

need, not want… hiko noted the difference. "it's not the first time the fool has almost gotten himself killed," he said non-noncommittally. "at least, this time, he has good care and friends by his side. that's more than most men can hope for when the time comes."

"megumi-san has done everything she can," the girl agreed, looking at him with bleak, sad eyes. "now, the only thing we can do is to keep watch and wait."

hiko hummed, reaching for his jug and pouring some more sake into his saucer. the weight of his grief was getting heavier on his shoulders, his gut tightening with dread. he had been up there for hours, watching the lady doctor dig her fingers into kenshin's flesh, tying severed blood-vessels and sewing the skin together with meticulous stitches. he had done all he could to help, but still, it didn't help against the guilt stirring in his heart. it was far too close for comfort this time. kenshin had lost so much blood, he had so many wounds…

"kenshin will pull through this," the girl whispered, her voice full of conviction. "i know he will."

hiko gave her empty platitudes as much notice as they deserved, which was none. he had just about enough of naive hope and idealism. they never

ought anything but heart

eak and pain to him. the blasted mess with shishio was only the latest in a long line of mistakes and failures, the source of which could be traced to one single decision he had spent years regretting.

"do you know why i let kenshin leave and join that blasted revolution?" he asked softly, more to himself than to her. the topic had loomed heavy on his mind all night, now that the child he had raised and taught everything he knew was one step from death and there was nothing more he could do about it but wait and hope for the best.

"you let him?" the girl gasped, "but i thought…"

"do you honestly think the boy could have gotten even five miles down the road if i hadn't let him? i didn't approve of his plans. of course, i didn't – but i didn't stop him either because he deserved to make his own decisions. it's a teacher's responsibility to prepare the student and free them to fulfill their purpose in life."

"oh, i guess. but wasn't he very young then?"

"he was thirteen," hiko said matter-of-factly. "young, but about to become a man and he had already mastered just about all i had to teach him. even if he had been otherwise ready, i wouldn't have shown him the final techniques for some years." he exhaled and looked down at his saucer, considering whether the tang of sake was strong enough to drown the bitterness the conversation

ought to his mouth.

he sighed and chucked it down in one go.

it didn't help, but that was hardly a surprise.

"at the time, kenshin was good enough to

ing me some trouble when sparring. he was far too good for the common riff-raff to ever