Role Reversal
Disclaimer: As always…Twiknham does not own any rights to Rurouni
Kenshin or any other anime/manga series.
The rights to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, then to
Animeworks and ADV for purchasing those rights from Nobuhiro. Twiknham gains nothing from this fic except
a short amount of peace from my muse and the satisfaction of a new
creation. Please enjoy.
Role Reversal
Kaoru sat in front of the dojo’s shoji screens, her calves
protesting the weight she was placing on them.
She sighed slightly as they waited for the last person to arrive. Kenshin looked over at her, his bright eyes
dimmed slightly in concern. She shook
her head negligently to let him know she was okay. The reason for her sigh wasn’t the reason he was concerned, and
she didn’t want to add any more worries to him today.
The faces looking back at her
were the faces of very long-time friends.
They were sitting in order of their appearance into her life, almost as
if they had intentionally ranked themselves.
Dr. Genzai was still alive, although he was no longer actively
practicing. Ayame and Suzume were
sitting beside him, both girls having grown up to become lovely Japanese
flowers. Although they’d always thought
Ayame would follow in her grandfather’s footprints, Suzume was the one the
fates chose, and she currently was interning under the very famous local
doctor. Kaoru had first met the girls
as infants in their parents’ arms. When
the tragedy occurred and Genzai-sensei (Genzai-doctor) took them into his care,
Kaoru had wept bitter tears of unseen regrets.
Although he continued to be a hentai (pervert), he raised his girls to
understand that his behaviors were not honorable in a younger man. They were the only children Kaoru had ever
expected to have before she fell in love with a wandering warrior and began to
hope for a traditional future.
She looked over at the man
who was sitting completely still, but she knew this stillness was just a
façade. Just that morning, he had been
bouncing around the dojo, singing silly songs under his breath as he finished
the laundry and started breakfast.
Kaoru didn’t feel much like eating these days, but it didn’t keep her
wiry husband from trying. Each day it
was a different dish, and she would look at it and then at him; hoping he’d
eventually get the idea that she just didn’t want breakfast. If she didn’t see him working out in the
afternoons, using her bokken (wooden practice sword) to relieve the tension
that he wasn’t able to relieve in other, more stimulating methods, she would
have thought he was possessed of some friendly sprite. However, she’d learned years ago that this
man had layers he would never reveal to anyone. There was only one other human who knew as much about Kenshin as
she did, and Hiko Seijuro was again hiding in the mountains, only coming down
to buy sake or tussle with the village women.
Smiling at being allowed to
play a part in Kenshin Himura’s life, she looked up into the scowling eyes of
her greatest nemesis…Yahiko Myogin. He
sat beside Suzume, his wife Tsubame unable to attend because of chores at the
Akabeko. Kaoru’s family was made up of
individuals who had no blood connection to her, and Yahiko was the closest to a
little brother. Kenshin and herself had
discovered him as a savage child, living by being a pickpocket for the local
Shogunate. Kenshin had won his freedom
through some event the two of them never discussed, and Yahiko had been living
with them ever since. Although Yahiko
and herself had fought the entire time the two of them lived under the same
roof, they had both come to each other’s rescue more times than could be
counted and would defend the other to the death. Tired of his scowl and unable to do anything about the reason he
was scowling, she stuck her tongue out at him, eliciting a deeper scowl from
him and a melodious chuckle from the very sexy woman sitting on the other side
of him.
Megumi Takani was the local
doctor. She’d been adopted after her
rescue from a heroine production facility in which she was being held captive
for her knowledge of how to make the poison.
The rescue effort had cost a lot of lives and there was no love lost
between her and the tall scary individual sitting at the far end of the ‘line.’ Megumi winked at Kenshin, knowing she was
watching. Kaoru watched as Kenshin
darted his eyes over to see if she’d noticed and had to hide a smile as his
eyes darkened imperceptibly in fear of what she’d say later. It was a game the two women had been playing
for years. Megumi was always flirting
with Kenshin in front of Kaoru. Kenshin
quit responding when he realized it bothered Kaoru; but that didn’t keep the
fox from continuing to tease her friend.
She really had hoped that
Hiko Seijuro had been able to attend and as she looked over at the person
sitting beside Megumi, she figured there was justice in the world. The great heroine cook was sitting beside
the ex-Shinsengumi leader, Saito Hajime.
At one time, her husband had stood on the opposite side of the legal
system from the tall brooding man who had only put his cigarette out when
Kenshin threatened to get Tokio on his ass for smoking in a host’s home. The Shinsengumi had been the government’s
finest fighting squad during the revolution, and Kenshin had been the highest
skilled assassin for the Tokugawa gang.
Kaoru wondered how Saito had managed to capture such a lovely woman as
Tokio. There were rampant rumors
surrounding his wife. They ranged from
her being an orphan raised by the Wolf and trained solely in sexual pleasures,
to her being the last surviving princess of a northern royal family. However, Kaoru’s favorite rumor was the one
in which Saito had been so taken by a beautiful geisha that he had risked his
entire military career to pay off her family’s debts and have her released into
his care. Looking at the tall shadow
stoically sitting beside his tiny brilliantly garbed wife, she smiled at the
ludicrous thought.
Seeing the smile, the tiny
woman beside Tokio leaned over to the only man in the room that truly
frightened Kaoru. The tiny woman,
smiling mischievously while her long braid swung over her shoulder, whispered
words that the tall man beside her listened to without even a flicker of
response. Misao was a very unique
woman. Everyone called her ‘the
weasel.’ She was so adapt at sneaking
around and still having the unerring ability to get caught, it was too hard to
resist poking fun at her. Kaoru would
never understand what Misao saw in Aoshi Shinomori, but she’d doggedly followed
him her entire life. Aoshi had tried to
kill Kenshin on more than one occasion, and his lack of remorse or
unwillingness to change made it hard for Kaoru to like the cold assassin who
led the Oniwabanshu.
By the time she’d made a
sweep of the group, thinking of all the changes that had happened in each of their
lives, her feet were completely numb and she had a cramp in her right
calf. Not really caring if anyone
thought she was improper, she started to shift her weight when the shoji to her
left suddenly opened and their very late last guest arrived. Sanosuke Sagura was a man contradictorily of
a hundred names, but none of his own.
Sano to his friends, Rooster to his close friends, and Aku to his
enemies; his given name had been lost during the revolution. He was tall with a propensity to wrap his
hair so it stuck straight up making him appear taller. Looking at the redhead sitting beside her,
Sano suddenly tossed a package at the smaller man. She watched as Kenshin’s eyes widened and he muttered “Oro”
before reaching out and nimbly catching the package with such clumsiness that
it looked like he’d barely managed to nick it.
It was a habit that fooled no one today. Each man in the room, except for Dr. Genzai, had personally been
defeated by the diminutive man cautiously putting the package in front of her. Sano smiled and pushed Saito over with a
gleeful grin so he could sit beside his woman.
Saito growled while Megumi frowned at Sano for being so obvious. Kaoru had no idea if the two of them would
ever marry, but they seemed to be rubbing along despite the ceremony. When Megumi suddenly reached behind her and
pulled his hand off of her ass, twisting his arm and causing him to kiss the
floor, everyone laughed.
Kaoru listened as Kenshin
quietly cleared his throat and felt pride for her husband as everyone in the
room came to sudden attention. His
squeaky voice had deepened, making him sound boarderline dangerous. “Everyone, thank you for coming today. As you know, we are expecting Kaoru to pop
at any moment.” She blushed as everyone
looked at her extended stomach, and she almost wished that they’d decided not
to have this baby shower. “Since Sano
was nice enough to try and remove my head…”
“I’m just trying to beat
Kaoru to it.” Everyone laughed and she
glared at her friend.
“I guess we’ll open his gift
first.” Kenshin started to hand the
package to Kaoru, but she froze.
It was strange, her entire
life she’d carried a vague desire to have a child; but now that she was close
to delivery, she was hesitant. Kaoru
Kamiya had never been afraid of anything, her father had taught her that. But of the two of them, Kenshin was the more
ecstatic. Gently placing her hand on
his, she smiled and looked deep into his sparkling eyes. She looked past the excitement of the
opportunity to share normalness with his friends, past the love so strong he’d
faced the demons of his past to claim it, past the demons of his choices and
saw the small child that he had once been.
This was the child that would have existed if fate had not dealt such a
series of cruel blows. Leaning over
slowly, she whispered in his ear. “You
open them, I’ll watch.”
She watched as her husband
exclaimed over each gift. He would hold
each one up and explain how wonderful the gift was before sincerely thanking
the person who had given the gift.
There were many, for such a ragtag band of misfits. Dr. Genzai gave a small set of retracting
gates that he said would keep Kaoru’s child out of trouble. His daughters both gave small baby gowns
that the child would wear once it was born.
Yahiko had given a rattle, Megumi had made a small blanket, and Sano had
thrown in a roll of diapers, literally.
When Kaoru informed Kenshin that he’d be responsible for cleaning those
things, everyone howled.
Tokio had made two tiny
outfits, one a girl’s kimono in the colors of the Kamiya dojo, the other a
boy’s outfit in the colors of the Shinsengumi.
Kaoru watched the exchange between the two men after Kenshin’s eyes fell
on the aqua and navy colors of the extinct death squad. Saito rolled his eyes and looked at his wife
as if to say ‘she did it, don’t ask,’ but Kaoru knew that Saito had given the
sleeve off his most prized robe in order to allow his wife to make the outfit
and both men understood the significance of that sacrifice.
Misao and Aoshi were the last
and both presented a tiny futon. It had
been Misao’s as a child and she told Kaoru that as long as the baby didn’t get
any larger than Kenshin, there wouldn’t be a problem. Amongst the roars, Kaoru watched as a tear silently slid down
Kenshin’s cheek and gently reached a hand over to touch his, pretending to
examine the mattress. In a rare show of
affection, he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek before straightening and
looking at each of his ‘family.’
She watched as he put the
futon down and fisted his hands, putting them on his thighs. Each of the group members quieted and sat
still, waiting on what the man had to say.
Kaoru knew he was battling fierce emotions and did nothing to embarrass
or give away his situation. Finally, he
started speaking. Karou listened in
amazement. “When I started this
journey, I knew I could expect no one to help me. However, over the years each of you had helped me reshape my
opinion of life. I cannot atone for the
things done by the Battousai, and I am touched that each of you have given me
the opportunity to be a part of your lives.
Most importantly, I appreciate my wife for letting me live in her house
and occupy space in her heart.”
Kaoru couldn’t resist,
Kenshin was becoming too serious and she knew if he continued, he’d embarrass
himself. “I only kept you because you
cook and clean. It took me years to
find good wife material.”
Amongst howls and a furious
debate about how bad Kaoru’s cooking really was, the two made eye
contact. Their relationship had never
been a traditional one; but it worked.
They were both reliving a conversation they’d had earlier in the week in
which Kenshin finally admitted he’d started cooking and cleaning as payment for
her kindness and generosity to a stranger, but he’d continued hoping to win a
place in her heart. Since she had
chosen to hold the man’s job, she had no need for a husband. Kenshin did the only thing he could think
of…he took on the wife role.
The party carried on long
enough to eat. As the sun went down,
the members left, all promising to return when the new baby arrived. Kaoru thanked each one of them while Kenshin
hugged them, giving them small packages of rice and tofu to carry them over for
another meal. As he walked Yahiko out,
giving him small tips to help improve his back swing, Kaoru left to go to
sleep. When Kenshin pulled open the
screen, she watched as he smiled at the sight that greeted him. She understood what he saw, dark hair fanned
out against the bedding and a large hump that occupied most of the covers. It would have embarrassed her if he hadn’t
been the cause of that hump.
She squealed as a firm hand
grabbed a foot. “Give me the feet
Kaoru, I saw how bad you were hurting today.”
She let him massage them, running his hands up her calves. “I know your back is hurting, roll on your
side and I’ll work on it too.” Not
passing up that opportunity, she turned and sighed as he found each sore spot
and rubbed until the soreness was gone.
“I made tea, it’s sitting outside the door. Would you like a cup?”
Kaoru turned her head to look
up at the man currently working on the area between her shoulder blades. “I fell in love with you for who you are,
not because you cook and clean for me.
You do understand that although I run a dojo and typically act the male
part, I didn’t marry you because you made the perfect wife?”
Kenshin chuckled, a deep
sound in his chest. “Yes. You look at me with the eyes of a completely
unbiased soul. I do these things for you
because you need me to, not because I want to wear a kimono. You allow me to be someone other than the
Hitokiri, a softer gentler man.”
Kaoru smiled, feeling at ease
for the first time all day. Yawning,
she turned back to face the wall.
“Okay, just don’t forget that tomorrow is laundry day. I’ll see you when I wake up.” She was asleep before she heard his reply.
The devil-haired man looked
down at the very pregnant form of his wife and brushed a stray hair off her
face before kissing her lips. “I would
move the world for you, I’m glad your price is only laundry.”
