Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ A Promise Made ( Chapter 21 )

How the Past can Change

A K&K Rurouni Kenshin Romance FanFiction

by: bunny ;D

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. I do not own and did not create the series or its characters...I'm just a fan, and I have no money anyways, so NO SUING ME!! :D

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A/N: This story is altering the original story of Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X. It also has some OOCness, (especially with Battousai.) If you don't like that idea, or can't handle it…I would advise you not to read this fic. If you are a hard core Tomoe and Kenshin forever kind of person, I would advise you to not read this fic. Don't get me wrong, I like Tomoe, this is just a different story ok?

Ja ne,

Bunny ;D

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Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's hand and began to pull him around the property. "I'll show you where your room is ok?" she said to him excitedly.

"Oh yes, that reminds me." Tetsuro said. "What is your real name anyways? Rurouni won't do if you are to be staying with us."

Kaoru stopped walking and turned around, very interested to know his name as well.

Kenshin just grinned once more. "Kenshin. Himura Kenshin." He answered.

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Chapter Twenty-One

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After settling in at the dojo, Kenshin had offered to prepare dinner for the three of them. Kaoru had stayed by his side the whole time, wanting to help him, and he had once again begun to teach her how to cook. He couldn't help but side-glance at her the whole time they were cooking. She was so cute, and full of life. It was also very heart-warming to him that she liked him so much that she wanted to be with him all the time. He smiled to himself.

Kaoru, who was helping Kenshin by watching over the rice, looked over at Kenshin and saw him grinning down at the fish he was seasoning. "What are you smiling about Kenshin?" she asked him, wanting to get to know him better.

A bit startled at Kaoru's observance, Kenshin looked over at her. "I'm smiling about you," he said as he reached over and affectionately touched the tip of her nose with his finger.

Kaoru placed her hand over her nose, and giggled, loving the handsome older man's attention. 'I hope Kenshin doesn't ever leave,' she wistfully thought to herself. "What about me?" she probed, happy that she was able to make him smile.

Kenshin shifted his head to the side in thought, "just because you are you," he answered, and then smiled at her again. "Well, that, and also because you are helping me make dinner." He added.

Kaoru smiled up at Kenshin, her admiration clearly evident in her eyes, and then turned back to the rice. "I'll make dinner with you every day," she whispered to him.

"That would be wonderful, Kaoru." Kenshin whispered back.

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Tetsuro looked on through the window at his daughter's interaction with their new houseguest through narrowed eyes. He didn't feel any sort of animosity, or coming danger from the rurouni, but the fact that he had been watching them, and that he acted as if he knew Kaoru so well made his insides a bit queasy. He didn't trust his new houseguest, and he needed an explanation, otherwise, he would not be able to allow this stranger to continue to live with them. How he would accomplish that, he was not sure, Kaoru already seemed very attached to the idea of having the redhead stay with them, and he would never want to do anything to hurt Kaoru, his daughter had things badly enough with her Mother gone. However, he didn't want Kaoru to be in any danger with the rurouni living with them either. He frowned at the ground as he walked back towards the training room to clean up before dinner. He needed to find out exactly what Kenshin Himura's intentions were, and why he knew so much about his daughter.

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Once again, Kenshin squirmed under the gaze of Kamiya Tetsuro during their dinner meal. The man had been giving him odd looks since the moment they met. He sensed a deep distrust from Kaoru's Father, and it was un-nerving. He tried to pay attention to Kaoru's story as she told him about an injured rabbit she had found in the woods and nursed back to health, but the glares he could feel coming from the older man were beginning to downright frighten him. Not that Kenshin felt that he would be unable win if a battle between he and Tetsuro had to take place. It was more that he would never want to fight the older man. He loved his daughter, and wanted to marry her. If anything, he wanted the older man's approval, and respect. It didn't look as if that would be happening anytime soon though.

Then mid-story, Kaoru scowled at her Father and said, "Dad! Why do you keeping looking at Kenshin like that?"

Tetsuro, shocked at his daughter's question, and seeming protectiveness glanced at Kaoru with wide eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

Kaoru placed her chopsticks down, and did her best imitation of the gaze her father had been giving Kenshin for the past 15 minutes or so. "Like that!" she exclaimed. "Why do you keep looking at him like that? You are making him feel unwelcome, and I don't like it, you are making me upset," she said to her Father, quite angered at his behavior towards her new favorite person.

Kenshin wanted to crawl away, but he opted to sit there in silence, desperately wishing that he could magically disappear. He had never before felt such embarrassment, not even with Kaoru just after their wedding. It was nice that Kaoru felt the need to protect him from her Father, but embarrassing, and at the same time, her intuition was so right on, that it made him worry about other things she may be aware of. 'Does she know that I'm here for her?' he had to wonder. Not to mention, that her boldness in front of him towards her Father made him feel even more uneasy. He didn't want to be the start of an argument between Tetsuro and his daughter. He also didn't feel that it was appropriate to include him in an argument, since he was still a stranger to both of them, and far off from being a member of the family.

Tetsuro frowned at Kaoru. 'How did she sense that?' he wondered over her skills. 'Does she really like this man so much already?' he asked himself, with a sense of dread. Kenshin was too old for Kaoru to set her eyes on as a potential husband, not to mention she was entirely too young to be thinking about those types of things already. "It's nothing for you to worry about Kaoru, Kenshin and I just need to talk," he answered her, in a tone of voice that said 'this is not going to be discussed further.'

"Mou!" Kaoru exclaimed before she got up and stomped out of the room towards her bedroom.

Kenshin stood, in an attempt to follow her, but Tetsuro was too fast. He grabbed Kenshin's arm, restraining him from chasing after her, and said, "We do need to talk Kenshin. Kaoru will be fine."

Kenshin looked down at the older man holding his arm, still sitting in the chair, and nodded his head in agreement. He stifled a sighed as he sat back down. "What did you want to talk to me about Tetsuro-sama?" he asked politely.

Tetsuro narrowed his eyes once again, "Don't play dumb with me, I know you are a highly skilled swordsman, and you know what is bothering me," he said.

Kenshin knowingly, half-smiled. 'Well, here it is, the moment of truth,' he thought before saying, "I would never harm Kaoru, I want to protect her." He confessed.

Tetsuro relaxed a bit at Kenshin's words, and then the full implications of what he said, flooded his mind. "Wait a minute, what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?" he asked. Kenshin did not have to say anything; Tetsuro could read it in his eyes. "No, you can't marry her!" he exclaimed, as he stood up, and began to pace. "You are way to old for her," he continued, as he watched Kenshin's half smile fall off of his face, to be replaced by a look of complete despair. He paused his tirade and sat back down, lowering his voice in the process, "why Kaoru? She is so young, you don't even know her, and I don't even know you."

Kenshin's eyes dropped down to the table not even feeling as though he should look at Tetsuro. "I, I didn't think that you would approve of me," he admitted, the sadness in his voice apparent.

Tetsuro frowned. "Why Kaoru?" he asked again, a bit calmer, ignoring Kenshin's comment.

Kenshin looked back up at Tetsuro and looked into his eyes, then he finally answered truthfully, "Because, I love Kaoru."

Tetsuro slightly gasped, taken aback at the raw emotions present in the younger man's eyes, and then let his breath out in a low hiss between his teeth. "How is that possible?" he asked.

Kenshin frowned, knowing he could not tell his Father-in-law to be. "I can not tell you, at least, not at this time. I promise you, I will tell you someday, when Kaoru is older. It's not only a long story, but it would not be wise of me to give you that information at this time. I suppose you will have to trust me on it, although, I won't expect you to trust me. I understand if you want me to leave you be." He said, and once again bowed his head.

"How old are you exactly?" Tetsuro asked, deciding at this point the best thing to do would be to at least get more information on the rurouni who claimed to love his only daughter.

"18," Kenshin answered.

"11 years apart," he whispered to himself, "hmm…and you are a rurouni? Where is your teacher? What of your parents?" he asked.

Kenshin frowned. "My parents died when I was very young. I was sold as a slave. One night we were attacked, I was the last one alive of our whole group. Hiko-sensei saved me, and the next day, he took me in as his successor, and renamed me Kenshin." He paused and let out a deep breath before continuing, "I left Hiko-sensei to fight in the war, he did not approve of my decision, and I have not seen him since then. He is most likely still living in his home. Someday, I would like to go visit him, and if he is willing to teach me, learn the succession technique."

"So, you left your sensei to fight in the war? You seem a bit young to have been in the war, what were you doing in the war?" Tetsuro asked.

Kenshin winced at the table, knowing that Tetsuro would like him even less by his answer. "I started as an assassin for the Ishinshishi, and for the past 2 years, I have acted solely as a bodyguard." He whispered out.

Tetsuro sighed. "So, you are an orphan, and you have a lot of blood on your hands, even at your young age," he reached across the table and patted Kenshin's hand. "That's pretty rough, kid. No wonder Kaoru is so attracted to you, her kind spirit must want to heal your wounds." He added.

Kenshin looked up and offered a half smile to Tetsuro in agreement about Kaoru and her kind heart. Tetsuro smiled back at him and said, "Despite that, I think that perhaps you may be fit to protect my daughter." Kenshin's eyes widened as the older man continued, "I have heard about the legendary assassin for the Ishinshishi, the one that they called "Battousai."" He said as he nodded his head, while looking into Kenshin's eyes, almost telling him to try to deny it, and then continued, "all I ask is that you don't tell Kaoru about it. Not until she is older anyways, I want to protect her from knowing about those things. Don't tell her anything that we discussed tonight. This remains between you and me. In return, I will expect you to stay here, meaning no more rurouni, it will hurt Kaoru if you ever left, and I don't want her to be hurt. Should my daughter decide that she would like to marry you, when I feel that she is old enough, I will tell you." He finished.

Kenshin nodded in his agreement to not tell Kaoru about what was discussed and then said, "thank you, Tetsuro-sama."

Tetsuro laughed, "So, would you like for me to train you Kamiya Kasshin Ryu?" he asked.

Kenshin smiled, "only if you would teach me the succession technique, so I can teach it to Kaoru." He said.

Tetsuro's eyebrows lowered, "what do you mean? I'm going to teach Kaoru the succession technique." He told Kenshin.

Kenshin restrained himself from slapping himself in the face over his slip up, "yes, yes, of course you are, what was I thinking?" he said, trying to cover his mistake.

Tetsuro frowned. 'What does he know, and how?' he wondered. "Well, if you are going to be part of the family, it is only suiting that you learn our fighting technique, we can start training tomorrow morning, Kenshin." He said almost affectionately, as he patted Kenshin on the back, this time nicely. "I'm off to bed, have a good night." He said before heading out of the room.

Kenshin smiled to himself. 'Could things get any better?' he wondered as he headed off to bed.

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A/N: I know, I know, not much K&K in this chapter. It was a necessary evil! ::hehe:: I needed to establish the Father and Son-in-Law relationship between Kenshin and Tetsuro. I hope I didn't completely foul it up. O_o;; Sorry if you hated it! ;( Anyhow, I'm just happy that I was able to post another chapter of my story! ;) I've been getting some demands on updating. Almira-chan! ::eheheh hugs::

I also wanted to thank everyone for your support and encouragement. I was really surprised how many people responded to my Author's Notes. I was not expecting that at all. ^_^;; I actually feel like I might be entering into the RK online community. Mostly, it's only Sailor Moon and a little bit of DBZ stuff that I'm involved in online. I love RK, but I've never really explored much, or even chatted with any other RK fans, besides Mir, Koneko-dono and Chocolate Star (but I knew her from Sailormoon). So thank you for letting me get a glimpse into your world. Today, I searched for some RK yahoo groups to join and so maybe now I will write better fics since I will be more connected. Anyhow, I would like it if we all try to put the drama behind us now though, and concentrate solely on the fic. I'm finding myself spending more time replying to emails than trying to write the fic. Not that I don't LOVE to hear from everybody, because I do!! So if you still want to email me, feel free to email me, I'm more than happy to listen, and share views with you.

Also, if you like my fic, and you have seen other anime, I would recommend checking out the FanFiction stories on Dragon Ball Z/GT, and Ranma ½. This probably sounds weird, but that's where I get a lot of inspiration for what happens to Kenshin and Kaoru in this fic. Like the whole young Kaoru growing up with younger Kenshin was an idea I came up with from reading all the stories about Trunks and Pan in the DBZ world. Also, the time travel idea I got from DBZ and Ranma ½. There is this really good Ranma ½ fic, I think it's on my favorite stories list, I'm not sure, but that's where I got the idea of sticking Kaoru with Battousai. So I guess, basically what I'm saying is that you should check out my favorites list if you are looking for some good fix, and you like mine. I highly recommend reading AMCM74's stories she is sheer genius. Her ideas are so awesome, some of her stories are interactive, and she has great story plots. I also got the whole Review Party thing from her. ::hugs:: Thank you AM-chan! ;)

Not that anyone just read all of that O_o;; But I hope you enjoy your stay here at FanFiction.net today! ::hehe::

Take Care everybody, and get ready for the party!! Whee!!

Bunny ;D

Special Thanks to:

Almira

Chocolate Star

Susan

Hana Himura

Macy

Gypsy-chan

Koneko-dono

sync*in

and Akai Neko - even though a lot of people would vehemently disagree with you, your review was so nice. It just completely made my day that someone liked my story that much! ::Hugs::