Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ Will You Marry Me? ( Chapter 22 )

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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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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Chapter Twenty-Two

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Kenshin awoke very early the next morning, just before the crack of dawn to do his early morning training. This had become his schedule in the past week he had been staying outside of the dojo. Quietly, as to not wake any of the inhabitants of the home, he slid open his paper screen door. Once he was on the outer porch he jumped off into the courtyard, then with barely more than the rustling of leaves, he leapt up into a near by tree, and then jumped through the forest towards the riverbank as the sun began to rise in the far horizon. Upon reaching the riverbank, without hesitation he thrust his head into the freezing cold water to heighten his senses and wash his face. Immediately after withdrawing his head from the water, he leapt over the river and began to attack an imaginary enemy.

Kamiya Tetsuro also awoke very early the next morning, just before the crack of dawn to wake Kenshin to get some training in before Kaoru's personal lessons. As he was turning the corner of the hallway to wake his potential future son-in-law, he caught sight of the redhead quietly leaving his bedroom. Wondering what Kenshin was planning on doing, Tetsuro opted not to make his presence known, and watched the younger man leap off of the property, and into the forest. Deciding to follow him, Tetsuro took to a run and followed Kenshin all the way down to the riverbank. As he reaching the clearing where the river flowed he stopped behind a tree, and watched the young samuari jump very high into the air, giving off the appearance that he was flying, then in a moment, with a battle cry, he was smashing his sword into the ground, causing the earth to practically erupt. Tetsuro felt the powerful attack all the way from the other side of the river, and couldn't help but feel a sense of awe over the impact his attack created.

After the debris from his attack had all landed back on the earth Kenshin leapt back over the river and smiled in Tetsuro's direction. "Good morning Tetsuro-sensei!" he called out to the older man.

A bit startled, that Kenshin had noticed him, Tetsuro jumped out from behind the tree he had been observing Kenshin from and stuttered out a, "good morning, Kenshin."

"Shall we head back to the dojo to begin our lessons for today?" Kenshin asked the older man as he walked over to him.

"Yes, yes, that would be a good idea," Tetsuro said as he turned around and they both began to walk to the dojo. They headed back to the dojo in a comfortable silence and once there, immediately began their training.

Kenshin and Tetsuro had only been training for about an hour or so when Kaoru skipped into the dojo, ready for her morning lessons with her father. "Good morning!" she called out as she opened the wooden door. (AN: I don't know if dojo's have wooden doors, or paper doors or what, but I figured a wooden door would be good so that nobody would go crashing through it. ^_^;)

Kenshin and Tetsuro both stopped their friendly spar they had been ending their training with to greet Kaoru. "Good morning!" They both said to her enthusiastically.

At seeing her favorite red head in the dojo, Kaoru's eyes lit up in excitement. "Kenshin!!" She exclaimed before she ran over to him and gave him a big hug. Kenshin kneeled down to hug the younger girl and smiled in happiness at how quickly she had became his friend. As she pulled away, she kept her arms around his neck and then whispered into his ear, "did everything go ok last night with Daddy?"

Kenshin tried to hide his blush as he remembered exactly what he had talked about with Tetsuro the night before, and had to wonder if little Kaoru had a plan of her own that she wasn't telling him about. Why else would she be asking such a thing like that to him almost privately? Instead of getting into it with her, which was something he definitely wasn't comfortable talking about with her, he simply nodded his head.

Tetsuro watched his daughter throw her arms around the younger man, and wondered over the closeness between the two that had developed in such a short amount of time. 'It used to be me that she would run to hug in the morning, I guess those days are over, and much too soon,' he thought to himself as he saw Kaoru whisper something into Kenshin's ear and Kenshin nod his head to her.

"Yippie!!" Kaoru suddenly exclaimed to no one in particular. Then she smiled at Kenshin again and said, "So you get to stay here with me forever? You're going to marry me when I grow up right?"

"Kaoru!" Tetsuro yelled, once again shocked that his daughter could be so bold. At the same time, Kenshin barely caught himself from falling over in surprise at Kaoru's confidence. Then deciding that perhaps she was just being a young girl, and even if she wasn't, knew that he meant it when he said, "of course, Kaoru."

Ignoring her father, Kaoru's smile widened as she said to Kenshin, "do you promise me?"

Kenshin smiled at her, "yes, I promise you." He said with all seriousness.

"Ok then," Kaoru began, "you will have to wait until I'm all grown up, so I'll just practice with my Dad now," she said as if dismissing him, as she headed to the wall and grabbed her shinai off of the shelf.

Kenshin and Tetsuro both watched Kaoru in utter wonderment as she went about her warm-ups without a care in the world. Then, as if realizing they were both daydreaming, they looked at each other. Tetsuro quirked an eyebrow at Kenshin as if to say, 'do you know what she's thinking?' Kenshin shook his head to indicate that he also had no idea, then with a somewhat scared look on his face, stood back up, and made his exit with a quick, "I'm going to go do the laundry now."

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It was the middle of the night when Kenshin sat up quickly in bed, yet another nightmare of his past waking him from what could have been peaceful slumber. He was still sitting up, panting, as his door quietly slid open to reveal a small figure standing in the doorway. Still somewhat out-of-it from his dreams Kenshin leapt up from his futon and growled towards the small figure, "who's there?"

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked in a small scared voice.

"K-K-Kaoru?" he stuttered out, as he slowly approached her small form. He kneeled down as he reached the small girl who held his heart, and she promptly burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

"I'm 'sniff' sorry that I 'sniff' scared you. I had this really horrible dream!!" she explained as buried her face deeply into his shoulder. "You 'sniff' you were in the middle of some kind of war and there was all this blood, 'sniff' and all these scary, 'sniff' big men with swords, and they were trying to kill you, 'sniff' it was so horrible!" she continued explaining her dream to Kenshin.

"Shh…it's ok, it was just a dream. See, I'm right here, and I'm ok." Kenshin whispered to her as she continued to quietly cry onto his chest.

"No, it was horrible," Kaoru insisted, "I was there too, but I was all grown up, and…and…and," Kaoru stopped and cried more.

Kenshin patted her hair, in a gesture of comfort as his mind reeled with questions. 'Is is possible that she is remembering what happened with the other Kaoru who came to the past? But then, wouldn't I have the rurouni's memories as well? What does this mean? Is it all just some sort of coincidence?' As his mind continued to bombard him with questions, Kaoru's sniffling quieted, and Kenshin soon realized that she had fallen back asleep. He smiled as he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to her room. He careful placed her back under her covers and then made a quick exit from the room, heading back to his own, for a long, sleepless night, full of many questions, none of them being answered.

Tetsuro, having witnessed the whole encounter between Kaoru and Kenshin, also went back to bed. He, however, had a satisfied smile on his face, knowing that his daughter had chosen and good and honorable man to be her husband, despite his past mistakes.

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I wanted to give everyone, and most especially my loyal readers a really, really huge apology for taking so long to update. This month I have been slammed. So busy, that I was taking off every Friday from work just so I didn't have a nervous breakdown. Yes, my life has been 1 million times more hectic this month that usual, so I'm VERY SORRY that it was my updating of this fic that got neglected so much.

I've already started on Chapter 23, so it should be out very soon. I need to know how Kaoru's father dies. Does he die of sickness, being in a war, what? If you know, could you please tell me? I will need this information for the next chapter. And just to give you all a taste of Chapter 23, here is the beginning:

--------------------------------------------------------------------- < p class="MsoNormal c2"> ~ 9 Years Later ~

A 16-year-old Kaoru watched Kenshin do the laundry as she swept the porch.

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Thank you bunches to everyone who has been encouraging me to keep writing and who have left reviews. It's made this a really enjoyable experience for me!

In other news, I seem to have been nominated for the Rurouni Kenshin Reader's Choice Awards for 2001 for the WAFF category. Whoever nominated me, thank you! I'm so flattered and honored that people would think so highly of my story. For everybody else, I would recommend checking out all the nominations, and placing your vote. There are a bunch of categories and even a category for FanFiction of the Year. (SUGOI!) Anyhow, if you want to check it out, here is the URL:

http://sekihara.dreamhost.com/rkreaders/waff.html

That's about it, see ya next time space cowboy! ::hehe::

Bunny ;D