Kendo no Go
In the Language of Kendo:
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters
by Akai Kitsune
45: Lie
~*~
Kenshin was
a terrible liar.
He could keep secrets,
certainly; he had a great many things he kept easily concealed from his friends,
most of which were never exposed in his entire lifetime. But when he was asked
of something, any question in which he had to answer whether he liked it or
not...
'He can't lie to save
his life,' Kaoru thought to herself, grateful, yet reluctant to admit to the
fact. Japan's finest swordsman, yet he was unable to look someone in the eyes
and tell them anything but the truth.
'Because his whole
life, ever since the end of the Bakumatsu, has revolved around finding the
truth, wasn't it?'
'His truth...'
If there was
one good thing about Sanosuke, it was certainly his uncanny ability to get
Kenshin out of trouble, just as surely as the rurouni ended knee-deep in it due
to Sano's coaxing. Sano could lie, snoop, sneak, and weasel his way out of
nearly everything, always with the same easygoing grin on his face. That was one
of the deepest impressions of him Kaoru kept in her heart, even after the street
fighter's departure from the country.
He could always make Kenshin
laugh.
Kaoru admired that quality,
even as her mind cried out to be outrageously jealous, even angry, at the idea.
She made Kenshin smile. She brought him happiness. She gave
him a home.
But Sanosuke made him laugh.
She loved the sound of his
voice when he laughed. The sound of pure delight, pure bliss, pure amusement,
that everything was right in the world, right enough so that an assassin could
treasure a moment by showing the ones he loved that he was happy.
He was happy.
And he couldn't lie about it,
either.
Kenji made
him laugh. Kaoru took pride in that; her son, his son, made his father
laugh. Of course Kenji always took it wrong, of course he assumed they were
taking pleasure in his misfortunes, of course it often took a story or many
apologies to earn back his trust and his smile. But in the moment - that brief,
treasured moment - of whatever harmless trouble their active child had gotten
himself into, she liked to sit back and listen, as Kenshin's voice broke through
the silence or Kenji's tears, chuckling and comforting the boy with a smile on
his face.
And slowly she began to realize
why it was that Kenshin loved to play with children.
Although he
was a child, and children usually didn't lie until they reached a certain age
where fibbing was a game to master, Kaoru liked to think that Kenji inherited
Kenshin's inability to tell any sort of lies. The world was black and white for
him; some things were true, some things were not, and those which were not were,
of course, irrelevant.
A frog was green. This was true
until Yahiko showed him one with brown spots. This was true until Kenshin called
it a toad. This was true until Yahiko said the same thing about his mother.
This was not true, if he knew
what was good for him.
The cat was nice. This was true
until she hissed at him. This was true until Kenshin picked her up and soothed
her. This was true until she escaped the dojo to wander. This was true until she
came home again.
This was true until she died.
Kenji lived for the moment,
lived by what occurred and not by what had come or was coming. He laughed, he
cried, he loved, he hated, he smiled and he sulked. Kaoru found it dizzying, the
almost bipolar nature she saw in him.
He was, after all, his father's
son.
She never built up the nerve to
tell Kenshin this. He would have worried about it, of course; he couldn't bear
to have anyone be like him, as frustrating a notion as that was. He never
acknowledged that he was, in fact, a wonderful person who just happened to have
been an assassin at fourteen.
'People can change...
you have changed, Kenshin...'
'Can't you see that?'
If Kenshin could keep his
secrets, then she could keep hers. She would not tell him. But... if he asked...
she wouldn't lie, either.
He deserved to know the truth.
His truth...
~*~
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