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Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin, and most of the characters related to and featuring in the following fictional stories are property of creator and master manga artist Watsuki Nobuhiro, and no copyright infringement was intended in any way in the creation of these projects. Used without permission.

Light of the Snow-Red Village
Part IV - The Third Candle: Arrival in Tokyo - Chapter 3

Why, God? Why this face?
Why such beauty in this place?
I liked my memories as they were
But now I'll leave remembering her...

Hikari narrowed her eyes and brought the shinai down with smooth control, and Kaoru watched in awe by the girl's surprising skill. 'Considering her age, she's very good... of course, with someone like him as a teacher...'

She sent a quick glance behind her, where Kenshin was peaceably washing laundry. Less than a week had passed since he had fought the false Battousai, and it seemed as if he had done little else to betray his identity.

'He must have gotten very good at hiding who he is behind his actions,' she thought with a small, puzzled frown. 'He's nothing like anyone would expect, really... a man like that, doing laundry for a local dojo...'

"Kaoru-san?" Hikari called gently, her piping voice curious and concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Kaoru laughed nervously and waved a hand. "No, nothing much. That was a good improvement, Hikari-chan, but you lost focus at the very end. Try again."

Hikari raised an eyebrow skeptically. 'She's one to talk about losing focus...' Nevertheless she complied, and Kaoru nodded in approval.

"Arigato..." Hikari murmured, then caught Kaoru looking back in the direction of her father, and her eye twitched irritably. "Kaoru-san, can I ask why you keep staring at him?"

Her teacher blushed straight to the roots of her hair, and sighed guiltily. "Mou... I'm sorry, Hikari-chan. Maybe we could practice in the dojo for a while?"

Hikari's head bobbed in agreement, and the two drifted into the dojo, Kaoru shutting the door behind them. "Well?"

Kaoru reddened again. "It's my fault, I know. Has anyone else had this problem? Finding it... well, hard to believe, maybe?"

The older girl's heart lurched, her eyes widening in panic. "No, that's not what I meant! What I meant was... um, how to say this... he's so familiar with everything. Doing chores, cooking... has it always been like this?"

Hikari shrugged, turning away and glancing at the dojo signs hung on the walls. Her eyes met her own nameplate, and she lowered them to the floor. "He's good at that. He always has been. How else does he expect to take care of me? He's filling two roles, not one... he has to know how to care for me like a mother would. This is the only way we know how to live."

Kaoru bit her lip, recalling her own motherless childhood. She could remember the days that followed her mother's death; her father's desperation, anger, and finally, resolve to train her in the only way he knew. She was unrefined, and had grown in the arts of men rather than of women.

'I know that. I always have. When I see Tae-san and the women of the families around me...'

After a moment, she smiled brightly, placing a gentle hand on Hikari's shoulder. "Well, you should always be proud to do what you know you're good at, ne? I'm sure he's happy to do whatever he needs to do to help you learn kenjutsu."

Kaoru suddenly cocked her head to the side, curiousity piqued. "Hey, Hikari? Why don't you study your father's sword style?"

The girl frowned intently, pulling her arm away and raising the shinai to restart her exercises. "He doesn't teach his style. I don't know why... he never really told me. But it's okay," she gave Kaoru a reassuring smile, "I've learned a lot without it. I don't really mind anymore."

Kaoru let the smile encourage her, and began the lesson again. "All right, so you're stronger than before, but like I said, more control! You should also work on your hesitation..."

Kenshin brushed his hands together, flicking the water droplets from his fingers and straightening up to hang the last piece of laundry to dry. He watched the material flutter in the wind for a moment, his eyes turning to the sky rather than his finished chore. He frowned tightly, wondering for what must have been the hundredth time what, exactly, he was doing there.

'True, I also left her with Gatsu and Heiji, but... it is different this time...'

He lowered his head, brushing a hand across his tired brow. 'She could have done anything while I was gone. She knew the town, she could have taken Hikari to the police on a different route and had me arrested for so many things, by using my daughter as bait...'

'If she was more than the kindness she showed to me... what would I have done...?'

His thoughts were interrupted, suddenly, by the low sound of carriage wheels, halting outside the door, and his eyes narrowed.

'And so they come. They come, to see the man who defeated the supposed Battousai, who was rumoured to be - by the babbling cries of the defeated, somehow undead victims of a samurai sword - the true wielder of the sword for the heavens of justice, the man who carved a path for Meiji.'

'Bunch of fools. What do they think the era is made of? Thoughts like that create people like me - killers like me.'

He carelessly tugged the rope that held back his sleeves, until they fell free at his sides. He wanted nothing to hold him back if he was forced to fight. A weakness at the very beginning of a confrontation was an invitation for death.

The entrance door had been open - by Kaoru's reassured, yet still unproved hope that her students would return now that her name was cleared - and so when the visitors came in, there was no criticism for rudeness. Kenshin watched the men who approached him carefully, recognizing the one in the forefront.

Nearly ten years ago, he had lost his home to men he did not know, and he had carried in his heart a list that was long and painful in its betrayed trust. Ten years, he had borne those names, never changing.

The list was far more limited, now, and this man's name had disappeared from it.

'But they were comrades. They... they were allowed to do as they pleased, all because of their position.'

He bit back a sharp flash of burning-hot anger, and he saw the man's falter at the sight of his reaction.

"Himura," the man nodded his head slightly in recognition and greeting, hoping to break the awkward silence. "It's been a long time."

Kenshin didn't move, and no longer tried to smile. He had learned, not long ago, that the attempt was not worthwhile if it was not meant even in the slightest. "Yamagata-san. May I ask what you are doing here?"

The man at Yamagata's side, a police officer of high rank shown clearly by his uniform, stepped forward in objection. "Excuse me, you should show respect to-"

Yamagata raised a hand calmly, and gave Kenshin a small smile. "I'm sorry to be bothering you like this. I heard about the false Battousai and part of me hoped we had finally found you - but it seems as though I was both wrong, and right at the same time."

Kenshin's expression darkened. "Are you disappointed to not have another excuse to have me executed? I'm sure, if you're that anxious about me, that we can think of something I'm done to offend you."

The government official's lips tightened in a disapproving frown. "Unfair, Himura. You know I was not involved."

Yamagata shook his head, mildly exasperated beneath his calm politician's mask. "Himura... I recently followed the trial of a government official by the name of Kuroi Atari." He paused for a moment, taking in Kenshin's barely veiled surprise. "He admitted to having seen you."

The former hitokiri grit his teeth against the memory, hating it and at the same time wondering in frustration what the man was after. "The man has been living in lies for a long time. I'm certain he also said that I threatened to kill him, his family, and probably everyone in the town in a single night. Am I right?" He curved a single, thin eyebrow in the minister's direction.

Yamagata surprisingly broke into a soft chuckle. "Actually, that is true, very nearly word for word. But I know Kuroi - he wouldn't mention you if you hadn't been there. And you wouldn't have been there unless you knew who had been involved."

"And there you would be wrong," Kenshin interrupted quietly. "I didn't know. I have never known until that night, when I asked one of the men who was willing to admit it... a fool who, believing he could finish the job, gloated that he had been the one to..." he cut himself off, turning away with a muttered curse.

There was a long silence between the two men, in which neither could find the words to break it.

Yamagata lowered his gaze, shaking his head again. "I'm sorry. I don't know. I can't know... I would never have thought that way."
Kenshin sent him a sideways glance, a tiny, bitter smile on his face. "No one does. Can you answer this for me, though... was I truly so dangerous, so frightening to them, that I deserved to die?" The general failed to answer. "Can no one tell me why they wanted to assassinate the assassin? The one they created?"

"I'm sorry," Yamagata repeated weakly. "If you will believe it, I apologize from the depths of my heart."

"If you insist on not being a part of it," Kenshin said, far too calmly, "Why do you keep apologizing?" Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Katsura-san was the same..."

Yamagata opened his mouth to respond, but halted to think ahead. "... Perhaps we wish to make amends for the sins of our comrades. Or we feel responsible because we could not stop it."

Kenshin closed his eyes, let his breath fall slowly, then raised his eyes questioningly to those of the other man, quietly demanding. "Why are you here?" he asked again.

Yamagata, for the third time, shook his head in negation. "I came to ask you something... but judging by your own questions, I can guess what the response would be. I think perhaps I should leave you alone."

"Something to do with the government?" Kenshin guessed haphazardly. "Some forgotten duty of the Bakumatsu hitokiri? Something else I'll be wanted dead for?"

The official shrugged slightly with a smile. "Actually, the first, not the latter two. I came to offer you a job, Himura... a position in this government and era that men such as you deserve."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "A position in the government?" he repeated darkly. "A chance to work alongside the men responsible for the death of my wife? To work with those same men who will never feel any remorse, let alone punishment, for the murder of an innocent woman, and the ruined life of an infant girl? Oh, very wise, Yamagata-san. I am grateful that I asked, instead of you."

Yamagata's smile altered sadly. "To be honest, it was mostly because of that girl that I thought to come here. Part of me hoped you would accept for her sake, to support her with a stronger income..." He didn't falter, even when a wounded pride and anger entered Kenshin's eyes, "But another part of me simply wanted to meet the daughter of Himura Battousai."

Kenshin hesitated for a long time, wary and unsure. Finally, he gave a slight nod. "She is practicing in the dojo right now; if you are very careful not to disturb them, you may see her. I will warn you, however," he added, eyes narrowing sharply. "She knows at least partly why we avoid both civilization and the Meiji government. She would not be pleased to meet you, General Yamagata."

"Even when the army rarely has anything to do with the true work of the politicians?" Yamagata questioned.

"Especially then," the rurouni shook his head, "Because you and I both know that the army and its warriors are the hands of those politicians, acting out many of the decisions made. And it was the acts of the resources your armies created which has made us outcasts. Remember that."

Yamagata closed his eyes, nodding after a moment. "I... understand. I will not be a bother to you or your daughter. However... as a plea against leaving a grudge between us, Himura... will you accept my apology?"

"Once, and only once, Yamagata-san," Kenshin agreed quietly, turning away and picking the sakabatou from the ground beside the wash tub, noting the startled reaction of the police chief nearby. "You should know by now... I am not one for apologies. I give them, but rarely do I receive them."

"Then I am honoured to give to one so forgotten. There have been far too many grievances against you that were left alone, Himura. One apology will not be enough, but it is a beginning."

"And forgiveness must have a beginning," Kenshin murmured, then gave the other man a soft, wistful smile. "I thank you for that, then. There are few people in this world that I can truly rely upon, but it is always reassuring to know that one has an ally."

"Likewise," The general shared the smile, and with a slight bow of the head, he left, with the puzzled chief of police.

Kenshin watched the door for a long time, even after the sound of horses' hooves and carriage wheels disappeared into the distance. 'He has given me a chance, I suppose. The police could have arrested me on the spot for displaying my sword in front of a government figure, and if they wanted me dead they could easily have ordered my execution-'

'-Easily ordered, for carrying it out has always proven to be much harder, hasn't it?'

'... but... yes, it was a chance. They have chosen to overlook my sword for now. Perhaps this is also his apology.'

'Not trust. But there is no longer such a deeply felt suspicion in the men I knew in the past... rather, one man.'

"Kenshin, what was that just now?" Kaoru asked curiously, stepping out of the dojo to stand at his side, the bokken rested on her shoulder. "I thought I heard voices out here, and Hikari-chan said she caught the sound of a carriage..."

"Nothing, really," Kenshin answered cheerfully, his smile bright and without force, catching sight of his daughter's sidelong glance from within the dojo. "Perhaps it was just the wind."