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Disclaimer: I own me. Some of the time. Everything else… nope.

Notes: If you have not read ‘My Life’ it will be more difficult for you to pick our some of the finer nuances in this. This chapter will still make sense, even if you haven’t read ‘My Life.’ The following will be little things, mostly moments of Kenshin’s past and perhaps future. Rating will go up in later chapters.

Warnings: None, unless you’re afraid of WAFF.

Moments in Time: Chapter 1 - Mother's Day

The house smelled of flowers. A vase of roses sat on the foyer table. There were lilies in the next room. Someone had picked some lilac blossoms, the drooping flowers tilting toward the ray of sunlight that just missed the kitchen table. In a water glass next to the lilacs, four yellow dandelions poked into the air proudly.

She was sitting in bed, auburn hair folded up and back, held in place with a barrette, the strands too short for the simple style falling about her face and neck in haphazard array. On the nightstand beside her, there were more flowers. Wildflowers, plucked by small hands from a field behind their house, graced her with their multicolored presence, and she would look at them from time to time and smile.

Something akin to a herd of wild animals went rushing through the house, breaking the silence and causing her to turn away from the book she held. She smiled and set the book on the nightstand, waiting for her child to greet her.

“Mom!” a young boy burst into the room, his small face flushed with excitement. “Mom, I made something for you at Aunt Judy’s!”

He had always been remarkably articulate, ever since learning to speak. Her first child had been so quiet, having difficulty with the simplest phrases until her grade school teachers helped her. This one, however, was always so spirited, filled with a vibrancy unlike anything she had ever expected.

At that moment, he was as cheerful as ever, climbing onto the bed to sit near her, holding out a piece of light blue, folded construction paper. There was red construction paper in the general shape of a heart glued sloppily to the front.

“You made this for me?” she asked warmly, pulling the boy into her lap as he scrambled to get closer. He leaned back against her, wild red hair tickling her face when she hugged him and rubbed her nose on the top of his head. He giggled and squirmed.

“Tell me what you made,” she suggested, resting back against her pillow. He held up the folded paper, and glitter sprinkled down to the quilt from within the card.

“Aunt Judy says we’re supposed to wait before giving them to you,” he said. “Daddy says I can show you now.”

“Is that so?” she sighed, sitting straight again and pushing her son’s hands down until the card rested flat on the bed. “Can I open it?”

“Yeah!” he giggled at being bent forward under the woman. “Aunt Judy says it’s a special day… but not today.”

She studied the large, uneven blocky letters, recognizing her son’s hand. It was partially covered by glitter and glue, but she knew what it read. Above his writing was the delicate curves of the teacher’s handwriting. It was not nearly as pleasant to read as the black slashes below.

“Mmkay,” he pointed at the black marker sketching. “To Mom…” he was pointing at the wrong words, but that did not matter. She kissed the boy’s head. “Love Kenshin… It’s for you. What’s that say?”

He pointed to the teacher’s handwriting. Smiling, the woman pointed to the first word, her finger touching each successive word as she read.

“It’s even better,” she murmured. “Let’s sit outside today. It’s stopped raining.”