The Sins of the Father

A/N: There is a rape scene in this chapter. Consider yourself warned.

~~~

~Tokyo, 2012~

Kenshin was losing focus.

~Flashback~

Kenshin was whistling to himself as he did the day’s laundry by the stream.
It had been a year since he had come to live at the Kamiya dojo, and he had
never felt so content. He often did the laundry and other small chores as a
way to repay Kaoru for her kindness and his room and board.

He was happy to do so; Kaoru gave him so much, and asked for so little in return.

He was not blind. He knew very well that Kaoru had feelings for him, but he
thought himself completely unworthy of her affections. How could she love one
with such a bloody and black past as his? How could he be deserving of her
affections?

It defied all logic, and yet…

And yet, he cared for her in return, and wanted her just as desperately.

Kenshin had never known such peace as he had had over the past year. Kaoru
was a comfort to him and his soul. After all that they had been through together
over the past year, she never wavered in her support or trust of him. She gave
him strength, and he needed her in a way he had not needed anyone since Tomoe.

Tonight they would be alone for once, and have the whole place to themselves.
Sano had accompanied Megumi on her trip to trade for some medicinal herbs, and
Yahiko had gone to visit Tsubame in order to teach her ‘self-defense’.

‘It is truly sad when such a young kid has a better love life than you do,
that it is,’ he thought to himself with a snort. Tonight however, he would
rectify that. After dinner, he would take Kaoru for a walk by the pond. Together,
they would watch the fireflies and he would tell his little tanuki exactly how
he felt about her, and of his intent to stay by her side, if she would have
him.

Tonight, he would taste those ruby lips of hers for the first time and find
out for sure if they were as sweet as they appeared to be.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a soft hand on his shoulder and jumped
about three feet in the air before landing not so gracefully on his rear.

“Oro?”

His cheeks burned, as he sought out the beautiful, soft brown eyes of the object
of his thoughts. She smiled at him, but would not meet his eyes as she fiddled
with her hands in front of her.

“Gomen nasai, Kenshin… I did not mean to startle you so,” Kaoru said, as her
cheeks flushed with color.

“It’s okay, Kaoru-dono. Please don’t apologize,” he finally managed to say
as he stood and attempted to brush the dirt off of the back of his hakama with
as much dignity as he could muster.

She merely smiled, and he prayed to whatever kami that were listening that
his cheeks would not flush again. She had the most beautiful smile, and as
she stood there, with her thick black hair haphazardly pulled back in a blue
ribbon, and the curves of her body accented by the mid-afternoon sun and very
apparent in the thin white kimono she wore, his traitorous cheeks flushed anyway.

‘Calm down, you hentai,’ he thought to himself. ‘This is Kaoru-dono.
She deserves better than you leering at her, that she does.’

“Kenshin? Are you feeling okay? You look flushed.”

“Hai, Sessha’s fine. No need for your concern. Is there something you need,
Kaoru-dono?”

She gave him a guilty look, and for the first time he noticed that her kimono
was splattered with little bits of what looked like… tofu?

“Hai, Kenshin. I was cooking, and I only walked away for a moment. When I
returned, the pan was smoking. I panicked and tossed water on it, and well…
dinner didn’t quite make it. I know it is late, but the market should still
be open, and I burnt the last of the tofu… could you…?”

He sighed. Kaoru was a terrible cook, but always tried her best in her attempts
to please him. It was one of the many traits he found endearing about her.
He offered her a small, reassuring smile and on a whim, leaned in and placed
a light kiss on her cheek.

As he expected, her cheeks flamed with color and she looked at him in shock.

”Hai, Kaoru. I will go to the market and buy more tofu,” he said, as he quickly
embraced her. “I will cook dinner when I get back, after which I’d like it
if you’d watch the fireflies with me by the pond. There are some things I think
we should talk about, that we should,” he said softly into her ear.

He felt extremely smug when she involuntarily shuddered. He gave her his
best rurouni smile and left, snickering to himself when Kaoru was too stunned
to even move from the spot where he had left her.

~~~

A couple of hours later, Kenshin warily watched the sun disappear behind the
horizon as he hurriedly carried his purchases back to the Kamiya dojo. He felt
a slight drain on his speed and strength; a drain that was increasing with every
minute that passed. That could only mean that tonight the moon would be at
its fullest and he cursed himself for being out so close to dusk.

~~~

Hiko once told him that the only constant in this world is the moon. Of course,
he was speaking figuratively, but for Kenshin the meaning of those words was
disturbingly literal.

For it was on the night of the full moon that the Battousai failed him, and
his speed and strength bled from his body. On the night of the full moon, Himura
Kenshin was vulnerable, and Hiko had taught him that on those nights he should
avoid confrontations like the plague.

In his youth however, he thought himself invincible, despite Hiko’s warnings.
Kenshin had often ignored the moon sickness and he had earned the scars he bore
on his face as a result. The first part of the scar he received from a simple
bodyguard by the name of Kyosato Aikira. The unskilled swordsman managed to
cut him before he died by his blade. It was embarrassing, and he endured much
ridicule because of it.

The scar had never healed. Back then, it was a constant reminder of his weakness.
After he came to know the truth of the man he had slain, the scar represented
so much more. Now it is a mark of his guilt, as is its twin.

During the revolution, Kenshin had killed many who were in the way of ‘progress’.
He followed orders and never questioned them, until he came to know Tomoe.

Tomoe was a beautiful woman, who, unknown to Kenshin at the time, had been
affianced to the slain Aikira. Knowing that Kenshin had murdered her beloved,
she had agreed to help him go into hiding when the war efforts were failing,
ostensibly to attack him in a moment of weakness and thus attain vengeance for
her beloved. The two of them pretended to be husband and wife, and lived in
a small cabin up in the mountains. It was a good ruse; no one had suspected
the young, delicate apothecary who had earned the love of such a beautiful woman
as being the feared Hitokiri Battousai, bloody assassin from Kyoto.

In the year that followed, Tomoe fell in love with Kenshin despite herself,
and they became husband and wife in truth.

All the while Kenshin never knew that he had murdered Tomoe’s fiancé and that
she desired vengeance. When he found out, and thought she had betrayed him,
he nearly went crazy with rage and grief.

That night, there had also been a full moon. He paid it no mind, as he went
in search of her. It was not long before he was ambushed by a group of ninjas.
He survived, but their attacks had temporarily deafened and blinded him. Still
he forged on, intent upon confronting Tomoe.

He had expected Tatsumi’s attack. He did not however, expect Tomoe to try
to protect him, as the ultimate proof of her loyalty and love. She put herself
in the path of their blades, and died on his sword, but not before giving him
the horizontal part of his scar with her dagger. It was symbolic to her; her
small act of vengeance for her former love, even as she begged Kenshin to live.
She fell along with Tatsumi, and it was on that day that Kenshin made a vow
never to kill again.

~~~

The last of the suns rays illuminated Kenshin from behind as he frowned to
himself. After Tomoe’s death, he had always felt uneasy on the night of the
full moon. Tonight was no different, and as he approached the Kamiya dojo,
the hairs on his arms stood on end.

Suddenly he realized that his uneasiness was not him being paranoid because
of the state of the moon. Something was very, very wrong, and a confrontation
was imminent. He could sense the presence of a ki so black it could swallow
the stars, and he hoped that he could handle whatever it was before the sun
set completely.

He entered the house as quietly as he could, and placed the basket of tofu
down in the kitchen. He searched all the rooms, but Kaoru was nowhere to be
seen. Grasping his sword, he made his way outside and checked both the bathhouse
and the storage shed. Kaoru was in neither, which left only the dojo.

Kenshin was well aware that he had mere moments left before the sun set. Still,
Kaoru was in danger and he had to do something. He approached the dojo silently,
and pressed his ear against the door. Barely, he could make out Kaoru’s soft
voice, whimpering.

“O-onegai. Ya-yamete. Yamete! On-onegai… n-not like this… Iie!”

Someone was… Kaoru…

Enraged, he slid open the screen door and burst into the room, sword at the
ready. Nothing could prepare him for what he saw.

“You DIE …mmph!”

His words trailed off, as he found himself abruptly bound by a strange energy
that seemed to have been shot at him from the fingertips of Kaoru’s assailant.

Kaoru’s assailant had forced her to her hands and knees. Her kimono was torn
and bunched up around her hips. Her arms were covered in purple bruises where
her assailant had grabbed her, and there was a jagged cut along the right side
of her face. When she heard his voice, her face rose in confusion. There was
a large split in her upper lip and her left eye was badly bruised and swollen
shut. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and she opened her right eye briefly
and met his gaze. The pain and desolation he saw in her cut him to the core,
but it was quickly replaced by a disbelief to match his own when she focused
on him.

“Kenshin?” she asked, confused. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. “How?
What? Onegai, help…”

All the while her assailant continued to pound into her from behind. His eyes
were hidden behind thick, long bangs, but even from where he was, Kenshin could
make out the distinctive red of the hair and the tell tale scar on his cheek.
The assailant was dressed identically to Kenshin; his clothes only open enough
to violate Kaoru. Suddenly, he raised his head and their eyes met.

Kenshin could have been looking in a mirror, but for those eyes. Where his
irises were violet and sometimes gold, this man – this creature had eyes that
were as red as blood.

A mockery of Kenshin’s voice broke the silence.

“Ahh, you show up now. Pity. I would have liked the ningen to die believing
it was ‘her love’ who brought her such pain,” he said, and in a move so fast
that Kenshin couldn’t have predicted it, he brandished a silver dagger and slit
Kaoru’s throat even as he thrust into her one last time and cried out his completion.

At the same moment, the sun set behind the horizon and the last of Kenshin’s
strength left him.

Kaoru made one last gurgling sound as a trickle of blood made its way down
the side of her bruised lips and onto her chin. The doppelganger caught the
trickle with a long, claw tipped finger and suckled it, as if it were some delicacy.

“You should have claimed the onna, half breed. She was delicious. Too bad
she was a ningen. They are such frail creatures, don’t you think?” He said
as he let Kaoru’s body fall to the floor.



Kenshin could only watch as the murderous creature imitating him tucked his
sex away and approached him. The doppelganger’s appearance shifted with each
step as he made his way across the room. His hair shifted from red to a pure
silvery white and grew in length until it cascaded gracefully down to the creature’s
knees. He also grew taller as he approached, until he towered over Kenshin
by at least two feet.

His face changed the most of all. Gone was the cross-shaped scar and the features
that so resembled his own. They had been replaced with some strange facial
markings, including two stripes along each cheek and a crescent moon on the
creature’s forehead. His ears were tapered to a point at the top, and jutted
outward from his skull. He smiled, revealing fangs as sharp as swords. He possessed
a regal and unearthly beauty that was only marred by the crazed look in his
red eyes; the only features that had been left unchanged.

Whatever else he was, he was not human. ‘Youkai’, his mind supplied, and Kenshin
paled, knowing that he would soon meet his death. He swallowed his fear and
glared at the creature in defiance, wanting nothing more than to rip its throat
out in retribution.

The thing raised one hand and released Kenshin from the energy bonds that held
him immobile and mute.

Knowing that it was futile, Kenshin mustered whatever strength he could find
and launched himself at the youkai with his sakabatou held high.

He blinked, and the youkai was on the other side of the room, laughing.

“A reverse blade sword? You must be joking. And I had heard such promising
things about you, half breed. Such a waste…”

“You will die, youkai. I will rip out your guts and use them to paint the
walls,” Kenshin threatened. His eyes narrowed into slits as he readied himself
for another attack.

“Such strong words for you on your night of weakness,” the youkai replied.

“Surprised? Oh, I know well what you are and where your weak points lie.
Why do you think I showed up tonight, and made such use of your onna? She was
beautiful, and so tight as she struggled against me. Oh, I’m sorry, as she
struggled against you.”

Kenshin howled.

“Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu Ryu-sou-sen,” he shouted, launching a fury of attacks
on the youkai. The youkai just stood there, allowing the blows to fall, until
Kenshin fell to his knees with the exertion.

The undamaged youkai looked at him and laughed.

”Not bad, I wager you may have done some damage even in your ningen form if
you had a real sword. But you don’t… what a waste. I was going to kill you,
but you’re so pathetic you’re not even worth my time. I think I’ll leave you
like this, surrounded by your failure to protect your own. It’ll serve my purpose
either way,” he snickered, as he casually bound Kenshin’s arms and legs again
with the energy with a flick of his wrist.

“Who… what are you?”

“Oh, you don’t know? This is only too priceless… I am the same as you… a half
breed. I would have been oh so much more, but your father,” he spat,
“and his misguided friends thought to deny me my wish. They took from me that
which I treasured the most, and I am merely repaying that favor.”

“My father? But my father has been dead for many years,” Kenshin wailed.
It suddenly occurred to him that perhaps this creature had mistaken him for
someone else. Oh, for Kaoru to die because of a mistake.

The youkai just snorted.

“You honestly don’t know what you are, do you? Oh, this is just… precious.
I think I’ll let your father explain that to you. For he is ultimately the
one at fault for the loss you have suffered today,” he said, and Kenshin barely
saw the fist before it made contact with his face and knocked him out.

Kenshin groaned as the room he was in gradually came back into focus.

‘Oh, kami. Kaoru…’

He tried to remember what happened after the youkai had hit him, but everything
was a blur.

Rage. He had burst out of his restraints in a rage, as the morning brought
the light of the sun. After that, he had a vague recollection of officers attacking
him, and blood on his hands.

Faces swarmed in his mind. Most of them he did not recognize, but among them
he saw the face the youkai named Shippo.

He also saw Kagome; her face twisted into an expression of passion.

He had thought she was a tenshi.

“Kenshin… daijabou?” Kagome asked.

Her hand was no longer on his forehead, but on his shoulder. She was looking
at him with compassion, and he reached for her and pulled her into his lap.
She whispered comforts he did not deserve into his ear, and he buried his head
in the spot between her neck and her shoulder as the tears fell from his eyes.

‘I will only fail you as well, my tenshi.’

~~~

A/N: Sorry for the rape scene – I hate writing them, but it was necessary.
This whole chapter was essentially a flashback. Next chapter we will see what
Sano’s up to again. Sorry for the delay on this – I have had a busy week.
As always, reviews are very, very appreciated. As for Kenshin’s behavior with
Kagome – he’s still acting on instinct; he hasn’t quite put 2 and 2 together
to get 4 yet; he only feels a connection that he cannot explain. I know it
seems a bit OOC for Kenshin, but his newly awakened demon side will have him
doing and feeling strange things. What fun!

Japanese Words:

tanuki – raccoon dog

oro – huh? what? Basically, it’s what Kenshin says when he gets all
swirly eyed and confused

gomen nasai – I’m sorry

dono – suffix for ‘miss’ i.e. Kaoru-dono means ‘Miss Kaoru’

hakama – japanese traditional pants? I’m not sure if this is what Kenshin’s
skirt thing is, feel free to correct me.

kami – gods

hentai – pervert (think Miroku)

sessha – informal ‘I, who is not worthy’. It is self-depreciating.

hai – yes

rurouni – wanderer (you should know this already)

ki – life force

onegai - please

yamette - stop

iie – no

onna – woman

ningen – human

sakabatou – reverse blade sword

Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu – style of swordsmanship Kenshin uses

Ryu-sou-sen (Double Dragon Flash) – The Ryuu-sou-sen consists
of extremely fast, repeated blows towards an opponent. It's mainly used for
those who won't be taken out with simply one hit.

Tenshi – celestial being

Daijabou – are you okay?