I was planning to get around to this, but life and damn physics homework got in the way. So, here’s this chapter! I’ll probably set up an AO3 account, since that seems easiest. But it won’t be updated often, due to school. But I really like this Tae-Hiko headcanon-turned-fic, so I’ll shoot for once a month.
Chapter Three: Sake
The Shirobeko was busy, but that was to be expected. With its long-standing history, the restaurant had become sort of a tourist attraction as well.
“Tae, I already told you!” Sae hissed. “You don’t have to help out, just sit down and relax!”
But she already had plates in both hands and was about to head into the dining area. “I can’t let a pregnant woman go and exert herself.”
Her sister gaped, her hand unconsciously curving over her flat stomach. “How did you know?”
Tae only rolled her eyes. “Lucky guess!” Then, she was out among the diners.
Did she really think I wouldn’t notice? She gave a winning smile to the customers at Table 1 as she set down their dishes. She’s been drinking ginger tea and Toru’s been treating her like glass all day.
Table 8 in the corner was clear and clean, one of the serving girls called out on her way to the kitchen.
And that was when hell entered the building.
The first thing she noticed was: height. She had to tilt her head back to catch a glimpse of the man’s head. The next thing she thought was: why on earth is he wearing a coat?
But both thoughts evaporated when he roared. “Table for one! And bring me the best sake in here!”
Everyone was silent, staring. Tae recoiled.
“Eh? What are all of you bugging your eyes at? You have a problem with a man celebrating a baby’s birth?” At this, discomfort rippled through the room and attention diverted to meals, drinks, anywhere but the titanic nuisance in the doorway.
Tae smoothed her apron and squared her shoulders. The rule with rowdy customers was always to quickly and professionally handle them, so the annoyance could be kept to a minimum. “Right this way, sir.” She briskly escorted him to the table and handed him a menu. “Our drinks are listed below. Do you have an idea of what you’d want?”
“Mm, you have a good selection here.” He studied the list carefully. He looked to be only a few years older than her, maybe half a decade or so. His profile was oddly contradictory: almost elegant facial features beneath wild hair, the hard line of his mouth against taut skin. He rattled off a series of the most expensive brands, and she noted them down with trepidation. “Oh, and give me the bottles.”
She blinked. “Sir, you do realize how much money that’ll be?”
He scoffed. “That doesn’t matter. I saved the entire city a few years ago; doesn’t that entitle me to drinks on the house? It’s not every day I come down to Kyoto, so you might as well make my visit worth it.”
Oh, that was it. Perhaps it was the pent-up stress of the day, maybe it was the reminder of freeloading, but now, she’d had enough.
Tae slammed her fist on the table, rattling the wooden surface. Blood pounded in her ears, and she gave a stony glare to the customer. “You think you can just march in here, disturb the entire restaurant, demand expensive sake without charge, and get away with it?! You might be our guest here, but that gives you no excuse or right to make a mockery of our establishment!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a serving girl edging to the nearest table, balancing a tray with a sake bottle and a few cups. Everyone was watching, as the customer blinked in surprise. Then, his eyes narrowed, and while the look was clearly ominous, she continued anyway.
“If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not going to work. I didn’t have my life’s work blown up and rebuilt from scratch, just so I could bow my head to another freeloader. And when I was finally rid of the last one too! You want free sake? You can have it!” And with that, she grabbed the sake bottle and splashed the contents on his infuriating face.
A second later, she thought: oh, damn, now I’ve done it.
“Masa-san, Yasu-san, can you escort this customer out, please?” She called out to the burliest members of the kitchen staff in her sweetest voice. Then, she picked up her feet and hurried out, as if there were coals burning her every step.
So I had some more Ruroken headcanons that I wanted to share but there wasn’t enough time to type them all yesterday
#5: A couple days after his idiot pupil reappeared asking to learn the ultimate secret of the Hiten Mitsurugi, Hiko sat alone at night, immersed in his thoughts while sipping his precious sake. He thought about last days events and what he learned about the idiot’s life from the three kids that barged in his hut. He reminisced about Kenshin’s first days of living with him, how debilitated and quiet and wary the small boy was. How after some months, and after the initial mistrust was overcome, he became more confidend. He then thought about his own childhood: born in a samurai family, the first years of his life in a fairly large house with servants and tutors, meeting his master, his own training... He realized that he had thaught Kenshin how to be a great swordsman but that maybe he hadn’t thaught him how to simply be - as a man, as a person. Yes, maybe... It was time to rectify that.
#6: Kenshin learned to read and write with his master. But Seijuro Hiko wasn’t exactly a patient and dedicated literacy teacher, so his skills were, at most, basic. He got the chance to develop his reading ability during his time with the Ishin Shishi, by reading the books he could get his hands on thanks to Katsura-sama and some other comrades. But his writing remained rudimentary. Then, years after, he would sit next to Kaoru while she gladly wrote letters to their friends and admire the way her hand gracefully held the brush over the paper, drawing beautiful and clean strokes. She would always ask if he wanted to write his own, he always refused with a polite smile and she always accepted his poor excuses with a slight shrug and a smile of her own. Until the day she somehow convinced him into letting her teach him. And he started looking forward to those delightful afternoons that they would spend together, alone in the dojo the two of them. Kaoru would sit close to him, teaching him, and sometimes their knees and arms would touch but she didn’t seem to mind so he simply enjoyed it. Sometimes she would hold his hand to gently guide his movements and show him the correct way to draw up his strokes (”More slowly, just like that”, “Here, hold the pencil like this”). How he loved these peaceful, precious moments.
Kenshin and Kaoru have 3 kids - 2 boys and a girl (a la Meijiyaya’s Longer Than Forever). There’s been a competition going on between Yahiko and Sano for the longest time about who’s the kids’ favorite uncle. Sano wins with Kenji, because Yahiko is Kenji’s teacher and there’s only so much he can be nice to the kid. And Uncle Sano is mad fun and curses like a sailor and lets him drink sake. Yahiko wins with the younger boy, Shinta (the quietest of the three; a little withdrawn), and always goes to Yahiko for solid advice (as opposed to Sano’s lousy ones that end up embarrassing him in front of his friends all the time). So it really boils down to the one little girl, Kaori, and they still haven’t cracked the code. Kaori loves all the attention--Aunt Megumi even eggs her on sometimes--and she’s never letting them know that Grandpa Hiko is really her favorite.
I liiiiive. :) Warning: some of these may be related to the fics I wrote for Ruroken Week, which can be found on my blog.
***
In spring, Kaoru and Kenshin learn they’ll be adding to their family.
Kaoru starts making baby clothes early on in her pregnancy. Choosing bright and soft fabrics, sewing stitches that will hold against anything, and preparing clothing for all kinds of weather. She loves it and eagerly shows Kenshin the first finished piece: an indigo shirt. She’s happy throughout, because this child is what they both want and dearly need.
Kenshin, on the other hand, goes through ups and downs. He fluctuates between unconstrained exuberance (baby’s room and cooking for three and washing those tiny baby clothes Kaoru’s made) and overworrying (he’s read too many books on complications). When Kenji’s born and Kaoru’s fine, he’s so relieved, he passes out in the delivery room.
***
Yahiko is a little jealous of baby Kenji, not that he’ll ever admit it. He’ll be training when there’ll be a shrill series of wails and Kaoru and Kenshin drop everything to attend to their child. He knows it’s natural, but that still doesn’t make the painful twist in his stomach go away. It doesn’t subside until one afternoon, when Kenji grabs onto his hakama, refuses to let go, and smiles.
***
Misao cuts her braid, after she and Aoshi return to Kyoto. Everyone is home now, and this will be a new phase of her life. But she doesn’t realize that the government won’t let women wear short hair. She escapes aggressive officials with her reflexes and well-chosen taunts. She carries her kunai in her sleeves and watches Aoshi, who doesn’t disapprove of her new look.
Aoshi grows out his hair to show his solidarity with her. He walks with her in public too, in case she’s accosted again. Their friends tease them, questioning when the wedding will be. It’s at that point that he looks at her seriously but doesn’t think he’s atoned enough. Misao catches him muttering to himself and confronts him, saying that she’ll court him if that’s the case.
The wedding is sooner than they both think.
***
Megumi does reunite with her brothers. One contacts her after finding some of her posters. Another stumbles into her clinic, purely by coincidence. There are tears and laughter and more tears, because although they have each other, their mother will never be a part of their reunion. They swap stories and verbal barbs, and the next day, her throat is sore from happiness.
***
Sano arrives in Tokyo, one dark evening. He intends to sneak out of the harbor unseen, but Tsunan catches him. There’s a welcome party for him a few days later, with his friends and family (who have moved closer to the capital to let his brother learn Kamiya Kasshin). He shares his traveling tales and shows off a few souvenirs. But he doesn’t stop grinning because finally, he is home.
***
Tae is so glad that she doesn’t have to keep nagging a certain someone about paying his bill, that she takes a vacation to visit her sister Sae. While she’s helping out, this huge man bursts through the door, demanding impossible quantities of flawless sake to celebrate some birth or whatever. When confronted with payment, he retorts that he saved the city a few years back and shouldn’t he get compensation?
Tae snaps.
Hiko learns to be very afraid and intrigued all at once.
Kenshin is known for being the gentle one when it comes to disciplining his children. Yet even he has that one button that none of his children would dare to push; the name is Himura Kaoru.
They wouldn’t dare insult her, make her cry or take up that tone with her lest they be subjected to tasks that would make grandpa Hiko himself take pity.
Send me a character name + a room, and I’ll tell you my headcanons:
bedroom:
How does this character sleep? (Position, sleeping habits, bedtime routines)
-They sleep together with Kenshin’s arms wrapped around Kaoru protectively. Due to what happened in the Jinchuu, he fears losing her again.
-They are able to sleep soundly and peacefully knowing the other is safe and home with them.
-For bedtime routines…well,sometimes they have sex first then sleep or at times, they sleep first and then have sex after or just all sex. [ xd ]
What are their pyjamas like?
-They matching pyjamas. Kaoru likes it and Kenshin has no problem complying to whatever she wants.
What do they dream about usually?
-Kenshin sometimes dreams of his past and how he almost lost Kaoru because of it while Kaoru dreams of her time on Enishi’s island. When it happens, they always assure each other that no one will ever set them apart ever again.
How neat/tidy is this character?
-Kenshin is a neat and tidy character seeing him do laundry often. Kaoru is also a tidy character because she always makes Yahiko clean the dojo.
How affectionate is this character?
-Both are very affectionate towards each other and their kids.
What are your headcanons on Aoshi as a young Okashira and his relationship with the Oniwabanshu? (For RK headcanon weekend!)
As a young Okashira, Aoshi is focused on his task as a leader. He trains himself harder than anyone and in return, he trains his men and make them the best warrior they can be. He plans and leads missions. For him, victory means everything. It validates his skill and ability as a leader and he takes pride in it.
He had a good relationship with the other Oniwabanshuu ( Okina etc…) until he strayed away from his ideals and morals. He treasures the ones who stuck with him though and reciprocates their confidence, trust and loyalty in him with his life. He treats them like family. Having none of his own blood, he promises to protect, defend and lay his life for them in any way he can even if it means sacrificing his own morals.
