AUTHOR'S NOTES: Just to warn you guys, again, this takes place a few days AFTER Oibore meets Enishi at the Rakuninmura (god, what a long name) close to the end of the Revenge Arc.
Chapter One ~ First Meeting
* Without becoming a resident of this place, once again a time to stand up is coming. Until then...think of this also as somehow being a chance meeting. Rest easy here. * (AN: taken from Serizawa Kamo's Rurouni Kenshin Translation Index)
That speech given by the cheerful Oibore still echoed in Yukishiro Enishi's mind. He wasn't sure of what to do except sit and brood over the truth of his dear oneesan's diary. Everything that he had built up before for oneesan's revenge was gone. The police had destroyed his organization. His so-called comrades had been found and arrested since Jinchuu. Gein was dead. And Battousai's woman was still alive since he couldn't stand of killing her when his sister's face would just replace hers before he was about to. The grip on his sister's diary tightened whenever Battousai's name crossed his mind.
Damn him! Enishi growled. If it wasn't...
No, he couldn't say that. Not after reading his sister's diary. Yet even after reading it, the deep hatred for the man now called Himura Kenshin wouldn't possibly go away.
What should I do now? he thought, closing his eyes, ignoring the idiots that were walking past him. Oneesan, what should I do?
"Oh, Yumiko, you're back!" a voice shouted.
Enishi's eyes snapped open and he lifted his head. Not far from where he sat stood a young woman talking to one of the residents of the Rakuninmura. Strapped on her back seemed to be a bag full of supplies. In her arms was a sleeping little girl and beside her was a little boy. The two children seemed to be no older than two. On her head was a hat that was of Chinese origin. Enishi looked in keen interest as the two kept on conversing.
He heard the woman named Yumiko laugh.
"Hai, tadaima," he heard her say in a very soft voice. "Oh, Gen-san, here's the herbs that you wanted. How's your sister doing?"
Enishi didn't know why, but there was something about Yumiko that intrigued him as he kept on watching from the corner of his eye.
The man called Gen received the bag that Yumiko gave him. "Oh, Ruri's doing fine. She's been a bit stressed out lately since you didn't return last week..."
As the two walked away, Enishi returned his gaze back to the empty space in front of him. There was just something about Yumiko that fascinated him, but he didn't know what. He tried to shrug away the feeling, but it stubbornly stayed. Tomoe's laughing ghost appeared, totally amused by her younger brother's discomfort. Enishi frowned.
That's not funny, oneesan.
Oh, I'm sure it's not, Enishi. Tomoe's ghost replied, her eyes still amused. But I'm glad that you're starting to go back to normal.
This is not normal!! he argued.
<A few hours later ~~ late afternoon>
After zoning off into space again and brooding, Enishi's ears heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. He decided to ignore the feet, praying to Kami-sama that it wasn't the old man coming to bug him for the upteenth time. The feet stopped in front of him and whoever it was squatted down. Glancing though his glasses, he could tell that the stranger was a woman by the look of her simple kimono.
"Konnichiwa," Yumiko's soft voice greeted.
Enishi blinked and blinked again before looking up and staring into Yumiko's sea green eyes. From his perspective, Yumiko looked around her late teens. She had silky, midnight hair that was tied up in a very messy bun with a dagger like pin holding it up. The front of her hair cascaded around her face in slight curls below her chin. Her complexion looked like on of a geisha's but slightly tanned probably because of the sun. Put everything together and she looked rather gorgeous in Enishi's eyes.
Yumiko smiled slightly, cocking her head to one side. "I noticed you when I came home. Are you knew here?"
Something about her eyes made Enishi feel flustered inside.
"Uh...hai," he answered. Chotto, why am I replying to her?
Yumiko smiled even more and then looked up into the gray sky. "It looks like it's going to rain soon. Do you have a place to stay?"
It took Enishi to find her looking back at him to give a response. "Ie..."
Yumiko looked at him with a touch of concern. "You're going to be soaking wet if you don't come inside."
She grabbed his free hand as she was standing.
"You can stay at my home if you'd like," she said without giving him a chance to reply.
Once again, something about Yumiko made him accept. He gathered his nihontou and the diary, the only things he had, and followed Yumiko aimlessly to wherever her home was. Why am I doing this? he asked himself.
"What's your name?" Yumiko asked him as they were walking.
"Uh...Enishi...Yukishiro Enishi," Enishi stammered a bit. "And you, Miss..."
"Yumiko," Yumiko replied. "Nagasaki Yumiko."
The name Nagasaki struck a cord in his memory bank, but Enishi waved it off.
"Yumiko-san, why are you doing this?" Enishi asked as they stopped in front of a shabby yet nicely kept hom.
"Doing what, Enishi-san?" Yumiko asked.
"Giving me shelter," he replied, now feeling at ease. "For all you know, I could be some scandalist and try to take advantage of you in your home."
Yumiko gave him a smile that threw him off balance. "Well, are you one, Enishi-san?"
"No..."
"Then there's nothing for me to worry about. Your eyes looked like you lost someone dear to you and have no idea what to do; that's why I'm doing this since nobody is too busy in their own problems to care about others."
She lent out a hand to him. Enishi looked at it for a few moments then accepted. This acception would change Yukishiro Enishi's life forever...
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So? What did you think? You like? This fic is not going to be as long as my other fics that I'm writing now *sigh*, but I hope you enjoy it! R&R!!