Title: Kenshin Takes A Moment

Author: Kimmy Jarl

Disclaimer: I don't own any Rurouni Kenshin characters.

Misquote of the day:

Zanza, the revolution isn't finished. Certainly the shape of the new age was formed ten years ago, but those who are truly in need of happiness are still in the old era where the weak are oppressed.

- Kenshin, vol 2, ch 8

-1867-

The bamboo trees cast narrow shadows across the ground, still warm under the setting sun. A thousand insects filled the air with a low, humming sound. In the right frame of mind, the humming could be considered musical. The high pitch of the mosquitoes, the papery flutter of the dragonflies, the low bass of a beetle on its wing… yes, it was musical.

In the right frame of mind.

Kenshin waved his hands in front of his face. Darn mosquitoes, they were everywhere. Tiny legs walked on his wrists and in his hair, tiny wings touched his neck and his ears. One of them seemed dead set on entering his mouth. It buzzed to his lips, bounced off, returned for a second try, bounced off, repeat… Gaaaah! He shook his head, the hair from his ponytail whipped around, leaving his neck and his face temporally mosquito-free.

When he had volunteered to take a look around the small forest behind the inn, he had not thought about the insects. He had thought… what had he thought again? Right. He had thought that it would be nice and quiet, that the solitude between the trees would give him some time to –

"Hoy, Himura."

– some time to think, to mull things over for a while.

"Hoy, Himura!"

He had not counted on someone else volunteering to come with him, especially not the new guy. What was his name again? Koro… something. He was unusually big, taller and wider than most. He was also ruder than most. Kenshin had heard complaints about it in passing, had heard that he constantly avoided using the honorary title "-sama" as well as the simple "-san". Kenshin could understand how some might be upset by this. He himself found it a bit… unexpected to be addressed as "Hoy, Himura" rather than "Himura-san".

"Yeah, what?"

He could be plenty rude himself, come to think about it, but it had never occurred to him to omit the -sans and -samas if the situation called for them. Maybe this Koro-guy was on to something, though. Maybe the chaos should be spread to the language as well, down to the basic interaction between people. Titles, honour, reverence and order, they should wipe it all away, in preparation for the new society. Kenshin glanced at the taller man. Maybe his rudeness was actually a sign of a deeper wisdom, a sign of some particular insight and understanding.

"I swallowed a bug."

Or maybe not. After all, men's wisdom was muddled in times of chaos, and it was hard to separate the good ideas from the bad.

"You don't have to be here, you know. You could go back to the inn."

Koro scratched his chin. "But I thought this was a two-man job. And since no one else seemed inclined to accompany you…"

"I can handle it on my own." It was a simple statement of fact. In the unlikely event that there were armed Shogunate supporters hiding in the bushes, one Koro more or less wouldn't make much of a difference.

"If you say so. I guess we could separate and meet up later." Koro turned on his heel and stomped off, crushing the ferns underneath his sandals.

"Phfff." Kenshin blew the mosquitoes away from his face.

Yes, insight and clarity was hard to come by these days, maybe it always was, what did he know. He had some insights of his own, however, two of them to be precise. He kept them hidden close to his heart, and sometimes he brought them out and held them in his hand like two precious pearls. He took them out now, and turned them over for inspection.

The first pearl was the knowledge that happiness was well worth fighting for. With happiness as the destination, as the goal before his eyes, he would lend his hand in removing starvation, slavery, and injustice. It was a simple enough idea, easy to understand and easy to explain. The second pearl was much more elusive. It told him that happiness wasn't just the destination, it was also the road by which this destination could be reached. His own experience had taught him just how powerful a tool happiness could be. People who were happy were less inclined to inflict pain or suffering, it made them feel, deep in their bones, that life was valuable.

Happiness could teach people to live in a world of peace.

Kenshin hissed. He slapped his hand to his neck, where two mosquitoes had simultaneously bitten him. He brushed the hand against the leg of his hakama, and felt how one flattened bug fell under his collar to tickle the small of his back. He felt itchy all over, suddenly.

The sound of footsteps brought his hand to the hilt of his sword. His eyes scanned the shadows. But no, it was only Koro. He walked past Kenshin's line of sight and disappeared, squeezing into a gathering of slim bamboo trees. Kenshin waited, half expecting him to get stuck in there, although judging by the continuous noise, he did manage to get through and arrive unscathed on the other side.

He found it somewhat amusing, the thought of the larger man stuck between two trees. Not that it would actually happen, he had never heard of someone getting stuck between trees before. On the other hand, people had been known to disappear in the woods all the time. Presumably they had lost their way or been beset by bandits, but who was to say that some small amount of those people, say one in every fifty, had not ended their days firmly wedged between the trunks of two trees?

He had to admit that it wasn't very likely. It was easier to imagine getting stuck in, say, a crevice in the ground, where the footing was uncertain and the risk of injury was considerably larger. No, he thought, it would be difficult to manage to get stuck between trees, at least if you were strong and healthy.

Besides, most trees grew too far apart anyway.

Kenshin looked around. To his left were a couple of trees that stood unusually close together. When he tilted his head back he saw their leaves high above, a joint mishmash against the sky. He felt a moment of vertigo.

He didn't think he could be able to squeeze between these two. He could probably get his chest through – ribs were flexible, after all – but he didn't think his head would fit. He held his palms to his cheekbones, his fingers slipping into his hair to examine the outline of his skull. Well, maybe…

He got one arm through, one shoulder… and his head. He thought it wouldn't work at first. He pressed, the trunks slick and hard. It hurt a little. There. He was on the other side, or at least parts of him was. He exhaled. One leg was on the other side, back pressed against the tree. His heart thudded close to the trunk, a curious sensation. A tight fit, but not too tight. He would get to the other side, if he only pushed a bit more… a bit more… a little bit more…

Huh. Seemed he was not moving anymore. He kept pushing, but the trees wouldn't let him through. Guess he had to pull back the same way he had come. Nope. Didn't work. He pushed hard, and grunted, but he didn't budge at all. Was he… stuck? He pushed upwards, and did budge then, a bit. But no, that didn't work either. Now he was on his tiptoes, still stuck.

How about that.

It was his clothes, he concluded. They were too bulky. If he hadn't been wearing his clothes, he would have been able to get through, that was for sure. No matter. He could use his sword and cut himself loose. If he drew his sword he would be free in a second. Yet he waited, his cheek against the trunk, his breath slow and shallow. The mosquitoes came in for a joint attack, but Kenshin hardly noticed. He closed his eyes, and let his arms dangle. His legs relaxed, the trees holding him up, hugging him tightly from each side. This was… kind of nice.

He had been thinking… he had been thinking about happiness. Happiness was such an elusive thing. He might say that he fought for happiness, but when it came down to it, what he really was fighting for were the conditions that made happiness more probable. The basic things that people needed. Food on the table, a house, a place to sleep. Security. Security most of all. The new world should be a place where people didn't have to fear the ones who were stronger. It should be a place where strength was irrelevant. Now that brought a smile to his lips. A place where strength was irrelevant… It was a strange idea, but it wasn't unwelcome. Maybe he should get stuck in the woods more often.

Kenshin sighed. Like it or not, he lived in a world where strength mattered. His own strength was undeniable. The question, the big question, was what he was doing with his strength. His second insight came back as if to mock him.

Happiness was the road.

This was no unproblematic thought. It was quite troubling, actually. He would have been blind if he didn't see it – the disparity, the dissonance in his reasoning. After all, the road of happiness was pretty different from the road of chaos.

"Hmph." He shook his head, and saw in his mind's eye how a cloud of mosquitoes rose up in the air. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around the trunk, holding it tight. There was no denying it. Thinking about happiness made him sad.

He looked up when he heard someone approaching. Koro was walking straight towards him, but he hadn't seen him yet. A look of puzzlement passed over the other man's face. There. Now he'd seen him.

"Hoy, Himura." Koro stopped in front of Kenshin. His voice was hesitant. "What are you doing?"

What was he doing?

"I'm taking a moment."

"Oh."

Koro shuffled his feet. Cleared his throat. "It's getting dark. Do you want to go back to the inn?"

"Very well."

He looked at Koro.

Koro looked back.

The insects buzzed.

"Say…" Koro scratched his ear, dislocating a mosquito. "Do you want some help?"

"I'm fine, thank you all the same."

"Nonsense."

One hand latched on to his sleeve, another clutched the loose folds of his hakama. Koro pulled, freeing Kenshin with one single, forceful motion. Back on the ground Kenshin staggered, but he managed to keep his footing.

They started to walk back to the inn.

"Hoy, Himura," Koro said after awhile.

"Yeah, what?"

"You were jammed pretty tight back there."

Kenshin rubbed his chest. "True."

"It's strange, though…"

"What?"

"I didn't know it was possible for people to get stuck between trees."

AN: What did you think? Funny at all? Review, pretty please :)