Here is the sequel all you reviewers were asking for! There may be more short stories in the future along this vein. I love Hiko, I swear I'm getting obsessed with that man.

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Mouth pressed against his palm, Hiko watched Himura Kaoru in his garden through the window glass. She caressed Hiko's tulips, stared entranced at a resting butterfly, turned her face up to the warmth of the sun; a perfectly enchanting picture of a lovely maiden.

Hiko was disgusted.

"What do you think?" Kenshin asked softly, also watching his wife from a perch on the window seat.

"There's no question," Hiko said. Kenshin knew that. "Why are you here? This is a simple situation. Either you forgive her for the infidelity, or you leave her."

"Shishou, that's the thing," Kenshin said, big eyes earnest and sincere. "It shouldn't be possible, I know that, but I don't think she was… unfaithful."

Hiko was speaking before Kenshin even finished. "Don't be naïve. You were fighting. She had a fling." He glanced at the glowing young woman with an expression of distaste. "Either keep her or don't."

"I'm just asking you to look," Kenshin pleaded. "I don't trust my own judgment when it comes to Kaoru."

"If I do, will you go away?"

"Immediately," Kenshin promised.

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Hiko brushed past his hopeful young deshi and out the back door. Kaoru looked up with a big grin on her face, and her ki matched her expression. She was, inexplicably, pleased to see him. "Hello, Mr. Hiko."

"Hiko-san," he corrected irritably. "I hear you're pregnant."

"The tests have all been positive," Kaoru said cheerfully. "But I think Kenshin wanted you to check and make sure the baby was healthy?"

Hiko shot Kenshin a sharp look; the little punk's expression was angelically innocent.

"Sure," he said sourly. He reached out and took her hand, threading his ki into the radiant glow of Kaoru's. She was buoyant, and sparkly as a glass of Champagne.

He found the little tiny spark of life, and took a moment to be with it, learning a little of the soul that was a little of his father, a little of his mother, and a lot of original.

Then, to his shock and surprise, that itty bitty existence was aware. If he had to describe the sensation, it was recognition and… acknowledgement?

Hello, Grandfather.

As he sometimes did, Hiko had a sudden vision of the future: A strong, proud young man, mystical and unapologetic, the best of dragon magic in a blade-slim maelstrom of humanity.

He laughed out loud.

"It's a boy," he said with relish. "He's going to look exactly like you—" he said to Kenshin, who absolutely lit up with joy. "And he has your eyes," he told Kaoru, suddenly feeling a great deal more gregarious toward the new mother of his race. "And Kenshin?" He smirked.

"Yes, Shishou?"

"You deserve him."