Disclaimer: Ruroken isn't mine. If I claimed it, I probably wouldn't be posting this on a fanfiction site...

Something occurs to me only now, years after we first met. Only now, when I've helped you and taught you. Teased and fought by your side. Worried and cared what happened to you. Only now… when Kenji has turned away and left, andI have sat alone feeling as though I've failed in the only things that truly mattered to me, do I realize this surprising truth.

He, my firstborn, was my second child. And he knows.

It was not he, but you who received the sakabatou as a coming of age gift. It was not he, but you who know my whole story, and have seen my strengths and weaknesses firsthand. Who fought by my side, and learned what fighting's true purpose was… what strength truly meant.

I realize it only now. He is my blood. You are my spirit. And I love you equally. You know that, and so you try to replace him in his absence. You know it, but you don't know why.

It is so simple.

When I told you of her… told you all of Tomoe… did any of you do the math? Probably not. I didn't either. Not until recently, when it occurred to me that you are very nearly the age our child would have been, had she conceived that fatal night. Had things gone differently. I realized it in my heart years ago. And though it didn't immediately understand, my mind needed little prodding to see that you deserved the attention. That you were possibly my only chance to pass on what I am…

You are my future. You always were. You are my legacy.

Kenji understands this, and so he left. And by the time he realizes that this never changed my love for him, it may be too late, and another sad duty will be passed down to you… to my first. A lesson to my younger child…

A lesson of my love.

Thanks for reading. Please review!

Dewa mata!

Sirius