Seamless After Thoughts

Fandom – Rurouni Kenshin

Pairing – slight Kenshin/Kaoru but mostly friendship

Warnings – Non

Rating – G

Disclaimer – I do own the copy write to this story; what I don't own are the characters. Those belong to Watsuki-sama.

Summary – Kaoru never cared about the money; even if she had complained about it.

A/N – I love domestic fics and I love how Kenshin is just so domestic. But, this is more a Kaoru fic. I hope everyone enjoys it. oh, and since I'm slowly getting back into RK fandom I've decided to go with more dub things. So it may read differently from some of my earlier RK fic.

0000

Dear Miss Kaoru –

This unworthy one has been offered a job for a week; I know this is very short notice, however, I felt it necessary to take the job. It pays enough so that you don't have to worry about the Dojo for a few weeks. This unworthy one will be back soon.

Yours,

Kenshin

Kaoru scrunched the note in her hand and fumed. Her face went red as steam practically blew threw her ears. She hadn't meant to make Kenshin feel guilty. In the end though she had and it made her even more angry than she all ready was; here Yahiko had actually cooked breakfast that morning before running off to the Akabeko to help out for the day – and for once, in a very long time –How long? She wondered – She was stuck with the chores Kenshin usually did. She wondered how their lives and just slotted into one another's so seamlessly that now, without Kenshin for a foreseeable amount of time, that she couldn't think about how to go about anything without him.

Kaoru stepped out into the early morning sun, thankful that she had worn one of her older Kimono, she'd start the laundry before changing and cleaning the Dojo. And that's when it hit her. She was alone. Sano hadn't come around begging for food, Yahiko was gone all ready and Kenshin wouldn't be coming home until…Sunday; if the calendar in her head is right.

Before, of course, there was Dr. Gensi and his grand daughters who visited; and her ten students, but they even trickled off as the fake Battousai situation happened. Kenshin was the only guiding light in the whole thing. Kaoru wondered how she could have been so blind the entire time. Kenshin was just there all of a sudden, and the best part about it was that he stayed.

And he promised to come back, in his note. Kaoru couldn't help but sigh as she dragged bucket after bucket of well water over to large pot Kenshin had set over an outdoor fire pit to heat water in. Of course, before he lived with her, she always did her own laundry. But she never could do it as well as Kenshin.

It was like his sword technique worked for laundry too; that thought was silly. She shook her head at herself and started up a small flame with some old newspapers they kept just for this purpose. Then she pushed some wood into the pit and watched the small flame take hold and turn into a bigger one. Now all she had to do was wait until the water was at the perfect temperature.

And that left her a few more minutes to muse on Kenshin.

It was crush. It had to be. Kaoru kicked the dirt with her sandal. And Kenshin never complained about doing any of the chores. It was like he wanted to do them. And not just because he didn't have a job to pay her, but because it was…something he actually liked to do.

She couldn't get Yahiko to do anything around the place. Unless he'd mouthed off and there was an excuse to punish him because she was the Teacher. And then Kenshin would back off and let Yahiko do the chores she assigned him.

But, she'd never let Yahiko near the clothing again. She had to re-furbish a very nice kimono into sitting pillows because Yahiko hadn't listened to Kenshin's instructions and washed it with the Ronin's pink gi. That was why Kenshin always washed the whites and then the colours. Kaoru remembered. She tracked into the living quarters of the Dojo to find the dirty laundry. The only good thing about that Kimono being ruined was that it was form her Aunt Hanako who had come to Tokyo a few times to try and marry her off. The white Kimono with the embroidered cherry blossoms was supposed to land her a man.

Well, it had landed her Aunt a man, at least, and ever since she'd gotten married she had thankfully forgotten about Kaoru being single. Though, since the letters from her Aunt were growing - one almost every week – she would bet a lot of money – that she didn't have – that her Aunt was going to come out soon to try again. And if she landed eyes on Kenshin, well, Kaoru didn't think anything would go well. But maybe Kenshin would be nice and just play along while Hanako tried to play matchmaker.

Kaoru frowned at her Aunt who wasn't even there to see it, before stumbling over a pile of laundry Yahiko had thrown into the hallway that morning. Kenshin always picked up after them too. Kaoru suddenly remembered. There were times when she'd spread her Kimono all over her room just to find the one she wanted to wear that day, and by evening they'd all be folded and put back in their boxes, by Kenshin. She'd never seen him do it. But Yahiko wouldn't bother, nor would Sano or Megumi. Kenshin probably just couldn't stand for things to be messy. But, he always knew where she liked for them to be. And sometimes he'd put his favorites in the places she'd look at first. Like the yellow Kimono with the bright coloured fans; Kenshin always gravitated towards it – and her – for some reason. And so she made sure to wear it more often.

Kaoru growled at Yahiko's laziness as she gathered the laundry up. Then she tracked to her room. The Kimono she was just thinking about needed to be washed because she'd worn it the day before. And she'd like to have it clean to wear on the day Kenshin came home from his job…doing whatever. It's too bad Kenshin didn't think to tell her what the job was…unless he knew she wouldn't approve.

She grabbed the Kimono, obi and tabi and added it to her pile. She turned and went down the hall to Kenshin's room. She specifically placed him at the end of the hallway so there'd be less chance of accidentally seeing something she shouldn't. He was a man after all. Single. Like her. Some decorum had to be seen too.

Kaoru hesitated slightly; ever since she'd given the room to Kenshin she hadn't gone in since. It was as she remembered it, though Kenshin's belongings were still there. It seemed he'd only taken his sword with him when he left that morning, not even a change of clothing. And that's when she saw the pile of clothing Kenshin had forgotten to fold. His pink gi lay on the floor like a puddle after a good rain, along with the once white hakama. And on it; fresh blood.

Now she was really mad. Where had he gone to get into a fight and why had that led to a job that'd pay him some money? And was the blood his? Did it belong to someone else? And didn't he know that if he left blood too long there'd be no hope of getting it out of his clothing?

She picked it up, thankfully there was nothing worse in the folds of the clothing and she put those on top. She'd tackle his first.

And with that she went back out doors to see if her water and boiled yet.

0000

Kaoru held the pink gi up in the late after noon sun. She wasn't a wiz at this domestic stuff, but she knew enough to first wash the gi in cold water to get the blood out. And the spots where the blood had clung too looked better. At least not as bright as before; she'd left it to dry to see if anything had changed, but there was still some work to do just to get it back to normal. She knew Kenshin didn't have money to replace his clothing, and the patches he'd done to them hardly showed. He took good care of his clothing. Even the seem that had to be re-pared when Kenshin went against Raijuuta when it'd been slash almost in two. Kenshin had done a good job. The stitches were small but strong. Kaoru didn't worry about ripping it there again as she washed it in the semi-warm water.

She hummed as she lathered the fabric up. To her left side the other laundry was drying in the wind; her yellow Kimono the brightest of the bunch. Yahiko's practice clothing was all-fresh for him to use the next day when they went to teach at the Kazuki Dojo. While she had waited for Kenshin's gi to show her the results of her earlier work she'd spent the rest of the day cleaning the Dojo, she'd also dusted off her father's shrine and made a list of the repairs she had to do; most of which was thanks to her not having the money to do them in the first place and not from unwanted visitors who thought blowing out a wall was a perfectly fine way to get their attention.

The patch in the wall from when the fire-breather of the Oniwabanshu showed up was still noticeable. Kaoru glared at the wet fabric as if it'd personally had done the deed. It was called a gate for a reason. One stood before it and knocked, or rung the bell. That was the polite way to do things. However, there were just people in this world who didn't do polite.

0000

Yahiko had decided to be with Sano that evening and that left Kaoru alone, in her Dojo, practicing her own Kata. Sometimes she forgot and had to go through her own training to keep up on her skills. Kenshin had to practice sometimes, right? You didn't become as good a swordsman as him without practicing, not to mention keeping it up. Kenshin sometimes did go off alone at some part of the day, and she understood how sometimes he'd want to be alone after having a stressful day. They weren't the easiest people to get along with, after all. They tended to be rather violent.

Kaoru sighed as she slashed the air in half with her shinai. One day down and five to go; she didn't know how she'd get through a whole week without Kenshin.

0000

Kaoru glared at Ayame, Suzume and Yahiko. There'd been playing…with mud, because of the rain they had the day before. However, they'd decided to go inside, at least he girls did, and had tracked mud into the Dojo. The girls sat around a huge mud pile, a bucket lay next to it and they were happily making mud pies. In the Dojo.

Kaoru had never wanted to beat the girls up, ever. They were so sweet. But this…was not something she could forgive. She pushed the sleeve of her practice gi up and was about to rip into the girls for defiling her Dojo, when a strong arm slipped around her waist.

"Don't be too harsh, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin's low voice was a balm to her anger and she deflated instantly. She turned in his arm and beheld the red headed man with a glower, well, she had to be unhappy with someone and if not the girls than Kenshin would do.

"Why is there blood on your pink gi?" she asked even as she saw he wore a very old, very worn, blue gi. It must be his Ishin Shishi uniform from the war. It looked older than the pink one he wore on a regular basis.

"This unworthy one was being rather foolish and got cut, it looked worse than it turned out to be," Kenshin smiled at her as if that solved everything.

"And what about the job?" she asked, "why didn't you say what it was in your letter?"

"Ah, that is because this unworthy one didn't have any time to explain, not even in writing," Kenshin said, looking rather ashamed.

Good! Kaoru though vengefully.

"Well?" she prodded because Kenshin had stopped talking and she wanted to know what he'd done. His arm slipped from her waist, as if he just realized it'd been there and now there was space between them. She wanted his arms back. And she was almost half tempted to throw herself at him just for Kenshin to catch her from falling.

"A short boat rid to Hokkaido and back," Kenshin said. And that was that, nothing about what he did or what he'd seen. What people he'd talked too or if anyone tried to fight him because he was the Battousai. Men didn't know how to inform women of anything. Kaoru knew if she'd gone on a "short boat ride" she'd be telling him everything about it.

"Oh, and that reminds this unworthy one…" and from inside the sleeve of his blue gi – which she had to admit suited him – he pulled out a purse that clanked with some coin. He held it out to her. Kaoru took it and opened it just to see.

She blinked, a bell rang in the far off distance and Kaoru tumbled to the floor in pure surprise. There wasn't just enough money to run the Dojo with for a few weeks as Kenshin had said in his letter. But a few months, six if she was very good about it.

"Miss Kaoru!" Kenshin called her name in alarm.

"I'm all right," she deadpanned, "it's just…there's so much,"

"This unworthy one is glad you approve, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin sighed in relief. He must have thought he'd get a beating when he came back. And maybe that was why he gave her the money straight off. So that she'd forgive him for running off without saying a word…

…and it wasn't going to be that easy.

Kaoru got her feet.

"You ruined my surprise!" Kaoru glared.

"Oro?"

"I was going to dress in the Kimono you like and wait for you at the gate," she sniffed, "but seeing as how you surprised me instead, you aren't getting your pink gi back any time soon!" she turned and walked out. The gi, for some reason, was in her room. She'd worn it to bed a couple of times because she missed Kenshin and it was Kenshin's gi and she just wanted him close and…it wasn't weird at all!

"Oro? Miss Kaoru?" Kenshin was right behind her.

She turned and gave him her most innocent smile; "and besides! Blue looks good on you!"

"Oro?" Kenshin watched her go, but somehow she didn't think he really cared if she stole his pink gi for a while.

Kaoru grinned and hummed over dinner; Kenshin had made it because Kaoru couldn't cook anything right it seemed and the whole gang was going to be there that evening to welcome Kenshin back. And to top it all off, in order to make sure Kenshin didn't ninja his gi back from her, Kaoru made sure to wear said pink gi.

Sano, Yahiko and Megumi all thought it was cute; and Kaoru enjoyed her revenger. Kenshin blushed the entire time as his friends teased him about when they were going to get wedding invitations, and if he was going with the new, popular Western tradition of buying an engagement ring for Kaoru.

And Kaoru smiled.

Her life, she decided, all consisted of after thoughts.

After Kenshin, everything was brighter and she had more hope.

And maybe, Kenshin would get his head out of his ass and marry her. But, she knew she had to wait, because Kenshin was dense like that and it'd take him time – she'd beat it into him – to come to the conclusion that she was the only girl for him.

And even though she never cared about money, and even if she had complained about it a lot. Kaoru would rather have Kenshin at her side, than all the riches in the world.

THE END