OC WARNING OC WARNING OC WARNING

A/N: As I said, there is an OC in here. Now, she seems like a Mary-Sue. I promise you, there's a reason WHY she's uber-beautiful, "perfect," friendly, etc. She's not a Mary-Sue, I promise. So bear with me. You'll learn why she seems like a Mary-Sue eventually.

I have a rule. No reviews, no updates. If you like it at all, please review. I'm also up for suggestions.

Rated T for language

Enjoy!

It started as a normal day at Akabeko. Well, not totally normal. Sano, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Kenshin were all at the restaurant, celebrating Kenshin and Kaoru's engagement. They had just sat down and shared the news with their friend and waitress, Tae.

"Have you made any plans yet?" Tae asked excitedly.

"No," Kaoru said with a giggle. She sat at the head of the table, farthest away from Tae. "It just happened this afternoon."

"Did you propose, Kenshin? Like the westerners do?"

Kenshin smirked. He sat at Kaoru's left hand side, holding her hand in both of his. "No, Kaoru and this one sort of agreed on it."

"Aw, but that's-"

"Tae!" The restaurant manager came rushing over to them, looking frantic. "Tae! A very important customer is coming! We must clear the restaurant!"

"Who's so important that you have to clear the restaurant?" Yahiko asked.

"Delilah Dixon!" The manager huffed.

"Who?" Sano asked.

"You don't know Delilah Dixon? She's the richest westerner we've ever had visit! She just came into town yesterday, and she's chosen us to serve her dinner! Now shoo!"

"Oh, don't make them leave just because of me." Everyone turned to see a perfect, blond-haired, blue-eyed western woman. Her yellow hair had perfect ringlets and was pulled up off her neck in a western hairstyle. But she wore a bright blue kimono with white flowers and a white obi. Her eyes sparkled in excitement as she grinned at everyone. Even Kenshin had to admit, she was gorgeous.

Behind her, Kenshin saw an African man with straight, black hair. His face was clean-shaven, his hair kept it a neat pony-tail at his nape. He stood with his arms crossed, his black eyes showing boredom and disinterest.

As everyone else was recovering from the shock of her appearance-as no one had seen her enter-a look of interest flashed through the woman's eyes as she noticed Kenshin's sword at his waist. But Kenshin was the only one to notice the instantaneous look.

"Dixon-dono," the store manager said, bowing, "please, forgive me. I did not know you were here already. Let me get you your own table." He glared over Kenshin's group.

"Oh, please," Delilah said before the manager could leave. She turned to the group at the table. "Maybe you could make room for two more? As friendly as everyone is here, it's hard to make any actual friends."

"Two?" Yahiko asked.

"Yes, of course," Kaoru said, gesturing for Sano to move over at her right hand side.

"Thank you so much," Delilah said, motioning for the man accompanying her to go in first. Now that Kenshin could see his body, he could tell that this man did not share the same interest as the woman in assimilating with Japanese culture. He wore a white, western top and western pants and shoes. He slipped off his black shoes and crawled to a spot at the table.

"Shall I get you a chair, Dixon-dono?" the manager asked.

"No, don't trouble yourself," Delilah said. "We've been practicing sitting on our knees for months!" At Delilah's bidding, Tae and the manager left to take care of other customers.

"Why are you wearing a kimono?" Yahiko asked Delilah as she slipped off her okobo and kneeled at her place.

"Yahiko!" Kaoru chastized him.

Delilah grinned. "I am fascinated by this country," she replied. "It's so different from all the other countries I have visited. I loved the idea of at least trying to assimilate."

"How many countries have you visited?" Kaoru asked.

"Oh, I can't count," Delilah said. "I've been all over Europe. And to the Americas a couple times. I love to travel."

"Well, we're glad you've come," Kaoru said politely. She proceeded to introduce the group to the rich western woman and the man accompanying her.

"It's wonderful to meet you all," Delilah said. "I'm Delilah Dixon. Or, perhaps, I should say Dixon Delilah, correct? Because Dixon is my family name?" She shook her head with a grin and gestured to the man accompanying her. "And this is my right-hand man, Poison."

"Poison?" Yahiko asked. "That's a weird name."

"I earned it." Poison's voice was low, his gaze dark as he glared at Yahiko. Fearless though he was, Yahiko realized he did not want to piss this man off.

"Earned it how?" Sano asked, not on the receiving end of Poison's glare. The African man looked up at the tall, Japanese man. But his glare was not the same.

"But that's a story for another time," Delilah said. That was when Tae came back to take their orders. Once they were taken, Tae bowed at the group and left to put the orders in.

"What brings you to Japan, Dixon-dono?" Kenshin asked.

"Please, call me Delilah," she said. "I've never been to a country where people looked and acted different from me. Well, except for the Americas. But most of the natives were pretty well, as they say, 'civilized' by the time I got there. I was interested to see what it was like."

"So we're not 'civilized'?" Yahiko asked. Again, he received a glare from Poison and a "Yahiko!" from Kaoru. But Delilah just chuckled.

"If that's how you would like to put it," she said.

"Poison, are you from Europe, too?" Kenshin asked.

Poison shook his head. "Egypt," he said.

"I found him in Greece, though," Delilah said.

"You like to travel, too?" Kaoru asked the man. He remained silent a moment.

"Yes," Delilah said, though there was a look of mischief in her eyes. "He had no family, no money, no direction in life. So I employed him as . . . well . . ." Delilah thought a moment as she looked over at Poison. "I guess the best phrase for his job is my right-hand man." She grinned at them. "He travels with me and takes care of sorts of little things about my life that would just drive me insane."

"Like what?" Yahiko asked.

"Well, as you can imagine, I'm an aristocrat. I was born into wealth. So I'm not used to dealing with things like, say, groceries. He runs the servants around the house, is rather like a body-guard to me, keeps me company, among many more tasks. And he still finds time to educate himself with textbooks!" She grinned at him, almost looking like a proud mother. He didn't grin, though. His face was like stone.

"What do you study?" Sano asked.

"The human body," Poison said.

"Is that where you got your name?" Yahiko asked.

"You're a smart boy," Delilah praised Yahiko. "That's . . . Part of how he got his name."

Finally, the food came, and everyone ate in silence for a few minutes.

"What brings you all to Akabeko?" Delilah asked.

Kenshin and Kaoru grinned at each other. "We just got engaged," Kaoru said.

"You did not!" Delilah gasped. "That's wonderful! Congratulations, both of you!"

"Thank you," Kaoru said.

"Oh, you must have a better celebration than a dinner at Akabeko! I don't know about here, but in the west, we have entire parties dedicated to engagement announcements."

"We don't need that much," Kaoru said.

"Are you sure?" Delilah said. "I would love to host a party for you two. Not only will it be more fitting to your situation, it would give me an excuse to meet more Japanese people around here. I could invite the important people in town as well as all your friends and family. It would be wonderful. Please, let me throw you two a party."

Kenshin and Kaoru looked at each other as they thought. They hardly knew this woman. But she seemed friendly enough. And they hadn't actually announced their engagement to any of their friends, yet. Perhaps it would be fun.

With a small nod from Kaoru, Kenshin spoke. "Thank you, Delilah-dono. Kaoru and this one would love that."