A/N: This is a fluffy, citrusy offshoot of my other FF, Never Bet Against A Redhead. It can be read in isolation or after chapter 47. Just wanted to keep it separate to avoid bumping up the rating of NBAR. ;)

The title was inspired by a review from Kiryki on NBAR. It's a bit late, but I did assure you this would happen. XD

Enjoy!

Murder

*Kaoru's POV*

Kenshin's lips were warm and tender against mine as they pulled lightly at my bottom lip, and I was pretty sure he could feel me melting into his arms. Seriously. I felt like someone could have set me on fire and I wouldn't have known better.

After who knew how long, he withdrew just enough to meet my eyes, and I swallowed hard when I saw the now-familiar flecks of amber floating along his irises. "We don't have to go, koishii," he murmured as his thumb ghosted along the bottom of my jaw, and I felt my breath hitch.

Warming at his willingness to uproot his carefully-laid plans just to make me happy, I shook my head and swallowed, trying to keep my voice even. "No. I want to go with you."

His lips curved in a way that made his eyes gleam and my bones liquefy. He drove us to the place he'd been trying to take me to for months. It was one of the nicest restaurants in Tokyo, and had all the style to back up each of its reviewer's raving claims. Lavish paintings adorned expensive wallpaper-clad walls. Breathtaking chandeliers with deep red bulbs hung all around, casting the reception area in an extravagant, medieval-reminiscent glow. Dark floors and high ceilings afforded each room with an elegant, intimate ambiance. Each staff member was dressed as finely as if they were the ones being taken out to dine on the best meal of their lives.

My heels clicked along the smooth wooden floors that led us to our table. It sounded like the stride of a remarkably confident woman, so, feeling empowered, I straightened my shoulders and slid smoothly into the small rounded booth, looking up just in time to catch Kenshin's throat bobbing thickly. Deciding to ride the Train o' Confidence for as long as I could—because the ride would surely would be short-lived when I had to contend with the deep amber shadows flickering in his eyes—I smirked up at him coyly. He smoothed his scarlet tie along his charcoal button-down that did nothing to hide his mouth-watering musculature before gliding across the cushioned bench until his hip brushed against mine. I had enough time to utter a single sentence about how nice the restaurant was before he wrapped his arm around my shoulders—and just like that, the Train o' Confidence whistled and sped out of the station.

He was so warm and inviting against my side that I all but wrapped myself around him as we ordered our food and drinks. We talked as our food arrived, but despite the meal being the most delicious selection of morsels I'd ever eaten, Kenshin was far too warm and perfect and smelled so damn good for me to divide my attention long enough to fully appreciate the food. I couldn't extricate myself from his side for even half a minute—surely the food deserved at least that much—but he was apparently having similar issues because he kept putting his steak knife down to caress my shoulder or wrist.

A drool-worthy dessert that would inhabit my dreams for months to come concluded the best meal of my entire life, and before I knew it, Kenshin was dropping his keys into the bowl by the door. "I have two movies picked out for tonight," he informed me as I kicked off my heels. "You can pick the one you like better."

"Okay," I murmured. "I'm just going to change first."

I had the zipper on the back of my dress pulled down halfway when I crossed the threshold of my bedroom and froze in my tracks. A gasp puffed between my lips before I could bite it back, and to my horror, I could already feel him closing in behind me. "Are you alri—"

The desire to strangle my friends was stopped abruptly as Kenshin's lips descended on the shell of my ear in a chaste kiss. "I'll get them," he whispered, effectively vanquishing all murderous thoughts as he moved to blow out the dozens of candles Misao and Megumi must have lit just moments before we'd arrived. The wax of the candle closest to me was still only just beginning to liquefy, so they couldn't have been lit for more than five minutes.

The devious, scheming, interfering women must have been staking out my apartment and lit the candles as soon as we pulled up. For half a second, I thought they might be hiding somewhere, ready to scare the hell out of us, but then I recalled our conversation before Kenshin picked me up, and knew that this wasn't one of their Operation: Scare-Shitless attempts.

If anything, this was Operation: Drop-the-Freakin'-Panties-Already.

As Kenshin circled the room, his fingers started playing with one of his rolled-up sleeves. My mouth actually started to water as I watched his fingers smooth over the silk of his shirt, and as he turned enough for me to see his profile, I caught sight of a smooth cheek that scrunched slightly as his lips pursed to blow against another candle.

He continued blowing out the remaining candles as my left hand slowly rose up and clutched the zipper that remained perched halfway along my spine. Dragging downward, I gulped just as my dress fell to a pool at my ankles. Kenshin turned just as I began walking forward, and he swallowed so loudly that I heard it halfway across the room.

He was so dumbstruck that he barely caught the bottoms of my thighs as I launched myself at him and wrapped my legs around his waist. I'd expected him to fall backward onto my bed from the impact, but he was remarkably quick to recover and remained upright as he grasped my thighs and held me against him, devouring the onslaught of kisses I laid upon him.

It was only through painfully slow motions that he finally descended upon the bed, which effectively made me straddle him. He slowed our heated kiss, simultaneously stroking my cheek with his left hand and tightening the fingers on his other hand on my waist. With a few lingering pecks, he tried to pull away, but I refused to keep my lips off of him for long. The moment he freed me, I dragged kisses across his cheek and down to his jaw.

"Koishi," he panted. "I—"

I nipped him softly along the hollow of his throat, effectively silencing his protests and evoking a satisfying range of quiet panting. My fingers made quick work of the buttons that kept his shirt closed, which elicited a throaty plea from him as his fingers tightened on my waist.

I was able to push the shirt halfway over his shoulders before his right hand flew back up to my cheek. Carefully, he tore my heated gaze to his. "Kaoru," he gasped, squeezing my fingers meaningfully.

We'd had plenty of intimate moments over the course of the past couple of weeks, so the only thing that would have made him hesitate was that he'd noticed the change in my eyes during dinner. He must have picked up on my quiet shift from shy-and-terrified to meek-and-determined, which was as good as broadcasting to him that the battle to fight him was over. He must have seen that I was finally ready to drop my shield and replace my sword with a different kind of fire in my eyes, but I'd caught him off guard when I'd launched myself at him. He still needed to be certain.

His tight jaw and stiff muscles underneath my fingertips told me that he would be unable to handle the torture if I pushed him any farther before retreating entirely. "Push me away," he pleaded quietly, needing to make sure I really was ready.

I watched golden flecks circle his pupils. "No," I told him, and I was breathless and on my back a heartbeat later.

Scarlet hair cascaded around me, but my eyes were drawn up to his, which were barely a few handbreadths above me. His fingers were fisted in the pillow on either side of my head, and his knees were clenched tightly against my hips. "I can't take much more," he warned, quivering above me.

Willing myself to ignore the arresting timidity that had inhabited my veins for months, I raised my hand and stroked his chest sensually. "I know. Show me."

Breath wheezed past his lips but it was only a heartbeat before he was spreading hot kisses across my collarbone. The fire scattering through him was barely contained, and I could feel each of his jagged breaths that barely clung onto sanity. My bra, his shirt, and his pants were on the floor within seconds, and I quivered in anticipation as his lips crossed the tops of my breasts before travelling down.

A pleading moan tore itself from me as his tongue flicked against my right nipple. Grinning into my skin, he skimmed his fingers across my abdomen before reaching my other breast. There, he circled his fingers with agonizingly light touches as his kiss wreaked havoc on my nipple. As my panting burned into light moans, he both eased his kiss and slowed his kneading fingers, replacing the heated touches with maddening caresses that simultaneously pulled me back to the ground and sent me soaring higher. When my breathing evened slightly, his tongue lapped against me again, and agonizingly clever fingers pinched and soothed my other breast.

Twice he did this—built me wings and fastened them to my back and let me get airborne before coaxing me back down. When he started to ease his touch for the third time, my fingers tightened in his hair, "Slow down again," I gasped breathlessly, "and I will murder you."

A grin brushed against the skin between my breasts, but his lips were already moving again, nearly cutting off my whimpered affirmations. I gripped him tightly, arching against his mouth pleadingly. He pressed a few wet kisses to one of my breasts—I frankly didn't give a damn which one—before he moved downward. So engulfed in the trance he'd put me in, I had just enough time to pant his name before I realized what he was doing, and then I was lost as his lips trailed to the part of me that craved him the most.

Wet. Soft. Gentle. Determined. Rough. Desperate.

I panted against the air between us, begging for him not to stop, and in one tidal wave of emotion and feeling, I felt like I was crashing into the rocks beneath the cliff I'd just been perched upon.

As the last of my throaty protests faded into submission, I released my grip on his hair and melted into the mattress, boneless and reveling in the shockwaves that he eagerly caught on the tip of his tongue.

I felt his lips leisurely trailing upward, but I was too breathless to pay much attention. He'd just shoved me off a soaring precipice and I felt more alive than I had in years. His lips reached the shell of my ear. "I love you," he panted, edging himself up to me.

My mind swam at the feeling, and the words made heat blossomed from deep within my chest. I felt like I had been thrown into the sea, with waves of unassailable emotion threatening to drown me, but with Kenshin as my anchor, I knew I'd be able to overcome anything.

Reaching up, I threaded my fingers through his hair. As our eyes locked, I breathed out the three words that I'd been forcing back for so long. Feeling immediately liberated from the heavy fear that had shackled me down for so long, I felt my eyes and cheeks crinkle from my wide grin as I moved my lips to Kenshin's.

The contact broke his stupor, and within a heartbeat, he was kissing me senseless as he eased himself into me. Swallowing my moan with his lips, he pressed dozens of kisses along my mouth and neck before moving away. Without thinking, I latched both arms around his neck and both legs around his ankles, desperate to keep him from leaving, but when his mouth moved to my ear, I realized I should have known better.

"Don't worry, sweetling," he panted, beginning to move into me again. "You're all mine. Nothing could tear me away from you."

And he did everything that night to wrap me even more securely in his blanket of unassailable devotion so that I'd never even think about a life without him.