Observation
By: Vash-chan aka Makoto Almasy
Rating: G
Summary: Very short one-shot fic about Sanosuke's thoughts on Kaoru-dono. Slightly implied Sanosuke/Kaoru
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin characters are not my property.
AN: This is my first RK fic so constructive criticism is appreciated. I'm sorry if Sanosuke is OOC. Just to let you know, I am a big fan of the Kenshin/Kaoru pairing and think it is WONDERFUL. I'm only trying something different here since Sanosuke/Kaoru isn't common.
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Sanosuke could see she was at it again. Sitting opposite him, the girl was stretching Yahiko's little face with her girlie fingers and yelling into the kid's ear to show how mad she had become. Not many people could spend a day without hearing Kaoru lose her temper. The girl had so much energy every day it was hard to get a silent moment with her. But that wasn't exactly a bad thing. She only ever smashed Yahiko on the head if he called her ugly or teased her constantly about bad cooking. And who could blame her? She was sensitive…just like Sanosuke could be. Get on his bad side and he'd gladly give the person a terrific bruise on his cheek as a reward for making him angry.
"Yahiko," Kaoru screamed, "Have you forgotten who buys the food here?" The boy's tongue helplessly hung above his lower lip as his assistant teacher stretched both his cheeks. "No point in making a fuss over my cooking. Eat up or starve to death, ok?"
Yahiko could only release small yelps as his response to her warning. He couldn't exactly talk straight if his mouth had been horizontally stretched like a long plank of wood. "O-Ok…" he finally managed. Feeling satisfied, Kaoru removed her fingers from his face and his cheeks magically fell back into place. Phew, at least everyone could eat peacefully now. It was hard to believe that Jo-chan could do such a thing with those hands of hers. When Sanosuke first saw her with Yahiko and Kenshin, he merely assumed she was an ordinary girl who dressed up to look pretty. But being the assistant teacher of Kamiya Kasshin style and having the ability to defend with a weapon never crossed Sanosuke's mind at all. And this was a girl who could fight, rather than a swordsman.
So that was why Kaoru could hit harder than most normal girls. It was down to her martial arts training. Sanosuke had found out how her strong her hands could be whenever she punched him or pulled his face hard. Should she keep this act up then it was likely that her punches would be as strong as Sano's. With Kenshin, he was easy to distinguish as a swordsman in Zanza's eyes. Oh the hidden strength was hidden behind those violet eyes all right. So what if Kenshin acted silly. He was a true expert with the Sakabatou. That was what Sanosuke respected the most about the former Battousai.
The short silence around the table ended instantly for Kenshin and Sanosuke when the other two started to growl at each other, causing the room to come alive with their sudden burst of angry taunts towards one another. It appeared that Yahiko hadn't exactly finished his teasing amusement with Kaoru. Unfortunately it also meant that dinner table was back to being very noisy again. The mention of 'ugly girl' and 'stupid' occasionally popped up from Yahiko's mouth, which only maddened Kaoru even more. Her sensitivity was really going over the top tonight. Sanosuke knew how fun and annoying the little Samurai boy could be within their circle of friends. He was like that all the time.
Kenshin had apparent trouble with trying to stop Yahiko and Kaoru from making faces to each other. His voice was easily inaudible against the mighty power of the arguing and growling taking place in across the table. Unlike Yahiko, Sanosuke had to admit Jou-chan's cooking tonight was a little bit better than her usual attempts, which was quite a change, and it didn't stop him from telling Kaoru the truth about the good food. Yahiko somehow didn't like tonight's dinner and made a classic mistake on telling Kaoru this, which was what brought the argument in the first place. Sanosuke wondered whether the kid was purposely telling Jo-chan the food was bad to make her angry like he often did. That was a likely possibility, knowing Myojin Yahiko's sneakiness.
As much as he was tempted, Sanosuke didn't want to end the dispute right away. He could by grabbing Yahiko with one hand and kept the kid in the air until he apologised. But he chose not to do this. Instead, he casually smiled alongside his best friend, Kenshin and watched the amusing show go ahead. Besides, the former Fighter For Hire seemed to feel more intrigued while watching Kaoru argue with someone annoying like Yahiko. Not only did it bring out her energetic personality but also some of her beauty. He wasn't sure whether Kenshin could see the same thing. Though in the perspective of the former, he clearly saw for himself the main attractive streaks of Jou-chan. Ignoring the snarling expression on Kaoru's face, which Sanosuke did find rather cute, he took in the young woman's shiny ebony hair that swayed across her straight shoulders. Although he wasn't physically near her, he could sense the softness of her locks touch his palms and stroke against the tip of his fingers.
Strangely, Sanosuke didn't have any difficulty in removing the sound of the loud bickering while he watched Jou-chan's every movement. Kenshin, on the other hand, had miraculously gone back to focusing on his food and did his best to ignore such a common disturbance. He was pretty much doing the same as Sanosuke – ignoring the interference and paying attention to dinner (or more interesting things in Sano's case). Seeing that Kenshin wasn't noticing other strange happenings around him, the former Sekihoutai member resumed his dark brown eyes to the only female sitting opposite him.
Kaoru had no idea she was a woman who could be observed for hours and hours. She wasn't the rich snobby kind of person. Yet, what surprised Sanosuke was how she could wear a variety of colourful kimonos every day (and she wasn't someone who received lots of money in her fingers like most government figures did). Sanosuke loved how Kaoru's indigo eyes sparkled and matched the flowery patterns of her clothing. It made her more striking to look at and the cute sound of her laugh simply improved her attractive image. Sano's eyebrows jerked spontaneously for a brief second. He wondered whether it was the freshly made Sake that was making him dizzy and hot beneath his cheeks. Or was this unusual flush of heat coming from the sight of Kaoru? Maybe analysing the Jo-chan was affecting his normal capability of handling strong Sake. Then again, he could be tired from hearing Yahiko and Kaoru argue for hours.
His gaze began to blur bit by bit but he fought the urge to close his eyes. He kept on telling himself that he wasn't tired, encouraging his senses to stay awake for a little longer. This analytical session was rather interesting and Sanosuke straightened his gaze to look at Kaoru again, watching her beauty spread across his face and laughing at her angry yet cute behaviour (especially as she stuck her tongue out to Yahiko).
"Sano?" Kenshin beckoned him suddenly. Sanosuke's heard immediately swirled to the right to glance at his friend. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah I'm fine," The Fighter-For-Hire replied. "Just enjoying the show Yahiko is pulling off with Jou-chan."
"Oh I thought you were about to fall asleep there like you usually do with drinking so much Sake," Kenshin laughed.
"Nah I'm ok." Sanosuke's ears tuned back to reality and he saw that nothing had changed during his observation period on Kaoru. Yep, the noise was still there but this time the two arguing opponents were fighting on who got to have the last piece of the fish sitting in the middle of the table. Thankfully the growling and teasing had stopped though now tonight's brawl between assistant teacher and student had reached to a food fight instead. Still, it was just as funny to watch for everyone else.
"You two can't stop, can you?" Sanosuke murmured and drank from his bottle vigorously, shutting his ears off to the ongoing noise between Kaoru and Yahiko. Seemed like he really was tired. And it wasn't because of the heavy drinking he had been doing but it was probably because his eyes had been in its dreamy state for so long (Well…he didn't honestly care, as long as he was enjoying himself). Despite the temper she had, Kaoru was an amazing woman inside and out. Sanosuke knew it very well from the bottom of his heart, even he never told Jo-chan what he felt about her face-to-face. Kenshin was one lucky man to have a girl like her in love with him. All Sano had to do now was get his best friend to see Kaoru's inner beauty spots for himself (unless Kenshin was that blind to see the girl's thoughts towards him, knowing how silly he could be when it came to Kaoru-dono).
END.
Yes it sounds weird but this was a small idea I came up with during a brooding session