--------------àchapter 1

--------------àchapter 1

The feeling of dread

            Kaoru woke up on that day feeling very lonely and hollow. It was normal to wake to such a feeling, as she has been since her father passed away. But that day, the feeling was accompanied by dread ? "Maybe its because of Yahiko will be bothering me in about 10 seconds from now..... ten , nine , eight , seven , six , five , four , three , two , one... "

           

"Hey, busu ! wake up ! we're supposed to be training right now ! "

Yahiko opened the door and was greeted by a punch that threw him away from the door, making him see five flying Tsubame at the same time.

"Whee ! Tsubame . You looked prettier when there are five of you and you can fly"

"How many times I have said it ?! Don't call me ugly ! And while we're at it, don't call me hag either !".

She stormed off  and headed to the bathroom to take her bath. Taking revenge on Yahiko is making me better, she thought. "But somehow, I still have that dreadful feeling. Why am I have this bad feeling ? And come to think of it, I have felt this feeling before. It is as if ... "

"Good morning, Kaoru-dono . Sessha see that you have been woken up by Yahiko. ", a friendly greeting disrupted Kaoru's train of thought.

"Oh , its you, Kenshin. The kid didn't wake me up. I woke up myself. He was there only to annoy me"

"Hey, don't call me kid, old hag !!"

Kenshin closed his eyes. "Kaoru-dono will explode. Five, four, three, two, one and...."

Nothing happened. Surprised, Kenshin opened his eyes and was puzzled. Kaoru was looking at him, as if trying to find anything wrong with him. The look in her eyes seemed sad, he thought. But maybe its because she have just woken herself from her sleep, he reasoned. Or maybe she has found out. The thought scared him.

"Something's wrong , Kaoru-dono ?" the question was asked through a smiling rounoni mask.

The question was not intended to ask Kaoru why she was staring at him, but was asked to distract her and to make sure she wouldn't notice what was going through his mind at that time. 

"Eh ?! Well, nothing . I , er , eh " .  It worked as usual, the inquiry distracted her and the stammering proved it.

"Emm...  bath. Yes, that's it. Have you prepared the bath, Kenshin ? " Kaoru managed to find a suitable reply to the question being asked.

"Yes, that sessha have. Sessha will also be doing the laundry right now", came the sweet reply.

Kaoru smiled and turned to her student and said, "Practice on your own until I come, ok KID ", making sure the word kid was stressed."

"Yes, OLD HAG".

The reply was expected. She sighed.  Yahiko was like , no not like, a brother to her, although she would rather jump into a river to admit it in front of him. And judging from his reaction to her, she was sure Yahiko felt the same way too.

Kaoru began to continue her walk to bathroom when an understanding came to her mind why she was having the strange feelings. Making sure Yahiko and Kenshin were not around, she walked stealthily to her destination. She has to do it without someone else finding out. She has remembered when she has such feelings. Upon reaching the place, she entered it. What she saw shocked her.

"Where is she ? I have been training for two hours and she's still taking her bath ?".  Being a hot headed boy, or a Tokyo Samurai as he would call himself, Yahiko likes to complain a lot.

"Sessha have finished doing the laundry. Sessha will search for her before  preparing the breakfast ". Kenshin began to walk to her room when a certain rooster head jumped on him.

"OROOO!!", the suprised sound coming the mouth of a dazed Kenshin.

"Have you cooked yet, Kenshin ? I'm as hungry as a horse".

"Not yet, Sano".

"Kso !! Then what are you doing now? Go to the kitchen right now !! A street fighter needs energy, you know" .

"Oro ! Sano".

Kenshin was about to say something when he saw Kaoru appeared, fully clothed in her training gear.

"Sorry, Yahiko. I was mediating right now. Kenshin, since Sano is right here, you might as well cook breakfast for him and youself. Yahiko and I will skip breakfast. Our training will be quite long today that I think we will only finish at lunchtime".

"Why ?" the boy demanded.

"Because, a fighter have to be ready to fight although he is hungry at that time"

The answer was enough to keep Yahiko's mouth from churning out more whines and complaints. Anything that is accompanied by the phrase " a fighter have to be ready to fight" always has that effect on him, even cleaning the dojo floor.

 Kenshin looked at her and was puzzled. Something was not right with Kaoru. She looked beatiful, as usual but she has a look of total calmness but at the same time very determined on her. It's as if she was going to do something. And I don't think I am going to like that something, he reasoned.  Kenshin was going to ask her but Sanosuke drawled about his hungry stomach and dragged him to the kitchen.

The young shihondai looked at them going to the kitchen before turning to Yahiko.

"Today is your lucky day, Yahiko." Yahiko gulped. She was that angry ?

Sensing what he was thinking, Kaoru put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "No, I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking of teaching you all the moves and techniques you haven't learn yet."

 "Really ?! " Yahiko was throwing her a hug when he realized what he was doing. He quickly withdrew his hands and attempted to cover his action. "Heh heh, There's a good purpose to have Busu around after all". A bokken hit his head repeatedly.

They trained very hard, with Kaoru showing endless determination and Yahiko showing endless enthusiasm.

"You know, right now they seemed to me like siblings", Sanosuke remarked, while having a grass stalk in his mouth while rubbing his full stomach.

"Yes. They do". The answered was given without full attention to what was said. Kenshin looked at both Yahiko and Kaoru. "Something is not very right here. But what?  Kaoru's techniques are getting better, and so are Yahiko. But why I can't feel something is wrong ? In fact all of this seems so normal." Kenshin forgot about the fear he felt earlier on.

"Very good, Yahiko. You have done well to learn all of it. I'm proud of you" Kaoru wiped the sweats off her face with her hand.

Yahiko felt very proud at that compliment that he beamed with pride and he even didn't try to hide it with retorts and taunts as usual. "Thank you, Kaoru. You're the greatest.".

At this, Kaoru also smiled. Her smile was underlined with a sense of achievement. "Now let us take our bath before we eat our lunch".

Hearing this, Kenshin went to the kitchen to finish cooking the food while Sanosuke set the dishes. For food, the former Zanza was willing to set the dishes, as long as he didn't hear a bad comment about it. Unfortunately, that was what he heard from Yahiko. Kenshin had to break the fight that they caused.

Author's disclaimer

I don't own anything regarding RK. Sony and Watsuki and other parties do, and I don't want Sony to take my walkman away from me just because I make a dumb mistake of not putting this disclaimer.

I also want to thank Square Pictures for the great movie. Long live Dr. Aki !!

Apart from the above disclaimer, I will appreciate it if people R&R (Read and reply). Flames are accepted, so does major charge cards. Recipes for fried chicken are very welcomed.