There Will Be A Next Time

by Raberba girl

Tomoe & Kaoru receive a couple of visitors. AU

[There Will Be A Next Time]

(rough draft)

A Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Tomoe & Kaoru receive a couple of visitors. AU

o.o.o

There was a sudden, unexpected knock on the door, and ebony eyes met sapphire as the sisters looked at each other. "It's late," Kaoru muttered uncertainly. Tomoe silently held out her hand, and Kaoru quickly moved across to her. They stared at the door silently, two young women alone on a cold winter night, far from anyone who could help them if they found themselves in danger.

"Open the door!" shouted a male voice, the subsequent foul language doing nothing to convince the girls to comply.

"Sano," came a second muffled voice from behind the door, "that's probably not the best form of persuasion, that it is not."

More cursing. "Fine, you're right. Oi!" he shouted again, perfectly audiable through the thick wood. "I've got a nice little bishounen here, prettiest thing you'll ever see! If you let us in, he'll do all your chores."

"Bishounen?" came the soft second voice, sounding injured. "This one hasn't been that young in quite some time, Sano."

"Tell that to your face. Oi! I know you're there, I can smell the fire! Let us in before we freeze to death and haunt you in revenge!"

Kaoru glanced at her sister again. "Weirdest pair I've ever encountered, and that's including those Hiruma sickos."

"We shouldn't," Tomoe said softly. "Mother and Father are gone, there is no one to protect us."

The brazen voice from outside spoke up again, seeming careless of whether the girls could hear. "Ah, forget this. Futae no kiwami!"

"Sano, don't-!" But it was too late. The door abruptly burst into powder and shards of wood. When the girls lowered their sleeves from their faces, they found two men standing in the doorway, almost as different-looking from each other as the Hiruma brothers had been. The difference was that each was quite handsome in his own way. The one who had obviously been shouting was very tall and young, with spiky dark hair, a cocky set of the head, and eyes glimmering with spirit despite the annoyed frown currently bending his mouth. His companion was small and indeed very pretty, with long hair a startling shade of red and large scars on his face in the shape of a cross. It was hard to believe that he was the adult he had claimed to be.

"Please pardon the intrusion," the redhead was pleading. "This one's partner is kind of, er, stupid when it comes to matters of tact, that he is."

Said partner immediately grabbed the redhead in a chokehold, casually glancing back over at the girls as he did so. "Oi, sorry to blow up your door and all that, but we need to stay here for the night."

"Deepest apologies," the rehead whimpered, obviously have a difficult time breathing.

"Are you crazy?" Kaoru said indignantly to the spiky-haired one. "Let him go! He's the nice one!"

"You hear that, Kenshin? She called you nice," the spiky-haired man laughed, releasing his reproachful-looking companion. "Guess she hasn't heard the stories."

"What stories?" Kaoru growled. "Who are you weirdos, anyway?"

"Himura Kenshin," the redhead said apologetically. "And this is Sagara Sanosuke. Please forgive the intrusion."

"Sagara Sanosuke?" Tomoe murmured, raising an eyebrow.

"And proud of it," Sanosuke said defiantly. "Captain Sagara was the best man alive. You got a problem with the name?"

"No," Tomoe assured him calmly, "I just found it a rather...interesting combination."

"Tomoe, leave him alone," Kaoru said in exasperation. "What are we going to do? Now our door's broken and we've got two strange men to deal with."

"We are so sorry. Would you like this one to cook supper?" Kenshin offered contritely.

"Only if Sagara-san offers his assistance as well," Tomoe said. Kaoru glanced at her sister, shaking her head. The older girl's face was completely deadpan, but Kaoru could tell that she was in one of her mischievous moods. Apparently this Sagara Sanosuke had caught her interest.

"What?" Sanosuke exclaimed, startled. "Me? Cook? No way, that's Kenshin's job. Kenshin's!"

Tomoe bowed. "Very well. Then kindly allow me to escort you out, Sagara-san."

"Excuse me?"

"Himura-san has offered to earn his keep," Tomoe pointed out demurely. "Have you some other redeeming skill?"

"Besides snarfing down enough food for ten men in half as many minutes?" Kenshin mumbled teasingly.

"Ah, shut up, you! Look lady, I'll chop your wood or something, but I ain't gettin' close to a kitchen."

Tomoe nodded her assent. "Then I believe you and my younger sister will get along very well."

"Hey!" Kaoru burst out. "My cooking may not be top-notch, but at least I can do better than a man!"

Tomoe pursed her lips, but all she said was a noncommittal, "Hm." Kaoru looked at her in exasperation. The arrival of the two unwanted guests had apparently raised her sister's spirits considerably - Tomoe's teasing kind of creeped Kaoru out, and there was only so much she could take.

"That's only 'cause you haven't had Kenshin's food yet, Jouchan," Sanosuke told Kaoru with a wink, before heading back outside to chop wood or something.

o.o.o

Kaoru could not believe it. The redhead's cooking was better than hers. In fact, it was delicious. "This is not fair," she fumed, banging down her empty bowl.

Kenshin looked alarmed. "A-Apologies, Kaoru-dono. Was the meal not to your liking?"

"It was delicious!" Kaoru shouted at him.

"Oro?!"

"Please do not be offended, Himura-san. I apologize for my sister's behavior."

"Ah, no, it seems to be this one's fault-"

Sanosuke was laughing. "I like you, Jouchan. You're funny. Oi, lady, you haven't happened to have seen some shifty guys around, have you?"

"How come she's a 'lady' and I'm just a 'jouchan'?" Kaoru exclaimed indignantly.

"Please do not be offended, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin pleaded, "This one apologizes for his friend's behavior."

"Don't bother!"

"No, Sagara-san." That was Tomoe. "We have not. Is this a fortunate thing?"

"For you, yeah, I guess," the young man grumbled. "But I swear, my hands are itching for Shishio's neck..."

"And Shishio-san is...?"

"A very dangerous man, Tomoe-dono," Kenshin said seriously. "If you ever see him, stay out of his way. He and his men recently arrived in these parts, and we have a...slight hindrance to opposing them, that we do."

"It'd probably help if we knew what these guys looked like," Kaoru said pointedly.

Sanosuke laughed. "Believe me, you'll know him. Looks like he's been spitted and roasted, and his minions are a pretty motley crew."

"Oh, I see," Kaoru said with a wicked grin. "Like you two, you mean."

"Oi! We are nothing like that crazy pack of murderers!" Sanosuke insisted.

There was a sudden hush. "Murderers?" Kaoru said incredulously.

"Well," Kenshin clarified, "that is more a by-product of their main activities, which is to gain power in these lands. Sano and this one have been trying to stop him, but...as was said before, there is a slight problem."

"Care to divulge?" Kaoru suggested.

"But really," Kenshin said hurriedly, as if continuing what he had been saying, "we two are very grateful for your hospitality, that we are."

"Unsubtle changing of subjects," Kaoru grumbled under her breath, but saw that it was useless to press the issue.

Baths were a slight problem. Before, Tomoe and Kaoru would have simply taken turns with no inhibition, but now there were two men in their home and the only other room in the house, the bedroom, had no door.

"We could hang up a sheet," Sanosuke suggested.

"And have you two peeking through? No way," Kaoru shot back. "You two go outside and give us some privacy."

"Er...but then what will you ladies do while we...ah..." Kenshin fumbled.

"We'll hang up a sheet!" Kaoru snapped, her face red. "Now get out!"

Sanosuke rolled his eyes as he and his companion were hustled out of the house. "Geez," he said when the door had slammed behind them. "Pushy little thing."

"They are being very kind to us, that they are," Kenshin said, wrapping his arms around himself and trying not to shiver too hard.

"Yeah, great hospitality," Sanosuke remarked, kicking at the frosty ground. Then both of them stood very still for a while and listened to the sounds of splashing water and soft, feminine voices from inside.

Then one of them screamed.

"What the-?!"

"Kaoru-dono!" Without pausing to think, Kenshin burst back into the house, sword at the ready - and was presented with the sight of Kaoru, standing up in the bath, hand over her mouth, eyes huge as she stared at the corner where Tomoe was holding a squirming furry thing trapped in the folds of a cloth.

"It's only a mouse come in from the cold, Kaoru," she was saying soothingly. Then her eyes fell on Kenshin and turned very cold.

"It was under my towel!" Kaoru shrieked, but then noticed the direction of her sister's gaze. Her head whipped around and she saw Kenshin, gaping like a fish in the doorway and forgetting to breathe. For a moment, everyone was frozen. The cold air from outside raised goosepimples on Kaoru's tender flesh.

Then Sanosuke moved into the doorway and whistled. "Nice, Kenshin."

Kaoru's face flooded crimson. "HENTAI!" she screamed, and began hurling things at the men. She managed three or four good hits before she remembered that she still had no clothes on. "'NEESAN!"

"Geez," Sanosuke mumbled a few minutes later, as he and his companion were locked in the storage shed. "No one's ever going to marry that psycho."

Kenshin was slumped against the door and looked too mortified to answer.

After an hour of punishment when the two men thought they were going to die of cold and Kenshin only just barely managed to keep Sanosuke's Futae no Kiwami in check, Kaoru finally deigned to let them out of the shed and back to the fire, uttering dire threats the whole way. She and Kenshin avoided eye contact like the plague, tending to speak to each other only as indirectly as possible.

"You know - Sagara-san - since you're the ones in our home, you should be following our rules, and that means, um, no guests are allowed to bring weapons in the house."

"You see a weapon on me, Jouchan?"

"..."

"Perhaps your friend would be willing to abide by the rule as well," Tomoe hinted, and her sister threw her a grateful look.

Kenshin looked down at his sword unhappily. "This one...supposes that if it is only for a little while, you may take this sword into your safekeeping."

Kaoru immediately marched up, snatched the weapon away, and hugged it to herself protectively. It was bad enough having to harbor a couple of peeping toms; they didn't need sharp pointy objects in their possession on top of that. "Thanks," she snapped curtly, and went to put it under her sleeping mat. She'd sleep on top of the sword all night if she had to.

"Please be careful with it," Kenshin begged. "It would be very difficult to find a replacement."

"The life of a traveler is hard," Tomoe said sympathetically, kneeling to refill the men's tea cups. (Sanosuke looked as if he would have liked something stronger than tea, but wisely stopped himself from asking in time.)

"Oh - it's not the money," Kenshin started to explain.

"It's not all about the money," Sanosuke corrected, trying and failing not to slurp down the whole cupful in one swallow. "But even if there was a sakabatô seller on every street corner, you'd still have to come up with the cash from somewhere."

"Sakabatô?" Kaoru said in surprise. "You mean-?" Her eyes accidentally met Kenshin's, and she ripped them back away with a blush. Instead, she pulled the sword back out of its hiding place and unsheathed it curiously. Sure enough, the blade was reversed, with its sharper edge facing the wrong way. "You can't kill anyway with this!" she exclaimed.

"Got a problem with that?" Sanosuke said in amusement.

"Huh? Uh - no, it's just...um..." Kaoru looked at Kenshin again, this time in a new light. "It's just, um, interesting."

"Enough human life has been taken by these hands," Kenshin murmured to his tea cup. "It will not happen ever again."

"How d'ya expect to take down Shishio, then?" Sanosuke pointed out. "For crying out loud, if you won't kill him and you won't let me kill him, how are we gonna take him down? Talk him to death?"

"When the time comes, there will be a way."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, you gals don't happen to have anything...you know, stronger than tea around, would ya?"

The sisters did not even have to say a word to each other to agree that they would sleep in shifts. Tomoe simply took up a sewing project and worked quietly throughout Kaoru's preparations for bed. The older girl conversed easily and quietly with the men, who showed no indications of getting sleepy. Sanosuke ended up conking out about the same time Kaoru drifted off to sleep, but by the time she re-awakened in response to her sister's gentle nudge, Tomoe and Kenshin seemed to have been conversing for a long time.

"Private business," Kaoru grunted in response to Kenshin's anxious inquiry about whether he had disturbed her. He said nothing when she came back and Tomoe lay down on her futon.

After a long while, when Tomoe's breathing had become deep and even, he ventured, "You...er, are no longer tired, Kaoru-dono?"

"Nope," she said, too loudly. Sanosuke rolled over and snorted in his sleep. "I've got all the rest I need," Kaoru added in a whisper. Then they sat there for a minute in uncomfortable silence.

"This one...once again apologizes, deeply, for...er, what happened earlier."

"Don't mention it," Kaoru mumbled sourly. "Please. Ever again." She added under her breath that was not meant to be overheard, "Jerk." He winced, which meant he must have had sharper ears than she thought.

The silence dragged on again, and Kaoru wished for the first time in her life that she was good at sewing. Or something. Anything to take the edge off the boredom. "So...if you don't kill people anymore, does that mean you used to?"

"Yes. It is an uncomfortable subject."

Well, there went that conversation starter. "So are you...not sleepy?"

"Too much to think about," Kenshin confessed. "This one does not need much sleep, anyway."

"Oh." She sighed. "Great."

There was a pause. Then he said softly, "Kaoru-dono, you have nothing to fear. The two of us truly mean you no harm, and we can protect you from any outside dangers. Please rest."

"I'm not tired," she snarled.

He looked away and did not bring the subject up again.

They ended up talking about other things, however, throughout the long night. Kaoru managed to coax out little tidbits of his childhood, how he had been born to farmers and ended up training under what sounded like an evil sake-obsessed monster. Kenshin was a bit more forthcoming on how he had met Sanosuke, the two of them fighting as enemies before finally acknowledging a common goal and becoming allies. They discovered afterwards that they quite liked each other, despite numerous personality differences.

"I don't see how you put up with that lout, personally."

"Sano has a good heart. Sometimes it's just hard to find under all the...unrefined, er, hotheadness."

"So are you the opposite?" she asked pointedly. "A black heart hidden beneath all the niceness and fancy talk and pretty looks?"

"Sometimes this one thinks so," he mumbled. He was serious, which made her feel bad for picking on him. Anyone who thought they were that bad couldn't really be.

"I...I'm sure you've got a heart of gold, too. Don't, um...make that face. Please." Because it was so cute she was in danger of falling in love with it.

A smile quirked at the corners of his mouth. "As you wish, Kaoru-dono. Is there, perhaps, a more cheerful subject you would like to talk about?"

"Like, what, food?"

And that was how Tomoe woke up to the sound of them discussing - or rather, arguing about - the best way to prepare octopus.

"It's nearly morning. Would you like me to start getting breakfast ready, Kaoru? Or," Tomoe's eyes were smiling, even though her mouth barely twitched, "would you like to continue your octopus conversation?"

"You can cook," Kaoru fumed. "I'm sure you do it better than him." She flopped back onto her futon and pulled the blanket up over her head, and was madder than ever when breakfast later proved that Kenshin was a better cook than both sisters, not just the younger one. Not that Tomoe didn't take it with good grace.

"Such a lovely meal, Himura-san. I look forward to the pleasure of your company again soon."

'Don't invite these wackos back, Neesan!' Kaoru thought.

"It's nothing, really," Kenshin was saying. "Unfortunately, we might have to take you up on your offer... We must confront Shishio, but it might take time and we have nowhere to go if the weather gets bad again. If you are willing to host us in the future, we will be very grateful."

"You are welcome any time," Tomoe said graciously.

"Don't worry," Sanosuke said as they were leaving. "We'll catch Shishio soon and make mincemeat out of him. Just in case, though, stock up on some sake, won't ya?"

"I will be sure to do so," Tomoe said with the smallest hint of a smile. "Do not worry if your mission takes longer to complete than you planned."

"Starting to think that won't be such a bad thing," Sanosuke muttered under his breath, a similar smile playing on his lips.

"Farewell, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, a little sheepishly.

"Bye, pervert."

"Oro..."

Once the men were out of sight, Kaoru turned to her sister and exclaimed, "You like him?!"

"They were both perfectly respectable young men," Tomoe said, going back inside to clean up the very little that Kenshin hadn't. "And amusing." The small smile was back.

"Oh, yes, so amusing to have them see me naked," Kaoru fumed.

"Perhaps you should learn to like mice, Kaoru-chan."

"Maybe you should learn to stop flirting with strangers."

"Flirting?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!"

"None of the other villagers seem to."

Kaoru paused. "You have a point," she said thoughtfully. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only person in the world who understood her sister's subtleties, but that Sagara guy had seemed to pick up on them easily. He didn't seem like a particularly observant person, which perhaps indicated that he had been paying more attention than usual. "Well...in any case, I wish you luck."

"You also, Kaoru-chan."

"Me?!"

"The little one didn't seem all too bad a catch himself."

"Neesan!" Kaoru wailed, her cheeks flushing, though more with pleasure than the embarrassment she had expected. "I don't like him..."

"Don't you?"

"I don't like him that much..."

"Yet."

Kaoru shook her head a little, smiling. "You're shameless, you know that?"

"With the two of us on our own, it would be best to get securely married as soon as possible."

"Uh huh. And that's the only reason you were flirting with Sagara-san, right?"

There was a twinkle in Tomoe's eyes as she met her sister's gaze. "Does it matter?"

"As long as you're happy, then nope." Kaoru smiled back, and went to help her sister finish the chores.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: *not happy with the writing quality, but what else is new* This fic was originally started solely to scrach my itch to write a Kenshin/Tomoe story. So I cast around for a plot and decided to do another fairy tale retelling. However, as I started typing, I liked what was coming out, but it was nothing like what I'd wanted. I finally put it aside and started another attempt at a KT story, this one much more successful because I left Kaoru and the others out of it. Then I came back to this, wondering if I should delete it since it had not served its purpose...but I really liked the interaction it had started out with, and I experimentally started typing more.

Tomoe shocked me by taking a sudden interest in Sano. I was intrigued by the challenge, and decided to give the unorthodox couple a chance. I've found that I like AU Sano/Tomoe better than Sano/Megumi, which I've never been particularly fond of. XD

Unfortunately, I never finished this story properly...I can't really write for the RuroKen fandom anymore, so I decided to just ditch the fairy tale idea, tack on an ending to this, and post it as is. Tomoe seems to be good at the kind of banter I've grown to love writing in my Kingdom Hearts fics. And Tomoe/Kaoru is one of my new favorite platonic pairings in the RK fandom, so that was fun to try out, too. ^^

Normally I hate the anime and try to avoid using its alterations in my fics (like Kenshin 'accidentally' seeing Kaoru naked in the first episode), but...sometimes it comes in handy for the story.