First, let me thank sapphiewings for giving me her fanfiction to finish. She was having far too many problems to continue with this. She gave me an idea of what this fiction would turn out like and I'm ready to take it on! Alright, the chapters are gonna be longer, but not out as fast as sapphirewings had done. I'll keep chapters 1-4 but every afterwards was written by me. Questions? Comments? My e-mail box is always open.

much luv
Sephiress

I DO NOT OWN RUROUNI KENSHIN! and even if i did, i wouldnt give it to you!

Chapter 1) An Invitation

It was a beautiful Thursday morning at the Kamiya dojo. The sky was a clear periwinkle blue and the smell of cooking vegetables wafted through the air. The dew on the grass seemed to sparkle as the sun shone down on two figures in the courtyard.

"Excellent, Yahiko", said Kaoru with a smile on her face. She was proud of her first pupil. He was becoming a very skilled swordsman, except when he lost his temper, of course.

"Now finish 100 strokes and you can come in for some breakfast," she continued as she turned and walked away.

"Too easy Kaoru! I think you're getting soft on me", the young apprentice shouted back at his master who waved at him. Actually he was happy that he would make it back while breakfast was still hot. He began to count his strokes.

Kaoru yawned as she walked through the courtyard of her dojo. 'Everything is perfect today. Even Yahiko is listening. I wonder where Sanosuke is and if Kenshin is done making breakfast.' She smiled at the thought of Kenshin. He was such a sweet guy, and he was always telling her that he would protect her, and he had never failed once. It was no wonder she had fallen head-over-heels for him. But she was too scared of rejection and he would never make the first move. That was all right for now though, she could wait. As she reached the house, she thought, 'Yes, everything is perfect.'

The red-haired rurouni turned from his cooking as he heard the door to the courtyard open. He expected Sanosuke to walk through the door, but was pleasantly surprised. Kaoru walked in, her face slightly flushed from Yahiko's training. Her gi was tightly bunched up around her shoulders, letting him notice her figure slightly. He blushed slightly as he found himself looking her up. He looked her in the eye and smiled.

"So how is it outside, Miss Kaoru? You look a little flushed, that you do", he stated, "Perhaps you should have some water to cool down." Once again, he flashed his innocent smile.

Kaoru smiled at him in return. He was concerned about her again. "That's okay, I'm not that tired anyway. Is breakfast ready?"

"Almost", he replied as he turned back to his vegetables, "I have to finish cutting these though." He picked up his knife and began cutting a tomato into slices flawlessly. He turned when he felt Kaoru's leg brush against his clothing. He looked up and saw her smiling at him.

"It looks like you could use a hand", she said simply, "I'll cut up these carrots." She reached for a knife and began dicing carrots beside Kenshin.

The rurouni looked back down at his half sliced tomato. He vaguely was aware how close his body was to Kaoru. His mind, however, was far away, thinking about his past. He was brought abruptly back when he heard Kaoru gasp beside him, followed by the clatter of a knife. He turned to look at her and saw she was wincing in pain while clutching her hand, blood seeping through her fingers.

Kenshin dropped his knife immediately and whispered, "Miss Kaoru, are you all right?" They slowly sunk down to the floor. He gently took her hands in his and forced her to remove her clutching hand. A long gash ran down the side of her palm, bleeding freely. His amethyst eyes flicked up to her sapphire eyes and saw that they were watering in pain.

"Yyeah, I'm okkay Kenshinn", she stuttered, her voice choking. She would never let Kenshin see her cry over a little cut, even though it was by no means little.

The smell of blood was overpowering to Kenshin. He had not been so close to a bleeding person in years. Small flecks of amber rose in his eyes. 'No! I can handle this. Battousai will not be released!' He closed his eyes and prayed that Kaoru had not noticed their changing color. When he opened them up again, Kaoru was not looking at him, but staring at her wound. He breathed a small sigh of relief and began to work.

Kenshin looked around the room and spotted a bucket of cold water. Using his god-like speed, he rushed to grab it and returned before gravity took Kaoru's hand. "Now, this might sting a bit Kaoru," he warned, his voice slightly lower. He ripped a patch of cloth off his red gi, revealing his muscular chest slightly. Kaoru blushed a bit as she snuck a glance at his chest. He tore the piece of cloth in two and dipped one half in the water. He wrung the wet rag and gently wiped her hand. She winced slightly and he whispered, "I'm sorry". When the blood was gone, he took the other half of red cloth and bound it tightly around her hand, carefully putting pressure in all the right spots.

With Kaoru's help, Kenshin managed to tie a tight knot to bind the cloth and the deed was done. She flexed her hand and looked up to thank her healer. Her deep sapphire eyes met his purple orbs, which stared back at her beneath his red locks. The two suddenly found themselves lost for words as they gazed deep into each other's eyes. They didn't even notice when a knock came from the front door. Sanosuke must have answered the door, because a moment later, the sound of voices drifted through the dojo, one of the voices owned by none other then Aoshi.

Aoshi accompanied Sano as they walked through the hallways of the Kamiya dojo. Sanosuke had forgiven Aoshi for knocking him out during the incident with Miss Megumi and Kanryuu. Light conversation passed about the new members of the Oniwaubanshu. When they walked through the door of the kitchen, they met a strange sight. Kaoru and Kenshin were sitting on the floor, Kenshin holding Kaoru's hand, which was wrapped, in the red material from his gi. Their eyes seemed to be locked on each other, as they were totally oblivious to everything else.

"Ahh-em", Sanosuke voiced, clearing his throat. He could just sense how much chemistry was going between the two and certainly didn't want to break it, but there was a guest here.

Kaoru and Kenshin whipped their heads up at the sudden interruption. They still seemed to be slightly lost in a daydream. Kenshin looked down at their hands and pulled his away quickly. He deeply blushed, but lowered his head so his hair covered his face and no one would see his red cheeks.

Aoshi cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention. It was extremely awkward in the room after breaking the connection between the two. "Perhaps we should step outside, it's a bit stuffy in here." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Kaoru got up from the floor and walked out to the courtyard quickly, wanting to leave the tension surrounding her and Kenshin as soon as she could. Kenshin noticed this and sighed. 'Maybe she doesn't think of me they way I think of her. She doesn't want a man with so much blood on his hands.'

Kaoru leaned against the wall of the dojo, panting slightly. 'The heated gaze shared between her and Kenshin a minute ago had been so intense! It wasn't that she had stopped loving him, but he didn't know that she had seen the gold flecks in his eyes. It was scary to see Kenshin lose control like that and she needed to get away.'

Sanosuke looked down on Kenshin's depressed expression. His thoughts were spread all over his face. Shaking his head slightly, Sano understood that Kenshin didn't know how much Kaoru secretly loved him. Following Aoshi, the two tall men exited to the courtyard as well, leaving Kenshin alone.

For a moment, Kenshin sat there, lost in his thoughts of Kaoru. After a few seconds, he snapped back to reality and went to the courtyard. Everyone turned to face him as he walked into the scene.

"Hey, Kenshin. We were wondering how long it was gonna take you to get off the floor", Sanosuke snickered.

Suddenly they heard Yahiko running to meet the group from the training room. As the young boy approached them, he happily stated, "Hey Kaoru, those 100 strokes were no sweat, so I did 200 instead!" He grinned proudly his achievement.

"That's my apprentice for you, always trying to out do his master", said Kaoru grinning evilly, "even though I've done 1,000 once."

Yahiko gaped at the suggesting of 1,000 strokes. "Stop bragging ugly!" he shouted angrily. He hated to admit it, but Kaoru was a good master and had a lot of skills.

Aoshi cleared his throat again, asking for attention. He was in a hurry and they would all find out why in a moment.

"If I have all of your attention, I'd like to aware you of something", he began. Everyone turned to face him. "There is a banquet being held this weekend to celebrate the new members of the Oniwaubanshu. There will be dinner served and dancing afterwards. I have been asked by Misao if you all would come, even Yahiko is invited. And anyone coming may invite a guest of their choice."

Yahiko's eyes lit up at the thought. He was invited to a fancy party for once, and he could bring a guest! He knew exactly whom he wanted to invite too. His thoughts drifted to him walking into the party wearing his best kimono and Tsumbame linked arm in arm with him.

The spiky-hired boy wasn't the only one having visions of the party. Kaoru was thrilled at the idea of having an excuse to go shopping and get all dressed up. She hoped Kenshin would ask her to dance at least once before the night ended.

"I'd love to come." "Me too!" "Count me in!" "Of course, yes."

Aoshi nodded at his four invited guests. "Well that's set then. The party will be on Saturday at sunset. I'll write down the location of the party for you. Wear your best clothes." He began to walk through the door into the dojo when he said, "Sanosuke, could I have a word?"

Sanosuke nodded and followed Aoshi back into the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and looked at Aoshi curiously.

"What's up?" Sano asked.

"Misao has a request of you and I. She wishes that we set up some sort of plan to set the Battousai and Miss Kamiya."

Sanosuke could see where this was going. A smile slithered across his face.

"Wow Shinomori. This is so unlike you. The Weasel must have you on a pretty tight leash to persuade the Ice Block into this." His grin widened. "Either that or you two have finally gotten some heat, you dog." He nudged the Okashira, but back away at the cold fire in the man's ice eyes.

Sanosuke could have burst out laughing at the way Aoshi looked right now, but he kept his cover. "So what did you have in mind, Aoshi?" he snickered. Aoshi leaned in close and whispered his plan to Sano. (Author's Note: I'm not showing Aoshi's plan now because I don't want to give away a future part of the story.)

Aoshi quickly scribbled down the location of the party on a piece of paper and handed it to Sanosuke saying, "All right, I have to go put phase one into action. Remember, not a word to the two. I'll let myself out." His eyes still looked venemous at Sanosuke, but he suppressed it before walking away. "I'll see you Saturday night, Sano."

"See you then", Sanosuke replied, his eyes dancing as well and a smile on his lips.

He heard the sound of a closing door and chuckled a bit. 'If this works, Kenshin and Missy will owe me big time.'

The door to the courtyard opened and he heard Kenshin come in. Kaoru and Yahiko were still in the courtyard arguing about how old Yahiko should be before he has a girlfriend.

"What's so funny?" the rurouni asked, smiling curiously. Sanosuke looked down at the shorter man and noticed how Kenshin and Kaoru were almost the same height.

Sanosuke smiled back at Kenshin and replied, "Nothing, just thinking about the party." Kenshin would know soon enough anyway. "I think I'm going to take a little nap."

Sanosuke walked to his room at the other side of the dojo. He liked it when the house was quiet. That reminded him of something. He would need to convince Kaoru and Yahiko to leave the house tomorrow so he could talk with Kenshin alone. It was essential to talk to Kenshin if Aoshi's plan was to succeed. After all, Kenshin had a big role ahead.