Amber Fury

Chapter 1

Landing gracefully back on her feet, Kaoru glared towards the person on the opposite side of the room.

Damn it!

His eyes were on her, taking in her frustrated appearance. She crouched in a defensive position, ready to take anything he would throw at her. He stood there, just stood. His eyes were still staring, the violet in them making it hard for her to concentrate on their little match. She mentally kicked herself. Stay focused Kaoru or else he might—

It was then he finally made a move. He leaped up into the air, the bokken he was currently using came down towards her shoulder. Not seeing enough time to move out of the way, she quickly brought her weapon up with both hands to block the attack. It was a surprisingly successful block, something Kaoru got angry over. After he landed, she kicked out her leg, hitting his ankles so he would trip. He merely stumbled back, and did a back flip in order to keep from falling flat on his backside. He landed on his feet a few yards away from her.

"Kenshin," she growled. "You're holding back. I told you not to!"

The said man just smiled. "Forgive me, Miss Kaoru, but this one doesn't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me! I need more practice!"

Kenshin sighed. "If you say so. . ."

Kaoru smiled and got back into stance. She waited until he situated himself also and then she darted towards him, bokken raised. Kenshin waited until she was a foot away until he suddenly disappeared. She stopped running and spun around, which she immediately regretted due to the fact that Kenshin was barely six inches away from her. Her surprise got the better of her and she involuntarily leaped back out of instinct. She flushed at how close his face was to her own, and her eyes darted away from him. It was then she noticed he was gone again, and she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder. Kenshin's arm circled around her waist to prevent her from falling forward, and again she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Never let your guard down," Kenshin murmured into her hair. Ok, now Kaoru resembled a tomato. She was too embarrassed to realize his voice sounded deeper then usual.

"Hey, Kenshin! You gotta make dinner now! We're starving!"

Upon hearing Yahiko's voice, Kenshin let go of Kaoru at once and shook his head fiercely. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Miss Kaoru, do you mind if we continue this later?"

Kaoru nodded, her face still a bit flushed. "I-I can help you with dinner, Kenshin . . ."

Kenshin started to nod, but then immediately thought against it. Kaoru helping with dinner . . . he thought. She said she would help, not make it. But last time she helped out, the kitchen almost was completely destroyed due to her low experience with fire.

"That would be nice, Miss Kaoru." All he had to do was keep her away from the fire . . . maybe she could cut vegetables . . . that was hopefully something she could handle. Her face immediately beamed, and she put her bokken down and bolted to the kitchen. Kenshin, afraid of what would happen with her alone in the kitchen, set his bokken down also and ran to the kitchen before she even went through the door. He looked back at her surprised face and smirked, but then mentally hit himself in the head. He should be worried, but ever since he started practicing with Kaoru after the last battle with Enishi, the Battousai side of him just wanted to come out. He was acting more like Battousai then the regular wanderer, and it scared him to wits end. If he was to show Kaoru, Yahiko, and the rest of the gang his other side, he wouldn't know what would happen, especially to Kaoru.

Kaoru was next to him, looking for a knife to cut vegetables with after he told her to do that. She wouldn't argue with him. She realized how bad her cooking is. After she found a knife, she started cutting. All the while she couldn't stop thinking about what Kenshin did just when they were sparring. He held her waist, which was something her normal Kenshin wouldn't do at all. Then her thoughts turned to that night before, when they were both training. She flushed thinking about it. His eyes. . .

-

"Miss Kaoru, you have to stay alert at all times during battle, you can't slip up," Kenshin said while getting back into stance. It's been more than an hour since they've been practicing, and Kaoru looked like she was ready to pass out, while Kenshin merely had a few beads of sweat running down his forehead.

"I know that, Kenshin," she took a deep breath to steady her breathing. "Now get ready!"

And she charged towards him, already having a plan formed in her mind. She raised her bokken for what seemed like the millionth time, and when she was close enough, she swung down, and it worked. Kenshin side stepped her attempt and aimed his bokken towards her side, and she immediately took her own weapon to her side, taking the defensive stance. She moved her arm and tried spinning towards him. But, as luck would have it, her sock caught on a weak wood plank under her, thus making her trip in the process. Kenshin was too close to her to step back to catch her, and the next thing both of them knew, they fell onto the floor with her on top of him. Her face flushed with anger towards the damn wood plank which ruined her grand plan. Damn.

Realizing that she accidentally pinned Kenshin to the ground, her blush deepened from her embarrassment, and looked down in an attempt to think of an apology, but noticed that she was still on him. Kaoru no baka! Get off 'a Kenshin! She attempted to stand on her own, but something on her waist prevented her from getting up from where she was sprawled. She looked down, and noticed it was Kenshin's hand that held her down. She finally looked up at him with alarm and some other emotion she dared not to show, but failed. His eyes were closed shut, and he looked concentrated.

"Ken . . . Kenshin? Are you alright?"

He finally opened his eyes and stared down at her. Her own sapphires widened. His eyes weren't the gentle violet she became used to so quickly, but they were a golden color! But what surprised her, is that they were gentle, but looked predatory for a split second, she wondered if that was just her though.

"Kenshin, your eyes."

"Wh-what. . ?"

"Your eyes are amber!" Is this Battousai?

"Miss Kaoru, it's alright." His hand finally let go of her waist, giving her silent permission that she could now get off of him. They both got up quickly, Kenshin being the first to completely stand. His hand flew up to rub his eyes. Kaoru stared at him. No, this isn't Battousai. It's still my Kenshin . . . whoa! MY Kenshin? Where the hell did that come from?

"I'm alright, Miss Kaoru," he repeated it, and his smile that lit up his face didn't waver at all. His eyes were closed, but something about his expression looked almost pleading. "This one thinks that we have done enough training for today. We should get to bed."

Kaoru nodded weakly. "Ok, Kenshin." She had a feeling it was a dream that just happened, but it was real. The intensity of his eyes, his voice lowering a notch. It was all just too real. So she went off to get ready for bed. Kenshin did the same also after-

"OW!"

"Miss Kaoru!"

Kaoru held her hand, seeing the crimson liquid flow from the cut she had just given herself from that damn knife. "Ow. . ." she muttered while Kenshin took her hand in his and inspected the fresh wound.

"It's deep, but it won't get infected if we properly wrap it. Sanosuke!"

Sano was immediately in the door way, along with Yahiko. Despite the pain Kaoru felt, she rolled her eyes. They thought dinner was ready. Typical.

Yahiko was the first to rush over and look at the wound in amusement. "Well, ugly, you did it again. Next time you should leave everything to Kenshin in the kitchen. I guess that ugliness you have is also accompanied by lack of common sense and concentration," he snickered.

"Be quiet, you little brat!" while that went on, Kenshin told Sano to go get some bandages from the dojo's bath house, knowing they were there.

"Yahiko," Kenshin started, "go get some cold water." That took the two out of their little battle, and Yahiko huffed while marching out the door. For now Kenshin put a cloth on Kaoru's wound in attempt for the blood to stop from flowing as it was. "Kaoru, you have to be more careful. I don't want to be the one to come to aid all the time," Kenshin chuckled, not realizing what he just said. How he said it. Kaoru was surprised again, but made no move to tell him anything; instead she tried focusing on her cut. Sano came back with a small basket with bandages in it.

"Here, Kenshin. Jou-chan . . . . You must be one clumsy person," Sano laughed when Kaoru glared at him and tried hitting him.

"Rooster head, just go mind your own business and go see what your fox is doing!"

"HEY! FINE, MAYBE I WILL!"

"GOOD!"

Sano stormed off, muttering incoherent phrases. "Oi, Kenshin! Tell me when you're done with dinner! I'm going to the clinic; you can send Yahiko to tell me!"

"We shouldn't wrap this up in the kitchen, Kaoru. There's bacteria and smoke that could aggravate your wound. Follow." He didn't say 'miss', something that didn't escape Kaoru's notice. Just then Yahiko came in with a bucket of water and handed it to the red haired man. "Yahiko, would you mind watching over dinner until I come back?"

Yahiko nodded, muttering something that had 'Akabeko' somewhere in there. Kenshin paid no attention to it and went out into another room where it was less bacterial. He told her to kneel down in front of him so he could wrap the wound. She did, and winced slightly as he started poured a little water over the wound, not paying attention to the floor getting damp from him pouring it.

"Miss Kaoru, this one is curious about what you were thinking about that caused you to not pay attention," Kenshin said when he started wrapping her hand. She immediately blushed and looked away. He lifted on eyebrow at her reaction, but kept quiet. His eyes changed a bit.

"W-well, I was just thinking about a few things," she stuttered. She glanced back at him and noticed he was smirking. "Kenshin, I think we should talk. . ."

"Oh? About what, Kaoru?" His voice got deeper with each word.

"You."

O.O First chapter. My first attempt at a KB fic. Don't worry; Battosai will be more in the main category once the real excitement begins. The rating may switch to M instead of T in a few chapters. I'm not going to do a lemon, seeing that mostly all BK fics have them . . . but I could do lime.

You can tell me what you think about it. Lime or no lime. Reviewers choice, and I'll do whatever I can to make you readers happy (Except lemons. . . heh)

ANYWAY, please review!