Time for A New Beginning Chapter 1, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, yada yada yada, get it? I don't own it! If I owned it, why would I be writing a "Fan Fic." Think about it ppls.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chapter One

Kaoru sneezed as she stepped out of the rain and underneath the safety of the dojo. 'I'm late again, I hope that they saved me something.' She thought and sighed and then sneezed again. She was sopping wet from head to foot, and knew that she was dragging a large trail of water behind her as well as mud. She sighed again thinking of how long it would take to clean up and then stopped at the door.

"Kenshin, what do you think of Kaoru?" Kaoru suddenly heard Sankosuke say behind the door, which made Kaoru stop and just waited there.

"Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked and watched as Sano nodded. "I think many different things of Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said rather puzzled. "What do you mean by the question Sanosuke? There are many different answers to that."

"I mean, relationship." Sano replied, getting rather annoyed with the rurouni.

"Relationship?" Kenshin repeated. "Well, she's a comrade, a friend…"

"I MEAN!" Sanosuke was now yelling at the moment but brought his voice down to finish the sentence. "The way that a man feels about a woman, that way, geeze Kenshin, you're a great samurai but you don't really have anything else beside that."

"Woman Sanosuke?" Kenshin asked with that confused look that he always makes when he gets confused. "Oro? Kaoru-dono's just a kid, she's like a little sister to me. Where is she anyway, she's late, even if she is working at that other dojo." It was then when Kenshin sensed that someone who's energy was failing was standing outside the door, he quickly jumped to his feet and slid open the door just in time to see Kaoru collapsing to the ground. "Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin shouted and quickly jumped to catch her.

"She's drenched." Kenshin said and then turned to Yahiko who had finally put down his chopsticks. "Go get me some blankets!"

"Hai!" Yahiko said with out hesitation and jumped up and then ran to where they kept what ever extra blankets that they had.

"Sano, go get Megumi-san, and try to bring an umbrella with you so you won't catch cold from the rain either." Kenshin said.

Sano nodded, knowing that what Kenshin wanted, Kenshin got. He had fought against Kenshin more times then he had wanted to in the past, and knew that there was no arguing. "Just one thing Kenshin, I wonder if Jo-Chan heard our conversation before she passed out."

"Why would that matter?" Kenshin asked as he picked up Kaoru's body.

"You really are a hopeless man." Sano said as he garbed a near by umbrella and then ran out in to the rain. Kenshin brought Kaoru inside the dojo and brought her to her room. "Kaoru-dono, what have you been doing?"

When Kaoru woke up she felt someone remove a piece of cloth from her forehead and then replaced it with a wet one. Her cloths had been changed, and she was now dry and warm, though her forehead felt hot. "Kenshin…" Kaoru said faintly and blushed as she recognized the rurouni.

"You're finally awake, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said happily.

"Finally awake? How long had I been sleeping?" Kaoru asked as she stared in to the rurouni's eyes.

"Three days." Kenshin replied with a worried look on his face. "Megumi was worried as well. You had, still have a fervor, but it was higher three days ago then it is now."

"Three days, oh no I got to…" She couldn't finish her sentence since the moment she started to get up, a wave of dizziness swept over her, which forced her to lay back down.

"Whatever it is that you have to do can wait, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said as he stared at her seriously. "Why where you walking home in the rain, especially a cold rain, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked seriously.

"I was visiting a sick friend." Kaoru lied not wanting to tell Kenshin that she had been working at two other dojos just to make a little more money to feed the four of them. "I guess like I didn't realize how late it was and that it was raining so…"

Kenshin put his arms on her shoulders at that moment and held her down tightly which made Kaoru's heart miss a beat. "Are you telling me the absolute truth, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked, his eyes looking in to hers.

"Yes, it is."

"I don't think so, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said still holding Kaoru like that. "Two men stopped by yesterday wondering where you where the day after you got sick." Kenshin said in the same tone of voice. "They where asking why you didn't show up to work. I knew about at least one other but two, not to mention this one here."

Kaoru just turned her head to the side not wanting to look in to the rurouni's eyes at the moment, not wanting him to see her eyes. "That's my business Kenshin." Kaoru said somewhat coldly. "If I want to work at other places and if they're willing to hire me then why not?"

"Why, why do you have to over work yourself like this?" Kenshin asked.

"That's my business Kenshin, now could you mind, your hurting me."

"Sorry." Kenshin said and released Kaoru. "I'll bring you something to eat and bring the medicine that Megumi-san left for you."

"Do what you want." Kaoru said somewhat coldly as she looked at the wall, not watching the rurouni as he left.

"I'll be back soon, Kaoru-dono."

Kaoru didn't want to see Kenshin at the moment, not after what she heard that night. "Kaoru-dono's just a kid, she's like a little sister to me." She could hear Kenshin say to Sano that rainy night. "She's just a kid…" Kaoru was a legal adult even though she didn't act like it some times, most of the time she knew that she wasn't a normal woman, and didn't act like the quiet type. She yelled a lot, and lost her temper from time to time, but she was still a woman. "I'm just a child to Kenshin." Kaoru thought to herself. "Just a kid…" Tears started to fall. "Just a kid… He treats Yahiko more like an adult to me and I'm older then him…"

It was something more or less almost an hour later when Kenshin finally came back in, and Kaoru turned on to her side and acted like she was pretending to sleep, having had gotten good at doing it when she was a child. She heard a tray of food be put down next to her on one side and then she felt Kenshin's hand on her shoulder. "Kaoru-dono, it's time to wake up, it's time to eat."

Kaoru wasn't really that hungry, and she couldn't tell which one caused it more, her hunger or her sadness of now knowing how Kenshin felt about her. Hesitantly, she "woke" up, and was acting like she had just actually woke up from a nap. "What?" She asked pretending that she didn't hear him the first time.

"It's time to eat." Kenshin repeated. "Do you think that you can sit up?"

Kaoru didn't answer but just sat up, and tried to ignore the dizziness that was coming once again. She clumsily picked up the chopsticks and the bowl and started to eat it slowly, forcing herself to take in the food. The silence was nerving since there usually was a lot of talking between herself and Kenshin. She felt the bowl and chopsticks fall from her hand as she started to fall back on to the futon, but was caught by the red head who sat next to her. "Kenshin…"

"Don't try to push yourself, you'll never get better that way." Kenshin said with a caring voice which made Kaoru blush to how much he was taking care of her. "She's just a kid…" Once again ran through her mind, and she pushed it out of her head. "I guess like I'm not very hungry."

"Just try to eat a little more." Kenshin said as he stared down at the sick female in his arms. "Then you can take your medicine and go back to sleep, Megumi-san said that she would stop by later today to check up on you."

"When was she here?" Kaoru asked.

"I ran in to her when I went out to buy the ingredients for dinner today." Kenshin replied.

"Oh…" Kaoru said and finally picked the chopsticks back up. 'What, what is it going to take to get through to him to how much I care?" Kaoru asked herself as she now finished eating all that she could and then took the medicine that Kenshin gave her and fell back asleep.

There is the end to the first chapter of A Time of New Beginnings; this is my first RK fic so tell me what you think.