The sound of giggling caught Kaoru's attention. Checking to see that Yahiko was still hard at work practicing the latest move she had assigned, she tiptoed to the dojo door and peered out. Kenshin knelt in the courtyard with a tub of sudsy water and a basket of laundry. And Azame was…what was Azame doing?

As Kaoru watched, perplexed, Azame stealthily reached out a hand towards the end of Kenshin's ponytail. The ex-assassin paid her no attention whatsoever. But just as Azame's chubby fingers were about to latch on to her prize, Kenshin reached forward for another gi, neatly twitching it out of her reach. Azame giggled again and tried to stifle the sound with her hands.

Kenshin still seemed to ignore her, but Kaoru saw him smile.

And so the game continued. Kenshin scrubbed, humming quietly to himself. Azame stalked the ponytail. Kenshin pretended not to realize she was there. She'd make a grab…and an idle stretch on Kenshin's part would cause her to miss by inches. Or he'd nod his head in time to the song, foiling her again but causing the ponytail to bob enticingly in the air. Each near miss sent Azame into spasms of half-smothered laughter.

"Kaoru?" Yahiko came to stand by her at the door. "I finished the…" He stopped to stare at Kenshin and Azame. "What are they doing?"

"Laundry," Kaoru told him, straight-faced, and watched as Kenshin cleared a few strands of hair from his eyes with a flick of his head…sending the ponytail over Azame to rest on his other shoulder, magically avoiding her clutching fingers as he did.

"You know," Yahiko muttered after a second or two. "That's kind of…cute." Then he blushed. A ten-year-old boy was not supposed to care about cute. For once though, Kaoru didn't tease him, because, well, it was.

At that moment, Kenshin stood and stretched (rescuing his ponytail once more) and picked up the basket of wet clothes. His eyes widened in mock-surprise. "Azame-dono! This one did not see you, that he did not."

At this, Azame burst into peals of laughter. She laughed so hard, in fact, that she fell over, and Kenshin had to put down the laundry to pick her up. He managed to keep a straight face, but Kaoru could see the suppressed laughter in his eyes. "Since you are here," he said innocently, "would you like to help this one with the clothes?"

"White, white!"

As she bounded towards the clothesline, Kenshin looked up at Kaoru and Yahiko and grinned.