Laundry Day



"No no no... you're doing it all wrong!"

Sanosuke pulled his arms out of the tub and brushed back that awkward lock of hair that always managed to fall directly into his eyes with one hand. A tract of suds left itself there, much to his irritation. "What am I doing wrong this time?" he asked of Kenshin, who was staring at him with faint disapproval.

"You're just shoving the hakama across the washboard... not scrubbing it at all! You need to knead the cloth, using the knuckles of your hands."

"The dirt's come out," Sano reasoned, holding up the soggy and sudsy article of clothing for Kenshin to see.

Kenshin's lower lip stuck out just a touch. "But that's not the point."

Sano blinked at that. "What?"

"It's the process that's important. The motions of the scrubbing, the rhythm – not the end result. The journey is worth more than the destination."

Sano stared at Kenshin for one long moment, then down at the hakama, and then back to Kenshin again. "Only you could be so philosophical about laundry, koi."

Kenshin's expression arranged itself into a full-fledged pout. "Oro."

Sano just laughed and kissed the pout off his face. "Let me see I have this straight..." he began, letting his hand fall to a particularly warm and responsive portion of Kenshin's anatomy, "I start with rhythmic motions, right?"

Kenshin gasped a short, high-pitched, "Oro!" as gently, ever so gently, Sano's hand began to move.

"Oh, and you said to knead, using my knuckles – like this?"

Kenshin oro-ed again.

"Then to combine the motions, keeping them steady... yet light, so as to not damage... ne?"

Kenshin sputtered random syllables, attempting speech and failing. Sano just grinned and kissed him again, ignoring the fact that there was nothing to do with kissing in Kenshin's instructions.

"Next," he whispered around Kenshin's earlobe, "I should check my progress." And at that moment, Sano's hand came to a complete stop.

"Tease," Kenshin hissed between his teeth, clutching at Sano's shirt almost helplessly. "Your shirt is right, you are evil..."

"I thought you said the journey was more important than the destination?"

"I was talking about laundry!"

"Isn't laundry like a life philosophy to you?"

Kenshin growled and shoved Sano back onto the soft, green grass, his eyes dark and lusty. "Not right now it isn't." He tugged at the hem of the aku shirt. "Now get out of those dirty clothes right now. We're doing laundry."

"Laundry? Is that what you're calling it today?" Sano started to retort, but then his mouth was far too busy to continue speaking.

Kaoru returned home much later that day to find that the laundry had been left sitting in the yard. Only half of it had been washed, and even less of that was hanging up to dry. Kenshin himself was nowhere to be found.

Kaoru scowled. "I hate it when Sanosuke helps Kenshin with his chores..."