Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin was created by Nobuhiro Watsuki, and this story is only fanfiction, written to satisfy this author's craving to have more of Enishi and Kaoru stories out there.

Note: This fanfiction is an Enishi/Kaoru pairing. If alternate pairings offend you, this is not for you.

This story was written over a year ago. I'm just putting it up to keep some of you entertained while I finish my main project which is still untitled up to this time (TBA). Not much plot here except the evolvement of Kaoru and Enishi's characters. This story was written simply because I feel like such a girl and I wanted Kaoru and Enishi to have some love, lol.

Chapter 1

Kaoru looked out across the balcony at the never-ending expanse of water in front of her. It was her second day on the island as a prisoner of Yukishiro Enishi, and his words from yesterday still echoed in her mind. This island is a natural prison. More than twenty miles to the mainland.

After crushing her hopes of escaping by herself, she had locked herself in her room, trying to quell the tears that were threatening to spring from her eyes. She will not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She steeled her will, and forced herself to think of less dreary thoughts.

However, being cooped up in her room allowed a limited number of less dreary thoughts to fill her mind, and after spending her entire second morning walking back and forth in the small space, she decided to venture out again.

The house in which he held her was massive. Her room was on the second floor, and she knew from hearing his footsteps last night that her captor had the room right across the hall from her. The rest of the house seemed devoid of other life, though she knew some people came and went at varying times.

Kaoru felt his presence behind her, and she turned her head slightly to see Enishi standing by the door to the balcony, leaning his tall frame against the sliding doors. He was wearing a shirt that looked like it might have come from China, but its front buttons were undone, revealing his torso, which was wrapped in bandages. His left arm was in a sling, and there were also several cuts on his cheeks. With the kind of beating he had taken from Kenshin two days ago, she would have expected him to look tired, but his face only wore that neutral expression, his glasses half hiding his eyes from her.

Kaoru's lips tightened, and since he gave no indication of talking to her, she turned her attention back to the sea. It was hard to think of happy thoughts at the moment, though, because she was becoming increasingly aware of the hunger gnawing at her stomach.

"The kitchen is downstairs. No one else uses it. You can make your own food there," Enishi said, as if reading her mind. Kaoru frowned. He most likely heard her stomach growling.

"Are you waiting for Battousai?" he asked, and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

"His name is Kenshin," Kaoru said. "And yes, I am waiting for him."

"Yesterday I said that you won't be here long," he said. "But I doubt he will be coming for you in the next couple of days. Pointless to stay out here looking at the sea."

She finally turned around and looked at him. "Do you… do you have any news of him?" she chanced asking.

He regarded her for a while. "No. My plan for jinchu was to hit him in Tokyo, and I have done that. Now the next move is his. I'm only waiting." The corners of his mouth curved slightly in a smile.

Kaoru's stomach twisted again with worry, then growled more audibly with hunger. Enishi's smile widened. "Go feed yourself in the kitchen Kamiya. I will return you to Tokyo eventually, and I can't do that if you die from hunger."

Kaoru walked to the kitchen, which was big, like the rest of the house. It's more like a mansion, really, she thought as she ran her hand along the counter. It was built modern style, complete with indoor plumbing and furniture which must have been from different places around the world.

The kitchen was well-stocked, she found out, on opening the cabinets. However, she was not a versatile cook, not even a decent one, so she settled for a simple recipe of miso soup and rice balls. As she was spooning the soup into a small bowl, she thought for a second, and spooned more soup into a second bowl for Enishi. Putting a couple of rice balls on the tray beside the soup, she walked back to the veranda where she had left him. He was still there, standing at the same spot where she had been standing earlier.

Kaoru approached him, making sure he heard her footsteps, and laid the tray of food down on a nearby table. She saw him look at the tray with a hint of disbelief. She nodded. "I made dinner. I noticed that you do not have anything to eat either, and…. If I was cooking, I might as well cook for two. You should eat up as well, it will help your injuries heal faster."

He gave her a curt nod and turned his gaze back to the sea.

"I thought you said waiting was pointless," she said, standing by the railing a few feet away from him.

"I wasn't waiting for Battousai," he muttered. His glasses had slipped down his nose and she glimpsed his turquoise eyes narrowing. He suddenly stepped back from the railing and pushed his glasses up his nose.

Kaoru nodded and started to walk back inside. She had left her own food in the kitchen. Before she rounded the corner, though, she looked back to see if he would eat her cooking.

Enishi had sat down by the table, looking at the tray of food in front of him. He picked up the bowl and took a sip of the miso soup. Then he picked up the rice ball to take a bite, but his hand stopped halfway to his mouth. He looked at the rice ball suspiciously before taking a cautious bite. Then his mouth curved into a smirk as he set the rice ball down and resumed his position by the balcony railing.

Kaoru raised her eyebrows in irritation. All right, I know the rice balls were a little harder than they should be, but… at least I tried to cook for him! Should have just tried to poison him.

She went back to the kitchen to eat her own dinner and thought again of the possibility of poisoning Enishi. It was an attractive idea, she admitted, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do it. She saw his eyes while he was staring at the ocean earlier. He looked a little forlorn.