I had the sudden urge to return. Here's rewritten second chapter, there are some changes. I'm in the middle of chapter third so I'll post something around next week; )

Disclaimer: no one's mine.

Chapter II

To say that Akira Kiyosato was scared after meeting his new red haired and amber eyed neighbor would be an understatement. He was utterly terrified, the feeling of dread unwilling to leave him be. It wasn't that Akira was a scaredy-cat… or perhaps it was one of the reasons of his constant fear… but hell! His new neighbor turned out not to be a nice old lady, odd old lady or even odd old lady who liked cats… Seriously, Akira could stand it. But no, life wasn't that fun, his new neighbor in that nice house next to his had to be the Battousai!

Akira absolutely wasn't used to things like this one. He had had his normal and boring life of average dentist's. And whether he wanted it or not (rather the latter in his case), things like neighbors turning out to be hit men were definitely not supposed to happen to an average dentist (yeah, you can trust me on this one).

And many things attacked Akira's poor and frantic mind. Had he acted natural enough the day before? Had the hitman noticed recognition on his face? His accent? The dentist prayed that his neighbor simply thought of him as slow or awkward.

He was not cut for this kind of situations. His life should be absolutely normal without hit men next door. As if a crazy woman, as his oh so lovely wife, wasn't enough. Oh no, God had to be that mean and give him another, even better person as his neighbor. What next? Hitler's reincarnation as his son? Akira shuddered at the thought but reassured himself that's highly unlikely as his wife hardly had any interest in sharing his bed and he didn't believe in reincarnation anyway.

"…still with us?" Akira jumped at the familiar voice. He looked up from his chair to be met with startlingly blue eyes.

"Huh?" was the only answer he could make in his state.

"Are you okay, Kiyosato-san?" his assistant asked again, a worried frown visible on her forehead.

"Nn… Yeah" he replied after looking at her for a moment. Akira lifted the mug from the table to his lips and took a sip. A bitter and unpleasant liquid made him almost gag… perhaps that's how everything tasted when you knew that your life is in danger because of your neighbor – you know the one in that nice house next to his? – being the infamous Hitokiri Battousai.

"Are you alright?" his assistant's voice startled him again.

"I'm perfectly okay, Kamiya-san" he answered as calm as he could and gave Kaoru a weak smile.

"Are you sure? Because, you know…"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm fine. Actually, I've never felt so good in my whole life… Yes, I'm ok, dandy" he took another sip and winced inwardly. Kaoru was looking at him oddly and he was sure that his acting left much to be desired.

"You know, this is my coffee" she stated after a while of scrutinizing him.

"Pardon?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

"My coffee" she pointed at the mug he was holding and had been taking sips from time to time. Akira looked down. 'Well, that explains the terrible taste' he thought. "You're drinking my coffee" Kaoru frowned. " but he hates coffee" she murmured under her nose but not too quietly for him to hear.

"Ehm… I… I began to like it…" he finally said. Yeah, that was lame.

"Really? What about that coffee is bad, it makes your teeth look awful?" Kaoru perfectly mimicked the tone he usually used and his Kyoto accent.

"Well… it's not like one coffee will destroy my teeth" he pouted and put the mug on the table. He made a mental note to brush his teeth more thoroughly than usual the moment he had a chance.

"Well, but, allow me to repeat myself, it's my coffee. And it is the coffee I made myself for my own use"

"Uh oh! Is that a patient coming?" he exclaimed knowing well where this was going.

"Kiyosato-san?" he heard her unsure voice just when he was about to leave the room. He turned around and smiled at her weakly. "Is… is everything alright?" she asked and he couldn't help but feel better at her worried tone.

At that moment he wanted to tell her everything but his mind didn't allow him to do so. Akira knew that her knowing about Battousai wouldn't be a good idea. God only knew what Battousai could do to her… No reason to put her In such position.

"Yes, I'm fine" he lied to her and smiled. She didn't seem much reassured.

oxoxOxoxo

Kaoru knew that something was troubling Akira since he had entered his office in the morning. Gone was his honest smile replaced by the nervous one. Did he know something? Nope, that wasn't possible. She a long time ago had abandoned her task. And his wife wasn't that stupid, was she? (Well, technically, she was, but that's Kaoru's personal opinion).

Kaoru took a sip of her freshly made coffee. That's when she heard a terrified shriek from the dentist's office. At once she got up from her chair and ran towards the source of that scream.

"Oh, don't worry! Just hold still!" she recognized Akira's voice. She opened doors quickly. There she saw a patient who tried hard to break away from Akira's steel grip.

"Noo! I don't wanna! Go away!" the patient was screaming, though Kaoru was only guessing exact words.

"Hold still, it's just drilling!" the dentist cried.

"Kiyosato-san!" Kaoru shouted and caught his arm just when he was about to start drilling the good looking and perfectly healthy tooth.

"He's insane! He wants to kill me!" the patient yelled once freed from doctor's grasp. Kaoru started calming the patient, helping him with standing up and walking him to the door apologizing all the way. When she came back, the dentist was sitting on a patient chair with his face hidden in his hands.

"Akira-san, what's wrong?" she asked with genuine concern.

"I'm just tired I guess" was his answer when he finally looked up at her.

"Something's wrong, I can see it. You nearly killed that man" she tried hard not to chuckle, well, the situation had been a bit hilarious.

"I didn't. He just didn't want to hold still" Akira pouted and Kaoru rolled her eyes at this.

"Did too. I've never seen such a terrified man, I doubt he'll come back."

"Oh, whatever, it was just drilling! If he was so scared then he could've tell me so instead of wriggling like a five year old!"

"Well, he's tried to tell you but…"

"I don't want to think about this" he cut in with irritation though she could see a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"You wanna go home? I can cancel your appointments if you want…"

"No… I'm fine... There's no need to…" he started but she silenced him with a hard look.

"Well, it's not like I'm doing it for you, I just want to keep some of your patients alive" she said as if to herself and left the room.

oxoxOxoxo

They drove in silence, Akira looking out of the window with vacant look on his face and Kaoru stealing glances at him, clearly worried about her boss.

She bit her lower lip. It wasn't her, she was sure, as he wouldn't have come to work and talked to her just like that. Oh, and she would probably be at the Police not here driving him home. But that didn't exactly calm her. She hadn't been working for Akira Kiyosato as his assistant for long, yet the man was so easy to like that she couldn't help but care for him. Kaoru worried, for she had not seen him so absent-minded ever before, but it seemed he would not tell. She didn't press. Though he sure looked like someone who wanted to share whatever was troubling him.

As they neared his home she noticed her boss get sickly pale with his eyes glued to one spot.

She turned her face to see whatever he was seeing. It was that nice house next to his with white walls and blue windows. She remembered it had had "ON SALE" sign the last time she went for some paper's after work to Akira's house. It was now gone though and there was a young red hair on the porch, who raised his hand in greeting.

"Oh, a new neighbor?" she turned to her passenger asking lightly, hoping a small talk would help him get his mind off of things.

Though at the time she didn't know, she couldn't have been more wrong.

So? how do you like it?