It's not Monday yet! I'm doing better than I thought I would. Three more chapters have been written, so we'll see how far I get in updating within the next week. It's Thanksgiving Break, so I have almost the whole week off. (smiles and cheers) Anyway, here's chapter three.

Me no own Rurouni Kenshin. Bah.


Tomoe stood there for a moment before looking at Misao, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"What do you think," she asked.

"No." Kenshin's growl was fierce as he glared at Tomoe, who was about to speak.

"Kenshin-" Tomoe started.

"No, first you want me to go on a date with a fan; a fan. Now you want me to have a bodyguard?"

"Personal detail," Kaoru interjected.

Kenshin chose to ignore her as he continued to look at his manager. "No, I have to put my foot down somewhere.

"Kenshin," Aoshi started, looking as though he was actually contemplating the idea. "That might actually work."

The singer's eyes widened as he looked over at his longtime friend. "What?" He sounded outrage; secretly amusing Kaoru.

Aoshi ignored him as he looked over to Tomoe. "You could get your way after all." His eyes swiftly shifted to Kaoru and then his wife. "If you were to release the story that he had a girlfriend, he'd get the publicity that you want while having him protected." His look over to Kenshin was a cool calm. "And you wouldn't have to go on a date for whatever reason Tomoe has."

Kaoru's eyes grew wide at what he was proposing. He wanted her to date, okay… pretend to date Kenshin for some stupid publicity stunt? She wanted to immediately reject the idea; could she? Kenshin glared at her, though she couldn't imagine why. She was solving his problem, but this extra news wasn't at all her fault. "You make it sound like I need protection," he growled again.

Kaoru threw her own glare. "Mr. Himura, this is only precautionary. I'm in no way accusing you of being unable to protect yourself." This was her job; this was what she was good at. She'd been watching their exchange without many words, but from what she could see, he was wrapped around Tomoe's finger. From the way he looked at the other woman, it seemed as though he didn't mind it in the slightest.

"I'm fine with protecting myself." It was obvious he didn't want to lose this.

Aoshi made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. "We're all very aware of the fact that you can protect yourself, but not while you're on stage. Ms. Kamiya is only there for when you really would need her." He looked at Tomoe. "Would you rather him be safe with one extra person, who could be inconspicuous, rather than him being on some slab in the morgue because we didn't take that chance?"

Tomoe's eyes turned haunted, and Kaoru immediately felt for the woman. She obviously cared for Kenshin very much. To anyone else, Aoshi's words seemed cruel, but he was right and they were very necessary. Anything could happen and they needed an extra precaution; if not Kaoru, then definitely someone else. Tormoe subtly nodded. Kaoru sighed at her dejected look; the poor woman.

They were obviously going to need to talk about his more and Kaoru was tired. "It's late, Misao. I'm going to go ahead and go home before I pass out on the floor," she joked with the girl. Misao smiled in response, knowing that Kaoru would never allow herself to be that weak in front of others. "You all need time to think and talk about this without me here pressuring you. Let me know when you make up your mind." She walked over to Misao's side and kissed her cheek. "Feel better," she smiled. Quickly saying goodbye to the others, she left their sides.

When she entered her apartment, she felt uneasy and somewhat annoyed. She hadn't done anything she wanted to tonight, but she got to see Misao, so it was a fair trade, she supposed. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and pushed herself under the covers. It was cold; she was hungry, but too exhausted to do anything about it. Tomorrow was a new day and she was going to make the most of it. Closing her eyes, she let sleep take her into a blissful, dreamless night.

Four days had passed and Kaoru still hadn't heard from Misao or her friends. Apparently they decided that they didn't need her and honestly that was just fine. Just in case, she had taken her profile down, but she guessed it was time to put it back up. She lay in bed, not wanting to move yet, she sighed. She was so exhausted from the day before. She'd had to run so many errands to run, but when she'd gotten back, she'd had tons of messages from prior clients who wanted to check in on her and friends who lived in the area. The lack of sleep was killing her right now.

A knock on the door made her bold up in bed, grabbing her head as a headache started to form. She glared at the clock on her nightstand.

9:15

"Kill me," she groaned as she slinked out of bed and grabbed her gun. She tucked it into the waistband of her pajama bottoms; she was never unprepared. As Kaoru walked out of her bedroom, she pulled the silk robe off of the chair near her desk in the corner. Quickly, she made her way to the door, she opened it, only to be greeted by a hand on her throat, shoving her back into the apartment.

"Kenshin," someone screamed, but the name couldn't register in her mind.

The initial shock of the attack wore off in a heartbeat, kicking Kaoru's brain into action a second later. She grabbed his wrist, ripping it from her throat, hissing as his fingers pressed harder against her sensitive skin. His wrist in her hand, she ducked behind him as he swung with the other, trying to connect to her face. Kaoru brought the man's arm behind his back, making him grunt at the force before she kicked the back of his legs and brought him to his knees. She didn't give him the chance to react as she pressed her body as close to him as she could; giving him no room to move. She pulled out the gun, shoving it against his temple.

"Ms. Kamiya."

Kaoru froze at the voice from before, noticing that it was filled with terror. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears as her breath came out in heavy pants; the adrenaline had definitely kicked in. She looked down at the man in front of her and everything clicked.

Kenshin Himura. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Her mind registered everything in an instant, though she tried to force it back. Kaoru lowered the gun from his head and started yelling. "What the hell are you doing?" She let go of his wrist and lightly pushed him forward before taking two steps back. "Are you fucking crazy? I could have killed you!"

Kenshin turned towards her and growled; something he seemed to be doing a lot of. He quickly climbed to his feet, his green eyes glaring down at her as he rubbed the wrist she'd grabbed. "I should be asking you that." He looked at the woman behind Kaoru, and she turned too, following his line of sight; Tomoe.

She should have known.

"Who are you?"

Kaoru looked back and forth between the both of them, her anger suddenly flaring to life. "She wanted to beat the hell out of him. "Did you acquire amnesia within the last few days?" Apparently, or he wouldn't have attacked her like that.

Kenshin moved to lunge at her again, but Kaoru held up the gun that lay at her side. He stopped dead in his tracks as she pressed it against his chest, right above his heart. She could hear blood pumping through her ears as fear consumed her. The way his gaze changed, she could tell he noticed it too and it annoyed the hell out of her. "Don't attack me in my own home," she didn't sound as confident as she wanted to.

Tomoe came to Kaoru's side and held her hands up, like she was trying to approach a wounded animal. "Let's all calm down while she explains."

Kaoru lowered the gun again and settled it back into her waistband before shutting the front door, which hung wide open from their unexpected attack. She turned back, giving them a confused stare. "What exactly am I explaining to you?"

"Who you are; Kaoru Kamiya doesn't exist."

His hushed words caused Kaoru's eyes to widen as her grin grew on her face. She laughed as relief washed over her. "That's why you're upset?" She couldn't believe it.

"What's so funny?" Tomoe's voice sounded strange.

Kaoru took a few deep breaths as relief continued to wash over her. "Nothing, I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I don't expect you to find me on a Google search engine, or anything." She gave a light tsk. "You know what I do; why would I jeopardize everything I've worked for to mess that up?" She sighed at their confused look. "Mr. Himura, I protect people… very important people. I can't have my whole life on some stupid website for the whole world to see so that I can have something hang over my head, distracting me from the job at hand. The people, who really need me, know how to find me."

Tomoe's eyebrows shot up at Kaoru's words. "Do you have something could hang over your head, Ms. Kamiya?" Her interest into Kaoru's past unnerved her a bit.

That really wasn't any of her business, but she couldn't brush her off like that. She gave a shrug, trying to act nonchalant. "Everyone has a past."

"You expect us to trust you?" Kenshin's words caused her to blink in surprise. He had so much hostility towards her, but she didn't have the slightest clue as to why.

"If you want this to work, you're going to have to. But no, trust is earned, not given." She had to learn the hard way.

"You don't-"

Kaoru was losing her patience with him. It was early, she was tired and she hadn't had her coffee yet. He was lucky she hadn't shot. "Mr. Himura, don't assume anything about me or my life. How I work has gotten the job done so far. Whatever your issue is, is your business and as long as it doesn't interefere with my job… honestly, I don't give a shit."

Kenshin glowered at her. "How do you know you got the job?" No doubt he wasn't used to being talked down to like that.

She let out a sigh. "I seriously doubt you'd come to see me in my own home, looking passed attacking me, just for a social call."

Tomoe suddenly moved, startling Kaoru. She held her hand out, and Kaoru stared at it, not sure of what to do. Her brain wasn't registering anything right now. "Welcome to the team," she gave a tight smile.

Kaoru took her hand then, understanding dawning on her. "Thanks, I think." She was nervous about what to expect from this.

Tomoe nodded and looked over to Kenshin before meeting Kaoru's gaze again. "I'm sorry we intruded so abruptly." She stepped away and went to the door, Kenshin following her like a lost puppy.

Kaoru went to the door as well, and opened it for them. No problem, she wanted to say; expect it was. A problem, that is.

Tomoe walked out without another word, but Kenshin stayed at her side. "I'm sorry about that," he touched her throat lightly, and it took all she had not to cringe.

Kaoru shook her head lightly. "I'm sorry, too, for putting a gun to your head and all." He deserved it, though. "I haven't had my coffee yet, so I'm a little jumpy." She was trying to make light of the situation,, but his eyes darkened and she sighed. That obviously wasn't the way to go. A strange look in his eye made her pause, curious as to what was going through his mind.

"Put some ointment on that." He walked out after those words, hurriedly making his way to Marie's side.

Kaoru shut the door when she saw they had reached the elevator. "Okay," she breathed out the word. "Coffee." She was almost drooling at the world. She desperately needed something in her system.


Oh, oh, oh... what's going on with Kenshin and Tomoe?

Chapter three is done! I'm so excited for chapter four! You get to see some revealed secrets- but not too much. It's a bit early for that (smiles). I might write tonight for you. Yay!

Anyway, let me know what you think, please and thanks. (smiles)

-K