Hello again! Well most of you should be happy to know that I have the third chappy ready for you to read. A few author notes before we begin though:

1) To get the disclaimer over with, no, I don't own any part of Rurouni Kenshin.

2) Dreamer: Errr…I dunno, I mean, I thought this was a lil' obvious, but, *shrug* when I say go to my homepage, I mean click on my user name, and in my profile you will find the link to my website. Gomen! Sorry for any confusion! ^_^'

3) To all females reading this: Okay, who here wishes we all could have a guy like Kenshin? Show of hands! ^____^ *raises own*

And now, to the actual chapter…hope you like!

~~~***~~~

Kaoru woke up the next morning to the sun shining in her room. 'Strange. I dreamed my greatest fantasy and then I had a horrible nightmare. I wonder why…?' Peering down at herself, she gave a small gasp to see that she was naked, with the clothes she put on to bed in a neat pile to the side. 'My dream…what was my dream? I dreamed about…Kenshin………and that…we…'

Of course. It wasn't a dream at all—it had really happened. And……and what did happen anyways? Her mind was fuzzy from sleepiness—but what she knew for a fact, was that Kenshin's emotional love for her still lingered in the air. She could feel it. 'I can't believe…we actually did that! Us! Kenshin and I! We finally had the courage to reveal our true feelings!' She smiled.

And then…she frowned. What had happened? It was as though she went from her dream to her nightmare. She winced in remembrance.

This time, they were in a boat somewhere. Did she recognize the boat? Maybe, from one of Kenshin's past battles. Instead of the enemies being shadows and footsteps they were black-clothed figures with their faces covered in dark cloth. Kaoru was up against the side of the wall, and Kenshin was staring the enemy down, sword in hand. Suddenly, he turned to face her with that emotion he would always have (she had since then figured out that the emotion was love from the way he similarly looked at her back at the spring) and then had lowered his sword. She cried out to him, but the attackers were on Kenshin in an instant, cutting his skin deeply. He fell forward, amber specks in his eyes, and the nightmare ended.

'Why do I keep dreaming these things? I just wish whatever it's trying to tell me would happen and it could be done with…unless, of course, the part about Kenshin will happen as well.' Sighing, Kaoru got up to get ready. She would put on her very best clothes for Kenshin today.

~~~***~~~

Kenshin also woke up at about the same time as Kaoru. If he dreamed, he didn't remember it. Kenshin thought only of what happened last night in his sleep. It was never intentional, but little by little it happened anyway. And he liked it. A lot.

But…what would they say to each other today? Would everything return to normal? If not, who would be the first to speak? 'At the spring last night,' Kenshin thought, 'we didn't need to tell each other anything—our expressions were enough, that they were.' Perhaps it would work the same way again. He would test his theory today. Standing up, he went to get ready.

~~~***~~~

It was when they were walking down the hallway leading to breakfast, both dressed and ready for the day, that they saw each other. Blushing slightly, neither knew what to do—walk forward, say something, or just bolt back into the room they came from and lock the door. Kaoru smiled a little at the utter ridiculousness of being so shy in front of the man she was so open to last night, and Kenshin meanwhile changed his expression to love, hoping she would get the message. They looked into each other's eyes, and time sort of stopped. Before they knew what was happening they both ran to each other and hugged as close as possible, in a lover's embrace.

"I had a wonderful dream last night, Miss Kaoru…you were in it."

"You were in mine, too. The moon…was full…I remember well…what a lovely dream it was…"

"So desu."

They broke apart. "Well, I suppose we should go have breakfast, Kenshin?"

He nodded, and they went to go eat. Sitting across from each other, the two would often look at each other suggestively. Sano noticed this almost immediately and formed his own hypothesis to what was going on. Yahiko, meanwhile, noticed nothing, and just focused on getting his fair share of food while wrestling it away from Sano and Kenshin. Sano eyed the unofficial couple as they kept passing food to each other without eating it and saw them stealing glances at each other with some unknown emotion. When everyone finished eating, they all went their separate ways to begin the chores that needed completing for the day.

~~~***~~~

Later, in the afternoon…

Yahiko wandered around the dojo, looking for Kaoru. She was washing some clothes with Kenshin and hanging them up. Confidently he approached the two.

"I finished all of my chores for the day!" He puffed out his chest. "Can I go relax now?"

"Not so fast, Yahiko." Kaoru stood up. "Now you can come with me to pick up a few things at the market."

He groaned. "But………but…it took me soooo long-"

"Kenshin, can you finish these clothes?" she asked. Kenshin nodded, smiling. "Good. Let's go, Yahiko."

Yahiko looked at Kenshin like he had just betrayed him somehow, then sulked after Kaoru. Kenshin smiled as he watched them go. Suddenly, looking at Kaoru before she disappeared from sight, he suddenly had one of his uneasy feelings again. Why was he having them so much lately? Shrugging, Kenshin continued washing the clothes and hanging them up. The one he was holding now, he realized, was Kaoru's kimono she had worn on their walk from last night. He smiled in remembrance.

~~~***~~~

Sano was finally done with his training. He never really did much for chores—Kaoru knew he didn't anyways. But today he was feeling exceptionally helpful, plus Sano wanted to talk to Kenshin. Seeing him hang up some clothes, he offered his hand.

"I'd love you to help, Sano. You rarely do!"

"Psh. Yeah, yeah." He sat down next to the rurouni and started hanging them up. Kenshin needed to show him the proper way of hanging clothes up three times after he turned a shirt inside out, upside down, and folded it the wrong way. Laughing, Kenshin shook his head. Sano saw this opportunity.

"So Kenshin…where were you last night?"

He had received the reaction he was hoping for. Kenshin stopped what he was doing and his eyes grew wide in understanding. That lasted only for a moment though, because he quickly put on his rurouni mask.

'He caught me off guard.' "What do you mean, Sano?"

He smirked. "Exactly that. Where were you last night?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I went to sleep just like any other night."

 But Sano's mind was much too full of suspicion. "Oh…really? Because, when I was getting ready to go to sleep, I didn't hear you doing the same. The house was too quiet—all I could hear was Yahiko's snoring." He had made that entire story up, but wondered if it wasn't far from the truth.

"Well…before I went to bed, Miss Kaoru…"

Ah HA.

"-Felt like going on a walk for a short time, and wanted me to accompany her."

"Well then, what time did you get back? The house was awfully quiet for a long time……longer than a 'short walk,' Kenshin."

But the rurouni stood up, wearing his mask hiding all emotion. "We are done with these clothes, Sano. I thank you for your help. If you need me I will be training." Kenshin walked away calmly.

"Darn him…something happened…I just need to figure out what…" Sano sat on the grass, pondering what he might have discovered.

~~~***~~~

The two reached the market. Kaoru explained the plan to Yahiko.

"Yahiko, go get the usual amount of rice we buy. I'll look for some decent fish available, over there." She pointed to a fish stand in the corner. Yahiko nodded, clearly irritated about the whole thing, then walked over to the place that sold rice, grumbling under his breath.

Kaoru sighed, then walked over to the fish stand. While looking over the selection hanging up, she heard a fight break out behind her. Turning around, she saw a pretty looking woman in her twenties being pushed around by a group of three massive men.

"Hey there beautiful. Why don't you come with us for…a 'fun time'?" They smirked and pushed her down an alley.

The woman gave a cry of fear, but one covered her mouth with his hand and shoved her forward. Kaoru instantly became infuriated after seeing this and walked to the alleyway. There she saw the men surrounding the woman, with her slowly backing into a corner.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back, you bastards!!" The three whirled around, then grinned from ear to ear looking at her.

"Is she for real?"

"Another woman to bring back to the boss, even better!"

"Heh, she can't possibly beat us with no weapon! Get her!" They lunged at her.

Kaoru easily dodged their attack, and looked around. Nearby was a stack of wood—one of the pieces happened to take shape of a decent pole. Grabbing it, she smiled, and gave them all a quick lesson with her new toy.

Falling to the ground, the men glared at her with a mixture of horror and anger. Scrambling to their feet, they swore under their breath.

"J…just you wait! We'll be watching you, woman!" And with that, they ran away.

Rolling her eyes, Kaoru turned to look at the woman she saved, who exchanged her 'eternal thanks.' When she left, Yahiko approached her, done getting the rice. "I just saw three big guys with lots of bruises run out of this alley." He looked at her with suspicion. "Did you do that…?"

Kaoru smiled innocently. "Do you have the rice?"

"Yes, and you have no fish, I see."

"I suddenly remembered that we already have some dried fish at home already. Well, I guess we can go." She turned to walk away. Yahiko looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing.

~~~***~~~

The two returned. Kenshin instantly saw that something had happened when he looked at Kaoru. He pulled her to the side and inquired about it, his eyes giving a slight hint of amber.

"Tell me what happened."

She did not question how he knew. "I will, I promise. Later…"

He nodded, accepting it for now. Dinner came and went, and night fell upon the dojo again. Kaoru finished any chores left and went into her room to prepare for bed. Suddenly, she noticed a presence in the room. Looking to a corner, she saw Kenshin smiling mischievously, leaning against the wall.

"Kenshin!"

"You still need to tell me what happened today, Miss Kaoru, that you do." He looked at her.

"Oh." She motioned for him to sit down on the futon with her. Kenshin obliged eagerly (too eagerly?), and then she told him what happened in the afternoon at the market place. " I sure taught them a lesson! I don't think they'll be back to challenge me again!" She smiled brightly.

But Kenshin was worried. "How do you know that, Miss Kaoru?"

"I don't. But I beat them in three hits—one for each."

"That's impressive."

"I'm not afraid."

Before she knew what was happening, Kenshin moved around her and was hugging her tightly. "But……………I am."

Yes. It was so like him—she should've seen that coming. Returning the hug, she said, "I don't want you to be."

"I wish I wasn't."

"I know. In this day and age, in this era, you can't be afraid all the time, otherwise you will never be happy."

Kenshin nodded. "I'm sorry for troubling you like this, that I am."

"I'm not troubled by anything." She snuggled up against his chest.

'But…I think you are.' "Then neither am I."

"Well…" She hesitated.

"Nani?"

"My dreams…." She murmured. "What do they mean?"

"Oro?"

"Kenshin…I think…something will happen to you………in battle…"

Oh. "Kaoru, you don't need to worry. As long as I have your confidence, nothing can hurt me."

She sighed, not wanting to disagree, but…still……

They sat that way for several minutes. Eventually, sleep washed over them, and they slowly laid down on the futon, in slumber together.

That's all for this chapter! ^__^ I bet you guys can guess what's gonna happen next! Uh…gomen…sorry if it was a lil' mushy at the end. ^^ And I'm nowhere near being done. Btw, if any of you guys are confused with something, it might be a good idea to wait for the rest of my chapters and whatever you're confused about will be explained. ^____^ REVIEW PLEASEEEE!!!! Thankee!