Number 053 of the 100 Situations Muse Chart. Written because Kenshin does have a more patient side. =)

Kenshin smiled his thanks as the waitress placed a slice of cobbler in front of him, still warm enough that the ice cream was already melting. She was new. Digging into the sticky dessert, he let his eyes wander. All the regulars were settling in for dessert and coffee, a few mopping up crumbs from the meals they had ordered earlier. Tae only served dinner until nine, but she kept the desert and coffee coming until nearly one. Her motto – someone had to keep the locals fed – served her well and there was always a stream of steady business. Her sister Sae would open a six with breakfast. The local college students would pack the place for the cinnamon rolls.

By now, he knew everyone here by face if not by name. Saitoh sat in the back corner his empty bowl pushed to the side. His wife would be joining him a little later for cake and coffee as they both relaxed after a long day at the precinct. Until she arrived, everyone generally pretended he wasn't there.

Yahiko was waiting on tables tonight. He only waited on tables when Kaoru was too busy to fit her normal hectic schedule into her schoolwork. Kenshin frowned a little until he spotted his sister, hunched over pile of books, a tall mug of coffee in front of her. She looked tired again. Scrapping his spoon along his plate, he finished off the last of his desert. From what he had managed to pick up from various conversations, Yahiko was doing pretty well in school, but things had gotten a little tight since Kaoru had started classes last fall.

He wondered why no one in their family was helping.

"If you keep starring," Sano teased as he sat down, "People are going to think you like the girl."

Kenshin ignored his friend, picking up his coffee mug and reluctantly moving his eyes away from the way her shoulders were rounded with stress and exhaustion. It was difficult to fight the urge to walk over and ask her if she needed help with anything, but he already knew the answer. An over bright smile, shadowed eyes, and a polite 'thank you, but were fine'.

"How is the building coming?" Kenshin asked, turning his mind back to his friend. Sano looked a little worn, but he looked like he had had time to shower.

"Better." Sano said with a sigh. "I think we weeded out all the idiots early this week."

The bell above the door dinged as Tokio entered, her heels clicking against tiled floor as she moved straight to her husband. She paused in front of Kaoru's table and Kenshin couldn't help the way his eyes lingered, watching in interest as the girls head came up. Tokio said something and Kaoru nodded, a faint smile flickering across her face before leaving again.

It wasn't any of his business. He was still curious. Taking another sip of his coffee, he turned his attention back to Sano.

"… ask her out."

Kenshin lifted a brow. "What?"

"Why don't you just ask the girl out?" Sano repeated. "Everyone knows you like her."

Kenshin sighed. The long standing argument between the two went on almost every time they entered the diner. Kenshin supposed that it was karma's way of paying him back for all the times he had delicately pushed Sano into getting to know his now-wife.

It was never a question of him wanting to get to know Kaoru Kamiya better. It was always a matter of Kaoru showing any interest in him. At least with Megumi and Sano it was like sitting in the middle of a lightning storm – you never know which one was going to get hit first.

With Kaoru, he always felt like he was walking on eggshells.

"How is Megumi?" Kenshin asked, deliberately ignoring Sano's snort. However, Sano could take a large enough, repetitive hint and rambled on about the decoration for the house. Or rather, the decorations that Megumi wanted for the house that Sano was trying to talk her out of. Leaning back, his coffee cup cradled between his fingers, his eyes flickered back to the raven-haired woman quietly speaking to her brother.

X

"You should head home." Kaoru told Yahiko firmly. His shift had ended and he looked tired.

'Almost as tired as I feel,' she thought with a touch of wry amusement.

"You're not walking back home alone," Yahiko responded irritably, "That last time you took the bus that guy tried to grope you."

"I'm fine." Kaoru soothed. "You should still head home."

"No."

Knowing that it was useless arguing with Yahiko when he was in this sort of mood and that she was wasting precious minutes, Kaoru just sighed and went back to her textbooks. It was a challenge, studying here. While the atmosphere was comfortable in a way a coffee shops weren't, it was terribly difficult to concentrate when someone was watching her. She was really starting to wonder. She had ignored it the last few times she had noticed, because she was always so tired and he was also so perfectly polite. Interested men were rarely polite. He never failed to leave her a tip when she was waiting on tables, always had a few polite things to say to her and never once did he make her feel uncomfortable. He asked how her day was. How classes were going. How her little brother was doing. Those were not the standard questions that a man who was interested in taking a woman out would ask. At least, not in her limited experience with them.

Except if she tilted her eyes up from her book, she could swear he was looking in her direction.

It didn't help that he was damn pretty… even if was several years older than her.

Shaking her head, she tried to stare at equations and numbers and wondered if Tokio would ask her to see a shrink if she picked up the book and threw it across the room. At least she was babysitting the boys again on Monday. She had been trying to find a way to replace the income she was missing on Monday nights since the diner was closed. She wasn't entirely sure what prompted Tokio to ask her to babysit the three boys, but it would last time she had baby sat, they had been mostly well behaved and went to bed early, allowing her to get some much needed study time in.

Things were slowly working their way from bad to not so bad.

Her spine prickled again, and when she looked up, he was talking to his spiky haired friend again. Sighing heavily, she just didn't need this; she dug back into her books and deliberately ignored the way she could feel him watching her.

X

Kenshin checked his watch and inhaled the last of his now lukewarm coffee. He was due to start his shift in half an hour. Rubbing the back of his neck, he stood. Sano was discussing something with Yahiko at the bar and he debated going over and saying something. Deciding that it was probably best to give her space when she looked that tired, he was about to turn to grab his jacket, when those blue eyes looked up and met his.

Dark circles were forming under her eyes but it was the expression in them that caught his attention – they were dark with confusion, frustration… and something that made his heart pound. He wondered if she even knew she was showing it. Nodding his head in a silent hello, he turned away and reached for his jacket. Pulling his hair free of the collar, he headed outside into the cold air.

Tucking his hands into his pockets, he let a slow smile curl along his mouth as he moved along the street. It seemed like his patience was finally starting to pay off. Now it was just a matter of getting her to admit what her eyes had already shown him.

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