Dark

 

Chapter Seven

 

A/N: Enjoy! By the way, this is the combined work of Sanosuke Sagara and Kenshin Himura. That it is. (Oh, and we're sure Dove-chan would be in total shock from the amount of reviews!)

 

Back at Battousai's apartment, Kaoru was.. to say the least.. furious.

 

"KENSHIN YOU JERK! YOU SPOKE ABOUT ME AS THOUGH I WAS SOME SORT OF OBJECT!"

 

"I am sorry, Miss Kaoru. But that was, in fact, the only way to save your life. Unless you'd like to me kill you?"

 

"Ah.. no.. that's okay." Kaoru smiled with no humor or pleasantry at all.

 

"Good. Now shut up and let me work."

 

"What are you doing, anyway?"

 

"I'm TRYING to sharpen my sword." He brandished the whetstone at her as though it was a weapon in itself. "However, you seem intent on not allowing me to."

 

"Yeah, okay. Go ahead." She gave him a wave of her hand, and stared around the apartment in silence. Battousai gave a sigh of relief. He was almost done sharpening his Sakabatou when.. "Why don't you have a TV?" Of course.

 

"Because." Sharpen. Sharpen. Sharpen.

 

"WHY?"

 

"Because I don't like TVs!" He snapped, and finished sharpening the sword. He slammed it into it's sheath with unnecessary force and then slammed the combination onto the rack. He slammed his palm against the wall to give him momentum, and whirled on her. "ANYTHING ELSE?"

 

"Ah.. no." She muttered. He quickly calmed down, more angry at himself than her. He tried to soften his tone some.

 

"Want something to eat?"

 

"No." She said shortly, her back to him. A sharp rap came at the door. Kaoru just stuck her nose up in the air. Battousai snorted, and went to open it. Sano swaggered in. He took one look at the standoff, and laughed.

 

"Made her mad, huh? I remember this one time, when she was about 9, I wouldn't let her light the candles. The evil little girl got her hands on a lighter, and lit my red headband on fire!" Kenshin gave a short chuckle. Kaoru actually laughed. She turned.

 

"Yeah, and you ran around shrieking like a banshee. Finally you jumped into the pool!" She turned to Battousai, grinning. "He looked like a wet rooster." Sano smirked. Mission accomplished.

 

Battousai was amused, and let himself smile. If he was going to keep a normal living environment with this girl, he needed to show some emotion. He understood that. He wasn't HAPPY about it, but he did understand it.

 

"So, Kenshin. I heard about what you did today." Battousai jerked. How had he found out so fast? "Always knew ya had it in ya!"

 

"Shut up, Sano, before you say something we're all going to regret." Sano thought about it. And then shrugged.

 

"Do you still have fluffers?" Kaoru asked, out of the blue. All eyes turned to her. Sano started looking a bit worried.

 

"Who?" Battousai asked, knowing full well that something embarrassing about Sano was about to be put into light.

 

"Fluffers! Sano's stuffed bear. It was his favorite. Whenever he spent the night he used to sleep with it. He used it to make me go to sleep when I was really upset or acting really bratty. I tore one of the button eyes off once, accidentally.." Sano clamped a hand over her mouth. To late. She ducked, and finished. "And he cried!"

 

Battousai let out another bellowing laugh. When he finally calmed down, his eyes were that strange violet color again. Kaoru dared not make a sound, she didn't want to wake him out of that state again. THIS man looked like he should have the name Kenshin.

 

Sano was in awe. Twice in a row she'd managed to wake Battousai into his other 'self'. His Rurouni personality. The peace-loving, innocent, kind man that Kenshin had been when he'd first met him. Of course, Hiko had changed that. Yes, Kaoru was not the only person was DID, but she had a much more unstable case.

 

Battousai regained control once more. "Well, Sano. It appears that you're not the tough-guy you pretend to be."

 

"Who says I'm pretending?" Sano muttered, feeling a blush creep over his face.

 

Suddenly, Kaoru grabbed Battousai and kissed him right on the mouth.

 

((At this point, Dove-chan regains consciousness, shoves the anime guys aside, and tries to piece her story back together.))

 

Battousai stared at her, as she backed away. Sano actually fell flat on his butt. Kaoru giggled self-consciously.

 

"Why.. did you just do that?"

 

"Because I'm alive." Battousai stared at her, and slowly registered what she meant.

 

"O..kay.." He responded, before spinning on his heel and racing into the bathroom. Sano cracked up.

 

"You flustered him!"

 

"Huh?"

 

"Battousai.. Kenshin.. whoever, he was BLUSHING!" Kaoru smirked.

 

"Oh."

 

The shower was hot. And calming. He'd almost kissed Kaoru back. He finally had to admit it. He was falling for her. Hard. But he was an assassin, how dare he have these feelings! It frustrated and intrigued him at the same time.

 

As he washed his hair, Battousai decided to become more distant. That was it. The feelings would go away if he stopped trying to make living with her easier. Set in his new decision, Battousai turned the shower off, got dressed, and strolled back out.

 

He did not speak to Kaoru, nor did he acknowledge her presence. He just made dinner (Spaghetti) and ignored her as she and Sano talked.

 

"Yeah, he always does this when he realizes that he's starting to act like a human, not a ruthless killing machine." Sano explained. Kaoru had been near tears when Battousai had ignored her completely after her rather.. forward.. advances. She'd shocked herself when she'd just kissed a man who had threatened to cause he severe pain when they first met.

How funny.

Life sucks.

 

"Really? Are you sure, Sano?"

 

"Yeah, Missy." She'd looked so upset that he was reminded of when her father had given her the cold shoulder on his way out for a night on the town. He'd tried to comfort her then, too. Stupid babysitting training. He got a wicked smile. "Hey, Little Missy."

 

"Hm?" He reached into a hidden pocket, and pulled out Fluffers.

Yes, he always had Fluffers on him. No one that knew about this little factoid was still alive, however. Except, obviously, for Kaoru and Battousai.

 

"Will this make you feel better?"

 

"Fluffers!" Kaoru gasped. She loved that bear almost as much as Sano did. Snatching it from his grasp, she curled up with the brown fuzzy bear and actually fell asleep. Sano was rather proud of himself. It always worked!

 

Battousai watched as Kaoru perked up, and then went to sleep. What an odd girl. She was rather- no. No thoughts. Boil the water.

 

'WHAT was I thinking, asking Hiko if I could have her? This is going to play out very badly. That it is. Should have just killed her and been DONE with it.' Yet that little voice was there, ready with a witty response.

 

'Liar.'

 

A/N: NOT MY FAULT! Kenshin and Sano did it. What's an authoress to DO? I mean, they knocked me out and tried to KILL MY FIC!

Kenshin: No we didn't! We tried to make it so you could update in time!

Sano: Yeah! Although.. some of it WAS stuff you never would have written..

Dove: No. Duh. Moron.

Sano: HEY!

Dove: *Growl*

Kenshin: Now, now. See, everything turned out okay!

Dove: GRRRR.

Sano & Kenshin: *Run and hide in random places in the authoress' room*

Dove: KENSHIN GET OUT OF MY SOCK DRAWER!

Soujiro: Since Dove-chan appears rather.. busy.. at the moment, I'll have to read her review replies. ^-^

Sailor Scout Buddy – Thank you! ^-^

CurlsofSerenity - *Laughing* Thank you! I love your reviews, they're so much fun! ^_-

SilverShadow – Thank you for your review.

Mina – Thank you very much! ^-^

Pidge – Thank you! ^-^

Katy-Beth – Thank you for the review! I didn't understand any of it, but I'm looking into it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

LadyChrisA – *Shudders* No! No more marshmallows! *Runs around screaming* Oh, and thanks for the offer, by the way. I sent you an email, did you get it?

Moonblossom – Thanks for that.. really.. wild review! ^_- Yeah, now that you group it together, Kaoru's life DOES suck! Lol!!

Can't-Get-Enough-Anime – Ah, you will see. You will see. ^-^

Ironmouse – Thank you! ^-^

LunaAngel – Thanks!

Reka-Sama – Well, thank you for the review. No, I don't think I'm capable of making it rated 'R'. I am, after all, only 14. ^-^' It might be almost-R, but that's about as daring as I'm getting. -.-'

Chasity31 – Thank you! I'm trying to develop the plot quickly, for all of those that are picky about seeing a plot instantly. Lol..

Airen – Well, you see, I like the reverse-blade, and the scar, so I've changed that some. I'm also aware that Kenshin-sama didn't have the scar until after Tomoe's death. However, I've decided to give him the scar as a result of a fight that went wrong, and the reverse-blade is simply his trademark. (And I like the name. ^_- Sakabatou, it just sounds cool! ^-^)

Baka-Ryu - *Looking scared.* You just had to use the Soujiro smile, didn't you? He's kinda a scary kid.. cute and fun, but very very VERY scary..

Ruroken – Thank you.

April Marie – Well, thank you!

Blankis – Thanks! ^-^

Sailor Scout Buddy – Wow. Um.. thanks for the 5 reviews in a row. I appreciate them. Well, see, I was considering writing a schedule, but then I realized that with my 'review requirements' being met so quickly, I'm basically going to be updating every day, so you see, just check back every day and there should be one, maybe two, chapters up. ^-^

RK-128 – Wow. Um, thank you, I loved your review. I like compliments. ^-^

Airen – Ah, you will. Right in the gut. (Just kidding!) Lol. ^-^

Wow, everyone. Thank you so much for the fantastic speed-reviews! Okay. 100 reviews for the next chapter. And when I hit that amount, I'm gonna throw a party! (Really!) Anyone who wants to 'come' just say so in your review! ^_-

Thanks again!

Kenshin: HELLLPPPP!!

Sano: PROTECT YOUR FACE! PROTECT YOUR FACE!