Disclaimer: RK is not mine

AN: So I was reading a fic by Hye-Kyo (it's called "The Tradition", it's been around for awhile and a lot of people are looking for that fic, I guess it has become a cult fanfic hahaha...) and I was thinking about yobai. For those who doesn't know what yobai is, it's basically a tradition in ancient Japan where a guy sneak into a girl's room and have sex with them. It's supposed to either be a trial or just a prelude for marriage, usually with the girl's family's consent. Not sure how I twisted this into some kind of Kenshin-Kaoru prelude before marriage, but I did and while it wasn't the best, it wasn't that horrible :p People are writing post-jinchuu fics everywhere anyway, hahaha... This is supposed to be a practice piece so it's a little long. I don't get to write as much and I think my skill is getting dull, so please bear with it :')) I hope you enjoy this one as well, don't forget to review!

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Prelude

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The last petal of momiji had fallen, and the cold wind was blowing hard in the morning, cancelling the warmth that the sun was trying to radiate. It was the weather for blankets and futons, even in the doujo which was supposed to be a little noisy by now with Kaoru and Yahiko's banters, everything seemed so idle. Every room was quiet, even the only room that was occupied.

Kaoru wrapped herself with the blanket; her hand was tangling with long red mane and her shoulders were warm from the heat of the arm that embraced her. She lazily opened her eyes, looking at the man next to her staring at the ceiling and seemed to be spacing out.

Kenshin didn't even move even though he could feel her blue orbs were staring. He was too lazy to move, but when she snuggled into his chest, he found himself unconsciously caressing her raven locks. He could hear Kaoru sighed happily as she closed her eyes again.

"What are you thinking...?" she murmured, her voice was a lazy purr.

"Hmm? Nothing..." He slurred his words, and Kaoru smiled. He rarely looked the way he did now; lazy and lethargic, as if he wanted to stay on the bed forever. Kaoru traced her eyes towards the red hair on his shoulder, somehow finding the mundane movement of the strands as she breathed towards it entertaining.

"Ne, have you heard of yobai?" She asked randomly, and Kenshin looked at her.

"The tradition?" He asked back, and Kaoru nodded. Kenshin frowned, but then smiled. It wasn't weird that she asked random questions out of the blue. Ever since they shared a futon, their morning was sometimes filled with meaningless chats like this one. "I've heard about it." He continued.

"I wonder if some villages still practice this tradition." She said, her hand was playing with the hem of his yukata. "It's pretty ancient."

"I think they do." He answered, and she looked at him, interested. "When I was still practicing with Shishou, I heard some of the older guys talked about it."

"Hmm..." Kaoru snuggled and clutched his collar; her face was full of thoughts. Kenshin chuckled.

He was indeed a happier man. It was a luxury for him to be able to relax on the bed and occupy his mind with nothing but menial, random questions from the woman he adored. She seemed different as well. She was always cheerful and playful, but with him in private, she had shown her innocence more than ever, saying things and doing things that made him smile.

He couldn't believe that Enishi's attack was only a couple of months ago. For a whole month, he spent his nights on the engawa outside her room, catching light sleeps while keeping himself aware at his surroundings at all times, just like when he was an assassin. He had heard her gasps in the middle of the night; a frightened ki was released from all over her room, before fading slowly as she fell back into her slumber. It happened pretty quickly every other night, she had felt him outside of her room, protecting her and comforting her merely with his presence.

The unhealthy habit had worked pretty well for both of them, albeit a little tired from the lack of quality sleep, they both felt more at peace. In the beginning of winter, her nightmare had lessened. She had told Kenshin to return to his room, ensuring him that she was okay now, especially because she didn't want him to spend his nights being cold outside where he could be comfortable under the thick blanket and futon she provided.

He had obeyed her, mainly because he didn't want her to worry so much about him. Little did they know, it was him who needed comfort and protection. As soon as he moved from the uncomfortable engawa to the warm, comfortable futon in his room at the back of the house, even a light sleep was hard to get.

When he did get his sleep, he was having nightmares, just random nightmares from his childhood, the death of his first wife, his first kill, and even nightmares of things that never happened. The nightmare didn't occur on daily basis, but enough to get him distracted during the times when the amount escalated. Quickly, he had come to terms with each and every nightmare he had, until his brain decided to challenge his sanity even more by throwing the one dream, one memory he had feared upon.

It was Enishi, standing in front of a blazing fire and crumbling doujo. He was laughing, mocking him, his hand was holding something. Blood was flowing towards Kenshin's feet like a river, and as he stepped forward he could see whose blood had stained his tabi and zori.

He recognized the white gi and blue hakama worn for kenjustu training, and the black hair, tied in a ponytail that had become messy and drenched in blood. An all too familiar blade stuck to her chest, piercing through to her back. Her eyes were staring blankly at him, and the cross scar on her cheek completed the horror.

It was suddenly hard for Kenshin to breathe. His body was numb as if his blood had stopped flowing inside his veins. He found himself losing control of his body, he was clutching his sakabatou, gritting his teeth and ready to draw his swords, even though inside he knew that it was useless to fight.

Kaoru-dono is dead; what else there is to fight for?

His mind battled over his desire for revenge and his fatigue. When he vowed not to kill anymore, he was trying to break the chain between killing and being killed for vengeance. He didn't want anyone to suffer the same fate as his late wife, who suffered because of her will to avenge her dead fiance, and him, who killed someone and unknowingly caused the greatest of pains towards the woman he loved.

There he was, clutching his sword, succumbing to his desire to shred the white haired guy in front of him. He groaned through his gritted teeth and started drawing his sword.

"KENSHIN!"

Panting, he blinked the tears away from his eyes. He was sitting on his futon, in his room. His left hand was clutching the scabbard while his right hand was in the process of taking his sakabatou out. He looked down and saw Kaoru, panting as much as he did. She was sitting on his lap, her face buried into his chest, one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other was clutching the blade he had half-drawn.

"Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin gasped as he felt his body weakened. Kaoru looked up and smiled at him, even though he could see traces of tears on her beautiful face.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, releasing his sakabatou. Kenshin looked down and clenched his jaw as he saw Kaoru's hand was injured because of him. She must have tried to stop him from drawing his sword. The poor girl was facing him at the worst time when he couldn't control his own strength. If she didn't manage to wake him up on time, he would have struck her flying across the room with his sakabatou.

"I'm sorry..." Kenshin whimpered as he threw the sword and held her hands, one hand was bruising and the other was bleeding from the sharp edge of the sakabatou. Kaoru only chuckled softly.

"Hey, I sometimes kick Yahiko in my sleep as well. He usually didn't take it well in the morning." She tried to add some humour to the situation, even though he could hear quiver in her voice. Kenshin inhaled and pulled her into his embrace.

"I'm sorry..." He repeated. He released the hug and walked towards the small cabinet in his room. He took out some bandages and started tending Kaoru's wound. "Don't try to stop me next time this happened. It was only a dream, that it was." He murmured as he finished putting on the bandage around Kaoru's bleeding hand. Kaoru only smiled.

"It looks like you need someone to ease your nightmares. I want to help." She stated. "Besides, I don't want you to ruin my wall." She added with a chuckle, her voice sounded much calmer than before. Kenshin sighed and ruffled her hair.

"Thank you." He said. "Let's go back to sleep."

Kaoru looked at him and grinned. "Okay. Scoot over." She replied while inviting herself into his thick blanket. Kenshin looked with his eyes widened in shock.

"Kaoru-dono..." He called her and gaped but no sound came out. Kaoru lay down with her back facing him and mumbled a good night. The warmth her back radiated made him calmer than usual. For the first time, he had a deep, dreamless sleep.

Kaoru had spent the night at his room numerous times after that. He had his nightmares and she had hers, but by now it felt like nothing more than just a bad night. If anything, Kenshin was happy that he had those nightmares. It reminded him that he was, even subconsciously, a good human being with remorse, regret and a will to repent over the sins he did in the past. He didn't need to beat himself up over past sins, for a good person could make mistakes too. He only needed to be reminded that he cared enough to feel those negative feelings, motivating him to make up for what he had done before and helped more people in the future.

He learned that it took a happy man to make others happy as well. He found out, no matter how hard he tried to help and protect those around him, they wouldn't live happily if he wasn't happy. Once he realized that, all those nightmares and painful memories that tormented him in the past didn't plague him as much anymore.

He found himself enjoying her company at night, and even more so in the morning. Shyly, he let his hands played with her braided hair in the morning as she braved herself to snuggle into his chest, hiding her blushing face in his embrace.

They would whisper small talks in the morning. Just talking about random, mundane things, like the Hikaru Genji Monogatari book she started reading, or Yahiko's snores that annoyed her. Unconsciously he fell into the pattern, talking about his fascination towards different kinds of kenjutsu styles, or even about mushrooms, which lead to him telling her a story about his childhood.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru's voice distracted him. He looked at her and realized he was spacing out again. "Were you listening to me?" She asked.

"Sorry, so... Yobai?" He grinned and Kaoru snorted in mock annoyance.

"Yeah, I was curious. You lived in a rural area before, so I thought you've seen it." She said. Kenshin frowned for a second and then shook his head.

"Shessa lived pretty close to Kyoto, so the villages around were adopting city lifestyle." He said apologetically. "But from what I heard, the tradition starts with the guy sending gifts to the girl. When the girl accepted the gift, the guy could start sneaking into a girl's house at night."

"Oh, what do they do at night?" She asked in interest, and Kenshin blushed.

"They... have a sexual intercourse." Kenshin mumbled, and coughed as Kaoru's face turned red.

"Oh..." She looked down and played with the end of her braided hair. She stayed in that position for awhile before looking up again. "But they are to be wed, right?" She asked.

"Not always. Different people practice the tradition for different reason, I suppose. There are people who misuse this tradition as well. I guess that's why it's not popular anymore."

"When does the tradition end for the guy and the girl then?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I heard the proper way to end it is for the girl's family to catch the guy in bed with the girl." He explained. "After that, the two families would start preparing for the wedding."

Kaoru was about to ask more questions when suddenly there was a running sound and without a warning, the shoji slammed open. It was Yahiko, panting and distraught.

"KENSHIN! BUSU IS MI-" Yahiko's voice trailed off as he saw the redhead holding his teacher in his arms, and his teacher was lying on his chest comfortably. His face reddened as Kaoru jumped and sat on the bed in seiza. It wasn't helping that she was constantly conscious about the state of her yukata and repeatedly fixing the upper part of her yukata that covered her chest. "... Oh good, she's here. I thought she disappeared... I'm going to Akabeko. Bye." Yahiko murmured and ran away, Kaoru's face reddened.

"Yahiko! It's not what you think it is!" She screamed as she ran to the door, but Yahiko had disappeared behind the side gate. Kaoru stomped and looked at Kenshin. "Mou! I don't want to be found out this way!" She said, frustrated.

Kenshin chukled and stretched his body while watching Kaoru shouting angrily at no one while pacing around the engawa. He sighed and stood up.

"Kaoru-dono?" He called and Kaoru looked at him, her face was still red. He smiled as he leaned on the door frame. "Shessha doesn't mind if he has to prepare the wedding from now. We've been caught, after all."

The simple statement was enough to make Kaoru's head steam.