Summary: 50 stories about Kenshin and Kaoru, sometimes meandering to include other members of the Ruroken cast. Mix of canon and AU one shots. Some crack.

Disclaimer: Anything you can recognize here belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro.

Characters: Kenshin (Rurouni) and Kaoru

Lunch and A Fight

Kaoru mercilessly chewed her lip, her eyes fixed upon the figures standing in the crowded street outside the Akabeko. Beside her, Yahiko and Kenshin stood tensed, neither of them happy about the strange turn of events that had led all of the Akabeko's lunch crowd and then some out on the street, watching with perverse delight as three men, drunk on the rambunctious language of revolution faced off a fourth man, who watched them with the quiet assurance of a man who knows exactly what he's doing.

He smiled, his hair defying gravity as it shot up towards the sky despite its volume. The red bandana tied at the beginning of his hairline seemed to scream, 'danger', and 'watch out', 'engage at your peril' and 'here there be monsters.' He cracked his knuckles and curled his lip in challenge.

"So, how do you want to do this?" He suddenly dipped his head and chuckled. "Actually, never mind. I don't care. Come at me one by one or altogether, it makes little difference to me."

"Don't get arrogant, bastard!," yelled one.

"Yeah, you don't know what you're getting into," screamed the other.

"I just hope you can give me a good fight." The man replied almost lazily.

The murmurs of the crowd grew louder as some people cheered the boy on, while others grumbled that his attitude would cause trouble. Still others looked around for the police, anxious to stop the trouble just waiting to happen.

Kaoru leaned towards Kenshin and mumbled, "Kenshin, we should do something. That boy might get hurt! He's up against three men."

Kenshin didn't answer. He narrowed his eyes and studied the street fighter keenly. He betrayed no nervousness or anxiety about the fight, in fact his ki was washed in confidence; he was completely in control of himself. To think that he couldn't handle himself would be presumptuous. Kenshin felt a strange affinity to him. It was rare to find a man with such conviction, and yet, he did not betray any callowness or cruelty. It was as though, his strength was enough for him. He seemed to be enjoying the situation but it didn't feel as though this man was fighting because he enjoyed giving pain.

Finally, Kenshin glanced at Kaoru and smiled amiably. "Don't worry Kaoru-dono. I think our friend can handle this one."

"Come on boys, my hair is turning grey just waiting for you to make your move." He taunted.

His goading ruffled the hawk-nosed man in front and he lunged forward, a glint of steel flashing between his fingers that nobody noticed until it was too late. Kenshin stiffened and his hand dropped to his sword. Kaoru gasped, her fear turning real and Yahiko shouted at the top of his voice, "You cowards! Don't fight if you don't have the guts to fight fair!"

There was a sickening thud as the tiny blade broke into skin. The man grinned maniacally, his lips twisting to reveal creamy teeth. A trail of blood trickled down the young man's nose, swerving to glide along his cheek. A collective gasp rose from the people standing around. The crowd waited with bated breath. They stared in shock as the young man merely curled his lip and asked, "That all you got?"

The hawk-nosed man gaped at him. His features twisted with rage and pulled his fist back, ready to cut behind the façade of landing a fleshy fist on the young man's face. As he brought his fist hurtling forward, the stranger sighed dramatically and stopped it easily with his hand. He smirked.

"You're a waste of time." He turned away and would have continued to walk down the street when another of the loud mouths hollered and came storming forward, ready to continue where his friend had left off but Zanza was now in no mood to humour them. He nonchalantly stopped his punch with one hand and drew his other hand back into a fist and slammed it into his face. The man staggered back and landed clumsily in a heap on the ground.

The third man watched dumbfounded as both his comrades lay defeated on the ground. He stealthily drew his cane up to his chest. He gripped the end and twisted it to draw a very thin blade out of the stick. He had scarcely pulled the blade out when a low voice behind him jolted him out of his thoughts.

"This was a hand-to-hand fight. I have been very patient so far but if you insist on continuing with this thing, I will have to step in." He pressed the hilt of his sakabatou into the man's side. The man glared sullenly at him but stepped back. Kenshin turned to find the stranger watching him closely. He smiled back amiably.

The street fighter cocked his head to the side. "Hey, I didn't need your help but I appreciate it. This was a boring fight. I'm glad I'm rid of them." He took a deep breath and glanced back at him shrewdly, "Now you, on the other hand, you look like you could give me a good fight."

Kenshin blinked and tried to look clueless. "Me? I don't know what you're talking about."

The street fighter smirked. "If you have the balls to carry that around," he gestured towards his sakabatou, "then I'm guessing you – would give me a good fight. That's all I care about."

Kenshin blanched. "Erm…"

Beside him, Kaoru balled her fingers into fists and railed at him, "You idiot! We were worried about you and that's all you have to say? You're bleeding, but you still can't think of anything but fighting." She threw her hands around, making her disbelief apparent.

The street fighter paid her no heed; he continued to look at Kenshin, "Well, if you ever change your mind, let me know." Tossing one final glance at Kaoru and Yahiko, he wiped the blood from his forehead with his palm and flicked it to the side, casually walking away as though nothing had happened.

Kenshin frowned as the symbol etched on the back of his jacket tugged a chord in his memories and took him back to the past once again.

Evil

A/N

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