Chapter 11

Not a ton happens in this chapter but it's extremely important in the scheme of things. Especially in the development of Shinta and Kaoru's relationship.

Things pick up again very soon!

Kenkoa4ever – Kenshin's sudden disappearance was kinda hard to write, because I wasn't ready to let go of him at that point yet. No worries though. We're not done with him yet. I'm glad youre liking it! I think Shinta knows about Jeneh and Akio because the FBI knows… but we'll see!

Summer314 – Good guesses! We shall see! I thought Akio might surprise some people. He just seemed like a nice older man. But crazy people dn't always show their crazy. Lol! Oh, Sano… I'm excited to write him in more soon. Thanks so much for your reviews!

Perpetual shipper – More good guesses! I really hope I'm able to live up to everyone's hopes with this fic! There's some more surprises in store! Thanks for another review! I'm a lazy reader too, but writing this is changing my mind on that. Thank you!

I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin

The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. As I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, I felt my breathing pick up, deepen, and become a little erratic. I had been sleeping for twelve hours, which meant it was about midnight. After everything at headquarters, Shinta, Yahiko and myself headed back to my apartment. Yahiko fell so soundly asleep in the back seat of Shinta's BMW that he had to be carried inside. I thought I might have to tease him about that one day when he was all grown up. I had just enough time to set out a pillow and some blankets for Shinta before falling face first on my bed and passing the heck out.

As for Shinta, he had remained pretty quiet ever since leaving the interrogation room, only offering a few well-timed thank-yous as I told him to make himself at home.

And now I was fully awake, and very tuned in to the idea that everything in my life had taken a 180. Every once in a while, I'd take a deep, gulping breath as if I were afraid it was the last one, painfully aware each time air filled my lungs. I was beginning to look forward to a time where breathing felt natural and easy again.

Yesterday, had felt so fragile. It only took a moment for everything to change, and your life would fall into tiny bits and pieces. Deciding to put the important things first, I knew I had a lot of thinking to do.

Yahiko was first. Then what? Work?

I grimaced. Not work. Friends! Magumi and Sano… work friends? No, they were more than work friends, but we didn't exactly speak all the time either.

I really needed to get out more.

Misao was my friend, but since she started dating Aoshi three months ago, we'd probably seen each other four times. We'd met in elementary school and spoke on the phone at least five times a day since we were kids. But it wasn't entirely her fault. I'd been fairly busy the past few months too.

All my other friends seemed to slowly disappear the moment I became the guardian of a preteen.

I frowned at the ceiling. The darkness made the white swirls form into eerie shapes in my mind. I stared at one spot until it formed what looked to be a face; a long face, with smiling eyes and a wide mouth bent in manic laughter.

Jineh's insane face raced suddenly into my mind.

I stood, needing water.

Tiptoeing into the kitchen, I noticed the faint glow of a green nightlight in the corner of the room. I peeked around the hallway to find Shinta sitting cross-legged on the floor, the same spot Kenshin always slept, with his computer open on his lap. I supposed he had more than one pair of glasses, because the ones he wore now were thinner frames. They had slipped to the tip of his nose as he typed away, and he paused, continuing to type with one hand as the other reached up to push his glasses back.

I smiled because it made him look like the most adorable nerd I'd ever seen.

He must have sensed me staring at him because he grinned absently at the screen before closing it and glancing up at me. "Are you having trouble sleeping, Kaoru?"

Embarrassed that he caught me watching him, I flushed and nervously wrapped my arms around myself. "Yea, a little. I was just going to get some water, and I'll let you get back to…" I waved my hand at his laptop. "Whatever you're doing."

He slid his laptop beneath his black overnight bag and grinned up at me charmingly. "I was just emailing Saito." The spite in his voice when he used his superior's name surprised me. "I could make us some tea if you'd like."

I smiled uncomfortably and shuffled my feet. "Sure. Thanks Ken-" My teeth sunk into my lower lip. Once Kenshin had learned to use the kettle he very much enjoyed making tea after dinner. "I'm sorry, Shinta."

He waved it off and stood, completely unoffended. "Do we look alike?" he teased.

I chuckled as he strolled past me and into the kitchen. "Yea, just a little." We were silent for a moment, Shinta filling the kettle and me watching him fill the kettle. It was after midnight, and he was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a simple black t-shirt. His hair was loose now, and it drifted in thick, red waves down to the small of his back. I was happy that he seemed to be a little more talkative now. "Did Yahiko give you his nightlight?"

Shinta's smile was filled with humor as he placed the kettle on the stove and turned it on. "Yes. He said he didn't need it anymore, so he tossed it at me and went to bed. That he did."

Of all nights to give that up, he chose this one?

I chuckled again. "You know he's just trying to impress you."

Shinta leaned against the vanity and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at me. "Job well done. Yahiko is a very good person. That he is."

I smiled and glanced down at my hands, laced together across the counter. "Yea, he is." Before I could start tearing up again, I asked, "Do you sleep on the floor?"

Shinta's brows went up. "If that's where you want me."

I laughed nervously, pushing my hair behind my ears. "No, it's just… Kenshin always slept on the floor. He preferred it."

Shinta's eyes slid to the linoleum at his feet. He looked a little uncomfortable and I wasn't sure why. "When I was younger, my foster father used to make me sleep on the floor twice a week, after a full day of lessons in Judo and Kendo that he taught at his school." He pulled off his glassed and set them carefully on the counter before those warm eyes flicked up to meet mine. "To encourage resilience, he said."

So, he was an orphan… like me. Like Yahiko. We could start a club.

"Did you prefer the floor too then?"

A small laugh escaped his lips and it crinkled his beautiful eyes in a way that delighted and warmed me through. "Not particularly."

I pulled out a stool across the counter from him and sat. "You can use my bed if you'd like. I'm comfortable on the couch."

"I'm not taking your bed, Kaoru," he said, and the humor slipped from his face. "The couch is perfect. That it is."

"Okay," I started, and cleared my throat. "So, is that how you fought Akio? Judo and Kendo-style techniques?"

The thought of Shinta whipping around to save me without the use of any weapons but his own body made me feel more than a little exhilarated.

He nodded once and smiled. "There's one thing Kenshin and I don't have in common: I've never used a sword."

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say about that because, now that I'd seen the beauty of how Kenshin used his sword, I couldn't imagine him, or either of them, without one. "You must be a very good fighter to go against someone who does use one though."

Shinta's cheeks turned charmingly pink but he said nothing.

I braced my elbow on the counter and put my cheek in my hand. "Akio seemed like just a nice old man," I started, feeling rather foolish again. "When he dropped me off at the park that day, he even waited to make sure I was okay and gave me his card in case changed my mind about staying. I thought that was because he was looking after me, but I guess he was trying to trick me."

The whole thing had shivers racing up and down my spine. What would he have done to me if I had gotten back in that cab?

During my whole rant, Shinta's face continually got darker and darker, until his eyes were angry slants. "I prefer to call this one Jeneh, if you don't mind."

I shook my head, a little dumbfounded by the menace in his voice.

"He fooled many before you, Kaoru. That he did. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't fooled by him at first as well."

My hand dropped with a loud thump to the table. "You were?"

Come to think of it, Kenshin let his guard down with Akio… or Jeneh too, after a little while. He clearly didn't trust the older man, but I believe he would have, had there been more time. Had everything been a trick? Even when Jeneh left his body and Akio cried on my living room floor?

But Shinta was still angry at the memory of Jeneh at the cab company, and he gave me a single nod. "For a little while it will be very difficult to trust anyone, Kaoru. That it will. Yet, I'm asking you to trust me, which isn't a fair thing to ask at all." He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. His eyes changed; rounded and softened. "Are you willing to do that?"

It scared me, I couldn't lie about that. I did trust Shinta. I did trust Kenshin. And, at one point, I did trust Jeneh… I was still too young and inexperienced, and I genuinely felt that people were inherently good... but I was naïve. "I'm in this already, Shinta. Who else can I trust, if not you?" The thought of not believing him made me feel very, very lonely and more than a little sick to my stomach. "Yes," I decided, locking eyes firmly with his. "But if you ever do anything to put Yahiko in danger, you'll be answering to the pounding of my bokken."

It wasn't any real threat to someone like Shinta, I knew, but he nodded, and his eyes shined with laughter. "I'll let you. That I will."

"No ducking or swerving or fighting back either. I'd get in a good pounding." We were laughing, but we both knew I was serious.

"Deal," Shinta said.

The kettle started a low scream and Shinta quickly spun to move it off the burner before it woke Yahiko.

"You're foster father sounds a little harsh, if you don't mind me saying so," I said, twisting a little anxiously in my seat.

Shinta made a small hmph in agreement. "Maybe a little." He opened the cabinet and pulled out two small cups with green vines circling the rims. "What about your father?"

My father…

"Would you like to see a picture?" It had been ages since I'd scrolled through our family album and something about sharing that with Shinta pleased me to no end.

Momentarily for getting the tea, Shinta turned. He smiled and nodded happily, so I scurried down the hall and pulled it from the closet. Shinta leaned forward on his elbows as I opened it up to a picture of my dad, smiling down at me as a little girl. I had a bokken in my hands that was as long as I was tall. And dad watched me with pride in his eyes. "He was tall," I commented absently, tracing my fingertips across the picture. "I didn't inherit that."

Across from me, Kenshin chuckled. "You inherited his eyes though."

I glanced up at him and smiled, making a sound of agreement. That's what I'd been told my whole life. After my father died, they became my favorite feature because every time I looked at myself in the mirror, I could imagine his blue eyes looking back at me.

"What's this?" Shinta's fingertips lightly touched a dried yellow rose pressed inside the album.

"Oh!" I had forgotten about it. "The day I found out dad was sick, I was in a coffee shop with my friend Misao." Gingerly, I touched the dried petals, feeling my throat thicken at the memory of that day. "I'd been crying, and my eyes were bloodshot and swollen, and this stranger came up to me. I was so upset that I barely gave him a glance, but I remember his dark, kind eyes when he bent to his knees and handed me this rose." A smiled curled my lips at the memory of the kind man, and I traced the stem back and forth lightly with my fingertips. "I stopped crying immediately and just stared at this beautiful flower. And I remember thinking this simple act of kindness from this stranger had meant more to me than anything someone could have said at that moment."

That entire morning Misao had been trying to comfort me and reassure me that everything would be okay, but her words were unintentionally hollow because I knew how serious my father's sickness was.

I sighed and smiled at Shinta, who was watching with his head tilted to the side, and a small apologetic grin on his lips. "This stranger didn't even know why I was upset. And when I looked up to thank him, he was gone. He never said a single word."

Shinta tentatively peeled himself away to pour our tea. "And you kept it."

"Yes. That was two years ago." Now when I saw someone in pain, I couldn't just look away. I guessed that was why I wanted to help Kenshin so badly, even thought he was a stranger to me.

"I'm sorry about your father's death, Kaoru."

I frowned at him a little. "Did I tell you that he died?"

Shinta glanced back at me with his brows drawn in concern. "Tomoe said you had experienced many losses in the past few months. I'm sorry if I assumed-"

"No, you're right. And thank you."

We were both quiet as the tea dribbled, sounding like a rocky stream into the small cups. Puffs of steam lifted into the air like tiny clouds.

"Would you like some sugar with your tea?"

A long, slow moan slipped through my lips at the mention of sugar, and Shinta's back instantly went rigid. I don't know if it was the awkward silence after talking about my father's death, or because I was completely mortified by the too intimate sound I made, but I sputtered a bit at seeing his reaction.

"Ummm, no thank you. I love sugar though. Sugar is my favorite food I think. But it wakes me up too much. If I ate sugar now, I wouldn't leave you alone all night and neither one of us would get any sleep. Then we'd both be zombie's tomorrow. Or today. I guess it's today now. It doesn't feel like it should be today yet, but yesterday seems like it happened a week ago, so I guess it is today."

… Where on God's green earth did that nonsense come from?

Shinta's shoulders relaxed and he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. There was an undeniable spark of humor in them. "So… no sugar."

I snorted out a laugh without giving my body permission. "No sugar."

Something about his face made me a driveling idiot, but thankfully his clear humor softened my awkwardness, and had me laughing with him. I realized that, while I felt a strong pull to help and comfort Kenshin, it was easier with Shinta's calm and kind demeanor. I didn't feel the urge to save him as I did with Kenshin. His violet eyes were still troubled, but less so in a way. Troubled, yet… happy.

And still, Shinta was the person I could undoubtedly see Kenshin becoming one day; someone with less anger and sorrow in his heart. I sighed then, wondering where he could be.

Shinta handed me my cup with a warning that it was hot. I took it carefully, and inhaled the enchantingly warm peppermint scent. "This is exactly what I needed. Thank you Shinta."

"You're welcome, Kaoru."

It was a great comfort having his presence there, familiar and safe. I opened my mouth to tell him that when his phone made a low ding.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, pulling it from his pajama pocket. When he looked at the screen his eyes narrowed. He quickly shut it off and put it back in his pocket again.

"Saito?" I guessed.

He blew out a small laugh, but the humor didn't reach his eyes this time. "My superior likes to surprise me lately. That he does."

"Surprise you?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Maybe Shinta would tell me what Saito had said to him at headquarters that had him looking like he would be sick.

Instead, he smiled at me and took a slow sip of his tea. "You're trying to get information out of me. That you are."

I opened my mouth to protest, but when Shinta's eyebrow rose in challenging humor, I laughed instead. "I'm not very sneaky."

He sat his cup on the counter and his eyes drifted away from me. "You are many things, Kaoru Kamiya, but cunning is not one of them. You're far too pure."

The hot tea slid down my throat roughly when he said that. "Why does everyone think I'm so innocent all the time?"

His head snapped my way and his smile was beaming. "Because you are. It's very charming, Kaoru."

I frowned at him. "Kenshin said almost the same thing."

His brow rose again. "Did he?"

The way he asked that made something inside of me jolt into alertness. I sat down my tea rougher than I wanted to, and it sloshed over the side. "There's something you're not telling me," I accused, eyes narrowed.

Shinta sighed. "I'm afraid there are many things I'm not telling you. That I'm not. But it's for your protection, Kaoru, so please don't ask me. Not yet."

Yet. Did that mean he would eventually tell me?

"Okay," I agreed softly, taking in a calming breath. Eventually I needed to know more, but for now I'd settle. "Can I just ask one thing?"

Shinta turned away from me to wash out his cup, but then he turned around and looked at me with warm eyes, waiting patiently for me to ask.

I cleared my throat. "Am I in this deeper than I realize?"

That creeping feeling had been with me since I spoke with Saito in the interrogation room. Maybe I was supposed to find Kenshin that day. Maybe I was an instrument in someone's plan somehow. In a way I could almost picture the puppet strings tied around my wrists, but I wasn't sure who was making me move or in what direction.

I didn't know what it was, but I knew they were watching me for a bigger reason that finding Kenshin. I felt it.

Shinta's eyes studied my face for so long that I felt fire crawl up my skin and settle in my cheeks. He walked over and leaned down on the vanity across from me, his eyes soft but calculating. I suddenly was hyper-aware of how I looked; pale purple pajama pants and a plain white tank top with my hair held back in a messy low braid. I didn't push back, but my breathing picked up at his intimate proximity. "Yes," was all he said, very softly. "But you will be safe," he promised, "both you and Yahiko."

At that moment, I felt like I knew Shinta in a very real and very friendly way, and I believed every word he told me. I had been wrong about Akio's intentions, but I was willing to bet my life that Shinta wanted nothing but to keep me safe.

But I wanted to know why!

Breathing was harder all of the sudden.

"Do you wanna play video games?" I managed to squeak out.

The smile that transformed his face was all the answer I needed.

…

When I woke up, I instantly knew I was in a foreign sleeping place. For one thing, I was not lying down. The faint glow of morning shined through the thin blinds in the living room. I was leaning against a lean, muscled shoulder, and the scent of pine needles drifted in my nose. My body stiffened in sudden mortification.

One second, his Toadstool was kicking my drybones butt in Mariocart, and the next I was waking up here. On the couch. And oddly comfortable despite the lack of a proper pillow.

I had fallen asleep on Shinta's shoulder.

At first, I wasn't quite sure how to move to escape. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to escape, but Yahiko would probably be up soon. I bit my lip as I slowly lifted away from his warm shoulder. When I peeked to the side, the sight of him made warmth spread like honey through my veins. Shinta's eyes were softly closed, and his head was bent forward so his hair fell across his face in a way that made me ache to push it back. Just like Kenshin, his legs were crossed, and his arms rested casually in his lap. Somehow, he managed to sling a blanket around my shoulders, but otherwise he didn't try and touch me at all. That was both reassuring and disappointing in very confusing succession.

I was flooded with the memories of the hours leading up to us falling asleep on the couch.

It surprised me to no end how quickly Shinta and I went from nearly strangers, to two people who got along like friends who had known each other for years. We laughed so hard when I fell off rainbow road, literally 49 times (Shinta counted), that he had to clamp his hand over my mouth. I beat him… once! But I was fairly sure it was because he let me win.

We talked for hours as we played.

I learned that Shinta's parents both died of pneumonia when he was only seven years old because they were pour and lacked proper healthcare. He joined the marines when he was eighteen, and then the Japanese Task Force when he was twenty-four. Saito had been on his case hardcore since the first year he joined, but Shinta wouldn't tell me the reason behind it. He was twenty-seven years old, which shocked me, since he still looked very young.

When he was eight, his foster father, Hiko, made little Shinta cut wood for several hours in the cold because he had rudely commented about the double chin of mean old woman next door. At first I was mortified, but then he told me that, not only did he cut the wood, he stacked it in a clever way that made each log nearly impossible to move. To this day, Hiko has a giant pile of stacked wood in his back yard that is completely useless unless he decides to have a raging bonfire one day.

"Trust me, I deserved every punishment Hiko delivered. I was an insufferable child," Shina explained, laughing. It was sweet, the way he spoke of Hiko, not in hatred or even dislike, but very fondly and warm. Hiko saved his life, and by the time Shinta was a teenager they had become very much like father and son.

I gave him some of my background too, but I hadn't done anything nearly as exciting as he had. He already knew the biggest things, my dad's death and taking in Yahiko. Other than that, my life was somewhat… uninteresting.

Or at least it was.

I stumbled over the blanket as I stood, and I froze once I found my footing, glancing sideways to make sure I hadn't woken him. A tiny tilt to his lips informed me that Shinta was definitely not asleep.

I huffed and put my hands on my hips, but I couldn't stop the smile that tugged at my mouth. "Good morning, Shinta," I whispered, and quickly scurried into the hallway to use the bathroom.

"Good morning, Kaoru," I heard him whisper back as I shut the door.

To be continued…

This was flirtier and kind of uneventful, BUT there's a reason, and this was a pretty important chapter. That's all I'm allowed to say.