Nursing someone back to health isn't glamorous and is potentially embarrassing. Kaoru is openly protective and quite possessive and I can't see her letting anyone else take care of those she considers her own.
Placement is obvious.
Prompt: Shreds of Doubt. flashfiction 365. tumblr prompts
Kaoru shifted Kenshin's arm as it lay over her shoulders, adjusted her grip on his waistband. "Almost there." He hummed an affirmative, carefully moving his feet while she helped support his weight. It had been several days now since they'd come home from the island, days of recovery, and Kenshin was strong enough to walk to the bath house – with a little help.
Sano and Yahiko had already made the trip and were sleeping now. They were all recovering well, but little things were still enough to have them sleeping for hours afterward. Kaoru had helped the others, too. Less so, yes, they weren't as injured as Kenshin, but they had needed the bath house prepared and their wounds re-dressed and settled back into bed after they were done. That had been more comfortable than this.
Doing what she had done, helping them bathe and eat and dress, that was the role of a family member. Those actions were the duty, were the right and place and privilege of a mother or daughter, a sister or wife. With Sano and Yahiko it had been easy because she was secure in her place- there was no shared blood, but for those two, Kaoru was a sister. She was the little sister, and the older sister, to be teased and protected.
She helped Kenshin up the steps, shut the shoji, and helped him undress, careful of his many bandages and wounds. She fiercely willed herself not to blush. Kenshin was quiet, helping when he could and standing as steady as possible. She was not his family, not his wife, and this was not her place, but she still needed to do this.
With Kenshin she was... ambiguous. Oh, Kaoru knew that she loved him like she loved herself, like she loved kenjutsu, like she loved the sun, and she knew that Kenshin loved her in return. Still though, there was nothing formal between them and she probably should have let Aoshi do this. That just seemed so wrong though, and she did not ask and Aoshi had never offered.
She helped Kenshin undress, helped him down to the slatted floor (he was not steady enough to sit on the stool), put the things he needed within reach. She turned away, kneeling and waiting while he cleaned those parts of himself that he could.
"That's... that's all this one can do now, Kaoru-dono, so it is." She turned back and gave him a small smile, turning her attention to her task, washing his legs and feet, his uninjured arm and back. She was carefully thorough with his hair; the sketchy washing she'd been able to do in his room had not been adequate and his hair had suffered for it.
She soaped it twice, gently massaging his scalp, carefully scratching with her fingernails to work loose all the fine crystals of salt and sand. She probably should have been embarrassed by the small noises of pleasure that escaped him while she did the task, but she found that she wasn't.
She rinsed his hair and was done. She helped him dry himself, and he sat patiently, wrapped in a towel, while she redid his bandages. She could feel the fine tremors of his fatigue under her fingertips. She helped him dress then knelt behind him and quickly brushed his hair, trying to finish before he exhausted himself. After she was done, he leaned heavily against her, his back to her front, and she leaned back into him, holding him up and allowing him a brief rest before the walk back to his room.
She felt so tangled and conflicted and yet Kenshin appeared completely serene. They sat together and she couldn't keep the questions contained any longer.
"Kenshin?" Her voice was quiet.
"Yes, Kaoru-dono?"
"Should I... Should I ask Aoshi-san to do this next time?" Am I wrong? Am I selfish? Have I misunderstood?
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "No." He reached back and caught her hand with his own. "No, Kaoru-dono. It is your right." He paused. "It will be your right."
Kaoruca, who stated: "It's a Kenshin's way of implying what he feels and plans to do"
True, in a way. I think that Kenshin considered their future openly settled by this point, which is why he was content to let Kaoru care for him in this manner. In fact, I think he considered it settled when he declared himself home after Kyoto and I think that he considered things really very settled after their little conversation about staying together forever.
I wrote Kaoru feeling a little doubt in the face of a very intimate moment, as Kenshin may have verbally declared himself but really there is no formal relationship at all. It's not really another declaration, just reassurance, that yes of course we'll get married, just as soon as I can walk. ;P