Kaoru, as she was sitting there, was comfortable xuserx Normal xuserx 2 2 2001-11-07T02:05:00Z 2001-11-07T02:05:00Z 4 2812 16032 x 133 32 19688 9.2720 6 pt 2 2

Kaoru, as she was sitting there, was comfortable. She didn't have much to do without her one and only pupil around to pester or order around... '...uh, teach.' She mentally corrected herself. She felt antsy. It was partially because she wasn't doing anything when she wanted to do something - which was follow the Yahiko drama, and it was something else too. The only person missing from this serene image was one certain redheaded hottie. ...She drew in a long sigh, closing her eyes. The sunlight bathed over her features, and a gentle cooling breeze softly brushed against her hair. 'Kenshin.' That was the result of this calm meditative moment? ...well, what else was there to think about. She looked over at her companion briefly. 'Hn. Sagara Sanosuke.' She briefly considered him. 'Oversized blockhead. Hair sharper than a katana.' That was the surface. 'Strong. Fist fighter type...' That was about it for the physical, right? 'Good-looking.' What the heck was that? Random. 'Kenshin.' Okay, now whatever she was thinking was now in check. She sighed again.

"You sick or something?" a deep voice traveled her way. Yes, her companion. She looked at him curiously, blinking twice, straightening up a bit.

***

"Don't look at me like that," he said dully. "You're sighing like something just died." He grinned around the fish bone. It was rare to see Kaoru dumbfounded. 'Well, unless it's something about Kenshin.' ...his grin widened.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She was getting self-conscious. "Am I on trial for something? Can't a girl sigh when she feels fit?!"

'I've seen that look before. I see it once a month and sometimes more.' "Hey hey hey Jo-chan! Don't get your obi in a bunch!" When he saw her return to her meditative posture, he did too. '...phew. That was close. 'surprised she didn't clobber me.' He shifted a bit, resting his back on the porch looking up. He folded his hands behind his head as he continued to think about his near run in with death. 'Hah, no, if Jo-chan wanted to kill me, she could just cook for me.' He got a mischievous grin on his face.

***

She caught a glimpse of his grin. For some reason, she had the impulse to hit him. 'He's thinking something about me. I know it. And it's not good.' She paused a minute. As she looked up at the sky, she started to consider her companion - now adversary, once more. 'What if...it is good?' A grin like that accompanied by something good could not be... '...proper.' She decided. It wasn't any unknown fact that Sano's been around the block a couple times, and certainly stopped off for a lady or two. Who knew what he could be thinking about when he looked at a girl. 'Or me.' Her face became very pensive suddenly. 'He wouldn't. That's the only logical answer.' There was that..."thing" with Sano and Megumi that no one could put their finger on - not even the two involved. Plus, she had Kenshin. 'No I don't. If Sano started coming after me... would Kenshin do anything?' She frowned slightly. When Megumi was all over her "Ken-san"... it infuriated her. 'He just sits there and lets her...do...whatever...it is...foxes do.' Kaoru honestly didn't want to think about what that could possibly mean. Megumi had also been around the block. An unsettling feeling came into her stomach, and she instinctively folded her arms in front of her. Kaoru had been around for a while, but she did lead a pretty sheltered life. She had her parents... then Dr. Genzai... then the dojo. Pretty run of the mill. And then there were all these people. 'They all have lived.' Well, she didn't totally regret not having gone around the block... she didn't want to have to start working for the yakuza or dealing drugs, or run around killing people... but she needed some experience of some kind. ''specially with the men.' She grimaced when she thought of Kenshin again. Did he have..."experience" with women? She really didn't know. Her demeanor went from bad to worse in a short minute of thought. 'How would I compare...could I?' She sighed again. Her sigh was cut off by the sudden arousal of Sano. He looked like a rock that just jutted up beside her. He had a very serious expression on his face.

***

"I've take all I can stands, and I can't stands no more. What the HELL are you thinking about?! Is it Kenshin?! For crying out loud, woman, get a grip. You look like you're about to cry or something and I just can't take it!" After basically yelling at her, Sano huffed for a little while. 'I can't stand seeing a girl cry.' It was true. When Megumi cried that one night she wanted to die... 'Oh a night that I fondly remember, I just wanted to literally slap the tears off her face. They just...don't belong there,' he thought bitterly. He frowned again. Kaoru's face went from worse, to on the verge of tears - which vanished quickly to a red-faced evil looking raccoon. He expected to get hurt. 'Hurt real bad.' Instead, she just moved back to looking at the sky. 'Okay so I was a lil' harsh...' A lil?! '...okay a lot...' It was his turn to sigh, his voice was a little softer... 'It didn't help that I was loud enough for the world to hear, let alone...' "Kenshin... it's about Kenshin isn't it?" No response. "Eh, Jo-chan, you can tell me," he did a cute little pout and nudged her playful like. No response. He stood up and crouched in front of her and did something that looked like an impression of a punching midget, "It's me, Sano, cool, calm, and collected fighter for right, and superior member of the Kenshingumi!" ...she mustered a half amused grin as if to say "Yeah, right." ...'I'll dismiss that insult for now.'

***

She hadn't expected him to do the lil' skit for her or all the dramatics - she REALLY wasn't expecting him to hold her face between two fingers, either. 'Looks can be deceiving.' She thought back to when she first met him. 'Okay sort of met.' He was too consumed with wanting to get his oversized sword into Kenshin. 'I don't like the double-meaning in that.' She mentally shook THAT idea off. Fast. Kaoru's instincts got her to try and shake away from his hand... but his wasn't the grip to be trifled with. Their eyes couldn't be more than a foot a part... seeing as his nose almost brushed against hers. Her cheeks felt warm. 'Why would I blush because of this rooster-head?' she grumbled to herself. With a lil' moment of silence... 'It's obvious he's not here to kiss me or something like that, so there's no reason to be....'

***

Although, it was tempting. 'A kiss would sure as hell wipe that gloomy expression off of any girls face,' he grinned to himself. She was blushing. Oh was his testosterone pumping - though it would have to wait. Jo-chan was in trouble. Not the usual kind either. 'The Kenshin kind. Man, I should write a book. Then I could make millions ... to basically gamble with!' Hey, he was being honest with himself. "So you gonna tell me or do we have to keep staring at each other till the cows come home?" 'Now where the hell did that saying come from?'

***

'Now where the hell did that saying come from?' she thought idly. 'Well it couldn't hurt. It is just Sano after all.' She paused. 'Just Sano. The best friend, Sano. The loud mouthed rooster headed gangster best friend, Sano.' If their heads weren't in such close proximity, she would've smacked her forehead. She took in a deep breath after resolving those thoughts, "I'm fine. I'm just thinking that's all." He didn't believe her. She could tell. Mostly because he continued to look at her with piercing eyes... but also because his hand hadn't moved. Putting a smile on her face, and tilting her head, "It's okay, really." She went to ruffle his hair, but afraid she might prick her fingers, she settled for patting his shoulder.

***

'I don't believe her.' "You afraid Kenshin's gonna hear or something? I mean if you two are having problems..."

"We are not having problems!" ...'Ahh, the sweet sound of Jo-chan's frustration.'..."There isn't a 'we'!"... 'Bingo. That didn't take 1/2 as long as I thought it would.' Now he just had to go about solving her problem. 'It would be the guy thing to do.'

"So...that would be the problem, hmmm..." He moved to sit beside her and rested an arm around her shoulders and lowered his voice to whispers. If Kenshin was around, he was the kind of guy who wouldn't eavesdrop on purpose, right? Right. But it couldn't hurt if he couldn't hear, too. Kenshin was still a guy after all. "I can't do much for you, Jo-chan. I mean, you and Kenshin have this weird thing going -"

"Not half as weird as you and Megumi."

***

'There. Now that'll get him to stop I'm sure,' she thought, her confidence building again. He wasn't going to go there, was he? 'How could he understand...? He's one of THEM... the infamous Kenshingumi.' The same Kenshingumi she suddenly felt alienated from. 'I never knew having a good life could be so bad.' It hadn't ALWAYS been good; she knew that... she was beyond her years, too. She had to raise herself to some effect.... But it wasn't like she was forced to steal, or to kill, or to make drugs... that basically meant killing.

"You think I'm really that stupid to bite into that? - Don't say it." His smile was gentle, almost playful. It wasn't the usual obnoxious grin that usually brandished his face. It was a warm smile... so welcoming. She wanted to talk to him about it, she just - she couldn't. She felt a warm hand on her cheek, and then she had to smile. Some other part of her made her blush, too. The smile slowly turned into a partial grin.

"The devastating charm routine isn't going to work on me. You're practically my older brother," she smirked. She found another way to avoid talking about her thoughts. 'Chalk one up for the tanuki, baby.'

***

He had to pout. His ego was just shot to hell. He had to redeem himself. It was a matter of principle now. He wouldn't be able to shine his pearly whites without knowing a woman bested him. 'Yeah, it's just Jo-chan. But it's the principle. She is a woman now...kind of,' he thought about it a bit. Since he'd first seen her, she had grown up. It was kind hard not to with her new acquaintances and all. He also knew that contributed to Kenshin's guilt complex. 'Man, they should just hop in the sack and get it over with,' although he knew that was a Sagara mentality and not a Himura one. Sano spent some time just considering what goes through that redhead's...head. He knew that Kenshin had that whole Battousai baggage hanging over his shoulder, and it didn't exactly leave the Kenshingumi without a share in it. Kaoru just somehow got into the middle of it. 'Jo-chan.' Calling her 'little missy' sometimes didn't feel right. It was understood that Jo-chan was his name for Kaoru... but sometimes it just didn't suit her. He did admire her sometimes. She had a lot of changes in the last year or so... with Kenshin, Yahiko, himself, Megumi... and whatever other obstacle decided to jump out from a bush at her. And she didn't regret it; she still found a way to continue to be herself - short tempered, ever loving, passionate Jo-chan. If he had to lose to somebody - somebody female... it had to be Jo-chan. Or Megumi. But he wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole.

"Look, Jo-chan... you can talk to me, okay?" He rested his hand down, and his face was serious again. "Kenshin's not around... Megumi's not here, and Yahiko - has his own problems," he smiled with her on that note.

"Sano..." 'She breaking,' he began to hope. "I want to talk to you..." 'I feel a 'but' coming on.' "...but..."

"But I'm not Kenshin?"

"No, that's not it." He felt partially relieved. How many times did he have to lose to Kenshin? 'I know he can kick my butt and all, but there's only SO much a man can bear.' On the other hand, he was back to square one.

"Jo-chan I don't understand..." She surprised him then by gently leaning into him a bit. He's had women do this before, but this was different. 'Everything with Jo-chan is different. Even food.' He smiled at her...both because of what he was thinking and because she'd decided to lean on him for a bit.

***

"...I know you don't," she thought aloud. She knew he wouldn't. He couldn't. And she couldn't explain it either. In her own mind, she didn't quite understand it. The Kenshingumi was her life now... and with the thoughts that plagued her mind, she was alienated from her own life. She felt the tender love in Sano's embrace... she felt the love in everything that had to do with her family of misfits. Fear itched at the base of her neck, that this was not going to last. This warm feeling was going to go away... and she couldn't face it. She knew they would never abandon her...but this was a problem for her, her alone. She wanted to deal and settle this on her own. It had to be done.

She started thinking about how warm she felt. She felt this way in Kenshin's arms too... although it wasn't exactly the same. It was different for her to even consider Sano as a man... without adding on the tags of rooster head or gangster or brother. It was also an eye opener. What if she had met Sano first? Sano had baggage. Like Kenshin did. She smiled inwardly. IF she had met Sano first, she probably would've ended up being one of his one-night stands or something. Where would the Kenshingumi be then? She didn't want to be a one-night stand... she wouldn't think about it. At least not with him having his arm around her, and smiling at her.

***

Now elsewhere on the Kamiya grounds, was the not forgotten but least observed Kenshin. Now, Kenshin at some point had stopped doing his chores to watch his friends. He too was meditating. About his life. Not about what it used to be, for once. But what it was. The simple gesture of watching Kaoru-dono and Sanosuke sitting there basically was what made him happy. It represented his new life as Himura Kenshin. And what Battousai had fought for all those years. Even if he still was known as a rurouni, he knew well that this was his home now. Heck, it was the KENSHINgumi right? He had some obligation. Whether he liked it or not, this is where his heart is and he felt it was where he belonged.

Right now however, he felt like he belonged somewhere in this little drama that was unfolding before him. Yelling. Then whispering. And then Sano had his arm around Kaoru. 'What the heck was going on over there?' No, that wasn't jealousy. Couldn't be. He also saw the changes in Kaoru's face. He didn't like to see her unhappy. And although he tried not to, he always felt it was somehow related to him. He could feel her unhappiness within himself... he still was not quite sure what he and Kaoru meant to each other. After finding his own spot to meditate in - in close watch of the two companions, he thought about it. Not for the first time either. She was sweet. Delicate. Young. Very young. Too young? 'Hey I'm not THAT old...physically.' He looked over himself. There was this thing telling him that his gi should be red... not a faded pink color. 'The infamous Battousai sporting pink.' When he thought of it that way, he was a sight. He loved this gi. He'd been through a lot of stuff in this gi. 'I met Kaoru in this gi.' Plus... he really didn't have much else to wear. These clothes suited him. Like Sano's clothes suited him. 'He's a big guy... he probably feels he needs to show off a bit.' Kenshin was reminded of his own muscles. The barely visible ones. His master had fully tormented him on countless occasions how Kenshin might have been better off being born as a woman. He thought about that... well, for one - he wouldn't have ended up becoming the Battousai. Married to one, widowed by one, but not BE one. He muttered under his breath, trying to keep on track. He wouldn't have met Kaoru. Somehow it always came back to her. Kaoru was the woman that he could look up to but at the same time want to care for... she was the child and the mother and the sister. Now, the only part of Kaoru's womanhood that Kenshin had a problem dealing with was her *womanhood*. 'That could also be taken the wrong way.' Yes, yes it could. 'I'm acting like I'm Yahiko's age - afraid to talk about...about...that.' He smiled. Another thing he owed to Kaoru. Kenshin was able to be a boy again around her. Around all of them. The Kenshingumi provided an environment where he didn't have to always worry about the man across the table screaming bloody murder or something. It wasn't exactly getting his childhood back.... but it was a start. 'Thank you, Kaoru.'

***

"Jo-chan, when'd you get all smart and cryptic? You've been with Kenshin too long," he playfully knocked on her head. Leaning in close, so his lips were brushing against her ear…"…which makes me think. Is *being* with Kenshin very…long?" He grinned wickedly when she physically stiffened.

"Okay Sano! That's enough out of you!"…the wall was much more welcoming than her fist had been.

***

'This is no good.' Kenshin was torn. Help Sano – or help Kaoru. 'Bah, Sano MUST know by now what he'll get for offending Kaoru…' his mind wandered. 'How DID he offend her?' He wouldn't have. He couldn't have. 'No way.' The redheaded firecracker was collecting the facts. 'They were sitting together. He got closer to her. He faced her. He got even closer still. And I haven't been able to hear a word they've been saying. And Kaoru's been red-faced for a good portion of the entire conversation. No way…' This was the cue to fall into "oro" phase to save him from himself.

***

Sano and Kaoru stood over Kenshin curiously. They'd seen him go "oro" before… but they weren't quite sure how long he was like this. Or how long he would stay like this.

"Do you think he needs some water or something?" Sano mused over her concern a little bit with a soft smile as his eyes watched her face twist with a hint of worry. The smile became a big macho grin as soon as her eyes caught his.

"Nah, Jo-chan, don't worry about him—" he was cut off by the grumbling of his stomach. Sano's face went from a grimace to outright fear when he sensed that Kaoru was going to offer him something to eat.

***

Kenshin felt his head about to roll off from all the shaking. He snapped back into the real world with a frustrated Sano spitting out various unpleasant words and Kaoru… she was obviously trying to hit Sano for saying something but in someway or another Kenshin's head was in the way. And the painful cries of "oro" were heard across the land.

***

End of Chapter 2

Janelle again.

Yeah I know, I'm on crack. The fanfic went from being an idea about Kenshin and Kaoru, to Yahiko's puberty, to some unresolved sexual tension between Sano and Kaoru. If you can still follow this, feel free to read the next chapter if and when I get around to writing it. I really like using the whole back and forth point-of-view technique in writing fanfics… I think it sorta helps. I'm gonna try and work on setting and scenery imagery though. I don't do crossovers or lemons, just to point that out – primarily because I can't write them. o.o; I'll keep the chapters short none of those 14 pagers.

In the following chapters you can expect…

*By request, more Megumi – I don't like her, but the person who runs redcarp.com does, so… ^.^;;;…

*More back of forth point-of-view writing, I'll try my best to keep it easy to follow

*Tsubame and Yahiko get to eat now (hell they've waited a chapter already)