Chapter 4
Chapter 4

A.N. I know! I know! I'm sorry! *ducks a bouken swung by shiari and gets up with a big bump on the head* Will upload faster next time, promise.

Now here's a major Kenshin OOCness filled chapter for u!

Stuff in (brackets) is nonsense by the author.

Oh, and I've decided to make all my chapter titles question style. I don't know a lot of Japanese, and I don't know many questions you can ask in that language. If anyone could mail me some questions in Japanese(with translation) then I would be most thankful!

Once again, if you don't understand some of the Japanese words I've used, just scroll down to the end and tadaa! There's the Glossary!

Chapter 4

Nani?

After the mess in the kitchen had been cleared up, everything soon quieted down.

Kenshin sighed. He had cleaned the kitchen spotlessly and quickly made lunch for three famished people. He was known for his superhuman endurance, but-- Heck, I'm not just cut out to be a maid.!. he wiped his brow and exited the kitchen, looking forward to his favourite pastime, doing the laundry. But on the way out he ran into Yahiko.

" Hey Kenshin, I'm gonna go practice. Wanna come along?" Yahiko had a half-pleading look in his eyes, although his tone was flippant. Kenshin smiled. He really wants me to watch him. I can't refuse with an excuse like, 'I want to do the laundry.'

"  All right, Yahiko." Yahiko grinned. I knew Kenshin wouldn't refuse with an excuse like the laundry, even though he loves it he thought, as he led Kenshin to the dojo.

"Ichi, ni san. Ichi, ni san." The steady swish of the bouken blended smoothly with the words that Kaoru uttered. She had started practicing already. Yahiko bowed respectfully to her – he had not forgotten the episode in the morning – took his position beside her and started practicing too. Kaoru stopped and glanced at Yahiko. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, and she looked so utterly beautiful that Kenshin was spellbound.

"Kenshin?"

"Huh?" Kenshin broke away form his reverie and found Kaoru looking at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"I can see that you are a swordsman," she started, taking a step towards him, "and you must be a good one to wear a sword openly even though its been outlawed." She gazed at him purposefully and a tiny voice inside Kenshin told him that he would not like what was going to happen to him. He gulped and gazed back at her. "So," she continued, " how about a match with me?"

"Oro?" Kenshin stared in shock. Me, spar with her? No way! He couldn't believe it.

Kaoru frowned. " I knew it." she said icily.

"Nani?"

"You were probably thinking, ' Me, spar with her? No way!', weren't you?"

Kenshin sweatdropped. "Ie! Ie! Now why would I say that?" how the hell did she do that?

"Alrite then!" Kaoru grinned and took her position. "Yahiko, fetch me that bouken in the wooden box below the portrait of my father." Yahiko obeyed, and soon she was holding a very unique bouken. It was made of a dark wood, reinforced by steel tongues that ran along its length, and was shaped like a Japanese sword. It looked very elegant, and looked more like a sword of wood, rather than a regular bouken. Kaoru caressed it lovingly for a few moments.

"It was made by my father, to fight as if holding a real sword, but still keeping with a non-killing ways of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu." She glanced up at Kenshin.

"Ready?"

~*~*~

"Really, Kaoru-dono, I don't think this is right—oro!" Kenshin ducked to miss her first blow, making her lose her balance for a second.

"What do you mean? I need to spar with someone who provides a challenge baka!" she huffed, jumping to avoid a low swing Kenshin gave. "and we've barely broken a sweat!" he's so good with that sword of his!

"But Kaoru-dono—"

"JUST KEEP SPARRING!!" Kaoru shouted while bringing her bouken down. Kenshin blocked it and was going to give a swing when…

"Ooomphh!!" Kenshin staggered forward when Kaoru knocked the wind out of him by spinning around and hitting his back. That was completely unexpected!

"Ha! One point for me!" Kaoru grinned while brandishing her bouken high in the air; then tripped when Kenshin gave her a smack on the butt with the hilt of his sakabatou.

"And one for me too de gozaru." Kenshin showed his gleaming set of teeth in a pleasant smile as he sheathed his sword. "And now that we are even, can I go de gozaru ka?"

"Oh no you don't!" Kaoru lunged for him.

"Oro?!?"

~*~*

Kenshin won the match fifteen minutes later. He couldn't really let her win; it would hurt his pride in any case. Besides, the clothes needed washing; the house needed cleaning….

Kaoru watched Kenshin as he merrily washed the clothes. What the heck does he find remotely interesting in a task as mundane as washing clothes she looked him over with a criticizing eye.

"Kenshin, why do you like wearing a pink shirt?"

"Kaoru-dono, it's not pink, its fuchsia!" he protested. Kenshin was very sensitive about his gi and hated it when people called it pink.

Kaoru looked doubtful. "Sure looks pink to me." she said. "And anyway, if my vocabulary is correct, isn't fuchsia a shade of pink?" she contemplated his shirt for a moment and then abruptly hurried off. She promptly came back carrying a pink flower in her hands. "Isn't that pink?" she asked Kenshin, showing it to him.

"H-hai," answered Kenshin slowly, unsure of what to say.

"well, then your gi is pink too!" exclaimed Kaoru. Seeing the baffled look on Kenshin's face, she gave an exasperated sigh. "This flower's a fuchsia, you dolt."

Realization dawned on Kenshin. Then, just as suddenly, there came despair. His gi was proved to be pink! The horror! The horror! The HORROR! He reached for the fuchsia with trembling hands, and compared it with his gi. No, it couldn't be! Masaka! he thought. They were the same colour! His was even pinker, for heavens sake!

"Kami-sama…" he murmured in disbelief. I'm wearing a pink gi! he scrambled off to his room immediately after that, and Kaoru was left staring at a cloud of dust that his rushing steps had created. She stood there for a moment, gazing at his closed door, then slowly walked towards it. She knocked softly on the door.

"Kenshin?" she said, hesitantly.

"In a minute," came a muffled voice from the inside. Kaoru heard sounds of boxes being thrown violently to the side, and crashing. She winced. Then the shoji door slid open….

Revealing Kenshin in a gi that wasn't pink at all….

Oh no, not pink at all….

Anyone who said it was pink would be pronounced blind….

For it wasn't pink….

But bright orange!

Kaoru collapsed.

Kenshin rushed over, his neon orange sleeves flapping wildly, like the wings of a swan, struggling to get out of a vat of orange paint. (I know it's a bad simile. Sue me.)

"Kaoru-dono, what happened? Don't you like my new gi? Kaoru-dono? Daijoubu de gozaru ka?"

"Ie, Kenshin. Ie."

~*~*~end of chapter~*~*~

Glossary of Japanese Terms

...de gozaru: Kenshin's style of speaking, it's kinda like a spoken full stop.

Nani: What

Busu: ugly, Kaoru's alternate nickname

-dono: Kenshin's old-fashioned honorific, kinda like a Mr./Mrs./Ms.(i.e. Kaoru-dono translates to Miss Kaoru) and it's really polite

Hai: Yes

Ano: Umm

baka: idiot (i.e. Kenshin no baka is Stupid Kenshin)

dojo: place for learning kendo/Japanese sword fighting

oro: Kenshin's style of saying ara, kind of like huh? @_@

kimono: Japanese outfit

hakama: loose flowing pants that are worn with a short jacket on top called gi.

Gi: defined in hakama(above this one)

Kami-sama: god

Kitsune: fox, Megumi's nickname

Jo-chan: Little Missy, Kaoru's nickname courtesy Sanosuke

sayonara: goodbye (duh)

Konnichiwa: hello, said after ten until before evening sets in

ie: no

Daijoubu de gozaru ka: are you alright? Kenshin style

Tanuki: Raccoon, yet another one of Kaoru's nicknames

I-te: Ouch! a variation of ita-i/ pain

Masaka: It can't be! (I think...)

A.N. I couldn't resist poking at Kenshin's gi, it's so horribly pink! And its so fun to make a grown man acting more childish than a fifteen year old (Jo-chan's lost her memory, remember? Not you!) I just realized how many useless chapters are in this fic! I don't want to write a mushy chapter yet, I'm much better at humour (or so I tend to believe).

Thank you for the wonderful reviews and the reviews-yet-to-come!