Thank you everybody who liked my last chapter! I was kind of having doubts about how it turned out but people seemed to like it. I hope this chapter has turned out well! At least, I like it so far cause I got in some more Saitou & Kenshin jabs. I think I have the most fun with those.

I can't promise how long this story will be, at least several more chapters, but when I think I really can't come up with anything else I will end it, and I have come up with something very goofy to finish it off! But in it I will have to pick on myself and some of my favorite and loyal reviewers to do it, so beware! ^_^

Sasura: (Grinning) You asked for them to kiss and I did have them kiss, so you can't complain! Besides, my story says nowhere that it is a romance, LOL…Glad you liked the rice bowls though!

Narrator: You know, I thought of the little mermaid too when I was writing that. Great minds think alike!

Midori: Thank you for the enthusiastic review! It made me feel so much better about that chapter for some reason. Another great mind that thinks like mine I guess! BTW, I read the lemon chapter of your story, hehe, so inspirering! (wicked grin) Really, you did do a good job writing it, and your braver than me! ^_^;

Susan: Well, you shouldn't REALLY be surprised that Kenshin thought of that. I mean, after all, men probably think about that stuff more than women do! Like, Now how could I make those bigger in a way that won't cost a lot of money? LMAO! See what I mean? Rice bowls are very economical.

Sister Weasel: They liked your idea, so think of more, quick!

Sherah: A big thank you to my guinea pig, and for her bugging me for the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I own Rurouni Kenshin, and I am also very delusional…



The Morning After

Chapter 6



The next morning dawned bright and sunny, a perfect day to mark the start of a very (cough) interesting romance. Kaoru and Kenshin were sharing a futon, and before the sun could do more than peek inside the room, Kaoru's eyes popped open, a wicked gleam shining in them. She could barely sleep all night at the thought of the fun she was gonna have, playing matchmaker with Sanosuke and Megumi, although that wasn't the only reason she couldn't sleep. ANYWAY, we won't go there…

As we all know, Kaoru isn't exactly generous and doing this just for the sake of romance. More like she wants Sano to go freeload on someone else and stop insulting her cooking, and keep Megumi away from Kenshin. But motives aren't a problem. If they were, we would really wonder about Aoshi and those rice bowls! (Okay, so you wonder anyway, but that's not the point!)

Kaoru slipped as quietly off the futon as she could manage, trying not to wake Kenshin. She didn't succeed to well though and he stirred, patting her side of the bed in search of her, still mostly asleep. Quickly improvising, she grabbed his sakabatou and thrust it into his searching hands. Half hoping it wouldn't work, (cause well, that's just sick) it annoyed her to no end when he actually seemed content with it, cuddling it to his chest like that first morning.

"It's really too bad that it's still sheathed…" she muttered to herself as she dressed. After she was finished, she headed to the kitchen to see about getting herself some breakfast, since she really couldn't afford to waste time and wait for Kenshin to wake up and cook. And she didn't want him knowing what she was up to, sure she would get scolded for interfering. Concentrating hard to do her best, she didn't realize that Kenshin had finally woken up and was at the moment wondering why she was always gone. "It has just got to be sessha's morning breath…"

He got up and dressed quickly, then hurried out of his room just in time to see Kaoru sneaking out the dojo gate. {Where is she going, and why would she be sneaking around like that? she couldn't be interested in another man, could she?}Telling himself there was really no reason at all to worry, he decided it would still be best to follow her, just in case. With a half guilty, half-worried look on his face, he shadowed her all the way to…Sano's house? If he had been confused before, it was nothing compared to now!

Never knowing she was being followed and watched, Kaoru went to Sano's door, expecting to find him ready and eager to face her challenge. After receiving no answer to her knock and call, she decides to just go in. If he was still there and ignoring her, she would kill him for not answering, and if he had already gone without her, she calmly planned to destroy his house. Sliding open the door, she let out an annoyed yell at what she saw and stomped inside!

"SAGARA SANOSUKE, GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OUT OF BED NOW!" With a forceful blow that could put any body builder to shame, Sano went "SPLAT!" against the wall! Ahh, what a satisfying sound! But do you know what? He slept through the WHOLE thing! The night before, after leaving the dojo, he had been so fearful of the task he was to face that he went out and got drunk, and was now passed out cold. Or knocked out cold. He might have been able to get up before she clobbered him, but we will never know for sure now. Oh well, the point is that he unconscious.

With many muttered curses and threats, Kaoru went outside to get some cold water, hoping to shock him out of his stupor and give him a bath at the same time. After last nights drinking, he reeked, and no woman in her right mind would have him like that.

Kenshin watched the woman he loved as she went to the well outside to draw water while he hide around the corner of a building, out of sight. The longer he watched, the more baffled he felt. {Do Sano and Kaoru have something going on? Is she going to give him a bath or something? I know she can't be planning on cooking for him! So what else could it be?} The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. She had reentered the house now and just as he had decided to confront them, they came out. Sano was dripping wet {And still fully clothed, THANK GOD!} and had a large lump on his head. Kaoru followed him, looking furious. The scene calmed Kenshin's fears somewhat, and he decided to just keep watching.

Still hiding, he could hear a snatch of their conversation as they passed. "I can't believe you would still be asleep, today of all days! Don't you have a romantic bone in your body? (Smirking) Oh wait, I forgot. You've broken them all. Anyway, we have to get over to…" Kaoru's voice faded to where he could hear nothing else, but what he had heard alarmed him all over again. Moving to follow them at a safe distance, he stopped when a familiar voice spoke to him from behind.

"Battousai. Have you stooped to stalking people now? As a humble cop just doing his duty, sessha will have to arrest you." Kenshin turned with an annoyed look, ready to tell Saitou to drop dead and blinked in surprise. *Sweat drop* Saitou was holding out his sword in his favorite stance, but…it wasn't his usual sword. It was a sakabatou! Kenshin was officially ticked! In a hurry and mad as heck, he ignored the battle stance and went strait for Saitou's neck, taking him completely off guard.

"Listen Saitou!" Kenshin ranted, hands wrapped tight around the cop's neck. "I am having a bad day! I wake up with only my sword in bed with me, I have no time for breakfast because I am too busy following my girlfriend who is with another guy, no time to do my laundry besides, and now I have to deal with you and you identity crisis! You do NOT want to mess with me right now!" All the while Kenshin said these things, he was shaking Saitou, who was "Orooing" in a very dead pan manner.

Once his rage was spent, Kenshin let go of Saitou's neck and he fell to the ground. I think he is immune to swirly eyes, cause his eyes are just too evil. ^_^ Picking himself up in a dignified manner and dusting his clothes off, he then calmly put his sword away. To everyone within the vicinity's shock, he then reached out and put his hand on Kenshin's shoulder. "Your right. You really DO have problems. My sympathies, battousai." (What Saitou is really thinking when he says that is "You're upset over the laundry and you woke up with a sword in bed with you?!?! It's too creepy trying to act like you any longer, cause you really DO have problems!") Giving up and leaving a stunned Kenshin, Saitou goes home to plot once more!

After his strange little encounter with Saitou, Kenshin panicked when he couldn't find Sano and Kaoru anywhere! While he was distracted, they had unwittingly managed to elude him, and he had no clue where he might possibly find them. Running down the street in the direction they had been heading, he came to a small market place. After carefully searching the crowd, he spotted Sano's spiky head of hair. Moving quickly and carefully, he found himself a good vantagepoint, only for his heart to drop to his feet at what he sees. Sano was buying Kaoru flowers! Admittedly she was picking them out and loaning him the money to pay for them, but it was still horrible! What kind of best friend was he to do that to Kenshin?

Feeling upset again, he decides to foil Sano's plans. Eyes turning to a cold amber, he slid his sword out of its sheath and flipping it to the sharp side, moving toward his target with legendary speed! SLASH! Moving so fast that the eye couldn't follow, neither Sano nor Kaoru noticed him pass by like a flash of lightning. They only felt the whoosh of air as he went by. So it was really shocking to them when those flowers, so painstakingly chosen and paid for with scarce money, all split in half at once, falling to the ground in a messy, unsalvageable heap.

"AAAGGGHHH!!" Kaoru screeched, halting most of the traffic on the street. "What happened to the flowers? Those beautiful, expensive flowers!" Sano just stood with the cropped stems in his hands, staring down at them with a stupefied expression. I don't think he was quite recovered from his hangover yet.

Out of sight once again, but out of hearing distance also, Kenshin watched, half hopeful that this would get Sano clobbered again. Amazingly enough, it didn't happen.

With a resigned sigh, Kaoru took Sano's arm and steered him in a different direction a little out of town, where there were some fields. A lot of nice wildflowers grew there, and they stopped and picked a wide array of them to Kenshin's growing dismay. After finishing this task and making sure Sano was holding these flowers more protectively, (Kenshin can't get them this time without getting a few fingers, although he was tempted, hehe) Kaoru turned Sano back towards Dr. Genzai's home, aware that it was almost noon now. Worried over the late hour, she now practically dragged Sano behind her at a fast pace. No longer thinking of this as a bet, it had become her mission. And she was giving it everything she had even if it killed her!





Okay, I think that does it for this chapter because it's a good stopping point. I am getting more involved in this plot than I thought I would and coming up with so many good ideas as I write that it may be a several parter. So Sano/Megumi fans and Kenshin/Kaoru fans will enjoy these since those characters will be in it so much. As you can see, I just can't resist picking on Kenshin and Saitou some more! LOL! So everyone review and tell me what you think, pretty please with bishonen men on top? ^_^ I hope you are enjoying it!