A/n I thought I better get this out before I dive head first into NanoWrimo prep for November. As always I'll not be updating any in November as I focus on my project. I hope for a quick win like last year. The next update is Alpha, I believe, in December. On to the story!


Kaoru woke, feeling guilty about her nap and found that the blue sky had drained away into gray. That the green earth below them, also gray. A land of rock and dirt. The landing was difficult, especially for the large Farada. The dragon tripped at the last moment and landed on her great face. The creature was fine, but both Misao and Megumi clucked over her every scratch while the wingmen unloaded their supplies. Kokuei was not immune himself. Landing on the jutting boulders had ripped a claw from one of his back feet. The dragon insisted it was nothing and there was no pain, but Kenshin turned various shades from red to white at the sight of his blood. Kaoru already had bandages and pressed them into Kenshin's hands.

"Oh! Thank you, Kaoru." And then the assassin rushed away to nurse the protesting dragon.

Farada swiped her great tail across the earth, upturning the rocks and tossing them to the side like one would kick pine cones. This cleared an area large enough for the whole group to camp without any jutting boulders.

There was not much to do at the moment with Kenshin focused on the black dragon. Kaoru removed her saddle, and with a little climbing, was able to remove Kenshin's as well. Upon looking closer, the claw was not completely gone, just some of it, but even so, the stubby clawless part of the toe looked unnerving to her and did not fault Kenshin for babying his dragon. The creature did protest.

"But it is nothing."

"At least let me stop the bleeding."

"I've lost more claws during fights. The rest will fall away and I'll grow a new one."

"I know." Was all Kenshin would say and insisted he help stop the bleeding. The poor black dragon focused his ruby eyes on Kaoru.

"This is unnecessary."

"I know, you giant lizard." Kaoru set a hand on his side and the great beast hung his neck down so he could look at her. She said softly, "Just humor him. He wants to take care of you."

The beast grumbled but did not look too unpleased, even if Bast and Ganz were snickering at him.

Camp was set but there was little for them to do. There was nothing to burn, save the tufts of grasses that grew tall between the rocks. No campfire meant no hot food, but they worked around this by setting their last bit of meat on a rock for Bast to roast with his fire breathing. Sano made certain it was a controlled flame so they would not have to eat charcoal. As the sun started to set Kaoru realized that the cold had settled in. She found Misao already pulling her pack out of Farada's cargo net to dig out her cold weather clothes. Everyone followed suit. Kaoru put away the lighter clothes and replaced them with heavy wool and lined leathers. She welcomed the extra layers and the thicker cloak.

She sat next to Kokuei for warmth as she struggled with the long sleeves of the fur coat. In the end, she decided to roll them up until her hands were free.

"I don't like it here." The beast rumbled, pressing his wings close to his body. His head tucked under one of said wings.

"Cause it's cold?"

"Cause it's a horrible place." His voice rumbled from under the wing.

"It's going to get colder you know?" Kaoru elbowed the beast teasingly. The verbal jab only earned her a huff and a grumble.

Kenshin returned with an armload of tent canvas. "Best get used to that attitude. The dragons are going to be unhappy from here on until we get out of this cold, that they are."

"Lovely," Kaoru rolled her eyes and got to her feet to help her master attach the thick canvas on Kokuei's harness. It effectively covered much of the dragon like a blanket and Kenshin stretched out the extra so they would have a covered space to sleep. This way Kokuei could keep his wings around him for extra warmth.

"So the dragons we're helping...tell me more about them? Are they just overly powerful and important?" Kaoru wondered as Kenshin ducked into the tent with another armload. This time it was a thick blanket. She moved to the side, allowing Kenshin to settle next to her and the pair of them leaned back on the warm scales behind them. Kenshin unfolded the blanket and snapped it open to drift down over them.

The sudden idea that she and Kenshin were somewhat sharing a bed popped into her mind. It washed away all other thoughts and even Kenshin's words about the snow dragons hardly took purchase in her ears. It was as though she had taken a blow to the head. This was ridiculous. They had slept, pressed up against each other since this mission had started. The addition of a blanket didn't make it any more intimate. But somehow it did, despite the newly added layers of clothing.

"...very clever, almost more so than humans…." He was saying. But Kaoru could hardly absorb the words.

Her eyes were tipped downward to her lap as if she could see her twisting fingers through the blanket. She thought she would finally get control of herself after leaving the forest, and for a bit, it seemed that would be the case. But now it was back. A want, a need. A curiosity so strong, she didn't know how she could go without finding out.

"...a king and queen…." Kenshin continued and Kaoru found her eyes drifting over to his face. In the gloom of the darkness of the tent, she could picture his face perfectly. The gentle look his eyes took on most times. The way his lips ticked upward when he was amused but tried to hide it. Her eyes focused on those lips, hardly visible in the vanishing light. Was this how Jacob felt? An all-consuming need to know? A feeling so strong he finally let the words out and asked her. Could she do that? Should she? Kenshin was still her Master and they were on a mission. But the want, the need wouldn't leave her.

Her fingers ached from the strength at which she was twisting them in her lap. She was aware that Kenshin was no longer talking and found him watching her. She wondered if he caught her looking at him, or if he could see the conflict in her face even in this dying light. Perhaps he realized that she wasn't listening to anything he had said to her.

"Kaoru, is something wrong?" His words rang through clear and loud.

To her horror and relief, she heard the words leave her mouth. "Can I kiss you?"

He made a sound as though all the air was forced from his lungs. Her eyes slid over to watch him. His mouth was slack and his eyes wide enough for her to see the whites of them even in the gloom. "Kaoru..." Twin bursts of glowing amber leaked into his eyes, drawing her to focus on them. The warm color leaked out just behind the pupil and slowly started to spread.

Suddenly words poured out. She wanted him to know, to understand. "I didn't want Jacob to bed me because he wasn't you." She confessed. She hadn't known that was the case until this moment. But now that she said it, the rest just came right out in a rush of words. "I had been having dreams about you. I guess I was just so worried about you going off to battle and I would never see you again. I was frustrated and flustered and I was curious and I trusted Jacob but he wasn't you."

Kenshin's jaw was slowly dropping the more she spoke and she realized she was rambling such that she was unsure he could even understand her. She took a breath. "I just want to stop thinking about you, it's very distracting and...I thought...perhaps...getting rid of my curiosity will help?" She ended in a whisper, her face flaring with heat and her eyes skirted away, suddenly shy now that she had said it. Her heart was racing, and she felt lightheaded. She prepared herself to be rebuffed. Perhaps even chastised.

Kenshin sat in silence for a moment before his mouth shut with a snap of his teeth. "….I confess...I feel the same, that I do." He said softly. More of the glowing fire was filling his eyes.

His hand went to the back of his head where he gripped the base of his ponytail. A move Kaoru had seen him do only a few times. At not being quickly and directly turned down, Kaoru relaxed. "You do?" Her pounding heart stopped for one second before racing off again even faster than before. The feeling was somewhat distracting. So he had these sorts of feelings too? Did he want to touch her and kiss her, to press against her the way Jacob had done and take her to bed? She had been thinking about it for days now, but hearing that he felt the same made her suddenly feel…

"A kiss. Just one and nothing more." Kenshin said firmly. "Just to get these feelings out. We must keep our heads clear, that we must."

Kaoru opened her mouth but no words came. She sat there for a moment with her mouth slack, flapping uselessly before she found her voice. "Do you think it would make it worse?" And she recalled the different way Jacob had treated her after they shared a kiss. That was the last thing she wanted to have happen here. She didn't expect Kenshin to agree to any of this. She expected a hurt heart and maybe hurt feelings, but not this. She should be elated but suddenly all she could feel was fear at how this could ruin everything. Kenshin wasn't moving, Kaoru would have thought he was a frozen statue if it wasn't for the sound of his breathing.

"I won't do anything if you want to change your mind." He said sincerely. He looked down then, and then his eyes returned to hers. The irises slowly glowing brighter and brighter, shifting completely from purple to amber.

Kaoru watched in fascination. It was one of the things the forest had changed in him. It was like watching an ember glowing in the darkness.

"I confess to having feelings for you for quite some time." He sucked in a breath as if having to force himself to breathe. "I didn't want to act on it. I know these feelings would make it difficult for us. I know it wouldn't be fair to you."

"Not fair to me?"

"When you were making friends, having a closer relationship with Jacob, I felt it was for the best. I am still technically your master and it feels unfair, like I am taking advantage of you. That I have so much power over you."

Kaoru's lips turned downward. "Why? I know what I want. I want to be a dragon rider. I want to be the best. And I want you."

"Kaoru you don't know that for sure, I'm just the first man that treated you well-"

"That's not it!" She hissed at her own raised voice, and she sunk her head into her shoulders. Her loud voice echoing in her ears. "That's not it," she repeated in a softer tone.

"Jacob, Colt, and Eli treat me wonderfully. They took the time to teach me, a slave girl that knew nothing at all about dragons. But you, you swooped in and took me away from my old life even when you thought I was just a boney little boy. You shared your life stories with me about dragons and your adventures and your fears and worries and even about things in life you were ashamed of. You treated me fairly even though I'm still just a slave. Because of you I get to ride on dragons and I learned to read and write. I get to go on an adventure and I'm sure I'll be on many more to come. You always pushed me and never let me give up. I didn't want to let you down. I love the way you treat this big lizard, you showed me that people of the North are not all bad people. I'm happy when I'm with you and I was lonely when you were gone."

She didn't know she would feel so emotional about it until her voice cracked and her vision blurred. It didn't matter, it was now too dark to really see anything anyways but she dashed the tears away before they could fall. "Don't tell me my feelings for you are just because you're a nice man. I've lots of nice male friends. I don't want any of them….I wanted you."

Kenshin was astonished by her confession. But there was the main reason he was holding back. "It will hurt...when you become a knight and we'll have to go our separate ways. Long distance relationships are difficult, that they are."

Were they really talking about having a relationship? Kaoru fought to sit calm and steady. She never thought it would start this way. In truth she had no idea how it would start but sitting in a camp, talking calmly about it wasn't what she thought would happen. "I won't ask you to do this if you don't want to." Kaoru's voice remained steady and she was proud of that.

"Oh, I want to." Kenshin breathed out. "I've wanted to for a long time," He said almost more to himself. He took Kaoru by the shoulders and turned her so she had to face him. Her head tipped upward. His whole body shook. "Just one, just to see."

"Just to see if the feelings are real." Kaoru agreed.

"Or if I'm just going mad," he added as he ducked and tipped his head to touch his lips to hers.

The touch immediately turned into a claim. The moment his warm lips touch her lips, they parted. Kaoru knew how this worked now and she parted hers. At once her lungs seized and her breath left her as she felt his tongue invade her mouth. He was more sure than Jacob had been. Taking rather than exploring slowly. The sensation went straight to her belly and she couldn't hold back the soft sigh that escaped her. His arms wrapped around her, hands pressing into her back to pull her against his hard body.

This was it, this was like the dream, the fantasy. Her eyes were shut but she swore she saw white starbursts in the dark. With his arms like iron around her she realized her smaller body was trembling under the onslaught of lips and teeth and tongue...of the smell of him and the feel of his hair against her face. Why was she shaking? She wasn't afraid, oh no, she wanted more, so much more. Her hands reached up and tangled in his hair. It had been something she had ached to do for months. She had felt his hair only in passing, as she had helped him in and out of his armor. But now she threaded her fingers through it and it felt just as soft and sinful as she had imagined.

His tongue thrust against hers in a rhythmic fashion that called up what Kaoru could only describe as a primitive feeling deep in her belly. She wanted to mimic that rhythm with her whole body and soul. Her heart thundered loudly in her ears as his hands were no longer content with her back and moved to cup her face. To trace the shell of her ear, to feather over the throbbing pulse point on her neck.

His mouth moved away from hers and dipped lower to catch that pulsing spot with his teeth and wet, hot lips. With him at her throat, Kaoru could do nothing but hold him to her and gasp for air. But he tore away with a grunt, leaving her wobbling.

"We must stop." He panted in a harsh whisper. "That we do."

Kaoru agreed, but all she could do was nod as she clutched at the front of her coat and tunic, both of which had been pulled away by his hands. The pair of them sat, both turned away from the other. Their gasping breaths loud in the dark.

They both had their answer.

... . . ...

Kaoru huffed and watched as her breath turned into a tiny silver cloud highlighted by the moonlight. It swirled in the cold air and vanished. She sat, perched on a boulder on a small rocky hill that overlooked the camp. It was damned cold out.

She glanced upward at the silent black shadow that passed overhead. Kenshin was on Kokuei sweeping the area for any sign of trouble. It must be cold up there, with the wind whipping. The farm girl from the summer lands did not look forward to pressing further North.

She touched the tip of her tongue to her lips, remembering the taste of him. Kenshin Himura, her Master, a Manslayer, an anointed knight from the North. In her younger years the thought of being friendly to a Northerner was impossible to imagine. Mostly Kaoru just wanted violence. But that was before she knew any Northerners other than her old fat master and his men.

She could still feel Kenshin's kiss. Hard, almost bruising. Taking and not giving an inch. Jacob let her take her time and explore him. Kenshin had done no such thing. Perhaps he thought she would understand kissing by now, having found out about her and Jacob. Perhaps he just wanted to get the curiosity over with. Perhaps he was a different caliber of man than the elf.

Kaoru found it all rather exciting instead of frightening. She would let him take her and have her any way he wanted. She was not afraid of him, she wanted more of his fierceness.
At once her face burst with heat and Kaoru ducked her head and pulled the fur lined hood tighter around her face. Her mother's voice was a distant memory but she could clearly remember her scolding her sisters for their "distasteful" words. Kaoru had been too young to understand their words at the time. She wondered if her mother would scold her for her recent thoughts.

The wind gust and Kaoru's memory blew away as a curse escaped her. Damn, but it was cold. And it would only get colder? She grit her teeth and looked back up at the blackness, knowing the deadly dragon with her master was up there somewhere. At least she wasn't up there. As much as she wanted to be near Kenshin, she was sure this cold would kill her before the mission was over.

Kaoru huffed another silver puff of breath. She would never shame herself or her master by freezing to death on their first real mission.

... . . ...

Kaoru was certain she would freeze to death by sundown. Even with her heavy fur lined coat and leather cloak, she felt as though her body was slowly turning into ice. The fur lined hood did little to protect her face and only her wool scarf pulled up over the bottom half of her face kept her nose and lips from freezing solid.

Kenshin, to his credit, seemed far better off. He was bundled just as tight, but he didn't shiver uncontrollably like Kaoru was, nor did he curse at the top of his lungs like Misao. It was the first time Kaoru had ever seen the ocean. She was sad that the water wasn't the color of sapphires like she had heard. They flew over the great sea filled with chunks of ice large enough for a dragon to land on. The sea was not deep blue like she had always seen in paintings, but instead a drab gray to match the drab sky. It was a world of drab and ice. Kaoru prayed for a shaft of sunshine. Anything to break the cold and the gray.

She could hear Bast bellowing in protest behind them. Fire would erupt from his mouth and the dragon would fly through the moment of hanging flames, causing Sano to cuss rather loudly. But Kaoru would give anything to fly through flames if it would give her a moment of warmth. As it was, Kenshin and Kaoru found themselves in an awkward position. Their discovery of mutual attraction to each other was put on hold as they were forced to huddle together with the entire Wing in order to stay warm in the center of a ring of dragons in a land where wood was non-existent.

"Land ho!" Kenshin called.

Kaoru forced her frozen arms to move as she waved the signal flags. She stood in her saddle to see a line of bright white in the distance. The land of always snow and ice.
Sounded horrible.

... . . ...

A great snow covered mountain loomed against a bright blue sky. The very sight of it took Kaoru's breath away. Sharp and craggy with snow tucked into nooks while the tallest sharpest spires stayed bare of snow and instead stood out as dark, almost black rock.

The blustery storm was behind them and before them stretched a land, soft and white. The sky, the deepest blue. In the distance, more mountains jutted from the snow. But it was this lone sentinel of rock that was their goal.

Over a dozen white clouds drifted up from various parts of the mountain. Kaoru guessed it had to be steam or other sources of heat. As they grew closer, the first signs of life in days. Roads free of snow, and dozens of bundled up people rushed about like worker ants with carts and baskets.

"Signal for landing!" Kenshin called.

Kaoru turned and quickly flagged the signal as Kokuei turned and spiraled downward. She had long lost feeling in her limbs and her movements were jerky and unbalanced. But the signal was understood and the dragons gladly fell from the sky. Kaoru held as tight as her numbed fingers could. Her vision was blocked somewhat by the frost that had built up on her eyelashes. She had long given up removing her gloves to clear them hours ago. Instead, she shut her eyes against the bite of the freezing wind as the great lizard circled downward. As he leveled out to land, Kaoru opened her eyes to see a strip of land cleared of snow. Sudden movement of the mountain showed that there were dozens of white dragons clinging to its rocky face. They blended in perfectly with the snow and Kaoru never would have noticed them if they had not moved.

Kokuei's landing was rather uncoordinated. Kaoru suspected the poor lizard's legs were stiff and as numb as her own. One by one the dragons landed and moved into the snow bank to make way for the one behind them. Men looking soft and round in layers and layers of fur approached with great wicked looking spears. Their skin was rather dark from the sun reflecting up from the snow as well as down from the sky.

"Follow us." One grunted. "The hot room has been prepared for you and your men.

They were a slow moving, lumbering lot. The dragons wanted nothing more than to sleep. Kaoru glanced up as the great Farada came in for her landing. She wondered if the poor beast would have to stay outside in the cold.

The girl was surprised to find that the snow was not as thick as she had first thought. The banks where the snow was removed from the paths and tossed were many feet thick, but across the rest of the ground, it was only a few inches, and in some places, even less. Shocking bright green grass grew in long tufts here and there. She bent to brush a thin blade with her gloved hand.

"It will be summer here soon, and all this snow will melt and this land will be nothing but grass and wildflowers," Kenshin informed as she straightened up and rushed after them.
"Humpf, I don't see why we didn't come then." The girl muttered to herself.

"It might be too late then." Kenshin gave her a sidelong look around his hood of leather and fur.

Kaoru nodded. She knew as much, but the cold made her just as bitter and biting as the wind.

The hot room turned out to be more like a massive cave in the side of the mountain. So huge that even the giant Farada was able to slink inside with ease. Great wooden doors opened to allow them inside. Further and further into the dark cavern they went. Men rushed forward to light torches along the walls. Their light was not strong enough to illuminate the whole cave, but gave them the idea of where the walls were in such a massive room.

Kaoru became aware of the stinging pain as the first puff of warm air hit the frozen skin on her cheeks. "How?...where is the heat coming from?" Not that she was complaining. The great beast beside her gave a disgruntled grumble as his steps picked up, eager to get away from the cold. Kaoru placed a hand on his side and petted him as she turned to Kenshin.

"Geothermal activity." He said softly, more to himself as he looked all around the dark room.

"...What?"

"It's the same idea as a hot spring. Can't you hear the running water?"

"Oh!" Kaoru blinked and turned as the men came to a halt.

The same man that led them down there turned away from the men and approached them. "Do any of you breathe fire?" The leader asked.

"Oro?" Kenshin blinked.

"I breathe fire!" Bast bellowed from behind them.

"Ach, shh, Bast, not so loud in this cave, it echos," Sano grumbled from the darkness.

"If you could?" The man broke away from them and lead the bright fire breather ahead of them.

"He was talking directly to the dragons," Kaoru observed as the man gestured to the darkness in front of them. Most people spoke to the riders, too afraid or worried that the creatures would not understand if they spoke directly to them.

"They have a great respect for dragons here. In this land, men are the servants and dragons are the royalty, that they are." Kenshin answered as Bast breathed in. A stream of fire exploded outward from his mouth and the flames crashed into the back of rock and brick. Within seconds, giant logs burst into crackling flames. Bast sat back, pleased at what his fiery breath brought.

"Look Sano, I made it warm without burning you this time." his tail thumped against the ground.

"Yes, you did, you big cinder." Sano reached up to scratch at his head.

The fire traveled along the great log to fill what looked to be a fireplace large and long enough for a dragon to stretch out in. Kaoru looked up, up, so far up the firelight didn't reach the top. But just there, in the darkness above was a shaft of light. Perhaps an escape for the smoke. Kaoru looked around, finding the source of the sound of water. A large pool of clear water bubbled up from the smooth, mineral-encrusted rocks.

"Where did they get such great logs? I haven't seen a tree in two days of travel." Kaoru wondered.

The leader of the men turned to Kaoru as he waved the other men forward. "In the winter when the snow reaches the mainland, we fly down there to gather supplies. We had your warning letter and we knew you would be coming and your dragons are the kind that needs warmth to be healthy and happy. So we gathered extra to accommodate."

"I see." Kenshin nodded. More torches were being lit and the dragons shuffled into their own little corners to curl up and fall at once to sleep. Kokuei was already snoring softly in an alcove across from the fireplace.

"That great lizard didn't even let me take off his tack." Kaoru gasped, turning to Kenshin. But the redhead only smirked. The two of them joined the wingmen to unpack Farada of her cargo net. As soon as she was free of her burden, she too, curled up as best she could and slept. Ganz and Bast were already scrambling up over her scaly body, like kittens on a great dog and, they too curled up and slept. Asim scratched around Kokuei before settling up against him.

There was a great creaking sound as the doors were pulled shut. With an echoing boom, they closed, sealing off the blinding white light and cold from outside. Kaoru blinked as the cave suddenly fell into orange dimness. But quickly her eyes adjusted and she helped the wingmen and Misao unpack their camping things. Bed rolls were laid out, canvas stretched and cooking items were sorted.

"Will the great beasts not take food?" The man who led them there asked, his eyes roaming over each dragon.

"Our dragons do not take to the cold very well, as you said, they like to be warm. The cold puts them into hibernation. It would be amazing if they would wake, much less eat." Kenshin informed.

The dark skinned man smiled and shook his head to himself. "Well then, we have a large stock of fish for nothing, I will bring some for you and your party. No reason to use up your own supplies. We'll take care of you Southerners."

It felt weird having their party be considered Southern, but this was as North as North could get, everyone was a Southerner to them, Kaoru mused as she set up her sleeping roll beside Kokuei. She had yet to really use it, having grown accustomed to sleeping against Kenshin, sitting up as he liked to do. She wondered if they could continue such a sleeping position knowing how the other felt about them.

"Bath time!"

Gasping, Kaoru nearly jumped a foot to the side as Misao popped into her line of sight. She had been regarding her bedroll a bit too closely.

"Misao, you're gonna get popped in the face one of these days." Kaoru huffed.

"Oh, trust me, she has, if she hasn't learned her lesson by now, she'll never learn." Megumi muttered as she walked up to them with a large wooden box of items inside. "We're the only three women, so we get the hot spring first. The men will do the cooking." Megumi huffed as she looked over her shoulder as the Snow People brought a pole of which hung a silvery fat fish the length that Misao was tall.

A curtain of sorts was stretched across a metal frame and pulled out to cover a small portion of the spring. Kaoru loathed the idea of stripping down, but already the heat this close to the hot spring was making her uncomfortable. She removed her cloak and coat and at once felt the heat and moisture of the steaming spring.

Misao was already washing as Megumi dumped a pail of water over her head, causing the girl to yelp in surprise.

Kaoru stole a peek around the screen to see Kenshin and Sano working to slice the great fish while the wingmen gathered the cooking spit. The fish had ruby-red flesh and a belly full of orange eggs.

Kenshin had removed his cold weather clothes and rolled up his sleeves to help butcher the fish as Tsunan and Sano helped set the larger chunks on the spit to be roasted. They raked out some fresh coals from the long fireplace, kicking up a wash of sparks that darted and weaved around Kenshin.

"Stare any longer and it'll get obvious," Megumi said softly as she grabbed Kaoru by the arm and dragged her away from the edge of the screen, and plopped her down on the stool Misao vacated and tipped a bucket of warm water over her. Kaoru gasped, nearly breathing in the cascade of water.

"Make what obvious?" Kaoru wondered as Megumi shoved a soaped up washcloth into her hands and then attacked her shag hair with more soap.

"That you are attracted to Kenshin." Megumi said.

Misao floated over to the edge of the hot spring. "Yeah, somethin' happened between the two of you, huh?"

Kaoru scrubbed at her body as Megumi moved from washing her hair to her back. "What makes you think something happened?" Kaoru ducked her head as Megumi tipped more water onto her.

"Ho, ho. You think we didn't notice." Megumi laughed as she set the bucket down. "In with you now."

Kaoru picked her way across the smooth and now slippery cave floor and inched into the clear hot water. It was almost a little too hot, and the girl inched her way lower and lower until, with a sigh, she sank in up to her neck and allowed the heat to seep into her frozen bones.

"You and Kenshin haven't said more than three sentences to each other in the past two days. An' the two of you are avoiding lookin' at each other."

"Oh." Kaoru sunk down into the hot spring until the water was up over her nose and she watched as Megumi finished rinsing and climbed into the spring with them. Should she tell them? They were her closest friends, and female as well. But was this something Kenshin wanted to keep secret? But why would he?

Kaoru let her head drift up out of the water and she glanced between the two very different women. "Well, we kissed the other day."


A/n Well well well. things sure are starting to develop. I wrote the kissing scene so long ago, and it still gives me little heart palpitations. I can see it in my mind, playing out like a movie. Alas, work must come first. Thank you for taking the time to read, reviews are very much loved. Until next time!