Undeserved Honor

Chapter 2

Kaoru, who had been standing behind Kenshin the whole time, stared in surprise.

"The emperor? What would he want with Kenshin?"

With and air of superiority, the official adjusted his hat and looked strait at Kaoru.

"This is official business that concerns only Himura Kenshin a.k.a. Himura Batousai."

It was all that Kaoru could do to not walk up to the government official and give him a good, hard punch. What gave this person the right to walk into her home and call Kenshin the one thing that he had been trying to forget? Here hands were shaking with anger and unconsciously balled into fists.

"Is something wrong miss?"

"No, I'm fine."

The official turned back to Kenshin. "Would it be alright if I talked to you privately?"

His eyes flickered to Kaoru for a brief second. It was all she could do not to star in disbelief at the man's impertinence.

"Yes, right this way."

Kaoru still had her hands in tight fists. As Kenshin walked past her he stopped for a second and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked into his eyes and saw both fear and pain in their depths. She hoped that he would tell her later. She truly did hope that he finally trusted her enough to tell her what was going on.

Kenshin led the official to the reception room. He closed the door and lit a candle to add to the light that filtered through the rice paper.

"May I ask what exactly is going on?"

"As I've said, the emperor wishes to have an audience with you as soon as possible. Apparently there is some unfinished business left over from the revolution. He wishes for us to leave tomorrow morning at the latest. We are to take a train all the way to Kyoto for the sake of time. The government will pay for the tickets."

"I'm sorry to ask but would it be alright if I took Kaoru-dono and Yahiko along. I know they'll worry if I leave them behind."

"They may come. I'll have to get some extra tickets for them. I'll see if the girl---um---Kamiya-san can be present during the meeting but the boy will have to stay in his quarters."

Kenshin tried his best to be thankful and gave the official a small bow in reply.

"Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. I can see that your friends mean a great deal to you. I must be going now. I will come by tomorrow morning."

Kenshin exited the room and walked the official to the gate.

"Before you go, I have a question. Since you will be accompanying us to Kyoto, would you please tell me your name?"

"Murisaka Chirou"

"Good bye Murisaka-san."

"Good bye Himura-san."

He bowed before walking out the gate in the direction of his hotel.

Kenshin watched him disappear as he became lost in thought. He didn't hear Kaoru come up behind him.

"Oh Kenshin! I found you."

Kenshin almost face-faulted. Why was it that that little phrase brought back unpleasant memories?

"Kaoru-dono, what do you mean you found me?"

"You've been hiding away in that room. So, how did everything go?"

"I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow."

Kaoru's eyes widened.

"You're leaving just like that?"

Kenshin tried not to smile because of the information that he suppressed.

"It's an urgent matter. I'm not sure what it is but I'll find out. Murisaka- san said that you and Yahiko could come if you'd like."

Kaoru looked at him hopefully.

"I'd like that and I think Yahiko would to. We've been needing to get away from Tokyo for a while. We can stop to see Misao and everyone at the Aoiya while we're there."

She gave Kenshin a half smile.

"I'm sure that everything will turn out fine."

"I hope so. Did he tell you what the emperor himself would want to talk to you about?"

"I honestly don't know. Murisaka-san said I'd find out when I got there."

"I hope it's nothing bad. That official wasn't exactly the nicest person I've met. I'm not looking forward to having to go all the way to Kyoto with him."

Kenshin gave her his reassuring smile.

"I'm sure everything will be fine."

"If you say so."

"Let's forget about this until tomorrow. Why don't we tell Yahiko what's going on and start packing?"

Kenshin was half way across the yard when he was stopped by Kaoru shouting."

"WAIT! KENSHIN!"

Kenshin looked over his shoulder in surprise.

"What is it Kaoru-dono?"

"What are we going to wear? What are YOU going to wear? You can't wear those worn, patched-up clothes in front of the emperor. We have to go get some new clothes."

"What about the chores?"

"Those can wait until after we take care of this fashion emergency. Right now we're going to talk to Yahiko then go shopping!"

Kaoru looked up to see that she had her hand raised in the air triumphantly and blushed as she quickly brought it down.

"Whatever you say."

Kenshin went back to fixing the roof. Kaoru went to get Yahiko. Yahiko was busy sleeping in the dojo. Was he ever going to get a surprise when he woke up!

"AHHHHHHH"

"WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING? EVEN MORE, WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING?"

Yahiko was busy trying to slow his breathing down.

"You'd scream if you woke up to a face like yours."

BANG!

"You really should learn how to respect your master. Right now we have something to talk to you about."

Kaoru stomped out followed by a muttering Yahiko. Kenshin was already sitting at the table.

"I guess you must be tired from working."

Kaoru glared at Yahiko before turning to Kenshin.

"I found him asleep."

Kenshin stifled a laugh.

"Well it's probably because he's been working hard. Anyways, we had better tell him about what's going on. Yahiko?"

"Yah Kenshin?"

"We've decided to go to Kyoto first thing tomorrow morning."

Kaoru let his mouth drop.

"Just like that?"

"Well, I need to see someone."

"Who?"

"The emperor has asked with a personal audience with Kenshin."

"WHAT? THE EMPEROR ACTUALLY WANTS TO SEE YOU!"

Kenshin winced at the Yahiko's resounding voice.

"Yes. You and Kaoru are allowed to come along."

"Cool! We get to go to the palace!"

"Well if we're all done here then let's go shopping!"

"Busu, who cares what you wear. You'll still look ugly no matter what."

(Through clenched teeth) "Grr! What I mean is is that we're all going to get new clothes because we all need them."

With that Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's and Yahiko's go and dragged them out the front gate.

To be continued

Author's Notes: I hope that they have fun shopping. *waves to a miserable Yahiko* Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I was hoping not to have such a long scene here but I just got to writing it and I couldn't stop. This is a fun fic to write. It shouldn't be more than 5 chapters but if it is, oh well. Please review!

Personal Responses/Thanks:

Gypsy-chan - I'm glad that you're interested. It seems like you've been one of my biggest supporters for most of the fics that I've written. Thanks for everything!

Tsaieric - I'm happy that I you like idea. It sort of just came to me one day and I knew it was a story that I had to write.

Hitokiri Gentatsu - I'm going to try and make this fic move along as fast as possible but there were some things in this chapter that I just didn't have the heart to leave out.

MP - Thanks for the review. I'm glad that you like this fic as well.

Jason M. Lee - Sorry about that spelling mistake. I wrote this in the middle of Biology so I didn't have a computer handy. The one I did type the first chapter on didn't have web access. I had to use one of the crappy school computer's to upload it. It went so slow that I didn't want to have to wait another 30 minutes just to try and get the computer to find a website about RK (plus most of them are blocked anyways). Anyways, about the food, you have to remember that this is Kaoru cooking and with her, anything goes. Thanks for your review. It's been nice having you as a support all the way through my other fic as well.

Miles of smiles, Naomi