Chapter 2
He smiled as he placed Kaoru in her bed. "There..." He whispered to himself. "She's asleep. That means I should go to bed, I suppose." He kept talking as he turned around and went to his room. "I wonder why she said that?" He looked back for a moment. "Was she hitting on me..? No, don't be silly Kenshin. She's only 17. She acts like such a small child, though... especially around men. No, especially around /me/. Why..." He scrunched his forehead in deep thought.
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Next morning arrived, and Kenshin hadn't slept a bit since he woke up from a dream. He was still thinking, puzzling about Kaoru. He sighed.
"Oh no.. I'm so tired, and Kaoru-dono is gonna be hungry." He slowly but surely forced himself to get up and get dressed. "I wonder what I should cook for her? Did Sano and Yahiko ever return? I don't recall hearing them- they must have spent the night at Sano's place. I guess I should cook some breakfast for them, too."
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Knock. Knock.
Kaoru groaned audibly as she rolled over. "What time is it?" She muttered to herself before saying aloud, "Who is it?"
"It's Kenshin, Kaoru-dono. You're breakfast is ready."
"Okay... be right there..."
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Kaoru looked around the kitchen as she sat down to her meal. "Hey, where are Yahiko and Sano?"
"They went to the Akabeko. Apparently Yahiko got payed yesterday, and they'll be spending the entire day there."
"Ah." She happily ate her food.
But Kenshin couldn't eat. Other than being exhausted, the questions kept bugging him.
After a while of Kenshin staring at his full plate, Kaoru looked at the plate, up at him, then back at his plate again. "Um... are you feeling okay?"
"Mm? Oh!" His cheeks flushed a little as he realized he hadn't touched his place. "Ya, ya, I'm okay." He took a couple ridiculously small bites to try and reassure her. "See? Yum."
Sweatdrop.
After those few bites, though, he didn't touch his plate again. Kaoru questioned him over and over again, but that only made him eat a little each time. She sighed and finally gave up, taking their plates to the sink.
"Ah, I'll take care of that Kaoru-dono. You need to-" His voice cut off when he accidently brushed her hand with his. "Ahh... Umm.." His cheeks turned crimson as he hurriedly jerked his hand away and took the plates to wash. "Um, ya, you need to rest and stuff, so..." His voice trailed off as his head bowed in order to hide his face.
Kaoru sighed a little. "Yes, and that means I want a hot bath as soon as you're finished with the dishes. Okay?"
Kenshin nodded eagerly and happily said. "Yes, yes! As soon as I can, Kaoru-dono!"
She smiled a little and went into her room, where she started fighting with herself as soon as she sat down on the futon.
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/What is WRONG with him? First he discreetly takes me out on a date, where he's sweet and he acts comfortable around me, but as soon as we get back he can't even touch me without blushing!/
//Well, holding hands is a pretty personal form of touching, so-//
/I don't CARE! He was holding me last night! I was all wrapped up so well in his sweet arms, his smell all around me, so close....
\ahem\ Anyway, he can't even eat now! What's bothering him so much...?/
//Well.. it's probably that whole I'm-not-good-enough-for-her thing again, you know he does that bit every time I talk to him about our relationship.//
/Ya.. man, that's annoying./
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She sighed and sat on her bed, thinking about Kenshin. She whispered to herself softly, "Why won't he kiss me?" right before Kenshin knocked.
Knock, knock.
"Yes, who is it?"
"Kenshin.. your hot bath is ready, Kaoru-dono."
"Ah, arigatou Kenshin."
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Kaoru sat waiting on the futon in Kenshin's room. She didn't feel comfortable in there, with his mostly folded clothes all over the place, but she was desperate.
Kenshin stretched after his bath, smiling. The day had been stressful - he hadn't really eaten anything since last afternoon, there was a lot on his mind as usual, and to top it off he hadn't finished folding his clothes. /A nice bath... a good way to end a day, even if it hasn't been one of my better./ He slid open the door to his room to find Kaoru sitting amoung his more (cough)personal(cough) clothes. "K-k-kaoru..." His face turned bright fire crismon to match his hair. "W-what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you. You've been avoiding me all day."
"Ah, really? G-gomen.. umm..." He sat down on the bed and began folding the rest of his clothes. "What is it you'd like to talk to me about?"
"Well, last night, remember I asked you if-" Her voice was cut off by the far-off, yet loud sound of knocking.
Knock Knock!
She sighed. "If it's Yahiko and Sanosuke, send them out for a while."
Kenshin nodded and got up the answer it.
Some minutes passed by and he still hadn't came back. /Man, this is annoying. Why do I have to wait so much? All I wanna do is talk.. what's taking him so long? ... I'm bored./ He looked around the room for something to do. "What's this?" She muttered under her breath as she picked up a red leather-bound book. It looked forbidding, but something made her want to open it, and look inside.
/// May 14, 1878:
Last night, I dreamed.. that I made love to Kaoru.
End of Chapter 2
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Author's Notes: Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-*Coughs* Um, right... heh heh, okay okay so fighting and crap may never happen, but it's still interesting, ne? I'm so evil. Poor people. Such a cliffhanger.
Oh, I'm really sorry about the lack of updates, but school has been weighing down on me. *collaspes under weight of 3 projects at once* Hopefully I'll be able to get up the next chapter soon.