Author's Notes: Before I continue this story, I'd like to answer Alucard's review for chapter 2:
/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!"/
Is this what you mean? If so, I meant the whole Kaoru stereotypical thing as.. well.. she acts like that because it's normal for him. Understand? I mean, it's nice to take a break from mental and emotional strain by applying yourself to something physical. This is, I believe, why Kenshin does so many darn chores around the house.
So, Kaoru acts all bossy to actually be nice to Kenshin; give him a break. OK?
I'm sorry I didn't make this clearer. I didn't know how. There were too many other things going on.
Hope that helps your enjoyment of the story. ^_^
Also, Ayce: >P
^_~ J/k. I understand what you mean.. I'm pretty much an amateur, as a writer. This is why I write this stuff: To get better. ^_^
To the story!
Chapter 9
After he had changed into his night clothes, he lay on his bed, trying to sort out the night's events. After he had proposed - /And she said YES! Kami-sama, she's going to marry me! My sweet, gentle, fantasticly wonderful love is actually going to marry me!/ - they had said their good nights and gone to bed. Since he was very, very close to Kaoru most of their date, he decided it was a good idea to take a bath and change.
But in order to propose to her - wow. He still barely believed that he had actually done it. He replayed the happy events over and over again, focusing more and more on his future wife's possible thoughts - as well as his own.
But, why had he proposed? He had done it on impulse, so he was still trying to rationalize it. Maybe some part of his mind convinced him, for that crucial second, that she loved him and he deserved her. The kiss probably helped, too. /But I'm probably wrong,/ he thought bitterly, /She doesn't really love me and-..
but why would she say yes?/
He sighed, half sadly and half happily, and turned over in the futon. It dawned on him that he would be fighting himself for a long while, even after they were married. This was a problem he had not thought of before.
He picked up his diary and looked over the last few entries. Most of them consisted about his dreams, but also a large portion was dedictated to the fights he had with himself. Up until that night, he had constantly battled with feelings of regret and guilt, wondering if he should actually propose to her or not.
/Hmm..? What's this?/ He looked at an entry he had written before he had suggested the date. It described his feelings, as well as a notion of maybe marrying her. It was right after the night they had on the lake, but before he had the dream. /Wait a minute.. I thought they were right after the other.. but, no.. one, two, three days in between? How could I have forgotten those? Odd..?/
He felt like he would explode if he didn't do something, so he got up and started walking around the dojo. He saw Kaoru also outside, sitting on the porch, looking up at the stars. He sat down next to her, and without thinking, kissed her neck once, twice..
He balked. How in the world could he do such a thing? They were just engaged, not actually married! He blushed and fumbled.
Kaoru blushed a little and turned to him, smiling slightly.
Kenshin blinked. What was that smile for? It looked kind of stra-
Kaoru kissed him. Deeply, and rather suggestivly. Kenshin blushed furioushly and gently, relunctantly pushed her away. He stared at her, his breath a little heavy. "Please- Kaoru, don't.. we aren't married yet, and- and- I'm really sorry for kissing you like that, I just wasn't thinking, so.."
Kaoru blushed also, and hung her head a little. "It's alright. I should have noticed when you stopped so suddenly."
Kenshin shook his head. "No, no! You shouldn't have- I shouldn't have..." He found himself wrapping his arms around Kaoru's waist, and he felt Kaoru's arms wrapping around his neck. They were so close.. so close..
Kenshin ripped himself away again, his breath heavier than before. "Ahhh~ Kaoru-koishii, we- we are not properly married yet, so I think it would be a good idea if.. if we tried not to get too close."
Kaoru nodded, rather disappointendly. She understood what he said he meant, in more ways then one. She gracefully, gently stood up and walked away, into the dojo.
Kenshin wiped the sweat off his forehead and also came inside, another way. Now that his immediate problems were over, he had another impossible mystery to solve. Why did he kiss her so suggestively, so easily? How could he have done it unless- unless.... Unless he had done it before?
He shook the thought out of his mind. Of course not! He would never dream of takin- oh no wait, that wasn't entirely accurate. But, nevertheless, he wouldn't actually take Kaoru when they weren't married, or even engaged.
This was very odd.
The rest of the night lent him no sleep, try as he might. Though he tried, he could not convince himself that these coincedences were meaningless. He had to figure them out, somehow, someway...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunlight shafted in through the window as morning dawned. Kenshin wearily got out of bed, every inch of him aching since he had not slept the previous night. Sanosuke, Misao and Yahiko were all in the dojo, doing various things.
Sanosuke took one look at Kenshin and whistled. "What kept you up last night, eh?"
Kenshin glared at him rather battousai-like. "Thinking." He almost snapped the words out.
He caught himself. Even if he was tired and in a bad mood, he shouldn't take it out on his friends. He shrugged and mumbled an apology as he walked into the kitchen, where he found Kaoru.
"Konnichiwa, Kaoru-dono." Kaoru winced at the honorific. Hadn't they gone through this?
Then it dawned on her that he was doing this to cover up, to keep their arrangement secret unless she didn't want it to be. Of course! Calling her 'koishii', or even just dropping the honorific, would give away to everyone that something had happened. She sighed inwardly. Kenshin was so sweet, always thinking about others. He didn't want to do anything she might not want. Unfortunatly, this left her with the decision to reveal or not, and when. Obviously they would have to get married sometime and they couldn't keep it secret forever-
"Kaoru, watch out! The miso soup is boiling over! /geez, pay more attention when you cook!/"
"Huh? Oh!" Kaoru flustered, quickly stirring the soup. This was the wrong thing to do, since it boiled on to her hand. "Ouch!" She jerked it away and held it, with a contorted expression.
"Ah, Kaoru-dono, are you hurt?" Kenshin hurried to where Kaoru stood as Misao sighed and took care of the soup.
"Here, lemme get you some ice...." Kenshin retreived some ice, wrapped it in a cloth, and put it over Kaoru's hand. "There.. is that better?"
Kaoru nodded. "Hai, much better. Thank...." She trailed off as she looked up at Kenshin. Try as he may to hide it, Kenshin had an odd expression on his face, which, after a second or two of scrunity, Kaoru concluded to be desire. Desire? Uh oh...
Kenshin jerked back as fast and gracefully as he could. Which wasn't very, since he hit the table hard and let the ice-cloth drop to the floor.
Kaoru blushed and picked the cloth up, holding it to her hand. "Thank you, Kenshin. Now, would you please.. umm.." She fumbled for the right kind of chore.. something that was mentally stimulating enough to keep him busy, but that would not involve her undergarments.
"I'll go~~ clean the bathhouse." Kenshin rushed off gratefully.
"Yeah, you go do that..." Kaoru murmered pointlessly. He was already gone.
"Is something wrong?" Misao had been watching the two.
"No.. just..."
"Did it have something to do with last night?"
"Well, you should know! You spied on us, didn't you?!" Kaoru snapped. "You watched us, didn't you?! You-"
Misao cut her off and spoke matter-of-factly, though with a bit of remorse in her voice as well. "It's true that we watched you in the beginning, but I managed to convince.. um.. everyone.. to go, before you started eating. Then we really did go to the Akabeko, and Sano's place. I'm very sorry. I would have left sooner if-" She cut herself off for a second, before regaining composure. "If he had been more cooperative."
"Who? Who wanted to stay and watch?" Kaoru was practically seething with rage, now.
"Well.. umm.." Misao looked at her a little worriedly. "I.. do not wish to reveal his identity to you, lest-"
"If you don't name one, I'll kick both their asses. And then yours."
"Yahiko!" Misao blurted out. Whatever happened last night was important enough to get Kaoru mad... plus she had a weapon. That always helped the whole fear thing.
"Oh, Yahiko." Kaoru turned around, muttering. Then she yelled, very loudly, in the general vincinity of the boy, "Hey, brat! You have double chores today, plus you need to clean the entire dojo!"
"NANI!? What in the hells would compell you to make me do THAT?! Busu!"
"Because you eavesdropped on me and Kenshin last night! Now GET TO IT!"
"Nonsense, I did no such-"
"YOUR KI WAS SO APPARENT I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TRY! NOW //MOVE// IT!"
Yahiko said nothing else, but continued his chores in a slightly more vigourous fashion.
End of Chapter 9
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Author's Notes:
*No, I do not mean to refer to them being in an actual episode of RK. It's a word. Look it up. >P
Hey, thanks all the new people! It's kinda midnight, so I'm not gonna do person-by-person respondings, but ya! I hope this chapter explained everything!