Chapter 5

"Kenshin, wake up!" was the next thing he heard. He rubbed his eyes with a knuckle and looked up. Yahiko was tapping him impatiently on the shoulder.

"Wake up, it's time to fix dinner. You're not going to make us eat Busu's cooking are you?"

"I'm up, I'm up." Kenshin muttered and stretched his arms above his head, then scratching the back of his head and shaking it to clear the last vestiges of sleep.

"Come on, Kenshin, Busu is washing the radishes and if you wait too long, she'll start cooking!" Yahiko whined, with a glint of anxiety in his eyes.

"Well, go tell her I'm awake, and not to bother with it, Yahiko, if you're that afraid." Kenshin chuckled. He was feeling quite a bit better after his afternoon nap. Energized, in fact and more like his usual self. "Are you kidding?" squeaked Yahiko, "one word about her cooking and I'm going to be raking that yard until I'm as old as you are!"

Kenshin padded into the dojo's small kitchen area, where Kaoru was washing the rice and vegetables for their dinner. He came up silently behind her, observing the graceful curve of her neck and shoulders as she worked, then admonished himself briefly for noticing. "Hentai," he thought, "she's not yours to ogle like some common low-life."

"Let me take over, Kaoru-dono. My nap was most refreshing, and I'd love to cook dinner for everyone, that I would. Why don't you change and get yourself ready for our guests," he offered, knowing that Kaoru was usually a bit intimidated by the classic beauty and wit of the sophisticated lady doctor.

"Origato, Kenshin, I will." She rose to her feet in a smooth motion, and smiling over her shoulder at him, left to freshen up and change.

Kenshin yawned again, cracked his knuckles and went to work. Deftly slicing up the food, stirring up the cooking fire, and choosing seasonings, he hummed tunelessly under his breath as he worked, a pleasant, contented sound.

It was times like this, involved in simple chores that he was most content, he suddenly realized, not for the first time. He grinned to himself, not that clueless grimace he sometimes wore as a mask to his true feelings, but a genuine smile of happiness that also touched his eyes.

"Maybe housework isn't so bad," he thought, feeling a bit ashamed of his earlier discontented thoughts.