Author's Note: Okies, chapter six here. Sorry it took me so long to update. This is the longest chapter I've written. And as I've said before, I absolutely refuse to make this one of those stories where Kenshin and Kaoru are enemies one day and the next day are f***ing like rabbits. Yes, rest assured -there will be a lemon in the future. (the lemon will be posted on adultfanfiction.net and mediaminer.org only) But, I'm just going to take my time with it.

Warning: Use of colorful language

Disclaimer: Kenshin belongs to me only in my dreams… *sigh*. Believe me, if I did own Rurouni Kenshin, it wouldn't be a PG-rated show anymore… hehe.

Chapter Six: Fraternizing With the Enemy

(Kenshin's POV)

Why am I doing this? Why am following this woman? I just know something is going to happen -but why do I even care? It's because I respect her, isn't it? Let me get this straight… I just had one of the most entertaining battles of my life with a gorgeous woman who has skills good enough to put me on the verge of reverting to my primal manslayer mode.

What do I even know about her so far? She's intelligent, tragic, powerful, skilled in battle, is ridiculously adorable with her whole little you-touch-me-you-die attitude, hates me and that kid, determined, beautiful, and god awful cute when she smirks evilly. Why shouldn't I follow her through alleyways after dark? Yes, it's perfectly reasonable that I would want to protect a young woman who's more than capable of murdering half of Kyoto.

Ok, ok, so she definitely doesn't need protection… then why am I following her? To see where she lives? Maybe… No, it's something other than that …I feel she's in danger. But she can protect herself. But, I just can feel it -something is going to happen. No, everything will be just fine and I'll have ended up following her for no good reason. This is so confusing!!! I wonder what she's thinking… NO, NO, NO! Baka, stop thinking like that! It will be the end of you!

I continued to follow her for several more minutes, keeping a substantial distance between us, but close enough that I wouldn't lose her. Wherever she was going, her mind was clearly on other things since she kept tripping up and bumping into things without even realizing. I was about to just turn around and head home when I felt a slightly strong ki coming from one of the shadows. I watched attentively and saw a blurred, dark figure silently moving around. This mysterious figure seemed to be following the woman just as I was.

Maybe now wasn't the best time to leave. I continued to watch from afar as the figure stealthily made his way closer and closer to the woman. She finally realized she was being followed once the figure was about ten feet away from her. The minute she turned around, the assailant sprung into attack. Within seconds, the attacker lay dead on the floor by her feet. That was easy… too easy perhaps. She walked over to inspect the body… somehow she failed to see the man's hand clench the hilt of his sword. The man was only playing dead! Oh; he is so in trouble. I watched as she merely turned her back on the man and continued down the alleyway. Still obviously consumed in her thoughts. Stupid, stupid woman! What could she possibly be thinking about to make her so careless?

I watched carefully as the man sprung up from his pose on the ground and leapt towards the woman. She wasn't paying attention. She didn't know he was coming. Fuck. I sprang into action and using my god-like speed, I slashed at the assailant while he was in the middle of making a swing of his sword. If I had not intervened, that man's strike would have sliced that little vixen in half. And if I were using my real sword, the attack I made on that guy would have done a lot more than merely paralyze him. But the mystery attacker was down for good now.

I immediately rushed over to the woman to check on her. She had fainted somewhere along the way. After a quick inspection, I found that she had only one wound -a deep gash on her left arm. Luckily, it had missed all her major arteries and veins; though it was bleeding profusely.

I ripped the sleeve off my gi and wrapped it tightly around her arm to stop the bleeding. Ok, let's see, girl safe -check. Crazy killer immobilized -check. No witnesses -check. Now what? I don't really know who this girl is or where she lives. Oh well, I'll just have to take her home… hehe. Oh, shit. I can't take her back to my room at the inn. There is still that freaky stalker lady after me. I can't put this girl in danger by bringing her back there.

I'll just get a room at a different inn for her. -But I don't have any money. I sat and thought for a minute. Then I noticed the still unconscious assassin on the ground. I don't have any money, but he might. I inspected the man's pockets and found enough money for a nice room in a safe comfortable inn. Hah.. And here I thought I would never be sharing a room with a woman before marriage… oh, Battousai you lucky dog.

30 minutes later….

(Kaoru's POV)

I woke up and stretched out my arms as I do every morning. Ouch! Goddamn it, my arm hurts like a crazy mofo. I inspected my left arm carefully. It was neatly bandaged in a familiar bright pink cloth. Then I noticed the blanket wrapped around me. I didn't own any blankets like this. I looked around… this was definitely not my room. And it was still dark out. What the hell is going on?!?! I screamed at the top of my lungs and soon I heard rushed footsteps coming near the door.

The rice paper door slide open to reveal that idiotic rurouni that seemed to be showing up everywhere nowadays.

"YOU again!!" I screamed. Waking up in a strange place with a wound I don't remember getting and finding that a drifter is responsible for it all is not my idea of fun.

"Yes? Is something wrong?" he asked, sounding just a tad bit annoyed.

"Is something wrong? IS SOMETHING WRONG? Yes, something sure is fucking wrong!!!" I screamed. What a moron! Doesn't he realize our situation? The position I'm in?

"Calm down, already. Screaming isn't helping you."

"I want answers now, pip-squeak! What happened? Where am I? What am I doing here? Further more, what are you doing here?" I continued to ask, my voice just a decibel below a scream.

"Firstly, my name is not pip-squeak and that is no way to address someone who just saved your ass. You were walking around in a dark alleyway after our fight when some nut case attacked you. You battled with him briefly and thought that you defeated him. But, he was only playing dead and went to make another attack on you. I prevented him from hurting you too badly but he did manage to cut a deep gash on you. You fainted after that and since I don't know who you are or where you live, I took you back here to this inn." He said this in a rather proud manner and flashed a stupid grin at me once he had finished.

"Oh, I see. I suppose I should thank you then Mr.…?" It was hard for me to get those words out and they sounded strange on my tongue. But as he had related the incident, it had all come back to me. -Or at least up until the part where I fainted. And it fit that he had saved me. So, I guess one thank-you wouldn't kill me. How could I have been so blind? Why didn't I see that man coming? It was because of this damn rurouni. My thoughts were on him, so I was caught off guard. How twistedly ironic. I was put in danger because of him, yet I was rescued by him. Fate has a strange and terrible way of playing with me.

"Um… call me… Kenshin. Yeah, my name is Kenshin" He said. Oddly enough, it seemed as though he had to think very hard to come up with his name. For someone so skilled with a sword, he sure didn't have much upstairs.

"Err, well then Kenshin, thank you. I really must be going though."

"Are you crazy? It's nearly 2:00 in the morning and you're injured. You were already caught off guard once tonight. It could very easily happen again." He reasoned. And unfortunately I couldn't argue. Everything he said was true.

"Well, I don't want to put you out by staying here. I could always just -"

"It's no trouble, really. You can leave tomorrow when it's safer."

"Um, okay then. If you're sure you don't mind." Ugh, I can't believe this. How stupid am I? I'm strong, I'm a survivor, and I'm staying at some baka's place. This is great. I can't even take care of myself long enough to get home. Where has all my training gone? This is all too painful on my pride. Forced to depend on a stranger for help. A stranger with the most adorable violet eyes… NO! I meant a half-witted fighting genius -No! I meant a complete and total idiot with a disarmingly charming smile. NO! NO! NO! Forget it. I'm a moron because I can't keep my thoughts straight long enough to walk home from a bar and he's a moron because…. Because I said so!

"Is there anything I can get for you?" His voice broke me out of my thoughts.

"You got any sake?" I asked plainly. It was the only thing I could think of to ease the pain in my arm and make me forget all of this nonsense. I'd get good and drunk and when I woke up everything would be back to normal. I would be in my own room and my arm would be fine. It would just be me. I could resume my hunt for the Battousai and all would be good and right with the world. Or, I could just end up comatose for a few days and this idiot would have the common sense to throw me out. And if I was really lucky, I wouldn't remember any of this.

"Err.. Sake? Sure." He replied. And left to go fetch some.

He returned with a jug full and two cups. He poured us each a cup. I downed mine in a gulp and was holding it out for him to refill before he even had a chance to take a sip of his own. He looked at me with a smirk and refilled it without question. Again, I finished it before he was able to touch his cup. This continued on for quite some time… until I had finished the whole jug to be exact. I asked for more, still painfully aware of the burning sensation in my arm.

"Um, perhaps you have had enough."

"NO! I want more!" I said loudly. I was not drunk yet, and I wouldn't stop drinking until I was.

"But you just finished a whole jug!" he replied

"No, not entirely." I said, and pointed to his untouched cup of sake. He looked at me hopelessly as I reached over, grabbed his cup and downed its contents before he could blink an eye.

"Now I have finished a jug. But you haven't even had firsts, so get some more." I said with a smile. He grunted and left to go get some more sake.

He returned shortly, carrying another three jugs. I smiled. Three jugs should last me a while. But instead of pouring me a cup, he immediately refilled his glass and drank it down just as fast as I had. I waited patiently for him to pour me some of the precious liquid, but he didn't. He just continued to pour himself more. He continued drinking… and not pausing to even give me a second glance.

Well, that was just it. I reached over, grabbed another jug and popped the cork. I was about to start pouring myself some when I realized there was a much more effective way to win a drinking contest. I crushed my cup in the palm of my hand and then put the jug to my lips and began guzzling that nectar down. I stopped about halfway through the jug to catch a breath. Kenshin was just staring at me with wide eyes, his mouth gaping open like a fish.

I smirked at him and continued to drink the rest of the jug. I finished it and reached for the third jug. But Kenshin seemed to have snapped out of his daze and had beat me to the third jug. He had finished off the one he had started and was polishing off the third. No one beats me at drinking! We may be tied as far as sword skills go, but I had to be better than him at something. That something was going to be drinking.

"Go get some more, now!" I growled. I was feeling a little fuzzy, but not drunk.

"I don't have anymore on me. We'd have to find the sake cellar to get some more." He replied.

"Ok, fine. To the sake cellar it is." I replied and made my way to the rice paper door.

"Well, are you coming or not?" I asked, a little groggily.

"Fine, but we have to be quick. If we're caught, we'll be kicked out." He replied solemnly.

I snorted a bit and replied, "I never get caught. Let's go. I hear the sake calling." Whoa… did I just say I heard the sake? Maybe I'm a bit more affected by the alcohol than I thought. Oh well, some more wouldn't hurt.

(Kenshin's POV)

We snuck out into the hallway. I can't believe I'm sneaking around corridors with a demanding, injured woman looking for the sake cellars. I can't believe a woman could hold so much alcohol. Her tolerance for sake could put a sumo to shame. And I bet my pants that it would make that stupid Mibu wolf, Saitou, look like a blushing schoolgirl. Hehe. ( A/N: Saitou will appear later in the story)

All was going well until she accidentally stepped on my foot. I yelped out in pain and began hopping around on my good foot. That fucking hurt!

"SHHH! You're gonna wake up the whole inn!" She hissed. And then the door to a room near us slid open. I recognized that room -it belonged to the guy who ran the inn. If he caught us out here, we'd be kicked out for sure. Damn.

"Now look what you've done! We're going to be caught!" She screeched. If my yelp didn't wake up the inn, her screaming certainly did.

"Shutup, wench! Nothing would've happened if you didn't stomp around like a crazed elephant. You walk heavy enough on your feet to wake the dead." I hissed in a low tone to her. This girl just didn't get it, did she?

The man was coming closer to us with a lantern. If he came any closer, he'd be able to identify us. I grabbed the woman and ducked around a corner. I slid open the closest door to us and chucked her and my self through it. However, it was already…. Occupied. I flushed bright red as I realized we had walked in on a couple in the process of err.. 'love making'. -If you could call it that. The position they were in… was something I'd imagine to be physically impossible. Her head was biting his toe and his hands were around her___ … but he was on top.. or was that the woman? My, my. And here I thought I had seen everything.

I turned to look at my 'guest' who was just staring wide-eyed. She sensed I was looking at her and turned to face me. She, just as I, had turned a furious shade of pink. She whispered to me, "Should we do something? That looks dangerous… what if they get stuck like that?"

I had to laugh loudly at this. The couple was still going at it, despite our presence. They were so involved I their "task" that they didn't even seem to notice we were in their room.

"Let's just go. Please." I whispered back. She nodded and we ran out of that room like wild fire.

We stood outside that room just laughing for a good three minutes. When was the last time I had laughed that much? I couldn't remember. But then we heard footsteps approaching our direction.

"The Inn keeper!" We both whispered in unison.

We quickly fled our spot and after a bit of running, we came to a room that I sensed was empty. I slid open the door and we went inside. However, the space was much smaller than what would be considered comfortable -ok, so we were squeezed in there like sardines, our fronts pressed tightly into each other. Although I didn't mind one iota, it was a rather compromising position. This room appeared to be a storage closet of some kind. It had mops and other cleaning supplies. We heard the heavy set of footsteps belonging to the innkeepers pass by and away down the hall. We were about to emerge when I sensed another person heading our way. It was a woman. Probably just a servant girl. But we both decided it would be best to wait until she passed.

But to our misfortune, the woman stopped right in front of our hiding spot. She slid open the door to reveal us -two very flushed and guilty looking teenagers. A look of faint surprise passed over her features before she spoke, "Look kids, sorry to interrupt you, but we have rooms for this kind of business." She just shook her head in a way a mother might after she has just punished her children and walked away, mumbling something that sounded like "That's the fourth couple this week I've found in that closet. Next thing I know they'll be showing up in the sake cellars.."

We both laughed at her comment and then headed toward our original destination -the sake cellars. We arrived without further problems and proceeded to rob the inn blind of sake. We stealthily made our way back to our room with our precious cargo -about twelve jugs full of sake. I dully wondered why I had become an assassin -common theft seemed to reap far more valuable rewards.

We drank our sweet sake long into the dawn hours. Our drinking occasionally dotted with bits of slurred conversation…

Two jugs down….

"Hey, Kenshin?"

"Yeah?"

"What were ya do-doing in that alleyway w-with me?"

"I dun remember"

"Oh"

Four jugs down…

"Err, lady?"

"Wut?"

"What's yer n-name? Ya neva t-told me"

"Kaoru"

"Carrots?"

"derr.. KAORU"

"Cake root? *hiccup*"

"Nope… K. A. O. R. U."

"Cat boot? Like kitty?"

"*hiccup* That's c-close enough."

Six jugs down…

"K-Kitty?"

"hmm?"

"We *hiccup* sure h-have had a lot of s-s-sake."

"Yup"

"I-Isn't it t-time *double hiccup* we stopped d-d-drin-drinking?"

"Nope. It's t-time you *Triple hiccup* passed me a-another jug."

Eight jugs down…

"K-kitty?"

"duh"

"I'm n-not feeling s-so *Hiccup* …good. M-m-m-maybe we should *double hiccup* s-s-stop drinkin'?"

"T-tell me, Kenny, *Triple hiccup* D-did you g-g-grow a b-b-beard?"

"N-nah"

"*Quadruple hiccup* g-good answer"

Ten jugs down…

"k-k-Kenny?"

"wad?"

"s-s-s-s-sh *hiccup* s-s-sh. Eh, f-fuck."

"t-telefunken"

Twelve jugs down…

*Kenshin and Kaoru are comatose on the floor*

A few hours later….

I woke up to a crashing headache and the sun shining in my eyes. -Wait?! I am always up before the sun! I looked out a nearby window and figured that it had to be around ten o'clock. Fuck, I had over-slept. I looked around and saw the woman and a good 15 jugs of sake strewn about the room. Shit. Memories from last night came flooding back to me … the obsessive drinking… the sneaking around… the deranged and slightly disturbing sexual position… the closet… all those god-awful jugs of sake… the obsessive drinking.

No wonder I had a hangover. What a bitch. I looked over to the woman. Yeah, she's a bitch too, figuratively and literally. Now what was her name…? Why did I have the urge to call her kitty? This was a little weird. I don't remember a thing after we got back upstairs. At least we have all our clothes on. That's a good sign.

The woman began to stir and slowly, her eyes fluttered open. She sat up, took one look around and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Ahh! Shut up wench! I have a pounding headache!" I yelled over her scream.

She looked at me and said quietly, "Kenshin…?" heh, she was addressing me, wasn't she? I vaguely remember making up that name. I didn't want to scare her by telling her I was the Battousai. Even if I had told her my true identity, she probably wouldn't have believed me, I being dressed as I am.

Before I could respond, the door to our room flung open and in the doorway stood a very irate innkeeper. Dear god… the man had smoke coming out of his ears.

"So, it's you two! I'd recognize those screams a mile away after you woke me up last night. You have a lot of nerve running around this establishment at such indecent hours!" The innkeeper roared. He took a look around the room and noticed all the empty sake jugs. His face went from red to purple in 5 seconds flat out of boiling anger. "WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THIS SAKE? You stole it, no doubt. You will be charged heavily for it, I assure you!"

"But sir, I have no more money left." I squeaked. This was not good. We were in deep shit.

"WHAT? No more money? Well, then you'll have to work off your debt. And your not leaving until you do!" the Inn Keeper roared, "And you'll be washing dishes all day and night to pay for all that sake!" He stormed out of the room leaving us to sulk for a few moments.

"Nice going, Kenshin, you baka! Look what you got us into." 'Kitty' snarled at me.

"Me? It was your clever plan to go get more sake!" I yelled.

"And you didn't stop me! Plus you made all that noise!" She yelled back.

"I wouldn't have made a sound if you hadn't been nancying around and landed on my foot!"

"Oh, forget it. What's done is done and now we pay the consequences. It was good sake, though."

I smiled, "Yes, very good sake."

A few minutes later, a servant woman showed up and led us to the kitchens where mountains of plates stacked to the ceiling were piled, just waiting for us. It was gross -flies, rats, and congealed food festered in the dirty dishes. The woman smiled and turned to us, saying, "We're very lucky to have you. The servants who used to wash the dishes were fired a week ago. I was worried I might have to clean these up."

"You mean these dishes have just been sitting here for a week?" 'Kitty' asked faintly.

"Hmm… Yes, maybe a little longer. Master says you'll have to clean every single one to pay him back for all that sake. Good luck. Oh, and watch out for the fuzzy yellow-green stuff. It becomes toxic after being left out for more than three days." The maid replied and then left us to our work.

"This is disgusting! A week's worth of filthy, rotting dishes and toxic mold. I can't believe this. I'm a sword-fighter, not a domestic!" 'Kitty' spoke in a complaining tone.

I sighed, "Let's just get to it. The faster we work on it, the faster we can get out of here."

"Fine. You wash and I dry." She said.

"What? Drying is the easy part! We both wash, and we can dry them afterwards!" I said, more than a little irritated.

"But I'm not so good on the washing part… I tend to be just a little clumsy when it comes to house chores." She replied, almost meekly. As though she was embarrassed about not being able to wash dishes well.

"It's just washing dishes. It's not complicated or hard." I replied.

About 15 broken dishes later…

"Argh, That's the fifteenth dish you've broken! You're breaking more dishes than you are cleaning! Please, just stop washing them! Maybe you are better off just drying," I said a bit sourly. I was beginning to think that this woman wasn't so captivating after all… If only she could wash dishes half as well as she could fight. I still had a major hangover and hearing dishes break every other minute was painful.

And I still couldn't for the life of me remember her name. I know she told me. Let me think…then it came to me like a slap to the back of my head.

"Kaoru!" I yelled out, a bit loudly. I finally had remembered… though I still had the urge to call her 'Kitty' for some reason.

*CRASH*

I whipped around to see Kaoru looking at me in shock and a pile of about 30 clean and dry dishes broken on the floor. I nearly fainted -firstly from the horrible sound of dishes crashing to the floor and assaulting my tender hearing -and secondly to see a half an hour's work destroyed. I recovered and resumed my work at a feverish pace, trying to make up for the lost time and dishes. We hardly spoke after that. I was wise not to -I could practically feel her hate for me rolling off her in waves.

We finished the dishes earlier than I had expected -around Four o'clock. Good grief -we had really been washing dishes together for nearly six hours? I thought we made a pretty good team, despite her lack of coordination concerning dishes. My headache had subdued, and thoughts of the previous night had kept me entertained.

I really did have fun last night, drinking with her. I rarely get to enjoy myself… my line of work does not allow me many friends. Even washing dishes now wasn't so bad. I find that doing menial chores is very relaxing. However I could not come to a clear conclusion on my feelings for Kaoru. She hates me; she had made this very clear this morning. But I certainly do not hate her. I respect her, though I still wonder what could have possibly made her so careless yesterday. How could she be so focused when battling against me, yet be completely unaware when wandering in alleyways? She confused me to no end. I decided that I was still getting to know her, therefore my opinion of her was still evolving. Yes, best to leave it at that than over-analyze.

We wrapped up in the kitchen and just as we were about to leave, the still fuming Innkeeper found us. "Just where do you think you're going? You still have to do the laundry!" he said

"WHAT?" we both cried

"We cleaned all your stinking dishes! You said that would pay for the sake." Kaoru huffed.

"Yes, the dishes pay for the sake, but the laundry is to pay for the dishes. I believe you broke 50 in all, did you not?"

She just nodded her head sadly. Holy shit, it hadn't seemed like that many at the time. Great. More chores. And it really was entirely her fault this time. I hadn't broken a single dish. I was free to go. Haha sucker. She was cute, but so not worth it.

She turned to me and sighed, "Well Kenshin, we both know who is responsible for the dishes. I don't expect you to help me with the laundry." She put on the most endearing pout I've ever seen and then turned her back on me and began walking in the direction of the laundry house. I felt my heart wrench. Damn that bitch. Why does she have to be so..so.. argh! I should just go and help her or I'll beat myself up for not doing so later.

"Hey, Kaoru! Wait up. I'll give you a hand with that laundry." I called. She immediately turned to face me with a smirk on her lips… why that little devil had known all along I would help her! She was just waiting for me to say something. That pout had been an act! She said those words to purposely make me feel guilty. Well, it's too late to go back now that I've already said I would help her.

We arrived at the laundry house and she gave me this pleading look… here it comes, she's gonna pull another little line of hers on me.

"Eh, Kenshin? You know how bad I am at washing dishes?" she asked all cutesy. Yup, she was trying to charm me again. I merely nodded, hoping that she would cut to the chase.

"Well, I'm even worse at doing laundry.."

I laughed, "Kaoru, that's impossible. You rule when it comes to poor dishwashing. How can any living, breathing creature be worse at anything than you are at washing dishes?" I saw a spark of anger flare in her eyes. Hehe, she had taken the bait. Suddenly her little innocent act was dropped like a tub of tofu and her animosity returned with a vengeance.

Yes, this would prove very interesting indeed.

A/N: Phew, that was long. But can you believe that it was longer? I had to cut it down into two separate chapters. I'm also working on my next fic -it's a Aoshi/Misao one-shot. I'll be posting it shortly, so watch for it! ^_^x.

_________: No, I don't post everytime I get 10 reviews. Really it's more like whenever I finish the typing the chapter, lol. I'm really a very erratic poster… I only write when the mood strikes me, so I guess that could also explain why I was able to bang out the first couple of chapters in the span of 5 days and now it's taking me two weeks put out a chapter. LOL, oh well. Hope that answers your question.

Anywho, in other business: I love you reviewers!! I'm already at 70 reviews (on fanfiction.net)! Either you must like the story, or you really are scared of Kenshin the sex God. Either way, you have my eternal gratitude and must continue to review.. Puh-lease! Nothing inspires an author more than to receive lots of loverly reviews!

*Mailing list is recommended* Any other questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me at qtpievtg@cs.com or dragongrlz@cs.com.