~Chapter Nine- Sunshine once again~

"Karou……"

Karou could hear her name being called to her from where she lay.

She looked up and thought she saw the darkness trying to take her away once again…..but then she saw Kenshin.

He made that darkness turn into light.

He turned to her and smiled his wonderful smile.

"Karou….." He said.

The "miss" part was absent.

It was just her name alone…..signifying that he took her as more then just another woman that was his good friend……she was something more important then that to him when he called her by her real, true name, standing alone on his breath.

She smiled.

"Ken….shin………" She spoke softly back to him.

He nodded, and light surrounded him, until there was so much light…….

Karou slowly opened her eyes.

Sunlight fell over her face gently….almost as gently as Kenshin's hand had laid there the night before.

It didn't occur to her what had happened hours before…..or why her leg was somewhat in pain still.

She looked around the room with her eyes slowly.

The grandfather clock read 15 minutes past 10:00 a.m.

The first thing she knew was that she was in Kenshin's room, because she saw his reverse blade sword laying on the other side of the large bed.

But……no Kenshin in sight!

She quickly sat up and grasped the bedding with her hands.

She searched the room high and low.

"…….K……Kenshin?" She questioned the quiet air.

She tried to remember what had happened last night, and like a lightening bolt, it came back to her!!

She was suddenly fearful to be all alone in that room.

But then she also remembered where Kenshin had slept last night.

She looked to her right…..and there, his head rested contently on the side of the bed, was her hero.

She felt so much better once she found him still there with her…asleep still.

The late hours the two had been up were too much for them…and so obviously, they were both tired.

As she recalled everything once again that had occurred last night….she looked to Kenshin again.

His sleeping face.

He had protected her with his life from the man with the knife.

She was so happy suddenly.

She felt tears come to her eyes.

She jumped out of bed quickly, and fell to her knees on the floor in front of Kenshin's sleeping form.

"Oh…..Kenshin. Thank you!!!!!!!" She said, trying to not to be too loud.

She wrapped her arms around him, and held him softly.

As she did so, Kenshin slowly awoke in her arms.

He blinked a few times, letting the sunshine fill his senses, and then found Karou holding him gently, slightly sobbing.

"Ka….Karou?" He questioned.

Her eyes widened, and she sat back quickly, blushing as red as ever.

"I….I'm…sorry. I was just so happy….because I remembered that you saved me….and I was…..I….and…..you see…..wait!……….what did you call me?" She suddenly realized how Kenshin had said her name!!!!!

It had been….without the sign of respect…..the "miss" was absent!!!!

It was how he had said her name in her dream as had recently awoken from!!!!

She stared in shock, wondering if it had just been a mistake of hearing.

Kenshin realized what he had let slip out as well…..but having woken up to Karou's warm embrace…how could he have placed that sign of respect on her name…..when he knew she was so much more to him then just another "miss"!!!

He looked away from her and started turned red.

"………I……I'm sorry, Miss Karou, that I am. I must have…..being so tired as I was……forgotten to put the respect in your name. Forgive me."

He lowered his head.

Karou figured that Kenshin got the impression that she was shocked and angry that he hadn't used to respect sign…when she was in truth…more then happy that he had forgotten it. She had never once considered though….simply telling him to not call her by "miss" any longer. She had never done anything about it….and continued to let him call her that, even though….she knew in her heart he was so much more.

Could she tell him now? After all that time wasted on that little "miss" thing.

She forced a smile on her lips.

"It…..it's……perfectly……fine! More then perfectly fine! I don't object at all……."

She was silenced by his stare at her.

He stared.

He just stared….but it wasn't an irritating stare…or an embarrassing stare….it was……a lost somewhere else stare….and his eyes seemed to be focused on her alone.

Karou was so confused suddenly.

"Kenshin? Are you alright?" She questioned.

He blinked the stare away…and smiled as he looked to the floor.

"Just fine." Was all he said.

Karou's heart pounded.

She made herself turn away and find another topic to speak of.

She stood up and suddenly felt the pain in her leg return!!!

"Ahhh!!!" She fell back to her knees again.

"Miss Karou!!! Your leg…it still must be in a lot of pain…..I was hoping it would have gotten better by now." Kenshin stated with concern in his voice.

Karou pulled up her kimono gown and looked at her leg.

She seemed to be a little happy, the way she stared at the bandaging.

"What's the matter?" Kenshin wondered aloud.

Karou smiled.

"It's hard to believe….but I can hardly remember a thing that happened last night…..after…..you carried me back to your room."

Kenshin nodded.

"You were so exhausted….and so worn out. That horrible man chased you down…..and you fled for your life…..with every last ounce of energy that you had left in you. Miss Karou…..tell me…..why did you try so hard to run? To run and not stop at all?"

Karou's fists tightened as she remembered the night before.

"I ran….and I ran…..and the only thing I could think about…and the only thing that kept me running on…..was to find you. I had to find you! That wish to stay alive…..and find you again……kept me running on and on. And the truth of it all is……I was so happy……so happy……..to have found you finally…..and…..for you to….take care of that man like you did……and……treat me so kindly. I wished so badly for you to…….to………" She stopped herself without thinking.

She felt so lost in her words, like she was revealing too much for her own good, but in another minute, she couldn't believe what Kenshin had done.

He slowly placed his hand onto hers.

"It's alright…..you can tell me."

She looked up at him slowly

He was smiling, of course.

But as she opened her mouth to speak her mind to the beautiful man in front of her, the door suddenly opened on the other side of the room!!!

"KENSHIN!!!!! KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!" Yahiko shouted into the room.

Kenshin's hand pulled away from Karou's quickly.

Yahiko ran to the other side of the bed, and stared down at the two on the floor.

Karou, in her nightgown, and Kenshin, in his nightclothes as well, his hair down over his shoulders, and Karou's in a messed up brain down her shoulder, looked up at the boy as if they had been caught in the middle of something horrible….even though they hadn't been doing anything at all!

Yahiko raised an eye-brow.

"Oh my god!!! What is going on here???!!!! Sanoske, Misao, and I have been looking ALL OVER the mansion for you two!!!! We thought you guys had gone somewhere or something together….like a walk, and so we didn't bother looking for you until just a half an hour ago…..and I find you two up here dressed in your nightclothes still, on the floor……IN KENSHIN'S ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T EVEN WANNA THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU TWO HAVE BEEN DOING!!!!!!!"

Karou and Kenshin stared up at Yahiko, then looked at themselves, then turned away from each other quickly, realizing what Yahiko was talking about!

Kenshin laughed a little bit and stood up.

"It's not that at all, Yahiko!!! Really!! Miss Karou just…..ummm, well…….she came up her to wake me up a while ago….after she…um…..woke up and came up here…..and I was sleeping too late….and we were just talking, and ummm, yeah! It's the truth! Don't you believe me??!!" He was started to sound like he had done something horrible with Karou!!

Yahiko smirked slyly.

"Sure…..I believe you, Kenshin. Hahahahaha! Yeah right!!! Wooohoo!!!"

Kenshin dropped to the ground and just laid there with a "I'm-giving-up" look on his face.

Karou stood up and glared at Yahiko in a serious way.

"Yahiko…..go outside! We'll be there in a minute!" The way she said this made Yahiko feel like he was being punished.

He turned away from the two and headed towards the door.

"Fine…" He complained, and shut the door behind him.

Karou sighed, and looked to Kenshin.

"Why…didn't you tell him what happened last night?" She wondered aloud.

Kenshin looked up at her.

"If it's not a big deal, Miss Karou…..I think we should keep what happened last night to ourselves for a little….just in case. We'll go and talk to Mr. Orasumi though after we get dressed, alright?"

Karou looked away from him.

"Alright." She said softly.

She took one step away from Kenshin, and was about to head out the door to return to her quarters….but Kenshin grabbed her arm quickly.

She stopped in her tracks.

Kenshin's hand slowly traced down into her hand…and folded together.

His touch was so gentle.

She turned and looked over her shoulder at him, her heart pounding harder and harder in her chest.

He stared back at her, his eyes fixed into hers.

His cheeks flushed like crazy.

"Please be careful…Miss Karou. Even if it's daytime now……that man and his group can get you just as easily in the light as they can in the dark. Please come and find me as soon as you're done getting dressed. Meet me downstairs, okay?" He explained.

Karou stared back at him for a while.

"Why are you so worried about me? I'll be fine, Kenshin. Really…." She tried to make him stop worrying. It was too odd for him to worry about her so much like that!

"Please…just this once…..do as I say, Miss Karou?" Kenshin enforced.

Karou blinked a little bit.

"Yes….." She said stiffly, and pulled her hand out of Kenshin's with a bit of force.

She didn't turn back around, and she opened his door, and shut it behind her, as if she was angry with him or something.

His hand was still opened, held out from when she had pulled away from him so quickly.

For the first time in his life…he somehow wanted her to come back and hold his hand once again.

He'd never wished that before.

His hand finally closed after a while, and he brought it to his side.

He stood in his room for a while, and then went to go get dressed.

~Awwww, poor Kenshin!!!! I feel sorry for him, don't you??? Keep on reading!~

~Smile B~