Kenshin Himura sighed as he walked through the park, dazed as ever. A dog
could run up and piss on his foot and he wouldn't he even notice; that was
just how he was. He was that way at work, at home, in fact; he was that way
everywhere he went. 'Where am I?' he thought tiredly. He perked up his ears
and listened. The sound of children's laughter, along with the barking of
dogs, was everywhere. 'Oh.. the park.'
Feeling incredibly tired and weak, he sank down onto one of the park benches nearby and watched as a little girl about the age of three zoomed past him at an incredible speed. "Serena! Serena come back here! Kami-sama! Get over here, now!!" a woman screamed after the little girl.
'She looks exactly like Tomoe.' He thought dismally. Shaking his head in anger, he mentally slapped himself a second later. 'No, she doesn't!!' it was true; the woman had blond hair and her face was sharp and unyielding, a bit like a vultures. 'You've got to stop doing this to yourself, Himura.' He shook his head and sighed again; it wasn't fair that he could never get his mind off his dead fiancé. And it wasn't fair that he was drawn away from the world, especially his own wife, Kaoru Sagara. 'Life isn't always fair, though.' A voice echoed inside of his head, and he realized that it was Tomoe's; gentle, fair, kind, loving Tomoe. Oh, how he longed to run his fingers through her silky hair and touch her flawless ivory skin. 'STOP. THAT. NOW.' Another voice growled.
Kenshin nodded resolutely and stood to return home; to return to his wife. When he had left, she was about to go running. In actuality, they could have come to the park together, but he had lied, saying that he was going to visit a friend. He didn't want her to see him like this; a quiet man, whose soul was dying bit by bit as each second passed.
As he walked through the gates, he could still hear the woman screeching in fury, and the little girl was drinking from the water fountain, without a care in the world, unaware of how much trouble she would be in when she returned to her mother. "You should return to your mother, that you should." He said as he breezed past.
The girl looked up and watched the man walk by as if he hadn't said a word. Looking back at her mother, she decided that she would go back; at least then she would stop the infernal yelling.
~*~
"I'm home!" he called through the large house, but all he got in response was running water. 'Kaoru's probably in the shower.' Hanging his keys on a hook near the door, he walked down into the den and flopped onto the couch. His soul felt like it was a million years old.
Closing his eyes, he hardly noticed water dripping on his face. "Kenshin? Oh, Ke-nshin?" a soft female voice called.
'Tomoe?!' he thought excitedly before mentally slapping himself once more. 'No, it's your wife, asshole.' A voice growled. And lazily opening his eyes, he looked up into the bright blue eyes of Kaoru. "Afternoon." He grinned slightly.
Kaoru smirked. "Back at ya." She had let her long black hair fall well past her shoulders but she pulled it back into a bun until she could style it later. "I just got out the shower. Where've you been?"
"With Hiko." Kenshin answered automatically. Truth was, he hadn't talked to nor seen his teacher Seijiro Hiko in five years. "How was your run?"
"Great!" Kaoru lied cheerfully. Truth was, she hadn't run in almost a year. "I think I almost ran five miles." Kenshin nodded and got a faraway look in his eyes. Kaoru knew what he was thinking about and walked out the room. "I'm going to change, okay?"
"Right." Kenshin answered as the door to their bedroom closed.
~*~
"All that Himura ever does is think about Tomoe-san." Kaoru muttered as she dressed in a casual dress. Not that she was jealous or anything; the last thing she wanted was his attention. The truth was, Kaoru hadn't known Tomoe all too well, and Saitoh had said she was a bit before her time.
"Yes, well." Kaoru sighed and went into her spacious closet. Parting the many clothes on the hangers, she swung open a door, punched in a code on a keypad and the safe swung open. Inside was a single laptop. Pulling it out, Kaoru set it on her bed before tiptoeing to the door and peeking down the hall to make sure that Himura hadn't come upstairs. Seeing that the coast was clear, Kaoru dove onto the bed.
She typed expertly on the keyboard until she was logged on to Japan's Bureau of International Affairs homepage. "Logging in, Agent 2894." She spoke quietly, but very clearly into the speaker, which doubled as a microphone.
"You have one new message." An AOL-ish voice spoke. "Message one."
It was a video clip from Misao. "Hey, Kaoru, have you asked him yet? I need an answer in case I have to hire another babysitter. And if he says yes, Aoshi says he doesn't trust Himura like he does you, so you'll have to set up a dinner date tomorrow. Domo arigatou and call me later!" Misao's image said.
Kaoru was to do something, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "Shit." She cursed and slammed the notebook closed and buried it underneath a large pile of shoes. Swinging open the door, Kenshin was standing mere inches away, hand halfway to the knob. "Hi, honey!" she smiled brightly.
Kenshin blinked a few times. Seeing her chance, she plunged into her request. "I have a friend, Misao, who's going out of town and she can't take her daughter with her. Her husband is going somewhere too, so he can't take her with her. So she was wondering if we could watch her for the weekend."
Kenshin took in her rush of words. "Sure." He shrugged. What did he care if Kaoru would have a bratty, loud, messy kid running around his expensive house, breaking everything and wreaking havoc-. Wait a minute; that was Battoussai talking; he had to make sure he concealed that side of him faraway from the little girl.
"You don't them; they weren't at the wedding; they had work. So they wanted to see if we could have like a double dinner date tomorrow. Will you be free from work?" Kaoru asked, surprised that it had been so easy.
"If not, then I'll make sure to make it." Kenshin assured and flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Thank-you, Kenshin!!" Kaoru grinned and raced to the phone. "Hello? Misao, he said it's okay! Okay, we'll meet you at that café on seventh tomorrow at five, will be off work? Ya, okay, see you later!"
Kenshin only half listened to his wife's excited chatter; most of his mind floating aimlessly. "You hungry?"
"Aa."
"Fine, I'll go try and prepare something." She said and walked to the kitchen, leaving him and his thoughts alone.
'You're really unfair to her, you know?' a voice inside of him scolded. 'True, but she doesn't seem to mind much.' Another voice backfired. "Shutup, both of you." Kenshin growled and then heard no more.
~*~ The next day~*~
Misao Shinomori smiled as she finished getting dressed and saw the reflection of her husband pass by, scowling all the while. "What're you so happy about?" he grumbled.
Misao rolled her eyes and turned around. "And what're you so grumpy about?"
"I asked you first." Aoshi said.
"Oh, fine." Misao sighed. "I'm finally going to meet Himura! I've wanted to for years."
"You're happy about meeting a murderer?" Aoshi scoffed at his beaming wife.
"Yes." She shot back rather stubbornly. "Now you answer my question. What're you so grumpy about?"
Aoshi sat on the bed they shared and slumped his shoulders. "I trust Kamiya- san, but not Himura. Who knows what he'll do."
"Aoshi, come on, if anything looks like it's going to happen, Kaoru will kick his ass and then she can get that divorce and he'll be in prison or in his grave for the rest of his life or afterlife!" Misao reasoned cheerfully and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.
"Misao, he could kick her ass if he wanted to, and probably without trying. Agent training isn't going to hold up against a guy like that, believe me, I know." Aoshi pouted.
"Oh, don't be so grumpy, icicle." Misao giggled and hopped up, and went to put on some shoes.
Aoshi grimaced; Misao had called him icicle when they first met because he had learned to become devoid of emotion. The nickname annoyed him to no end, and Misao only used it to get what she wanted. "Fine."
~*~
Sanosuke and Yahiko grumbled impatiently and rang the doorbell five more times as they waited for their sister to answer it. "I'm coming! I'm coming, you stupid maniac!!!" she hollered in annoyance.
Swinging the door open, Kaoru was greeted by none other than Sano and Yahiko's sardonic smirks. "Oi busu, I'm hungry, make me something to eat." Yahiko pushed past her rudely and sulked into the foyer. Sano walked past as well, but he greeted her in a more politely.
"Well Yahiko-CHAN it's nice to see you too!" Kaoru rolled her eyes at her thirteen-year-old brother.
"Listen busu, I told you to stop calling me -chan!! It gets on my nerves!!" Yahiko yelled indignantly.
"I know; that's why I do it." Kaoru fired back. "And what's more, you can't come in my house, call me 'busu' and demand that I cook for you!! You've got a lot of nerve Yahiko-CHAN!! You said you don't even like my cooking." Sano sweatdropped; not AGAIN.
"Yeah, well I DON'T, BUSU!! I just happen to be so hungry that I'll eat anything; even that crap you cook and like to call food." Yahiko yelled, stepping closer.
"Why, I oughta-" Kaoru leaped at him, only to be caught by Sano and held in a tight grip. "Put me down THIS INSTANT!! When I get my hands on you, you'll be eating HOSPITAL food through a TUBE!!!"
"Now, now Jou-chan. Calm down, and YOU stop provoking her." Sano growled at Yahiko who was gloating and making faces, causing Kaoru to struggle ten times harder.
"CALM. DOWN. MY. FOOT!!!" Kaoru screeched and slammed her four-inch heel into Sano's big toe.
"YOW!!!!" Sano yelped, dropped Kaoru and clutched his foot. Yahiko's triumphant grin faded into a look of horror at seeing Kaoru free from her prison.
"Uh-oh."
~*~
Kenshin sighed as he heard three voices talking, then two got very loud. "Yahiko." Kenshin rolled his eyes. Kaoru's only remaining relatives were her two brothers, and while Sanosuke was older and knew how to act more civilized, Yahiko was still a kid and loved to annoy his sister to no end. Every time the three were together, the two held a shouting match, and then a boxing match refereed by Sano.
Coming downstairs, he was greeted by a flying picture frame and had to duck so it wouldn't take out an eye. Kaoru was clutching Yahiko's neck with a vise like grip, and his face was turning an eerie shade of bright green. Sano was trying to convince Kaoru to release him.
"Sano! Need any help?"
Sano turned in relief at hearing his brother-in-law's voice. "Kenshin! PLEASE get her off him. I think she might kill him!" Sano begged.
Without another seconds thought, Kenshin cleared his throat and Kaoru looked up at him. "Oh, hey Kenshin! Ready to go?"
"Yes, could you possibly let of your brother? I don't think you would want to kill one of your last remaining relatives, that I don't." Kenshin rushed over and placed a hand on her arm.
Kaoru looked at her nearly dead brother, then at her husband. "Oh, fine. We'd have been late." She sighed and released her hold. Yahiko dropped to the floor, coughing and sputtering for air.
"Speaking of.. Where're you going?" Sano asked as he noticed how dressed up they were.
"Oh, Kenshin has never met Aoshi-san or Misao, so we're going to have a double dinner date. If you guys want any food, go order take-out." Kaoru said.
"You mean weasel girl?" a fully recovered Yahiko smirked.
"Yahiko, Misao is fifteen years your senior." Sano rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, in that case, I'll start calling her weasel woman." Yahiko mock- corrected himself.
"Out." Kaoru interrupted her younger brother's chitchat. Opening the door, she ushered them both outside and turned to Kenshin. "Go ahead and start the car; I'll lock the door and send those two off." Kenshin nodded and walked ahead, but behind the loudly bickering brothers.
Turning back, Kaoru turned on the security system and locked the door behind her.
*
Misao stood up and waved the couple over, who were searching the room blankly. "There he is." Misao said to Aoshi as she sat back down. "God, I would kill for that hair color!!" she squealed, which extracted a disgruntled look from Aoshi.
"Misao! Aoshi! Komban wa!!" Kaoru greeted and hugged her two best friends. Kenshin simply stood behind his wife, waiting to meet the couple. "Now be nice, Aoshi." Kaoru ordered in his ear as she pulled away.
"And you must be the amazing Mr. Himura I've heard so much about!!" Misao grinned and shook Kenshin's hand firmly. "I'm Misao, and this is my husband Aoshi."
"Nice to meet you Misao-dono, Shinomori-san." Kenshin greeted politely. "Eh, Kaoru? Do you talk that much about me?"
Kaoru looked up confused. "Huh? Oh, I uh.. Guess I do!" she shrugged and sat down, stationing herself between Aoshi. She noted the dangerous looks he would send him every so often.
"So, uh, Himura-san! How's marrying the most stubborn woman in the world working out for you?" Misao joked.
"Hey!" Kaoru cried angrily and made a threatening motion with her fork.
Kenshin chuckled. "Oh, it's not bad at all, Misao-dono."
"What do you do for a living?" Aoshi cut in seriously.
Kenshin stared at him for a few moments. "Well, I'm a cop." He stated.
"A cop?! That sounds so exciting!" Misao exclaimed. "It's got to better than being a broker."
"Ah, well it's very overrated." Kenshin shrugged.
'This is good. This is very good. When they get to know Himura, perhaps they'll back me up against Saitoh. Maybe he needs more than one person saying how at peace Himura is.' Kaoru thought as she half listened to the conversation.
"So, how long have you been married?" Aoshi asked suspiciously.
Kaoru snapped back to attention and shot a glare Aoshi's way. "A year and a half, icicle." Aoshi grimaced at the name, Misao giggled and Kenshin looked confused. "Misao, powder room?" Kaoru motioned towards the bathroom.
"Sure." She nodded and they stood, leaving the two men.
Aoshi and Kenshin stared after their wives; they were pretty much the only things keeping the conversation going. "So, er.. do you work in a police station or are you a detective or what?" Aoshi fiddled with a tiny red straw.
"I work in homicides." Kenshin replied shortly.
This answer sparked Aoshi's interest. "Really?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's interesting. Do you get a lot of cases? From say.. assassinations?"
"What?" Kenshin looked up alarmed at hearing the word 'assassinations'. "Oh, no not really. We were swamped a few years back, but now those type of homicide cases rarely come up."
"Hmph." Aoshi made a little sound, his mind calculating the irony of the entire situation. 'Any cop should be able to dig up some information about a person if they suspect anything. Kamiya needs to watch her step.'
*
"So what do you think?" Kaoru immediately asked her friend when they were in the bathroom.
"Hmm." Misao put a finger to the corner of her mouth and closed one eyes slightly. "Well, he seems pretty nice. Is he always that quiet?"
"Yeah." Kaoru nodded as she applied more blush to her cheeks. "He's very quiet. All he does is think about his late fiancé, Tomoe-san. Doesn't bother me much, but I wish Saitoh-san would believe that this man can't be the Battoussai; he never has and he never will be."
"But Kaoru," Misao started as she looked at the reflection of her friend in the large mirror behind her. "He fits the description down to a tee. Saitoh- san has good reason to not let you close this mission."
Kaoru rolled her eyes and snorted. "Misao! You're supposed to be on my side! MY SIDE!!"
"Sorry, Kaoru, but I'm on the side that's right." Misao shrugged.
"Oh, forget it. Let's go." Kaoru muttered as they left. Emerging from the overshadowed doorway, Misao and Kaoru were shocked to see Kenshin and Aoshi carrying on a steady conversation. "What the..?" Kaoru trailed off.
The two women walked and sat after gaining the attention of their husbands. "See, this isn't so bad, is it Aoshi?" Misao whispered in his ear as she sat down.
Aoshi started, but ignored this comment. "So, what were you two talking about?" Kaoru asked.
"Nothing." They both mumbled; Misao and Kaoru exchanged knowing looks.
"Um, o~o~o~kay. Has the waitress come?" Kaoru asked nervously.
"No." Both men replied bluntly.
'Oh boy. This is going to be a long night.'
*
Shishio sat in the darkest part of the room, his entire figure completely shadowed. "Shishio-sama?" a voice called, belonging to one Seta Soujiro.
Soujiro knew his lord was in the room, the question was whether or not he wanted to be disturbed. "What is it, Soujiro?" a malevolent voice snapped back.
"Keitaro-san is here. He wishes to speak to you!" Soujiro said, completely unfazed by his superior's feral tone. "He will be waiting in your quarters to speak to you when you are ready!" and with that said, Soujiro left the room, closing the heavy doors behind him.
Making sure his young apprentice had left the room, Shishio stood from his seat in the corner and walked to stand in the moonlight streaming from a large window. His entire body was covered in bandages; what little skin that was showing, was a grotesque brown.
"Finally." Shishio smirked and pulled a sword from his waist, clenching the hilt to the point of his bandages practically ripping. "Finally, my friend. You have come back for revenge."
Okay. I was originally gonna put more on this chapter, but I wanted to get this out before my teachers decided to bury me in homework. Anyway, I think this is sufficient enough (my computer says it's nine pages). While typing this, I wrote the bathroom-thing on an impulse, to give Aoshi a little background on Kenshin. I personally find it atrocious that he be a cop, but not perceptive enough to figure that something's going on. I simply wrote that he was a cop because I needed to fill a scene; if anyone has a better job idea for Kenshin, feel free to tell me in a review.
Feeling incredibly tired and weak, he sank down onto one of the park benches nearby and watched as a little girl about the age of three zoomed past him at an incredible speed. "Serena! Serena come back here! Kami-sama! Get over here, now!!" a woman screamed after the little girl.
'She looks exactly like Tomoe.' He thought dismally. Shaking his head in anger, he mentally slapped himself a second later. 'No, she doesn't!!' it was true; the woman had blond hair and her face was sharp and unyielding, a bit like a vultures. 'You've got to stop doing this to yourself, Himura.' He shook his head and sighed again; it wasn't fair that he could never get his mind off his dead fiancé. And it wasn't fair that he was drawn away from the world, especially his own wife, Kaoru Sagara. 'Life isn't always fair, though.' A voice echoed inside of his head, and he realized that it was Tomoe's; gentle, fair, kind, loving Tomoe. Oh, how he longed to run his fingers through her silky hair and touch her flawless ivory skin. 'STOP. THAT. NOW.' Another voice growled.
Kenshin nodded resolutely and stood to return home; to return to his wife. When he had left, she was about to go running. In actuality, they could have come to the park together, but he had lied, saying that he was going to visit a friend. He didn't want her to see him like this; a quiet man, whose soul was dying bit by bit as each second passed.
As he walked through the gates, he could still hear the woman screeching in fury, and the little girl was drinking from the water fountain, without a care in the world, unaware of how much trouble she would be in when she returned to her mother. "You should return to your mother, that you should." He said as he breezed past.
The girl looked up and watched the man walk by as if he hadn't said a word. Looking back at her mother, she decided that she would go back; at least then she would stop the infernal yelling.
~*~
"I'm home!" he called through the large house, but all he got in response was running water. 'Kaoru's probably in the shower.' Hanging his keys on a hook near the door, he walked down into the den and flopped onto the couch. His soul felt like it was a million years old.
Closing his eyes, he hardly noticed water dripping on his face. "Kenshin? Oh, Ke-nshin?" a soft female voice called.
'Tomoe?!' he thought excitedly before mentally slapping himself once more. 'No, it's your wife, asshole.' A voice growled. And lazily opening his eyes, he looked up into the bright blue eyes of Kaoru. "Afternoon." He grinned slightly.
Kaoru smirked. "Back at ya." She had let her long black hair fall well past her shoulders but she pulled it back into a bun until she could style it later. "I just got out the shower. Where've you been?"
"With Hiko." Kenshin answered automatically. Truth was, he hadn't talked to nor seen his teacher Seijiro Hiko in five years. "How was your run?"
"Great!" Kaoru lied cheerfully. Truth was, she hadn't run in almost a year. "I think I almost ran five miles." Kenshin nodded and got a faraway look in his eyes. Kaoru knew what he was thinking about and walked out the room. "I'm going to change, okay?"
"Right." Kenshin answered as the door to their bedroom closed.
~*~
"All that Himura ever does is think about Tomoe-san." Kaoru muttered as she dressed in a casual dress. Not that she was jealous or anything; the last thing she wanted was his attention. The truth was, Kaoru hadn't known Tomoe all too well, and Saitoh had said she was a bit before her time.
"Yes, well." Kaoru sighed and went into her spacious closet. Parting the many clothes on the hangers, she swung open a door, punched in a code on a keypad and the safe swung open. Inside was a single laptop. Pulling it out, Kaoru set it on her bed before tiptoeing to the door and peeking down the hall to make sure that Himura hadn't come upstairs. Seeing that the coast was clear, Kaoru dove onto the bed.
She typed expertly on the keyboard until she was logged on to Japan's Bureau of International Affairs homepage. "Logging in, Agent 2894." She spoke quietly, but very clearly into the speaker, which doubled as a microphone.
"You have one new message." An AOL-ish voice spoke. "Message one."
It was a video clip from Misao. "Hey, Kaoru, have you asked him yet? I need an answer in case I have to hire another babysitter. And if he says yes, Aoshi says he doesn't trust Himura like he does you, so you'll have to set up a dinner date tomorrow. Domo arigatou and call me later!" Misao's image said.
Kaoru was to do something, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "Shit." She cursed and slammed the notebook closed and buried it underneath a large pile of shoes. Swinging open the door, Kenshin was standing mere inches away, hand halfway to the knob. "Hi, honey!" she smiled brightly.
Kenshin blinked a few times. Seeing her chance, she plunged into her request. "I have a friend, Misao, who's going out of town and she can't take her daughter with her. Her husband is going somewhere too, so he can't take her with her. So she was wondering if we could watch her for the weekend."
Kenshin took in her rush of words. "Sure." He shrugged. What did he care if Kaoru would have a bratty, loud, messy kid running around his expensive house, breaking everything and wreaking havoc-. Wait a minute; that was Battoussai talking; he had to make sure he concealed that side of him faraway from the little girl.
"You don't them; they weren't at the wedding; they had work. So they wanted to see if we could have like a double dinner date tomorrow. Will you be free from work?" Kaoru asked, surprised that it had been so easy.
"If not, then I'll make sure to make it." Kenshin assured and flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Thank-you, Kenshin!!" Kaoru grinned and raced to the phone. "Hello? Misao, he said it's okay! Okay, we'll meet you at that café on seventh tomorrow at five, will be off work? Ya, okay, see you later!"
Kenshin only half listened to his wife's excited chatter; most of his mind floating aimlessly. "You hungry?"
"Aa."
"Fine, I'll go try and prepare something." She said and walked to the kitchen, leaving him and his thoughts alone.
'You're really unfair to her, you know?' a voice inside of him scolded. 'True, but she doesn't seem to mind much.' Another voice backfired. "Shutup, both of you." Kenshin growled and then heard no more.
~*~ The next day~*~
Misao Shinomori smiled as she finished getting dressed and saw the reflection of her husband pass by, scowling all the while. "What're you so happy about?" he grumbled.
Misao rolled her eyes and turned around. "And what're you so grumpy about?"
"I asked you first." Aoshi said.
"Oh, fine." Misao sighed. "I'm finally going to meet Himura! I've wanted to for years."
"You're happy about meeting a murderer?" Aoshi scoffed at his beaming wife.
"Yes." She shot back rather stubbornly. "Now you answer my question. What're you so grumpy about?"
Aoshi sat on the bed they shared and slumped his shoulders. "I trust Kamiya- san, but not Himura. Who knows what he'll do."
"Aoshi, come on, if anything looks like it's going to happen, Kaoru will kick his ass and then she can get that divorce and he'll be in prison or in his grave for the rest of his life or afterlife!" Misao reasoned cheerfully and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.
"Misao, he could kick her ass if he wanted to, and probably without trying. Agent training isn't going to hold up against a guy like that, believe me, I know." Aoshi pouted.
"Oh, don't be so grumpy, icicle." Misao giggled and hopped up, and went to put on some shoes.
Aoshi grimaced; Misao had called him icicle when they first met because he had learned to become devoid of emotion. The nickname annoyed him to no end, and Misao only used it to get what she wanted. "Fine."
~*~
Sanosuke and Yahiko grumbled impatiently and rang the doorbell five more times as they waited for their sister to answer it. "I'm coming! I'm coming, you stupid maniac!!!" she hollered in annoyance.
Swinging the door open, Kaoru was greeted by none other than Sano and Yahiko's sardonic smirks. "Oi busu, I'm hungry, make me something to eat." Yahiko pushed past her rudely and sulked into the foyer. Sano walked past as well, but he greeted her in a more politely.
"Well Yahiko-CHAN it's nice to see you too!" Kaoru rolled her eyes at her thirteen-year-old brother.
"Listen busu, I told you to stop calling me -chan!! It gets on my nerves!!" Yahiko yelled indignantly.
"I know; that's why I do it." Kaoru fired back. "And what's more, you can't come in my house, call me 'busu' and demand that I cook for you!! You've got a lot of nerve Yahiko-CHAN!! You said you don't even like my cooking." Sano sweatdropped; not AGAIN.
"Yeah, well I DON'T, BUSU!! I just happen to be so hungry that I'll eat anything; even that crap you cook and like to call food." Yahiko yelled, stepping closer.
"Why, I oughta-" Kaoru leaped at him, only to be caught by Sano and held in a tight grip. "Put me down THIS INSTANT!! When I get my hands on you, you'll be eating HOSPITAL food through a TUBE!!!"
"Now, now Jou-chan. Calm down, and YOU stop provoking her." Sano growled at Yahiko who was gloating and making faces, causing Kaoru to struggle ten times harder.
"CALM. DOWN. MY. FOOT!!!" Kaoru screeched and slammed her four-inch heel into Sano's big toe.
"YOW!!!!" Sano yelped, dropped Kaoru and clutched his foot. Yahiko's triumphant grin faded into a look of horror at seeing Kaoru free from her prison.
"Uh-oh."
~*~
Kenshin sighed as he heard three voices talking, then two got very loud. "Yahiko." Kenshin rolled his eyes. Kaoru's only remaining relatives were her two brothers, and while Sanosuke was older and knew how to act more civilized, Yahiko was still a kid and loved to annoy his sister to no end. Every time the three were together, the two held a shouting match, and then a boxing match refereed by Sano.
Coming downstairs, he was greeted by a flying picture frame and had to duck so it wouldn't take out an eye. Kaoru was clutching Yahiko's neck with a vise like grip, and his face was turning an eerie shade of bright green. Sano was trying to convince Kaoru to release him.
"Sano! Need any help?"
Sano turned in relief at hearing his brother-in-law's voice. "Kenshin! PLEASE get her off him. I think she might kill him!" Sano begged.
Without another seconds thought, Kenshin cleared his throat and Kaoru looked up at him. "Oh, hey Kenshin! Ready to go?"
"Yes, could you possibly let of your brother? I don't think you would want to kill one of your last remaining relatives, that I don't." Kenshin rushed over and placed a hand on her arm.
Kaoru looked at her nearly dead brother, then at her husband. "Oh, fine. We'd have been late." She sighed and released her hold. Yahiko dropped to the floor, coughing and sputtering for air.
"Speaking of.. Where're you going?" Sano asked as he noticed how dressed up they were.
"Oh, Kenshin has never met Aoshi-san or Misao, so we're going to have a double dinner date. If you guys want any food, go order take-out." Kaoru said.
"You mean weasel girl?" a fully recovered Yahiko smirked.
"Yahiko, Misao is fifteen years your senior." Sano rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, in that case, I'll start calling her weasel woman." Yahiko mock- corrected himself.
"Out." Kaoru interrupted her younger brother's chitchat. Opening the door, she ushered them both outside and turned to Kenshin. "Go ahead and start the car; I'll lock the door and send those two off." Kenshin nodded and walked ahead, but behind the loudly bickering brothers.
Turning back, Kaoru turned on the security system and locked the door behind her.
*
Misao stood up and waved the couple over, who were searching the room blankly. "There he is." Misao said to Aoshi as she sat back down. "God, I would kill for that hair color!!" she squealed, which extracted a disgruntled look from Aoshi.
"Misao! Aoshi! Komban wa!!" Kaoru greeted and hugged her two best friends. Kenshin simply stood behind his wife, waiting to meet the couple. "Now be nice, Aoshi." Kaoru ordered in his ear as she pulled away.
"And you must be the amazing Mr. Himura I've heard so much about!!" Misao grinned and shook Kenshin's hand firmly. "I'm Misao, and this is my husband Aoshi."
"Nice to meet you Misao-dono, Shinomori-san." Kenshin greeted politely. "Eh, Kaoru? Do you talk that much about me?"
Kaoru looked up confused. "Huh? Oh, I uh.. Guess I do!" she shrugged and sat down, stationing herself between Aoshi. She noted the dangerous looks he would send him every so often.
"So, uh, Himura-san! How's marrying the most stubborn woman in the world working out for you?" Misao joked.
"Hey!" Kaoru cried angrily and made a threatening motion with her fork.
Kenshin chuckled. "Oh, it's not bad at all, Misao-dono."
"What do you do for a living?" Aoshi cut in seriously.
Kenshin stared at him for a few moments. "Well, I'm a cop." He stated.
"A cop?! That sounds so exciting!" Misao exclaimed. "It's got to better than being a broker."
"Ah, well it's very overrated." Kenshin shrugged.
'This is good. This is very good. When they get to know Himura, perhaps they'll back me up against Saitoh. Maybe he needs more than one person saying how at peace Himura is.' Kaoru thought as she half listened to the conversation.
"So, how long have you been married?" Aoshi asked suspiciously.
Kaoru snapped back to attention and shot a glare Aoshi's way. "A year and a half, icicle." Aoshi grimaced at the name, Misao giggled and Kenshin looked confused. "Misao, powder room?" Kaoru motioned towards the bathroom.
"Sure." She nodded and they stood, leaving the two men.
Aoshi and Kenshin stared after their wives; they were pretty much the only things keeping the conversation going. "So, er.. do you work in a police station or are you a detective or what?" Aoshi fiddled with a tiny red straw.
"I work in homicides." Kenshin replied shortly.
This answer sparked Aoshi's interest. "Really?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's interesting. Do you get a lot of cases? From say.. assassinations?"
"What?" Kenshin looked up alarmed at hearing the word 'assassinations'. "Oh, no not really. We were swamped a few years back, but now those type of homicide cases rarely come up."
"Hmph." Aoshi made a little sound, his mind calculating the irony of the entire situation. 'Any cop should be able to dig up some information about a person if they suspect anything. Kamiya needs to watch her step.'
*
"So what do you think?" Kaoru immediately asked her friend when they were in the bathroom.
"Hmm." Misao put a finger to the corner of her mouth and closed one eyes slightly. "Well, he seems pretty nice. Is he always that quiet?"
"Yeah." Kaoru nodded as she applied more blush to her cheeks. "He's very quiet. All he does is think about his late fiancé, Tomoe-san. Doesn't bother me much, but I wish Saitoh-san would believe that this man can't be the Battoussai; he never has and he never will be."
"But Kaoru," Misao started as she looked at the reflection of her friend in the large mirror behind her. "He fits the description down to a tee. Saitoh- san has good reason to not let you close this mission."
Kaoru rolled her eyes and snorted. "Misao! You're supposed to be on my side! MY SIDE!!"
"Sorry, Kaoru, but I'm on the side that's right." Misao shrugged.
"Oh, forget it. Let's go." Kaoru muttered as they left. Emerging from the overshadowed doorway, Misao and Kaoru were shocked to see Kenshin and Aoshi carrying on a steady conversation. "What the..?" Kaoru trailed off.
The two women walked and sat after gaining the attention of their husbands. "See, this isn't so bad, is it Aoshi?" Misao whispered in his ear as she sat down.
Aoshi started, but ignored this comment. "So, what were you two talking about?" Kaoru asked.
"Nothing." They both mumbled; Misao and Kaoru exchanged knowing looks.
"Um, o~o~o~kay. Has the waitress come?" Kaoru asked nervously.
"No." Both men replied bluntly.
'Oh boy. This is going to be a long night.'
*
Shishio sat in the darkest part of the room, his entire figure completely shadowed. "Shishio-sama?" a voice called, belonging to one Seta Soujiro.
Soujiro knew his lord was in the room, the question was whether or not he wanted to be disturbed. "What is it, Soujiro?" a malevolent voice snapped back.
"Keitaro-san is here. He wishes to speak to you!" Soujiro said, completely unfazed by his superior's feral tone. "He will be waiting in your quarters to speak to you when you are ready!" and with that said, Soujiro left the room, closing the heavy doors behind him.
Making sure his young apprentice had left the room, Shishio stood from his seat in the corner and walked to stand in the moonlight streaming from a large window. His entire body was covered in bandages; what little skin that was showing, was a grotesque brown.
"Finally." Shishio smirked and pulled a sword from his waist, clenching the hilt to the point of his bandages practically ripping. "Finally, my friend. You have come back for revenge."
Okay. I was originally gonna put more on this chapter, but I wanted to get this out before my teachers decided to bury me in homework. Anyway, I think this is sufficient enough (my computer says it's nine pages). While typing this, I wrote the bathroom-thing on an impulse, to give Aoshi a little background on Kenshin. I personally find it atrocious that he be a cop, but not perceptive enough to figure that something's going on. I simply wrote that he was a cop because I needed to fill a scene; if anyone has a better job idea for Kenshin, feel free to tell me in a review.