Disclaimer: I don't own RK or WK. Why on earth would I be writing fanfiction if it was mine? :p

A/N: Heheh~ Oro-chan's getting tortured again, courtesy of one nutty author! XD Ah, Kaoru tries to get him to explain what the hell is going on, and of course, tries to pry into this past ^^; Oro-chan is...very...very...evasive! (Kenshin: I am not! *receives a whack to the head* Hey!) KxK fluff galore! Mwahahhaha XD Hiko and Saitou are here too!

Reviewers' Space!

Cute emerald – Thank you for reading it! I'm glad that you're finding it good enough to keep reading ^^ Thanks for reviewing too!

Neko Oni – Lol, maybe so, but I think that it was the most boring one that I've written so far, if you get my drift :p Too much dialogue, but well, each to his own ne? Ah, lucky person. No school huh? *Sigh* Ah yes. *Grin* Aoshi is as usual, being Aoshi, but we all know that he lives in total self-denial. XD Maybe he'll finally get it through to his thick head if Misao tries to seduce him! ^^;;; Lol. Aoshi may be observant enough to be the head of the Oniwa Banshuu, but when it comes to feelings, he's a total flop! _ Kenshin's probably less dense than him, and that is really saying somethin! Saitou is the most sarcastic guy ever! Lol, he can even make Hiko cringe! *Cackle* Ah, Kenshin, Kenshin… XD Kaoru has her ways of getting answers out of him, and you'll find out how exactly she does it in this chapter! ^^ he can't get out of this one this time! Mwahahahah~ See you around in the next chapter ne!

Amanda H. - ^^ Glad you're enjoying it! Megumi will show up in the next couple of chapters or so, and so will Yahiko. I know it's a little confusing to see only some of the characters first, and not the others, but I'm still building the story up, so she'll show up soon enough. Do stay around for more! ^^ Thanks for R&Ring!

Dragona – Thanks for reading! Do stay around for the other chapters, and I'm really glad you like it!

Kaoru - ^^ I'm glad you like my story! Yeah, RK rocks, doesn't it? I watched most of the episodes on AXN, coz they started replaying it in about March or so. It had subtitles, but even then, some of them were terribly wrong. _ Kenshin's name became Kenshee, Kaoru's name became Cori, and Yahiko's name became…Yoshi. That was how bad it was! Plus the fact that they seemed to insert all those 'I love you' sentences between Kenshin and Kaoru when they never said anything of the sort! My Japanese may not be excellent, but I usually get the general gist of what's going on, and gawwwwwd, it was just plain wrong. But subtitles are always better than dubs I think. Japanese seiyuus (voice actors) are really well-trained, and it just doesn't sound the same once you translate it to English. It loses a lot of the quality of speech, if you get whay I mean. KxK all the way! Ah… ^^ :p now all you have to do is find your Kenshin ne? XD hehen~

Meirou – choon! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I do try to make the characters as complex as I can, but so far I've only really been concentrating on Kenshin and Kaoru (I feel like I've been neglecting Sanosuke, because all he ever seems to do is sleep! Lol, and give bawdy comments!). I'm really glad you like it so much though! ^^ The HalfSoul concept was mucho fun to write, although some people were confused at first. I was thinking about just using the soulmate principle from the NightWorld books, but then I decided that I wanted something more original, so well, the HalfSoul concept is what came up. Yup! I definitely will continue with this story ^^ I hope to see you around in the chapters to come! Thanks for R&Ring!

Pen D. Fox – Ooh, you like supernatural stuff too? I find it really intriguing ^^ Broken Pieces has a kinda different flavour, if you can call it that, because it's darker and more angsty. I'm flattered that you like my fic better than Linay-san's. ^^ Thank you! Yup, I'll definitely continue this fic! Do stay around for more, and thanks for reviewing!

missaw – Lol, yessir/yesmam!

chris – hello! Haven't seen you around for the last few chapters, ^^ good to see you back for more. Yup, Aoshi definitely has affections for Misao! If the idiot doesn't get it through his thick brain, I just might have to change it to a MisaoxSoujirou pairing! XD Mwahahahah~ Oh, Kenshin will be Kenshin, but Kaoru will of course try to pry as much out of him as she can ^^ in the most unorthodox of ways of course! Do stick around for more!

Baka-Ryu – Thanks so much for the encouragement! ^^ You've got really good advice! And I'll take it ^^ Thanks so much for reading! Do come back for more, ne? ^^

On to Chapter 8!

Chapter 8 - Talk to Me

Thoughts are in ' '

Speech is in " "

Telepathy is in italics.

Kenshin flinched inwardly. It was the dreaded word. 'Talk.' He had never been really good at talking, and from the slightly evil look on Kaoru's face, he knew that he wouldn't be able to worm his way out of this one.

"About?" One-word answers were good. He could handle that.

"You." Or not.

"What about me?" She sighed. 'He's good at evading things, I'll give him that.' Kaoru could feel his nervousness. He had obviously not met anyone like her before. 'Or at least if he has, he seems to have forgotten about it.'

"Can you just give me a straight answer for once, and stop prancing around?" Slight exasperation crept into her voice.

"Oro? What do you mean?" Innocence didn't become Kenshin.

She jabbed a finger into his face, and his eyes went cross-eyed at it. The electric sparks of their connection fizzed slightly at the almost contact, but she ignored it and continued scolding him.

"That! You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?" He knew very well what he was doing, but couldn't help himself. Not only was he skirting around the questions, but he was also having fun.

Kaoru growled. She could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. 'He's doing this on purpose!' She smiled slightly to herself. 'Well, I'll just have to change tactics then.'

He noticed the mischievous glint in her eyes. Not good. He didn't need to be a telepath to know that she was planning something, and he was the intended target! Kenshin gripped the armrests of the chair he was sitting in, ready to use his arms to give him leverage, and then run like hell away from her interrogations! Kaoru's eyes narrowed, anticipating his movement. He moved and she was out of her seat a flash.

The pair fell to the ground, sofa and all falling backwards due to their momentum and there was a soft 'oof' from Kenshin as he landed none-too-gently on the thinly carpeted ground. The red head assassin looked up through his bangs to find Kaoru straddled on his stomach, and holding his arms above his head easily, grinning in a slightly manic way.

"Now talk, or we'll stay here all day."

He smiled in response; she was insane! Why on earth was she so insistent about talking, and why on earth was she resorting to such a...er...primitive method? 'Not that I mind.' His inner voice was having fun. The contact that her hands had with his was sending little jolts of electricity through his body, and they weren't painful at all. He felt as if there was a silver mist surrounding them, and suddenly he was in her mind again, and she was in his.

Her shock was as natural as his; they found that they were not back in the living room, but seemed to be somewhere in the recesses of their minds, and somehow, they were both together. Kenshin looked around him; there were shimmering crystals all around, and images seemed to be running across the surface. He looked closer, and then realized that these were her memories. Enthralled he reached out towards one, and his fingers almost touched it. Then-----

"What the hell is all the commotion about! Can't a guy get some---!" Sanosuke's voice jerked them out from the place that they had been in, and Kenshin looked up to find Kaoru's face too intimately close to his; their noses were touching, her ocean-blue eyes wide and staring into his, and he could feel her soft breath on his skin.

"What's---oh!" Another voice broke in and both Kenshin and Kaoru looked up at the two who had been brought around by the commotion of the sofas crashing in the living room.

"Jou-chan, I never knew that you had it in you." Sanosuke's grin bordered on the perverted as he drawled. "Kenshin, you dog, you!"

Realizing that they were both in a rather scandalous position, Kaoru hurriedly got off Kenshin, blushing pink, while Kenshin sat up, his face matching the colour of his hair. "It's not what it looks like!--" They both sputtered at the same time, and Soujirou's eyebrows rose.

"Oh?" Soujirou's all-too-innocent 'oh' was too innocent for Kaoru's liking. You're a vixen, dear sister, that you are. Only 2 weeks and you're like that with him! He grinned mischievously as Kaoru sent biting remarks and curses to him through their mental link.

Sanosuke was all too amused, fighting back the urge to laugh as he continued with his ribald humour. "If you're going to do S&M, then at least do it in your own rooms, where we can't see you, even if we can hear you!"

"Sanosuke!"

"Sano!"

Both of them turned even redder if possible.

"He is right, you know." They turned to the voice that came from the top of the stairs. Aoshi was standing there with a sleepy-eyed but awake Misao, watching the scene with barely concealed amusement. The man smiled slightly, a rare occurrence, if at all it happened. "Get a room."

The said couple could only gape at him while the others laughed, finally unable to hold it in. Embarrassment was fast changing into anger for Kaoru, and she muttered under her breath as she grabbed Kenshin by the wrist and dragged him up the stairs after her. He could do nothing but keep up with her, releasing an embarrassed "Oro" in his wake, while laughter echoed throughout the whole house. Kaoru dragged them both into Kenshin's room and then slammed the door close with a large "BANG!" that made the whole house shudder.

The four people still laughing exchanged looks with each other and the laughter continued.

~*~

Hiko Seijurou glared at the reports that had just been brought in, and the smell of cigarette smoke wafted its way to his nose. He glared at the man who was smoking the said cigarette; obliviously puffing his cigarette smoke every which way and stinking up his whole office.

"I hope you get bronchitis." He grumbled.

Saitou turned one amber eye on him. "Did you say something?"

"What are you doing here, Saitou?" The man showed up at the most infuriating times, and now he was getting a migraine from reading all these stupid, nonsensical reports.

"What indeed." The man offered no answer and continued to puff on his cigarette.

The proverbial vein in Hiko's head was close to popping and it was all he could do not to leap over the table and Kuzuryuusen the man in front of him all the way to America.

"I saw the chibi-gaki today." Hiko froze in the middle of reading. He hadn't seen his baka-deshi since his assassin training had finished; had it been so long already? Time seemed to pass by so fast. 11 years.

"How is he?" His voice was flat, held no tone at all.

"Alright. Seemed to be getting along quite well we the tanuki-musume, her twin and the tori-atama." Was the nonchalant reply.

Hiko's eyes narrowed at him. "What's he doing in your niece's house?"

Puff. Cigarette smoke floated and Hiko batted a hand through it. "He's joining Black Dawn for a while."

"Whatever for?" This time both eyes turned to him, serious.

"You should know the reason better than anybody else. Atonement (1), remember?"

"Yes, but that still doesn't explain why he's been shifted there. What can they do for my baka-deshi that he can't do himself?" Hiko was slightly puzzled.

"Human contact, apparently, according to Katsura himself. And apparently his HalfSoul is Kaoru."

"What soul?" Why on earth did he get mixed up with all these people who seemed to talk in codes!

"HalfSoul." Saitou repeated. "I'd explain it to you myself, but I can't let you not have the honour of listening to Katsura's philosophical speeches can I?" He gave Hiko a feral grin.

Hiko groaned. 'Yet another one of those conversations.' He glanced at the digital clock on the table.

'And it's not even lunchtime yet.'

~*~

The moment the both of them were in Kenshin's room with the door slammed closed by Kaoru and locked with a decisive click, she let go of Kenshin's wrist and walked to the center of his room, giving him a pointed look.

"There's no way you're getting out of this now, so you might as well talk!"

He ran a hand through his hair, smiling wryly. 'She's the most intriguing, annoying and mind-provoking woman that I've ever met in my life. And I feel as if I can tell her anything, and she won't judge me. However…' Just because he felt that way didn't mean that he had to do that. 'I need to get to know her too.' He had been so close to touching one of those memory crystal things in her mind, and he understood now that he was just as curious about her as she was about him. 'Well then. We'll have to start from the basics.'

He sat down on his spot near the wall, giving in to her. Kaoru was more than relieved, and she too plopped down on the floor, about 2 feet away from him. 'I can't go through another episode of that without locking myself into my room for a week or more!' They sat there for a few moments, and when it seemed as though both of them weren't going to say a word, questions came out at the same time.

"What do you-"

"How did you-?"

They laughed at the awkwardness of the situation, and the atmosphere became more relaxed. "You first." He gestured at her.

"Are you sure?" There were so many questions she needed answers to, and she didn't really know where to start. 'That blast just now that happened then. Don't want to scare him off before I even start.' Kaoru settled on the first thing that came to her mind.

"How did you do that er…" She wiggled her fingers, at a loss as to how to describe what he had done. "Shattering thing? We all heard something shatter, but the only thing that did break was the jasper stone in the mortar bowl."

Kenshin relaxed a bit. 'Thank God she didn't go straight for the jugular (2).' The answer to her question was easy for him. He scratched his head with one hand. "That was one form of a ki blast. It's probably one of the hardest ones to do because you only want to shatter one object without shattering everything else around it." Kaoru nodded to his explanation. "I'm sure you know about ken-ki, where you can use your own ki to deal attacks or use it as a defense cloak, if you are advanced enough." Ken-ki was something that only very skilled swordsmen (and swordswomen) could use. Ki (3) was something that every living thing had; the number of those who could manipulate ki, though, was small.

"What I did just now was channel my ki directly into the jasper stone, thereby putting all my strength into it and nothing else. The stone could only take so much energy before it exploded; it would be the same principle as a person can only eat so much until they begin to feel sick." Kaoru chuckled at this; the not-so-talkative assassin did have a sense of humour after all. "Therefore, only the stone shattered, while its surroundings were not affected." Kenshin paused for effect after his short explanation, smiling slightly. "It isn't that hard to do at all."

Kaoru's eyebrows rose. "Not hard at all? And just how long have you been doing this for?" The smile on his face was slightly sheepish as he gave her his reply. "Er…since I was 13. And I'm 26 now."

He couldn't help but feel entranced by her carefree laugh. The way that she threw her head back enticed him, and all at once he wondered what it would be like if she was his. 'Oro!' Kenshin blinked, slightly shocked at where his brain was going. 'Where did that come from?'

Kaoru tilted her head up to look at Kenshin, hugging her knees to her chest, ebony tresses spilling down her back, and rested her face on her crossed arms. "I've asked you a question, so it's your turn to ask me one." She smiled at the puzzled look on his face. "I'm making conversation with you, not interrogating you, so it has to go both ways, ne?"

"Ok…" He racked his brains for a question. 'Not something too personal, but yet, something about her.' "What was your first impression of me?" The question seemed to leap from his lips, unbidden. Kaoru's eyes widened slightly. She had been prepared for anything, but this was something else.

"My first impression of you?" Kenshin nodded; she smiled mischievously. 'Two can play the same game'. "Was that a) on the rooftop of the Kanrii Tower, b) when I woke up to you staring at me, or" the smile deepened into a grin. " c) when you walked in on me in the bath?" His reddening cheeks showed that she had gotten the reaction that she wanted. 'Kaoru: 1, Kenshin: 0!'

"On the rooftop." Was the simple reply. The pounding in his heart threatened to pull itself out of his body. 'She's playing with me!' He had a grin to match hers. "Or we could always start with option c) if you like." It was funny how she brought out such a playful side of him. For as far back as he could remember, he had not been more than a very straightforward assassin who did not beat around the bush, asking very direct, and sometimes even blatant questions, but never playful. But with Kaoru, everything was different. Kenshin waited patiently for her answer.

"Well…" She nibbled her bottom lip slightly, deep in thought. Unbeknownst to her, Kenshin's eyes flickered a hungry amber, then reverted to his normal violet. "I wasn't exactly conscious for long to get much of an idea about you then. But I thought that in terms of cloaking your ki, you far surpassed any of us. We wouldn't even have noticed you if you hadn't let us know you were there until you had a sword at our throats." Her brow furrowed slightly. "And I felt…a sense of familiarity about you… as if I should know you, but I don't." It was her turn to look sheepish.

"You have no idea what I'm going on about, do you?"

Kenshin shook his head no. "I do have some clue as to what you're talking about, because I felt that too." He got up from his spot and moved closer to her, circling back to finally sit down, with his back against hers. The air around them suddenly felt charged with electricity. "You can feel that too, can't you? A sort of charged atmosphere?" He felt her nod, her hair brushed softly against his. "I don't know what it is, but it only seems to happen when we make some kind of contact towards each other. And just now…I could feel your emotions; I'm no Empath, but somehow it's what it felt like; your emotions were running over." Kaoru relaxed against Kenshin, closing her eyes momentarily. 'This feels so…right…like this is where I should belong.'

It does, doesn't it? She froze at his mental voice in her head. "I didn't say that out loud did I?" She turned slightly to look at Kenshin. He had turned too, frowning slightly. "You were in my head (4)." He replied. This was beyond strange for Kaoru. She hadn't been 'broadcasting' (5) at all, and he wasn't a very strong telepath; her mental barriers were in no way weak, and it would have taken him a lot more than physical contact to get into her mind, but he was somehow hearing her thoughts! Not to mention replying to them with his mental voice. 'This was what was happening in the kitchen!' She realized. Confusion that didn't belong to her lingered in her mind; she could feel his emotions and thoughts just as much as he could feel hers! A sense of wonderment seemed to enfold the pair. This is strange…but…right… Kaoru had reverted back to telepathy; she liked the sound of Kenshin's physical voice, but she liked the sound of his mental voice better. She was surprised when he chuckled. Do you really? We have to do this more often then. He had read her mind again! It was as if there were no barriers at all to their communication; just a pure, complete, and utter sense of being connected to each other.

Have you ever felt something like this before? Her voice was not much more than a whisper in his mind. No. This is the first time that I've ever felt so connected to anyone before. His answer was simple and earnest, and she knew that he wasn't lying (6). It seemed as if the connection that they had allowed no barriers; just undiluted truth, emotions and thoughts. No fabricated lies or hide-and-seek.

Kaoru pulled away from his back, and the loss of contact yearned in her soul. She turned around to face him, and he did the same. The shimmering electricity was still there between them, and she thought she was seeing things when it looked as if there was a silver cord that tied her hand to his. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It was still there! But when she reached out to touch it, it shimmered, and her hand went through it. She frowned and tried to touch it again. The same thing happened.

"I don't think you can touch it, but it most definitely is there." The sound of Kenshin's voice made her look up.

"You can see it too?" He nodded in response to her question and smiled.

"It seems that we are connected in more ways than one." The irony of the statement didn't escape her in the least.

She was thinking again, brow furrowed, biting her lip softly. Something that seemed to have nothing to do with the silver cord was pulling him to her, like a magnet. Kenshin wanted to feel her skin, taste her lips. 'She looks like vanilla.' Amused eyes met his; she had heard his thoughts. He didn't need to pretend anymore.

He moved closer to her, reaching to hold one of her hands in his own. Kenshin looked deep into the depths of ocean blue orbs, nose touching hers. He could smell her now; a mix of vanilla and jasmine; electricity ran through their hands. 'She probably knows what I'm going to ask her.' She stared back into his unwavering violet eyes flecked with gold.

"Can I kiss you?"

Dictionary

Oro – Kenshin's own unique was of saying 'huh?' The usual way is usually 'Ara?'

Kuzuryuusen – Literally translates as 'Nine headed Dragon Flash'. One of the techniques in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu. All 9 vital points of the body are attacked in one go, and is hard, if not practically impossible to dodge any of them

Chibi-gaki – little brat. Saitou's nickname for Kenshin

Baka-deshi – Literally idiot disciple. Hiko's nickname for Kenshin.

Tanuki-musume – Racoon girl. Saitou's affectionate name for Kaoru.

Tori-atama – Chicken/Rooster head. Sanosuke's nickname

Ki – aura

Ken-ki – sword aura

Notes:

(1) Atonement. What Saitou means hear is that it is Katsura's way of giving something back to Kenshin in return for ruining his sanity after he becomes and assassin.

(2) Kenshin thought that she'd be straightforward with him and ask him about his past, so he's more than slightly relieved here when Kaoru doesn't do that.

(3) Ki. _ Kami-sama, here we go. One hell of an explanation coming through. Ki is a part of every living thing, but manipulating it is another thing. It takes years of meditation and training to be able to manipulate your ki and even project it or use it against someone else. If you want a way more detailed and complicated explanation about ki, don't ask me! Go to http:// aikiweb(dot)com.

(4) He's not literally in her head here, just was able to scan her mind unintentionally. Yet another HalfSoul thing.

(5) Broadcasting. What Kaoru means here is thinking really loudly. In this fic, it is possible to (sometimes) read the emotions and thoughts of others without even going into their mind if they are thinking really loudly, or if they feel strongly enough about something. Kaoru, being a telepath, of course wants her own privacy, so she would know if she was broadcasting her thoughts and emotions. As a telepath, she would have to build many barriers around her mind to protect herself from other mind-meddling telepaths, and so that she can shut out other voices that she doesn't want to hear. The HalfSoul connection, is once again put into effect, so her thoughts and emotions can also be felt by Kenshin.

(6) Kaoru knows that Kenshin isn't lying, because of, once again, the HalfSoul connection. Either of them would know at once if the other was lying, because the connection is all about pure communication, and you can't really hide anything from your HalfSoul if you try XD *cackles evilly*

A/N: XD Hah! How's that for a cliffhanger? ^^ You can tell that I'm an avid KxK fan, ne? I was going to put in some stuff about how Soujirou hacks, but I guess it'll have to wait for the next chapter, because *ugh*, this is already way too long. And yes, Kaoru does indeed have interesting methods of getting Kenshin to talk! Sano's potty mouth has kicked in again, as you see, and Aoshi is rather amused by his cousin's antics *snigger* ^^;; maybe Misao will learn something from that! Anyway, thanks to all for reviewing, and see you again in the next chapter!

* Does anyone know where the hell this jasmine smell that Kaoru has comes from? All the KxK fics that I've read always seem to say that Kaoru smells of jasmine. I just went along with it, but I've no idea where it comes from. If anyone knows, please do tell me so I can understand why on earth she smells of jasmine and not something else! ^^ Thanks