Title: Guardianship
Author: KawaiiChica
E-mail: KawaiiChica@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All Rurouni Kenshin characters belong to their prospective owners. I am just borrowing them for the sake of this fanfic.
A/N: Hey there, I guess I didn´t make things quite clear in the last chapter over Kenshin and Kaoru´s relationship. No, they´re not blood related, their parents were neighbors and saw each other as brother and sister, but they are not, in fact, actually related in any way. Hope that clears up any doubts!
* * Sounds
" " Speaking
[ ] Thoughts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Adieu!" Kaoru waved to her friends standing outside Madame Dupris´ academy. She´d had only one very short week to say her good-byes and was now heading back to the city she´d known all her life for one last time. A sense of dread ran through her at the thought of going to England to live with her mother´s friend and his family.
[Especially that awful son of his]
The sheer memory of his cold smile as he stood behind his father´s chair getting her angry again. It was all HIS fault. Daren had been perfectly willing to let her stay in France until HE had to interfere and convince him that she should go to England. [Yes, everything is most definitely his fault.] Kaoru sighed and settled in for the ride, thanking her lucky stars that it wouldn´t be too long.
Upon arriving at her home, she was surprised to find the house dark and unwelcoming. [Where is everyone?]
Kaoru stepped down from the coach and instructed the driver to set her things at the top of the stairs. Having brought everything from her school, the poor man had to haul down two large trunks and three bags of clothes and school materials. While he did so, Kaoru walked up the steps to the door and turned the handle, surprised that Michele the butler wasn´t there to recieve her. To her further surpise, the door was locked. "This can´t be right, they should have been expecting me," Kaoru went down the steps and ordered the driver to wait for her. "I´ll be just a moment."
Going around the side of the house and through the yard to the kitchen door, she was surprised to find that door locked as well. "What´s the meaning of this?"
Kaoru ran to the front of the house, worried now as she saw the sun was beginning to set and she heard the movement of the coach´s wheels. Reaching the doorway she yelled at the driver, "Hey wait a moment!"
"Excuse-moi mademoiselle, I have another young lady to pick up in twenty minutes and cannot be late!" he yelled over his shoulder before motioning the horses to move faster.
"But... but what am I going to do?" Kaoru looked up at the closed door again worriedly. After thinking over her options for a few moments, Kaoru remembered the old doorway leading into the pantry beneath a bunch of shrubbery that nobody ever remembered. Having used it to sneak out a few times to play with her friends, she hurried back around the house and gave a relieved sigh when, after a slight struggle with the much larger shrubbery, the small door opened and she was able to get into the house.
Coming out of the dark pantry, Kaoru wiped her dress off and stood shocked as she saw the complete desolation in the kitchen. Every single drawer had been emptied, the tables were gone, as well as even the last crumb in the pantry. Walking around in a trance-like state, Kaoru felt her heart plummet to her toes as she realized the whole house had been emptied out. Not a piece of furniture, clothing, even paper was left. Every cupboard, shelf and room had been left bare. No good-bye note or anything had been left either.
"What am I going to do?" Kaoru whispered, sitting numbly at the top of the steps, hands gripped tightly together in front of her chest as she contemplated her situation.
[I´m all alone, I have no way of asking for help or getting to Monsieur Masonet and all the money I have left is... my bags!] Kaoru ran down the stairs, looking out the glass windows in the door for her bags. Seeing them still there, she realized she´d have to bring them inside soon or they´d be robbed in the night.
It took her nearly an hour to drag both trunks and the bags to the back of the house, another half an hour to shove them through the small doorway and get them into the house, and by the time she was finished, her dress was ripped in various places, as well as filthy and her hair was askew. Looking into her purse as she rested on top of one of the trunks, she was dismayed to find she had only one livre and five sou left.
********************************************
*A/N: Just a brief explanation before we
continue. The ratio of money in France
is 12:20:1 - meaning that
12 denier = 1 sou and 20 sou = 1 livre
In British terms the amount would be
12 pence = 1 shilling and
20 shillings = 1 pound sterling
This system is supposed to be the ratio
of the value from copper - silver - gold
In the times the story was set, one person
made on average 5-8 sous a day, which
would be about 2 days worth of bread.
********************************************
"Mon dieu!" Kaoru felt herself begin to panick and stood, pacing about the room as she went over her finances. "Monsiuer Gauche´s bread store is nearby and if I buy one loaf daily, that´ll be 4 sous, for five days, that takes care of the livre, but what about the other two days? I must buy some milk, but even if I only spend one sou on that daily, I´ll be left poor for two days."
Rubbing her forehead tiredly, she shivered suddenly and realized it was getting darker by the minute. "I don´t have anything to make a fire with!"
After putting away her money and deciding to leave her monetary problems for later, she took her warmest cloak out of one of her bags and wrapped it around herself, feeling suddenly very small in the large house. Deciding to spend one of her sous on a few matches, she climbed back out of the house and hurried over to the nearest store, returning with a mere four matches and quickly picked up as many leaves and branches she could see in the dark garden. She spent the next hour picking up as much as she could until she realized it was too dark to see any more and decided to stay inside the house. Closing the pantry and pushing her two heavy trunks against the door, she turned and saw with dismay the small amount of leaves and sticks she´d been able to gather.
"I suppose things could be worse, it could begin to..." A roll of thunder interrupted her, as well as a light tapping that began on the steps outside. "...Rain."
Kaoru sighed and waited until the cold became too much to bear before using a match and making a small fire in the stove. Pulling one of her bags beside it, she lay down and lay staring at the small flames as she held a leaf over them, wondering how her life could have changed so drastically over the course of a week and a few days. [And to think that Kenshin won´t be here to for me until a week from today.]
Kaoru felt tears form in her eyes as a roll of thunder sounded, making her jump in fear. [This is all that horrible Kenshin´s fault! All of it!]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next week was a harrowing one for Kaoru. She spent 4 sous on a loaf of bread the first day and was dismayed to see how small the breadmaker made them now. [I was hoping this would last me two days!] She sighed as she looked down at the small loaf in her hand, barely larger than her two hands put together. After buying a bit of milk and taking the meager food home, she spent the day looking for more things to burn, having run out of things and spent half the previous night freezing, balled up in front of the stove where her small fire had lain.
She was happy to discover a good-sized stack of old sticks and twigs a few houses away, where a neighbor had hired a new gardener who was re-trimming all the trees in their yard and threw the small pieces against the wall of the house. After making countless trips between both houses, Kaoru finally made a pile which she deemed large enough to last her for the night, if not two.
The next two days she spent once again, 4 sous on a loaf of bread each day, leaving a bit of each loaf to cover for the two days she wouldn´t be able to buy. Her fourth night was spent once again, cold and balled up before the empty stove since it rained during the day and she was unable to find anything suitable to burn.
On the fifth day, she decided not to go out at all and spent it upstairs in the attic, watching people through one of the windows as they went about their activities. Her stomach growled so strongly she thought she would die of famine, but knew she needed to save the six sous she had left and tried to ignore it. Twice she envied a litle girl whose mother had taken out for a walk. Once, when the girl walked by, licking a large ice-cream cone, which by mere klumsiness, ended up on the floor. And a second time when, after soothing the crying child, the mother bought her another, larger cone. Mentally berating the little girl for dropping such a treasure, Kaoru was surprised to discover a tear slipped from her eye when she looked longingly down at the melting cone on the ground. [I can´t believe this is happening to me!]
Not wanting to spend another night freezing before the stove, Kaoru got up at around mid-day and went out to a nearby park in hopes of finding something decent to burn. Emptying one of her book bags on her way out, she used it to sotre the leaves and twigs in, so as to save on the number of trips she´d have to make. When she was barely halfway through with her second trip, Kaoru groaned as she saw the sky darken, rain threatening again. [Why won´t it stop? What did I do to deserve this?] She was able to make it home without getting too wet, the bag arrived safely dry after she´d stuffed it beneath her cloak.
Two more days passed by, both of which she went out solely for the last bits of bread and milk she could afford, since the rain would not stop. Arriving soaking wet both days, Kaoru merely shivered, laid out her cloak to dry, and walked briskly through the house to keep herself warm, not wanting to ruin another dress. [I´ve already ruined two dresses and I can´t close that trunk by my self.] She thought dismally as she glared at the large trunk blocking the pantry doors. She´d had to look for the dress she now wore in one of her bags and had been lucky that it hadn´t fit in the trunk or she´d still have been wearing the dress she´d arrived in the first day.
[No matter, he should be here tomorrow and then everything will be ok.] Kaoru rubbed her cold arms and picked up her pace, keeping her hopes up with the thought of the scolding she´d give her ´cousin´ when he arrived the next day. [This is, after all, HIS fault!]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Here we are sir," the driver of Kenshin´s coach opened the door for him, checking once again that the address was correct.
"Merci," Kenshin stepped out of the carriage and frowned slightly at the sight of the house. [Why are there no curtains on the windows?] Walking up to the door, he was surprised when nobody came to answer. [What in the world?]
Wiping the dirty glass with his coat sleeve, he peered inside, shocked at the sight of the empty hallway. But more shocking than that, was the sight of Kaoru lyaing unconscious on the bottom step of the staircase. "KAORU!"
Kenshin yelled, turning the knob in a useless attempt to get inside. Ordering the coachman to wait for them there, Kenshin hurried to the back of the house, surprised to find the kitchen door locked as well. [How did she get in?] Looking for a way to get in, he sighed and ran back to the front of the house. He was relieved to see the coachman had been able to pick the lock to the front door and was pushing it open.
Rushing over to Kaoru´s side, Kenshin couldn´t believe this could be the same girl who´d stood so confidently in the lawyer´s office barely two weeks earlier. "Wake up Kaoru, come on..." Kenshin tried shaking her awake but feeling her forehead, he wasn´t surprised by her high temperature. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her out to his carriage and gently lay her across the seat, pulling off his jacket and setting it over her carefully.
After going through the house and realizing what had happened, he quickly helped the coachman carry the trunks and bags out to the carriage and they were soon on their way. To his dismay, Kaoru didn´t regain consciouness until two days later. Having dismissed her nurse moments before she woke up, he was frowning down at her, thinking over what the poor thing must have been through, infuriated at her family for leaving her like that.
Kaoru blinked, not surprised to see Kenshin frowning down at her and felt her anger at him rising again. "You were late."
"Only two days," Kenshin inwardly grinned at her accusing glare, glad to see she was feeling well enough to be angry. "What in the devil happened to you? I arrive to pick you up, find the house bare and you lying on the ground, filthy and with your clothes in ruins. Where was your family? What were you doing there?"
"I was taking care of myself," Kaoru rolled her eyes at him.
Kenshin nodded, "How long were you there?"
"Over a week, I couldn´t stay both weeks at my school due to a trip they were going to make so I had to come home last Saturday." Kaoru looked around, noticing a glass of water beside the bed, she reached out and took hold of it, quickly draining the small glass.
"A WEEK?! Was the house empty when you arrived?" Kenshin sat down beside her, disbelieving that she could have remained there for so long.
"Yes, everything was gone when I arrived," Kaoru felt her stomach grumble and frowned.
"Why didn´t you go to Monsiuer Masonet? He could have reached us and kept you with him until I arrived." Kenshin shook his head at her, "Or the police? Did it never occur to you that they should have been notified? That house is yours, everything in it was yours as well, your step-mother robbed you when she sold it all."
By the shocked look in her wide eyes Kenshin could tell she had never thought of those things. As her expression changed from shock to uncertainty, he felt guilt flood him as her eyes filled with tears and her chin began to tremble.
Her voice was suddenly young, reminding him of her age as she looked down at her glass and replied, "I did the best I could. I didn´t know how to get to Monsiuer Masonet and..."
Kenshin grimaced, a knot forming in his stomach as a tear rolled down her cheek. Moving forward to give her a comforting hug, he smiled softly as he pulled her close. "I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to blame you, and you did a very good job of taking care of yourself."
Kaoru shook her head, feeling warm and safe in his arms, "No I didn´t, I couldn´t manage my money and I ran out of food too soon. The bread should have lasted until Saturday but I couldn´t wait and I finished it on Friday."
[The poor thing] Kenshin imagined how hungry she must have been, with no food or water for three days. [Thank god she´s all right]
"I´m sure you must be quite hungry then," he smiled and smoothed down her hair as she nodded.
Kaoru suddenly remembered the child who´d dropped her ice cream and felt her stomach growl again. "I was looking out at the people on the street a few days ago and this dumb child dropped her ice cream." Kaoru´s hands balled into fists as she remembered, "I could have slapped her."
Kenshin chuckled, "After you have something nourishing to eat, I promise to buy you as much ice cream as you´d like."
"Really?" Kaoru lifted her head to look into his eyes with such a hopeful look in hers, as though he were promising her the world, that Kenshin chuckled again.
"I promise," Kenshin smiled and smoothed a hand through her hair, a sense of relief coming over him as she smiled back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenshin spent three more days in Paris, taking Kaoru to all her favorite places one last time in order to make up for her terrible ordeal. They went to her favorite restaurants, the Louvre, to the palace of Versailles and the newly built Eiffel Tower. He was surprised to hear she´d been to the grand opening during the World Fair the previous year.
"Ah oui, papa was friends with Monsieur Eiffel so we had the chance to be at the opening," Kaoru´s eyes shone as they made their way around the second level.
"Must have been exciting for you," Kenshin was surprised to see her shrug.
"I suppose it could have been worse. Mes horreurs, my brothers, were actually quite a handful and I was told to look after them so I spent most of the day running behind them, pulling their ears and trying to get them to behave." Kaoru promptly changed the subject, pulling him to see a souvenir stand.
During the trip home he was surprised by her friendliness. Having been quite reserved and cold towards them during their first meeting, she was now cheerful and bright, pointing out interesting sights and asking him about his home. Kenshin replied easily, warning her about Tae, their housekeeper who was more like a seargent-at-arms, he told her about some of the eccentric neighbors and his old sensei Hiko-san, whom she would probably meet soon. The entire carriage ride home was spent talking and they arrived sooner than expected.
It was raining when the coach stopped in front of the door and Kaoru was covered by Kenshin´s jacket and hurried inside, leaving her no time to take a good look at the house from outside. As soon as the jacket was taken off of her, she was surprised to find someone wiping down her dress and scolding her lightly.
"Now this is no way for a young lady to arrive, you got your dress wet in the back and that will probably leave a stain." An older, but serious looking lady tsked.
"Oh do stop fussing Tae and leave the child be," A smaller, more fragile looking woman came to her side and smiled kindly at Kaoru. "You know, my Daren had told me you were as lovely as your mother but I hadn´t expected such a strong likeness."
Looking up at the woman, with her light brown hair lifted in a neat chiffon atop her head, Kaoru felt a warmth filling her as she was taken by the hand and pulled into a room down the hallway. "I´m so glad you´re here at last, Kenshin took too long coming home and we were beginning to get worried."
"I did send word," Kenshin reminded her, frowning slightly as his mother hovered around the subdued child.
"Je suis desolée," Kaoru mumbled, unthinkingly switching back to French as she bit her lip.
"Its all right dear," the woman smiled and sat her down before the fireplace. "I suppose you must be tired from the trip, perhaps you should take a small nap before dinner. Daren is out at a neighbor´s dealing with some business but we shall be dinning at seven."
"I am a bit tired," Kaoru stifled a yawn and smiled.
"Of course you are, come along then," the woman took her hand again and led her through the house, mentioning bits and pieces of random history as they passed paintings of ancestors and reminders of her time there. They went through quite a few turns and up two different stairways before they arrived in what was designated as Kaoru´s bedroom.
"You have a small parlor next door through there and your armoire is here," she opened a set of doors, "Your bathroom is that door there and the bell chord is beside the bed should you need anything."
"Merci," Kaoru stood in the middle of the enormous room, overwhelmed by the large bed and furniture. The enitre house seemed overwhelming, the storm outside doing nothing to calm her nerves.
"You have a nice rest my dear, if you need help changing Tsubame will be nearby," the woman smiled and was about to leae when Kaoru called out. "What about Kenshin? Will the Duke be back soon? What about the Dutchess?"
"Oh dear, I was so glad to see you I never realized I hadn´t introduced myself," the slight figure smiled and came to her side, "I am Aiko Himura, Kenshin´s mother."
"Oh!" Kaoru´s eyes widened as she curtsied.
"There´s no need for that," Aiko gave a soft smile, turning as a voice interrupted from the doorway.
"Mother has something happened?" Kenshin came into the room with a frown. "Why is everyone wearing black?"
Aiko´s smile dissapeared, "Maelin came down with pneumonia a few days ago, we tried to get her medical help but it was no use. She passed away the day before yesterday so we are still in mourning."
"And what about her son?" Kenshin asked.
"I´m not exactly sure what your father has decided to do, the poor dear, he´s been so brave these past few days. I have yet to see him cry." Aiko sighed. "And he´s so little too."
"How old is he again? Can´t be more than seven," Kenshin glanced at Kaoru, who seemed very interested in the conversation.
"Only five," Aiko shook her head slightly and turned to Kaoru again, "But don´t you worry dear, try to take a nap as I suggested before."
"May I see him?" Kaoru asked, looking from Kenshin to Aiko.
"Why would you want to see him? I don´t think he wants to play right now," Aiko smiled.
"I would like to speak with him, it couldn´t hurt, I promise not to say anything unkind." Kaoru looked so worried it surprised both of them. "Please?"
"Very well," Aiko motioned for her to follow as they exited the room. They took her down to the servants quarters at the back of the house, knocking lightly on the door to the room the boy and his mother had shared.
"Who is it?" a young voice asked.
"Yahiko, may we come in?" Aiko asked.
They heard the sound of bare feet coming towards them and the door was opened, a small boy with messy black hair and puffy eyes opened it slightly. "I´d rather be left alone M´am."
"Bonjour," Kaoru stepped up to the door and gave him her hand, "My name´s Kaoru and I´m going to live here, since you´re not that much younger than me I hoped we could be friends."
"I don´t want any friends," Yahiko replied, ignoring her hand, "I just want my mother."
"I know how you feel," Kaoru sighed and pushed the door open so she could enter, "My mother died when I was your age too."
Yahiko´s eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"
"Yep," Kaoru took his hand off the door and pulled him over to the bed, nodding as Kenshin and Aiko left them alone. "And you know..."
-------------------
Two hours later, Kenshin went back to the servant´s quarters for Kaoru, knowing his parents wanted her to join them for dinner. Arriving at Yahiko´s room, he was surprised to hear a soft melody coming from the door of his room. As he peeked inside the room, he smiled as he saw Yahiko lying with his head in Kaoru´s lap and holding a small music box on his stomach.
"My mother had it made for me when I was born," Kaoru was explaining, "She used to write music and she wrote this song for me."
"Do you remember how it goes?" Yahiko asked.
"Mais oui," Kaoru cleared her throat and closed the box, winding the knob on the back before opening it and letting the soft melody play for a second before she began to sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baby mine, don't you cry.
Baby mine, dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part, baby of mine.
Little one, when you play,
pay no heed what they say.
Let your eyes sparkle and shine,
never a tear, baby of mine.
If they knew all about you,
they'd end up loving you, too.
All those same people who scold you,
what they'd give just for the right to hold you.
From your hair down to your toes,
you're not much, goodness knows.
But, you're so precious to me,
sweet as can be, baby of mine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The music box was slowing by the time she finished and Kaoru waited for it to stop completely before closing it. Looking down and seeing Yahiko had fallen asleep, she carefully lay his head down on a pillow as she slipped out from underneath him and tucked a blanket over him. "Rêves doux petite."
Leaving his room on tip-toe, she was surprised to run into Kenshin outside the door. "Oui?"
Kenshin closed the door quietly and spoke softly, "Its time for dinner, my parents would like you to join us."
"Bien," Kaoru straightened out her dress and sighed. "I would have liked to have changed before seeing your father again."
"Then go up to your room and change quickly, I´m sure they won´t mind waiting," Kenshin told her the way to go and headed for the dinning room.
A few minutes later, Kaoru appeared, wearing a fashionable blue dress and a matching ribbon in her freshly brushed hair. She curtsied politely again and thanked them for waiting, sitting beside Kenshin where her place had been set.
"Its good to see you again my dear, but next time, forget the formalities, you´re part of the family," Daren smiled and gave her a warm smile.
Kaoru´s eyes shone with tears slightly as she smiled back, "Merci, its just that I am used to curtsying when greeting adults."
"But you didn´t have to curtsy for your father, right? That would have been..." Daren stopped as he saw her nervously twisting a napkin. "Well, nevermind that here."
Kaoru nodded and settled the napkin in her lap, quietly eating as Kenshin and his mother began talking about their delay. He explained that there were some things Kaoru had needed to buy and that he´d felt that a tour of the city would be fun before she left. Kaoru ate quietly, merely smiling and nodded now and then. Aiko watched her carefully, surprised by how maturely the girl acted. When the conversation changed to a neighbor´s problem with one of his field hands, they were surprised by Kaoru´s sudden interruption.
"Speaking of servants, may I ask what will happen to Yahiko now?" Kaoru set her fork down beside her cake and wiped her mouth carefully.
Daren sighed, "I was asked by Baron Linden to send him to his home in Oxford. He has a stablehand who is willing to watch over the boy and bring him up."
"That´s very kind of him," Aiko smiled.
"I certainly thought so," Daren agreed.
"But its horrible!" Kaoru set her napkin down on the table, "The poor boy is lost, he doesn´t know what´s going to happen to him, his only family is gone and you want to send him away from the only place he´s ever known?"
Daren looked at the girl with a questioning look in his eyes as he asked, "And what else could I do? There´s no one here who can take care of the boy, my own stablehands are all young and unmarried. Linden´s man is married with a boy of his own and willing to take in another."
"But you can´t!" Kaoru shook her head, "You can´t send the poor little thing alone, its horrible, you... you have no idea."
Noting the tears in her eyes and the anguish in her voice, Kenshin set a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention and asking, "What would you suggest we do?"
"Let him stay," Kaoru immediately replied, turning back to her uncle, "Let him stay with me. I can take care of him and we won´t be any trouble."
"But my dear, what about your schooling?" Aiko reminded her, "You cannot leave your studies and he cannot go to the ladies academy."
Kaoru sighed, thinking a moment before suggesting, "I could stay here. Could you not hire me a tutor perhaps? Someone to give me lessons here in the mornings? That way I could spend the afternoons with Yahiko and keep him out of trouble. He could even be taught by my tutor and I could help him with his studies, or I could teach him the very basic things like how to read and write myself in the afternoons."
Seeing the doubt on her guardian´s face, she quickly continued, "If money is the problem then that´s easily settled. I know I have enough to pay the tutor out of my own funds, and you did promise you´d allow me to decide how those funds were spent."
Daren shook his head, a strangle twinkle in his eye before he suddenly laughed, "You won´t let him go, will you? Very well, if its that important to you to the boy may stay and be educated alongside of you. Kenshin will be in charge of finding you a suitable tutor and of informing the ladie´s school that you will not be joining them as planned."
"MERCI!" Kaoru unexpectedly jumped from her seat and threw her arms around her uncle´s neck, giving him a large kiss on the cheek as he laughed once again. "Merci beaucoup!"
"De rien!" Daren laughed, looking over her shoulder at his son and wife, who watched with amused smiles on their faces. [This is going to be good for her.] Daren patted her back and set her on her feet, still grinning as Kaoru bounced back into her seat and happily finished her dessert, plans for her young pupil already forming in her mind.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French Terms:
Adieu - Good bye
Je suis desolée - I am sorry
Mais ou - But yes
De rien - You´re welcome
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 2
Sorry for the delay, I meant to have this turned in on Saturday but I was busy at work last week and couldn´t finish as planned.
Thank you´s:
--Anti [.] Poptarts - Kenshin was jerk last chapter, what did you think of him this time?
Nim - She´s a bit young now, but yes, she will get sexy and will definitely be a handful for her poor guardian.
Lere - Sorry for the long wait, I hope you liked the end of When I Fall In Love. I felt bad after you reviewed and got myself to finish as soon as possible.
Vanilla bean - Updates will be as soon as I can get them out. Since I have to write these things at work, I have to really get things done in order to be able to write, but I hope they will be often.
SilverLightning177 - I know, it was a bit confusing about their relationship, but no they´re not blood related.
Poppy2 - Ken will be devilish, but also tender like he was here. Hope you liked this chap.
lil-miss-kitsune - I hope the delay wasn´t too long, what did you think?
marstanuki - Merci! (My French isn´t that great either but its a challenge) I hope you like this fic, I´m always glad to hear from you. Especially since I admire your own works so much. Thanks again!
Niky9 - Oh I have a lot of little surprises for Ken up my sleave, but they will have to wait until next time.
Angie - Did you like the follow up?
Friend of InuYasha+Kagome - This story will go on until she is 21, so its going to take some time, but it will have quite a few bumps and changes along the way.
kels - I really like to think of Kaoru as spunky and independent so I try to portray that in most of my fics. England has always fascinated me and so has France. I hope I cleared your doubts earlier about their reationship.
HanyouGohan - Thank you so much for reviewing! You´ve followed through most of my stories and I really appreciate your comments. I hope you enjoy this fic as much as the others!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope to hear from you all again, see you next chapter!
~ K.C. ~
Author: KawaiiChica
E-mail: KawaiiChica@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All Rurouni Kenshin characters belong to their prospective owners. I am just borrowing them for the sake of this fanfic.
A/N: Hey there, I guess I didn´t make things quite clear in the last chapter over Kenshin and Kaoru´s relationship. No, they´re not blood related, their parents were neighbors and saw each other as brother and sister, but they are not, in fact, actually related in any way. Hope that clears up any doubts!
* * Sounds
" " Speaking
[ ] Thoughts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Adieu!" Kaoru waved to her friends standing outside Madame Dupris´ academy. She´d had only one very short week to say her good-byes and was now heading back to the city she´d known all her life for one last time. A sense of dread ran through her at the thought of going to England to live with her mother´s friend and his family.
[Especially that awful son of his]
The sheer memory of his cold smile as he stood behind his father´s chair getting her angry again. It was all HIS fault. Daren had been perfectly willing to let her stay in France until HE had to interfere and convince him that she should go to England. [Yes, everything is most definitely his fault.] Kaoru sighed and settled in for the ride, thanking her lucky stars that it wouldn´t be too long.
Upon arriving at her home, she was surprised to find the house dark and unwelcoming. [Where is everyone?]
Kaoru stepped down from the coach and instructed the driver to set her things at the top of the stairs. Having brought everything from her school, the poor man had to haul down two large trunks and three bags of clothes and school materials. While he did so, Kaoru walked up the steps to the door and turned the handle, surprised that Michele the butler wasn´t there to recieve her. To her further surpise, the door was locked. "This can´t be right, they should have been expecting me," Kaoru went down the steps and ordered the driver to wait for her. "I´ll be just a moment."
Going around the side of the house and through the yard to the kitchen door, she was surprised to find that door locked as well. "What´s the meaning of this?"
Kaoru ran to the front of the house, worried now as she saw the sun was beginning to set and she heard the movement of the coach´s wheels. Reaching the doorway she yelled at the driver, "Hey wait a moment!"
"Excuse-moi mademoiselle, I have another young lady to pick up in twenty minutes and cannot be late!" he yelled over his shoulder before motioning the horses to move faster.
"But... but what am I going to do?" Kaoru looked up at the closed door again worriedly. After thinking over her options for a few moments, Kaoru remembered the old doorway leading into the pantry beneath a bunch of shrubbery that nobody ever remembered. Having used it to sneak out a few times to play with her friends, she hurried back around the house and gave a relieved sigh when, after a slight struggle with the much larger shrubbery, the small door opened and she was able to get into the house.
Coming out of the dark pantry, Kaoru wiped her dress off and stood shocked as she saw the complete desolation in the kitchen. Every single drawer had been emptied, the tables were gone, as well as even the last crumb in the pantry. Walking around in a trance-like state, Kaoru felt her heart plummet to her toes as she realized the whole house had been emptied out. Not a piece of furniture, clothing, even paper was left. Every cupboard, shelf and room had been left bare. No good-bye note or anything had been left either.
"What am I going to do?" Kaoru whispered, sitting numbly at the top of the steps, hands gripped tightly together in front of her chest as she contemplated her situation.
[I´m all alone, I have no way of asking for help or getting to Monsieur Masonet and all the money I have left is... my bags!] Kaoru ran down the stairs, looking out the glass windows in the door for her bags. Seeing them still there, she realized she´d have to bring them inside soon or they´d be robbed in the night.
It took her nearly an hour to drag both trunks and the bags to the back of the house, another half an hour to shove them through the small doorway and get them into the house, and by the time she was finished, her dress was ripped in various places, as well as filthy and her hair was askew. Looking into her purse as she rested on top of one of the trunks, she was dismayed to find she had only one livre and five sou left.
********************************************
*A/N: Just a brief explanation before we
continue. The ratio of money in France
is 12:20:1 - meaning that
12 denier = 1 sou and 20 sou = 1 livre
In British terms the amount would be
12 pence = 1 shilling and
20 shillings = 1 pound sterling
This system is supposed to be the ratio
of the value from copper - silver - gold
In the times the story was set, one person
made on average 5-8 sous a day, which
would be about 2 days worth of bread.
********************************************
"Mon dieu!" Kaoru felt herself begin to panick and stood, pacing about the room as she went over her finances. "Monsiuer Gauche´s bread store is nearby and if I buy one loaf daily, that´ll be 4 sous, for five days, that takes care of the livre, but what about the other two days? I must buy some milk, but even if I only spend one sou on that daily, I´ll be left poor for two days."
Rubbing her forehead tiredly, she shivered suddenly and realized it was getting darker by the minute. "I don´t have anything to make a fire with!"
After putting away her money and deciding to leave her monetary problems for later, she took her warmest cloak out of one of her bags and wrapped it around herself, feeling suddenly very small in the large house. Deciding to spend one of her sous on a few matches, she climbed back out of the house and hurried over to the nearest store, returning with a mere four matches and quickly picked up as many leaves and branches she could see in the dark garden. She spent the next hour picking up as much as she could until she realized it was too dark to see any more and decided to stay inside the house. Closing the pantry and pushing her two heavy trunks against the door, she turned and saw with dismay the small amount of leaves and sticks she´d been able to gather.
"I suppose things could be worse, it could begin to..." A roll of thunder interrupted her, as well as a light tapping that began on the steps outside. "...Rain."
Kaoru sighed and waited until the cold became too much to bear before using a match and making a small fire in the stove. Pulling one of her bags beside it, she lay down and lay staring at the small flames as she held a leaf over them, wondering how her life could have changed so drastically over the course of a week and a few days. [And to think that Kenshin won´t be here to for me until a week from today.]
Kaoru felt tears form in her eyes as a roll of thunder sounded, making her jump in fear. [This is all that horrible Kenshin´s fault! All of it!]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next week was a harrowing one for Kaoru. She spent 4 sous on a loaf of bread the first day and was dismayed to see how small the breadmaker made them now. [I was hoping this would last me two days!] She sighed as she looked down at the small loaf in her hand, barely larger than her two hands put together. After buying a bit of milk and taking the meager food home, she spent the day looking for more things to burn, having run out of things and spent half the previous night freezing, balled up in front of the stove where her small fire had lain.
She was happy to discover a good-sized stack of old sticks and twigs a few houses away, where a neighbor had hired a new gardener who was re-trimming all the trees in their yard and threw the small pieces against the wall of the house. After making countless trips between both houses, Kaoru finally made a pile which she deemed large enough to last her for the night, if not two.
The next two days she spent once again, 4 sous on a loaf of bread each day, leaving a bit of each loaf to cover for the two days she wouldn´t be able to buy. Her fourth night was spent once again, cold and balled up before the empty stove since it rained during the day and she was unable to find anything suitable to burn.
On the fifth day, she decided not to go out at all and spent it upstairs in the attic, watching people through one of the windows as they went about their activities. Her stomach growled so strongly she thought she would die of famine, but knew she needed to save the six sous she had left and tried to ignore it. Twice she envied a litle girl whose mother had taken out for a walk. Once, when the girl walked by, licking a large ice-cream cone, which by mere klumsiness, ended up on the floor. And a second time when, after soothing the crying child, the mother bought her another, larger cone. Mentally berating the little girl for dropping such a treasure, Kaoru was surprised to discover a tear slipped from her eye when she looked longingly down at the melting cone on the ground. [I can´t believe this is happening to me!]
Not wanting to spend another night freezing before the stove, Kaoru got up at around mid-day and went out to a nearby park in hopes of finding something decent to burn. Emptying one of her book bags on her way out, she used it to sotre the leaves and twigs in, so as to save on the number of trips she´d have to make. When she was barely halfway through with her second trip, Kaoru groaned as she saw the sky darken, rain threatening again. [Why won´t it stop? What did I do to deserve this?] She was able to make it home without getting too wet, the bag arrived safely dry after she´d stuffed it beneath her cloak.
Two more days passed by, both of which she went out solely for the last bits of bread and milk she could afford, since the rain would not stop. Arriving soaking wet both days, Kaoru merely shivered, laid out her cloak to dry, and walked briskly through the house to keep herself warm, not wanting to ruin another dress. [I´ve already ruined two dresses and I can´t close that trunk by my self.] She thought dismally as she glared at the large trunk blocking the pantry doors. She´d had to look for the dress she now wore in one of her bags and had been lucky that it hadn´t fit in the trunk or she´d still have been wearing the dress she´d arrived in the first day.
[No matter, he should be here tomorrow and then everything will be ok.] Kaoru rubbed her cold arms and picked up her pace, keeping her hopes up with the thought of the scolding she´d give her ´cousin´ when he arrived the next day. [This is, after all, HIS fault!]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Here we are sir," the driver of Kenshin´s coach opened the door for him, checking once again that the address was correct.
"Merci," Kenshin stepped out of the carriage and frowned slightly at the sight of the house. [Why are there no curtains on the windows?] Walking up to the door, he was surprised when nobody came to answer. [What in the world?]
Wiping the dirty glass with his coat sleeve, he peered inside, shocked at the sight of the empty hallway. But more shocking than that, was the sight of Kaoru lyaing unconscious on the bottom step of the staircase. "KAORU!"
Kenshin yelled, turning the knob in a useless attempt to get inside. Ordering the coachman to wait for them there, Kenshin hurried to the back of the house, surprised to find the kitchen door locked as well. [How did she get in?] Looking for a way to get in, he sighed and ran back to the front of the house. He was relieved to see the coachman had been able to pick the lock to the front door and was pushing it open.
Rushing over to Kaoru´s side, Kenshin couldn´t believe this could be the same girl who´d stood so confidently in the lawyer´s office barely two weeks earlier. "Wake up Kaoru, come on..." Kenshin tried shaking her awake but feeling her forehead, he wasn´t surprised by her high temperature. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her out to his carriage and gently lay her across the seat, pulling off his jacket and setting it over her carefully.
After going through the house and realizing what had happened, he quickly helped the coachman carry the trunks and bags out to the carriage and they were soon on their way. To his dismay, Kaoru didn´t regain consciouness until two days later. Having dismissed her nurse moments before she woke up, he was frowning down at her, thinking over what the poor thing must have been through, infuriated at her family for leaving her like that.
Kaoru blinked, not surprised to see Kenshin frowning down at her and felt her anger at him rising again. "You were late."
"Only two days," Kenshin inwardly grinned at her accusing glare, glad to see she was feeling well enough to be angry. "What in the devil happened to you? I arrive to pick you up, find the house bare and you lying on the ground, filthy and with your clothes in ruins. Where was your family? What were you doing there?"
"I was taking care of myself," Kaoru rolled her eyes at him.
Kenshin nodded, "How long were you there?"
"Over a week, I couldn´t stay both weeks at my school due to a trip they were going to make so I had to come home last Saturday." Kaoru looked around, noticing a glass of water beside the bed, she reached out and took hold of it, quickly draining the small glass.
"A WEEK?! Was the house empty when you arrived?" Kenshin sat down beside her, disbelieving that she could have remained there for so long.
"Yes, everything was gone when I arrived," Kaoru felt her stomach grumble and frowned.
"Why didn´t you go to Monsiuer Masonet? He could have reached us and kept you with him until I arrived." Kenshin shook his head at her, "Or the police? Did it never occur to you that they should have been notified? That house is yours, everything in it was yours as well, your step-mother robbed you when she sold it all."
By the shocked look in her wide eyes Kenshin could tell she had never thought of those things. As her expression changed from shock to uncertainty, he felt guilt flood him as her eyes filled with tears and her chin began to tremble.
Her voice was suddenly young, reminding him of her age as she looked down at her glass and replied, "I did the best I could. I didn´t know how to get to Monsiuer Masonet and..."
Kenshin grimaced, a knot forming in his stomach as a tear rolled down her cheek. Moving forward to give her a comforting hug, he smiled softly as he pulled her close. "I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to blame you, and you did a very good job of taking care of yourself."
Kaoru shook her head, feeling warm and safe in his arms, "No I didn´t, I couldn´t manage my money and I ran out of food too soon. The bread should have lasted until Saturday but I couldn´t wait and I finished it on Friday."
[The poor thing] Kenshin imagined how hungry she must have been, with no food or water for three days. [Thank god she´s all right]
"I´m sure you must be quite hungry then," he smiled and smoothed down her hair as she nodded.
Kaoru suddenly remembered the child who´d dropped her ice cream and felt her stomach growl again. "I was looking out at the people on the street a few days ago and this dumb child dropped her ice cream." Kaoru´s hands balled into fists as she remembered, "I could have slapped her."
Kenshin chuckled, "After you have something nourishing to eat, I promise to buy you as much ice cream as you´d like."
"Really?" Kaoru lifted her head to look into his eyes with such a hopeful look in hers, as though he were promising her the world, that Kenshin chuckled again.
"I promise," Kenshin smiled and smoothed a hand through her hair, a sense of relief coming over him as she smiled back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenshin spent three more days in Paris, taking Kaoru to all her favorite places one last time in order to make up for her terrible ordeal. They went to her favorite restaurants, the Louvre, to the palace of Versailles and the newly built Eiffel Tower. He was surprised to hear she´d been to the grand opening during the World Fair the previous year.
"Ah oui, papa was friends with Monsieur Eiffel so we had the chance to be at the opening," Kaoru´s eyes shone as they made their way around the second level.
"Must have been exciting for you," Kenshin was surprised to see her shrug.
"I suppose it could have been worse. Mes horreurs, my brothers, were actually quite a handful and I was told to look after them so I spent most of the day running behind them, pulling their ears and trying to get them to behave." Kaoru promptly changed the subject, pulling him to see a souvenir stand.
During the trip home he was surprised by her friendliness. Having been quite reserved and cold towards them during their first meeting, she was now cheerful and bright, pointing out interesting sights and asking him about his home. Kenshin replied easily, warning her about Tae, their housekeeper who was more like a seargent-at-arms, he told her about some of the eccentric neighbors and his old sensei Hiko-san, whom she would probably meet soon. The entire carriage ride home was spent talking and they arrived sooner than expected.
It was raining when the coach stopped in front of the door and Kaoru was covered by Kenshin´s jacket and hurried inside, leaving her no time to take a good look at the house from outside. As soon as the jacket was taken off of her, she was surprised to find someone wiping down her dress and scolding her lightly.
"Now this is no way for a young lady to arrive, you got your dress wet in the back and that will probably leave a stain." An older, but serious looking lady tsked.
"Oh do stop fussing Tae and leave the child be," A smaller, more fragile looking woman came to her side and smiled kindly at Kaoru. "You know, my Daren had told me you were as lovely as your mother but I hadn´t expected such a strong likeness."
Looking up at the woman, with her light brown hair lifted in a neat chiffon atop her head, Kaoru felt a warmth filling her as she was taken by the hand and pulled into a room down the hallway. "I´m so glad you´re here at last, Kenshin took too long coming home and we were beginning to get worried."
"I did send word," Kenshin reminded her, frowning slightly as his mother hovered around the subdued child.
"Je suis desolée," Kaoru mumbled, unthinkingly switching back to French as she bit her lip.
"Its all right dear," the woman smiled and sat her down before the fireplace. "I suppose you must be tired from the trip, perhaps you should take a small nap before dinner. Daren is out at a neighbor´s dealing with some business but we shall be dinning at seven."
"I am a bit tired," Kaoru stifled a yawn and smiled.
"Of course you are, come along then," the woman took her hand again and led her through the house, mentioning bits and pieces of random history as they passed paintings of ancestors and reminders of her time there. They went through quite a few turns and up two different stairways before they arrived in what was designated as Kaoru´s bedroom.
"You have a small parlor next door through there and your armoire is here," she opened a set of doors, "Your bathroom is that door there and the bell chord is beside the bed should you need anything."
"Merci," Kaoru stood in the middle of the enormous room, overwhelmed by the large bed and furniture. The enitre house seemed overwhelming, the storm outside doing nothing to calm her nerves.
"You have a nice rest my dear, if you need help changing Tsubame will be nearby," the woman smiled and was about to leae when Kaoru called out. "What about Kenshin? Will the Duke be back soon? What about the Dutchess?"
"Oh dear, I was so glad to see you I never realized I hadn´t introduced myself," the slight figure smiled and came to her side, "I am Aiko Himura, Kenshin´s mother."
"Oh!" Kaoru´s eyes widened as she curtsied.
"There´s no need for that," Aiko gave a soft smile, turning as a voice interrupted from the doorway.
"Mother has something happened?" Kenshin came into the room with a frown. "Why is everyone wearing black?"
Aiko´s smile dissapeared, "Maelin came down with pneumonia a few days ago, we tried to get her medical help but it was no use. She passed away the day before yesterday so we are still in mourning."
"And what about her son?" Kenshin asked.
"I´m not exactly sure what your father has decided to do, the poor dear, he´s been so brave these past few days. I have yet to see him cry." Aiko sighed. "And he´s so little too."
"How old is he again? Can´t be more than seven," Kenshin glanced at Kaoru, who seemed very interested in the conversation.
"Only five," Aiko shook her head slightly and turned to Kaoru again, "But don´t you worry dear, try to take a nap as I suggested before."
"May I see him?" Kaoru asked, looking from Kenshin to Aiko.
"Why would you want to see him? I don´t think he wants to play right now," Aiko smiled.
"I would like to speak with him, it couldn´t hurt, I promise not to say anything unkind." Kaoru looked so worried it surprised both of them. "Please?"
"Very well," Aiko motioned for her to follow as they exited the room. They took her down to the servants quarters at the back of the house, knocking lightly on the door to the room the boy and his mother had shared.
"Who is it?" a young voice asked.
"Yahiko, may we come in?" Aiko asked.
They heard the sound of bare feet coming towards them and the door was opened, a small boy with messy black hair and puffy eyes opened it slightly. "I´d rather be left alone M´am."
"Bonjour," Kaoru stepped up to the door and gave him her hand, "My name´s Kaoru and I´m going to live here, since you´re not that much younger than me I hoped we could be friends."
"I don´t want any friends," Yahiko replied, ignoring her hand, "I just want my mother."
"I know how you feel," Kaoru sighed and pushed the door open so she could enter, "My mother died when I was your age too."
Yahiko´s eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"
"Yep," Kaoru took his hand off the door and pulled him over to the bed, nodding as Kenshin and Aiko left them alone. "And you know..."
-------------------
Two hours later, Kenshin went back to the servant´s quarters for Kaoru, knowing his parents wanted her to join them for dinner. Arriving at Yahiko´s room, he was surprised to hear a soft melody coming from the door of his room. As he peeked inside the room, he smiled as he saw Yahiko lying with his head in Kaoru´s lap and holding a small music box on his stomach.
"My mother had it made for me when I was born," Kaoru was explaining, "She used to write music and she wrote this song for me."
"Do you remember how it goes?" Yahiko asked.
"Mais oui," Kaoru cleared her throat and closed the box, winding the knob on the back before opening it and letting the soft melody play for a second before she began to sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baby mine, don't you cry.
Baby mine, dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part, baby of mine.
Little one, when you play,
pay no heed what they say.
Let your eyes sparkle and shine,
never a tear, baby of mine.
If they knew all about you,
they'd end up loving you, too.
All those same people who scold you,
what they'd give just for the right to hold you.
From your hair down to your toes,
you're not much, goodness knows.
But, you're so precious to me,
sweet as can be, baby of mine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The music box was slowing by the time she finished and Kaoru waited for it to stop completely before closing it. Looking down and seeing Yahiko had fallen asleep, she carefully lay his head down on a pillow as she slipped out from underneath him and tucked a blanket over him. "Rêves doux petite."
Leaving his room on tip-toe, she was surprised to run into Kenshin outside the door. "Oui?"
Kenshin closed the door quietly and spoke softly, "Its time for dinner, my parents would like you to join us."
"Bien," Kaoru straightened out her dress and sighed. "I would have liked to have changed before seeing your father again."
"Then go up to your room and change quickly, I´m sure they won´t mind waiting," Kenshin told her the way to go and headed for the dinning room.
A few minutes later, Kaoru appeared, wearing a fashionable blue dress and a matching ribbon in her freshly brushed hair. She curtsied politely again and thanked them for waiting, sitting beside Kenshin where her place had been set.
"Its good to see you again my dear, but next time, forget the formalities, you´re part of the family," Daren smiled and gave her a warm smile.
Kaoru´s eyes shone with tears slightly as she smiled back, "Merci, its just that I am used to curtsying when greeting adults."
"But you didn´t have to curtsy for your father, right? That would have been..." Daren stopped as he saw her nervously twisting a napkin. "Well, nevermind that here."
Kaoru nodded and settled the napkin in her lap, quietly eating as Kenshin and his mother began talking about their delay. He explained that there were some things Kaoru had needed to buy and that he´d felt that a tour of the city would be fun before she left. Kaoru ate quietly, merely smiling and nodded now and then. Aiko watched her carefully, surprised by how maturely the girl acted. When the conversation changed to a neighbor´s problem with one of his field hands, they were surprised by Kaoru´s sudden interruption.
"Speaking of servants, may I ask what will happen to Yahiko now?" Kaoru set her fork down beside her cake and wiped her mouth carefully.
Daren sighed, "I was asked by Baron Linden to send him to his home in Oxford. He has a stablehand who is willing to watch over the boy and bring him up."
"That´s very kind of him," Aiko smiled.
"I certainly thought so," Daren agreed.
"But its horrible!" Kaoru set her napkin down on the table, "The poor boy is lost, he doesn´t know what´s going to happen to him, his only family is gone and you want to send him away from the only place he´s ever known?"
Daren looked at the girl with a questioning look in his eyes as he asked, "And what else could I do? There´s no one here who can take care of the boy, my own stablehands are all young and unmarried. Linden´s man is married with a boy of his own and willing to take in another."
"But you can´t!" Kaoru shook her head, "You can´t send the poor little thing alone, its horrible, you... you have no idea."
Noting the tears in her eyes and the anguish in her voice, Kenshin set a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention and asking, "What would you suggest we do?"
"Let him stay," Kaoru immediately replied, turning back to her uncle, "Let him stay with me. I can take care of him and we won´t be any trouble."
"But my dear, what about your schooling?" Aiko reminded her, "You cannot leave your studies and he cannot go to the ladies academy."
Kaoru sighed, thinking a moment before suggesting, "I could stay here. Could you not hire me a tutor perhaps? Someone to give me lessons here in the mornings? That way I could spend the afternoons with Yahiko and keep him out of trouble. He could even be taught by my tutor and I could help him with his studies, or I could teach him the very basic things like how to read and write myself in the afternoons."
Seeing the doubt on her guardian´s face, she quickly continued, "If money is the problem then that´s easily settled. I know I have enough to pay the tutor out of my own funds, and you did promise you´d allow me to decide how those funds were spent."
Daren shook his head, a strangle twinkle in his eye before he suddenly laughed, "You won´t let him go, will you? Very well, if its that important to you to the boy may stay and be educated alongside of you. Kenshin will be in charge of finding you a suitable tutor and of informing the ladie´s school that you will not be joining them as planned."
"MERCI!" Kaoru unexpectedly jumped from her seat and threw her arms around her uncle´s neck, giving him a large kiss on the cheek as he laughed once again. "Merci beaucoup!"
"De rien!" Daren laughed, looking over her shoulder at his son and wife, who watched with amused smiles on their faces. [This is going to be good for her.] Daren patted her back and set her on her feet, still grinning as Kaoru bounced back into her seat and happily finished her dessert, plans for her young pupil already forming in her mind.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French Terms:
Adieu - Good bye
Je suis desolée - I am sorry
Mais ou - But yes
De rien - You´re welcome
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 2
Sorry for the delay, I meant to have this turned in on Saturday but I was busy at work last week and couldn´t finish as planned.
Thank you´s:
--Anti [.] Poptarts - Kenshin was jerk last chapter, what did you think of him this time?
Nim - She´s a bit young now, but yes, she will get sexy and will definitely be a handful for her poor guardian.
Lere - Sorry for the long wait, I hope you liked the end of When I Fall In Love. I felt bad after you reviewed and got myself to finish as soon as possible.
Vanilla bean - Updates will be as soon as I can get them out. Since I have to write these things at work, I have to really get things done in order to be able to write, but I hope they will be often.
SilverLightning177 - I know, it was a bit confusing about their relationship, but no they´re not blood related.
Poppy2 - Ken will be devilish, but also tender like he was here. Hope you liked this chap.
lil-miss-kitsune - I hope the delay wasn´t too long, what did you think?
marstanuki - Merci! (My French isn´t that great either but its a challenge) I hope you like this fic, I´m always glad to hear from you. Especially since I admire your own works so much. Thanks again!
Niky9 - Oh I have a lot of little surprises for Ken up my sleave, but they will have to wait until next time.
Angie - Did you like the follow up?
Friend of InuYasha+Kagome - This story will go on until she is 21, so its going to take some time, but it will have quite a few bumps and changes along the way.
kels - I really like to think of Kaoru as spunky and independent so I try to portray that in most of my fics. England has always fascinated me and so has France. I hope I cleared your doubts earlier about their reationship.
HanyouGohan - Thank you so much for reviewing! You´ve followed through most of my stories and I really appreciate your comments. I hope you enjoy this fic as much as the others!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope to hear from you all again, see you next chapter!
~ K.C. ~