Kaoru quietly shut the door behind her to give father and daughter some alone time to be met face to face by the Lord of the Manor, Soujiro. Kaoru would never tell anyone this but she found him a little creepy for he always smiled. Something bad was happening, he would smile; he'd get hurt, he would smile; his wife would be screaming as their twins were being born and yes, he would still be smiling. Kaoru did not even attempt to figure out the guy.
"You are really good with babies," he commented. "How did you get that skill?"
Kaoru bowed her head in respect and replied, "As you know, I have had to take care of Yahiko after nursery hours."
"How old is little Yahiko now?"
"Nearly two now..."
The corners of his smile twitched almost seeming as if he wanted to frown. He looked off into space to try to hide his sadness. "Has it really been that long?"
Kaoru nodded. He was referring to when her parents died (they had been close friends while they were alive). Her father had died a week before Yahiko was born protecting the Manor and her mother died during childbirth with Yahiko. Kaoru had never really come to grips with their deaths but she wouldn't let anyone else see that.
"Sir, may I please be excused?" Kaoru asked softly after a few moments of uncomfortable silence and reminiscing.
"Oh... yes, yes. I sort of dazed off there. You are excused, my dear," Soujiro told her, his face once again painted with a smile that spread from ear to ear like he was never sad and near to tears. Kaoru bowed and ran off.
"Kaoru!" Misao exclaimed. "You were supposed to be back like 2 hours ago! You left me alone with that thing!"
"Busu!" Yahiko yelled happily running up to his older sister and giving her a hug. Kaoru smiled picking him up and placing him on her hip. You would think that Kaoru would blame Yahiko for her mother's death but Kaoru could never do that. She loved him as much as she could, spoiling him in every way.
"Were you good?" Kaoru asked in an almost teasing way. She got two different answers, an innocent, angelic nod from Yahiko and a loud "NO!!!!!!" from Misao. "Now, why aren't you ready for bed? You should be asleep by now."
"Well, the little brat wouldn't stand still long enough for me to change him," Misao said with a scowl. "I don't know how you stand him." Misao was Kaoru's 14-year-old sister. At first, Misao wouldn't even look at Yahiko because she believed to be the reason their mother died but Kaoru convinced her opposite. She began to love the little baby but he was really able to push her buttons.
"Genki food badder then Busu food!" Yahiko complained loudly as Kaoru carried him to his room making sure to stick his tongue out at Misao. Misao fumed. When she had children, they would be good!
"Guess what day is coming, Yahiko-chan?" Kaoru asked as she changed the little boy.
"What?" he asked curiously his big brown eyes wide.
"Your birthday so I will ask the cook to make you a special treat," Kaoru told him. "Maybe a cobbler or a cake or cookies!"
"Yay!"
Kaoru gently placed the toddler on his futon. Kissing his head lovingly, Kaoru whispered, "Good night, Yahiko-chan."
"Good nwight," he mumbled in reply half asleep. Kaoru smiled as she looked down at the sleeping boy. She couldn't imagine what she would do without him.
"Yesterday, I meant to ask you if you are happy with your job."
"Well..." Kaoru didn't know what to say. "It is not my duty to complain, Sir."
"No, no, it is all right. You see there is a need for a nursery helper and I was wondering..." Soujiro said hopefully.
Kaoru face brightened in an instant. This could mean she could spend more time with Yahiko! "Yes!" Kaoru exclaimed excitedly. "Err... I mean I would be honored to, Sir."
"That is good. I already offered your job to Himura Kenshin and I would be in trouble if you didn't accept," Soujiro sighed in relief.
Kaoru recognized the name, Himura from the man who came from the woods. "The man? He is staying?"
"Yes, he was unwilling at first but he agreed to work for me the instant I told him his daughter would be taken cared of. But we have been chatting for some time and I do believe you are needed at the nursery," Soujiro told her.
"Thank you, Sir. Thank you thank you thank you!" she said happily and then after a quick bow, she hurried off to her new job.
"It is just I am really nervous something might happen to her," Kenshin replied. He had made a pact with himself; he would make sure nothing would happen to his daughter.
"Sir, please just trust us..." the maid pleaded again. She had other kids to look after and she didn't really have time to deal with Kenshin.
"Hello, Himura-san," a voice greeted from behind him. He whipped around to see the pretty girl from the day before standing behind him extremely cheerfully. What was her name again? Oh yes, Kaoru...
"You know this man Kamiya-san?" the maid asked exasperated, which Kaoru nodded in reply. "Well, you try to convince him that nothing will happen to his baby here! I have other things to do!"
"Himura-san, I will especially make sure Little Chiyeko is perfectly safe," Kaoru told him. Her eyes told him he could trust her with his precious little girl. Reluctantly, he handed his daughter over to Kaoru. "Now, Himura-san, I believe you are going to be late for your job and Soujiro-san is strict with being on time." Kenshin took one last look at Chiyeko and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. "I will keep her safe, don't worry." Kenshin nodded and went his way to start his new job and new life.
"Busu!!!" Kaoru sighed. It seemed little Yahiko had found her.
She should have known. Sometimes, catching Yahiko was quite a doozy but here, she had to catch about 30 kids with just as much energy as him.
"Kaoru-san?" Kaoru looked up with half opened eyes to see Himura-san standing there covered in scratches.
"Himura-san, what happened?!?" Kaoru exclaimed worriedly.
Kenshin sheepishly replied, "Well, there was a bit of a problem with the chickens and..." He blushed embarrassedly.
"You need to be bandaged up or those wounds might get infected."
"No, no, you need not do that for Sessha. Sessha will be fine," Kenshin said unaware that he was saying the 'unworthy one' instead of I, which puzzled Kaoru.
"I insist," Kaoru firmly told him. "I have bandages at home." She picked up the baby and put her in a carrier so Kaoru could have Chiyeko on her back and Yahiko in her arms. She did not want to wake up Yahiko to make him walk nor did she want the hurt Himura-san carry something increasing his risks of fainting.
"Let me carry Chiy...." Kenshin trailed off as Kaoru gave him a look that told him that there was no way in hell that she was going to let him do that.
"Follow me."
After a few minutes, they finally made it to her house. Kenshin noticed that hers was bigger then the other servants for some reason.
As soon as they entered the door, an angry, sort of squeaky voice said, "Kaoru, are we going to make this late thing a habit? I don't know how to cook anything! Do you want me to starve?"
"And when I do cook, you ask me if I want to poison you," Kaoru replied with a glare. "Now, behave Misao. We have a guest.
"Oooo... Who is this, Kaoru? Your secret lover with your love child?" Misao asked suddenly switching moods from pissed off to nudge nudge, wink wink.
Kaoru grabbed a wooden spoon and threw it at the other girl hitting her exactly in the head. "This is my annoying sister, Misao. Don't mind her." Kenshin laughed nervously. There was many sides to this woman and almost all of them scared him.
"Just sit down on the chair. I will be right back." Kaoru took Chiyeko and Yahiko to another room. When she came back, she was child free with a handful of bandages.
With a blush, Kaoru mumbled, "Can you please take off your shirt?"
"What?"
"You have scratches all over your upper body and I need to be able to bandage your chest too," Kaoru told him. Kenshin slowly took off his tattered shirt (as all the fan girls drool) a bit uneasily revealing a nicely tanned and muscular chest. This made things worse for Kaoru. Why couldn't he be pale and skinny? She wouldn't be so embarrassed if he was.
Gently, she began to wrap his cuts. "You are quite good at this, Kaoru-san," he commented.
"Thank you. I have had practice. I used to have your job and I was hurt a lot so I had to learn how to do this. I couldn't bug the doctor every time that happened," Kaoru said trying to concentrate on the cuts though her eyes kept straying to his muscles.
"Did I take your job? I'm sorry if I did," Kenshin apologized.
"Oh, it is all right. I like the nursery. And the jobs are really quite similar." Kenshin looked at her confused. "You see children are much like chickens. They are stubborn, hot-tempered, always hungry, they bite and scratch, and they are a lot faster then they should be." Kenshin couldn't help but laugh at the interesting analogy. "There we go! All done."
"Thank you, Kaoru-san."
"It was my pleasure," Kaoru said (and it surely was after that nice display she got to ogle at). "You probably should see the doctor in the morning, though. Just in case. Let me go get Chiyeko for you."
Kaoru walked into the other room to find the children still sleeping peacefully. She smiled. Chickens while they were awake but definitely angels when they were asleep. She picked up Chiyeko as not to wake her up and reminisced about when Yahiko was still an infant. She would give anything to go back to those sleepless nights. At least then, he couldn't run and call her ugly.
"Now watch out for those chickens," Kaoru told Kenshin as she handed him Chiyo getting a small laugh from him. "Good night, Himura-san."
"Good night."
Kaoru waved good bye from her door step as he made his way to his house. She walked back in to almost step on the unconscious Misao. "Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that spoon so hard," she grumbled as she began the long tiring work of dragging Misao to her room.