The weirdest thing happened in school…I was tossing a flag in band, when it came down and hit me in the face, thus giving me a bloody nose! How ironic considering it happened after I wrote chapter 1 of this story…

Anyhow, thanks so much for the reviews everyone! It does provide one with motivation.

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Kenshin lifted the sopping garment to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted at the golden orb through the dark fabric. He was always happy to do chores for Kaoru, but not particularly at noon when the sun was beating down into his eyes. Ah, well, just one more to go! Once finished, he threw the remainder of the dripping mess into his basket and returned to the dojo.

Everything was serene. There had not been an occurrence for two months now. No old enemies, no saving the government's ass, no rescuing Kaoru-dono from homicidal maniacs!

Kenshin felt stagnate. He glanced back up at the cloudless sky for a brief moment before sliding the door shut.

So maybe he did miss the fighting…a little bit. You miss it. But You do get to fight with Kaoru and Yahiko. Baka, that's not fighting; Your soul yearns for it. When do you get to spill blood?

Kenshin gritted his teeth. It was like trying to repress a monster! Fortunately no one was home, otherwise everyone would see how insane he was. The rurouni knew that even when he was fighting with the sakabatou, he inwardly rejoiced when he elicited blood from his opponent. It was like a game; get as much blood out of him as you can without causing mortal harm. "No." He shook his head.

"'No' what?" Kaoru stuck her head in and grinned. "Premium tofu tonight, Kenshin!!" She waved the package at him.

Premium or not, Kaoru could make it taste worse than burnt lard. "I'll make the rice then, Kaoru-dono."

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The lights penetrating through the paper door made funny stripes on the walls. Kenshin was very familiar with this pattern and would sometimes stare at it for several hours to clear his mind and wait for sleep. Or maybe sometimes he would take a walk.

Suddenly, the pattern was disrupted and Kenshin's hand touched the hilt of his sakabatou. He sunk into the shadows in quiet readiness. He knew it was a man by the chi, which seemed to permeate each atom of psych. The shadow paused before the door and then seemed to stoop down.

Why don't you open it? Kenshin silently beckoned the man. The figure passed and the footsteps faded away. The rurouni wasn't laying back and letting the battousai do all the work! He padded quickly to Kaoru's room, his number one priority, and entered ghostlike.

No one here. Kenshin breathed a quick prayer of thanks and did a thorough ground check. Whoever it was had no intention of staying and probably wanted to get in and out as fast as possible. Something white caught his eye. He bent down and felt a folded piece of rice paper sealed with one of those western wax stamps.

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Ok! This is all I could muster with my bad case of writer's block!