1Here's Chapter 3!!! Hope ya'll enjoy! Oh and for the benefit of a/the reader(s) I will cut back on some of the Japanese, though not all of it, cause it will spoil some personalities.

A couple things to know:

Sessha: Kenshin's was of addressing himself, kinda like saying 'this unworthy/lowly one.'

daijabu ka?: 'Are you ok?'

So on.... any other specific questions I will answer through email!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin... la dee dee...

Stuck on You

Chapter 3- Mid-Night Crisis

It was that time in the evening when everyone was usually just lazing about, relaxing before going off to bed. Kaoru had gone back to that book she had been trying to read earlier. After having spent most of the day indulging in her insanity, she felt she was back to normal. (Not to mention that she wasn't alone in the sitting room just now, everyone was there, including our buddy Kenshin.)

Megumi kept shifting her eyes from one side of the room to the other. 'I don't get it, they're farther than ten feet apart! But they have been acting kind of funny. I hope Tae knew what she was talking about...' She wore a funny expression, even though she did not notice it. Perhaps she should ask Tae how long this stuff took to kick in.

Kenshin for his part sat off in a corner, sword leaned against his shoulder, head down, eyes closed. He found that Kaoru was hanging around him a lot more than usual today, (not that he minded!), but she kept trying to make the oddest excuses for it. Even worse, when she did leave him, he noticed that he was following her! Something was definitely wrong here, he had just yet to figure it out.

Letting his senses take over as he observed the room without his eyes. The loudest noise was Yahiko's snoring which had begun only a moment ago, but that wasn't what was wrong. He continued to listen. He could hear Kaoru's soft breathing, the lightest rustle of her kimono as she shifted slightly. It wasn't her either. The problem lay deeper than external sounds. It was someone's actual energy, and it was coming from... 'Sano?' Yes, there was something going on with him. He was nervous, and very shifty. His concentration was also a little scattered. 'Now why would... Megumi?' She was emitting vibes of confusion and she was also shifty, even more so than Sano. 'Perhaps it is something between the two of them... yes, that's it.'

Kenshin let his mind come out of that dark space in which he could find more than one would expect. 'Sessha is just a little stressed, and must stop jumping to such conclusions. Everything is fine.' And yet something told him that it simply was not.

Great, now that she could concentrate she found that she really didn't care what the hell the book was about, besides, she kept feeling a pair of eyes on her. She shifted in her seat again. Strange. She ignored the feeling that told her that she should look up. She ignored it until she could ignore it no more. Her head shot up. "Megumi, what's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Megumi had been looking at her with the most interesting face.

Megumi's mouth opened, before she shut it again, only to open with a stupid reply. "Oh, it's nothing, I was just tired."

All eyes fell on Megumi as a small sweatdrop appeared on her forehead, "Well that is, I think I should be going to bed now. Good night Kaoru-chan, Ken-san!" She said, one hand scratching the back of her head as backed out of the room. Several brows were raised, and Sano got up too.

"Yea, I think I'll be heading off too. I'll get the kid to bed for ya." With that he shook Yahiko to get him awake the dragged him away by the arm, following Megumi out.

Kenshin and Kaoru looked at one another then back at the door everyone had practically run through. "What do you suppose that was about?" Kaoru asked.

"I'm not sure." He answered truthfully before giving her a bright rurouni smile. The smile was readily returned as she got up, stretching her hands above her head.

"Well, I guess I should go to sleep too then. How about you? Staying up?" She turned her head to look at him before she left.

"Aa, I am just going to take a quick look around and the-" Kenshin stopped abruptly, a horrible stab of pain shot through him, his eyes were wide open from the shock and suddenness of it. He couldn't breathe.

"Kenshin!!" Kaoru was at his side in an instant. She knelt in front of him, putting a hand to his shoulder, shaking him. "What's the matter? What's wrong?"

As soon as the pain had come it was gone. He took in a grateful breath and looked up at Kaoru's worried eyes. "Se-sessha is fine Kaoru-dona. It was nothing." 'What on earth is happening to me?' he thought rapidly.

Her brow's came together in confusion and slight irritation. "Don't lie to me Kenshin, and stop it with that sessha stuff, couldn't you just say 'I' all of the time? Now something happened to you a moment ago. What was it?"

Kenshin didn't answer, instead just gave a slight smile, running a finger down her cheek before getting to his feet abruptly. This left Kaoru completely flabbergasted. She looked up at him as he moved to walk away from her. "Kenshin, where are you going?"

"To check the grounds before bed. Get yourself to sleep." He was very curt, absolutely not himself.

That was it, Kaoru thought, something was seriously wrong with her rurouni, and she wasn't about to let this go so easily. She got up and followed after him before he was even halfway across the room. "I'm coming with you."

He stopped abruptly, turning to her.

At his look she just smiled impishly and added, "Then I'll go to bed." She could tell he wasn't exactly thrilled with her announcement, but he waited for her to catch up to him before continuing on his way.

----

Their stroll around the grounds was very quiet the first couple of minutes. Neither of them really able to find words to end the rather uncomfortable silence. Kaoru frowned. She and Kenshin almost never had any uncomfortable silences while walking together. The thought just made her feel worse.

"Kaoru-dono..." Kenshin began.

She looked up at him expectantly, perhaps he would go back to normal, she wasn't liking how he had gotten so stern all of a sudden.

They paused mid-stroll. Kenshin seemed to be having trouble with his words, or rather how he planned on phrasing them. He was looking at the ground the entire time. "Sessh-"

"Kenshin." The warning was clear in her tone, even though it was underlined with a slight hint of a beg. "Don't say that."

He took in a breath. She could tell he was somehow battling with himself. "I, think you should just go inside now. It may be for the best, sessha- I, need a little while to myself."

Kaoru was somewhat taken aback. She reached out towards him, in an attempt to get him to look up, "Kens-"

"Just go." He said it quietly, calmly, hell even nicely, but his head had shot up. That was the first thing that startled her, the next was that she could have sworn she saw a flash of amber in his eyes, but the image was gone as quickly as it came and she found her hand had automatically recoiled back.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru as she stared at him unsure, even a little frightened and his violet eyes widened. "Forgive me, Kaoru-dono. I don't know what came over ses-me. Please-"

"No, it's alright. I'll leave you now." She turned abruptly and almost stumbled away. Tears threatening to spill forth. What had she done? Why was he so angry with her?

Kenshin only had a few seconds to wallow in her regret because as soon as she was a little more than ten feet away, a strange unseen force had violently shoved him and he went flying throught the air.

"Ooorrrooooooooooooo...!?!?"

Kaoru stopped to see why the sound seemed to be flying at her. It was! Her eyes widened and all she could do was shield herself with her arms as Kenshin somehow came hurtling towards her.

Just as she could have sworn she was to become a pancake the 'oro' came to a painfully grunted stop. She slowly moved her hands from her face to assess what had happened. At her feet lay Kenshin in quite a heap, swirly-eyed and groaning in pain.

"K-Kenshin? What happened?" She bit her lip, despite her best efforts to try to stay mad at him, she just couldn't. He looked so silly, innocent and injured that it was an impossibility.

He got up after a while, with her help. "I don't know. I was watching you walk away when I found myself being shot through the air..."

Kaoru eyed him skeptically. "Maybe you should go have yourself checked out. You've been acting funny lately."

"No, I am quite serious. It was like I was thrown."

She sighed, "Ok then, why don't you walk back over there and I will stay here. If it happens again then I guess I'll have no option but to believe you."

"If you wish Kaoru-dono." He slumped his shoulders and walked back to where he stood before his flight across the yard. He didn't exactly look forward to another crash landing, but if it would make her believe him...

One more step, he closed his eyes and braced himself and... nothing happened. Well, not until he heard Kaoru's scream as crash-landed at his heels.

"Kaoru-dono! Are you all right?!" He asked, frantically pulling her to her feet.

"Oww..." she moaned rubbing her head. "What on earth was that? Do you suppose it was some invisible force?"

"I don't know. I cannot sense any other presence." Hard as he tried, there was nothing to find. "He looked intently at the darkened trees around them. Nothing. "Alright, listen. Why do we no try walking separate ways at the same time?"

Kaoru nodded. She didn't like the idea of splitting up now that she was freaked out but agreed. After all, this was Kenshin. She should have nothing to worry about. She hoped.

They turned their backs to one another and began the cautious walk. Again, when they were about the same distance away... ZOOM!!

This time they both flew towards one another, and the collision? Not pretty. Tangled limbs, bruises and a couple of winces and 'sorry's' later they were back on their feet again.

They continued this fiasco of trying to get farther away from one another than the ten feet, for the entire night!

End Chapter 3!

(I just couldn't keep it serious for the entire end!)