1Disclaimer: I am NOT owner of Kenshin....

Stuck on You

Chapter 4: "How in seven hells...???"

Kaoru woke just as dawn was breaking. She tried to stretch as she always did upon awakening, but her limbs refused. Her entire body felt thoroughly abused and sore. For a while she had no idea why, and then it slowly crept back to her. The flights across the yard, the incredibly painful collisions. 'What the hell is going on? I thought it was a dream.'

But as she realized she had woken up in the sitting room, Kenshin sitting across from her in what looked a very uncomfortable position what had happened became clear. After several failed attempts at putting a larger distance between themselves, she must have passed out, 'or been knocked out', she thought, and Kenshin must of done the only thing he could do. He gave up and settled for spending the night in here.

Why didn't he just leave her in her room though, then it struck her. 'Kaoru no baka, our rooms are farther than ten feet in distance. Wait... Why are we even in this mess?! How on earth did this happen?!'

Too many questions flooded her tired brain and she felt a headache coming on. This was all too crazy to be real. 'Don't worry Kaoru, you will soon wake up from this... this.. dream?' She couldn't decide if it was that or a nightmare.

A Slight rustling brought her attention back to the man of the hour. Kenshin was waking, and she couldn't help but wonder what he made of all this.

"Good morning." She managed a momentary smile, but it soon fell away. She hurt so badly and was so tired even that small movement drained her.

"Good morning Kaoru." Both of them seemed to miss his lack of the exceedingly polite 'dono'. Kenshin looked disoriented and quite groggy, obviously he had barely rested. His head pounded, and he could feel the beating his body had taken quite recently.

After what felt to him like eternity his focus cleared and in the growing light of day he could see the extent of the damage on the woman sitting before him. He silently cursed himself, he should have been much more considerate of her well-being. Solving this problem last night had somehow been more important. His eyes glinted for a moment at the thought of what he would do to whomever had done this to them. Only for a moment though, and then it vanished

Kaoru found her frame was slipping forward, she was just that tired. "Kenshin, what are we going to do? I don't think I'm up for another one of those crashes again."

Instead of answering her immediately, he went to her side and let her lean on him for some support before she fell over. "Well, I am not certain, but I suppose we will have to stay relatively close to one another, at least until you've recovered some, and we find out what's going on." He spoke the words in her hair as she had fully relaxed against him.

Kaoru could feel herself drifting off to sleep when suddenly the extent of just how close they were hit her. 'Kami-sama! What if someone walked in?! They would surely get the wrong idea.' Before she knew what she was doing or had time to regret her action, she had sprung away from Kenshin and onto her feet. Not good.

Before Kenshin had a chance to react (her movement so sudden) she crumpled to the floor in pain. Her muscles had literally REFUSED to obey and they objected her sprint to action violently. "Ah..!" The stream of colorful curses that streamed from her mouth as Kenshin saw to it that she was alright were enough to send a sailor running.

A few minutes later, when she was glaring daggers at an unknown spot in the floor, Kenshin finally asked the question that had begun to plague him. "Why did you jump from me so quickly?" He hoped it was not for the reason that he thought.

She looked up at him, his calm face. Her expression went from frustrated, to confused to desperate in mere seconds. "I thought of what the others might think..." At the look on his face she continued, "I mean, how are supposed to explain the we somehow have become.. I don't know... chained to one another."

The blush staining her cheeks scarlet were enough to tell him she wasn't repulsed by the idea of it. Quite the opposite it seemed. Kenshin let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Something that had been trying to surface quieted within him. Somehow he felt that something was not a thing that should be released. He pushed that aside however, in light of the new dilemma she had brought to surface. The others.

After a moment he stated simply. "We should tell no one. The less people who know, the better our chances at figuring this out. Whoever or whatever caused this should become impatient with a lack of result and therefore become easier to find."

Kaoru looked outside, the sun was still just rising. "I need a bath..."

Kenshin just looked at her, one brow raised. He had never thought on this aspect of the ordeal, and he wondered how exactly they'd manage this one.

His never wavering gaze bothered her somewhat. There was something slightly perverse in it if she said so herself. Kenshin really was not acting much like himself. So, for the benefit of them both, she attempted to clarify, or at least justify her reason behind it.

"Well, after all that strenuous activity last night I really need one to relax and also get this dirt washed off." She was obviously referring to being slammed into the ground by unseen powers. However she did not miss that particular quirk to his mouth, the semi-suggestive gleam in his eyes and lightest bit of color to his skin. He hadn't truly tried to hide it

"Kenshin no hentai!!" She turned her face defiantly to keep from having to look him in the eye. However, anyone could she had gone pink all the way to her ears.

He smirked inwardly. 'You HAVE been too long without a woman Himura.' Kenshin stopped short, his smirk melted away. 'Where in hell had that come from?' He looked over at Kaoru, the flushed skin of her neck, all the way up to her cheekbone and thought that he was most definitely losing his mind, and he almost, almost, agreed with his first thought. 'Just almost.'

What was up with Kenshin? This was completely unlike him. Kaoru decided to skip on the bath for now and opted just for a change of clothes. She could really use the hot water and wonderful soap to soothe away for soreness, but that would have to wait until later today when Kenshin would go back to the normal Kenshin.

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After the whole ordeal of having him wait just outside her door as she changed they headed into the kitchen, prepared to face a new day, with a very new situation.

"Why don't you go to bed Kaoru-dono, while I make breakfast, you need the rest."

She gave him a look that clearly said, 'Ha ha, that's a good one, like I'm going to try that.'

A sweatdrop appeared on Kenshin's forehead and he laughed slightly nervous. "Gomen, s-I forgot..."

Kaoru face-faulted. 'How in seven hells could he forget after all that?!?!?!'

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Ugh! Soooo OOC!! But Kenshin must be! OR my plot won't work because..! Ah... can't tell u that can I?

Well, there's number four for ya! Not too much stuff happening, but it was necessary somehow. ( Don't ask cuz I dunno! ' )

Neways... has no1 noticed the sub-plot.....?????