The Difference Between Infatuation and Love

Ayashi no Tenshi

Author's note: So I'm back again. I had to work on my research paper and I couldn't spare the time… And then we had exams again. Dang. The third quarter really is one of the busiest.

Gomen nasai, everyone!

Hey, more reviews! Thanks to everyone who did!

Chapter 5

"No."

"Yes."

"NO."

"YES."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!!"

"YESSS!!!"

"Kaoru, I will not, I repeat, will not ride a wheelchair!!!"

Kaoru sighed. As far as she was concerned, Kenshin Himura could be the stupidest, most stubborn man she had ever had the misfortune of meeting. "Kenshin, you're hurt, and the hospital has policies forbidding you to move out without a wheelchair. And no, Himura Kenshin, I will not agree to care for you when you can't show me that you can at least cooperate!!"

Kenshin glared bloody murder at the ebony-haired woman. "Bitch."

"So what? If being a bitch is what I have to do to make you obey?" Kaoru was not the least bit hurt about being called a bitch, for anyone who earned Kenshin's anger would be called a bitch by him. She knew that he could never stay angry with her for long.

"Hmm…" Kenshin said, fuming, but not finding the right words to say. He crossed his arms. "Fine," he growled at last after receiving five minutes of Kaoru's glares and prods. "I'll ride the friggin' wheelchair. Don't expect me to enjoy it though." Everyone tried to hide his or her smiles as Kenshin succumbed to Kaoru's will.

As the giggling nurses moved him from the bed to the wheelchair, Kaoru smiled. "Don't worry, Ken-chan. Won't the wittle baby enjoy his wittle wide?" she cooed in baby talk.

"Just because I'm hurt doesn't mean I can't get back at you somehow," Kenshin grumbled as Kaoru pushed him out of the room.

----------

They arrived home (sans the wheelchair) with Kenshin still grumbling about his plight. "Now, now, Kenshin," Kaoru said cheerfully. "You could at least be positive!"

"You just can't wait to start bossing me around, can you?" Kenshin asked ruefully.

"That's right!" Kaoru said gleefully. "After all the times you bullied me when you babysat for me when we were younger, why not!"

"It's not as if I enjoyed running around after you," he muttered.

"Hey," Kaoru said as she opened the front door. "In case you forgot, I was the one doing the chasing." Kenshin smirked.

The blue-eyed woman took a look around Kenshin's home. "Yech. You forgot to get a cleaning lady."

"Why get one when I could call you or Tomoe?"

Kaoru frowned at him. Kenshin grinned. "Be thankful at least Tomoe-oneechan's nicer than I am," Kaoru said mock-coldly.

"Yeah, yeah, right," Kenshin said. "Drop me off in my room, will ya? Then I'd like to eat a decent lunch."

As Kaoru put him in his room, she thought, If porridge is what you can call decent, Kenshin…

----------

"Porridge is not my idea of decent," Kenshin snorted. "Get me some steak instead. And make sure it's take out. I don't want to suffer from a stomach ache as well."

Kaoru was irritated. "Do you want to suffer from bruises on the head?! Anyway, it's the doctor's order you're to eat soft food, which your stomach can digest easily. Like porridge."

"Well, just get me something edible," Kenshin said as though he hadn't heard her. "And porridge, especially if you made it, is not edible."

Kaoru controlled the burning urge to hit the injured man. "Ooh, Kenshin, you are so asking to become a bit more injured."

"Try," Kenshin said, a bit too overconfidently. Kaoru smirked and pushed up the sleeve of her coat and pinched him hard. "Eeyowch! Hell, woman, I wasn't serious!"

Kaoru laughed. "I wasn't serious either." Kenshin frowned. "Oh, just eat up, Kenshin," Kaoru said, getting a bit irritated. "Don't make me feed you like a baby." Kenshin gave her one last reproachful glare and ate his porridge unremorsefully.

When he finished and Kaoru started clearing his tray, Kenshin said, "That wasn't too bad."

"I told you so," Kaoru said.

"Anyway, after you're done washing the dishes come back here or else I'll be bored."

Kaoru smiled slightly. "Okay," she said. "But let me have my lunch first."

As she went out of the door, Kenshin called out after her, "Come back right away or I'll have to go down myself!"

----------

Kaoru washed the dishes quickly, a little too quickly in her opinion. "Am I actually excited to look after Kenshin?" she murmured to herself as she climbed the stairs.

"There you are," Kenshin muttered. "I thought you'd do things slow just to spite me."

Kaoru shook her head. "You know I'd never do that! After all," she added as she took her seat beside his bed, "A good nurse never neglects her patient."

"You would do something like that," Kenshin retorted. "I don't suppose real nurses pinch their patients." Kaoru laughed.

"With you attitude, a real nurse might."

Kaoru got up from her seat. "Well, I might as well get some work done. I missing a full day's work because of you, you know."

"Aww, do you have to work?" Kenshin protested. "I thought you were here to humor me!"

"Why should I?" Kaoru said as she rummaged around her bag for the files she was supposed to work on. "I have enough work as it is."

"It doesn't take much to entertain me," Kenshin said. "Just you tripping over your feet is good enough for me." Kaoru glowered at him.

"Is that why you kept snorting when I was trying on high heels for the first time?" she asked coldly.

"That could be it," Kenshin said nonchalantly.

Kaoru was seeing red now. "You're asking for it, Himura Kenshin!!" She strode to him and resolved to pull on his fiery mane of hair.

What she didn't expect was for Kenshin to grab her wrist to pull her closer to him. Even if he's hurt he's still very strong…

"That's what I'm talking about," he murmured, his eyes drooping seductively.

Shiiiiit! He manages to turn everything into seduction!! Why does he always do this to me?! "Let go," she said frostily. When he didn't, she wrenched it away in vain. "Let go, Kenshin!" she protested.

He lay there, his face unemotional. His eyes told a different story, though. Amusement was quite evident in his amethyst orbs. Kaoru stubbornly stared back at him, her eyes angry.

Slowly his hand crept up her arm, pulling her closer. Closer and closer their faces went until they were within an inch of each other.

Kenshin smiled (smirked, more like, from Kaoru's point of view), and yanked her slowly towards him. Kaoru moistened her lips. It was Kenshin's sign.

He pulled her for a kiss. Too bad for Kenshin though, he had loosened his hold on her and she had pulled away and he missed her lips.

"Kenshin…" Kaoru said warningly.

Kenshin smirked. "Missing me on purpose? What's wrong with you, Kaoru?"

"It's not what's wrong with me, Kenshin, it's what's wrong with you," Kaoru said brusquely. "I told you already, I'm over you. Stop trying to win me over." With that, she got up and went out of the door, slamming it close.

"She really can't admit it to herself," Kenshin mused.

----------

"And yet again, I've been almost had by that baka," Kaoru said under her breath as she vacuumed the house. "It's just good I was too fast for him this time."

She wiped her sweat from her brow as she shifted around the furniture. She had promised herself she wouldn't go into Kenshin's room anymore unless she had to. "Real nurse my ass," she muttered angrily after thinking back at what she had said about real nurses not neglecting patients. "If only Kenshin wasn't such a damn flirt, then I would have an easier time with him."

"Kaoru!!!"

The woman being called jerked her head up. "Kaoru!!" Kenshin called again. Thinking that something was wrong, Kaoru dashed up the stairs.

"I'm coming!!"

"What's wrong?!" Kaoru asked frantically after bursting into Kenshin's room. "Where does it hurt?"

Kenshin raised an eyebrow. "Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to know if you could move the TV from the next room into here. Since you won't stay here and keep me company-"

"-you want the TV to keep you company," Kaoru finished, exasperated. "And here I was thinking you got hurt again. Fine, I'll get the TV, you big baby."

After huffing and puffing, Kaoru finally got the TV into Kenshin's room. "Hey, at least be thankful it has wheels," Kenshin said when Kaoru complained about the weight.

"You need anything else, Ken-chan, little redhead aka-chan?" Kaoru asked sarcastically as she turned on the TV and handed Kenshin the remote. The man in question grinned and made to grab Kaoru's arm again.

"Oh no, you don't need me, Himura," Kaoru said. "If you'll excuse me, which I know you won't, I'm going back to my cleaning."

----------

"Kenshin really lacks attention!!" Kaoru said to herself in frustration. She turned the kitchen upside down to find an Instant Soup packet. "First one thing, now another; dang!! I have no idea what's wrong with him!"

It was now almost dinnertime, and Kenshin had called her up four times already in the span of 3 hours. Needless to say, she was exhausted and exasperated, not to mention frustrated with her charge. "If he just didn't flirt with me each time he asks me to come up, I'd have an easier time."

Soujiro had come by that afternoon to drop off Kaoru's suitcase, as she had called home to say that she was staying at Kenshin's home for a few days. He was the one who kept Kenshin busy and humoured while she performed chores around the house.

At six in the evening, however, she heard Soujiro coming down the stairs. "Imou-chan!" he called at the kitchen.

"Yes, Soujiro-oniichan?" Kaoru asked.

"I have to go now," he said to the lady. "Ayane's expecting me to pick her up at work. Do you want me to bring anything over?"

Kaoru thought for a moment and said, "You could bring me a decent dinner. I'm making Kenshin soup, but I can't possibly survive on soup since I need all my energy to baby-sit for Kenshin." Soujiro laughed.

"All right, I'll make sure I'll bring you some wanton noodles later. It may come a little late though…"

"That's okay, I still have a baby to feed upstairs." Kaoru jerked her thumb up to indicate Kenshin's place. "I swear, he's been acting like a baby all day!!"

"He's just bored. You can keep the man out of the wild, but you can't keep the wild out of him," Soujiro said sagely. "I'd suggest a tranquilizer."

"I don't have any," Kaoru said. "Besides, he'd get dependent or something."

"Well," Soujiro said as he looked at his watch, "got to get going now. Ja na."

"Ja ne," Kaoru called back as Soujiro went out the front door. She sighed. "Time to feed Kenshin."

----------

"Well," Kenshin said disgustedly as he looked down on his dinner, "at least you didn't burn it."

"It's just instant soup, Kenshin, I'm not stupid enough to burn it," Kaoru retorted. "I used three packs of soup to make it a decent enough dinner, you know."

Kenshin sighed. "If I wasn't so hungry I'd refuse this." He took a sip of the soup.

"See, it's not so bad," Kaoru said as Kenshin ate.

"That's because I'm so hungry even water with soggy meat would taste good," Kenshin said. He added wisely, "Water is sweet to the thirsty wayfarer."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "What's with quotes today, I wonder?"

Kenshin ignored the comment. "How about you?" he asked. "What are you eating?"

"I got Soujiro-oniichan to get me some wanton noodles," Kaoru said as she fixed Kenshin's bed covers.

"What?! Why couldn't you have asked to get some for me too?" Kenshin asked.

"Because Soujiro-oniichan's going to drop it off a bit late," Kaoru said, smirking secretly. "You wouldn't want to go hungry for that long, no would you?"

Kenshin sighed again. "I guess not." Therefore he ate his dinner in silence.

After he ate, Kaoru gathered his tray and carried it downstairs. "I'll give you a bowl to brush your teeth in, okay?"

"I don't usually brush at night," Kenshin said.

"Get used to it," Kaoru said, putting her hands on her hips. "That's probably why you have bad breath."

"Geez," Kenshin muttered. "You sound like my mother."

"Oh, hey," Kaoru scolded. "I'm just trying to help, you know."

"Okay," Kenshin replied, shrugging. "I guess I can live with that. Don't try too hard to be my mother though. My relationship with you is satisfying enough."

Kaoru chose to ignore this comment (though she was fuming inside) and went into Kenshin's bathroom and got him a bowl, his toothbrush, his toothpaste, and a glass of water. "Now brush with these while I wash the dishes."

"Yes Okaa-san," Kenshin said sarcastically in baby talk. Kaoru patted his head.

"That's the spirit Ken-chan!" Kaoru exclaimed. Kenshin glared at her.

----------

It was now nine o'clock. Kaoru had finished the noodles Soujiro delivered to her. Now she was making some hot cocoa for Kenshin.

The redhead had refused to drink his painkillers and his sleeping pills (all recommended by the doctor), so now she had to mix it in his cocoa. "I wonder why he's so against drugs, even the ones that can help. He is so damn friggin' stubborn."

Kaoru brought up a mug of cocoa to his room. "Kenshin," she called. "Would you like some hot chocolate?"

Kenshin turned away from the TV to look at her. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

Kenshin took the mug from her hands and began drinking. "All day you've been treating me like a kid."

"All day you've been acting like a kid," Kaoru shot back gently.

"I can't help it if I'm bored," Kenshin said as he drained the mug.

"I can't help it if I'm just motherly," Kaoru countered. Kenshin smiled.

"Motherly is right."

Kenshin suddenly yawned. "Mhhm… that cocoa was drugged, wasn't it?" Kenshin asked in between yawns.

"You wouldn't take it by yourself," Kaoru said, arranging the comforter around Kenshin.

"You coulda just threatened to drug me," Kenshin said, stretching a bit. He gave another huge yawn. Kaoru laughed softly, too tired to argue.

"Goodnight, Kenshin."

Kenshin only sighed tiredly in response. He took Kaoru's hand and played with it until he fell asleep. Kaoru smiled and pried her hand out of his gentle grip. She ruffled his hair affectionately.

"You don't make too bad a patient at times, Kenshin…" Kaoru whispered to the sleeping man. She bent down to kiss his cheek and went out of the room, turning off the lights and the television as she went out.

----------

Kaoru brushed her teeth in the guest bathroom, contemplating her day. "At least you couldn't say it wasn't progressive," she said to herself between brushes. "Though I didn't get any office work done…"

She looked in the mirror and sighed as she took notice of the almost invisible lines she had on her face. "I'm getting older," she mused. "It's probably from all the stress I'm getting from work."

Or from Kenshin, a nagging voice in her told her.

"Of course not," she said aloud. "I'm not tired of waiting on him."

Of course you're not, the voice agreed. You're tired of waiting for him. Waiting for him to make a move.

"That's not true!" Kaoru protested. "Why would I feel that way? That's… ridiculous. Besides, even if I was, he keeps flirting. That should be enough of a move for me."

You're waiting for him to tell you he loves you.

"No."

You're waiting for him to propose to you.

"Definitely not."

You're waiting for him to… take you.

"No way." She shook her head. "No, never. He's not my crush, I'm not a kid. I'm not hung over him. I don't have my infatuation for him anymore."

If I don't, why then do I still hear this voice in my head?

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TBC…

Ah, Kaoru's still in denial. But I think it's obvious to you, dear readers, what's happening. Oh, dear…

Kenshin's the flirt!! He is THE man. Ooh, if only someone would flirt with me like that… but no, I shouldn't be thinking that.

Anyways, thanks for reading! Please review. You'll be giving me a great Christmas gift!!