Chapter 22
By Crystal
*Screw the Disclaimers ^^;;*
Kaoru frowned at Toshiko's bright smile. Ever since she and Megumi had returned last evening, she had that smile on her face. Tokio-san came to visit and slept here for the night and left this morning after breakfast. She looked at Kenshin. He was smiling just as much. Could it be they knew something she didn't? That thought clearly annoyed her. She hated being kept in the dark. Especially if it was something that made the both of them happy.
A knocking was heard at the gates and she went to open it... revealing Hitzumi Mokaku. "Mokaku-san!" Kaoru greeted. "Are you here to see Toshiko?" A nodded. Kaoru smiled, she knew this man had something for Toshiko, even if she Toshiko loved Soujiro. Perhaps it was time for Toshiko to get herself someone else. She told herself, then added to herself again, Maybe you should stop waiting for Kenshin. You have, after all, waited for him for two whole years. She turned around and called Toshiko's name and after a while, she arrived with Kenshin beside him.
As Toshiko saw Mokaku, her smile flattered a bit, but caught herself right away. The slight change of the smile was only seen by Kenshin, who greeted Mokaku too. "Mokaku-san! How are you doing today?" Toshiko replied happily, with her usual smile.
"Great, you Toshiko? You look extremely happy today." Mokaku commented.
"Good, as usual. Thanks!" Kenshin smiled slightly, at that moment, thinking how good of an actor Toshiko was. If he didn't know better, she would have fooled him too. She was uncomfortable with him, after he told her about Mokaku and the Juppon Gatana, though it felt right. She had every right to know.
"Would you like to go to lunch with me, Toshiko?" Kenshin then snapped his attention back to Mokaku when he had invited Toshiko for lunch.
Toshiko smiled apologizing, "I'm sorry... I really want to, but Kenshin said he had something to tell me before you came..."
"Aa... Gomen nasai Mokaku-dono. Maybe next time?" Kenshin replied, instantly knowing that Toshiko was not ready to spend a few hours with him yet.
Mokaku smiled, "That's okay. I'll come back when I'm free. I'll see you later. Good bye, Toshiko, Kamiya-san, Himura-san." Toshiko and Kaoru waved back while Kenshin bowed a bit. After he left, Kaoru went to close the gates and when she turned around, she was greeted by the piercing eyes of Kenshin set on the door and Toshiko without her smile, but with a frown on her face. Talk about mood swings...
"What's wrong, Kenshin? Toshiko?"
Kenshin looked up as he heard her voice and smiled his goofy grin, "Nothing, Kaoru-dono. Sessha was just thinking for something, de gozaru."
"All right then... Aren't you and Toshiko going to talk?" Kaoru asked. Toshiko looked up and smiled at Kenshin, signalling him to go to his room. He nodded and followed her to his room. "That's weird..." Kaoru said quietly, "They're acting the same way, both of them." Kaoru shrugged it off and bounced in the kitchen and started cooking lunch. Somewhere, Yahiko groaned at the thought of the busu cooking.
"Kenshin..." Toshiko started, "How long are we going to live like this? Or should I say, how long does Soujiro have to be a spy for?" She looked up at her brother-in-law.
"For a little while, I don't know more than that." He smiled fondly as he remembered Tomoe and him saying the same thing.
Toshiko did something she would never have done. She guessed what he was smiling at, "Are you thinking of your Kaoru-dono?" Toshiko asked, and received a blush from Kenshin. She giggled. "Ken-nii likes Kaoru-dono!" She chanted quietly until Kenshin put his hand over his mouth.
"She's not mine!" Kenshin replied, blushing just as much.
"She sure wants to be yours." Toshiko stuck her tongue out and Kenshin lunged at her... And missed. Toshiko ran out the door with Kenshin chasing her. What a sight, I mean, it's not every day you see Himura Battousai chasing after a girl and what was even rarer was that he couldn't catch her. Until, of course, Kenshin pulled on her arm and they both lost balance and fell on the floor. After falling down, Toshiko used Kenshin's chest as a pillow and laid down and stared at the sky. "Look at the clouds. It's beautiful, ne?"
"Aa..." Kenshin replied.
"I bet you want me to be Kaoru too. Right?" Toshiko asked teasingly. She saw Kenshin frowned and laughed. "Just kidding..."
Kaoru found them like that lying on the floor, "Having fun? What were you talking about?" She asked.
"Oh, we were just chatting, you know. And I was just talking to Kenshin about you-" Kenshin covered her mouth instantly and smiled a goofy smile.
Kaoru frowned a bit, but then smiled. "I cooked lunch, you two should go eat now!" Kenshin and Toshiko's face paled, but of course, Kaoru was oblivious to that. She was so happy about herself cooking lunch and not burning the kitchen down, though she did burn some of the food... But that was good enough for her.
"Hai, Kaoru-dono." With that, the three of them walked to the kitchen in a comfortable silence. Kenshin and Toshiko was greeted by the usual sight when Kaoru cooked. An unhappy young thief glaring at the burnt food, an ex-gangster seeing if the food was poisoned, the love of the Tenken who just lost appetite, a kenjitsuu instructor that was happy about her cooking and a Hitokiri. Himura Battousai ate the meal like it was any other meal.
* * * * *
Soujiro sighed. Enishi has been out for his head after he had found out that he had kissed his sister. It was an advantage to have Shukuchi, but after a while, even Tenken no Soujiro would be tired after being chased by a white haired freak. That was what Kamatari had called him. Now, it's not that unusual having arguments between Kamatari and Enishi during dinner time. They always made a big fuss out of cross-dressing and white hair. Soujiro didn't mind one bit, but it was getting on his nerves. The more he saw the both of them argue, the more he thought about the dojo. How he wished he got all this over by. Hopefully... Uedo-sama would show them where the hideout was, then Soujiro can send Saitoh a message and that would all end.
Soujiro sighed again. He wondered how Toshiko was doing. Like he often did. It was only around two days since he'd last seen her, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, Enishi gave up the chase and threatened him, with Soujiro against the wall that he was either going to treat Toshiko nicely, or he would beat him up. Soujiro nodded quietly, not exactly scared of Enishi, but didn't want to get on his bad side. Enishi loved to push someone against the wall. Enishi's done that to him quite a few times during the past two days.
At least, every thing was quiet for the past two days. Except, of course, with Enishi chasing him around for his blood and pushing him against the wall. Then there was always the arguments between Kamatari and Enishi. Then of course, Chou would suddenly tell them to 'shut the hell up' and then Chou would be also dragged in the argument. It ended with him trying talk 'calm' them down, which ended up disastrous all the time due to all three of them telling him to shut up and throw him against the wall. Once, he was even about to say 'Oro...'. He wondered briefly how Himura-san had actually gone through all this humiliation.
Soujiro was currently lying on his futon, staring at the ceiling. The pure white ceiling, his mind wandering almost everywhere. To Kyoto, back to Otsu, back to Tokyo, then to the dojo and then back where he was. Then the whole thing would start again. Enishi was probably out arguing with Kamatari, Chou was probably doing something for Uedo-sama. It was suspicious why Uedo-sama never sent him to do anything. All they had to do was stay here and sleep, eat, talk. That was about it. And then he got trusted. Actually, he had to listen to Uedo-sama. After all, they are threatening him with Toshiko.
That makes two. Him and Enishi. Well, hopefully, Himura-san was watching Toshiko up closely, after Tokio-san had told him everything. At least Soujiro hoped Tokio-san did. One more person knowing... Now there was Kamatari, Chou, Enishi, Himura-san, Saitoh-san, Tokio-san and him, himself. That was seven. Hopefully, Himura-san would know how to lie to the Kenjitsuu instructor. Just then, the door pushed open and there was Enishi, Kamatari and Chou... Arguing about what? About woman's clothings! Soujiro shook his head, he couldn't believe it. Woman's clothing! He sighed one last time, for him, these three in his room were idiots. Not that he was any better himself, but hey, at least he didn't get into little childish arguments...
EvaYasha – I don't think I'll make Enishi as a bad guy ^^
Chiki - *Dances along with Chiki* Lol... Thanks for the review!
XenoMark – Family reunion ^^ Good idea. Thanks!
Keiko – I want... grape! *sucks on purple lollipop* A new reviewer too ^^ Arigatou!
Takato Taikashi – Hmm... Made me think of an idea with your review ^^ I can imagine Chou with a fishbone... Somehow, I can. New reviewer too ^^
Naomi – Arigatou! Hope you had fun in Paris!
Pearl – Wee! I'm getting lots of new reviewers ^^ Thanks!
Blueraingurl – You can keep on writing a review while I do my story! I don't mind =P Thanks for reviewing. New reviewer for this fic ^^
Author's Notes: I got 100% on my Chinese without studying! Pure luck! I don't know about my other two tests... But hopefully, I got good. ^^ Oh right, I get Mokaku was out of the story for a little while and I needed him for the story. Unless if I change the storyline, which I might. Not much action in this chapter.
Scene inspired by Takato Taikashi's review ^^
Enishi: *Drinks miso soup and spits it out.* BUSU! *runs away*
Kamatari: GET BACK HERE ENISHI-CHAN! Chou! Eat your lunch!
Chou: Oi Jou-chan, but your miso soup could poison anyone...
Kamatari: *Glares at Chou murderously and takes bokken. Whacks Chou and Chou goes through the wall.*
Soujiro: *Sweatdrops* Maa, maa. Kamatari-dono... I'm sure they're just kidding, de gozaru...
Kamatari: *Glares at Soujiro* Eat your lunch and shut up.
Soujiro: *Looks at lunch, then groans. Looks up at Kamatari who is looking at him with a murderous glare. Gulps*
Kamatari: *Runs out and chases Enishi*
Soujiro: *Looks down at lunch. Throws lunch down drain*
Kamatari: *Comes back with Enishi and glares at the empty table*
Soujiro: *Sweatdrops* Er... Kamatari-dono. The lunch was so good Sessha ate it all.
Enishi: *Snickers*
Kamatari: *Whacks Enishi's head with bokken, causing him to faint* You liked lunch Soujiro? I'll cook more! *Dumps Enishi on the floor and rushes to the kitchen, making the whole kitchen burn down.*
Soujiro: *Sweatdrops* Ororo...
