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Disclaimer: I don't own RK,
20 The Sweet and the Sour
Kenshin didn't know whether Soujiro's coming could be a blessing or a disaster. But as he looks at kaoru beaming all over Soujiro, he realized she had been smiling the way she did before everything happened. It was just then that he thought that maybe the situation isn't as bad as he makes it out to be.
But one glance could also tell that, during that time, Kaoru favored Soujiro above Kenshin Himura. She had willingly accepted him to her home, without asking the opinion of others.
Soujiro seemed shy at first, but Kaoru's cheerful nature (at least for the moment) was intoxicating and he felt himself slowly relax. There was something about the gaity that surrounded the girl in front of him that was infectious that her aura radiated all over the place.
With that small walk towards the dojo, she has explained in brief sentences of her predicament (or at least what she thinks it is). He couldn't understand that such a somber background enveloped this pigment of mirth.
He asked questions every now and then about Kenshin. How he'd been, what he's done. Clearly something was amiss. Even if the older man answered in polite tones, he could tell that something was underneathe all this facade. There was a tinge of darkness in his voice and he now and then casted a longing glance at the raven haired damsel beside himself.
It was then that he realized that he might be trespassing on romantic grounds. He has never asked Kenshin whether he was married and whether Kaoru's fondness of him was offending the red head.
But before he could ask the question, the man headed first to the house leaving a short statement in regards to preparing dinner.
Kaoru was exultant. She couldn't believe her eyes that she was looking at Tenken.
"How come you were called Tenken?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
" Tenken means 'Heavenly Sword'. They used that word to describe my sword style, although now I'm thinking what could be so heavenly in something that killed." he finished his sentence with a vague smile. His past was a topic which put him on edge most of the time. If anyone asked him, he'd rather avoid it.
"You don't have to talk about your past if you don't want to." Kaoru told him after a few moments. Then she stopped. 'This seems familiar...' she thought. Her footsteps slowed down and she would've almost been left behind if Soujiro hadn't called her.
"Kamiya-san? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Let's go."
Kenshin watched the two enter the dojo. Kaoru looked as if she would fall. He remembered before she fell on the hill. Maybe her memories are coming back? He hissed as he saw her wounded side.
"Kaoru-dono, I think you should clean up. Megumi-dono and the others might arrive shortly and your wound might need tending."
"O-okay..." Kaoru said, suddenly remembering her wounds. "You should clean up too, I guess..." she added absent- mindedly.
"I'll leave you two alone..." then she went to the bathhouse.
Soujiro, who didn't look any cleaner than Kenshin, walked towards him to the kitchen.
"Himura-san? May I ask you a question?"
"Well, you already are asking me a question, Soujiro. But, yes you may."
"Are you and Kamiya-san...in a relationship?"
"No" was his brief answer. 'What is this getting to?' he thought.
Soujiro sighed and Kenshin begun feeling threatened by Soujiro. 'Does he already have romantic feelings for Kaoru?'
"I thought I was doing you wrong. You seemed sad when Kamiya-san and I were talking."
Kenshin felt relieved. He almost thought that by some miracle, Soujiro had a clambering libido honing towards someone he felt particularly possessive of right now.
"I wouldn't be honest if I tell you that Kaoru's fondness of you makes me happy. But I understand her. She needs time to recover." He sighed. "Thanks for the concern."
"Why? Are you in a quarrel?"
"It's much more than that." Then, Kenshin found himself explaining about everything that happened with Reiji. For some reason, Soujiro's presence wasn't hostile. It must've been the feel of being with someone who had been 'there'.
Kaoru soaked her face in the water to erase some of her thoughts. Kenshin confused her. She confuses Soujiro with Kenshin and now, Soujiro confuses her. She felt as if there was a jolt inside of her as she was talking to him. But, her thoughts would fly to Kenshin. How the two were alike in some ways, yet so different.
"Gee, maybe wandering makes you weird..." she thought as she got up and went to dry herself.
Soujiro was just helping Kenshin with dinner as the man had informed him that they might need to prepare a lot. From the amount of food Kenshin was preparing, he would have thought that they would feed a three headed dog of some sort.
"Do you have pets, Himura-san?"
"Pets?" Kenshin shook his head.
"Is there going to be a party?"
"Party?" Kenshin looked confused.
"It's just that we're preparing so much it's as if we're going to feed a monster."
"Well sort of, but a different type of monster." then he smiled, thinking what kind of monster each of his friends would make.
Kaoru came out of the bathhouse feeling refreshed. On the way to her room, she told one of the boys to take a bath already. She picked out one of her better kimonos. It's becoming her habit of wearing beautiful kimonos after winning a fight.
Kenshin went to bathe next, trusting Soujiro to get by without him in cooking. The man only seemed too happy to be given any chore. It kind of reminded him of himself when first he came to the Kamiya dojo.
He took a bath as quick as possible, not liking the idea of Kaoru talking to Soujiro while he's gone. Call it jealousy or whatever because technically, the two weren't doing anything to get jealous about. 'What am I thinking?' Kenshin brooded for a while. When he came out, he didn't find Kaoru talking to Soujiro. She was still in her room, probabaly getting dressed.
Soujiro didn't think that it was necessary for Kenshin to urge him to take a bath since, he thought, he looked rather clean for a wanderer. He sniffed himself. He doesn't smell, he isn't exactly dirty.
He shrugged and proceeded to taking off his blue gi. If he wasn't mistaken, he had a spare one on his parcel. He bent down to look for it.
Outside the bathhouse...
Sano, Yahiko and a mud-covered Misao entered the dojo. Yahiko and Sano were clearly trying to muffle their laughter but to no avail, they didn't fall on deaf ears either because Misao heard every single word they uttered.
"EW! Misao, take a bath!" Yahiko yelled at her.
"Well, look at the bright side, you don't only look like a boy, you actually stink like one." More laughter. Misao was about to enter the dojo when Kaoru stopped her, clad in a blue-grey kimono.
"Oh no, Misao. You are not stepping one foot on this house unless you've cleaned yourself!" she pointed toward the bath house.
"I'll bring the stuff you need. Just get cleaned up."
Sano went inside, "You're in a good mood, Jou-chan. Kenshin finally made a move?" Kaoru frowned at that statement.
"We've got a new friend." then she turned her back.
Yahiko watched in amusement. It was as if everything was getting back to normal. Well, if everything was really getting back to normal, he'd better act like himself now. He sat near the table and yelled at Kenshin.
"Is dinner ready yet?! Oh yeah! Other people might come later!" Yahiko shouted. Sano pounded him on the head then went towards Kenshin.
"Hey Kenshin! Jou-chan seems happy just a moment ago... C'mon you can tell me, we're buddies!"
"Sano, not now." Kenshin said firmly. "Has she told you about Soujiro?"
"Oh, our new friend?" then turning quickly, "You don't mean Soujiro Seta alias Tenken do you?!"
"The very same." Kenshin only smiled as he was bent on preparing food. "Did you invite Megumi-dono, Tae-dono and Tsubame-dono?"
Sano nodded, "Yeah, you're joking aren't you, Kenshin? Tenken isn't in the same house with us, right?"
"I don't joke, Sano. Where's Misao-dono anyway?"
"She went to take a bath..."
"A bath?!"
Just then, two loud screams were heard from the bathhouse.
Soujiro felt like fainting, while he was about to put on his gi (he's already wearing hakamas, okay?) when someone covered in mud walked in on him. He was so surprised, he screamed. He didn't imagine that Kenshin meant it when he said that they would be having monsters coming over for dinner.
Misao however was flushed red, (although no one can tell because of all the mud.) Did she just saw a man who was half naked? The man had enough dignity to cover himself, (the parts unclothed). Nevertheless, she let out one loud battlecry.
"HYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" she was going to launge towards Soujiro when voices stopped her.
She looked behind her, Soujiro looked too. There was Kenshin, holding a a carrot, Sano, looking like he's ready to laugh, Yahiko, completely dumbfounded and Kaoru, carrying towels and some clothes. They all stood frozen to the ground. Kaoru dropped the towels and covered her eyes, "Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was supposed to be here besides Misao" then, regaining her composure, she said,
"Misao, I'd like you to meet Soujiro Seta, one of Shishio's former followers." Apparently, Kaoru thought it was something fascinating. (Clearly, Reiji twisted her memories too much)
"You know, Tenken" Sano said casually, seeing no danger in Soujiro now.
Misao still gawked at them.
"The man who broke my sword in half?" Kenshin tried refreshing Misao's memory but she was still too shocked. Then, she fainted.
Everyone stared for a minute. Yahiko didn't mind Misao and went straight to Soujiro to shake his hand. "I've heard so much about you." Kenshin, Kaoru and Sano tried reviving Misao. When nothing else worked, Sano took a bucket of water and splashed it on Misao's face.
She came to her senses and Soujiro was able to see her face.
"Hey! I saw her in the market earlier! I gave her some sweets!" Soujiro exclaimed, recognizing the girl he talked to earlier.
Everyone looked at them both in wonder.
As Misao came back to her senses and looked up, looming above her were Kaoru, Megumi, Tsubame and Tae. Megumi was laughing madly, (but with class, as she calls it). Kaoru begun asking her questions,
"You've met Soujiro before? Why didn't you tell us? When did you meet him? Where? Misao? are you listening?"
Misao quickly got up and looked around, she looked at herself and realized that she was already clean.
"We cleaned you up." Megumi informed her, "My gosh Misao, I've never seen a body look so much like a boy's." then she laughed.
"She's evil..."the men, who were in the background thought.
"Makimachi-san and I bumped into each other earlier this daywhile buying sweets. We didn't recognize each other." Soujiro spared her from explaining.
"You like sweets?" Kaoru asked and Soujiro nodded. Sano looked over to Kenshin and saw that his friend's face was grim.
When everyone was getting ready to get off to bed, Kenshin was stopped by Megumi, She was eyeing Soujiro seriously. "Ken-san, I need to talk to you."
Kaoru was still talking to Soujiro. They were exchanging their ideas on landing perfectly after diving into the air.
"It always has something to do with your footing, and of course your take off..." Kenshin caught some of Soujiro's words. Dinner has erased some of his uneasiness earlier. He had said his apologies to Misao and it was returned. Yahiko seemed to be getting along with him and they could all hope for the best.
Only Sano and Megumi seemed serious. "We can't talk now, but you're going to the Akabeko tomorrow, right?" Kenshin nodded. "Will I be taking Kaoru-dono with us?" Both Megumi and Sano looked at each other.
"It would be best if she doesn't hear about this..."
"But who would keep her company?"
"Kenshin, are you forgetting something? Soujiro's here now and both of them seem to be getting along fine, great even." Sano nodded in agreement with Megumi.
"Maybe he could take your place while you're gone." Sano told him. "Just leave Kaoru to him."
Kenshin nodded and said he'll be there. Sano and Megumi didn't know how much their words stung him.
Wonderful responses everyone. I was truly touched when someone commented on the improvement of my writing.
Torina Archelda: nice name, I love Inuyasha too! I'll read your story when I have the time.
VolleyGurly: are yoou psychic or something? Do you like volleyball? Coz I'm dead scared of it.
Ochako107 - I'm glad you're liking it so far
rainangst - like a genie, I grant your wish
angel of lonelyness - yes, Soujiro os sort of her confidant now since she couldn't open up to the Kenshin-gumi
samuraiduck27 - enjoy this one!
Star of Foam - that's alright about the email thinng, I understand. There are gonna be more fight scenes soon so watch out
s.e.p.h.i.n.e. - Hey you're a new one! Enjoy