Disclaimer: The original idea for Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. Therefore, I give him all the credit (sorry Sony!) But I don't own it, anyway.

Thank you to my reviewers! Sims are awsome, fox-san (there will be a little bit of Sano and Megumi in later chapters), Silent Tears of Agony (thank you for the encouragement, and I promise I will continue this until it is done) and hisui-chan02 (Oh, thank you! That's really sweet.)

Sorry I took so long with this chapter...but I did own up to the fact that updates will not be very quick. I'm terribly sorry and I wish I could get these chapters to you quicker, but I can't. In any case, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Three

"His song," she called it. It wasn't a song, really, just a melody and some words. But it was more beautiful than the greenest countryside, more necessary to her than a breath of fresh air. Only by singing it in her head, or humming it under her breath, did Kaoru manage to get through her days with Kanryuu without screaming.

That was another thing. Clients had never really bothered her before. Of course they were irritating and sometimes just plain disgusting, but she could always put up with them. That was her job. But ever since that afternoon outside the restaurant, the afternoon when she had kissed—

No. It wasn't really a kiss, just the simple touching of two souls. But in that moment, Kaoru had glimpsed something more precious than all the money in the world. Someone out there could love her; she didn't have to be a man's pet her whole life. She could…

It was too exquisitely wonderful to even think about. She couldn't, not being who she was. No amount of love and pretty words could ever change that, she reminded herself. It's just an infatuation.

"Kaoru, my princess?"

Kaoru turned, lowering the lids of her eyes as she did so. The look she gave Kanryuu was one of a smoldering temptress. "Yes Kanryuu-sama?" she answered, her voice breathy and soft. They were lounging around on a crimson red sofa with the late-evening sunlight filtering in through the curtains.

"I must leave you for now, my sweet," he replied, his eyes utterly drawn to the fluttering golden fan in her hand. "There are, ahem, things I must discuss with Enishi-san."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to see you go, dear Kanryuu," Kaoru said in the same tantalizing voice. She almost sounded serious.

Kanryuu smiled slowly. "I like that a lot better than Kanryuu-sama. It shows how fond you've grown of me…and I of you." He cupped her face with a hand. "Until next time, my dear Kaoru." He stood up from the sofa and nodded to Aoshi and Misao, who were stationed on either side of the door. "I trust you'll keep her safe."

A stout nod was his reply. Kanryuu grinned and pushed open the door, leaving their midst.

As soon as the door slammed shut again, Misao burst into chuckles. "How can you possibly stand him?" she laughed, swooping down to sit next to Kaoru on the sofa.

Kaoru rearranged herself in a more comfortable and less seductive position. She caught Aoshi's apologetic look from across the room.

"I mean, honestly, 'how fond you've grown of me…Dearest Kaoru.' I just don't see how you can possibly respond to that without laughing," Misao went on.

Kaoru's fan snapped shut. "Well, I do," she told Misao shortly.

It then dawned on Misao that Kaoru probably didn't want to talk about her job. She hastily changed the subject. "So, me and Aoshi have a day off tomorrow, and I thought it'd—"

"Aoshi and I," Aoshi automatically corrected his female friend.

Misao waved him off. "Right. We have the day off tomorrow and I was wondering where we should go in town…"

"The whorehouse," Kaoru replied, rolling her eyes.

Misao gaped.

"Definitely the hot springs," Kaoru said, seriously this time.

Misao grinned. "Excellent! Thank's Kaoru-chan, you're really the bomb, you know, if there's anything you need…"

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"I want a contract," Kanryuu said, holding his western-style bowler hat in his lap.

In front of him, Enishi sat in a chair with his legs propped up on his desk. He was slowly and precariously tipping backward as a puff of smoke emitted from his cigarette. "Contract?"

"Yes," Kanryuu replied stiffly.

Enishi watched Kanryuu's growing frustration with curious interest. He knew better than to deny Kanryuu, or play games. Still, it was almost comical the way Kanryuu gripped the hat tighter and tighter in his hands.

"I want a contract to her," Kanryuu went on. "Kaoru will be mine alone. There will be no other—other clients touching her."

"In return…?" Enishi asked, the words coming out excruciatingly slow.

Kanryuu's hands relaxed and a small grin appeared on his face. "We'll see…when the time comes."

He closed his eyes in satisfaction and Enishi rolled open a drawer of the desk and took out a pen.

From his jacket, Kanryuu extracted the already written contract and laid it on the desk in front of Enishi, smirking with utmost smugness.

The black pen in Enishi's hand seemed to gleam like the blade of a sword as it descended down on the contract, singing it with scrawled characters. Just his name, Enishi Yukishiro, but it meant complete control to Kanryuu.

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Kaoru was immediately unnerved the next morning when Kanryuu came to see her.

"I thought we'd have a lovely picnic on the hillside," he said, smiling at her in that sort of hidden-lust way of his.

"That sounds marvelous," Kaoru purred, giving him the look he wanted. The look that said, 'I want to eat you up,' even though the thought of doing that was almost enough to make Kaoru gag. Ignoring her conflicting emotions, Kaoru cast a habitual glance through the crack in the door. What she saw made her almost do a double-take.

Aoshi and Misao were not there. They were not waiting patiently outside her room like they always were when Kanryuu came knocking (i.e. every day of the week ever.) They were nowhere to be seen.

She did not inquire about their absence, lest Kanryuu think she had any interest in something that wasn't, well, Kanryuu. However, it turned out she didn't have to ask after all, because the answer came to her more quickly than the concern.

"We have the day off tomorrow and I was wondering where we should go in town…"

They had the day off. Right.

It seemed horribly unfair that Kanryuu's most trusted bodyguards got to have a day off when Kaoru did not have that luxury. Then again, making Kanryuu believe that Kaoru loved him was much tougher and required much more devotion than simply protecting him.

"So, a picnic, dear?" Kanryuu's insipid voice broke through her thoughts.

Kaoru smiled out of ritual. "Of course, just let me get changed, dear Kanryuu." She flashed him a seductive smile before turning her back and leaving the room, only to appear again several minutes later, wearing a gold-spun kimono. The fabric was as soft as it was light, and the subtle color tones offset Kaoru's eyes beautifully, making the metaphor of drowning in someone's eyes very close to reality.

"Shall we go then?" Kaoru asked, fluttering her lashes.

Kanryuu smiled and took her hand, leading her out the door. As they exited, Kaoru felt another presence behind her, on her left.

"Are we leaving?" a bored, impatient voice reached Kaoru's ears.

Kaoru froze. She knew that voice.

Luckily for her, Kanryuu had stopped walking at that exact same moment and had turned around, so he could not see any evidence of Kaoru's shock.

"Oh, yes, of course," Kanryuu said. "So sorry to forget—Kaoru, this is Himura-san…another one of my bodyguards. He'll be taking over Shinomori and Makimachi-san's duties while they are away."

Exercising complete control over her body, Kaoru turned around, her eyes closed and a friendly smile in place. "How very nice to meet you Himura-san," she said softly.

She opened her eyes just in time to see the stunned look on his face and a white wooden flute clatter to the ground.

I now understand theutter satisfaction ofleaving a cliff-hanger. I guess this is why writing multi-chapter fics is sofun! (I'm just kidding, everyone...) Please review, be it good or bad, criticism or praise. Thank you!