A/N – Now that we've had two chapter with all action and zero to nil fluff, I kinda miss it. Here's some more plot careening your way. Shout out to the reviewers and all the readers. I'm honored that you're still reading this story.

Disclaimer – I don't own Kenshin. I don't own Nissan. I wish I owned a Hummer.

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Silver Cross

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Chapter 16 – That Girl

Emily Dickinson was depressing.

Why do you say that?

Well she shut her self in her room all her life and wrote stuff like "The bustle in the house / The morning after death / Is solemnest of industries" and blah blah blah. Who writes about shit like that?

It's not like you're going to write anything worthwhile. If you're going to complain, publish your own book.

Very funny.

Ayame rushed into the room, flurries of drama eddying in her wake to fill even the darkest crevices of the room. She paused in her haste to shut the door behind her before speaking.

"Do you know what it does to me when you go off without an explanation on one of your crazy intelligence missions?" she asked, rushing over to where Ken stood waiting for her in the middle of the room. "I don't even want to know how that girl feels! How could you?" she accused, jabbing him accusingly with her right index finger.

Ken sighed. This was Ayame. She'd always worried about Sano and him whenever they'd left her to deal with other vampires. "Hello to you too, Ayame. Are you going to offer me a seat?" he asked dryly.

"Oh you can have a seat, all right. Sit down. I want to talk to you," she agreed indignantly, motioning for him to sit in one of the chairs, as she moved to sit behind her desk. Pressing a speaker button, she instructed iced tea to be brought to her office. "You certainly look beat up. Do I want to know what happened?"

"It would be best if you didn't. Thank-you for allowing Kaoru to stay here while I was gone. I appreciate it."

"Like I said before, I'm forever in your debt, so it was no big deal," Ayame shrugged calming now that the subject was business, "besides, she's an excellent waitress. Who am I to argue against free labor? I told her I'd let her keep her tips, but I'm still profiting by not paying her by the hour."

"I assume Saitou's still here?"

Ayame winced. "Yes. I need to talk to Tokio about that man's attitude," she sighed. "Ken, are you sure you don't want to stay with me? I have an excellent security system and I'm sure you'll be safer with me than wherever you're staying with that girl."

Ken allowed a small smile to grace his face. "No. We're fine."

"Well at least give me your cell phone number, it didn't register on my phone when you called for some reason."

"It's not supposed to register. Until this is over, I don't want you connected with me in any way after tonight. Sano's ghost would come back for vengeance if you were hurt because of me."

A light knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," Ayame called.

A waitress entered with the tray of iced tea and left just as quickly, closing the door softly behind her.

"Ken," Ayame continued, "there's something I think you need to ask the girl."

Ken raised an eyebrow in question as he sipped his tea.

"A couple hours ago she served some questionable vampires. I had one of my security officers check them out on our database." Ayame picked up a remote control and pressed a few buttons. Panels on the wall to Ken's left slid away to reveal a television screen. Two men's faces were displayed in photos taken while they dined at a table in the restaurant. "For the past five years they've had some shady dealings in Chicago. Only recently, they relocated to L.A. I'm ninety-five percent sure that they're working for the dark one."

Ayame's information had Ken sitting ramrod straight in his chair. "Did they try to hurt her?"

"No. But from the way she was acting, she knew them. The three of them exchanged words briefly as the two men were leaving the restaurant. They spoke too quietly for the microphones to pick up over the background noise, but if you want, I can get my sound technicians to filter out the other noise. You'd have to come back tomorrow though."

Ken leaned back in his chair. "That won't be necessary. Kaoru will tell me what happened. Did Saitou recognize them?"

Ayame shook her head. "No, but he did pick up on the fact that she knew them and he observed the three of them until the two men left. He probably heard the conversation between your girl and those men. No doubt he'll report it to the leader of the Juppongatana."

Ayame pressed another button and Kaoru was visible on the screen, serving a table of four. He hadn't really expected to see her again. Watching her newly fascinated him. She was almost as she had been the day he'd first seen her from across the floor of the Akabeko. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she looked slightly aggravated each time she turned away from a customer's table to head to the kitchen. Ken watched as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and hurried to the side of the restaurant where the kitchen was located, no doubt to hand a cook the orders she had just taken.

"I guess this means you're not going to settle down with me," Ayame stated, observing Ken. "Are you that in love with her?"

Ken transferred his gaze from Kaoru on the screen to the woman sitting across from him. "Why do you want to know?"

"Hello, Ken! It's me, Ayame, the matchmaker. You know as well as I do that I tried for years to hook you up." She sighed. "I'm glad it didn't work back then, I guess. I was happy when it was just you, me, and Sano. Those were good times."

Ken allowed himself a brief smile before bringing her back to the present. "I need to get going, Ayame," he reminded her.

She blinked. "You're right. Want me to call the girl and Saitou in and let you three have a talk in my office? I've been away from the restaurant too long as it is."

Ken nodded. "Thanks again. I'll be in touch when this is over."

"No problem," Ayame welcomed him, pressing more buttons so that the television screen was covered up by the wall again. She stood and Ken followed suit. To his surprise, she hugged him fiercely. "Stay safe, Ken. I don't want to lose you like we lost Sano. I'll get the girl and Saitou on my way out."

Ken hugged her back, not daring to allow his mind to recall those years when it had been just the three of them for the most part. Those were memories for another night. She kissed his cheek and withdrew her arms from around him.

"Find that guy you've been looking for, Ayame."

"Guy?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"You know," Ken half-joked, looking down at her, "the one you're going to settle down with."

Ayame smirked and pushed him away. "He's gonna have to be the one to find me because I refuse to waste my time searching," she declared, sweeping away towards the door. "Would you like me to send the girl or Saitou first?"

Ken considered. He wanted to see Kaoru, but it would be better if she wasn't there to witness Ken handing the canine he'd taken from Tomoe's ashes over to Saitou for him to take back to the Juppongatana as proof of her death. And considering Saitou and Kaoru's tendency to argue with each other, it would be better if Saitou was gone by the time she arrived.

"Send Saitou first. Thanks again, Ayame."

She winked at him, flashing the thumbs up gesture. "No problem. Bye, Ken. Good luck with that girl." Shaking her head, she withdrew from her office, leaving the door ajar.


Did it have to rain tonight?

We've got umbrellas, so what's the problem?

It mutes my senses. I can't smell blood as easily as a clear day.

Well we're all in the same situation. At least, we're not getting wet.

I guess so.

As E. M. Forster once said, 'All men are equal – all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas.'

You're bull-shitting me.

No way. Would I have made up a dumb phrase like that?

Yes.

"Miss Kamiya, come with me to the locker-room."

"What? Why?" Kaoru asked, confused. Business had lulled and she was between customers. Kaoru knew she hadn't been doing anything wrong, but why else would Ayame want to talk with her privately? Unless she had some news about Ken, or better yet, Ken himself. But then why wouldn't Ken come get her personally?

"Isn't the locker-room where your things are stored?" Ayame asked mildly before turning and walking away.

Kaoru wasn't too keen on being alone in a room with Ayame and glanced around for Saitou, only to find the table he'd been sitting at all night vacant. This was a hell of a time for him to use the restroom, if vampires even needed to use the restroom. But if they ate food, which Kaoru realized they didn't really need to do in the first place, it only made sense that they had to use the restroom. In any case, now wasn't the time to worry about whether Saitou had gone to the bathroom or not, Kaoru scolded herself as she followed Ayame away from the dull roar of the restaurant's customers chattering away.

"Are you planning on sticking by Ken?" Ayame asked as soon as they were alone in the locker room and Kaoru had taken off her apron and retrieved her purse from the locker where she'd stashed it earlier.

"Of course I am," Kaoru replied, wondering why Ayame had bothered to ask. Was the restaurant owner interested in Kaoru, or was she merely curious about the relationship between Kaoru and Ken?

Ayame's eyes narrowed. "For your sake, you had better."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaoru asked, bristling. She'd had a long night and wasn't about to finish it off by letting a vampire threaten her, no matter how much influence the woman had.

"It means I will not tolerate a young, stupid girl worming her way into Ken's heart and taking advantage of him, that's what it means."

"Are you suggesting that I'm the young, stupid girl you're so against?!" Kaoru asked in disbelief. She hadn't expected this kind of talk from Ayame.

"If the shoe fits," Ayame confirmed not-so-subtly, crossing her arms.

"Well I don't see why you care. You flirt with every man you see!" Kaoru snapped back before she could catch herself.

Ayame narrowed her eyes. "That's business. In case you haven't figured it out yet, vampires don't actually need to eat. If I didn't act so pleasant, not a fourth of the customers would come."

Kaoru was not about to admit she'd only figured that out minutes ago. "You're in the middle of Los Angeles. What about human customers?"

"I don't deal in money so much as in information. The high prices are such because only vampires with experience and money saved over time can afford to come here on a regular basis, vampires with information to share." Ayame scoffed as if that was common sense. "I'm only telling you this because Ken's gotten attached to you. You need to know that what's valuable in this world isn't money, but knowledge."

"Who are you to preach to me?" Kaoru asked, stung that Ayame thought of Ken as only 'attached' to her, as if she was his favorite pair of socks. "I'm not a little girl. I know what's important in life. Money is never a motive for anything I do if that's what you're suggesting."

"You know what's important in your world, not Ken's. Human as you are, what hope do you have of understanding that knowledge, strength, and ingenuity are what matter most in the life of a man like Ken? You have no knowledge of this world besides what Ken has told you, and as a human your strength will always be inferior to that of any vampire. I will allow that you're clever, or Ken wouldn't waste his time on you, but you are only a hindrance to Ken, one that will eventually get him killed."

Kaoru considered Ayame's words, but no matter how selfish it was of her, she couldn't take them to heart. Most of her was glad of that fact. Kaoru knew that she wasn't a toy to break and throw away and that Ken didn't think of her that way. And if he ever had, he was long cured of that assumption. But a small part of her, the part that existed in a constant state of guilt from cheating on Sou, slowing Ken down, hiding the truth from her parents – that part wondered if it wouldn't be better to let Ken send her home the next time he tried to ship her back. That part argued that it would be better, not for her, but for Ken, if she wasn't around to distract him, or be used as a blackmail tool, or to bail out of trouble.

But most of her dismissed what Ayame stated and was shrewd enough to read between the lines. Ayame must know that Ken was safe, or she wouldn't be trying to make Kaoru doubt herself. Besides, Kaoru didn't think for a minute that Ken could take on the dark one without her help, even though the root of that opinion must lie deep within her ego. And if she left Ken now and waited for him back home, and if he didn't come back, then she would never know if he was dead, or if one of his friends had simply convinced him that it would be better for them both if he left her alone. Ayame would likely jump at the chance to have that particular privilege. There was no way Kaoru was going to let Kenshin Himura get away that easily.

"Is he here?" Kaoru asked, knowing that Ayame could see the hope in her eyes and hating herself for letting it show.

Ayame ignored her question. "What's wrong with you that you'll let Ken put his life in danger? It would be best for both of you if you went back where you came from."

"Listen to yourself," Kaoru broke in, her temper rising, "you're acting like a jealous girlfriend. I respect you, Ayame. I'm half in awe of you, especially after the way your presence made Ken relax when you greeted us last night. He even stood and hugged you, offered you his chair. I was envious of you for that." She paused to take a deep breath. "I'm telling you flat out that I don't intend to desert Ken. I'm not leaving him."

Kaoru watched as Ayame raised her eyes to meet her stare. She wondered what was going on in the other woman's head. She certainly couldn't tell from her outward appearance. The brown orbs revealed nothing on a face relaxed in a polite smile.

"I only hope you mean what you say," Ayame stated finally. Her probing eyes were full of silent questions and doubts. Kaoru was just about to press the issue and confront her again when she abruptly turned and walked to the door. "Ken's here," Ayame informed her, pausing at the door. "Keep any tips you received and follow me."

Ken was back. Ken was okay. She was going to see him again. He must have been exaggerating after all when he said he might not come back. Kaoru refused to attribute his success to luck. She was a firm believer in his ability to defend himself, even if Ayame had tried to make her doubt him. After being gone for so many hours, he must have found Tomoe. He must have killed Tomoe. Kaoru couldn't allow herself to digest the face that a life had been snuffed out because of her and still expected to function. Thoughts of the unknown woman called Tomoe would have to be saved for daylight hours, when she could mourn for her without interruption.

As Kaoru followed Ayame, she realized that in her heart, she didn't really think Ken had killed her. Maybe she hadn't shown up at the meeting spot. Maybe Ken had been gone for hours only because he'd taken the opportunity to do some investigating on his own. Sure, and maybe she wasn't really in L.A. Maybe this whole experience was one big hallucination. Maybe her body was lying in a rehab clinic because she'd overdosed on ecstasy. Maybe she'd dreamed her entire life from eighth grade on and would wake up any minute in middle school again.

"… meeting with your leader tomorrow. He's to come to me. He owes me," Ken's voice came to her ears. If she was dreaming, may she never wake again. Did it take only a few hours to forget the feelings his voice invoked in her spirit and body?

"He'll call you," Saitou's voice answered. Then the man himself was in front of her, Ayame having turned and entered the room where the two men had been talking. "I hope you know how to bandage wounds, Kamiya," Saitou said to her as he passed. "The ones he has won't heal overnight." And he was gone without another word.

Kaoru dismissed his abrupt exit and prepared to enter, steeling herself so she wouldn't flip out, no matter how bad Ken's injuries were. Ayame flooded out from the room before Kaoru could lift a foot to start walking. The vampire flashed a winning smile in Kaoru's direction, rushed past her, and was gone, back to the restaurant. Kaoru blinked. What could have caused the complete reversal of the woman's temperament in literally five seconds?

Ken walked into the hallway.

Her hair was still up in the messy bun, but more than a few tendrils had escaped the hair-tie to frame her flushed face. She had a death grip on the purse she held clutched at her side. Her blue-jeaned, legs were positioned slightly apart in a ready stance. She looked just as shocked to see him as he felt seeing her. Ken kept his eyes on hers, watching as her gazed roved up and down his body, no doubt taking in his injuries. He wanted to tell her it wasn't as bad as it looked, but he knew she was seeing his torn trench coat and the scar on his cheek. He'd had to keep the coat on or walk around in the black t-shirt he had on underneath, which was covered in dried blood. Human eyes weren't likely to detect the blood, but vampire eyes and smell were too keen to miss it. As it was, Ken had had to stop before he'd come back from Ayame's for a quick feeding session. He'd lost most of the blood he'd fed on the night before when he'd torn his shoulder wound open after the short fight.

Kaoru stepped forward and slid her arms up and around his neck, hugging him gingerly in consideration of the injuries she knew must be hidden by his coat. "I missed you," she said in his ear as she breathed in his scent, a thrill going through her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.

The tense moment was gone. Ken sighed, reveling in the warmth of her body pressed against his. He hadn't realized how cold he'd been, despite the face that he'd fed scarcely a half hour ago. He wished she wasn't wearing the silver cross earrings, so he could kiss her thoroughly, to hell with the fact that they were standing in the hallway of a public restaurant.

"Let's get back to the apartment, I'm parked illegally again."

Kaoru pushed away enough to look up into his face. "You know, a trench coat looks really out of place in the summer."

"Not in L.A."

Kaoru grinned, withdrawing her arms from the embrace. "I really missed you. Can I drive back for once?"

Ken sighed again and released her to dig in his coat for the keys. "I had to trade cars," he informed her, handing her the keys.

"No more Nissan? I liked that car," Kaoru pouted, grabbing his left hand and tugging him gently towards the door. "What'd you lease instead?"

"A Hummer."

Kaoru squealed and dragged him outside.


All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weeeasel. The monkey stopped to pull up his socks… Pop! Goes the weeeasel.

Um…

3,6,9, the goose drank wine. The monkey chewed tobacco on the street car line. The line broke, the monkey got choked, and they all went to heaven on a little row boat.

Um…

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily merrily. Life is but a dream.

Ken…

"I drove a Hummer," Kaoru exclaimed, replaying the experience over in her mind. "I drove a Hummer!"

You'd think I hadn't almost died or anything, Ken grumbled to himself as he unlocked the apartment door. He knew it was silly to be jealous of a car, especially a car that he'd leased with his own money, but he was. Not that he'd be admitting that any time soon, not when she was so happy. She'd fairly radiated warmth and heat the whole way back home, even more so than when he'd let her drive the 300ZX. If he'd known Kaoru had such a car fetish, he would have let her drive more often, or at least bought her a car magazine or something.

Opening the door, he watched, bemused, as she waltzed past him, no doubt still caught up in the glory of driving the hummer. She continued on without a faltering step through the doorway and straight to the bathroom, shedding the car keys, her purse, her shoes one at a time, and then her socks along the way. She shut the door behind her and the sound of running water promptly assaulted his eardrums as he shut the door and engaged all three locks behind him. He flicked on the lights Kaoru had been too excited to bother with and made his way over to the sofa, feeling like a decrepit old man next to her giddy display of energy. After lowering his body down to rest in the plush piece of furniture, he gradually shrugged out of his coat and pulled off his shoes, groaning a little with satisfaction at how wonderful his feet felt free from their individual prisons. He left his shoes where they'd dropped, not bothering to be neat since Kaoru had left her shoes strewn somewhere on the path between the door and the bathroom. Ken leaned his head back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.

Kaoru swore under her breath as she realized that she hadn't done the laundry and therefore didn't have any nightclothes for the second night in a row. In retrospect, Kamatari had probably planned it so Ken had more clothing in the way of sleepwear. While she could wear his boxers, he couldn't very well borrow a pair of her underwear bottoms to sleep in, could he? She shrugged on the same pair of boxers she'd been wearing the night before, since they were conveniently lying in the bathroom where she'd taken them off. And thankfully she'd also left a clean tank-top in the bathroom closet for just such an emergency, which she now wriggled into.

The problem of dressing solved, Kaoru raided the medicine cabinet for the first aid kit and some bandages. She also came up with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, some cotton swabs, and a box of q-tips. Thus loaded down with supplies along with a bucket of warm water and a couple washcloths, she opened the bathroom door with minor difficulties and made her way down the short hallway to the living room. The sight of Ken on the couch fast asleep greeted her. Kaoru smiled. He still managed to look sexy with his head tilted back against the sofa, scratched and scruffy in socks, slacks, and a torn black t-shirt.

Kaoru tip-toed over to the sofa and practically dropped the medical supplies on the low table between the sofa and the television, the bucket on the floor by the table, and the washcloths on its surface. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to carry everything in one trip. After taking the time to recover from the load she'd been carrying for a brief moment, she moved to stand in front of Ken. Kaoru bent and looked inquisitively down into his face, debating whether to wake him up or not. Hesitantly, she reached a hand out and traced a finger over the thin new two inch long scar marring his left cheek. Surprisingly, it didn't look as if the wound had ever bled. It looked as if it had been burned into his skin, but what could hot enough to immediately cauterize the wound split seconds after it had been made? There was nothing Kaoru could think of small enough to do the trick, unless he'd been standing too close to a fire and something had blown up in his face. That didn't make sense because whatever hit him would have had to bounce off to leave such a light mark. But it truly looked like a pine needle had blown in on the wind and cut his face, or someone had had a pen that wrote fire and drawn a line across his cheek. Kaoru mentally scoffed at her ideas, denouncing them as wild. Who heard of pens that wrote fire anyway?

"You smell like soap." His words startled her from the amateur examination she'd been conducting. She hadn't known he was awake. His still body evoked only the impression of sleep.

"I took a shower," Kaoru informed him; although she realized that only fool wouldn't draw that conclusion the second the words left her mouth.

Ken opened his eyes just long enough to flash her a look letting her know he wasn't a complete idiot, before closing them once more. "I know. I heard the water." The hand resting against his cheek was a warm weight anchoring him to the conscious world when all he wanted to do was sleep. Mostly. He wouldn't mind lying there on the brink of sleep while Kaoru ministered to his … needs. Not that he would be sleepy for long if she did that.

"I know you heal overnight," Kaoru started, obviously without a clue as to the direction his thoughts had just taken, "but I want to clean your wounds and bandage you up anyway," she continued, lifting her hand to trace the graze on his face from the first silver needle. "Sit up."

"No," Ken protested. "I'm tired, leave me alone."

"Kenshin!"

"Okay, okay," Ken grumbled, not moving. "I run the streets for hours, put my life in danger, come back with a Hummer, let you drive it, and all I get for my effort is yelled at."

"Is that supposed to make me feel guilty?"

Ken opened his eyes to look intently up into hers and executed his best lecherous wink. "Is it working?" He was rewarded for his efforts with the light sparking in her midnight blue eyes and the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She was trying hard to be stern with him. Ken was fine with that as long as 'trying' was the key word.

"No, lazy," Kaoru laughed. God, he loved it when she laughed.

Ken made a show of straining to lift his head as he slowly opened his eyes to focus on hers and held up his arms. "Pull me up."

As Kaoru rolled her eyes and leaned in to grasp his hands Ken snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her down into his lap. He gave himself mental props for the way she landed, straddling his lap.

"You suck. You know that right?" Kaoru chided, placing her hands on his shoulders to keep her balance.

Ken winced slightly, unable to stop his eyes from narrowing in reaction to the pain. She was touching his shoulder where Akira had slashed it open. The blessed silver the sword was made from had cauterized the wound, but Ken had reopened by being careless with his movements when he'd caught Tomoe as she was falling. He'd felt the precious blood trickling from his shoulder the whole time he'd run through the woods back to his car.

Kaoru noticed his grimace and removed her hands as fast as if she'd inadvertently touched fire. "I'm sorry," she apologized, eyes dismayingly wide with worry. "I thought that was blood on your shirt, but I didn't want to –" She stopped herself.

"It's okay," Ken seethed, annoyed that the injury had evaporated any traces of sexual tension that had been developing.

Kaoru slid from his lap to sit at his side on the sofa. "Take your shirt off so I can wrap the wound," she commanded softly.

Ken didn't bother to reply, but did as she asked, missing the feel of her thighs resting against the tops of his. He was glad to be pulling the shirt over his head so she couldn't see his face. Since Akira had wounded him, he'd been acutely aware of his shoulder as a dull throbbing, but the action of lifting the shirt over his head caused the pain to flare. He didn't want Kaoru seeing that expression on his face. He tossed the shirt on top of his coat and met her eyes, but hers were focused on his shoulder. Following the direction of her eyes, he saw it was bleeding again.

"Did Tomoe do this to you?" she asked, reaching for one of the cloths she'd brought and dipping it in the bucket of water. "Tell me what happened."

Ken related a summarized version of his confrontation with Tomoe to Kaoru while she washed and wrapped his wounds. It was easy to talk while her hands were sweeping over his body in soft strokes until every scratch he'd sustained was clean. At one point she left to get him some aspirin, remarking that even if it had no effect on him, it couldn't hurt to try. By the time he'd finished narrating the last moments of Tomoe's life, she was finishing the wrapping of his neck, where Akira had held the silver katana to his throat.

"Kenshin, how did Tomoe touch the silver needles? They had to have been blessed if they could do this to you," Kaoru added, touching the small Band-Aid she'd placed over the hole where a needle had gone three inches into his skin.

The feeling of Tomoe's fingertips on his cheek flooded back for a moment before Ken focused on Kaoru's question. "Her fingertips were coated in wax. I didn't notice it until she touched me. It didn't feel like skin. But she was dying and I was distracted so it didn't register until now."

Kaoru digested the information silently. "Why was that man, Akira, traveling with her?"

Ken watched Kaoru as she gazed down at her hands, which were ringing out the wet cloths into the bucket of once warm water tinted pink with blood. "She turned him. He had no where else to go. She was his master."

"But you found a place to go!" she protested, looking up from her hands into his eyes. "What kept him with her? Did he love her like you used to?"

"I never loved her," Ken snapped angrily.

"Fine. But did he love her?" she asked again.

Ken forced himself to exhale a calming breath. "Probably."

To his surprise, Kaoru smiled before she looked down at her hands once again. Her hair shaded her face from his view, but he heard the sadness in her voice as she spoke. "Tomoe must have been enchanting. She got you to fall for her, and Akira, and who knows how many men in between? I'm not sorry she's dead. She ruined too many peoples' lives by turning them. But if Akira loved her, then others did as well.

I don't think I would have ever understood her if we'd met. When Myojin told us you had to kill her or I would die, you said it was better her than me because she had no one who loved her. I know you didn't kill her. You didn't just tell me it was Akira to make me feel less of the blame, because you wouldn't lie about something that important to me. But knowing he loved her, I feel responsible for her death. If it hadn't been for me, you would never have gone there and she'd still be alive. I can't expect the dark one to look after Akira, who is innocent in all this, more so than I am. If Akira dies, I'll feel responsible."

"Kaoru it wasn't your fault. The Juppongatana would have killed her if you hadn't been here."

"Yeah, but Akira wouldn't have killed her. Now he has to live with himself. There's no one around to tell him it wasn't his fault, that it was an accident," Kaoru stated, her voice rising. "I don't want to know how it feels to kill the one you love, the one you wanted to protect, and go on living!"

Ken had no words to say that would comfort her. It was still vaguely unsettling that he wanted to comfort her in the first place. He wasn't accustomed to depending on another person to be happy, or even to being happy at all. He'd been at ease in the company of Sano, and then of Ayame for a short while, but happy was not a word to describe how he'd felt. When he was around Kaoru, he was always painfully conscious of her, and that consciousness had a solid effect on him. When he let go of the tight reins of emotional control around her, when he didn't have to worry about danger because they were in secure surroundings, he almost felt… lightheaded, with almost the same pleasant buzz in the back of his mind he got on those infrequent occasions when he'd been drinking.

So even though he couldn't comfort her, didn't know how to comfort her, was fundamentally disturbed at the sadness in her voice, he couldn't help but be happy and thankful that he was with her. And then he knew what to say to her.

"If I hadn't gone to kill Tomoe, I would've killed you."

She looked up at him quickly, confused and cheerless.

"The Juppongatana would have killed you, most likely Saitou himself, because I refused to end the life a woman who wasn't truly alive, who wanted to die. Then I would have been just like Akira. Do you wish that on me?"

She turned her eyes from Ken's. Of course she couldn't wish that on him. It was selfish, but she'd rather Akira suffer than Ken, than her Kenshin. Oh God, what had happened to her? When had Kenshin started to mean this much to her? And why? Why? Why?

"Kaoru?"

Did he have to probe? Did he have to make her say it? But what did it matter? God knew already. Saying it out loud didn't change much.

"No," Kaoru whispered harshly. And then more clearly, "I'd rather live for you and my family and friends. No, that's not true. I'd rather live because I don't want to die most of all." She met his eyes. "What kind of person does that make me?"

"Strong," Ken replied readily, "to be able to face up to that quality in you. It's human nature."

"What do you know about being human?" Kaoru snapped angrily before immediately bursting into tears, dropping the damp cloth she'd been wringing out on the table, and throwing her body against him. "I'm sorry, Kenshin! I'm sorry! Kenshin, can you forgive me?! Kenshin, I'm sorry!"

"Kaoru, there's nothing to forgive. I shouldn't have said anything," Ken found himself saying. True, the comment had stung, but only because it had come from Kaoru. He was too used to the life of a vampire in any case, and in truth he often wondered if he still understood what it was to be human. That was a question he had to wrestle with himself. He didn't want Kaoru to feel any guilt over the issue, so he comforted her. It had been a long time since he'd played the role of consoler for anyone. Why did it seem he was always consoling her because of something he'd done?

"But you're more human then a lot of people I know, Kenshin. I had no right to say that, especially because I know you resent being a vampire a little."

Ken chuckled. "A little? Just forget about it, Kaoru. I got to meet you because of what I am. You're good for me."

"How good can I be for you when I'm causing all this trouble?"

"I was in trouble with most of the vampires long before I met you, Kaoru."

"Why?" she asked, curiosity winning and letting her look up and meet his eyes, though she remained huddled against him, regretful.

"I'll tell you tomorrow after Myojin comes. I'll need two nights to rest before I take on the dark one. Since Tomoe's dead, he's looking for me. We have to stay here for the next two nights. On Friday night we'll check out the city again."

"Okay," Kaoru nodded, suddenly becoming conscious of the way she was pressing against him, and of the fact that this meant she'd be spending two nights in the apartment, just her and Kenshin. What would they do for all that time? Just talk? She had a sneaking suspicion Ken had something else in mind. Blushing at the thought of what that something else might be, she tried to pull away, but he only held her and picked her up bridal style, standing from the sofa.

"Ken, what about-"

"I'll clean up tomorrow," Ken cut her off as he carried her towards the bedroom, not bothering to flick off the living room lights. "It'll be dawn soon, and I haven't kissed you yet tonight. We're going to bed early," he told her, walking into the dark bedroom and kicking the door shut behind him. He must have known the bedroom well, because his step never faltered as he laid her on the bed. Kaoru heard the sound of a zipper.

"Ken?"

Then he was on top of her, his body hot, hips pressed against hers. He missed her lips in the dark, got the side of her nose instead.

"What happened to Kenshin?" he asked, deciding to bypass her lips in favor of sliding his down to her neck.

"Kenshin," Kaoru started before gasping at the feel of his tongue on her skin, one of his hands at the bottom of her tank top, the other lifting her up so he could slide it up and off with practiced ease. One of his hands went down to her hips and under her butt, pulling her hips towards his body, while the other caressed a breast. His lips were insistent on her skin. Kaoru drove her hands into his hair, freeing the tie at the back of his neck that kept it under control. "Kenshin, you still haven't kissed me." But saying that was a mistake because his mouth was on her mouth and his hips were now even with hers, his hands cupping her butt and forcing her pelvis to rock with his as their tongues meshed. She savored the taste of his mouth as his tongue danced with hers, warm, damp, and velvet rough.

"How's that?" he asked when they stopped to breathe.

"Good."

Ken laughed, hearing the satisfaction in her voice. "Kaoru, how much longer can we go without going all the way?"

"I don't know," Kaoru half moaned. For the first time, she admitted to herself that she was frustrated; frustrated that she couldn't be with Ken the way she wanted to. She was absolutely, utterly, completely, totally, downright frustrated to the verge of tears. "I don't know, Kenshin."


A/N – Ahoy mateys, looks like there's fluff ahead on the starboard port. Wow. Pirate lapse there. Too much Johnny Depp. I promise the plot won't be lacking next chapter either. Expect a heavy amount of Soujiro and co.

Question – What do ya'll think of this grown up Ayame? In case some readers haven't seen the anime, she's a child in the series, but doesn't appear in the manga. She's turned out a little Megumi-ish in my opinion.