Disclaimer: Don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and I never will... 'cept the mangas that I'm beginning to buy .

Chapter 7:
Cherries

As yet another month passed in Nara, Kenshin learned that Akiko was often called by the geisha of the city to take the place of any geisha who couldn't attend a party or were unable to entertain their guests. Akiko herself was not a geisha or even a maiko for the matter and had never even trained to become one. Yet with her manners and musical skill with both the shamisen and fue, almost no one she entertained seemed to notice that she was nothing more then a waitress. Kuniko had many times tried to get the young girl to start training as a geisha, she herself would have been honored to take the young girl in and train her. But Akiko always refused.

"You can earn a great deal more as a geisha..." Kenshin commented one day as they walked down to the city. The warm morning sun shone intensely as they made their way down narrow side streets and beautiful avenues.

"I'm aware of that," she answered almost annoyed at the suggestion, "but it isn't my wish to spend the rest of my life going to parties and dressing up every night in a heavy kimono for people I don't care for."

Kenshin smiled. "But you do look very beautiful in those kimono."

Akiko's cheeks flushed red. Her eyes focused on the road ahead of her as her pace slowed a bit. Kenshin laughed slightly at her reaction to his comment. "My apologies," he said leaning on his self-made walking cane, "this one did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable in any way." Akiko remained silent, she slowed her pace briefly before looking up at him. She felt her cheeks burn red as a warm smile embedded itself across Kenshin's lips. The look in his eyes softened as he looked her over. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she strolled along side the red haired young man down the small avenue.

"Akiko-san," Kenshin almost whispered, "why is it that Nitta-san dislikes this one?"

The young lady looked up at him as the walked a while in silence. It was true that over the last month that Kenshin had been awake, Kuniko had begun to grow more and more impatient with him for no reason. More often then naught, she had hinted for him to leave before he 'became too homely'. "She just doesn't like anyone who gets close to me," she finally answered. "My father was Kuniko-san's danna since before I was born. Ever since my mother died, she took care of me like I was her child. She is a mother to me. Even though she has always been very busy in her profession, she always managed to spend some time with me while I was growing up. After my father passed away, she insisted that the best thing for me is to become a geisha so as not to end up in a brothel." She sighed as she looked up at the brilliant blue sky, smiling to herself.

Kenshin glanced over at the young woman walking next to him and smiled. Now it made scenes to him as to why she didn't once raise her voice to the geisha, even when being insulted by the older woman.

The two continued walk along the stone avenue. Their trip to the city was a long one, due to the fact that Kenshin had to sit down many times on their way to rest his ankle.

The streets in Nara were bursting with activity. Merchants from all across Japan sold all sorts of items in their little stands. Every kind of exquisite article and food was put on exhibition for all who came to the vending stands. As they walked along, the two came upon a small stand selling magazines, ukiyo-e prints, and newspapers. Kenshin's eyes widened as he took up one of the newspapers. "Another attempt at the life of Okubo Toshimichi has failed..." His light violet blue eyes quickly skimmed through the lines that followed the headline. He gave the vender a quick glance, whom in turn was eyeing him with the same inquisitive manner. His eyes returned to the newspaper as his mind began to search for a reasonable answer to what he was reading. Ever since he had woken up, he was sure that the assault from the Shinsengumi group had succeeded in killing Okubo. He knew for certain that Okubo had died because he had seen it with his own eyes.

"What's the matter Kenshin-san?" Akiko looked over at him carefully placing down an ukiyo-e print.

"Nothing..." he responded as he paid the vender for the newspaper.

"Look," Akiko walked over to the stand right next to them. The young man behind the table looked up at her with a smile and offered the young lady a peach from his fresh fruits and vegetables he had on display. She declined the offer reaching for the basket full of cherries. "These cherries look delicious", she commented as she chose out the best ones. "Would you like some Kenshin-san?"

"No thank you, they have never settled well with me before", he folded the newspaper in half. He watched as she continued to pick the ripest cherries in the small basket. Her slender fingers carefully examined each cherry, turning the small fruit over and over again before either placing it onto a thin sheet of rice paper or back into the basket from which it came. She handed the small handful of cherries to the vender.

"Wouldn't you like to buy anything else ma'am," he began, "I sell the freshest fruits and vegetables around."

"I don't have enough for more", she smiled bashfully as she reached into her obi for her silk purse.

"Chose some more Akiko-san," Kenshin reached into his sleeve. "This is all this one has left", he said warmly handing the vender a few coins. Akiko watched as Kenshin handed the vender the last of the money he possessed. The last coins that Kogoro Katsura had given him nearly three and a half months ago before leaving to Osaka to escort Okubo.

The vender waited patiently as the young lady chose another handful worth of cherries.

"Have a nice day", he smiled as the two left the stand.

Kenshin watched from the corner of his eye as Akiko popped two cherries into her mouth. Her tender lips curved into an almost mischievous, child like smile. "You like them a lot, don't you?" he inquired as they continued their walk down the busy streets.

"Yes," she brought another cherry to her mouth, "they're very good." Again, the young lady offered her guest a cherry and again he declined.

--

Akiko led Kenshin to a temple. The sheer size of it was overwhelming. The gardens, rich in greens, reds, and pinks, had begun to show spots of browns and yellows as the fall season was rapidly approaching. Stone pathways wound there way around an orchard and a coy pound before leading to the main hall in the center of the temple grounds.

The main hall of the temple was build entirely out of wood, painted brightly in gold and red. As he followed Akiko into the temple hall, Kenshin gazed up at two enormous warrior statues on each side of the entryway. Both soldiers were heavily armed with a menacing looks etched into their cold stone faces, each with two swords mounted at their sides. They held spears with copper points in one hand and helmets with elaborate designs on them in the other. Their amour they wore was lavishly decorated and painted with scenes of a battle. The guards that protect Buddha, he thought to himself as he slowly made his way past the people leaving the temple hall.

On the far end of the hall sat the largest Buddha that he had ever seen in his life. The Buddha was made entirely out of bronze, his cloths coated in gold and painted with dark hues of reds and blues. At the base, the Buddha was surrounded in the faint smoke left behind by the number of burning incenses, giving it a mysterious and dream-like feel to it. Kenshin sighed to himself as he looked up at the Buddha's face. The care free smile molded on its rounded face made it look like it didn't have the slightest idea that a bloody war was occurring just outside the temple gates. To him, it seemed like the Buddha was frozen in time, unaware of the ever changing world outside the hall.

Akiko lit two incenses. Carefully placing them with the numerous amounts of incenses already there she lowered her head, placing her hands together and continued to pray. Kenshin stood at a distance watching her. Her mother had died giving birth to her and her father had passed away nearly two years earlier. A samurai who had fought for Emperor Tokugawa, he had died in one of the first outbursts that had occurred in Kyoto at the beginning of the Revolution. A sadden expression crossed his face. He began to wonder who had killed Akiko's father, more importantly, if he personally knew the killer. A sickening feeling began to grow within his stomach at the thought. To occupy his mind he began to look around the hall, taking in every detail he could. His eyes soon began to wonder to the ceiling. The huge beams overhead were painted richly in red and the ceiling stretched far above into the padonga, or tower as the foreigners called it. Never in his life had he felt so tiny or troubled.

--

Akiko hung on the slanted roof of the two small adjoined rooms while Kenshin stood laughing in the walled off garden below at the sight.

"How could you be so mean like that!" Her bottom half dangled in the air as she held on to the blue tiled roof. Now she regretted ever climbing up with him to view the night sky.

"Just let go," Kenshin repeated himself again, "you will not fall, this one will catch you." A mischievous smile stretched from one end of his face to the other as he watched Akiko clutch onto the roof even harder then before. For the last ten minutes he had been trying to convince her to let herself fall so that he could catch her, but instead she held on even more tightly to the roof.

She turned her head enough for Kenshin to get a look at her. With her arms outstretched before her, a worried look crept onto her small rounded face. "You're all the way over there!" she exclaimed, "how are you supposed to catch me if your all the way over there!"

Kenshin couldn't help himself from laughing out loud again as she gave him a worried look. He watched as she kicked the air with frustration. "My apologies," he began, "it's just that..."

"Don't talk!" she yelled, "you've done enough already!" After a moment of silence and a little kicking she looked over her shoulder again. "Aren't you going to come any closer?" she asked. Kenshin stood looking up at her, embarrassed at the suggestion. Even in the dim moon light she was able to see his face turn a bright red. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him stand where he was not moving a muscle. Again she kicked. "I won't let go unless you get closer!"

"Akiko-san," he began to explain as he brought one hand up to his face, "If this one gets any closer, he'll be able to see up your kimono."

Akiko's face flushed a bright red with embarrassment. The thought had never crossed her mind. "Don't you dare!" she yelled.

Kenshin looked around the dark walled off yard as he listened to a few dogs bark in the distance. "Akiko-san, you're going to wake up everyone in the neighborhood if you keep yelling like that."

"It's not a very populated area!" she yelled. Her arms were growing tired now. She shuffled her weight a little to keep herself from falling. Again, Kenshin laughed at her determination to not let go. Finally, he began walking up to the small veranda on the back of the house. Akiko sung her foot, throwing her zori at him as he approached. "Stay away!"

The tiny straw zori hit his head. After picking up the small shoe he continued to make his way to the veranda, being careful to keep his eyes down. Placing the zori at the entrance of his room, he climbed up to the engawa, again careful not to look up. By now, Akiko was kicking wildly.

Standing on the engawa, her knees came down to about his head. He reached out in front of him and took a firm grip on her legs as she continued to kick to calm her down, but instead only got her to kick harder and shriek. He let go taking a step back. Patiently he waited until she stopped.

"What are you doing Kenshin-san?" her voice came nervously.

Reaching up, he placed his hands on her waist, again she kicked. This time her knee struck his face. He took a step back with his hands to his face. The force of her knee striking his nose sent a stinging sensation throughout his body as tears swelled up in his eyes. Quickly he examined his hands. He sighed with relief as he realized that her blow wasn't enough to give him a nose bleed, although the thought of having Akiko's bottom half dangling in front of him almost did.

"Akiko-san, do you not wish to be helped down?" He waited to see her reaction as he continued to rub his nose. Nothing happened. "This one is going to help you down again," he warned her, "if you kick once more, you will hang there the rest of the night."

"Fine!" she answered, "but if you as so much dare to do anything to me, I'll beat you blue and black with the shamisen if I must!"

Kenshin laughed to himself at the thought of being beaten with a musical instrument. Once more he placed his hands on her waist. This time she only twitched, keeping herself from kicking him. "Now let go." She continued to hang from the roof for a while. "Akiko-san," he began, "if you don't let go..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Akiko gave a small shriek and fell. Not expecting her to let go, Kenshin instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist as she literally fell through his arms. He tired hard to prevent himself from losing his balance and falling over, but was caught completely off guard and began falling forwards with the young woman's weight. In the mist of the fall he managed to turn himself enough so that he would hit the floor first. The two hit the cold earth with a loud "thud".

Kenshin opened his eyes to the sight of Akiko's breast in his face. He felt his face burn hot. Closing his eyes tightly he waited until he felt the young woman crawl off him. He let out a long sigh as he opened his eyes again. Akiko sat quietly beside him with her head down.

"Thank you Ken-san" she whispered softly.

Without uttering a word, Kenshin reached over placing his hands on her cheeks as he leaned over to kiss her. His lips were so soft and trembled as he pulled away. Akiko gazed at him in surprise. It was obvious by the look on her face that she didn't expect anything more then a simple "your welcomed" from him. Her face was clearly flushed as her widened dark brown eyes remained fixed on the young man. Her hands began to tremble as she clutched on to her kimono while sitting quietly on the cold ground. She quickly averted her eyes to the ground when she noticed the soft, almost longing look in his. With her head still low, she watched from the corner of her eye as Kenshin got up and dusted himself off. Her thoughts raced furiously in her mind before a hand appeared in front her. A warm smile was deeply implanted on to Kenshin's face as he offered to help the young lady up. "This one is glad to see that you are not hurt," he whispered. Hesitating, she placed her trembling hand in his and was quickly lifted from the floor.

"Thank you," she stammered sheepishly as their eyes locked onto one another.

His smile grew as he continued to eye the young lady. "It's getting pretty late," his voice came softly, "we should go inside."

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A/N: Well, that was fun. I fixed historical error here that was pointed out by Heddy. Thanks a bunch dude for that lil pointing out.