CHAPTER TWO
When she woke up again, she felt someone touch her forehead gently and then placed a cold wash cloth in its place. "Kenshin…" Kaoru said weakly as she stared up at the rurouni.
"Good morning, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin replied and smiled at her.
"I've been asleep since I woke up yesterday afternoon?" Kaoru asked not being able to believe that she had slept so long.
"No, that was the day before yesterday, Kaoru-dono, it's been nearly five days since you came down sick, and your fervor is now finally beginning to break." Kenshin said and then knocked on wood. "Do you think that you can eat something?" The rurouni asked, his eyes showed concern in them.
"Only if Yahiko doesn't cook it." Kaoru said playfully.
"Alright, alright, I get the point, just stay in bed." Kenshin said softly. "I'll be back of course."
Kaoru sighed as she watched the door shut and watched as Kenshin's shadow walked towards the kitchen, and then finally disappeared. 'I don't think that I'll ever understand him.' Kaoru thought as she stared at the spot to where Kenshin had just once been. 'Please open your heart to me, Kenshin.'
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Sano stood in the corner and watched as Kenshin cut up some vegetables and then dropped them in to the boiling water. "If you don't tell Jo-chan soon, I might just take her from you." The young man with the spiky hair and the symbol bad on his back said as he leaned against the far wall. "She is a woman you know."
"Yes, I know that she is." Kenshin replied almost not listening to his friend.
"I will take her from you, if you don't tell her how you feel." Sano insisted. 'I wonder if he's taking me seriously on this because Jo-chan is just a friend.' They where closer in age then Kenshin and Kaoru was, but she was just a lady friend, nothing more, nothing less, and at least he could admit that much.
Kenshin ignored the last comment that Sanosuke made and tended to the soup that he was cooking for Kaoru. The knife was out of his hand, and laid next to the sink, needing to be washed. Kenshin knew that he was harsh to say that Kaoru-dono was just a kid, when he knew that she wasn't but he was a mere rurouni, and didn't even plan on staying from place to place for very long. Staying at Kaoru-dono's dojo for the past year was still longer then he had wanted to stay. "Sanosuke, you perfectly well know that I am still a rurouni." Kenshin said to the younger man which obviously puzzled Sanosuke, since he could hear a "Huh?" coming from the other male in the kitchen. "I never even planned on staying here as long as I have, you of all people should understand me the best."
"Why not stay here Kenshin? Yahiko and Jo-Chan need you."
"Because, I have promised myself something a long time ago that I won't reveal to you." Kenshin said. "But I will tell you this, too many people have died by my blade, which was wielded by my hands. With in this past year of living here, there has been countless danger that has fallen upon you three, and this one can not live with himself, if something should happen to you because of me."
The door was thrown open at that point and Kenshin blinked as Kaoru stood there, tears coming down her eyes. "KENSHIN! YOU BAKA! I HATE YOU!" Even though she was suppose to be sick, she was surprised to have enough strength to yell like that. "GO LEAVE!"
"ORO?" Kenshin said with his eyes doing that confused look of his.
"Go, if you plan on leaving. Let me tell you this much; better explain it to Yahiko on your way out if you want to leave so badly." Kaoru said angrily.
"Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin called after the raven black haired female as she ran out of the kitchen."KAORU-DONO!" Kenshin shouted again, louder this time.
"See Kenshin, too many people care about you here. If you leave, we would probably all fall apart." Sanosuke said as he pushed himself off of the wall. "If you call yourself a man, you should go apologize to Jo-Chan. If you don't, you might as well just go now for being such a baka."
'Why does he keep acting like this is all of my fault?' Kenshin asked himself as he walked Sanosuke leave, following almost the same path that Kaoru-dono had just taken. 'Maybe she did hear me that day when I called her just a kid.' Kenshin thought sighing. 'It's a good thing that Yahiko isn't around…' He took the soup off of the stove, not wanting it to over cook since they could still eat it later, and knowing Kaoru as well as he did, she had just used up a lot of energy and would want to eat later. 'I guess like I need to go clear up this mess.' Kenshin thought sighing.
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'Why?' Kaoru thought as she felt more tears come down her eyes. 'Why is it that every one I know, sooner or later wants to leave me?' First it was mother when she was very young, then father, and then her students. She still had Yahiko as a student, but running a dojo on only one student who lived there for free was difficult. 'Money's tight and I know that I'm still sick which is most likely running up a doctors bill, which will make money even tighter until I go back to work again, but, maybe, I just thought that maybe he would stay since he had been here for a year.' Kaoru thought as she cried silently, sitting alone in wood like area. She almost didn't notice that she happened to be wearing something other then her pajama's, which she was thankful for since that would be embarrassing if someone saw her dressed in her night cloths which she was not. Warm hands gently held her shoulders which made her jump and quickly stood up and spun around and was now facing Kenshin.
"Kaoru-dono, sorry." Kenshin said. "I didn't realize that you where standing behind the door, you do know that ease dropping is a bad thing right?"
"Yes well you not telling me that you're going to leave is just as bad." Kaoru said angrily, not yelling exactly, but close enough. "If you want to leave, leave, this place seems to be too good for you to stay."
"No, that's not it it's.."
"I knew the type of dangers that we could possibly get in to when I took you in last year Kenshin, your former samurai name, I knew would bring trouble, but you obviously can't understand the reason why I don't care."
"Kaoru-dono…."
"Why, why do you think that I don't care Kenshin? Most women would be frightened and then run away if they had not come to know your better half first."
"Kaoru-dono…"
"Answer me, Kenshin, why do you think I don't care about that?"
'If you don't tell Jo-Chan how you feel, I will." Kenshin could hear Sanosuke say just moments earlier. 'How do I feel about her?' He had always been puzzled by this question, and it bothered him for a long time.
"Think about it, Kenshin, just think." Kaoru said as she now felt herself wrap her arms around his waist. She could feel her face flush brightly, most likely as bright as his red hair.
"Kao..ru-do..no…" Was all that Kenshin could say and stared at the female who was now holding him, in surprise.
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Here you go minna-san, the next chapter to this fic. I think I might have said it before but here it is again if I didn't say it. This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fan fic so yeah. Oh! And anything at this point is possible with how the characters act so I guess like it could be called ooc-ness, but oh well. You'll live, it'll fit the story or at least the ooc-ness should fit the story. The rating of the story is because I don't want to take any chances with it and have to change it later in the future in case there happens to be violence, adult themes, swear words, I think you can get the point. This is a Rurouni Kenshin fic and that anime is pretty violent from time to time if you know what I mean… Well enjoy and tell me what you think.
-Darkia-