The end is near, I can feel it!
Chapter 10: The time is now! An Eventful Journey.
"Oy, Kenshin."
"Oro?"
"Why don't you wear your hair up?"
"UP!"
"Yeah, further up on your head instead of down on your neck like you always do." Kenshin looked warily at the comb Sano offered him. Then he shrugged, and let his hands take his flaming locks high onto the top of his head in a style he had forsaken 12 years ago. Turning to Sano, he got a thumbs-up sign and a grin.
"It's just about time." Sano commented, making the rurouni's heart beat faster with nerves.
This is a thousand times worse than a battle. Battles I can handle. But Kaoru?
She's not any different than she was this morning, is she?
B- But!
But what? You should get your butt in gear, is what. You don't want to forget that, now do you? Kenshin picked up a small parcel and placed it in his sleeve, securing it so it couldn't fall out. He heard the door slide open.
Turning, he said, "Sano, sessha told you not to open the… duh…"
Kaoru stood in the doorway. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a sophisticated style that would have made his jaw drop by itself. Her blue eyes sparkled, her face artfully painted, not too much, but just enough to make her look even more stunning. Her outer kimono was baby pink with a red wave pattern across it. Both her inner kimono and her obi were a deep, mind- boggling shade of red. She wore her clothes just a little looser than usual, exposing enough skin to completely demolish any cognitive thought the rurouni might have had. Altogether, he had to try really hard not to drool.
She turned to Megumi and giggled, revealing the most complicated obi knot Kenshin had ever seen. Tae came up to stand behind Kaoru.
"I told you he'd stare." She teased.
Say something, dolt! She's waiting! Kenshin jerked himself out of his reverie and walked over next to Kaoru.
"K- Kaoru, you… you look, uh, wow, just… stunning, that you do." He managed to gabble out. A faint blush appeared on Kaoru's face, and her sweeping eyes took him in again.
"You don't look half-bad yourself, Kenshin." It was his turn to blush, and she giggled.
"Ah, well, this isn't really anything fancy," He stated. Sano thumped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble.
"Weren't you just telling me how you just had to look your best for your little Kaoru- chan?" He grinned evilly and winked.
"Sessha doesn't remember saying that, that I most certainly do not!" Kenshin glared at him and concentrated hard on Kaoru.
Aww, his little Kaoru-chan? …so cute; he's got a pet name for me! Relieved she wasn't angry, he took a step closer to her and offered her his arm.
"We should be going now, that we should." She flashed him a brilliant smile and took his arm.
…Can't be a dream… …NOT a dream…
Kenshin sighed at this evidence of his fading gift. Kaoru looked at him puzzledly. He blushed again.
"Sorry, this just all feels like a dream to me," He murmured as they walked toward the gate. She grinned, rather wickedly.
"I know what you mean! I thought you'd never work up the courage to ask me out!" She blushed and covered her mouth. Kenshin chuckled.
"It's okay, you're right; sessha should have done this a long time ago. It took me being knocked on the head a couple of times to finally get over it." Kaoru laughed at that.
Gallantly, he opened the door, and with a grand flourish worthy of any actor indicated she should go first. She did, acting like a princess being escorted to a ball. He heard muffled laughter behind him as he shook his head in resignation. He trailed out behind her, shutting the gate with a resounding THUD. He pressed his ear to the door to hear the other's reactions to their exit.
"Aww, weren't they just the cutest couple!"
"I swear, if they do not get together on this date, I will tie Ken-san to a chair!" Megumi's voice rang out.
"Why?" Sano asked.
"Um, well… It'd be fun…"
"Ano, Kenshin?" Kaoru looked at him, worry in her eyes.
"Aa, Kaoru?"
Nooo! You moron, what've you done now?
Hey, who says it's my fault?
"You remember the guy three days ago, the one who attacked us?"
"Aa."
"Do… do you think whoever hired him will be after you?" Kenshin sighed.
"Probably. Nowadays it seems everybody wants a little piece of Battousai." Kaoru looked at her feet.
"Does it get annoying, Kenshin? The neverending battles over someone you aren't any more?"
I AM still here, you know.
How can I forget, when you never seem to shut up? Kenshin thought a bit before answering.
"Yes and no. It's frustrating that sessha has to beat sense into every single one of them, but if it's the price sessha pays for the changes sessha helped make, I think it's worth it, that I do."
Out of habit, he cast his senses out for any malevolent presence. About 20 paces up the path he felt the presence of a fighting chi. Taking a gamble, he cast out his fading gift as well.
..can't believe… …DATE!
That was Kaoru.
…Doesn't even sense me here…
That wasn't!
Focusing on the second mind-voice, he found it was coming from the presence in the bushes.
That's odd. Normally it's not the girls that are after me…
Most of them think you ARE a girl, moron!
You've been hanging around Saitou too long, you're using that word a lot lately.
Bah! That mangy old wolf has nothing on me.
Uh-huh. Right. Yeah. Whatever. An-n-yway, back to our female warrior… He focused again, slowing down.
Battousai… die… KILL!
Darn, and I thought she was going to wish you well, too…
She might have been waiting for someone else...
Apparently not. Kaoru peered at him.
"Kenshin, is everything alright? You've got your battle face on…" He put a hand on her shoulder to silence her, then took two steps forward.
"A woman should not hide in the bushes, that you should not." He said loudly. The bushes a couple of feet in front of him chuckled, and a girl a little older than Kaoru stepped out.
"Too true, but I-"
Kenshin didn't even bother to let her finish. With the speed and grace of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, he picked up a nearby rock and hit her on the head with it. She passed out. Kaoru walked forward to examine his work, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"Why, Kenshin, you didn't even let her finish!" She commented acidly. Kenshin smiled and led her back down the road.
"Well, she interrupted us; I thought it only fair I interrupt her. Kaoru giggled.
"So, Kenshin, where are we going?"
"Oh, Sessha thought Yugaoya." He named a place a little nicer than the Akabeko, but not nice enough to make them both uncomfortable. Kaoru's eyes sparkled as they met his.
"Tae said the view from the upper floor is amazing."
Kenshin thought it better not to tell her that he had heard that conversation, since he had been a good distance away. That was the only way he knew where to go. After Kaoru had started walking, he had asked Tae to get him a reservation and given her a great deal of his dwindling funds.
I've got to get some sort of a job, he mused, Or I'm going to go broke!
Whew! Over the hill now, it's all down hill from here. But smooth it isn't! Chapter 11: Waitresses and Hostages: What's a Kenny to do? See you then!