The Corrino Princess is back! And with a story that I anticipate is less lame than my Ranma story!

Queer as Kenshin

"Oi! Missy!"

Sanosuke's gruff voice rang out across the courtyard.

"I thought you might be hungry, let's go to the Akabeko and put it on your tab!"

"Don't you mean your tab, Sano?" a feminine voice dryly inquired. Sanosuke had the grace to blush and duck his head.

"Well, uh....they won't let me put anything on my tab since it rose higher than the national debt," he managed to mutter.

"Why Sanosuke, that must be a lot of money, that it must be," piped in another voice. Sanosuke and Kaoru towards the sound, and found Kenshin hanging a soaking kimono on the clothesline. He turned and smiled his famous smile, then pranced back to the washtub to continue the laundry.

"Scrub, scrub, I must get this clean. If you do not wish to go to the Akabeko, this one will begin dinner shortly, that I will," he announced to his friends. Wisps of fiery red hair shaded his face as he bent towards his work, framing his feminine features and highlighting his large, doe-like violet eyes. Ah, these clothes are coming out nicely, he thought to himself. They will smell all fresh and sweet for Miss Kaoru and Yahiko once they've hung in the sunshine for a while! He smiled his ignorant grin and blissfully continued with his work, completely unaware that his friends were still watching him.

"Boy, Missy, he really likes doing the laundry," Sanosuke commented lightly to Kaoru. "Look at him go. He's so involved in it. It just seems like boring women's work to me."

Bonk!

"Leave Kenshin alone, stupid!" Kaoru yelled, putting her wooden sword against the wall and crossing her blue-clad arms over her chest. Sano just stared swirly-eyed at the sun, rubbing the growing lump on his head. The lump was getting so large that it eclipsed his trademark hair.

"I'm just saying," he began again.

"Don't start," Kaoru looked at him menacingly. Her face darkened and her blue eyes narrowed threateningly. "He just likes the laundry, okay? So what if it's kind of feminine- maybe he simply finds comfort in daily routine."

"Which would be fine if he didn't look so much like a girl when he was doing it." Sanosuke smirked at Kaoru smugly, putting his hands on his hips and sticking his tongue out at her.

"You take that back! He does not look girly!" Kaoru shouted at the top of her lungs. Both looked guiltily in Kenshin's direction, but our favorite rurouni was happily scrubbing away, unmindful of the happenings a few feet away from his washtub.

"Sure he does," Sanosuke replied, in a voice that was several decibels lower than Kaoru's previous statement. "Remember what happened when we took the brat out for his birthday?"

Sanosuke's face clouds over as he remembers...

Yahiko and Sanosuke walked out of the restaurant rubbing their stomachs contentedly, while Kenshin followed behind, smiling. Kaoru trailed behind the others, looking despairingly at her empty wallet. Not watching where she was going, she bumped into something hard and lost her balance.

"Oh! Excuse me!" she cried, embarrassed. Kenshin helped her up as the elderly gentleman she had inadvertently run into smiled at her obligingly.

"No need to worry, miss."

Then his face changed into a happy, childish grin.

"Oh my," he began, looking at the pair in earnest. "You are just the loveliest lady I have ever seen. And that mark only adds to your allure. Would you be offended if I asked you to dinner sometime?"

Mark? Flattered, but not entirely interested, Kaoru glanced at Kenshin, then looked back at the older man. "Um, actually, I think perhaps not...." She trailed off.

The old man looked floored.

"My dear," he stated, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "You are a beauty in your own right, but I was addressing this exotic red-head standing to your right."

Sanosuke's laugh rang throughout the courtyard. Once he started he couldn't seem to control himself, and fell on the ground in hysterics, clutching his stomach.

"Hey, ugly, what's Sano laughing at?" asked Yahiko, poking his spiky head out of the dojo doors.

Red-faced, Kaoru glared at him. "Don't you have chores to do, Little Yahiko?" She replied snidely, tossing her black ponytail over her shoulder.

"But I want to know what's so funny," Yahiko protested, jumping up and down. "Besides, I practiced and cleaned the dojo. What more do you want, you ugly hag?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" was the only reply that came out of Kaoru's mouth, as she prepared to smash Yahiko into the ground. Her fist came up, but was interrupted midswing by Sanosuke, who had by this time managed to right himself and make his way over to the unofficial siblings. He grabbed Kaoru's fist and answered Yahiko's question himself.

"I was just reminiscing with the Missy about how that old man thought Kenshin was a woman and asked him out on a date."

Yahiko began laughing as well. "That was so great! You were so manly that he thought Kenshin was prettier than you! Ahhahahahhahahaha. Wait. Now that I think about it, Kenshin IS prettier than you. And he looks more womanly as well. Just look at him. He's wearing a pink gi."

"He is not!" Kaoru turned around in the middle of another attempted punch and watched Kenshin scrubbing away. "Well, maybe you've got a bit of a point with that. He is wearing pink. Hmm."

With a pensive look on her face, Kaoru turned and walked back inside the building. At this point, Kenshin finally looked up.

"Miss Kaoru! Should this one start dinner?" he called after her.