Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

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Toy Store

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Kitchen

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She came home, walked in the kitchen, and he was sitting at the table next to Misao. They both looked up when she came in, and the hello she'd been about to utter expired on her lips. She had a bad taste in her mouth.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi, Kaoru," Misao said brightly. "We've been waiting on you."

"Not long, I hope," Kaoru said, regaining some of her composure and walking into the kitchen. This was her house. She'd strangle Misao later for letting him in.

Misao stood. "No. I knew you'd be back soon, so I waited with Kenshin. He's lucky he caught me at home. I only came back for a quick dinner. I'm off to work now. Don't expect me back until midnight."

"They're paying you overtime right?" Kaoru asked, her murderous feelings evaporation out of concern for her friend. Suddenly, she didn't want Misao to leave her alone with him.

Misao shrugged into the coat that had been draped across her chair and picked up her keys. "Of course. I think I'm going to get a promotion out of this one, Kaoru." She winked.

"See you later, guys," Misao said, heels clicking as she strode out of the room. They were silent as they listened to her exit, then to the sound of her starting her car and driving away.

She was aware of his eyes on her, even as she couldn't quite meet his. She kept remembering the words he said to her last.

"Why are you here?" Kaoru asked coldly, daring herself and succeeding in meeting his eyes. "I have nothing to say to you."

"It's been a month. You talked to your sister," he said. He looked confident. She was going to take that confidence and drown it, then stomp on it, and toss it off a cliff for good measure.

"I have," she said, walking past him to pour herself a glass of milk. She could always try to get that bad taste out of her mouth, although she had a feeling it wouldn't leave until he was gone.

"Did she tell you the truth?"

"She told me what she believes to be the truth," Kaoru said, opening the fridge, "I can't say my opinion of you is as high as hers, to believe the story you told her."

"You still think I lied about Megumi," he said flatly, his violet eyes starting to show dismay.

"You're quick on the uptake, aren't you?" she commented, picking up her glass of milk and turning to face him.

"Why would I lie?"

This innocent act was really starting to tick her off. "Why wouldn't you?" The words rushed from her mouth. "You have every reason to lie. You found out my sister cheated on you, so you went and slept with Megumi for revenge. For all I know, you could have been sleeping with her before then and told my sister you did it for revenge to cover up." Her voice was rising. "You weren't man enough to dump her and deal with the emotional guilt. And now you come and tell me this sob story about how you spread the rumor for my sister! I bet all you really want is some more ass."

Kenshin stood from the table and she was forced to look up at him. He was angry. He smiled so often that it was gratifying to see him angry. Satisfying.

"You don't know your sister very well. She would've fallen apart if I'd dumped her. I gave her the easy way out, not me. Now I have to deal with people thinking I slept with my brother's girlfriend. They know about the rumor, and they were pissed, but they're not stopping it for your sister, because I told them I loved you, and if you were ever going to love me back, I knew I couldn't hurt your sister."

"Congratulations, Kenshin. That is the biggest load of bull I've heard in a long time. Even if you bring Megumi and your brother here to verify that, there's no way I'll believe them. You give yourself too much credit. My sister would've celebrated if you'd dumped her."

Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly true.

"How many times has your sister been dumped, Kaoru? Think about it. Think about all those break ups, all those men. No one dumped her because she couldn't handle it. They all sensed it. I sensed it. She'd do something crazy like kill herself, and then they'd have to live with the knowledge that they were the reason why she did it. No one wants to live with that. So no one dumped her. She's too needy. You can't see that side of her. She won't let you because you're her baby sister. And I think you refuse to see it because she's your big sister."

Kaoru knew her face was probably bright red. "I'd really like to punch you right now. Or hit you or kick you, or strangle you, but I don't think you'd let me, would you?"

He said nothing, stared at her warily as she drew closer, still holding the milk glass.

"I've heard about your martial arts reputation. My sister told me back when you first started going out with her. I'd settle for screaming at you, but you're not worth a sore throat. So please, get out before you tempt me."

"Fine."

Kaoru nodded. "Why don't you do that?"

He left.

She hated him more.