Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

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Toy Store

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Her Living Room II

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"Lunch on Monday, right?" Kaoru asked, plopping down next to Kenshin on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Misao and Kamatari were out grocery shopping. Kaoru certainly wasn't complaining about that. She hated grocery shopping with Misao because she had to check each purchase three times to make sure she was getting the best price, and the woman never wanted to go alone. Kamatari had moved in barely five days ago and Kaoru already had a hard time remembering how it had been without him. All the chores she didn't like to do, he did. He'd even taken over her cooking night in exchange for her washing the dishes.

"I won't forget." Kenshin took the popcorn bowl from her hands and put it on the living room table in front of them. "Want to do something non-adult-related, like play laser tag with me tomorrow? The tickle torture has got me feeling thirteen again."

He would probably tease her about that for the rest of their lives. Little did he know, she wasn't above doing it again. "As long as you're treating," Kaoru agreed.

"I'm only treating you. Misao and Kamatari can pay for themselves."

"I think Misao's got a date with Aoshi," Kaoru remembered. And then because Kamatari didn't strike her as the physical type at all, she asked, "Does Kamatari do that kind of thing?"

"He and Tomoe go all the time," Kenshin assured her. "On second thought, maybe we shouldn't ask him. He gets all emotional whenever he says her name and if we go there-"

"He's going to start thinking about her," Kaoru cut in with dismay.

"And then talking about her," Kenshin continued.

"And he'll wind up crying," Kaoru finished. It had happened before. She couldn't have cereal for breakfast without a long teary spiel on how Tomoe loved Captain Crunch, and that sucked because her mind was always too jumbled to make anything else in the morning.

"I never thought it would get to the point where I flinch at the sound of my sister's name," Kenshin commented, leaning forward and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

They both thought for a moment.

"What about the zoo?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin shook his head. "They used to go there together before they started dating."

"The amusement park?"

"Their first date."

"The skating rink?" Kaoru tried.

"Tomoe used to work there over the summer."

"The park?"

Kenshin shook his head again. "He asked her to marry him in a park."

"How about we see a movie?"

"Their first kiss was in a movie theater."

"Bowling?"

Kenshin tossed some popcorn into his mouth. "They're both in the same bowling league."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. He was talking with his mouth full. "A museum?"

"Tomoe paints."

"The mall?"

"They love shopping together."

Kaoru gave up with a long sigh. "Jeez. Hopefully one of us will think of something later."

"If we don't, I'll pick you up at nine and Kamatari's gift'll be having the house to himself for a day while we go play laser tag."

"You're such a wonderful person," Kaoru said sarcastically. "Sounds like a plan though. What movie did you bring?"

"Jackie Chan seemed to fit your mood on the phone."

"I have moods on the phone?"

"You're pretty easy to read, Kaoru."

"Am I?" she asked, amused. She and Kenshin were getting along again, actually loose around each other. It probably had something to do with the lap incident. You had to feel comfortable around a guy whose lap you'd spent time in, that or you wanted to run every time you saw him. But she also remembered what Tomoe had said, about her being easy to read and that being bad. Why, why why did Kenshin's sister disapprove of her? Kamatari liked her well enough. Weren't married couples supposed to think alike after a while? Perhaps they hadn't been married long enough.

"You don't really want to wake up before nine just to go play laser tag," Kenshin was saying, "but because you're so desperate for my attention, you'll sacrifice your Saturday morning to hang out with me for the whole day."

Tomoe would probably come around. Smiling, Kaoru shook her head. "Why do I hang out with you again?"

"Because I beat Aoshi in rock-paper-scissors."

Kaoru laughed. "Is that how you two decide who drives Misao home?"

"Sure is. Her car dying really helped shift their relationship into gear," he said. Kaoru groaned at the sheer corniness of that pun, but he merely grinned at her and continued. "You know why she and Kamatari took two cars to the grocery store? So she can load the food into his car and then drive off in your car to see Aoshi."

"Leaving me to put the groceries away," Kaoru said, realizing the utter genius of Misao's plan. "I should've known. People don't go to the grocery store in heels and ballroom dresses." She sighed. "Ah well, I wasn't going anywhere with you coming over anyway."

"I still can't believe you made me cook dinner," Kenshin remembered indignantly, "I'm supposed to be the guest."

"You have to earn your keep," Kaoru defended her hostess skills.

"You sound like an old lady preaching at her forty year old son."

"Don't worry, Kenshin. You've got years until you're forty. Although it's really too bad about the thirty situation," she added.

"You suck. You know that, right?"

"It's all in the way you look at it," Kaoru said wisely, and ordered him to turn on the movie.

He grumbled, but let her have the last word and pressed the play button on the remote. She enjoyed being with Kenshin. It wasn't just the fact that their personalities clicked either. It was something she could feel between them, something she couldn't place. Yet. She was willing to find out, and she thought he was too, considering the abuse she'd rained down on him in the past. Oops.

"I've been really rotten to you," Kaoru reflected. "You must be the most tolerant man in the world. I don't know why you put up with me back then."

"Me either."

"Kenshin!" Kaoru protested.

"What? I was being honest!" He was laughing at her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Alright, alright. I lied when I said I was being honest. Are you happy now?"

"No," she said sulkily, happy all the same that he was teasing her.

"Fine. I'll never make you dinner again."

Kaoru's eyes widened. "I take it back. I'm happy! I'm enthusiastic! I'm on cloud nine!"

Kenshin laughed at her as the phone rang. They were both acting immature, both acting silly tonight. She really just wanted to kiss him, to kiss him and see what happened, feel how it turned out. But she didn't dare. So Kaoru stuck her tongue out at him and went into the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kaoru it's me," her sister whispered. "You've got to come to my apartment right now. Tom's drunk and he's scaring me."

"Call the cops," Kaoru said right away, because they could get there quicker than she could. Her sister lived a good forty-five minute drive south of her.

"No! I don't want to get him in trouble. And don't you call the cops either, or I swear I'll kill you later," her sister whispered fiercely.

"But-"

"Just get here! Please, Kaoru. You actually paid attention when Daddy taught us the Kamiya Kasshin style. I know you can help me control Tom. I only know enough to get by until you get here."

"Please, just call the cops," Kaoru pleaded.

"I can't. I love him. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Of course-"

"Then come quick, and don't call the house phone. Shit, he's coming out of the bathroom." Her sister hung up.

Kaoru hung up the phone.

"Is something wrong?" Kenshin asked from behind her.

Kaoru turned to him, resolution forming in her mind. She was positive she and her sister could restrain Tom, and that her sister could handle herself until Kaoru got there. Her father had seen to that when each of them had first started dating at sixteen. She'd do her sister a favor this time and not call the cops, but Tom was going to get it.

"Kaoru?" Kenshin asked.

"Tom's drunk and he's beating up my sister," she told him flatly, moving past him to find her purse and her car keys. "I have to go help her."

"Did she call the cops?" he asked in alarm.

"No. We've both got martial arts training," Kaoru said, grabbing a jacket from the hall closet. "I'm a lot better than her, but she'll be fine until I get there."

"Kaoru," he said, reaching out to grasp her wrist and arresting her motion. "Misao took your car. I'll drive you. Are you sure your sister can handle Tom? It'll take me a half hour to get there."

Kaoru nodded. "She may not have wanted it, but our father trained her well. Daddy," she remembered, "I should call him." She shook her head. "No. That's like calling the police. That's why she called me. Okay. Let's go."