Day 5

"Kaoru, wake up," Kaoru heard a soft voice say the next morning. She woke up and looked into a pair of warm, violet eyes. Kenshin smiled when he saw that she was awake.

Kenshin held out his bandaged left hand. Kaoru took it and he pulled her to her feet in one fluid move. Kaoru looked him over incredulously. He had gotten up and gotten dressed while she had still been asleep, with his right arm still in the sling! Kenshin smiled at the expression on her face.

"How did you get dressed? You didn't use your right arm, did you?" she asked in alarm.

"Can't a swordsman keep some secrets?" said Kenshin with a smile. He nodded toward the door. "Shall we?"

Kenshin led Kaoru out of the room and out onto the engawa. They sat down beside each other. Kaoru snuggled against Kenshin who put his left arm around her and held her close to him. They watched the sun rise together, enjoying the early autumn morning.

Megumi, who had come in through the front gate, came outside, having found the bedroom and house empty. She wanted to see if Kenshin's bandages had been changed yet. She rounded the corner and saw the couple sitting together, the picture of bliss. She decided the bandage change could wait a while and went inside to start breakfast.

Kaoru and Kenshin smelled cooking food. Kaoru looked back toward the kitchen.

"Megumi-dono's cooking breakfast. She's been here for about for 30 minutes," said Kenshin absently.

"That's nice," said Kaoru simply, wishing she could sense people the way Kenshin could.

Kenshin stood up and offered Kaoru his hand. They went in together and found that Megumi had laid out miso soup and fish for breakfast. The three ate together. After they were finished, Kenshin complimented Megumi highly as usual. Kaoru frowned. She wanted to be the one whose cooking Kenshin complimented, and meant it. He seldom said mean things about her cooking the way Sano and Yahiko did, but if they were to be man and woman together, she would have to be able to cook for him. Kaoru decided that she was going to teach herself to cook if it killed her.

Back in the bedroom, Megumi removed Kenshin's old bandages and checked his wounds. They were healing very nicely and there wasn't even a trace amount of blood coming from any of them. Megumi undid the sling and moved Kenshin's arm about, doing so carefully to avoid causing him any pain. His shoulder was healing very well too. The sling might be able to come off in two weeks instead of three.

"You're an amazing man, Ken-san," she said as she finished dressing the wounds in new bandages.

Kenshin smiled. He didn't think he was amazing, but didn't mind hearing his friends say it!

Megumi cleared Kenshin to start doing some light work around the dojo such as dusting and polishing. Kenshin sorely missed doing the laundry and sweeping, but it was nice to be functional again in some capacity. Kenshin did various one-handed jobs until noon. It was around then that he heard a string of muffled expletives coming from the kitchen.

Kenshin came in and found Kaoru, trying to chop vegetables for lunch and having a miserable time doing it. The damn things seemed to roll off the cutting tray on their own. Kaoru got so frustrated with an errant sweet potato, that she picked it up and was about to chuck it out the window, when Kenshin stopped her.

"What are you doing, dearest?" he asked her.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" snapped Kaoru. "I'm cooking!"

"It looks like you're mutilating these vegetables to me," said Kenshin, trying not to laugh.

"Kenshin, I'm in a bad mood and I'm holding a sharp knife," said Kaoru with an edge in her voice.

"What's the matter?" asked Kenshin. "Megumi-dono left plenty of..."

"That's what's the matter!" cried Kaoru, spinning around to face Kenshin, sharp knife in hand. "Megumi's doing all the cooking. I'm the one who loves you, not she! I'm going to learn to cook even if I blow up this dojo trying!"

"If you wanted to learn how to cook, why didn't you just say so?" asked Kenshin gently. "I would be happy to teach you."

"Really?" asked Kaoru, feeling badly for snapping at Kenshin and turning on him with a kitchen knife, yet another of her unwomanly shortcomings.

"Really," said Kenshin, pressing his body against Kaoru's and bringing up his good hand to cover her left. Kenshin guided Kaoru's hand over the potato and showed her how to hold it down.

"Now, cut into it slowly. Don't hack," said Kenshin.

For the rest of the hour, Kenshin gently and patiently instructed Kaoru on matters of the kitchen. Kaoru learned that the reason she had trouble with cooking was because of her lack of patience. She always tried to hurry through meal preparations, with unbecoming results. Kenshin showed her that cooking was something that must be done slowly and with great attention to detail.

Kaoru had always wanted to learn to cook. Her mother had died before she had been old enough to begin lessons. Megumi was a good cook, but Kaoru had never felt comfortable enough around her to ask, and Tae was too busy running the Akabeko every day. Finally she got what she had wanted her whole life, not from another woman, but from a man who had taken on many of the functions of a woman. Life was just full of ironies.

By the time the meal was prepared, Kaoru finally had a vague understanding of kitchen matters. Kenshin promised to teach her a bit more every day. Kaoru couldn't wait for the day when meal preparations came as easily to her as kata drills.

As promised, Sano dropped by that evening for dinner. Megumi, along with Aoshi, Misao and Yahiko joined them, being rather surprised at the food already being prepared, but said nothing of it. This was their first time eating together as a group since the start of the Revenge.

"Hey, Vixen this is some damn fine goya chanpuru," complimented Sano.

"Yeah. Thanks for doing all the cooking. With Kenshin outta commission, you're the only one who can cook decently around here," said Yahiko.

"Actually, I didn't cook this food," said Megumi. "Kaoru-chan did."

"Yeah, right," said Sano.

"Megumi-dono tells the truth. Kaoru-dono did indeed cook this meal," said Kenshin, backing Megumi up.

Sano, Yahiko and Misao gaped at Kaoru, who just smiled smugly and let the coals burn on the two fellows' heads. Kenshin smiled at her, happy that she was finally getting that monkey off her back. Sano and Yahiko ate the rest of the meal in silence, wondering how the hell Kaoru had learned to cook so well. Aoshi of course, said nothing.