NOTE: GO READ THE LAST CHAPTER AGAIN IF YOU HAVEN'T BEFORE I MADE IMPORTANTl CHANGES IN THERE JUST NOW!

Hello again!

I'm so glad the imagery of Cowboy Bebop's setting can be merged into this story, I felt like I wasn't doing enough.

I hope we're all pulling through during this isolation period. It really do be starting to be a downer, no?

Well, enjoy this piece and take your mind off things for a minute.

Happy reading! UwU

'This idea of you following me everywhere is really starting to get old. I can do this by myself you know!'

'And risk the horrors of grocery shopping befall on you? Never!'

Kaoru sneered at her escort and shoved a bag of fruit into his arms. Kenshin staggered back, startled by the sudden impact. She gave him a sweet smile and winked.

'Alright, dear protector of mine. Defend me from the piercing blades of the pineapple top while I go hunting for blood-sucking eggplants!'

Kenshin sighed and gave her an easy but wary smile.

'Very funny Kaoru-dono~'

She gave him an annoyed look and stuck her tongue at him, before heading on her way through the market district. Kenshin closely followed behind her, humming to himself and enjoying the sights and scents of the market.

It had been an awful while since he and Sanosuke settled in any sector for more than a week, talk less of enjoying the luxury of visiting more than a bar, pub, club motel or the police station. In the over two weeks they had spent in Tokyo they had been to cafes, pharmacies, markets and restaurants. Sanosuke had even told him of an onsen place they should check out before they left.

Kenshin's insides squirmed at the reality of leaving, and the reason was right in front of him haggling prices for duckling meat. Kaoru was the reason he could come to appreciate some of the finer things in life a little more, and it was more than a shame that he eventually had to leave her. He smiled as she played every trick in the haggling book to bring the prices down - from seduction to near-threats - and she smiled smugly when the shopkeeper relented and gave her the small carton of meat. She blushed when some lamb chops were thrown in on the house before shyly blowing him a kiss and hurrying away. Kenshin bit his tongue to keep from laughing and hurried after her.

'You're a strange kind of flirt, Kaoru-dono,' he teased with a mischievous look in his eye. 'You wink like a lover and run like a maiden. The perfect little tease.'

She spun on her heels to glare at him, her eyes narrowed to slits. She would have been threatening, but the dusted pink on her cheeks made that impossible. His smug grin gave way for an easy smile at just how adorable she looked and leaned down enough to look her in the eye.

'I am not a tease! You take that back!'

'No,' he retorted cheekily and stood upright again. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off leaning over the vegetable display of the stall they were in front of. 'What was it you said again about blood-sucking egg-plants?' He called out curiously, closely examining the purple vegetables put out on the sale.

'Well look at that~' cooed the shop keeper, a young woman with hair streaked blonde and blue. 'Are you interested in buying my vegetables, handsome?'

'Yes please,' Kenshin bowed politely, before turning to a still fussing Kaoru. 'How many would you like to buy?' She gave him a grudging look and looked away with a small pout.

'A dozen,' she mumbled quietly then bowed politely to the shop keeper. 'Anima-chan, good afternoon.'

'Kamiya-san!' The shop keeper fussed excitedly and bowed on realising who Kenshin's company was. She gave them both a huge smile. 'Ojii-chan said he saw you a while back, how are you?'

'I'm good, thank you,' Kaoru managed a small smile. 'Can you add some spring onions and potatoes to that? Thank you, and my best to ojii-san, yes?'

'Always!' the colourful haired young woman made busy to pack a generous helping of twelve huge eggplants. She pouted playfully as she handed the bag to Kenshin. 'I was gonna charge you extra handsome, but you're lucky you're with Kamiya-san.'

'You hear that, Kenshin? Lucky. Luckyy~' Kaoru drawled out smugly, sneering at him. Kenshin gave the blonde a helpless smile, and the woman giggled.

'I suppose I am Kamiya-san. Wouldn't you agree, Anima-chan?' he declared melodramatically before winking at the said shop keeper. Kaoru's heart missed half a second at the way Kenshin referred to her before she rolled her eyes.

'Thank you, Anima-chan,' she gave a quick bow and sweet smile as she paid for the vegetables, before casually dumping her box of duckling meat on Kenshin. 'We move.' Without sparing him another glance she spun on her heels and went off again. Kenshin winced and smiled at Anima one last time before running after her.

Kaoru opted to ignore him for the remainder of their rounds through the market. Kenshin knew better than to push her too far and so chose to silently endure the silent treatment and manual labour of being her shopping carrier in good faith. They went around for a good one hour before they were done and after prosed pleading from a seemingly worn samurai, Kaoru ordered a delivery cab to take her shopping home. The hovering scooter disc met them at the park where they sat in record time, and soon the AI cab had relieved Kenshin of all the goods.

Silence settled on the bench where they sat before Kenshin sighed.

'I'm sorry for calling you Kamiya-san.'

'Did I tell you I was mad about that?' Kaoru said dryly, crossing her arms in front of her. Kenshin gulped silently, before trying again.

'Okay... I'm sorry for calling her Anima-chan?'

'Why are you sorry about that? Did I tell you that mattered to me?'

Kenshin, dejected, hung his head and let out a heavy sigh, while Kaoru hung her head back over the bench's backrest and let out a quiet whistle.

'Hey, are you hungry?' The redhead looked at her in surprise. She was staring at him with a calm and neutral expression, a brow raised in waiting for his answer. Worried about angering her with something he said, he nodded and smiled. 'Alright...' She pursed her lips and shrugged. 'Okay. Let's go back into the market, I saw some really nice snacks on sale.'

Soon the two were in the market, and while Kaoru browsed the sweet-flavoured aisle of the snack lined street, Kenshin lingered on the savoury aisle opposite, watching her focused on inspecting the foods. She was stern with getting what she wanted yet sweet and polite in making requests. Kenshin didn't know when a smile crawled onto his face from staring. Leaving the sector eventually was inevitable, but he would surely miss the feisty but sweet sensei most of all.

He almost didn't notice the skulking boy far down his own aisle diligently watching her as well. Kenshin narrowed his eyes. So the boy eventually got lured out by the seemingly apparent tension between them. He had been following them all day but was good enough to not let himself be obvious. The squabble had let him lower his guard down. He clearly wasn't expecting Kenshin to still be vigilant after the silent treatment he had received all day. Kenshin busied himself with the task of shopping for a savoury snack, letting everything else play out from there.

Kaoru sighed as she stuffed a mochi into her mouth and inspected a pack of pocky. She frowned when she noticed one of them had expired and pointed it out to the shop-keeper, asking for another set to observe. She glanced over her shoulder and sighed when Kenshin had stopped observing her, before taking her purse out to pay for all the snacks she had bought. The next events all happened so quickly.

As Kaoru busied through her bag for the nearly exact amount to pay the vendor, the skulking boy dashed for her like a phantom, quickly slipping from corner to shadow like a ghost. As she brought out just the amount the boy was already reaching for her hand. Kaoru hadn't even hesitated, apparently oblivious that she was about to be robbed blind in a second. But the thieving hand never made it for her purse - or was it the money in her hand - before a firm and steady grip on the wrist stopped the stalker in his tracks.

Kaoru smiled as the shop-keeper collected her payment and handed her the change, never once turning to see what had just transpired right beside her. She quickly checked her receipt and coin change in her hand, before neatly placing it in her purse and bringing out a Pocky stick from the paper bag. She opened one and shoved a mint coloured piece in her mouth, before smiling and turning to her right to offer the young boy a red piece.

'Would you like some, Myojin-kun?'

...

Yahiko Myojin liked to think he had never known fright in his entire life.

He had had it rough from a really young age, and his hide quickly hardened against the horrors of the world so that he could survive in it.

But fear seized his heart at that moment when he looked into the amethyst eyes that seemed to shimmer to gold under the sun. They belonged to the only man who had ever caught him red-handed in his entire career as a street kid. He swallowed hard and looked away to see that the young woman he had been following seemed unbothered by it all. She carried on with her transaction to purchase snacks as if she hadn't been about to be robbed blind. As if her would-be robber hadn't been stopped dead in her tracks by the man she had been with all day.

She soon turned her attention to him though, offering him a Pocky stick with the warmest smile ever, as if he had been one of the younger, more miserable street kids who could only beg - they being too young to do grunt work. Even her rescuer was surprised by her response, his grip slackening ever so slightly on his wrist. It was all too much for the boy's heart. So Yahiko did what any street kind with half a brain would've done.

He bolted.

He heard the red-head curse as he pulled his way out of the slackened hold before he could be held again. Yahiko was running blind, desperate to get away from them all and equally dreading how he would report back to the gang at the hideout. He glanced back briefly; much to his dismay the two were hightailing after him, slowed down only by the fear of upsetting people's activities. Yahiko seized that opportunity and weaved through a busy street where hawker, shopping carriers and labourers busied about with tons of goods. He was careful to not upset the goods either, as a fellow respecter of the hustle, but the people chasing him were no match for the streets. The girl wouldn't be able to make her way through and even if the redhead had a history with the streets, his size rendered it impossible to manoeuvre about as efficiently as Yahiko could. He glanced back again after weaving through an endless path of moving brown boxes and relief flooded him when he saw that he had lost the Kaoru and Kenshin was too far behind to keep up.

Looking back had been his mistake.

Yahiko slammed into something near-rock solid and found his face implanted into the bandaged, chiselled abdomen of a very tall person. A large hand took root in his spiky black hair and peeled his face away from the abdomen, before pulling him up to eye-level. Young, light brown cat eyes met intense and matured dark brown ones, and Sanosuke smirked smugly at the look of terror and pain that was all over the boy's face.

'Short, catty-eyes, tan and hair that looks like it could impale an apple.' Sanosuke's smirk grew and he leaned to the side to wave at Kenshin and Kaoru as they finally caught up. 'I was right!' He then glanced to the side over his shoulder at the coffee house beside him. He smiled when he saw the name of the cafe, before looking back at his companions and calling out. 'Hey, can we grab a coffee? My treat!'

For a brief second, I thought I had lost this piece. I was in shock, then I refreshed and here it was.

Enter Myojin-kun! I'm so excited he gets inside the plot. And I'm beyond happy I updated this quickly. I mean it is kinda short, and I'm sorry but the coronavirus stuff is getting to me so hard, with the paranoid of being locked in and what it generally means for the world in the nearest possible future.

But when has dread or anything else stopped me from doing anything I wanna do?

A lot, actually. Teehee.

But yeah I'm here now, and so pumped about this story as always. I hope you had fun reading.

Oh, and don't forget to review please! Byeee =UwU=