Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim myself from disclaiming with this disclaimer therefore I am disclaimedly disclaimed. Yeeahhh... something like that...

Sobakasu

part 3

--Kaoru sild open the door and peeked into the room. "Kenshin, are you feeling okay? You're usually up and halfway through the laundry by now... Ummmm... Were you- talking to yourself?"--

Kaoru surveyed the room with curiosity. Kenshin was leaning up against the wall, not in a sleeping position, but cross-legged and fully awake. His bedding was still a mess, and he was still in his sleeping clothes. But she knew she had heard his voice a moment ago...

"Ahh, um, ah--" A wide-eyed rurouni glanced nervously back and fourth, from Kaoru to the young angel girl on the head of his futon. Oro! How to explain this one... ...? "Uh- Kaoru-dono... this- um-"

Satsuki was waving her arms wildly and pointing towards the door. "Shintaaaa! Talk to her, talk to her!"

"Oro?"

"Nooo, look thataway! I'm not here! Turn around, talk to Kaoru, baka! She. Can't. See. Meee!"

"Can't see- ...Waah! Um, Kaoru-dono-" Kenshin whirled around to face Kaoru, who was already kneeling on the floor beside him. She reached up and felt his forehead worriedly.

"Kenshin," she questioned him again ,"are you alright? Do you have a fever...? You act like you're seeing things... And I heard you talking in here just a minute ago."

Managing to form a smile on his face, Kenshin removed Kaoru's hand and gently placed it on her lap. "Nothing is wrong at all with this one, he must have just been talking in his sleep, that's all." He realized he was still holding onto her hand and reluctantly let go.

"Mm-hmm..." Kaoru did not look at all convinced. She sighed and stood up, looking down at the rurouni, concern and irritation filling her eyes. Oh, well. Whatever's up with him, it' s not like I'll get him to tell me anything... That idiot... always trying to keep everyone from worrying about him. I'll just have to watch him more closely and find out for myself. "Well, I want you to just take a break today. No chores or anything, got it? You've been acting really wierd lately..."

"Oro? This one isn't wierd."

"Yeah, right.", came a remark from the back of the room, but only Kenshin heard it.

Kenshin's head turned towards the angel girl with an exhasperated look. "You stay out of this."

"Ehhh..?" Kaoru raised one eyebrow and looked at Kenshin even more curiously. "Okay, that settles it. You should just lay back down... No, on second thought, I think you need to get out of this room. Why don't you go outside and get some fresh air? I'll make your bed for you..."

"But-!"

"No 'but's! Now I'm going to step outside this room while you get dressed, and I want you to relax today! Got it? No scrubbing floors, no heating baths, no market trips, no laundry... nothing! You get any stranger and we're going to see Megumi..." Oh, there is definately something going on with him... Kami, I hpoe he isn't going crazy... With a shiver, she shook the thought out of her head and exited the room.

Meanwhile, back behind the closed doorway, Kenshin turned around and glared at his sister.

Satsuki merely stared right back at him. "Nice going, mush-brain."

"What are you talking about? You should have told this one no one else could see or hear you! And you could've kept your mouth shut a while ago, too... "

"I was getting to that! Now, hurry up and change clothes so we can get out of here and talk where no one can hear us. I'll go and wait by the front gate." She began to walk away, but turned around and made one last comment. "..And you are wierd. There's no denying that fact."

Kenshin put on his rurouni face and answered in the most innocent voice possible, "Oro? Well , this one wonders where he picked that quality up from, eh, ne-chan?"

Satsuki stuck out her tounge at him and walked right out through the wall. "Scar-face!"

"Freckle-face!", he shot back. He then realized that he had just yelled that out loud and buried his face in his hand. Oro! She's rubbing off on me. Ohhh... please, don't let Kaoru-dono have heard that...

Outside at the gate, Satsuki leaned back and just smiled at the sky. Ah, sweet sibling rivalry. How I missed you so... Heheheh... Her smile faded and she began to contemplate what she was going to do about the current situation. Well... that was a great start... Shinta-chan's right, I realy do need to learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes... I wonder how long this is going to take? I have to hurry, though... every second things are out of order here, then that's another second gone awry in the future. It shouldn't be anything serious... Let's see... I think I'll have about one week, at the most. Shouldn't be too hard... After all, I don't actually have to make them fall in love, just to admit it. Hmm...

Kenshin finished tying his hakama and went off to get the fishing pole.

Almost immediately, Kaoru seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Kenshin, where are you going?" Suspicion filled her voice.

"Just fishing. This one can do that, can't he?", he said in his sweetest voice.

Kaoru sighed and gave up trying to argue. I guess fishing counts as relaxation... And he might get worse if he has nothing to do... "Alright... Have fun."

"Yes, Mommy."

Predictably, a bokken came flying straight at Kenshin's head. "Mou, Kenshin, you idiot! I dare you to call me that again!" Kaoru stormed off to the dojo, a frightening thought coming to her mind. AAaah! Oh no, I've rattled his brains even more!

Smiling, rubbing the back of his head - which now had a big lump on it-, and resisting the urge to laugh, Kenshin headed off to meet his sister.

end pt.3

(A/N) (holding a knife and a Sanosuke plushie) REVIEW! OR I'LL KILL THE ROOSTER-HEAD! ... ... ...I'll do it! I'm crazy! Grrrrr... (starts foaming at the mouth) ...-Gasp!- OH NO! I got drool on my plushie! T.T