Love Is…

Dishes When Its Late

By Seabreeze

A/N: So that was a cute chapter, and this one's a little more… saucy. Terrible, terrible word, but I just mean Kenshin and Kaoru acknowledge their hormones. Kinda. Yeesh, finally.

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

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Love is joy and love is pain

Its kissing in the rain

Its doing dishes when its late

Isn't it, baby?

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Kaoru sighed, crossing her arms impatiently as her husband bought tofu in the tofu shop behind her. He had told her to wait outside, that he would be right out, but it had already been 15 minutes. What could possibly be taking so long? It was only tofu. They had already spent far too much time in the town, and the sun was starting to set and dark clouds were gathering.

"You better hurry up, Kenshin, or we're going to be walking home in the rain." She grumbled, shifting a large bag of rice from one hand to the other. She cursed their decision to still go to the city, despite having to leave in the early evening. They would have left earlier, had it not been for Sano and his ridiculous gambling addiction. It had gotten him into trouble – again – and he had been forced to hide out at the Kamiya dojo while Kenshin and Kaoru 'protected' him. He could've easily taken care of himself, she mused moodily, but he had promised the fox-lady that he wouldn't get into any more pointless brawls.

And so, of course, Kenshin and Kaoru had been quite late for their bi-weekly walk to the market. And now Kenshin was taking positively forever in the tofu shop. Frustrated, Kaoru stormed inside to find her husband and drag him out by his gorgeous red mane.

"Himura Kenshin!" she yelled, coming up to him, hands on her hips. "It has been nearly 20 minutes, an all we needed was a pound of tofu! What on earth are you –"

She was cut off when she realized that Kenshin was talking with someone who looked like a very important member of the government. She let her tyrade die out as a blush stole over her cheeks.

"Shimazu, this is my wife, Himura Kaoru." Kenshin said to the man after an awkward moment of silence. He pulled her toward him, putting a calming hand on the small of her back. "Kaoru, this is Shimazu Nariakira, a reformist in the Meiji Restoration." Kaoru felt her eyes grow huge.

"The Shimazu Nariakira?" she asked, voice hoarse. The man, a tall and wizened and certainly imposing character, gave her a stiff smile. Shimazu Nariakira had been a powerful radical politician, who had recruited a samurai in Kagoshima, a man named Saigo Takamori, who eventually became the commander of the Imperial Army. He was renowned, loved by imperialists and hated by loyalists. Kaoru had heard Sano go off on him more than once, and had heard contemporaries of Kenshin praise his efforts. Meeting him in person at a tofu shop was a little overwhelming.

"It is a pleasure to meet the lovely wife of an old friend. However, I see I am keeping you and your husband from returning home on such a night, so I bid you adieu." He said politely to Kaoru. Still in awe, she could only bow politely. "Himura, be expecting my letter soon." He nodded in farewell, and left them standing together and watching him leave. After a moment, Kaoru let out a small squeak.

"Umm," she said, voice breaking. "Sometimes I wish you didn't have friends in such high places." Kenshin chuckled, though his mind was obviously on the conversation she had interrupted. He gently pressured her forward.

"We should start heading home before it rains, that we should." Was all he said.

"Kenshin? What did he want? Why's he writing you a letter?" Kaoru asked, worried that this would be another Okubo incident. Kenshin frowned.

"I'm not sure yet." He replied as they stepped outside. "Can I take the rice?" he offered, and Kaoru absentmindedly handed the heavy bag to him. They walked together side by side, both deep in contemplation. Kaoru didn't want Kenshin to have to leave her ever again, but she had a bad feeling about that Nariakira man. After five minutes, Kenshin interrupted her thoughts.

"There's no reason to frown just yet, Kaoru," he said affectionately, voice warm. Kaoru gave him a weak smile.

"The 'yet' part is what I'm worried about," she said, and when only replied by putting a hand on her shoulder, she knew he was worrying too. The moment was broken by a low rumble of thunder in the sky. "Uh oh," Kaoru intoned, as a fat drop of water hit her smack on the nose. Kenshin chuckled, wiping it off for her gently. The drops began to fall with more frequency, and within 30 seconds it was pouring. Kaoru let out a yelp and immediately huddled in towards Kenshin, who pulled an umbrella out of seemingly nowhere and opened it up above them triumphantly. Arm around Kaoru's waist, he ran them over to the side of the road to wait until it stopped raining. Unfortunately, as they both found out, the umbrella had not one but four large, ragged holes. Kaoru glanced up through soaked bangs to glare at Kenshin. He seemed in no better condition, his long red hair sticking to his face and shoulder, but he grinned at her. Then, to her annoyance, he began chuckling, which eventually led to a stomach-clutching chortle. Kaoru merely narrowed her eyes at him, arms crossed over her soaked kimono. He set the bags of tofu and rice down on the ground as he caught his breath, and then looked up to smile at her. Kaoru felt but did not let it show that her resolve was thinning; he hardly ever smiled like that, so freely and completely.

"I'm sorry, dearest," he said, voice tender and filled with a grin. "You look like a drowned mouse." Kaoru scoffed giving him the I-really-don't-think-this-is-a-laughing-matter look, and he ran a thumb down the side of her cheek. "Its rather adorable, actually." He added softly, and the moment had gone from humorous to intimate. She suddenly noticed how appealing he looked, soaked to the bone. Water dripped from the strands of hair in front of his eyes onto his nose, and settled temptingly on his lips. He, too, seemed to be noticing these same things about her, and without hesitation pressed a kiss on her lips.

"Oh, don't think that's gonna get you out of trouble for calling me a drowned mouse," she said brattily, though clearly it would. He dropped the umbrella completely and began kissing her between her words as she continued to lecture him. "Not that you look anything less than a soaked cat yourself, Kenshin." He continued to kiss her. "And don't even get me started –" but he had finally captured her lips and shut her up. When he pulled back enough for her to get a breath, she muttered a breathy, "oh, to hell with it" before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back vigorously. His arms went around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground so they could reach each other, and they continued enjoying one another as the rain fell down on them. When it finally calmed down, they broke apart, and he settled her feet back on the ground. He could help but laugh at her once again, lips swollen and red, and kissed her on the forehead before picking up the useless umbrella and the bags of food again.

"Lets get home," he said, voice rougher and deeper than usual. "You're starting to shiver." He handed her the bag of tofu and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, offering comfort and warmth as they continued home.

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By the time they arrived home, it was nearly midnight and both had agreed without words that they would take a hot bath as soon as everything was settled. Kaoru felt herself shiver in anticipation – until she entered the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks, letting the tofu slide to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Kenshinnnnnn," she whined. Kenshin, two rooms over, groaned to himself.

"That doesn't sound good," he called back, locking the door to the dojo and heading into the kitchen.

"I get the feeling Sanosuke was here after we left," Kaoru said levelly as Kenshin entered the kitchen to find the giant washing tub overfilling with dirty dishes. He oro'd, dropping the rice coincidentally right beside where Kaoru had dropped the tofu.

"He must've had a party," he said in disbelief. With a sigh, he sat himself down to begin washing it. "I guess our bath is postponed to another rainy night. You go take one, Kaoru, I know you're freezing." He sighed again, obviously having been looking forward to a late-night soak with his wife. Kaoru rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid, you're just as cold as I am, and plus, you're an old man. If anyone should be taking that bath, it should be you. But I know you won't, so let's just do the dishes together and get it over with." Kenshin glared at her jokingly.

"I am not old," he said indignantly as they began washing in unison. "I'm only 29."

"Yes, that's almost – " a jaw-cracking yawn interrupted the thought " – 30." Kenshin surveyed his young wife with a tender flash in his eyes.

"And you, my little 'hag', are tired. Go to bed."

"Just because I'm ten years younger than you doesn't mean I'm a baby! I'm finishing these dishes with you whether you like it or not!" she snapped grumpily, and Kenshin smiled to himself as he went back to work.

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A/N: I think that's gotta be my favorite thing I've ever written. And it might be because I have the song on repeat while I write, but I HIGHLY suggest you listen to it as you read. Unless its not your kinda music, but its so sweet. Come on.

OK, the Nariakira guy is real. I did research, be proud of me. Its probably completely wrong, but hey.

Thank You's:

Sims are awesome – glad you like it, hope its not too fluffy. And I think you get more into Kenshin's mind in the next chapter, but its kinda angsty-fluffy, a little.

Chibikenshin6490 – I'm glad you liked it! I hope you like this chapter as well!

RK-128 – yeah, but I hate cheese though! Its embarrassing! I was in a mood, what can I say… for like the majority of this series. Eh. No teasing. Learn Milk! Mademoiselle Chaos! "It was a Chicos kind of day…" creepy arm on young cowboy's shoulder 3

Royal blueKitsune – heh heh thanks, there will be plenty of fluffyness in this mini-series to satisfy you, I am thinking. Thanks for the review.

Vashsunglasses – yay for seishouhen fics! I'm glad you like this so far and I hope you enjoy this chapter and future chapters as well.

Clemen – thank you, I hope you, too, enjoy this and future chapters. Thanks for the review.