Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki.

A/N: For White Rabbit Tale, who requested an Aoshi/Kaoru, with prompt "twelve" as the incentive. Oh, guh, AM gods, don't scowl down upon me. :D

God. Let me tell you right now, folks, when you've written nothing but Aoshi/Misao for about a year (save for one Saitou/Misao, and that was just recently, too), it's an adventure trying to write another pairing. I love the requests. I love the strange pairings. I love the readers. –is incoherent-

Enjoy!

Aoshi/Kaoru: Twelve

Twelve.

Shinomori Aoshi thought very much that twelve was his lucky number.

Twelve years was an awfully long time.

It had taken twelve years for Kamiya Kaoru and himself to have a decent conversation.

Twelve years of stuttered hellos, clumsy bows, and awkward exchanges of festivities had paid off in the end, at last triggering an unexpected, but pleasant, talk.

"Kamiya-san."

"Eh? Ah, it's only you, Shinomori-san."

Aoshi's eyes had twinkled, if not only for a fleeting second.

"Only?"

"Agh. Sorry, didn't mean that quite the way it sounded."

"It's fine."

"What brings you down here anyway, Shinomori-san? Have you finished meditating?"

"My tea," he had deadpanned. Kaoru paled.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, Shinomori-san, I completely forgot!"

"Quite all right, I'll get it myself. Might as well, it would be troubling you."

"Oh, no, it's really no trouble at all! Let me bustle up a cup for you!"

"…All right."

Twelve weeks after the initial banter, their relationship had been brought up a notch.

Kaoru had left the Kamiya dojo to come move into the Aoiya, opting to leave the dojo to Yahiko. Misao had been delighted.

"Aoshi-san…"

"Yes?"

"I don't like living two days' journey away from you."

"Is that so."

"What, you don't care?"

"I didn't say that."

"So…"

"So?"

"So… you're going to move in with me! Okay?"

A rather loud spitting of tea.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. Don't you think it would be fun?"

"Living. With you."

"Mm-hmm!"

"At your dojo."

"Yep."

"With Battousai, Sagara, and Myojin."

"You got it."

"Kaoru-san?"

"Mm?"

"There is nothing in the world that would make me want to live with those three."

"Not even me?"

Silence.

"Not even me?"

"… Do I have to answer honestly?"

"Excuse me?"

"Only joking."

"That's nothing to joke about, darling dearest."

"Fine. I'm sorry."

"And…?"

"I apologize, Kaoru-san, but I absolutely refuse to live with those monstrosities."

"Monstrosities? I think not!"

"One wears pink, one spends his free time ogling at the ladies at the Akabeko, and one's going through the throes of puberty."

"…I see your point."

"So you will come live at the Aoiya?"

"Fine."

There had been several fights along the way, the twelfth of which had been particularly memorable.

And not just because it had been centered on the topic of lawn gnomes.

"Aoshi, don't be an idiot!"

"What are you talking about, Kaoru?"

"Out of the question."

"And why?"

"We are NOT getting that decorative kodachi ornament for OUR backyard!"

"WHY NOT? It's perfectly nice!"

"Why not that waterfall? Or the fairies?"

"KODACHI."

"FAIRIES."

"That's an idiotic idea!"

"You did NOT just call my idea STUPID."

"You're impossible!"

"ME?"

"JUST… FINE. WE'LL GET THE FAIRIES. HAPPY?"

They hadn't spoken to each other for weeks.

On June twelfth, Shinomori Kaoru walked out of the chapel with an arm looped around her husband's.

Aoshi looked down at Kaoru's beaming face and cracked a small smile of his own.

Yes, he mused. Twelve is indeed my lucky number.

A/N: Oh lordy, White Rabbit Tale, I hope this was to your liking. Requests are still open, so review, and send them in:D