Chapter Six

Lunch: The Story of a Near Heartbreak

After holding a modest, close friends and family only, funeral, Sanosuke and Kaoru stayed in their father's apartment a while longer, both taking some time off from university and work. The morning of the said funeral, Kenshin had offered to stay with the pair, however, the siblings had adamantly insisted that he wasn't needed. Sano even went as far as saying that at least the redhead should keep his job and support the three of them, just in case himself and Kaoru got fired for staying in recluse for so long. In the end, the young lawyer had caved in and left the siblings alone to their own sorrow. Of course, with a promise of being a phone call away at all times

In his will, their father left the flat they grew up in, to both of his children. Neither Kaoru nor her brother quite knew what to do with the newly gained property, but it didn't take long for them to come to a conclusion that at least for now, selling it was out of the question. It probably wasn't the smartest of decisions, but for now, they simply couldn't bring themselves to part with the flat which held so many fond memories of their childhood and their teenage years.

... ∽∾●∾∼ ...

For some reason, there was an unfamiliar ache in Kaoru's chest as she boarded the train, ready to come back to the life she had built for herself in once an unfamiliar city with Kenshin in it. The young woman simply couldn't stop thinking about the two graves Sano and her visited right before leaving – the freshly dug grave of their father and the one belonging to their mother, a grave which had settled already so long ago.

There were so many flowers on their father's grave that, to Kaoru, it reminded her of a morbid, yet especially beautiful garden. Koshijiro had been a good person who had so many friends that he could hardly count them. With only a small fraction of them being actually able to visit their dear friend's funeral, every single one of them sent a large obligatory banquet of flowers with a card expressing their regret at Koshijiro's untimely passing, added to it. However, few of the previously mentioned banquets came without any note attached to them and those just happened to be Kaoru's favourites, simply because the senders had spared her the annoyance of being forced to read another cliché line.

And then there was that wretched smell. It clung to Kaoru's skin for dear life ever since the funeral. She despised that sickeningly sweet stench so bad that, to be completely honest, the dark-haired woman doubted she could ever look at any flower the same.

But maybe she wasn't being fair. Those people obviously meant well and if she had to express her condolences to a person mourning their loved one, Kaoru wasn't sure she would've been any wiser and stuck to the socially accepted cliché.

Then there was their mother's grave.

In comparison to their father's, it had seemed so bare, the only flowers placed on it being the ones, her children brought. It seemed as if her death had been forgotten by the world and imagining her father's, even her own death, forgotten the same way made a chill go down Kaoru's spine. She was afraid to be forgotten.

... ∽∾●∾∼ ...

It was the middle of the day when Sanosuke dropped her off at her apartment. The flat was empty when she returned, with Kenshin obviously still at work and only the dust merrily dancing in the bright sunlight beaming through the windows. Without any hesitation, the young woman swiftly crossed the living room, not bothering to take off her shoes at the door, went onto the balcony and, as if on reflex, lit a cigarette.

However, she never brought it to her lips. The bright-eyed woman just kept an eye on the cigarette as it wasted away and turned to ash, until only the bud of it was left. In its own way, Kaoru witnessed the short life of a cigarette, as if paying a tribute to the death itself, as well as to the overwhelming fear she just couldn't shake off.

Realising the pointlessness of her action, Kaoru lit another cigarette, except she took a drag of this one, but no longer felt the pleasure her daily dose of nicotine always provided her with.

... ∽∾●∾∼ ...

By the time Kenshin unlocked the door to the apartment he and his girlfriend shared, it was already late in the evening and the lonely moon changed the sun in the presence of which every living thing relished. He found Kaoru seated on the sofa in the living room area, with a box of delivery pizza on her knees. She was still nibbling on the first slice while watching some dumb reality show on TV. The red-haired man was beyond glad to see her clad in a pair of grey sweats and a dark blue, almost black, t-shirt, as opposed to that dreadful formal black attire he had last seen her clothed in.

A small tired smile played on his lips as Kenshin took off his suit jacket, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, sat down next to her and started eating pizza out of the box on her lap.

"I'm going to be okay, you know." Kaoru surprised him by speaking over the two women screaming on the TV screen.

"What?" Kenshin turned to her, asking before being able to process the meaning of her words. His own question sounded muffled and not clear at all, due to the cheesy goodness he had stuffed his mouth full of, only moments before.

"Even if it hurts right now, I'm going to be okay after a while." The sapphire-eyed woman sitting next to him clarified.

Kaoru didn't glance at her boyfriend while she talked, even though she could feel his eyes boring into her face, searching for something yet being unable to find it. Soon, he gave up and followed her suit, gluing his eyes to a brain-numbing, yet incredibly entertaining reality TV show.

... ∽∾●∾∼ ...

Just as Kaoru said, it took a while, but both she and Sanosuke moved o with their lives. The young woman even ended up quitting smoking, though it was a hard and long process. The reason behind it, however, seemed stupid even to herself – her fear of dying. It even made Kaoru laugh, as living in the big city was already dangerous enough and, seemingly, had nothing on smoking, but it was her way of fighting death.

One night, she had told about it to Kenshin, expecting the man to tease her to no end, but he hadn't. He just smiled softly while running his fingers through her hair and commented on how much he loved the light aroma of her jasmine perfume lingering in their bedroom, instead of the previously always-present cigarette smoke.

Sano, on the other hand, just returned to his old annoying and free-spirited self. Though one couldn't claim that Sanosuke's character remained completely unchanged either. From time to time he would display the new-found matureness in a setting one would expect him to goof off, as his father's death made him realise one simple thing – he wasn't a child anymore.

It also made him recall his mother's death much clearer and all of the pain, which was erased by his childish mind to protect itself. Just as if it had happened yesterday, the tall man could see the grief and desperation filling his father's eyes, strangers clad in black clothes filling their flat, hear his sister cry her eyes out as his own wails joined it.

Once, Sano asked Kaoru if she remembered anything of the sort. Though he didn't expect much, he was still disappointed to hear that his little sister didn't recall as much as their mother's voice. She had probably read the sorrow off his face, as her next statement was an apology. And though he felt guilty for making Kaoru torture herself over an unnecessary thing, he continued to try and jog her memory by asking unimportant things about their mother. However, Kaoru still didn't remember a single thing about the woman, hence he shared his most precious memories of her.

The following week, Kenshin asked Kaoru out on a series of rushed lunches and fancy dinners, which were quite unusual considering the fact that on most of their date nights the pair had always preferred to stay in and watch a film, rather than go out.

Having lunch on a work day wasn't a common occurrence either. After all, they simply were far too busy to allow themselves such luxury. Most of the time, the red-haired man would spend his day either in court or his office and end up getting a takeout delivered to him, while the bright-eyed female would just grab a bite in a café nearby her university with whomever she ended up encountering there. Not seeing each other before reuniting at home to spend a quiet night in, had become a routine to them at that point. Though it wasn't an ideal arrangement, the pair was content with how things had panned out and didn't really see the need to change anything.

On the first day, the couple ended up having their lunch on a park bench. Though, to be completely honest, it wasn't even that much of a lunch as they only ate croissants from a café Kenshin drove by on his way. Their schedules weren't kind to them that day and forced the pair apart only after half an hour spent together.

At the time, Kaoru interpreted it as a one-time whim, and though it was completely out of character for Kenshin to do, she didn't over analyse it. That is, until the red-head unexpectedly asked her to have lunch with him again the next morning. With a bit more planning involved, they were able to spend a bit more time together and not only buy a meal at a fast food joint, but even finish it.

As the second week started off with the same requests, Kaoru was beyond suspicious. All those fancy restaurants and rushed lunches weren't normal for them, she couldn't help herself but wonder if their relationship hit the rocks. And it didn't help even a slightest bit that her boyfriend seemed to become more and more jittery with every single meal they shared. As if he wanted to tell her something, but never could bring himself to do it.

Everything led the bright-eyed woman to one conclusion – her boyfriend was going to dump her. Though she didn't want to turn her life into a teen drama, where breaking up with significant other was usually portrayed as the end of the world, but she felt crushed. She really thought that they had a thing together – a thing that could have lead them to bigger things, especially after all this time they had known each other.

It caused a dull ache in Kaoru's chest. She hated the fact that he was leading her on for such a long time.

... ∽∾●∾∼ ...

She thought about all of those things during an early morning run on the weekend of the second week. It was quite an unusual occurrence for the young female to be up before her boyfriend, and she would've loved to have stayed in their bed frolicking between the sheets if not for that damned insomnia caused by so much worrying.

At the very end of her route, Kaoru made up her mind not to let this go on any longer. As Kenshin seemed to be uncappable of doing starting a conversation regarding the end of their relationship, Kaoru was perfectly fine with taking matters into her own hands and doing it for him.

To her surprise, Kaoru found Kenshin in the kitchen, wearing only his underwear and making himself a cup of coffee. Kenshin was surprised to see her too, as his eyes grew to the size of the saucers once the young woman emerged from the doorway. Probably, he assumed that she had wandered off to the bathroom and just hadn't bothered to check and prove himself wrong.

"Coffee?" The redhead pointed to his own cup, having just brewed it.

Kaoru replied with a shake of her head, afraid that she might chug the boiling liquid at him once the cup was in her hands. Kenshin just smiled at her, confusion evident his raised brows and slightly wrinkled nose. It wasn't like her to refuse something she loved as much as coffee.

"Breakfast?" He tried again, but got himself the same reply.

Writing it off as Kaoru being in an extremely bad mood, Kenshin decided to not be in her way for the next few hours and try talking to her then, however, before he got the chance to go through with it the woman next to him spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." The redhead cocked his head, looking straight into the young female's eyes as hers bore into his own.

"What's been going on with you for the last few weeks?" She didn't hesitate and went straight to the point. In her mind, she repeated that it's better to do it quickly. Kaoru tried to believe that this will be just like ripping off a band-aid – the faster you do it, the less it hurts.

"What do you mean?" Kenshin tried to feign ignorance, surprised by her question. Unfortunately, his mask had been poorly constructed, hence Kaoru easily saw through it.

"Don't play stupid." Truly, she tried to make her voice sound harsh, but the desperation took over and the words came out a lot weaker than she expected them to.

"You're getting the wrong idea." Kenshin whispered softly while reaching out for her cheek, realising that his plan had gone a bit less than exactly as he wanted it to.

"Am I?" She easily dodged his fingers, turning away and no longer even looking at her boyfriend.

Despite his best efforts not to seem patronising, a small understanding smile appeared on the redhead's lips as he looked at the woman in front of him. If he would have had even the slightest idea that such a misunderstanding would arise, he wouldn't have been such a coward, wouldn't have looked for a perfect moment when he knew very well that timing will always seem off.

"I can prove it, just give me fifteen minutes."

Kaoru didn't respond at all, didn't even nod or shake her head just stared at him, as if she was seeing the man for the first time.

"Kaoru..." Kenshin gently touched her shoulder, trying to pull her in for a hug.

"Okay." The woman agreed quietly while trying to break out of his hold. The red-haired man just threw another smile her way, before making his way to their shared bedroom.

Kaoru spent those fifteen minutes, which seemed like an eternity to her, pacing around the living room. Her palms began to sweat from the overwhelming fear of the inventible. She tried to prepare herself for the sight of her boyfriend's bags stuffed with his clothes, that velvety voice of his proclaiming that he will spend the night at his friend's and return to collect his things in the next few days.

However, she became extremely confused when the said man came out of their bedroom wearing a suit and the same nervous look on his face.

"This isn't how I expected it to be." Kenshin admitted while awkwardly smiling up at her.

It took mere seconds for him to cross the distance separating the pair, kneel in front of her on one knee, gently grab Kaoru's hand and briefly wonder what an uncomfortable position it was, as the coffee table was digging into his right side.

"Kamiya Kaoru," he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the words which were supposed to follow. "Will you marry me?"

Uncontrollable tears flooded the young woman's eyes. Swiftly, she yanked her hand out of his and started furiously wiping the fallen tears.

"Is that a no?" Kenshin smiled fearfully.

"I should've taken a shower." Kaoru muttered while continuing to cry just as hard.

"Pardon?"

"I should have taken a shower. Now I'm all sweaty and you get to wear a suit." She choked out. "It's not fair."

"So, is that a yes?"

"Of course, it is."

Kenshin embraced the crying woman in front of him, whispering words of love she was unable to make out due to the fact that he himself was laughing like a madman.

AN: It's been a very long time since I updated (by my standards for this fanfic), and I apologise for that. I'd like to blame it all on school, but to be completely honest, so far it's been a lot more manageable than last year, yet I'm updating less frequently. I've been in a slump with this fic for quite a while now and I couldn't seem to write anything I would deem worthy of uploading. I'm still not completely out of it and I can't say that I particularly like this chapter either, but I felt like I needed to upload this. However, there's no need to worry. I've written primary drafts of every single chapter that there is going to be and I think I know how to improve them. So, it's going to take a while but I'll finish this fanfic.

Anyway, how was this chapter? I feel like the last one was a bit sad so I wanted to make this a more cheerful one and ended up with this. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Positive and negative comments are welcome.