Kaoru woke up the next morning and looked over at Kenshin's side of the bed, pouting sleepily when she saw that it hadn't been disturbed, meaning that Kenshin hadn't come to bed that night. She sat up and stretched before getting out of bed and yawning as she headed to the bathroom to get washed up and changed. She slipped on a light blue kimono today with koi fish embroidered at the bottom just as a knock came from the door and Sano's loud voice was heard.

"Hey Missy, you awake yet? Kenshin's still busy with Shishio, so you're stuck with me again." He explained as Kaoru smiled and headed over to the door, opening it and smiling up at him.

"I thought that would be the case, since Kenshin didn't come to bed last night." She said as Sano smiled down at her and nodded.

"Yeah, that bastard Shishio is a persistent ass. Hopefully Kenshin'll be able to get away tonight and get some sleep, otherwise he gets rather touchy. Though I'm sure he'd never snap at his precious prize." Sano teased playfully as he lead a now blushing Kaoru down the hallway to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

Angry shouts could be heard from somewhere else in the castle and Kaoru had a grim feeling that it is either Kenshin yelling or being yelled at.

"Sano….how long have you been an assassin?" Kaoru asked as they sat down at their normal table and Tsubame brought them their breakfast with a smile.

This wasn't the exact question she had wanted to ask, but she didn't want to blurt out the question that had kept popping up in her head since she had learned that Kenshin was an assassin.

"Well, I wondering when questions like that would pop up. Megumi asked me the second I brought her here after asking her to be my prize, but then again she's just nosy like that." Sano said with a bright smile before he started to wolf down his food. He tried to start explaining his history as an assassin but Kaoru stopped him and told him to wait a little bit since his mouth as full and food was spraying out everywhere.

They ate and chatted with each other, a routine that was starting to form from all of the time they were spending together, since Kenshin had designated Sano as Kaoru's personal bodyguard for when he couldn't be with her. Once they had finished breakfast, Sano led her to the gardens and they started to stroll around a little before he finally started his story.

"So, I've been an assassin for a while now, almost 15 years, since I was 14 years old. My parents died when I was young and I was adopted by the leader of the Sekihoutai, Souzou Sagara. He taught me how to fight and let me participate in missions with other members of the group."

"After he was killed, I was a fighter-for-hire for a little while before Kenshin asked me to join his growing group. Now I'm an assassin for hire." Sano explained as they walked with a bright smile on his face and his hands clasped behind his head. Kaoru was a little surprised from the story but one look at Sano's smiling face made her smile too.

"Wow, even from a young age, you were just a little delinquent, huh?" She joked playfully as they finally sat down on a bench by the little pond in the center of the garden. Sano just laughed and looked down at her with a knowing smile.

"Come on Missy, we both now it's not my story you wanted to know. I just indulged you because my story is just so amazing." He teased with a bright smile. "You want to know Kenshin's story."

Kaoru blushed and smiled sheepishly up at him, fiddling with the hem of one of her sleeves and nodding. "Well, yeah….but you're not going to tell me, are you?" she asked when she saw Sano's smile turning slightly conniving. He shook his head and got up.

"Nope, you'll have to ask him about that yourself. And I think now is a perfect time to do that!" He declared as he pulled her to her feet and led her inside to yet another part of the castle, to a pair of huge ominous looking doors.

The loud angry shouts most definitely came from here and some could still be heard from inside as Sano raised his fists and knocked. The noise quieted down as Kenshin's tired voice called out to them to come in.

Kaoru was already scared about going inside the room and the tone of Kenshin's voice only added to her concern as Sano pulled her inside. She followed him inside and looked around quietly in awe as Sano smiled at Kenshin and glared at a strange man who was wrapped in bandages who sat next to Kenshin.

Kenshin's face was furled in a mixture of anger and exhaustion, a look that Kaoru automatically did not like. She had never seen him angry before and was a little scared at how evil it made him look. As Kenshin looked up and saw her, his face relaxed into a tired smile and he got up, heading over to them and wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing her cheek softly.

"Hello Kaoru…Sano. Can I help you with something?" Kenshin asked as he looked up at Sano, whose smile just grew as he shook his head.

"Nope. We're here to help you, since the mummy over there-" Sano jerked his head in the bandaged man's direction, "didn't let you get to sleep last night. You're going to take a break and I'll entertain Shishio over there. I've missed him oh so terribly." Sano said before sending an evil smile over at a glaring Shishio. Kenshin just smiled and nodded, his eyes gazing down into Kaoru's.

"Ok Sano, just make sure you two don't get into a fight." Kenshin said as Kaoru smiled brightly up at him, happy to be able to spend time with him, finally. Shishio started to object but Sano ran over to him and settled down next to him, still smiling evilly.

"Oh, don't worry. We won't fight…" Sano said as Kenshin led Kaoru out of the room and back to their room. "Much."