What's this?! Another chapter?! So soon?! Shocking, I know. I worked hard to get this one done! I'm trying hard guys. I promise to finish this. Well, i hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

"An Unfamiliar Feeling"

Upon entering the dojo Kaoru found it to be rather quiet. She surveyed the surroundings and realized there was no sign of Kenshin. 'Huh,' she thought. 'Where is he?' On any given day he'd be doing laundry, sitting around, or helping Kaoru with the chores. He was doing neither. She wanted to not care. She wanted to not need to know where he was every second of the day. She wanted to him to want her. The problem being, if you want to make someone jealous, then said person needs to be visible and able to be made jealous. Kenshin was the core of her plan. The driving force. Without him, it just wasn't possible. Without him, there was no plan. So where was he?

She slid the dojo door open and stepped inside. Sano had taken a seat against one of the posts on the porch; he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. So Kaoru took this time to go and quick change into something a little more moveable. On her way to her room she came to a stop and her eyes set on Kenshin's door. It was slightly ajar. She couldn't help herself. She tip toed to the door and peeked in. Her eyes searched the dark room, but there was still no Kenshin. She gave a heavy sigh. "Oh well."

Kaoru headed down the hall and into her room. She quickly slipped into her regular white practice yukata and tied it tightly around her waste. Bending over, she reached for her pants but when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she stopped. Still hunched over she stared. 'I couldn't.' She stood up and let the pants fall into a pile around her ankles. She stepped out of them, flicking them aside with her foot and took a closer look. 'Could I?' She examined herself. The yukata came down right above her knees. It wasn't too short that she was giving it all away, however, her legs were in plain view. Not something the average Japanese had visible to the world. It was god awful hot outside. The after noon sun sat high up in the cloudless sky. That could be her excuse. That would be her excuse. She'd do it. She flipped her hair over and pulled it up into a playful pony tail on top of her head. She was going for cute. Not sexy. She wasn't ready for sexy yet. In fact, she was pretty sure she didn't know how to be sexy. She was a 17 year old girl. She'd be surprised if she could pull of cute for right now. She grabbed her shoes and walked quickly outside, attempting to see if Sano was where she had last left him. Hopping on one leg with her hair pouncing every which way she slid a shoe onto her foot. She took a couple more hops toward and out the door in attempts to put on her other shoe when she suddenly felt the floor fall out from under her. She let out a small squeak of surprise. Obviously she missed the fact that there were steps right in front of her and she was on her way to a lovely face first meeting with the ground she was plummeting towards. Until, that is, a strong arm wrapped tightly around her waist. She felt nothing then except for her heart pounding in her ears and the warm body pressed tightly around her back. She smiled with delight. 'There he is!' She turned her head as she spoke.

"Thanks so much Ken-SANO!!?….oh."

"Oh, it's no problem. But I think you forgot half of your clothes there missy," he said as a wide grin began to cover most his face.

Kaoru blushed furiously. "I-I…I uhm. It's…it's…a….it's…hot! THAT'S RIGHT! It's too hot! Too, too hot out for all those clothes…….And…Uh…B-besides, you practically run around without a shirt on more than half the time. So why can't I run around without any? Er, uh. Without any pants, that is.." She laughed nervously.

Sano scratched his head with his free hand. "Actually, I don't know. Seems fair to me. I don't mind." His gaze went from the sky back down to her accompanied by that same grin when he said he didn't mind. His other arm was still tightly wrapped around Kaoru's small waist, holding her very close to him. It seemed as though neither of them noticed. A cough broke them from their conversation and both their heads snapped quickly forward.

"Am I interrupting something?," the voice came in a cool sarcastic tone that struck a nervous nerve in both Kaoru and Sano making them pull away from each other fast. Kaoru beginning tugging nervously at the bottom of her yukata and Sano rubbed the back of his neck.

"I was putting on my shoes," Kaoru started.

"But she was hopping on one foot," Sano explained.

"Then the stairs came out of nowhere."

"And I saw her headed toward to the ground."

"Face first."

"Yeah, face first."

"Then Sano saved me."

"I quick grabbed her."

"And I didn't break my face."

"And she didn't break her face."

"Sano's a hero."

"Yeah, I'm a hero."

With their voices high and shaky, they explained themselves at the pace of two little kids that had just been caught doing something wrong.

Kenshin's gaze drifted from Kaoru to Sano and then settled on Kaoru. His eyes mercilessly roamed her long slender white legs, moved up to her curvaceous chest, followed up her neck, and finally rested right on her eyes. Out of nervousness Kaoru began to gently bite her lips. His darted straight to them and she stopped immediately. 'Interesting choice of clothes, 'he thought. This was a weird feeling for Kenshin. He didn't see her as a young innocent girl. But he wasn't fighting back the back the Battousai's lust for hurting her. He was just letting himself feel, like he did just before at the Akabeko. He took his gaze off Kaoru and took a look at Sano. It was then he lost the feeling of ease and felt it harder to withhold the Battousai's rage. He didn't really like Sano. And after today. He hated him. Kenshin and Sano got a long just fine. Battousai and Sano, that was a different story.

"Marvelous," he said. Then he walked past the two of them, brushing roughly past Kaoru, and went into the dojo. She stumbled back a foot or two and then darted a glanced towards Kenshin's back. 'That. Was rude. But never the less, interesting. He must have been there the entire time…..Yay for clumsiness, I guess..'

"So…," Sano said. "That was really awkward. Did he seem really pissed? Like all day? Maybe he's having a bad day..oor…something.."

Kaoru shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno, maybe." She knew exactly what was wrong with him. What she didn't realize was that she was putting herself in a dangerous position. And Sano as well. What she didn't realize was that she wasn't making Kenshin want her; she was just annoying the Battousai to the point where he was becoming physically mean and aggravated. The more she used Sano, the more Battousai would target him. And the more Kaoru pissed off the Battousai, the more he would target her, too. She needed to stop being cute and giggly and start being sexy. She needed to act like a woman. She needed to make Kenshin jealous in a sexual way, not in an annoyed way. The issue was that she didn't know how. Without mistakenly doing something that she didn't even intend on doing, she couldn't get his attention. It'd be best for her if she figured it out soon.

Kenshin sat in the darkness of his room, trying to get his thoughts together. All he could picture was Kaoru. Kaoru standing there. Kaoru standing there in nothing but a yukata. Sano touching Kaoru. Kaoru blushing.

'She's driving me crazy. I can tell she has something up her sleeve. She's planning something. And it involves me. And it looks as if it involves Sano, too. Maybe she doesn't even realize she's even doing anything…She is, after all, just an innocent teenager.'

'You really under estimate her too much.' Here came the all too familiar voice that resided inside of Kenshin. Always and forever a part of him.

'What do you mean I under estimate her?'

'She's trying to make you jealous, you idiot. Can't you see that? And she's using that jackass Sano to do just that. And look, its working. She's got you in here talking to me and all flustered. You're a man. Start acting like it. Do something about it.'

'No.'

'Have it your way. I don't care what you do. All I know is that she'd better knock off this cutesy bullshit before I get fucking fed up with her.'

'You won't touch her.'

'I'll do more than touch her.'

'I won't let you.'

'You don't have a choice. I'm stronger than you are. Always have been. Always will be. If I want out, I'll get out. And when the time comes, I'll do just that.'

'You'll do no such thi-'

'What do you need her around for anyway? She's a neusense. Always getting in the way. Always being kidnapped by someone or something. Your life would be so much easier without her. Let me help you out.'

'No.'

'Come on. I'll make it kind of quick. We both know I'd have to have a little bit of fun first. You don't just kill a girl that looks like that.'

'I SAID NO. NOW SHUT UP.'

The Battousai went quiet and Kenshin calmed himself down. He needed to warn Kaoru that she was playing with something worse than fire. Kenshin didn't want to come close to hurting her and the Battousai would do whatever he wanted with her, if given the chance. He needed to find a way to approach her and make her understand without embarrassing her, or hurting her feelings, or worse. Making her angry. If he made her angry, she may come back at him with ten times more force than she was coming at him with now. He couldn't have that happen. He didn't want to admit it, but the Battousai was right. If he wanted out, he'd find a way to get out. He had always found a way out. He needed to find Kaoru and he needed to fast before she found out that Battousai's idea of fun differed greatly from hers. Immensely, even.

Kenshin sat back for a few more minutes, remembering the feeling he had before while looking at Kaoru. It was a calm feeling, but he felt warm. He felt hot. When she began biting her lips this feeling became almost unbearable and he knew he had to leave. It was strange. It was almost as if he and the Battousai had become one. A man with the rurouni's heart and the Battousai's lust. But could that be possible? For now all Kenshin could do was try and keep the Battousai at bay. When things calmed down, he'd focus more on this unfamiliar feeling.

It was time to find Kaoru.