Kokoro Kara

By Lady Callista

AN: See full notes at the beginning of the first chapter.

This fic is rated M, cause I know it's gonna have K&K lime and lemon goodness. If you are underage please go enjoy some of the other wonderful stories on this site.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin, or anything relating to it, and have the utmost respect for all the people who created these wonderful characters. The quotes at the beginning and end of each part were all found on the Internet, mostly listed as anonymous. If anyone knows of one that actually belongs to someone please let me know. The ones that are by famous people I've said who they're by.

AN2: The first few lines are directly from the manga, to get the chapter going and to make sure everyone knows where in the timeline it is.

Oh, and it was pointed out to me by a friend that read this that I have been filling in missing parts, but mostly from Kaoru's POV. That when they're separated I've said what's happening to her, what she's thinking, but haven't done much with him other than the first chapter's dream sequences. I'm sorry for that, but Kaoru is easier for me to write because she's a lot like me, and because it's always been easier for me, a girl, to write the girl's feelings and thoughts. If lots of people want me to write Kenshin's POV, I'll give it a whirl but can't promise it will be good; otherwise I'm inclined to keep going as I am.

Special note: For anyone who doesn't already know, Japanese culture, especially during the Meiji time period but even currently, is much less casual about touch than most other cultures. So the little things, like holding someone's hand, or resting your head on their shoulder, that don't mean much to Americans mean much more to the Japanese. I wanted to try and keep that feel in the story, and I hope people understand the "slowness" that K&K's physical relationship is moving at. Because in their culture, it would actually be moving rather fast.

Chapter 6-Sowasowa

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"Kissing is like drinking salted water, you drink and your thirst increases."

-a Chinese proverb

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…A few days later… (after Megumi has told everyone she's leaving in a week)

"Dinner's ready." Kaoru said with a smile as she stepped out onto the porch, laughing a little as the wind picked up at that instant, setting the wind chimes off. "Where's Kenshin?"

"Nani?" Misao asked, for she had assumed he'd been inside cooking. "He's not home yet? Want me to go find him?"

Kaoru smiled at the eagerness of the younger girl. "Iie, daijubo. A lot has happened, and Kenshin must want some alone time."

"Don't worry about him." Yahiko piped up.

"Yeah, Jou-chan, this is the only place he'll come home to." Sano added.

"Hai." Kaoru said as she turned to head back into the house. "So let's just go ahead and eat." Yahiko's comment didn't really bother her, after all she worried about everyone, but Sano's hit a little too close to home. Even after what had happened between her and Kenshin in Kyoto, she still worried that he wouldn't want to stay at the dojo with her. It was a foolish thought, and she realized that, but it was something she'd been worrying about for so long now that it was hard to stop. Ever since the day he'd moved in with her, she'd known there was little holding him there, and always feared she'd wake one day to find him packing to leave. That it had happened once, when he went to fight Shishio, didn't help.

Kaoru knew she was being foolish, and was careful to keep her thoughts off her face as she listened to the conversation at dinner and interjected comments when she needed to. Although certainly not as good as Kenshin would have made, her dinner was more edible than it had been in the past, and she endured the jokes about it with good humor. But her mind wasn't really there.

Even as, one by one, everyone retired for the night, her mind still wasn't there. It was really late now, and she had no idea where Kenshin had gone. Once everyone else was asleep, she gave in to the insane desire to peek into his room, and was relieved to find his things there. She'd known they would be, but it was good to see it for herself.

Muttering a word under her breath that she'd learned from Sano, she grabbed a blanket and went into the main room. She knew it was silly to wait up for him, but she just couldn't help it. She was worried. After giving herself a long talk, she managed to convince herself that she wasn't worried about him leaving for good, just concerned because it was after midnight, and he usually let her know if he was going to be out late. Although he could certainly take care of himself, she was still worried.

She'd also hoped to talk with him. After that kiss at the hotel in Kyoto, things had mostly gone back to how they used to be. He'd not kissed her again, or touched her other than to assist her with things; although she had once or twice seen him watching her in a way she'd never noticed him doing before. If not for those occasional looks, which always vanished as soon as he realized she was looking at him, she would have thought she dreamed the kiss. Dreamed that he called her beautiful. Thinking of that kiss, of the way he'd looked at her, she dozed off.

"Kaoru-dono?"

Kenshin's voice woke her from a beautiful dream. Although she barely remembered it, she was pretty sure it had involved her holding their child.

"Kaoru-dono, you will catch a cold if you sleep there." Kenshin gazed down at her as she woke slowly. She'd looked so cute sleeping against the wall, curled up with her arms around a blanket. "Tadiama."

"Okaerinasai." Kaoru beamed at him, all the worry of the night before forgotten in her happiness that he'd returned, and returned safely. Then she remembered that he'd missed dinner the night before, and that it was already morning. "If you can wait a little, I'll prepare breakfast." She said even as she dashed off to the kitchen.

She took stock of it quickly, trying to decide what to make. She'd gotten some good salmon the past afternoon, and she began heating it in a frying pan as she decided what else to make. As she set water to heat and got out the miso for soup, she felt Kenshin enter the kitchen behind her.

Slightly nervous in his presence, for with so many people staying at the house it was pretty much the first time they'd been alone since they got back, she babbled, "You must be tired from whatever you were doing. Just rest, and I'll have breakfast…"

She trailed off with a gasp as she felt him press up behind her, their bodies coming into contact from hips to shoulders. Her breath caught, then released with disappointment when he only reached around her to pick up the chopsticks and turn the fish over. "You will burn it if you do not take care."

She started to move away, embarrassed, when the hand that didn't still hold the chopsticks slid up her hip and wrapped gently around her waist. "Stay here, sessha will show you."

Kaoru sighed, and brought her hand up to wrap over his on her waist. "I'm not sure I'll be able to pay attention to anything you show me." She said without thinking, then flushed bright red when she realized she'd spoken her thoughts aloud.

Kenshin's only response was a deep chuckle. "I will devote as much time as it takes to being in the kitchen with you, if that is what you wish."

Kaoru noticed the change in his speech pattern and the deepening of his voice. She'd realized after the kiss that it wasn't just anger that made him stop using his humble language and blasé voice. She took a chance, and said softly, "I would never object to being alone with you."

Kenshin inhaled deeply as a flame of desire shot through him. Although she was innocent, and didn't realize the innuendo of what she'd said, he found he could suddenly think of nothing but her. "Nor would I." He whispered as he daringly dropped a kiss on the side of her neck.

Kaoru all but melted into him; the hand that held his at her waist clenched, and her other hand slid backwards to grip the material of his white hakama. She heard him moan at her reaction, and gripped even tighter when his mouth returned to her neck for a longer kiss.

"We're going to burn the food." Kenshin whispered in her ear after a minute of adoring her neck.

"I don't care." Kaoru whispered vehemently, still floating on sensations.

Kenshin chuckled as he moved a little away from her in order to concentrate. "You will when you are hungry later." He smiled inwardly at the frustrated sound she made, and replied to her unspoken comment, "We will have time for other things later."

Kaoru blushed, but moved away from him enough to add the miso and other ingredients to the pot of water which was boiling rapidly. She squeezed his hand before she moved, and was rewarded when he briefly tightened his grip as well, before letting her move away. They prepared the rest of the meal in silence.

No one else was in the main room when they brought the dishes to the table, but as both were hungry they ate anyway, leaving the rest out for when the others woke.

"What are your plans for the day?" Kenshin asked as they were nearly finished.

"Nothing, really." Kaoru smiled at him. "I wanted to train some, as I've neglected that for the past few days, but other than that I have no plans. Although I'm sure Misao will want to do something once she's awake."

"Then I will clean up the dishes while you train, and after that let us spend time with our friends." Kenshin replied as he rose and began to pick up the dishes.

"Hai, arigato." Kaoru replied as she headed to her room to change. Once she had done so, she went over to the dojo, took her bokken off the rack, and began to move through kata. As always, the familiar movements calmed her restless mind, and she found herself flowing through one movement after another, reveling in the feel of her body.

Some time later, she felt Kenshin enter the dojo, but was in the middle of a kata and refused to allow herself to be distracted. She put him as completely out her mind as was possible, and finished her sequence. When she turned to him afterwards, she was surprised to find him holding one of her extra bokken in a guard stance.

"Kenshin?" She asked in confusion. Not only had he never trained with anyone before, but she'd never seen him hold anything other than his sakabato.

"I was badly injured." Kenshin replied, and if Kaoru could have named his facial expression at that instant she would have called it almost a smirk. "I need to see how well I have recovered."

"I'm lucky you're still not at full strength or I wouldn't have a chance." Kaoru muttered, yet she wasn't one to resist a challenge. Especially since one of her dreams had always been to spar with Kenshin. The fact that they always ended up doing more than sparing was neither here nor there. Putting herself in a ready stance, she faced him. "I am your opponent."

He stood without moving for a moment, then rushed at her. Although he was fast, it wasn't as fast as he normally fought, and she could see his moves clearly. Bringing up her sword with both hands, she blocked his initial chop at her head and the game was on.

Minutes passed as they spared with each other, circling the large room as each sought a weakness in the other. Although Kenshin wasn't fighting nearly as well as he normally did, Kaoru found him still more than a match for her skills and had spent most of the time defending. Yet it was still a joy to be able to fight like this, to be able to put her all into it and know that she wouldn't hurt him. To know that he could keep pace.

Neither had managed to hit the other yet, each strike had either hit the other person's bokken, or had slid through the space where the other person was a millisecond ago. They were well matched, at least while Kenshin was holding back because of his injuries.

Kaoru became determined, although she knew she'd never beat him, even like this, it became her goal to land a hit on him. To prove that although she lacked all the graces a lady should have, she could go toe to toe with him in this. To prove that all the time she'd spent training instead of learning to cook hadn't been wasted.

More minutes passed as they spared, and finally she saw an opening. Thrusting in with her bokken at his seemingly unguarded shoulder, she was amazed when he somehow flowed around it. And the next thing she knew she was flying backwards.

Years of training made her keep her grip on the bokken, but that meant she had only one hand to break her fall, and she fell hard. She heard the clomp of his bokken hitting the floor, and before she knew it he was above her, his hand on her shoulder.

"Daijubo." She said before he could say anything, although she knew she'd have bruises for days. "I thought I had you."

Kenshin's cheeks turned red. "This is why I never sparred with any of you…"

"I'm fine, Kenshin." She repeated. "I've taken worse falls before."

"But I hurt you." His hand went unerringly to the shoulder that had taken most of her impact.

"No, you didn't." She smiled as she sat up, waving his hand away. "Kenshin, I'm not some fragile woman that needs to be protected. Fighting is a part of me, just as it is you, and I'll never learn anything if I don't fight people who are better than me."

Kenshin's hand returned to her shoulder, rubbing it gently. She fought the urge to curl into him like a cat. Then decided the hell with it, and leaned her head against his arm.

"Thank you." She whispered, her hand coming to rest on his knee. "That was the most fun I've had in a long time."

"I, also, enjoyed it." Kenshin replied, his eyes focused on her face. "You are beautiful to watch."

Kaoru's breath caught as he called her beautiful for the second time, and this time it was her that leaned in to kiss him.

TBC…

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"Staying up all night is a waste of sleeping, and a waste of sleeping is a waste of dreaming, and dreaming is important because the more dreams you have, the better chance you have of one coming true."

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Japanese/English Glossary (in order of appearance; if it's in the glossary of a previous part it will not be in here, as I trust my readers to have a good memory.)

Sowasowa – Restless, nervous or uneasy

Daijubo: It's okay, or It's alright.

Tadaima: I'm home. Traditional phrase, said whenever one enters their home. (Think of the clichéd "Honey, I'm home," that you see in so many American sitcoms. It's kind of like that, where no matter what tone of voice you said it in, you wouldn't dream of not saying it.)

Okaerinasai: Welcome home. (traditional, the response to tadaima.)

Miso: bean paste, available in various flavors. Miso, tofu, and seaweed are the main ingredients in miso soup, a common breakfast item.

Hakama: traditional pants/skirt of a martial artist. Throughout the series, Kenshin's white "pants" are hakama.

Bokken: wooden sword. Although normally called a practice sword, it is the main weapon of Kaoru's sword style.

Kata: Series of movements in Japanese martial arts.

Sakabato: A word created for the series, this is Kenshin's reverse-blade sword, the symbol of his vow to never kill again.