a/n- From now on I won't have a shout out list to reviewers, but that does mean I still won't respond to your reviews! Leave an email address I will gladly reply personally to you.
Swords and Roses
Chapter 8: Promise
'This can't be happening!' Kaoru thought.
Right now she was about to be caught in an unexplainable situation with Kenshin if her uncle came in.
Here she was sprawled on the floor, her elbows supporting her and her kimono opened considerably around her chest. Not only was some cleavage shown there, but also the fold in the front had opened exposing her thin shapely legs.
Her hair ribbon had slightly came a loose and so some of Kaoru's hair hung to the side of her face or was free from the restricting ribbon.
Then there was Kenshin who was soaking wet from just jumping straight out of the tub, literally, with nothing but a towel around his waist. His hair was loose and wet, dripping small droplets of water. And unfortunately he was standing right above her.
"Hey!" Hiko called again, his voice growing closer.
Kaoru began to panic as Kenshin only eyed the door to the bath house expectantly. Quickly Kaoru began to scramble to her feet as she heard her uncle foots steps now. But for some reason she couldn't find the strength to stand.
"Kenshin! What are we going to do?" Kaoru whispered frantically as she reached to cling to his wet arm.
"There's no need to talk so low…He already knows you're here… And calm down." Kenshin replied to her, though his own voice was hushed. He then yanked his arm from Kaoru's frightful grip once she was upright.
He shouldn't have done that. The moment her pulled his arm away, Kaoru started to titter back in forth as her balance was lost. She was heading on her second trip on the ground, yet again, because of the quick tug.
But this time, out of sheer instinct and habit, Kenshin reached out and grabbed her by the arms with both of his hands.
When Kaoru didn't feel her body make contact with the floor she slowly opened her eyes that she had squinted shut for the expected fall and possible pain she would feel if she landed on her rear.
"Kenshin what's going on?" Hiko asked as he finally walked inside. But what Hiko saw was something he hadn't expected to see.
"Um." Kenshin looked up and tried to think of something to say.
Hiko continued to stare at Kenshin as if he had lost his mind.
Now Kenshin and Kaoru were positioned where it looked like Kenshin was dipping her and his face was a few inches away from her face; like he was about to kiss her. The ends of his blood red hair shielded most of the chest cleavage being shown and some of the wet strands tickled Kaoru's exposed skin.
Hiko didn't know what to say or what to think.
At first he didn't even want to know what was going on, but quickly reminded himself it was his niece in Kenshin's arms, her body almost bared to his eyes. Then there was the additional observation that his live-in pupil was nearly nude himself with just a towel around his waist.
Now how was he to overlook that, Hiko didn't know, but what he did know was after today he was going to keep a closer eye on Kenshin and his niece.
Kaoru titled her head back to stare at her uncle upside down. Even though she couldn't really see him that well, she could read from his body stance and how tensed he appeared he was trying to remain calm and rationally think out what was going on.
Kaoru rolled her head back up to look at Kenshin who also trying to read her uncle.
"Um…:cough:…" She said as she tapped Kenshin's chest lightly. Instantly after that she felt Kenshin tense and swiftly brought both of them into a standing position. From Kenshin's quickness she felt her head pound for a moment as she tried to comprehend what was going on.
"Kaoru why are you in here?" Hiko finally spoke after the longest moment. "Well you see…" Kaoru trailed off lost for words on how to explain herself.
"Well what?" Hiko echoed her. "You see I came in here to retrieve something." Kaoru got out.
"Then if you came here to retrieve something tell me how in the hell did you end up in Kenshin's arms? And better yet why is he in here?" Hiko further inspected, raising an eyebrow.
"I believe I can answer that one." Kenshin spoke up, trying to take some of Hiko's wrath off of Kaoru.
"She came in here by accident. She walked in on me." Kenshin continued
"Well that doesn't explain how she ended up in your arms or for that matter why she screamed earlier." Hiko said finding the situation as a bit of an annoyance.
"I was trying to look for my missing robe, but when I found it I didn't notice Kenshin. So when I did notice I was startled so that's why I screamed." Kaoru answered in a low voice, embarrassed by her explanation.
"Then she tried to get up, but almost fell again when you were coming closer and I her caught when you walked in." Kenshin replied finishing the explanation.
Hiko closed his eyes as he began to rub his temple. He didn't really know what to do. The way they were telling the story they were both saying it was an accident, but the way their body language and stance said it seemed otherwise.
While Hiko was doing this Kaoru eased her way to her prized possession. Kenshin eyed Kaoru's movements as she had slowly walked behind him and reached to grab the item she was trying to acquire before he had frightened her.
After what she was doing registered he turned his attention back to Hiko to further study him.
Though he was doing a great job of masking his utter shock and surprise at the situation he was also annoyed and deeply angered.
'Shit.' Kenshin thought as he too closed his eyes, but only for a second.
'No doubt by the time this all clears up he wants to have a talk with me.' Kenshin thought as he eyes flared a mixture of lavender and amber for a moment.
He could sense Kaoru's uncomfortable presence replace herself by his right side looking ahead at her uncle who was now looking at her. After another intense cut throat silence Hiko spoke.
"Kaoru leave." Hiko ordered. "But-" "I said leave now Kaoru." Hiko said not wanting to argue with her.
Even if Kaoru didn't know Hiko that long she could tell by the tone of his voice he meant he wanted her gone and also the way he said it left no room for her to go against his final warning.
"Yes, uncle." Kaoru said as she lowered her head and moved to leave. As she walked briskly away she clutched the cloth wrapped object closer to her chest.
Watching her retreating form, Kenshin silently cursed. No doubt Hiko planned some sort of punishment for him for this after his form of interrogation. And seeing Kaoru exit the bath house, Hiko turned his attention back to Kenshin.
"Now for you..." Hiko began. Kenshin's eye twitched at those words and he mentally vowed to never doze off in the bath house like that again.
"What are you, stupid?" The boy yelled as he eyed Kaoru accusingly. A deep growl came from within Kaoru as she glared at the young boy.
Not long after her embarrassing moment with Kenshin and her uncle she immediately came to Yahiko's side where he woke not even an hour later.
"Listen Yahiko I just saved your life!" Kaoru yelled back. "No, what you did was play the fool falling into his trap the way you did. You came to rescue me on your own and you didn't think to bring any others. You could have been in more trouble if it wasn't for Kenshin and Sano following you." Yahiko replied angrily.
Kaoru remained silent a moment as the kid had a point.
She did go without help and she did put them in a bit of a tight spot by doing so. She hadn't expected Gohie to have so many goons on his side to fight against her, though she should have known better.
A sigh escaped Kaoru as she was getting angry at the boy. He knew too much for his age. But she answered him in a calm voice.
"Look brat what's done is done and we can't reverse the past. All we can do is move forward." Yahiko eyed her listening.
"I want you to be my student Yahiko. When I came to rescue you, you showed me inadvertently that you have the skills to be a great swordsman."
"Like I would want you to be my teacher. All you're good for is getting into trouble." Yahiko mumbled.
Kaoru growled slightly and out of rage hits him upside his head.
"Ouch! What the heck was that for? You're not suppose to hit an injured kid!" Yahiko rubbed the spot where Kaoru hit him.
"Well where I come from you can." Kaoru replied looking away sad in an irritated tone.
"Funny though, how much you remind me of a student I have back at home Yahiko. You truly do know your stuff when it comes to fighting and it shows because of how tough and grown up you try to act." A smiled graced Kaoru's face, her voice soft and warm.
"I'm sure if you were to be my student I could make you as strong as you pretend or think you are. Maybe even more if you're really serious about being strong and defending yourself."
"Please what would an ugly girl like you know about strength? If I need to remind you it was Kenshin and Sano that came to your rescue." Yahiko said in a bored tone.
"But it was my father and I who drove Gohie here in the first place. Gohie use to stay in Tokyo where I live and take lessons from my father and me. But after my father broke Gohie's right thumb so he could never practice swordsmanship again he apparently fled here and taught himself to fight with his left hand." Kaoru countered.
Now after hearing this Yahiko looked up at Kaoru.
"Your dad was the one that did that to Gohie?" He questioned in shock.
Kaoru nodded. "If you want I can show you the student enrollment sheet from we my dad started. But my point is there is a lot of strength to be gained from Kamiya Kasshin. Only devoted people with the will and determination to become great fighters excel the way I do in fighting with a wooden sword."
Yahiko remained quiet a moment thinking over what she said.
"And if you can fight well with a wooden sword, you're almost guaranteed to do well on a real sword." she added.
Yahiko looked down at his balled fist in the blanket and out the corner of his eyes saw Kaoru stand.
"And where are you going?" He asked aloud. "I'm going to go get something to eat. There is no need to answer whether or not you what to be my student yet. Just think about it." Kaoru replied existing his room.
Sano fell back laughing as he watched his friend hard at work cleaning the dojo floors. While turning to come back down the width of the dojo floor with his cleaning rag, Kenshin glared at Sano.
"I can't believe that Hiko didn't kill you!" Sano cracked up as he stood up and walked his muddy shoes over the entire floor again and sat back down in his spot when he was done.
"So tell me which one of you got the eyeful?" Sano inquired, laughing even harder.
"Damn it Sano shut up!" Kenshin yelled as he tossed the cleaning rag at his head.
The rag hit its target with a semi loud slap and Sano stopped laughing momentarily. Kenshin was completely fed up. He must have cleaned the dojo floors over eight times already in the past hour.
As part of the assigned punishment Sano was allowed to dirty up the floors as much he could and Kenshin would have to go behind and clean up after him. Though Kenshin originally thought that this was no different from a regular day.
But what he didn't know was that once he finished Sano was also allowed to mess the floors up again. And after that he had to so some extreme training with Hiko afterwards.
"Your teasing isn't helping Sano." Kenshin stated.
"Aw come on man! Lovely Jou-chan walks in on you and then somehow she ends up in your arms. You can't tell me that you weren't digging that." Sano said as he eyed his friend knowingly.
Kenshin growled in frustration.
"Would you get your mind out the gutter for once?" He stated quietly. "Hey I didn't go there … you just did." Sano chuckled.
Kenshin only shook his head as he extended his arm meaning for Sano to toss the rag back over to him.
"But come on Kenshin even you have to admit that Jou-chan walking in on you wasn't so bad." Sanosuke said as he threw the cleaning cloth back at him. Kenshin snatched the rag from the air and got back on his knees getting ready to clean the floors again.
"Aw come on don't ignore me now…Right when we're getting to the good part of this discussion." Sano said watching his friend sigh as he went back to cleaning the floor.
"You know what Sano? Your persistence is really starting to remind me of a certain Kyoto nurse." Kenshin said nonchalantly as he turned around to wipe up some more mud.
Sano only sneered. "I thought we were talking about you?" Sano looked off into a corner.
"We were, I just changed the subject." Kenshin replied smartly. "Everyone's a smart ass now-a-days." Sano said with a sigh as he rubbed his temples.
"Well aren't you going to answer me?" Kenshin asked, ignoring Sano's comment.
"What in the hell do you think?" Sano countered as he glared Kenshin down. "Well sorry buddy. Don't bust a vain." Kenshin joked. "Yeah, yeah, are you going to answer mine?" Sano said returning his gaze to the floor.
"Now Sano don't make me say it." Kenshin answered.
"Well I'd hate to make you think about that horrible situation again. So I guess I can be silent about it for a while." Sano responded.
"Don't you mean you will be silent about it?" Kenshin corrected.
"And what's this? Himura, Kenshin is trying to swear me, Sano, into secrecy? Why what would the others think my friend? You're not the silent type." Sano said looking at Kenshin again with amusement in his eyes.
"They'll think that it's none of their business and I do care to keep my private life MY private life." Kenshin answered, stopping in his halfway done work to wipe his brow.
"Well you telling me don't really prove that now does it? I'm the hub of daily street information, even more accurate than any Kyoto newspaper. Do you really think it's wise to tell me?" Sano remarked, chuckling a bit.
"Sanosuke don't make me have to sink to your level to insure that info isn't released."
"So is Kenshin now threatening me with blackmail?" Sano mocked.
"I believe there is a certain nurse that would love to know Sanosuke's true feelings about her, that she would." Kenshin crossed.
"Damn cheater…" Sano spat, getting up early to walk over the freshly cleaned spots. "I wasn't done!" Kenshin protested.
"That's for pissing me off and acting like me you bastard." Sano said with a smug smirk on his face as he headed to the door.
"I'm gonna go dirty up my shoes a bit more. Please excuse me and try not to finish too soon. I would hate to give you a break." Sano said before Kenshin could have the chance to question him.
"Sure thing." Kenshin replied knowing better than to trust that fake excuse Sanosuke gave him.
Sanosuke never in his life had to work at making a mess. He was using his shoes as an excuse to get some fresh air away from their heated debates.
Though Kenshin hated to press his friend against the wall like that, what other choice did he have? Sanosuke is the type to keep a promise once made. But given the circumstances there is no telling how long he'll last if you don't give him a reason to keep a tight lid on something.
In the kitchen Kenshin chopped vegetables for the soup he was making. Hiko had so "graciously" gave him a break to make dinner before continuing with his punishment.
'Lucky for me I'm a swordsman otherwise my arms would be killing me.' Kenshin thought.
Just as Kenshin scrapped the diced veggies into the stew Kaoru entered the kitchen. But when she saw Kenshin she quickly slid the kitchen door shut.
Kenshin turned just in time to watch the shadow of Kaoru walk away.
Two days went by in the lives of the Kyoto residence. Two days that Suriga still didn't show up for class and until Yahiko became the new student to the Kamiya-Kasshin-Ryu Dojo.
Kaoru placed down her cup of tea looking at Yahiko in surprise.
"So you do?" Kaoru said looking at him before the shock wore off her face.
"That's what I said wasn't it?" Yahiko replied hotly. "I'm sorry. I just hope you know it's gonna be a lot of hard work." Kaoru replied sipping on her tea again.
"So what. Spending all that time with Gohie was hard work and hard work is something my family is known for. I'm Yahiko Mihoji, son of a line of samurai!" Yahiko said with a smile on his face, standing up to his full height with his chest poked out.
Kaoru chuckled quietly.
"Well excuse me Mihoji-chan. Looks like I already broke the first rule of swordsmanship: Never underestimate your enemy."
"That's right! And- HEY! Don't call me chan!" He said.
"Well what's the matter with calling your chan?" Kaoru questioned. "Just don't call me that." He replied.
Kaoru blinked for a moment before saying anything else. "Well um…We start training tomorrow early." Kaoru stated finishing her tea.
"Tomorrow? Why not today? We still have daylight out!" Yahiko complained.
"Early on in the day yes, but I don't start practicing Kamiya-Kasshin until before dawn in the mornings." Kaoru answered as she put her cup away and walked out of the room.
Tomoe walked down the trail of stepping stones. Cursing under her breathe as she had to extend an arm out to help keep her balance. With the other hand holding the ends of her beautiful tan silk kimono up so it wouldn't get dirty.
'Of all the places in Kyoto.' She thought bitterly.
Once she finally made it to more level grounds she let the ends of her kimono go and folded her hands in front of her as she walked up to the beach front. There a man sat in a white iron back chair sipping from a fine western cup, smiling as he folded a corner of his newspaper down to see her.
"Well it took you long enough. I'm glad you came to see me." He said in a casual voice mocking the woman who stopped near the other end of the table looking out at their surroundings.
"The beach front…How fitting." Tomoe tossed back sourly as the man stood up and pulled back the chair he knew she wanted to sit in.
"Aw don't say that. I thought this would be a nice change of setting from the normal stuffy business room." He said pushing her chair up a little once she sat down and tucked a small strand of white hair back in place.
The man was tall, taller than Tomoe by two or three heads. His snow white hair clashed with his dark ebony eyes, hidden by round sunglasses. He had a perfectly chiseled form that showed even through the fabric of his tuxedo.
He had broad shoulders and well toned muscular arms.
"If you ask me that stuffy room is better than out here. You know how I feel about this place." She said while reaching across the table to pour some tea in her cup.
He only smirked knowing that she didn't really feel so ill about the view and sat back down in his chair.
"There's no pleasing you sister is there?" He stated still smirking as he adjusted his round lense shades.
"When will you grow up Enishi?" Tomoe countered. She couldn't take her brother mocking her so.
"Well it's the truth older sister. I can't make you happy. First you don't like the business room because it's too blah and then you don't like the beach view because of blah…I'm running out of meeting places." Enishi complained; sipping on his tea.
"What about at the restaurants?" She replied staring at him with narrowed eyes.
"Now sister…Tsk, tsk. How cliché is that? I like to think of myself as a creative person. People go to restaurants to eat, reminisce and talk business. But at least out here you don't have to worry about the table next to you listening to your conversation and it's just more relaxing." Enishi reasoned as his bottom lip poked out into a pout.
'And I left myself in his care why?' Tomoe thought with a sigh, shaking her head.
"Anyway brother, meeting places aside, I want to know why you sent some of your men to that match Sir Hiko held not too long ago." Tomoe questioned, pushing her cup away from her as she turned to look at her brother.
For a moment Enishi didn't respond as he downed the rest of he tea and did the same as Tomoe. He had anticipated her response to that and wasn't quite sure how to prepare for it.
"First of all what were you doing there?" Enishi replied turning the tables.
His glasses slide down the bridge of his nose a little, revealing cold black eyes. "I asked you first." Tomoe retorted.
"Well if you're so concerned I was having an eye on that new Tokyo girl." Enishi finally answered as he straightens up a bit, his fingers drumming on the glass top. "Now your turn." He said, gesturing with his one hand for Tomoe to answer his question.
"The same." Tomoe answered quickly.
"Are you sure?" Enishi asked now taking off his glasses to get a better view of his sisters' face.
"And what other reason would I have to go back to Sir Hiko's place?"
"To see that murderer." Enishi said resting his head on his fist. "I did not go there to see Kenshin. I kept my distance from him." Tomoe said growing annoyed as her eyes narrowed again.
"Uh huh and what were those looks that you and Battousai gave each other? My men reported that to me as well." Enishi pried while pouring him another cup of tea.
"Brother I don't have to answer you. And I thought you were eyeing the Tokyo girl" Tomoe said looking away.
"If it has anything to do about that good for nothing murderer you best believe you will. And that tidbit about you and Battousai was extra." Enishi roared slamming the tea pot on the glass table top, yet not breaking the pot or the table top.
"Watch your tongue! You may look after me because you are the only male to our father, but I am still oldest! How dare you disrespect me." Tomoe said raising her voice.
"You're not our mother Tomoe." Enishi said raising his cup up to his lips to calm his rage.
They seemed to have these heated disputes quite often. More and more so now since the ordeal with the Battousai and Tomoe had happened.
Tomoe took a deep breathe to keep her anger in check.
"So exactly why are you concerned with the Kamiya girl?" Tomoe asked changing the subject. Though she in the back of her mind already had an idea why.
Enishi noticed his sisters' attempt to change the tune of their conversation. He only shook his head and for the sake of keeping their "family time" moving as smoothly as possible he went along with it.
"Surely you remember Gohie?" Enishi answered, looking into his cup, swirling the remainder of his tea in it.
"Yes I remember him." Tomoe said watching as her brother suddenly found the inside of his cup to be the most amusing thing in the world.
"Well that idiot no longer works for us." Enishi said, placing his cup down watching as the liquid moved from one side to the other and then rippled into calmness.
"So what has become of him?" Tomoe asked in a shocked tone.
"I don't know. Boss kept that much of the information to himself." Enishi replied. "Gohie had failed him too many times to let him fuck up some more now with some girl that has barely even been here a month." He continued.
"We've all felt something odd about her around here. That's why I went to see her fight. And let me tell you, you haven't seen anything until you've seen her fight." Tomoe said absently as her mind wondered back to that afternoon a few days ago.
"So I've heard. She keeps making publicity like this she may become a threat." Enishi commented. "Please brother she's only a woman. Really a young girl." Tomoe replied teasingly with a smile.
"A young girl she may be, but a young girl who toke out a man who's been working with the Street Lord Organization for some time now." Enishi reasoned.
"Please we've always said that Gohie was weak. This only proves it if he let a little sweaty girl get the best of him." Tomoe said wrinkling her nose in anger. "Even so, some of the other Street Lords, including myself, don't want to chance it. We plan to keep a close eye on her." Enishi replied rubbing his temple.
Tomoe only rolled her eyes.
"If you ask me you're wasting your time keeping an eye on her." Tomoe stated resting her chin on her fisted hand.
"From what I've heard she's quite the beauty…even sweaty…All the reason for me to keep an eye on her." Enishi replied smiling at his sister. Tomoe lifted an eyebrow at this.
"You find a woman who disgraces herself by getting involved into kendo attractive?" She questioned wide eyed.
"Sister please. You're no better than she and you know it. Could this be jealousy of the competing beauties?" Enishi replied chuckling. "As if!" Tomoe turned her head sharply as he cheek tinted a heavy shade of crimson.
"There is nothing cute or beautiful about a sweaty girl in kendo attire." She added.
Shaking his heading as his chuckle died down, Enishi continued.
"But seriously, she has skill. Gohie came from the same fighting background as she. The only difference is she mastered the style and has the discipline demanded to improve upon it. Gohie never finished mastering the technique and only learned the style again on a different hand."
Tomoe listened, looking at her brother's dazed expression as he talked.
"If anything the boss is contemplating her joining with one of the Street Lords. He could get her to get close enough to the Battousai and his little friends and take care of them. Plus, if he gets her to do that then the boss can finally move forward with his plans." Enishi finished.
"No way! She can't join the organization! She has nothing to offer!" Tomoe replied as she abruptly stood up and glared at her brother. "You can't let him make that decision." She said crossing her arms.
"And why not Tomoe? She can fight, she already is under the Himura's household so that leaves for convenient attacks or information. And she will be close enough to get the job done!" He argued standing up too.
"You can't just expect her to join just because the boss said so. I didn't…It took dad and mother's unexpected death to get me in." Tomoe ranted.
"Well I don't see where the problem is unless it's the part where the girl gets close to Battousai." Enishi said narrowing his eyes at his sister.
"Are you kidding me that's the last thing on my mind…Her being with Kenshin…She's not even his type." Tomoe snapped.
"Well then what is his type you?" He crossed, picking up his shaded glasses of the table and putting them back on.
Tomoe stood there with her mouth agape shocked at what he'd just said.
"I don't think you ever fully gotten over Battousai as much as you calm you did. And even if it is true you can't stand the fact that now that you're out of his life, you have to let some other woman pick up where you left off with him. Especially if they are as pretty as everyone claims." Enishi stated as he grabbed the black jacket to his tux suit and puts it on smoothing out the folds.
"I think I should give this young lady a personal visit to see what all the fuss is about and why she brings out the green monster in you sister." He said as took his newspaper and walked pass his older sister heading up the trail in a slight jog.
Tomoe stood there looking out into the water on the sandy beach as the waves rolled gently in. Her hand clutched at her sides and balled into fist trembling. She closed her mouth and turned around to watch her brother leave.
Anger and sorrow washing over her face.
"I won't….I won't let that happen…she won't be apart of the Street Lords….And she won't get close to Kenshin…" She said to the wind with trembling lips.
Nightfall fell over the beach front before she decided it was time for her to go.
Kenshin looked up at the night sky and sighed. It had been another long day.
'Another long day of dodging Kaoru.' He thought shaking his head. Kenshin entered his room rubbing the back of his neck and as he lit the candle on his wooden chest he jumped as the figure of Sano came into his vision.
"Sanosuke!" He hissed. "Ha! You jumped! Well that's a first. You sure the 'Missy Incident' isn't messing with your brain man?" Sano replied.
Kenshin rolled his eyes at how Sano had taken the honor of naming his embarrassing moment with Kaoru in the bath house.
"Sano what are you doing here? Usually by now you'd be out getting wasted." Kenshin said sitting down by him, leaving the candle where he got it.
"Well normally you'd be right." Sano said with a shrug.
"Normally?" Kenshin repeated.
Kenshin knew that Sano rarely used the word 'normally'. So he took it as his first sign that Sano had some sort of important news. The only question now was what was it that kept Sanosuke from going out getting drunk?
"Yep. I went all the way to the bar today early and just when I was about to order my normal rounds guess who walked in and didn't recognize me." Sano paused really wanting Kenshin to guess.
"Who?" Kenshin asked. "Guess." Sano replied. "Come on Sano, seriously." Kenshin said growing annoyed.
Sano just sighed.
"Enishi came in to meet with one of the head Street Lord's associates." Sano stated. "What!" Kenshin almost yelled.
"Shh! Quiet or you'll rat me out. Hiko didn't want me to come back here for a while since I helped myself to some of his sake he left lying around." Sano said in a hushed voice.
"Sanosuke what did they talk about?" Kenshin asked looking at him sternly.
"Well…I can't tell you the chunk of what they talked about because, go figure, it was in code talk. But as for the rest of it well…They're gonna be keeping an eye on Missy." Sano finished.
"Well that's something we kind of knew would happen." Kenshin said, relaxing a little.
"No but that's not all. Enishi plans to meet with her some way, luring her away from our protection."
Kenshin's eyes widened at this new piece of information.
"Enishi? When did he get back? And why would he…" His voice trailed as he started to think of a reason why.
"You know that's what the other guy said. And Enishi's answer was that she sounded interesting and he wants to be the judge of if she lives up to everyone's talk." Sano answered Kenshin's half asked question.
"We have to do something." Kenshin said, his fist balling in his lap. Sano noticed his reaction.
"Well I only meant to tell you this as a heads up. In case, you know, one day she's gone missing for an extended period of time." Sano said looking else where so he wouldn't see his friends' shocked amber gaze.
"What do you mean just a heads up?" Kenshin asked angry. "YOU were the one that said she was capable of protecting herself." Sano said. "You know. Her first day of Hiten-Ryu?" Sano elaborated.
For a moment Kenshin thought he detected a hint of slyness in Sano's remark. In truth Sano did want to warn Kenshin about Enishi. But also he had a secret agenda that Enishi now just helped him with.
"Yeah! From people like Hibiki and people like Gohie!" Kenshin exclaimed.
"And yet you came to her rescue with Gohie and was tempted to save her from Hibiki. And now you're willing to risk saving her again from a suave guy like Enishi." Sano said shaking his head.
As realization dawned on him, Kenshin started to blush a little bit as he picked up on what Sano was hinting at.
"Dude I think you're falling for her. Whether you'll admit it to me, her or yourself." Sano said. "Sano I'm not falling for her." Kenshin pressed as he tried to calm down.
"Oh so you're just playing her big hero just because she's Hiko's niece?" "Yes." Kenshin quickly answered.
Sano shook his head knowingly.
"Look whatever man. I'll catch you later." Sano said as he stood up and headed for the exit to Kenshin's room. "I'm late for a date with the waitress at the bar handing me my drinks." He added.
Kenshin didn't even say anything as what Sano said ranged in his head over and over again. About the conversation with Enishi and about him falling for Kaoru.
He didn't even hear as Hiko chased Sano out of the yard.
Once the shock of everything finally cooled down Kenshin snapped back to reality.
"I'd better go check on Kaoru to make sure she's ok." He thought aloud. He stood up and blew out his candle before leaving his room and heading for Kaoru's door.
Kaoru sighed again. Yet again she had spent another day Kenshin-less. Though it wasn't like she was complaining. I mean all they did when they were in the room was fight. And that took too much energy to do.
"We'll have to confront each other sooner or later." She said to her self as she undid her obi to her pink kimono.
'But at least tomorrow I'll have a new student to distract me.' She reminded herself.
But Kaoru was so into her musings that she didn't even hear the footsteps that came to her door. And as she spun around to put the cord to her obi away she didn't even notice the shadow through the rice paper doors.
Outside Kenshin had his eyes closed trying to gather all his courage and knock at her door or call her name.
He couldn't help it if he felt that way. Since what happened back at the bath house he had done everything in his power to avoid her for heavens sake. And even if he did manage to get her to come to her door what would he say to her?
'Oh…um…Excuse me Kaoru-dono. I just came to make sure that Enishi and none of his goons are there.'
No, that would sound too lame.
'Oh hi Kaoru-dono I was just coming to check on you. And since you seem fine I'll just leave.'
No, that sounds suspicious and creepy.
Kenshin sighed feeling dumber and dumber every second.
'Come on what's the matter with me? I've faced much worse things before. It's just Kaoru-dono...Hiko's niece…who happened to walk in on me a few days ago…and Hiko caught us…then he gave me a very tiring punishment afterwards.' He sighed.
Suddenly the sound of Hiko's footsteps reached Kenshin's ears.
'Oh no Hiko!' He shouted in his mind.
This was not good. It was bad enough when Hiko had caught him holding Kaoru in the bath house, but now him standing outside her door? Who knew what unbearable punishment Hiko would come up with for that?
So out of fear and desperation Kenshin did the only thing he could do.
He opened Kaoru's door just as she had her kimono off and hopped inside closing her door shut.
Kaoru heard the sound of her door opening and looked up about to grab her bokken near her futon. But she only yelped when she realized it was Kenshin.
"Kenshin? What are you doing?" She said rather loudly; at least to Kenshin since it made him jump.
It was there that moment he realized he'd entered Kaoru's room without thinking. And he nearly whimpered as it finally occurred to him that she was holding her kimono up close to her to hide the sight of her body from him.
'Oh just great.' He thought shaking his head. Just then Hiko's footsteps got closer. 'Oh shit!' Kenshin cursed as he realized it was too late for him to escape from her room.
STOP HERE!
a/n- well I kept my promise you guys! I did make another cute scene and though I left you with another big cliff hanger, I promise not to take ten million years to update again. Well thanks to all my reviewers! Your love was what pressed me to finish this ASAP! Thanks to Uzumaki Jinn for being lucky number 100! WooT! Much love to my readers and reviewers! See you all next chapter and I'll put in a chapter preview on there since I won't on this one.