Swords and Roses
Chapter 9: Not Again
Kenshin rushed over to Kaoru and stood behind her. Kaoru could've sworn she had only blinked in the time it took for him to stand behind her, blowing out the light of her candle.
Kaoru looked over her shoulder sending him a glare. Just as she was about to say something he placed a hand over her mouth.
"Hiko is coming. Unless you want him to find us like this I would suggest you help me out and keep me hidden." Kenshin whispered in Kaoru's ear.
Kaoru couldn't tell whether if it was the tone of his hushed voice or the warmth of his breath tickling her ear that caused the cold shiver that ran down her spine. For all she knew it was both. But the next thing that happened she did not expect.
Kenshin removed his hand from her mouth as he somehow knew she would not rat him out. Then he pulled his gi loose, exposing his bare chest and snaked an arm around Kaoru's waist pulling her closer to him. Her bare back touching his bare chest.
Kaoru thanked the heavens that it was dark in the room so Kenshin couldn't see her crimson red face.
"Relax or this won't work." Kenshin said gently against the croak of her neck. He let his hair loose and the red strands fell over Kaoru's shoulder.
"Easy…for you to say." She hissed.
"Act like you are tying on your yutaka." He said as a dim light started to glow from the corner of Kaoru's door.
"Why?" She whispered back as she could now hear Hiko's foot steps.
"Lift your arms up and it will seem as if you're putting on your yutaka."
"My kimono will fall!" She countered.
"Just trust me for once!" Kenshin whispered angrily.
By this time Hiko was passing Kaoru's door. He noted that it looked awfully dark and looked to the sky.
'It's too early even for her to retire for bed.' He thought.
As he lifted his saucer oil lamp the shadow from within showed Kaoru lifting her arms up so the sleeves of her yutaka slipped over her and she quickly dropped her arms to fasten her tie.
Hiko abruptly continued on his way feeling as guilty as if he had walked in on her.
Kaoru and Kenshin listened intently to Hiko's retreating steps and as they were sure he was out of ear shot Kaoru hastily tried to remove herself from Kenshin's gi and arms.
Kenshin ended up pulling his gi off so Kaoru could get out. Once freed Kaoru groped around her futon until she found her real yutaka and put it on.
Never before had she been so close to any man like that before. Sure she had been in a similar situation but she and her student where fully clothed and she wasn't as close to him like how Kenshin had her.
Being close to Kenshin like that allowed her the chance to feel his strong chiseled chest against her smooth back and take in his natural manly scent. To go along with the freshly bathe aroma there was the lingering smell of a certain wood she could not identify.
Her uncle had once told her that Kenshin normally trained out in the woods somewhere instead of in the dojo outside of his normal class time. And Kenshin had always been that way since he started training.
Kenshin waited until his breathing returned to a normal state before lighting the candle. Kaoru moving so quickly to get away from him had an arousing affect on his body. He was grateful that she hadn't notice and waited until the throbbing stopped before striking a match for the candle.
Fear had distracted him from first noticing Kaoru was undressing when he entered her room. And fear again had distracted him from the fact that he held a nude Kaoru close to his body.
It wasn't until the alluring scent of jasmine reached his nose and he helped Kaoru put his gi on her, that he realized his situation.
After hearing Hiko's retreating steps Kenshin knew he wouldn't return. But to keep Kaoru at ease, he waited just a while longer before letting her know it was safe.
He wanted to gather all of his self control. For as his fear evaporated, so was his control. He was letting his scenes get the best of him.
When he held her close to him he noted how soft yet firm her skin was. Years of swordsmanship practice he thought.
Then there was the feel of her silky hair against his face and their bare skin touching. It was too much. Too much at one time.
He hadn't held a woman that close since Tomoe. And he never intended to again either. But the fates would cruel to him and let Kaoru break his promise.
As the light from the candle flooded the room in a warm golden hue, Kenshin's eyes meet with Kaoru's.
She sat on her futon, holding the ends of her yutaka closed in a death grip. Slowly she stood up, still eyeing him, and walked the short distance to stand in front of him.
"What was that?" She asked in a shaky voice.
Kaoru found it quite challenging to keep eye contact with Kenshin. Not just because of what happened moments ago, but the fact that he didn't put his gi on or tie his hair back.
"Gomen-nasi Kaoru-dono." Was all Kenshin could say as he walked around Kaoru and out of her room.
He knew what she was asking him, but he did not have an answer for her at that time. And he needed to get away to clear his head.
Kaoru stood motionless, eyeing the spot where Kenshin was standing seconds ago.
'Sorry? …. After what just happened all he has to say is sorry?' She thought in shock.
When she finally turned around and opened her shoji doors, Kenshin was nowhere to be found. And with a heavy sigh she closed her door, reached into her wooden chest and pulled out a book of bound paper. She flipped through it until she found a blank page before she started writing.
Kenshin shot up from his sleep breathing heavily. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to calm down.
Lifting up the covers he looked down and groaned. He dropped the covers and laid back down on his futon frustrated.
'I've got to do something….' He thought as he tried taking calm even breaths to will himself to calm down.
After the events of last night his dreams were plagued with Kaoru. At first they were just dreams of what had happen, but at the end it had gotten worse.
He dreamed of what it would have been like run his hands through her hair. What it would have been like to taste the skin of her neck with his tongue. To let his hand travel over her voluptuous body just to see if it was just as soft all over.
Once he had finally calmed, his favorite person in the whole world barged into his room.
'Oh great…' Kenshin thought as he noticed Sano had stopped to stare at him after he closed his door.
"Morning Sano." Kenshin said, finally deciding to get up to avoid suspicion.
"What are you still doing in bed?" Sano asked. "You should be cleaning up by now." He added.
Kenshin debated whether or not he wanted to tell Sano what had happen. He had always told Sano about things like that.
"Eh buddy you ok?" Sano asked worried.
'Not now….I won't tell him now…' Kenshin thought before reassuring Sano that he was alright.
Yahiko groaned in frustration. It was early in the morning, way early than what he was use to, and he was out with Kaoru for his first day of training.
"I thought you said Kamiya-Kasshin Ryuu would make me stronger!" He complained.
Kaoru, who was a few feet across from him only smiled. "Whining is for the weak Yahiko."
Yahiko growled in response. "But this is stupid. What does me being blind-folded trying to take your ribbon away have to do with anything?"
Kaoru shook her head. She had bitten off more than she could chew agreeing to have Yahiko as a student. He was stubborn and hot headed. His only interest was training with his bokken she leaned him.
"It has a lot to do with it Yahiko. A swordsman must be alert and focused. He may not always rely on his eyes in battle, but more so his other senses." Kaoru explained with a sigh.
They had been going over this exercise for more than a half hour. Without the blindfold Yahiko executed the concept perfectly. But with the blindfold he was struggling. Though that wasn't such a bad thing; it was Yahiko was becoming less cooperative by the second.
Kaoru looked up at the sky and sighed. Sunrise was fast approaching.
"That's enough for today Yahiko." Kaoru said clapping her hands together. "What?! That's all?" He exclaimed as he ripped off his blindfold.
"You want to train longer, and then I will train you longer. But you have to prove to me how serious you are. If you're wasting my time let me know." Kaoru replied with a serious look on her face.
Yahiko eyed her for a moment before stomping away angrily.
Kaoru watched Yahiko vent all the way to the side of the house and shook her head. She would have to work on his attitude above anything else to get the student she knew he could be.
And with his normal unlucky timing Kenshin bumped into the venting Yahiko. Sano, who was behind Kenshin, picked Yahiko up off the ground by his collar.
"Hey you, don't you owe him an apology." Sano asked narrowing his eyes. "Sorry…" Yahiko replied, not really sounding apologetic.
"Just let him go." Kenshin said as Sano was about to say something else.
Sano looked at Kenshin before putting Yahiko down and continuing his walk with Kenshin.
"Are you sure about that? That kid could use some manners." Sano replied.
"Yeah, just leave him….." Kenshin stopped walking as he spotted Kaoru out in the courtyard, drinking water for a wooden canteen.
"Whoa!" Sano just barely stopped himself from walking into Kenshin. "Hey do you mind giving me a warning before you suddenly decide to stop walking?!" Sano exclaimed, gaining Kaoru's attention.
'Damn big mouth!' Kenshin thought as he began to panic despite his calm outward appearance.
"What's the matter with you?" Sano asked as Kenshin continued to look at Kaoru who was looking back at him.
As she watched him her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest and she gathered the remainder of her things and left, breaking their staring contest.
"Kenshin, Sano." She said as she hurriedly passed by them.
"Jou-chan…." Sano replied.
As Sano turned back to watch Kaoru's retreat he looked back at Kenshin who was already looking at him with amber eyes.
"Damn it Kenshin you take the fun out of everything." Sano whined as they continued their journey to the kitchen.
Later that day during Hiten Mitsurugi lessons, Hiko noted that Kenshin, Surigia nor Sano showed up. And to make things even more interesting Hiko noted that Kaoru seemed to be a little distracted since everything she seemed to do look a little half-attempted.
Still thinking she was recovering from the bathhouse thing he left her alone. But he made a mental reminder to talk to her about it later.
Kaoru sighed as her uncle's lessons finally ended. She just wasn't into them today as she normally would have been.
But then again some strange things have been happening to her lately and it didn't help that they involved her live in senpai. And it also didn't help that she was beginning to get worried about Surigia's absences. She knew that the injuries he obtained physically were relatively better than the one's on his pride.
After changing into a fresh lime green kimono with a navy blue obi, Kaoru took some money and headed towards the market.
She knew what she was planning to get Surigia probably wouldn't be enough to get him to come back to the dojo, but she at least had to try.
"So do you plan on telling me what happened between you and Jou-chan or do I have to beat it out of you?" Sano threatened as they walked down the busy main street.
"You already know the story Sano." Kenshin replied heatedly.
Sano had stopped at nothing to try and figure out what happened to him and Kaoru once he found him skipping lessons that afternoon.
"Please it takes more than a Missy Incident to get you to miss one of his lessons."
"Drop it Sano." Kenshin replied darkly.
Hearing that tone of voice only confirmed what Sano thought, that something did happen, and it also silenced him.
"You know you are a terrible lair. You always give yourself away." Sano said as he stuffed his hands into his pocket.
Kenshin sighed as he eyed his friend.
"Hey Kenshin look it's Jou-chan!" Sano said as he stopped walking and grabbed Kenshin's arm as he pointed.
"Sano!" Kenshin complained, but he followed Sanosuke's finger and sure enough it was Kaoru walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the road.
"Where is she going?" Sano thought aloud.
"Sano let me go." Kenshin said as he tried to free his arm.
But Sano was too distracted watching Kaoru.
"Sano, she's probably going to get some groceries!" Kenshin hissed.
That answer seemed to relieve Sano somewhat and he let Kenshin go.
"If you say so."
Kenshin could tell that Sano didn't buy it. He wondered why it bugged him so much that she would be out shopping, but quickly dismissed any thoughts of a certain Tokyo girl as they continued walking.
Kaoru rounded the corner and finally saw a shop where they sold swords.
"Finally." She said with a sigh as she walked over to small shop and browsed through it's content.
"Well hello there miss."
Kaoru turned around to see a tall man with short white hair and black rounded glasses smiling down at her.
'Gosh is he tall….' Kaoru that as she returned his smile.
"Hello." She returned with a slight bow.
"I'm sorry miss, but it seems you must have gotten lost. The kitchen ware shop is actually back around the corner that way. A lot of women always get these two shops mixed up." He said chuckling.
"Um actually…I am at the right place. I'm here to buy a sword." Kaoru replied.
"I see…well then what would a fair lady like yourself want with a sword?" He asked, lowering his glasses to reveal a pair of lovely onyx eyes.
Keeping up her impression of a weak, normal woman shopping for a gift she had to fight the urge to blush.
She could tell the handsome man before her was an excellent swordsman. From his calloused hands that he used to adjust his glasses, to his well built frame that his kimono did little to hide, and his overall aura.
"I need a sword for a friend. You see in a resent fight it was broken and I'm here to get a new one." She answered.
"Uh huh. Well then we have some swords over here. There are probably more budget friendly and-
"And they also wouldn't hold up in a real fight. It would break faster than the one he had before." Kaoru cut him off as she glanced at the swords he was talking about.
"My, my….I never met a woman with an eye for swords before…." The man said with a weak smile.
"My friend isn't a beginner swordsman." Kaoru replied simply as she turned around and looked at a few swords around her.
"This sword here…." Kaoru picked up a random sword from a rack and pulls it halfway out of it's sheath.
"From your experience as a swordsman, do you think this sword would last long in a fight with someone of an intermediate rank under the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu?"
Enishi eyed the woman who changed from lovely young lady, to lovely young swordswoman.
"Well me personally," Enishi began as he took the sword out of her hands carefully. "Depends on the person who wields it."
Enishi pulled the sword all the way out and slashed the air with it quickly before bring it back up to his face for further inspection.
"From what I understand of the Hiten Ryuu, the fighters mainly use this side of the sword for most basic attacks. An intimidate fighter wouldn't know a lot of the ariel attacks like an advanced student would so they would still stick with this one side." Enishi explain as he showed her what he was talking about.
"Though if made right this sword would be good for that, but it's a little older than some of these swords and it has a weak spot right where it's important." He re-sheathed the sword and walked around until he found another one and pulled it out.
"Now this one would be a better buy. It's a little more than the others, but it lacks the weak spots like the other one you saw."
Kaoru smiled up at him brightly. "Why thank you very much for you help…" Her voice trailed.
"Enishi….You may call me Enishi." He said as he re-sheathed the sword in his hand and walked back to the front of the shop.
Kaoru followed behind him eyeing some of the shops merchandise, making a mental list of what to come back and buy.
After Kaoru purchased the sword and he wrapped it, Enishi smiled and handed her the package.
"I hope your friend enjoys and takes care of this sword." He commented.
Kaoru nodded as she took the sword from his hands.
"I'm sure he will." Just as Kaoru turned to leave Enishi got her attention.
"Excuse me-" Kaoru cut him off.
"My name is Kaoru…..Kamiya, Kaoru….my father taught me how to spot a good sword." She said over her shoulder before continuing her exist.
'Kamiya, Kaoru is it? Well you live up to your looks and your knowledge isn't that bad…But is your fighting as good as everyone claims?' Enishi thought as he sighed and watched her retrace her steps back up the street with a smile.
STOP HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
a/n- Happy Thanksgiving to all that apply. And I look forward to seeeing you all in my next update. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I hope you enjoyed this chapter more than I enjoyed typing and retyping it a million times.
PREVEIW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER
"Um excuse me, there wouldn't happen to be a Kamiya, Kaoru here by any chance?"
Kenshin turns around, glaring at the man in front of him.
"What the hell are you doing here and what do you want with her?"
Enishi smirked. "Nice to see you too murderer."
…
"You should take my advice, a nice girl like you don't want to get involved with a man like Kenshin." Tomoe said as she took a sip of her tea.
Kaoru eyed her.
"Not only does the man have a reputation, but he has a lot of personal baggage that could get in the way of any form of a romantic relationship." She added.