Author's note:
I have received a few common review which was "I don't get it? I thought Kenshin and Kaoru were married? What happen?" I apologized for the confusion and take the advice of a fellow writer, namely, nes to do some explaining in chapter. In the prologue no names of the bride nor groom were mentioned. Hence, we do not know for sure whether the couple are who we think they are. I actually meant the Prologue to be an introduction to the story. As the story moves along, the plot will be linked back the Prologue. Therefore I hope to all dear reader that you would bear with me for a little while longer. The identity of the grief striken bride and the runaway groom will be uncovered in the later chapter. The confusion was probably my entire fault as my synopsis was rather misleading but I could not think of any better way to put them. So, I apologized.
Just to share with you guys, I have received one of the longest review (it was a flame rather- a very powerful one) that I would get only this one time(in term of length) in my journey as an amatuer writer.. It is really amazing how one could actually spend so much time and probably effort to write it, just so to condemn me. Unbelievable. I should actually thank the reviewer for she/he had point out some mistake of mine. And because of that I found myself a beta reader- nes.
Neshad been a great help at correcting my grammatical mistake. Thank you very much nes.
No doubt I was slightly uncomfortable with my 'longest review' but thanks to the following reader, I managed to come out with this chapter.
Thank you very much:
Gabyhyatt Thank you for liking my fic. Really appreciate it. I hope that I do not disappoint you.
Battosaifreak I really apologized for confusing you. Thank you for wanting me to update. The 'ditch' part will unravel soon, once I manage to set the scene right. Thank you for your support.
LegolasEstelstar You don't have to be sorry to that you are confuse. It is partly my fault. I hope that my above explanation is good enough for you. Thank you for cheering for me.
Via x Infinito Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I do believe that people learn from mistake. And I do hope to complete this story whether or not I am good at it. Sorry to get you confuse on the second chapter.
Disclamer: I do not own any character in Rurounin Kenshin. I just borrowed them to improve my vocabulary and grammar.
New home
Sano retreated back into his room. Kaoru was in what once was a guest room, now officially hers, unpacking her carton boxes.
Kenshin leaned against the door frame with two cups of hot chocolates. He watched Kaoru's back as she unpacked her stuff. Kaoru had always loved hot chocolate. He thought that she might need one now. Kenshin had observed her earlier and realized how exhausted she looked.
She was too tired to realise that someone was watching her back until she spun around. "Kenshin! You scared me. How long have been standing there? Why didn't you call out for me?"
Kenshin held up one of his hand offering her the mug of hot chocolate. No matter how tired she was, she smiled gracefully when she took the mug in her hands. She sat at the edge of the bed and closed her eyes to savor the aroma of the drink. Kenshin was still looking at her from where he stood. She looked up at him, patting on the empty space next to her. He smiled and moved forward to sit next to her.
Both sipped their hot chocolate in silence for while.
"I was getting worried when I did not hear from you for days. I called this afternoon but your mobile couldn't be reached". He initiated the conversation.
"Sorry…" She said softly, ashamed of herself for causing him to worry. "I was busy with all this…" Pointing around the room to the boxes around her. "I supposed when you called, I was somewhere in mid air on my way here. They don't allow mobile phones to be turned on in the air craft". She explained as if he had never boarded a plane before.
"Well, you should at least say something about it. I could have at least picked you up from the airport and helped you to move instead of you having to hire some mover dead in the middle of the night. Speaking of which, why did you have your stuff moved in this odd hour in the morning?"
"Erm… well, I wanted to take the next available flight back to Japan once I was done with my packing, before my grandfather changes his mind and decides to chain me to his side. And you have no idea how long it took me to pack all this stuff. Second, I thought it would be fun to surprise you like this. I should have taken a picture of you and Sano, in your pajamas with that look on your face when you saw me". She giggled with a spark of playfulness dancing in her eyes.
He was amused by her expression that took a 180 degree turn from exhaustion to excitement. "Fun it may be but it can be dangerous for you, a young lady to travel at this hour of the night."
"Kenshin, stop sounding like my grandfather…" She paused for a while, staring blankly at the wardrobe in front of her while she tried to process what had she just said. 'Did I just said 'GRANDFATHER' out loud twice! I am too tired. I better not talk to Kenshin with my half dead brain. Otherwise I'll just end up saying more than I should'
While she mused to herself, Kenshin was not, at all, perplexed by what she had just said to him. "Kaoru?" For a moment Kenshin suspected that she had fallen asleep sitting beside him with her eyes wide opened, until she shook her head slightly and sighed to herself.
"Kaoru?" He called her name again. He was relived to see her turning to his voice and responding. "Hm?" He wondered briefly at what was she thinking a while ago.
"Is your family aware that you are here?" He needed to know.
"………"Again, she was lost in her own world of thoughts.
"Kaoru?" He was getting worried at her non reaction.
"Ah.. yes. Of course they know…."
"They did not object?" He was curious to know.
She shook her head but her thoughts immediately flew to a single person. 'Aoshi…..'
"Kaoru….." He trailed off.
"Yes, Kenshin?". She asked, savoring another sip of her hot chocolate.
"Do you really think that this is a good idea? For you to stay here with two other males, that is. It is not that I do not welcome you but what would others have to say about this? I do not wish for your reputation as a lady with dignity to be tarnished."
"That is why I would not tell about me moving in here because I know that you would not agree to this or you might just find an excuse to talk me out of it." She smiled ruefully to her mug of, now, not so hot chocolate.
Kenshin, sensing she was not happy with his comment, was trying to think of something to correct the situation.
"Does it bother you that I am living under one roof with you? Are you uncomfortable with my presence here?" She turned suddenly to face him wearing a very serious expression, with her blue eyes piercing into his as if hers were some kind of a lying detector.
"No, it doesn't bother me." He answered from the bottom of his heart knowing she was reading his emotional expression very closely.
"Then, we do not have a problem and I don't care what others have to say about this. Besides, how could my dignity be judged by whom I choose to live with?" Her face lit up again. "Ok. Enough rest. I need to unpack some of this stuff so that I can go to bed. I am so exhausted!" She sat up and stretched her arms upwards. "Now, where is my toiletry?" She began skimming through her box content list.
Kenshin couldn't make up his feelings right now – it felt so right and yet, not quite right that she was living close to him now. He decided to ponder no further and rose up from the bed. "I'll help you to unpack" He said as he moved to the nearest box.
"Thank you. What box number are you holding?"
"Box 10.".
Box 10. Box 10. What is in box 10? Arrrgh.. "Kenshin! Stop your hand this minute. Back away from the box!"
Kenshin froze all his movement and slowly back away from the box. "What's wrong?"
She grabbed the box from his ministration and murmured quickly "That's my undergarment".
"Oh…sorry. Erm… so which box should I unpack then?".
Kaoru, whose cheeks was still slightly pink, scanned through her checklist. "You can start with box 5. It holds my toiletry".
Kenshin found box number 5. "Unbelievable that she has that much of toiletry items. Unbelievable that she actually has so many boxes! What did she bring with her?"
"Kaoru, did you not go to Australia? How come the returned address on the boxes and the pass docket wrote China's address?"
Kaoru stopped dead with what she was doing and mentally kicked herself for being careless to disclose such information outright. "I did stop in China for a while…… to…. take care of some personal business" 'That's the lameness, most unconvincing, senseless and illogical excuse that you ever thought of, Kaoru! Stupid!' She mentally bellowed at herself.
Kenshin raised his brow to the explanation. Before he could probe further, Kaoru had hurried him to unload her toiletry in the bathroom. Sensing that Kaoru was avoiding the subject, he decided to silence his thoughts and moved towards the bathroom.
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By the time Kaoru decided to call it a night, the sun had risen. Kaoru had yet to complete her unpacking and she resided to continue when she gets up later in the day.
Kenshin was not able to fall back into slumber after the morning's event. He stood at the balcony, leaning against the railing to enjoy the morning breeze. As he looked below, he saw old Mrs. Najimo walking her dog, Fluffy. Mrs. Najimo looked up and waved at him. Kenshin waved back.
Some of neighbours did realize that Kaoru occasionally stayed overnight at their place but she living there might just spark a chain of unhealthy rumors in this rather conservative community. He sighed at the thought that he had to explain to Mrs. Najimo about Kaoru. Rest assured that once Mrs. Najimo had been informed, the rest of the neighborhood will get the wind of the news. After all, Mrs. Najimo lived up to her reputation as the local CCN in the community.
'I should be careful with my choice of words with Mrs. Najimo. Otherwise I can imagine the hottest gossip for the year…' He sniggered. Within seconds, his thoughts drifted back to the question he had been asking himself earlier. 'Why is she here?' Though he did meant what he said earlier when asked if he was bothered by her presence but he could not help but wonder. 'Could be it….. nah… it couldn't be. Perhaps I should just let the stream flow on its own course. I shouldn't think too much about why she's here nor worry what others might think since she and I are….'
"Can't sleep, eh?" A familiar voice snapped Kenshin out of his thoughts.
"Morning, Sano."
Sano leaned against the railing on his back and elbow next to Kenshin. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing" Kenshin knew exactly what Sano was referring to and decided to stop beating around the bush for once.
"What do you mean by nothing? This would be a great opportunity for the both of you to go further." Sano snapped at Kenshin.
"I'm going to make breakfast." Kenshin sighed and headed back into the apartment.
'Why is he always avoiding the subject?...What's his problem? I don't reckon that shyness plays a part in it' Sano sighed and tilted his head upward until the blue sky greeted his face from above.
"Sano," Kenshin turned around to look at him, "bearing in mind that our new flat mate is a lady, I would appreciate if you would be mindful enough not to walk around the apartment topless."
Sano merely groaned at his remark.
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It was nearly two in the afternoon when Kaoru decided to rise and shine. She made her way to the living area and scanned around for any presence of the guys. 'They would have probably left for work by now. Unlike me, they actually hold a job'. True enough as Kenshin left a note saying so and that her lunch was in the fridge. She frowned when Kenshin actually left her a step by step instruction on how to heat up her lunch using the microwave.
"What does he think I will do? Blow up the apartment!" She said out loudly even though at the back of her mind, she knew that she was capable of doing so just by being in the kitchen. With determination, she was going to prove the guys and herself wrong. She could be good in the kitchen just like any other girls if she choose to. 'There is a will, there is a way.' She encouraged herself
She was deep in her thoughts while she consumed her successfully-heated-up-lunch. 'I can't believe that I have made it this far. No turning back now'. She looked around her determinedly. 'This will be my home now. So I better make my presence noted to this neighborhood to avoid further complications'
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Sano and Kenshin arrived at the apartment building parking lot at the same time. No doubt both of them were members of the same team but they went to work in their respective vehicle. Kenshin usually headed straight home after work while Sano hangs around the city and be home just in time for dinner. For some reason, Sano felt obligated to be home early that day.
As both men were approaching closer to their apartment, smell of cooking attacked their nostrils. They stopped shortly at the door and looked at each other questioningly.
"You wouldn't think that she cooking us dinner, would you?" Sano had this very worried look on his face.
Kenshin simply shrugged. "Well, you were the one who complained about my-all-time-boring-meal. Perhaps your fairy god mother has granted you your wish of having more variety of food"
Sano gulped with his eyes widened. 'How can he be so calm after what happened the last time Jou-Chan's cooking ended in catastrophe?' Sano reminiscence how the both of them immediately turned blue the moment they swallowed Kaoru's home cook food.
Kenshin opened the apartment's door and was immediately greeted by a cheerful Kaoru in her apron. "Okaeri nasai!"
"Tadaima" Kenshin was delighted at what his eyes saw...
Sano squeaked silently when he saw the sight of Kaoru and the half set dining table.
"You guys just came in time for dinner. We are ready to eat in a minute. Come sit down." She continued setting up the table happily.
Both men sat by the dining table looking at the food displaying in front of them. Kaoru had made tempura for dinner. Odd that it looked and smelled exactly like tempura.
'Looks can be deceiving, don't be mislead' Sano scrutinized his dinner and turned to look at Kenshin.
Kenshin seems to be jovial. "Itadakimasu" he said as he picked up his chopstick.
Sano watched carefully as Kenshin brought the prawn tempura into his mouth, bite, chewed and swallowed. And he was still ALIVE! Sano could have sworn that Kenshin would have won the best actor award when he said "Hm.. It is as delicious as it looks". Sano looked at Kenshin disbelievingly.
"Go on. Taste it. This is really good" Kenshin said encouragingly, aware that Sano had been observing him like a guinea pig.
Sano looked at Kenshin with his knitted brows and then looked at Kaoru who was waiting for him to take the first bite. Sano gulped and felt a large drop of sweat starting to trail down his temple. Kaoru was still looking at him and he knew that he had no way out of this but to take this tempura to his grave. He picked up his share of tempura. He took one last look at Kenshin who had yet to show any sign of 'blue' before he stared down at his food. He took a deep breath, held it, and jammed the tempura into his mouth. He chewed the tempura as quickly as possible with this eyes shut, waiting for the expected effect to attack him. However to his surprised, none of that sort came. In fact he opened his eyes disbelieving his own taste bud that it actually tasted like tempura and nothing more. He chewed slowly and swallowed, looking utterly surprised.
"Ever heard of the word 'improvement'?" Kaoru smiled triumphantly as she watched Sano's facial expression.
Sano grinned sheepishly at his own ridicule and enjoyed Kaoru's dinner for the first time. "Sorry. Where did you pick up cooking? This is such a contrast compare to the last time you tried to cook. What inspired you?" He asked, trying to hide his embarrassment by changing the subject.
"Oh…. I picked it up here and there. And I had Mrs. Najimo's help today" She replied casually.
'No wonder'. Both men thought simultaneously and they welcomed the idea.
"Besides, to win a man's heart, is through his stomach". She blurted out but made no facial movement to show that she had just said it unintentionally.
Kenshin was puzzled as to whose stomach was she trying to win? Sano just smirked as he might just have an idea whose stomach she could be referring to.
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Sano was watching television and left the two to clean up after dinner. Kaoru soaped up the dishes while Kenshin rinsed them off.
"Kenshin, go have a sit and rest. I know you had a long day. I promise I won't break your dishes" She assured him.
"It's ok" Kenshin smiled to her. She smiled back and they silently performed their duty.
Sano had not paid attention to the television at all. All his senses went to the two in the kitchen. He was observing them from the corner of his eyes. 'At the rate the two are going, they are going no where.' Just as he shook his head and sighed, he heard…
"How was your day Kenshin?"
"It was good except that nothing much happen which was a good sign……" He reiterated his day to her. She merely nodded with acknowledgement. When he finished telling her his day's affair, he returned her question to her.
"By the time I woke up it was two. Didn't manage to get much done. Had tea with Mrs. Najimo at her place this afternoon. Told her that I will be staying with you guys from now and you know the rest."
"Did she ask further about your stay?" Kenshin knew Mrs. Najimo would not approve of such notion that unmarried female and male living under one roof.
"Yes, she did."
"What did you say then?" It would prove interesting to know exactly how she dealt with Mrs. Najimo. Before Kenshin could get his answer, her mobile phone rang. She quickly rinsed off the soap staining her hand and ran towards the ringing phone.
Kenshin turned around to watch her step into the balcony and shut the sliding door behind her before she answered her call. He wandered for a while who could have called her that she required such privacy. He sighed quietly and returned his attention to the dishes laying in the sink.
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"Hello, Misao" Kaoru said, as soon as she stepped into the balcony.
"Hey girl. How did dinner go? Good?"
"We just had dinner and they licked clean the dishes. Thank you for your cooking tips. It really worked." Kaoru grinned to the phone.
"Hey, if you get cooking lessons from Misao, you won't go wrong. Having said, you actually surprised me as I was imagining that you will be rushing those two the hospital right now" Misao tried pulling Kaoru's leg.
"Misao, have some faith in me, will you?"
"I was just joking. As much I would like to find out more about your 'dinner' event, but someone here is getting really impatient and about to bore a hole on my back with his glare. Aoshi-sama here wishes to speak to you. Hang on, I'll pass the phone over to him..."
"Misao, don't…." before Kaoru could complete her sentence, "Good evening, Kaoru" a stony calmed voiced was echoed from the phone.
Here we go again "Good evening, Aoshi. Misao said that you wish to speak to me? What about?" As if she had not already knew why he called.
"Have you re-consider your option, Kaoru? I do not think that it is wise for you to live in with THAT man as you are now." Straight to the point as he always did.
"Aoshi, why are we going through this discussion again? And his name is Kenshin, you know it so use it." Kaoru tried very hard to control her tone. She knew very well that Aoshi meant well and cared for her but she simply cannot tolerate Aoshi's ill impression on Kenshin.
"You'll get hurt." Aoshi reasoned.
"Perhaps." She whispered sadly. "We don't know what will come out of a journey until we walk the end of it. But this much I know for sure; it will hurt me more to wonder what could have been, if I did not, at least make an effort to work it out - just because I was afraid of getting hurt. I brace myself to walk this path and I will face all consequences at my own accord."
"Kaoru……." Aoshi did not know how to respond to her oath.
"Aoshi, please understand. I need to do this. I need to know what could have been. I need your support" She pleaded. Despite her stubbornness to defy all advices against her action, it was important for her to seek Aoshi's approval. He was like her blood brother.
Aoshi sighed in defeat. He knew that this was one situation in which he would not be able to shield her from any emotional harm. She had to walk her chosen path to seek her own answer. The best that he could do was to stand by her through thick and thin. He thought for a moment and hoped that he would never have to lend her a shoulder to cry on.
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Satisfied with sparkling clean dishes stacked nicely on the dish rack, Kenshin opened the trash bin to empty it. His eyes shot wide open in shocked at the three quarter filled bin covered with what looked like badly deformed tempura. Kenshin gauged at least half of the bin was filled with unpleasant tempura.
Kenshin smiled at the sight of the trash bin. Somehow, he felt happiness slowly sipped into his entire being when he concluded that Kaoru had put a great deal of effort in preparing dinner. Until her earlier remarked '... to win a man's heart, is through his stomach' attacked his thoughts. Contented with the earlier feeling that flooded his being, he pushed away the question of 'whose stomach?' from his thoughts. For the moment, he didn't want to know. Not at all.
He looked up at the direction of the living room when he heard the sliding being slide opened. Kaoru had hanged up and came back into the apartment.
"I'd finished the dishes" He smiled to her. "I'll take the trash out" He moved in extraordinary slow motion that gave Kaoru ample time to react to his last sentence.
"Noo!" Kaoru hurried herself to the kitchen to stop him from opening the trash bin. "It's bad enough leaving you to finish up the cleaning. So, leave the trash to me. I'll take it out. You should rest and relax" She pushed him by his back into the living room.
Phew! That was close. She let out her breath.
Sano stared questioningly at the man with a stupid smile plastered on his face beside him.
Ok. Is this chapter confusing as well?
Kindly review. Thank you.