Author's note: Thank you to all you who are still reading this and I hope that I have create less confusion as the story moves along. Well, I have been holding this chapter for almost 3 weeks but did not even make any changes (that I was hoping to). I just can't improvise it any better. So, here goes another slow moving and boring chapter.

Thank you nes for reviewing my piece before it goes public and save me from 'grammar humiliation'.

Disclamer: I do not own any character in Rurounin Kenshin. I just borrowed them to improve my vocabulary and grammar.

Bored daylight

Kaoru stood at the balcony with her elbows resting on the railing and the back of her palms supporting her jaw. Her eyes were trailing very closely to a miniature Kenshin who was holding his lunch box, walking towards Sano's car. Kenshin turned around and waved Kaoru goodbye when he felt a strong presence calling upon him in silence from behind.

Sano took at glance at Kaoru and smiled before he unlocked his car and went in. Kenshin took another momentary look at Kaoru before he went inside the car with a small smile.

Kaoru eyes continued to follow the rapidly diminishing vehicle as it sped off to it intended destination. She did not take her eyes off from the direction where the vehicle had vanished from her sight. 'Even if you are going to stand here for hours, you wouldn't think that they might just change their minds about going to work and stay home with you, would you?' 'I guess not….' She sighed deeply and moved heavily back into the apartment.

By 11 a.m., she had completed her routine household chores for the day – cleaning up after breakfast; dusting and vacuuming the apartment, made Sano's bed (she was not required to make Kenshin's bed as he made his own) and dropped the laundry into the washing machine. She sat herself on the sofa with a mug hot tea in her hand. Her long slender legs stretched out crossing each other with one of her heels resting on the edge of the mahogany coffee table.

Kaoru had the television turned on but she was looking out to the blue sky through the balcony, thinking about nothing in particular. She needed some noise to fill the air around her. She did not particularly enjoy being alone in the quiet apartment. She grew up with Misao. Misao was not one person who you could associate the word 'loneliness' with. She was used to being surrounded by people – Aioya Hotel was never without the warmth of human being. Hence, 'lonely' did not exist in her vocabulary till...

It had been almost a month since Kaoru moved in with Kenshin and Sano. All three occupants had grown accustomed to her role as the dutiful home-maker. She found satisfaction in preparing meals for the guys in which she had gradually taken less time cook However, it was when she had completed the domestic task that she felt restless and redundant while waiting for time to passed till it was time to prepare dinner. She was not fond of the idea of being idle.

'Maybe I should a read book? Or I could visit Mrs. Najimo… again… hm… maybe I should bake and visit Mr. and Mrs. Kaneshiro instead. I have not really chat with them for a while now, perhaps there is more to talk about. Oh god… what am I doing? This is not how I am going to spend my life doing right? - thinking of which neighbor of mine should I visit for the day…' She sighed restlessly with her eyes closed and the back of her left land resting on her forehead. 'When are they coming home……?' she whined to herself.

She opened her eyes slowly in search for the time from the face of the clock in the living area. 'It's not even noon and cooking class does not start till half past three in the afternoon. I need to find something to do until then' She sighed again and sipped her tea. She had secretly enrolled herself for cooking lesson from Monday to Friday in hope to broaden her scope of menu.

She shot her eyes wide open when she remembered that Hiko was expected to come over for dinner tomorrow night. She jumped from the sofa, placed the cup on the coffee table and went to her room to carry out her laptop to the coffee table. She dialed onto the internet and started searching for something special for tomorrow's dinner. For some reason, she was invigorated about hosting Hiko and she felt great desire to give him a warm cozy home meal. Hiko had made it a weekly affair to have dinner with the three of them. After their first acquaintance, Hiko had never brought up the topic of conversation that they had when they took their first evening walk together, in which, she, no doubt was glad.

Kenshin and Sano almost flipped in their chairs when they noticed how well Hiko and Kaoru were getting along - they talked and laughed together. Hiko even hugged and gave Kaoru a peck on the cheek before he took his leave. It even surprised Kaoru herself that Hiko actually adored her. Initially, she was worried that perhaps Hiko was infatuated by her but instantly she realized that Hiko's affection was more of fatherly warmth.

Yet Kaoru was bothered by how Hiko was soft and gentle with her and at the same time, harsh and rude to Kenshin. Sometimes, she couldn't help but mentally smack the back of Hiko's head for being such an offensive old man, to Kenshin that is. It annoyed her further to no sense when Kenhin appeared to be taking very lightly towards Hiko's attitude. 'Out of gratitude, perhaps' She reasoned. It wouldn't make sense to conclude that Hiko dislike Kenshin, otherwise, Hiko wouldn't even bothered to come over for dinner. Hiko did not seem like a person who took the trouble to come all the way to one's adobe just to torment or put insult onto one's face.

Kaoru was rather mystified over Kenshin and Hiko's queer relationship. When she extended her curiosity to Sano, he merely answered, 'That's how they have always been. Nothing unsual.' When she tactfully brought up the matter to Kenshin during one of their evening walk, he smiled to the sky and started commenting on how beautiful the evening sky looked that night. 'In time to come, I will find out the reason why.' She promised herself.

Her eyes tore away from the laptop screen and her musings stopped when she heard the buzzing sound of door bell.

'Now, which sweet neighbor of mine is it this time? Good to have someone over for lunch' She walked quickly to the door and opened it. She was surprised to find who had dropped by to visit her.

"Aoshi! What are you doing here?" She embraced Aoshi tightly. "It's good to see you.." She whispered softly.

"Likewise." Aoshi lower his tall lean body to return Kaoru's hug and allowed her a more comfortable hug. Aoshi was almost six feet tall while Kaoru barely reach five feet three.

"What brings you here?" She asked again and broke the hug.

"Business at Aoiya Tokyo Hotel" He made his way into the apartment as she gesture him to come in.

'You are here to see me because you are on business trip or you are on business trip because you wanted to see me?' Kaoru mentally tried to assess Aoshi's main objective. Regardless, she was delighted to see Aoshi. He had always looked stunning in his black suit with his white shirt buttoned up to his chest areas, leaving a glimpse of his muscular chest. Although he was a man without many words but he emitted such charismatic aura around him. Kaoru wondered briefly how Misao cope with the stress from Aoshi's lady charm. Misao was not a green eye monster by nature but who would not be jealous if your fiancée was at constant prey of some ogling females, though Aoshi paid them no heed.

Aoshi's eyes roamed around the apartment, scrutinizing it before he sat himself on the sofa. He observed the screen of the laptop displaying in front of him and smirked slightly.

"This is good neighbourhood…." Kaoru started talking while handing him a cup of tea. She continued her telltale of what and how she had been doing. She had guessed that Aoshi had been well informed of her state of being by Misao. Misao, so far, had never managed to keep anything from Aoshi. She continued rattling about 'The Days of Kaoru Kamiya', knowing that Aoshi wanted to hear from her personally. Besides, Aoshi would have stopped her if he had heard enough. He was a no nonsense man.

"Extension to your new found hobby?" Aoshi's finally voiced out with his index finger pointing to Kaoru's laptop.

"Kenshin's uncle, Hiko, is coming over for dinner tomorrow. So I thought I might find something nice to serve him. I like him. Unlike what have been rumored by the world outside, he is actually a nice man" 'Except when he is with Kenshin…he is an ass' She completed the remaining sentence in her head. "And I think he likes me as well." She moved to reached for laptop and shut the flap of the screen.

"Hiko Seijuro? Does he realize who you are?" Though Aoshi's voice remained calm and neutral, he was taken aback by the fact that he didn't know of this information before hand. He doubted that Misao had slipped her mind of this noteworthy piece of news. He would have come to see her sooner if he knew of it earlier.

"I'm not sure but it doesn't matter. He is nothing to worry about" Kaoru answered innocently.

"What make you say so? How sure are you that he won't harm you for being here when you cannot even affirm of his knowledge on your identity?" Aoshi raised his concern with his still voice.

"Aoshi, don't over react and get too excited about it. Call it a hunch feeling, but I know that he will not hurt me. Don't worry. As I said, he really likes me" Kaoru tried to convince the overprotective paranoia Aoshi. She remembered why in the first place she did not tell Misao about Hiko's visit.

"You said you THINK that he likes you" Aoshi corrected her.

She sighed exasperatedly. "When are you getting married to Misao?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.

"In a year time. You are well aware of Seijuro's profile. He can be dangerous if he thinks you are a threat to him. On what concrete ground you believe that he will leave you unharmed?" Aoshi redirected the conversation back to its track. He was beginning to lose patience over Kaoru's naivety.

She had failed on the first attempt to change the subject. Hence came the second strategy, "Oh... Look at the time. I am hungry. Are you? I am sure you are. Let me make us something to eat." She finished her sentences within a breath and walked to the kitchen area, leaving Aoshi glaring at her retreating form.

While her hands were working on their lunch, her mind was working on ways to counter Aoshi's reasoning. She was surprised when Aoshi did not make any move to resume their discussion in the kitchen. It even surprised her further when Aoshi did not pursue on the subject matter while they had their lunch. "Your cooking class has done you good deed" was all that he said to her.

After lunch Aoshi had to leave for a meeting. Kaoru was reluctant to watch him leave. She walked with him to his car. She hugged him when they were by the side of his car.

"When will I see you again?" She still had him around her arms. .She had hoped to see Aoshi more often than not.

"Soon."

"Bring Misao with you. I miss her…"

"Aaa.." He patted her back. "You might need to do some explaining about my presence to your neighbor, mainly Mrs. Najimo, I presume. Or would you like me to introduce myself?" He slowly disengaged himself from Kaoru.

"Why am I not surprised that you know exactly who my neighbors are?" She gave him a questioning look. "Don't worry about it. I can handle it quite well. I managed to live here for a month with minimal rumor, you know."

Aoshi let out a small smile at the corner of his lips before he went into his car.

Kaoru, for the second time in a day, watched and waved goodbye to someone dear to her sped off in his car. When she was certain that Aoshi's car was no longer at sight, she turned and found Mrs. Najimo and a few others neighbors observing her intently from their respective balcony.

"That's my brother, Aoshi. He is on business trip in Tokyo and stopped by to check on me. He is cute, isn't he?" She shouted so that everyone who was interested to know heard her as she walked back to her apartment.

"Is he married? I have a niece who's still single……" A shout was heard.

Kaoru chuckled and looked up. "He is single but unfortunately, not available, Mrs. Sakata. He is engaged to my best friend. They are due to get married next year."

"Oh…that's too bad. But you let me know if he decides to break off the engagement, dear. My niece is a wonderful girl. You'll love her"

"OK" Kaoru shook her head disbelievingly as she disappeared into the building.

OxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO

Both Sano and Kenshin almost choked on their foods when Kaoru announced on the dining table that she was gong to re-paint the whole apartment.

"Kenshin, are you alright?" Kaoru patted Kenshin's back with concern. Kenshin nodded and tried to regain his composure.

"Are you alright there, Sano? What is with the two of you? I will re-paint it on my own. Don't worry. I can handle it on my own. I won't trouble the both of you" 'What's with guys and refurbishment?' She shook her head.

OxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO

"Kenshin, she is bored to her wits" Sano whispered and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Kaoru do not appeared out of nowhere behind him and Kenshin.

"She re-organised my wardrobe and no matter how I messed up my wardrobe, it will always be neat and organised the next time I open it. I don't even dare to mess up my wardrobe anymore. And that is supposed to be my wardrobe!" Sano took another glance to make sure that she was still in the shower.

"She even replaced my old underwear with new ones with the right size and brand, all nicely stacked up. And now, she wants to re-paint the apartment?" Sano continued, keeping his voice as low as possible.

"There is no harm in her re-painting the apartment. This place needs some fresh colours, anyway." Kenshin said non enthusiastically. He had thought that Kaoru bought new undergarment only for him. He was slightly let down by the idea that Sano shared the same treatment as he did.

"That is not the point! The point is - she is getting bored and restless. Do something about it before she gets hit by another brainwave and start relocating the furniture or even worst, buy new furniture….." He started to imagine how, one fine day, he would ponder hard on whether did he unlocked the right apartment door.

"And you suggest?" Kenshin had long sensed Kaoru's restlessness and mentally agreed with Sano. However, he didn't know what to do either.

"I don't know. She is your girl. You think of something, will ya?" Sano chided in a whisper. 'Woman…Equates totrouble' "What ever happen to her job hunting? Isn't she supposed to be actively looking for a job?"

Kenshin recalled asking her the same question during one evening walk. Kaoru took his intention the wrong way, thinking that he was regarding her as a freeloader. She got mad and refused to speak to him for the rest of the night. He was a lost man. He had not been around with too many women to understand how the mind of a woman worked or how to tackle them intelligently and tactfully.

"Oi Kenshin…" Sano reminded Kenshin that he was by Kenshin's side.

"Maybe, we should seek Tae's advice on this?" Kenshin admitted defeat.

"Good idea. You call her. Now..." Sano commanded.

"What are you guys doing in the balcony?" Kaoru asked as she toweled dried her hair.

"Nothing" They answered in unison and almost too innocently.

Kaoru stopped her movement and eyed suspiciously at the Kenshin and Sano.

"Ready to go for a walk, Kaoru" Kenshin cracked the tight air between the three of them.

"Ok! Just give me a minute" Kaoru's eye dilated to its normal size as she hurried back to her room to brush her hair.

Kenshin and Sano sighed in relief.

OxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO

Author's note: Thank you for reading. Kindly review and let me know what you think of it.

And I thanked the following reviewer:

Via x Infinito: Hi! I am still around writing the story. Sorry about the delay, I was having trouble trying to piece certain things together. I realized now that it really takes a lot to write. Had all the ideas in the head but putting them in writing is just so difficult for me. I'm very delighted to find that you wanted me to update soon. Thank you for your support.

I was actually worried that my story might be a bit too boring when I started writing on what they do and how they react and the conversation that they held. Then again, I am worried that I might just simplified the story and hence, no substance.

I dread the public transport too. Hence I decided to be kind and got Kaoru to pick him up. :)

Don't worry about Hiko – his warning is for good course. Kenshin does have something to hide but nothing major which I promised it will be disclosed later but i am not too sure when (I still have problem planning my writing). Anyway, thanks for your review and hope that I do not disappoint you with coming chapters.

Nes Thank you for your wonderful support and encouragement. As you can see I did not changes to the above chapter. Can't think of a single sentence to change and decided to stick to my previous summary. Can't think of an better way of putting it without causing any further contradiction as you have pointed out earlier

Thanks for leaving me a review. Oh.. now that I remember and before I forget again, congratulation on your new job. I forgot to congratulate you on my last email.

S.J.Kidd Thank for leaving such kind review. I actually did briefly spoke of the 'flame' in chapter 3. Should actually thanked the person who flamed me otherwise I would be so cautious with my grammar and tried harder to improve. Don't have get upset about the flame. It is just not worth it.

Desanera I am so sorry for causing the confusion. You were not the first and I don't think that you would be the last to comment on that. The wedding was just an introduction an opening to the story. As the story moves along, the wedding will somehow make sense (I hope) and slowly whatever 'secret' will be revealed. Trust me, the wedding essence of the story. I just need a few more chapters to links things together and I am pretty slow at it. I just hope that you have the patience for that. Anyway, I am glad that you like the growing relationship between K&K.

Sangoo thank you for you kind word. I am really happy that you like my story. I will update but it will just take a while to do so. I am very slow at writing and trying piece the story together so that it makes sense.

are-en1( ) Sorry for the confusion. But at this stage I have yet to disclose the identity of the groom.