The sky fell to a pinkish, orange color. Growl " Hehehe..." Kaoru laughed sheepishly as the three boys turned to look at her. " Yeah, we should find some food right about now. I'm starving. But not as much as Jou-chan here." Sano laughed. Kaoru launched herself on the rooster's head. " Aughh! Get her off, Kenshin!" Sano yelled, running around in circles. Kenshin was about to help, when Aoshi replied, " Leave 'em. Let's go and find a place to stay." Aoshi turned to look at the two fighting children, " If you two would rather stay here, then by all means, stay. We're leaving. Come on, Kenshin." The two kids stop their fighting and ran to catch up to the other two.
" Aoshi is such a meanie." Kaoru pouted. " Hn." Aoshi replied as they all continued there way with no place in mind. She found a candy shop and ran over to it. Kaoru fished out some coins and found that it wasn't nearly as enough to pay for the cheapest piece of candy. " Do you want to buy some candy, girl?" the old lady replied. " But i don't have enough money." Kaoru replied sadly. " Kaoru! There you are! We thought you were lost." Kenshin cried. " NO. I wanted to buy something to eat." Kaoru said. " Kaoru, we don't have enough money to buy food. You know that." Aoshi said. The old lady felt pity for the four kids. " Here. Take them." the old lady replied, handing them candy. Kaoru looked up at the owner. " But, we don't have enough money, ma'am." The old lady laughed. " It's for free." " What?! Are you serious? Cool!" Sano cried, swiping candy off of the counter. " Sano! Say 'thanks'" Kenshin replied. " Oh." Sano said. He turned to the old lady, " Thanks, ma'am." The old lady waved her hands, " No problem, now just go on home." " But we don't have one, ma'am. We're all orphans." Kaoru sadly replied.
" Oh my. I see. How about you live with me. How does that sound?" the old lady beamed. The four kids stood flabbergasted. " Y-You mean it?" Kenshin cried. " Of course! I live alone, so what's four more gonna hurt?" Kaoru jumped up and down with joy. "Yay! A home at last!" " Hn." Aoshi smirked. " Now come on, I'll show you to your rooms, alright?" the old lady said as she walked up a flight of stairs to three rooms. Then she turned to Kaoru, " Would it be alright if you bunked with me?" Kaoru smiled and chirped, " Yay! As long as I'm sleeping far away from Sano!" " Hey!" Sano cried. Kaoru stuck out her tongue. " Ahhh!" Kaoru screamed, running away from Sano. The old lady laughed. " I haven't laughed like this in a long time. I'm really glad that I met you guys." the old lady chuckled, ruffling the girl's hair. " I'm sure you all had a rough day so, come on, into your room and rest, while I finish up at the shop." the old lady replied. " Oh! Oh! Let me help you, Grandma!" Kaoru cried following the old lady back downstairs.
The three boys all went into the room for a little rest. Downstairs at the shop Kaoru was stunned to see so many different kinds of candy. " Kaoru?" the old lady asked. Kaoru turned around, " Yes? What is it, grandma?" " Do you know your way around town?" the old lady said as she stacked some candy into little plastic bags and tying them up. " Yes. Why, granny?" Kaoru asked walking up to the counter and surveying the candies. " Because I could pay you for making deliveries to people." the old lady replied. " What? Are you serious? Cool! So when can I start, granny?" Kaoru cried. She was so excited to do this!
" Are you sure you want to do this, Kaoru-chan? I mean, it might be fun, but it's hard too." the old lady said. " I can do this, granny!" Kaoru replied, pumping her fists into the air. The lady laughed and ruffled Kaoru's raven hair. Kaoru just smiled at her and giggled. " Okay. Okay. How about you go on an errand tomorrow with one of your friends. That all right with you?" the old lady said. Kaoru just crossed her arms across her chest and made a face. " Depends on who's coming with me. I want it to be Ken-nii. Not those two other ones." Kaoru spat. The old lady just laughed again and replied, " All right. Ken-nii will go with you tomorrow, okay?" " Okay!" Kaoru exclaimed happily.
Kaoru helped the old lady with the candies and they both closed shop to have dinner. " Wha!" Sano exclaimed happily, examing all of the food on the table. " Stop it Sano, you're drooling." Aoshi replied. Sano wiped the drool off his chin and glared at him. " So what? Just look at all this food!" Sano exclaimed. " Manners, Sano." Kenshin reminded him. Sano just stuck out his tongue. " Don't worry about it. Just eat." the old lady said. They all dug into their food. Then she made an announcement. " Kenshin? Would you like to accompany Kaoru tomorrow on her errand?" the old lady asked. Kenshin looked up from his rice bowl, mouth full of food. " Huh?"
" I want to go with Jou-chan, grandma!" Sano cried, mouth full of food and rice was flying everywhere. " Ew!" Kaoru cried. " I'm sorry, Sanosuke. But, Kaoru-chan only wanted Kenshin to help her." the old lady replied. " What?" Sano replied and yet again, rice began to fly everywhere. " Why, Kaoru-chan?" Kenshin asked, " Why only me?" Kaoru looked down at her lap and blushed a little. " W-Well, you're the only nicest boy here. So I want you to help me. Besides, that sakabato you're carrying could protect me." " Oh. Okay." Kenshin said a little uncertain. " Well, that's just selfish!" Sano cried. Everyone turned to look at him. " What is, Sano?" the old lady asked. Sano didn't say anything, instead he slammed his chopsticks down onto the table and stomped upstairs and into his room.
Kaoru looked down a bit. She then got up and walked to Sano's room, Kaoru arrived in front of his room and knocked gently. " What is it?!" Sano cried, Kaoru could tell that he was really furious. " I'm sorry, Sano. I didn't think it would hurt your feelings that much." Kaoru spoke softly. On the other side of the door, Sano heard her words perfectly. Kaoru sat down and leaned against the door to his room, " I'm sorry Sano. I really am." Sano just felt fury rise up within him, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. " Just leave me alone, why don't cha!" Sano cried from the other side of the door. Kaoru just flinched at his tone and she felt guilty even more. " Kaoru-chan," a voice said. Kaoru looked up with puffy eyes at the person. It was granny. " Granny, I-" Kaoru started but ended up crying instead.
" Just leave the boy be, Kaoru. Rest up for tomorrow, you're going to have to wake up very early for your errands." the old lady whispered. " Okay," Kaoru replied sadly and went to her room, there she just sat on the double bed and sighed heavily. Downstairs, Kenshin and Aoshi cleared the table and washed the dishes before passing the old lady on the stairs. " Goodnight," they both said and the old lady replied back. When she went down to clear the dishes, she had found that they had already cleared it and washed the dishes. She smiled warmly, knowing that she had found a nice group of kids and was glad she had brought them in. The old lady turned off the lights and went up to bed to find that Kaoru had fallen asleep.
A knock was heard at her door, " What is it?" she asked. The door opened and in came Kenshin and a fuming Sano. The old lady held back a laugh, " What do you want to tell me?" The two boys looked at the girl's sleeping form and Kenshin replied, " Well, um, I don't want to go with Kaoru-chan tomorrow. Let Sano go, but please don't tell Kaoru about it, granny. Please?" Kenshin begged. Sano just sat there, looking furious, arms across his chest. " But does Sano want to? I mean, I can't force him if he doesn't want to." the old lady replied taking a look at the angry boy. " Trust me, he does." Kenshin said elbowing the angry boy who only grunted his response. The old lady sighed and couldn't do anything but agree with the red head. " All right, be prepared to work with Kaoru-chan, all right Sano?" the old lady said. " Hmph!" Sano replied back.
The old lady just laughed and ushered the two boys back to bed. She came back and found that Kaoru was sitting up in bed. " Kaoru-chan. Did you hear?" the old lady asked. Kaoru just looked down and nodded a bit. She bit her lip before getting off the bed and out the door to Sano's room, who's light was still on. Kaoru knocked lightly on the door and a grunt was heard, she tried the door knob and it wasn't locked! She pushed the door open to find Sano sitting in bed, surprised at her, then composed himself and turned his back on her. " What do you want?" Sano spat and Kaoru cringed. " I'm sorry. I hope tomorrow we can resolve this between us and forget that it never happened, okay?" Kaoru whispered. Sano didn't say anything, instead he just stayed quiet making the little girl feel uncomfortable. " Well, goodnight." Kaoru replied and left the room.
Walking back to the room she shared with the old lady, she found that the lady was sleeping. She sighed heavily before going to sleep herself, not wanting tomorrow to come.