Chapter 5: Boredom leads to breakdown!

He pushed himself up from the porch and forced himself to walk back into that party room alone, with Kaoru and was determined to tell her his true feelings AS HARD AS THAT MIGHT BE!

This was impossible…

He had fought thousands of men trained in the art to kill and slaughter on command. Men wanted him dead and would do anything to get that done…

And yet to a woman he knew loved him he was still afraid to admit his obvious feelings? Kenshin sighed dramatically and slapped his forehead…nice going Himura; you really suck.

He stopped in front of the shoji and took about one hundred and one deep breathes before bravely opening the door to the girl inside who stared at her master with wide, curious, and ultimately oblivious eyes.

Why does she not know!

Easy…you never said anything!

"Are you all right now Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, getting up as quickly as she could to tend to him in some way. She placed her hand on his back and walked him back to the seat he was in before.

Kenshin nodded at her as happily as he possibly could convince even himself. At that moment he stole a glance at the clock resting by a jug of sake.

"It's already 11:30?" He asked nervously, unaware of the sweat that was now falling from his brow.

"Yes, can you believe it? You've almost been thirty from a whole day." She said happily towards him, "But besides that, I wanted to apologize…"

As she rambled on with her meaningless apology, Kenshin was dying of inner anguish. He only had a half-an-hour to build up his confidence…he was a really meek man…that feat was NOT POSSIBLE…

It was truly inconceivable!

"Kaoru-dono, Kaoru, Kaoru, Dono, Kaoru." Kenshin spat out mindlessly, "No need to apologize for…for…"

"Ruining your birthday?" Kaoru answered for him, her voice questioning with just a hint of her inner rage.

"You did no such thing!" He shouted now, "Is that what you were saying?" He asked.

Kaoru glared daggers at him now, "You weren't even listening to my, very considerate I must say, apology? Himura Kenshin what is the matter with you?"

"A lot of things…" he replied sourly, "I could name a few…"

"Do so then!" She commanded.

"Aren't I your master?" He shot back as softly and meekly as he could…he didn't want to anger the beast, not before he tried to tame her first.

Kaoru blew her bangs out her eyes and turned away. "Yea, yea, so I am." She retorted, "What is your command?" She said without a hint of her pervious enthusiasm.

"Just uh…sit there quietly until everyone comes back." He told her unthinkingly.

"Are you kidding?"

"No talking…"

And she was silent.

Good…now he could think again!

He glanced again at the clock and was relieved to see that only 5 minutes had passed since he had lasted check. 25 minutes he had now and even as he thought this the seconds ticked by shorting his time limit.

He briefly glanced at Kaoru who sat bitterly next to her evil master now. As the day went on he knew how much she regretted her birthday present. It couldn't be helped now…it was to late and he hadn't even asked her the one thing now…the one command that could ensure everything…oh yes, it was that perfect…and please don't get ahead of the narrator.

It isn't THAT.

Or is it?

Kenshin shook his head of the weird thoughts and sucked in his breath. He was ready now…

He was going to say it…

"Kaoru…I…"

"WE'RE BACK!" Sanosuke called from the entrance hall. He kicked off his shoes and slid back into the room were a red faced Kenshin and a very pissed off Kaoru now sat.

"Wow guys…you really kept the party goin'." Sanosuke sighed and sat down, grabbing random bottles of sake and seeing if there were any drops left to quench his thirst.

"What are you doing?" Kaoru snapped placing her hands over her chest. She raised her right eyebrow and sighed, "Didn't you just get back from bringing more sake? Even though I believe you've certainly had enough, why don't you drink some of that instead of searching for drops like an idiot?"

Sanosuke shrugged, "It looks like you and Kitsune are on the same page because she refuses to give me MY sake!" Sanosuke grumbled something of a more inappropriate nature and continued his hunt for a drop.

"I really don't want the poor idiot dying of alcohol poisoning because I'm sure he would if he kept at his drinking the rest of the night." She laughed loudly and sat down, with no sake bottles in hand.

"Where's my sake?" Sanosuke roared, getting in her face as soon as she was contented with her place.

"I dump it." She said simply.

"YOU WHAT?" Sanosuke shouted, unaware of the sleeping Misao in a nearby room, he shouted a variety of curse words at her and finally blew in her face with his foul sake breath.

"Why drink more when the party's almost coming to a close…" She replied angrily, throwing curse words back at him and hitting him in several not-nice-places.

With those words Kenshin's attention ripped from the arguing couple to the clock. Now it was 11:45, somehow ten minutes had passed so quickly Kenshin head felt like it was spinning.

He couldn't do it, especially not in front of Sanosuke and Megumi. As much as he cared for his dear friends there was no way he could admit his feeling to HIS Kaoru in front of them and it wasn't like he could just get up and pull Kaoru away, they would just ask to many questions.

This really wasn't going to work out very well in the end…

Kenshin sighed and rested back on his hands, "It's all going to be fine," He said to himself more then to anymore else in the room.

Megumi agreed, "It's just sake, let's behave now, for Ken-san." And with that Sanosuke sat down in silence.

"What now?" Kaoru asked, her voice slowly but surely losing all its anger and venom. "Should I go get Aoshi and Misao so they…"

"No need." Aoshi suddenly said from the shoji, "Misao has awoken." And with that Misao stepped out in front of him with a huge grin on her face. "Hey everybody I'm awake now, everybody!" She repeated, waving a gently sway back to her spot, or the place that looked like it would be her spot.

Aoshi grabbed her shoulder before she could knock into someone and placed her beside himself, "She's just a little out of persona, and she'll be fine soon."

"You seem to be over your sake too Aoshi. Are you?" Kenshin asked, thinking best to take interest in the conversation.

"I believe so." Aoshi replied in his normal, dull character.

Sanosuke nodded and yawned, "So are we stuck here until midnight or something?"

Megumi glared and slapped him square in the head, "Shut up idiot."

"Well, no." Kenshin said a little too quickly, "We can retire early…I'm old, I don't care!"

"Nonsense!" Kaoru replied, "We party until your day ends…Sanosuke can hold out for a little while, it's only about ten minutes."

With the reminder of the time, Kenshin gulped and nodded at Kaoru who smiled and returned her attention elsewhere. He clenched his hands in fists and sucked in his breath again.

If anyone were paying attention it would have been a very odd sight to witness…good thing no one was.

"I slept well." Misao said randomly.

"That's very nice Misao-chan." Kaoru answered, smiling despite her wanting to scream bloody murder.

Megumi played with her hair…

Sanosuke picked at a scab…

And Aoshi just sat there…

At that very moment Kenshin decided it was best to lock himself in his head until someone thought it best to speak to him and break him out of this thoughts. So he fell into the black hole that was the mind of Himura Kenshin.

I never liked confessing things; Sessha isn't very good at it… Spoke the soft-spoken Rurouni with the clear violet eyes.

That's because you are a piece of chicken-shit who dresses like a woman…a very ugly woman…Spat the cold Battousai with the fiery amber eyes.

All I want to know is how to do this! Shouted Kenshin…the normal and very confused Himura Kenshin.

The Rurouni and Battousai glanced at him for a moment and sighed; How are we supposed to know, we are you.

Well, what I did with Tomoe, I just told her…so, why is it so hard with Kaoru?

Probably because you had more confidence in yourself back then…and maybe even though you were Battousai you didn't feel so unworthy of her.

The sounds right…I do feel unworthy of Kaoru…does that mean I shouldn't tell her?

No fucking way! That would kill her if she never got what she deserved. Hell, I know she doesn't deserve you…or us, but she does deserve happiness and apparently she finds that with us.

The Rurouni blinked at the odd kindness of the Battousai; That was very considerate.

Don't get used to it…

"Kenshin."

So I should tell her?

I suppose…

Yes damn it!

But how? Just like that?

Why don't you do something first and then say it…

Like what?

Kiss her!

"Kenshin?"

Kiss her?

Kiss her!

"Kenshin!"

"I want to kiss you…"

Everyone froze.

"Huh!"

Without a word, he took her face in his hands and pulled her towards him. He captured her lips with his and kissed her passionately.

And everyone in the room swore to themselves…they made the world stopped spinning…

Kaoru didn't even try to fight it…he was her Master, well, that was the excuse anyway. It wasn't even important…KENSHIN WAS REALLY KISSING HER! She leaned in and added even more passion to the kiss, deepening it…then pulled away as fast as she could.

This wasn't right!

She couldn't kiss him the way she wanted with all the eyes watching her every move. She got up and left the room as fast as she could…

And without a beat, Kenshin followed her outside.

…

"I didn't tell him to do that…" Sanosuke said in his defense like someone had asked.

"Kaoru kissed him back on her own…" Megumi added.

They all sighed, "Well, at least they'll finally get together…"

"Wow, that was wild!"

And Outside…

Kaoru sat down on the porch and breathed heavily, "I can't believe I did that…I can believe he did that…" She said to herself, the embarrassed feeling finally set into her stomach.

"Kaoru…we need to talk…I love…"

"No, you can't say this now…it's rushing the story!"

"What?"