Author's Note: Allons-y!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of its characters. All information regarding the institutions that will be mentioned in this story are fictional. This is being written purely for entertainment.
Relevance
Chapter 3
Kenshin
The moment consciousness hit him that morning, the first thing he felt was someone's warm body enclosed in his arms. Flexing his hands a bit, he grinned to himself when he ensured that it was not his imagination and that he was, indeed, holding a woman.
He took a deep breath and smiled when the scent of jasmine-scented shampoo hit his nose, and he snuggled deeper into its source. He opened his eyes and cringed a bit when the bright sunlight glared right into his pupils, but as soon as his purple orbs were able to adjust, he rolled over onto his back to check his surroundings.
The previous night was incredible for him and his little vixen. He reveled at how responsive she was to his every touch, and grinned to himself when he remembered her moans, growls and screams. Despite the countless times that she told him how she 'felt' about him, her enthusiasm during their wild adventure obviously proved that she was lying—and he was very excited to rub that fact into her face as soon as she wakes up.
He grasped around the small dresser placed beside his side of the bed for his watch, careful not to jostle the sleeping siren beside him. They both had a long shift and he was quite sure that she wanted to get as much rest as she could. He didn't have to go back to the hospital that day, and he knew that she didn't either—unless there were any emergencies, of course—and he fully intended on staying and spending the day with her. After all, aside from the wild, hot, sex, he also loved teasing her to no end.
Seeing that it was only seven o'clock, he sighed happily and gently untangled his arms from around Kaoru. His breathing stopped every time she'd make a sound because he was certain that she really wouldn't want to be woken up so early on her first free day in a month, and while he loved poking fun at her to no end, he was fully aware that women who just woke up were not a force to be reckoned with. Once his task was successful and she curled back onto her side, he shuffled around to find his boxers so he could put them on before walking towards the floor-to-ceiling windows in the room and pulling the heavy curtains over to block out the harsh morning light.
He took a second to admire how she looked from where he was, but shook himself out of his stupor with the knowledge that he had the time to crawl back into bed with her. Smiling, he did just that and carefully pulled her over to him, following her deep and steady breathing until he was lulled back to sleep.
He was brought back to reality by the sound of the shower running three hours after he first woke up. Feeling a bit annoyed with himself at not being able to wake up before her, he brushed a hand over his face and hair as he sat up on the bed. He knew that once she got out of the shower and saw that he was up, she'd go straight into their usual routine of witty banter that focused mostly on trying to get him out of her house so she could spend the whole day relaxing by herself. But he was determined to not let her win this time—it's been a month since they first met, and as much as he enjoyed their occasional roll in the sack, he really wanted to get to know her better. He knew she was still very uncomfortable with the idea of dating, but he was confident that given enough time, he'd get her to change her mind. After all, wasn't his persistence what made her cave into his more-than-friendly advances?
Grinning as he decided to take the first step to making her realize that he was planning on disrupting their usual routine, he pulled his discarded white shirt over his head and tied his hair in a low ponytail before grabbing his keys and running over to his car. He knew that she didn't keep a lot of food in her kitchen, so he dropped by the grocery store before making his way over to her place the night before. He was still quite curious about why most of the boxes in her house were still unpacked, and why her refrigerator never had anything in it save for bottles of beer and water, a couple cartons of milk and orange juice, and the occasional pieces of fresh fruits. He tried asking her before, but she always gave him vague answers before proceeding to distract him with more pleasurable activities.
'Not today', he thought to himself. 'I'm going to win today.'
He rushed back into the house and went straight to the kitchen, grinning when he realized that Kaoru still wasn't through with her shower. He set out all the ingredients he'd need for their breakfast and quickly started frying the bacon he brought as he scrambled a couple of eggs in a bowl he found.
"What are you doing?" he heard Kaoru ask from behind him.
He lowered the heat from the oven before turning around to face her with a thousand-watt smile on his face. Her hair flowed down her shoulders, still damp from the shower she just took, and she stood before him in nothing but an oversized white shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. He loved seeing her so unrefined since that meant she was comfortable enough around him to not bother with prepping herself up whenever he spent time with her, but what made him smile was the adorably curious look she had on her face.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied cheerily.
Her brows scrunched together and a slight frown marred her face. Since she didn't have any make-up on, her face was quite pale under the morning light and he could clearly see the freckles that rested just above her nose. The gray circles under her eyes were a bit more visible, but he found that he didn't mind any of those imperfections. If anything, it made her more endearing in his eyes.
She huffed and walked over to the kitchen table where the rest of the breakfast ingredients were laid out. Warily, she pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling her legs up so she could wrap her arms around them and rest her chin on her knees. "I guess what I meant was, why the hell are you cooking breakfast in my house and where did you get the food? I'm pretty sure I don't have any of these things in my fridge."
He turned back around to flip the bacons and the pancakes that he was busy cooking on two different frying pans. "I'm cooking breakfast in your house because I'm hungry and I'm sure you're hungry too; and I dropped by the grocery before I came here last night. I didn't want to have to make something out of the two-week old orange and mayonnaise I found in there last time I was here."
"What makes you think you can do any of those things?" she said. Her words seemed harsh, but the tone she used was of genuine curiosity so he decided to answer honestly.
"Well, I've been spending a lot of time here so I figured you'd at least let me bring food every now and then. Our activities aren't exactly… passive."
She chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Why don't you keep food here, anyway? You have a perfectly good kitchen and I doubt that you'd actually opt to eat out every time you'd feel hungry. I know it gets tiring after a while."
"I haven't really had time to go grocery shopping." She sighed. "Besides, if I actually try to cook something, I won't have a house to come back to anymore. My kitchen skills are horrible."
"Ah. I finally know something about you." He smiled as he turned around to place the bacon and pancakes on a couple of plates that he laid out.
"Shut up." She grumbled and stood up to reach for something in her cupboard. "Do you want coffee or tea?"
He grinned. "Tea, please. So I guess you're not so against the idea of letting me cook breakfast here, eh?"
"If you have any sense of self-preservation, you'd stop talking now." She warned as she fixed them two mugs of hot tea.
They stayed silent for the rest of the time that Kenshin cooked most of the breakfast items he brought. After Kaoru handed him the steaming mug, she excused herself to pick up the newspaper that she subscribed to and brought it back to the kitchen. Once the food was done, they opted to continue the stretch of comfortable silence as they ate their respective meals. Kaoru read her newspaper as she ate, while Kenshin busied himself with looking around the different parts of the house that he could see.
Kaoru finished her breakfast before he did, and he could feel her sapphire eyes trying to catch his as she waited for him to take the last few bites of his meal. He grinned to himself as he switched between looking around and keeping his head bowed, dutifully avoiding her gaze to prolong their last few moments of morning peace. If the furrow between her brows was any indication, she clearly knew what he was up to.
"So…" she started when he finally finished eating. "I'm sure you must have a lot to—"
"You must not be a very private person." He mused, deliberately ignoring what she was saying.
Confused at his sudden interruption, Kaoru's eyes widened as she stared at him as though another head just popped out of his neck. "Uh… what?"
"It's just that you have a lot of floor-to-ceiling windows here, so I assume that you must not like your privacy very much."
She looked at him carefully, trying to gauge if he meant what he said as an insult or if he was just genuinely curious with her architectural preferences. Deciding that it was the latter, she shrugged. "I like natural light. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, the important parts of my house are either fenced or covered by heavy curtains. So I'm not really putting on a reality show for strangers to watch."
He considered her words and took another look around. This time, he noticed the tall fences that were placed all around her backyard, effectively blocking off her view from the outside world. As for the living room, he remembered seeing the thin cream-colored curtains that hung from the high windows.
She paused to fold her paper—an obvious indication that their amiable morning meal was now over—and looked at him meaningfully. "Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I'm sure you have a lot of things to do today. So—"
"No, actually. I don't." He grinned.
Her eyes thinned into impatient slits and she cleared her throat. "Well, if that's the case then you should probably go back home to rest. I have some things I was planning on doing around here, so I really should get to it."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm actually pretty rested enough. I'm feeling a bit restless, to be honest."
"Then I'm sure Sano could find something for you two to do." She glared. She was getting annoyed with his deviances to their familiar routine, and she really didn't like where their conversation was heading.
"I doubt it." He scoffed. "With the amount of alcohol he had last night, I'm pretty sure he'd be knocked out 'til tomorrow morning, at least."
"Okay, Kenshin." She sighed, giving into his obvious intent. By now, she was quite sure that he wasn't going to leave her alone, but the big question was, "What the hell do you want?"
He raised his brow. "You have a high IQ, Kaoru. I know you know what I want."
She scoffed. "Much as I'd love to spend the entire day having sex with you, I really do have a lot of things to do. So I suggest you just get going."
He looked at her intently for a while before standing up to gather the dishes that they used. "I'd love to do that too, but that's not exactly what I had in mind."
"You don't have to do those. I'll clean them when you leave." Kaoru grumbled. "And what exactly did you have in mind?"
"I insist. I happen to love washing dishes. I find it therapeutic." He said when she tried to reach for the faucet's nozzle.
"Really, you can just go and I'll take care of those."
"Really." He mocked playfully. "I don't mind."
"Well, I do." She hissed as she stood beside him. The glare she was giving him probably would've made Sano freeze in fear should he be on the receiving end of it, but Kenshin was never one to be deterred by her hateful looks. He was beginning to realize that the trick to winning her over was good old persistence.
He sighed, but the mirth in his eyes made it hard for Kaoru to believe that he was doing so out of frustration. "Fine. If you really want help, then you can dry the dishes."
"Fine." She muttered angrily as she roughly grabbed the dishtowel hanging beside him and started drying off the plates and utensils that he handed her.
They worked in relative silence for a while. He could feel her wary disposition, but he didn't feel the least bit worried that she'd be throwing him out anytime soon. She was much too good of a host to do so.
The silence was broken when he turned off the faucet and leaned his hip against the counter so he could look at her. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Excuse me?" she said indignantly. "I don't remember asking you to be a part of my plans."
He grinned and looked around. "I assume you'll be unpacking your things? It's been a month since you've been here and these boxes don't even look like they've been touched."
"Yeah." She replied as she hung the dishtowel back onto its hook. "Which means that I'm going to be very busy; which also means that you should go. I doubt you'd want to spend the whole day covered in dust and sweat."
"On the contrary, I can't think of a better way to spend the day." He smiled before leaning down and placing a chaste kiss on her lips. He turned away from her and started making his way into her living room, leaving her gaping at him as she processed what he was asking of her. "Besides, I don't see how you can finish unpacking all of these today without getting some help."
She followed in his wake and, as expected, tried to give him one more reason to leave her alone. "You don't even have any clothes to change into! You're not dressed for doing something like this."
Smiling, he placed both of his palms against the wall on either side of her head, effectively trapping her between his warm body and the cold surface of the wall. "I have clothes in my car." He whispered before dropping a gentle kiss on her right cheek. "And toiletries." He placed another kiss on her left cheek. "And I even have more food." He pressed into her then, enveloping her completely in his warmth as he leaned down to kiss her lips, making sure to move as gentle as possible as his tongue caressed hers in the loveliest of ways.
When he pulled back a couple of minutes later, he knew he was going to get his way.
"You play dirty, Himura." She scolded before sighing. "Fine. Do whatever you want, just—just don't come crying to me when you end up tired, hungry, and dirty by the end of the day."
He chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Pushing him off of herself, she walked away from him and climbed up the staircase to get ready. "I'm going to go upstairs to change. You can go ahead and shower, if you want. We'll start down here." She called down to him.
He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his achievement and jauntily ran to his car to grab his bag before making his way back and walking into the shower in her bedroom, grinning the entire time.
Maybe if he was good enough, she'll even let him leave his toothbrush behind.
Despite all of Kaoru's earlier inhibitions against having him help her, he could tell that she was having as much fun as he was based on the good vibes she was emitting. Starting out had been a bit awkward at first since she apparently had a lot of boxes that she didn't want to open—much less share with him, but when she realized that he can be trusted to not snoop around when she asked him not to, she eventually let him carry some of the boxes up to her attic himself whenever she'd be busy arranging something downstairs. They had a nice system going, and he knew she was silently thankful for his help since with how things were going, they'd probably finish unpacking everything in an hour or two.
He was really glad to see that she was opening up to him, and he was immensely glad to have suckered her into letting him spend time with her unguarded self. They talked, joked, and laughed as they worked, but he noticed that she still avoided topics that would reveal more about her than she intended to. Despite being in the weird arrangement they have for over a month now, he still didn't know anything more about her than what Hiko already told everyone and her behavior at work. She was his little mystery, and he couldn't wait to figure her out.
"I really don't see why you can't just leave my kitchen alone." She complained good-naturedly as they worked on unpacking and arranging her various kitchen materials. "I told you I'll only need the microwave and the dishes. All of the others will only take up unnecessary space."
He scoffed. "You have about eight cupboards here. What were you planning on putting in them? Rocks?"
"What if I was?" She grinned.
He turned to face her from where he was placing the heavy duty casserole on one of her cupboards and raised his brow.
"Fine." She sighed, slumping down onto her kitchen table and putting her face on her forearms.
He grabbed another pan to place on one of the top cupboards. "Really, Kaoru. I don't know why you're so against the idea of having a proper kitchen. It's not like having all of these pots and pans in their proper places will make your house spontaneously combust."
"I don't want the temptation, okay?" she grumbled.
"Temptation?"
She pushed herself off of the table and raised herself onto the kitchen counter near him. "Look, I know I can't cook. But that doesn't mean I don't get tempted to try every now and then."
Curious, he leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms to wait for her explanation. "And that's bad because…?"
"Clearly you haven't seen me work my magic in the kitchen yet. I had to move out of my apartment when I tried frying a couple of eggs back in college."
His smile grew brighter at her revelation, making her stare up at his violet orbs confusedly. Now they were getting somewhere.
"See, was that so hard, Kaoru?" he asked after a bit of a pause.
"Was what so hard?"
"Telling me about yourself." He grinned. "I think that's the first thing you've ever told me that doesn't relate to the hospital, sex, or alcohol. Am I finally getting into your good side?"
Her brows met in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I just mean," he started as he put an arm around her waist so she could lean her tired form into his. "That you never volunteer information about yourself. It's like you have all of these secrets that you don't want to share with anyone."
She tensed at his observation and tried to pull away from him, but he didn't let her. "Everyone has secrets, Himura."
"And obviously you have a lot of them." He teased. "Come on, Kaoru. Tell me one little secret. Consider it as payment for all the hard work I've done for you today."
"In case you've forgotten, you were the one who forced me to let you help." She scoffed indignantly. "I wanted you to leave me alone."
He chuckled. "I didn't exactly hear you complaining when we were carrying all those boxes up to the attic." He looked at her again. "Why are you so against me learning more about you?"
"And why are you so against me keeping secrets? Just because we sleep together doesn't mean we have to know everything about each other, you know."
"I don't see why we can't be friends too." He shrugged. "You've been working nonstop since you got here and not once have I seen or heard you go out with anyone."
She raised a brow at him. "Whose fault is that?"
"You're avoiding the topic."
"That's because there is no topic. Look, we hang out, we have sex, we work together. Are you honestly telling me that you're asking for more than that?"
"I'm asking you to go out with me." He smirked.
She laughed and pushed herself away from him before walking to her refrigerator to grab a bottle of cold water. "Are you crazy?" she asked before throwing another bottle at him.
"Thanks." He said appreciatively as he took a sip of the cold drink. "And no, I'm not crazy. What's so crazy about wanting to go out with you?"
"As in on a date?"
"Is there any other implication of going out?"
She looked at him seriously for a moment to judge if he was joking or not. Realizing that he wasn't, she sighed. "I really don't get you."
"What's not to get?" he asked curiously.
"Kenshin, we're already sleeping together. Hell, you're here almost three to four nights a week and we spend all of that time in bed. What else could you possibly want? That's supposed to be the perfect arrangement, you know. Don't mess it up."
"Why will dating mess it up?"
"We work together. I'm the chief resident, and you're an attending. What we're doing now is risky enough as it is." She explained calmly, willing him to understand what she was trying to say.
He smirked and stepped closer to her. "What are we doing now?"
"I'm not even going to try answering that question." She chuckled before turning away from him and leading him into the hallway. They were both a bit sweaty from all the work, but seeing the box-less hallways and rooms were enough for them to appreciate their handiwork. The kitchen was the last room on the list, and all they had to do now was to bring up the last two boxes that were lying at the foot of the stairs.
"You know you always end up giving into what I want in the end, right?" he mused as they walked together. "You always start things out so grumpy, but then you eventually realize that what I'm offering you is too hard to pass up on, so you end up doing what I suggested in the first place. Why don't you just save both of us the trouble and give in when I ask?"
She chuckled. "Now where would be the fun in that, Dr. Himura?" She paused when they reached the bottom of the staircase that led to the bedrooms and the third floor attic. "These are the last two boxes. They're not too heavy, so it shouldn't be hard for us to bring them up to the attic."
"Alright." He nodded. He stared at her sweat-clad form and gathered her into his arms with a mischievous look on his face. Her back was pressed intimately up into him and his mouth was right by the shell of her right ear. "I assume you have no other plans after this?"
"Not really, no." she grinned, turning around so she could lock her hands behind his neck. "Why do you ask?"
"You have a high IQ, Kaoru." He grinned back. She laughed when she realized that what he was saying were the exact same words that he said to her that morning when he was trying to convince her to let him stay with her for the rest of the day. "I know you know what I want."
She laughed. "I guess I do." She pulled away from him playfully and gestured towards the boxes. "Well, if that's what we'll be doing for the rest of the day, then I'm going to go hop in the shower. You can take these upstairs as payment for all the… hard labor you'll be putting me through."
Laughing at the commanding tone she used, he mock-saluted her and easily picked up the two stacked boxes. "Yes, ma'am. I'll see you up there."
"Don't you dare open those boxes, do you hear me?"
"I wouldn't even dream of it."
She grinned and gave him a quick peck on his cheek before running up the stairs to do just as she said. He shook his head at her—surprisingly—playful behavior and walked up the two flights of stairs that led to the dusty attic. Sighing as he stepped into the dank room, he looked around for a place to put the boxes in. He was about to walk towards the corner of the room when he felt his foot catch on something which made him up fall to his knees. The boxes he was holding flew from his arms and crashed onto the wooden floor, its contents ending up scattered all over the attic.
"Kenshin? Are you okay?" he heard Kaoru call worriedly from downstairs.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" he called back with a raised voice to ensure that she would hear him. He cursed as he stood up and brushed himself off, looking around to try to find the reason behind his rather painful fall. When he saw the raised floorboard by his right foot, he scowled at it and made a mental note to get Kaoru to agree to fix it later. He doubted that she'd be open to letting him do a few chores around the house to help her out given what he did with her that day, but that didn't mean he couldn't try. She's a very independent person, and he could tell that having him help her do something for her house made her uncomfortable.
Once all his limbs were intact and he made sure that he had no unnecessary injuries, he lifted his eyes to look at the mess in front of him. What he saw made his brows lift and his eyes widen in surprise.
There, lying innocently before him, were paintings, artworks, and various sketches on average sizes of canvases and huge sheets of drawing paper. He had no idea why she didn't want to open the box, nor could he understand why she would choose to hide its contents rather than hang them around the house given the delicate grace and beauty that each piece had. He was thinking about asking Kaoru about them when he went down to meet her, but when he squatted down to examine a particularly beautiful piece closer, he realized why she didn't want him to see any of it.
The 18x25 landscape-oriented painting was a portrait of a flame-haired little girl created using different shades of gray, blue, pink, and orange. The details that were crafted into the image were amazing—made even more special by the fact that it was created using watercolor, a medium that even he knew was difficult to control. It was unlike anything he's ever seen before, but what really drew him in was the haunting look that the orange-haired girl had on her blue-gray eyes. For someone who looked so young, the amount of defiance and strength that shone in her orbs took his breath away, and when he remembered that he was only looking at a painting, his admiration for the artist grew. The piece had so much emotion in it despite it containing nothing else but the portrait of the girl. Then again, he realized, painting something else on the plain white background might've ruined the tone of the artwork.
He stared into the image for quite a while, noting the freckles and the bruises that were also painted onto the child's face, along with the wisps of orange hair that framed her face—which, by the looks it, escaped from an unseen ponytail that the girl was sporting. When he finally got his bearings back, he glanced down at the bottom right corner of the canvas he was holding, and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw, written in small, cursive letters, the name of the woman that he was currently pursuing.
His Kaoru was a closet artist—a very talented one at that, and he had absolutely no idea why she wanted no one else to know about it. He glanced around at the other artworks around him and every piece just made him appreciate her talent all the more. He knew she was a brilliant surgeon, and now he also knows that she's a brilliant artist. It made him wonder what other secrets she could be hiding in that tiny little body of hers, and he felt all the more excited to find out.
First thing's first though, he had to get this mess cleaned up as soon as possible before she could find out that he saw them. She did, after all, expressly state that he was not allowed to look at the contents of the box, and he didn't think she would appreciate it if she found him up here ogling at one of her well-kept secrets.
He was about to pull himself up when a small slip of yellowed paper caught his eye. Gingerly, he picked it up and realized that it was a newspaper clipping. It looked old, but since there was no date on the piece of paper, he didn't know when exactly it was from.
Kamiya Koshijirou Dies at 43
Koshijirou Kamiya, critically-acclaimed multi-medium artist, died of heroin overdose last Sunday. He is survived by his wife, the esteemed French Actress, Emi Laurent, and their gifted daughter, Kaoru Kamiya.
Surprised and wildly curious about what he just read, he was about to continue doing so when—
"What the fuck are you doing?"
He sighed. Curiosity always did kill the damned cat.
Author's Note: Told you guys this was going to be light and sort-of chick-flicky. Hahaha we all need a break from heavy plots every now and then. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this!
And to all of the readers and followers of this story and of the other ones I've written, I am immensely grateful! I hope you guys will continue to support the other pieces I'll write. Thank you thank you thank you!
I'm excited to hear what you think about this!
Cheers!
PS The artwork I described is from Silvia Pelissero aka Agnes Cecile.