Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
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Grocery Store
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Chapter 7 - Subconsciousness of Relationship
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Two days later, five days before the wedding, they were in the mall.
"I still can't believe you came with me. Aren't you afraid of shopping with women?"
Kenshin threaded an arm through hers. "I know for a fact that Megumi made you shop for eight hours straight yesterday. You're sick of shopping. This trip isn't going to take long."
Kaoru wondered who'd told him about that. Probably Sano. "I'm only here to return this ridiculously short skirt Megumi made me get," Kaoru admitted, holding up the shopping bag she carried in her hand for a second. "There's no way I'm wearing this thing."
"I think you should try it on one more time before you return it. Let me check it out."
Kaoru blushed. "Go buy a playboy."
"Hot women in pictures versus a real live woman in front of me," Kenshin deliberated. "I think I'll go for the sexy woman in front of me," he concluded with a grin.
"I'm not trying the stupid thing on again. If Megumi hadn't bullied me after seven and a half hours of shopping with only one bathroom break, I never would have bought it in the first place."
"Just try it on one more time. I'm begging you."
"No. So stop asking. Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be spending time with your brother?" Kaoru asked in a see-through attempt to change the subject. But Kenshin apparently decided to let it slide.
"You mean you don't want me?" he asked with his best attempt at puppy dog eyes, which actually would have worked if she hadn't known him as well as she did.
But she did know him, so Kaoru just snorted. "You're a drama queen, you know that?"
He laughed and leaned into her for a few moments as they walked. It was comfortable, walking like this. With every step his body brushed against hers. And at the same time it wasn't comfortable, because she wanted to grab Kenshin's hand and thread her fingers through his but she didn't dare. She wanted him to slide an arm around her waist and pull her close and kiss her cheek every so often as they walked along, which would be ridiculously sappy, yet fulfilling. But she didn't dare initiate anything and lose him as a friend. She couldn't lose this thing they had.
His voice broke into her thoughts. "It's the only way to get your attention."
"You don't need my attention with your brother around."
He sighed and turned his face to scan the stores as they walked past, "My brother is trying to run my life. Hiroshi came out here because he thinks I need an intervention. Well I do need one – from him."
Kaoru shrugged. "I liked him when I met him yesterday."
"Everyone likes Hiroshi – at first," Kenshin said darkly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means he's cruel and sadistic and he lives only to torment me. He probably followed us here. I shouldn't have let him take my car this morning."
Kaoru raised an eyebrow and decided to reserve judgment on Kenshin's brother for now. "Finally! There's the skirt place," Kaoru said, pointing to a shop two stores down from where they now stood. "Damn. I should have parked on this side of the mall."
"No, you chose the perfect parking spot. I need to be away from my apartment for as long as possible."
"You may have some issues," Kaoru told him, and would have kept walking if he hadn't grabbed her hand and stopped while she kept walking, resulting in her being jerked to a stop. "What?"
"We're going in this store."
Kaoru followed the direction of his eyes. "Huh?"
"We're trying on the boyfriend trouser."
Kaoru blinked. "What?"
He pointed at the display in the window. It featured a happy couple dressed in identical white shirts. The guy was wearing his boxers and the woman was wearing a pair of loose khakis.
"In the commercial, they share the same pair of pants," Kenshin explained. "That's why it's called the boyfriend trouser. I want to see if I can fit it."
Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "You do know that they don't sell those pants for men, right?"
He shrugged. "I know. I just want to see if it's false advertising or not."
"And you're not my size, or my boyfriend."
"Details, Kaoru. Details." He pulled her into the store.
And that was how Kaoru found herself crammed into a changing room stall in the mall with Kenshin Himura.
"Okay. Try them on," he said.
"Shh," Kaoru hissed. "This is the women's changing room."
"There's no one else in here right now. I checked," he said, but he lowered his voice to a whisper.
"How did you avoid the girl at the entrance?"
He tapped his head with a finger and winked. "I'm smart."
"There's probably a camera at the entrance too."
"Well I guess whoever watches the camera's video looked away at the right moment."
The sound of footsteps grew louder over the overhead music of the store and a group of chattering women entered the fitting room.
"If they see two sets of feet, you're dead," Kaoru said. Kenshin took the hint and hopped up onto the bench. "Why are you in the same stall as me anyway?"
He shrugged. "It's more fun that way, and you actually let me in."
"That was my fault," she admitted.
"So, you first?" he asked, watching her expectantly from his perch atop the bench.
"Hold my purse," Kaoru ordered, shoving it up at him. He took it readily enough. She hesitated with her hands at the waist of her jeans.
"I've seen you in a bikini," he reminded her, apparently reading her mind. It was annoying when he did that. She didn't like to think she was that easy to figure out. But it was also one of the things she liked about him. She was glad she'd shaved her legs last night. What the hell. You only live once.
"I know," she said, and pulled down her jeans, tossed them on the bench next to him, and pulled up the boyfriend trousers. "See? They fit. Your turn."
"Okay." He kicked off his shoes and she glared at him for the noise while she took off the boyfriend trousers and he took off his jeans. Then she realized they were both standing there without any pants on and burst out laughing. He put a hand over her mouth and the music mostly covered the sound, so Kaoru figured it was okay.
"What's so funny?" he asked, standing there in blue striped boxers. But then he started laughing too and this time she had to cover his mouth and pretend to cough to cover his laugh, because she didn't want to get kicked out of a store in the mall when she was long past her teenage years and should know better. His breath was hot against her hand.
"I didn't really think you'd go for it," he admitted in a whisper once they were both semi-serious again.
"Why?" she whispered back as she gave him the boyfriend trousers.
"You're modest."
"I am?"
"The only reason I saw you in a bikini was because Megumi made you wear it. And the whole reason we're here is so you can return a skirt you thought was too short."
"But that's a prostitute skirt, Kenshin."
"True. These pants really aren't working. Your waist is too small."
"You sound so bitter."
"I've been lied to by a big corporation," he said sadly, pulling the boyfriend trousers off again.
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't put your pants on yet," he observed. "Can you please try on the skirt?"
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "No."
"But I can see way more of your legs now," he pointed out, reaching for his jeans.
Kaoru reached for hers. "No. I refuse to fulfill every wish that comes into your head."
Kenshin pulled her skirt out of the bag. "I'll cook you dinner."
"You'd do that anyway."
"I'll even buy the alcohol this time."
"You're the one that wants it, not me."
"And I'll never knock on your door at four in the morning again," he added. "Unless it's really important."
"And you're not drunk."
"And I'm not drunk. I'll never get drunk at a bachelor party again."
Kaoru sighed. "Okay." She sat her jeans on the bench and took the skirt that Kenshin held out to her. She was going to get Megumi for this. After the wedding of course, once Megumi was back from her honeymoon and had gotten comfortable. Then, oh yes, then, Kaoru would strike. She pulled the zipper up on the side of the skirt.
"You can't take back this skirt," Kenshin declared in a whisper. He zipped up his jeans and buttoned the top.
"Yes I can. It's slutty."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"You're doing the kid argument thing again."
"You started it."
"Yeah."
"Stop staring at my legs. I can practically see your slow mental processes."
"Can you spin around once or something?"
"Kenshin!"
"Fine. You can take it off now."
"I don't need your permission," Kaoru grumbled, unzipping the skirt and sliding it down her legs. Dropping the skirt back in the bag she looked up and followed the direction of his gaze. "Couldn't you be more covert about it?"
"I'm only a man."
"Isn't there some other woman you're supposed to be trying to win over?" Kaoru hinted, remembering he was supposed to be in love with someone else. It was strange how much her consciousness liked to forget that fact.
Kenshin shook his head. "No other woman."
Kaoru zipped up her jeans and decided he wasn't rational, so she slipped into her shoes and picked up the bag with the skirt in it, her purse, and the pair of boyfriend trousers that she definitely wasn't going to buy. "I'll go first and distract the girl at the entrance so you can come out. You're on your own with the people in the changing rooms."
And that was how she found herself laughing at the poster of the boyfriend trouser in the window. She and Kenshin walked through the mall in the direction they'd come after dropping off the too short skirt.
"I'm never going to be able to walk in that store without remembering this," Kenshin said.
"Me either."
"Why are women's waists so small anyway?" he asked, and slid an arm around her waist.
Kaoru just shrugged and leaned into him. They kept walking.
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Wednesday night he knocked on her door and she let him in.
"My brother really is driving me crazy. Can I have a hug?"
"Sure," Kaoru said, reaching up and sliding her arms around his neck as his encircled her waist. He pulled her closer and sighed into her hair. Air blew gently across her scalp.
Kenshin pushed the door shut behind him with his foot. "You locked the bottom already?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I don't think he knows where you live, but just in case." He lifted a hand from her waist and pulled lightly on a lock of her hair. "You're my sanctuary."
She laughed and pulled back to look at his face. He looked a little frantic, but he was serious. "What did he do this time?"
"He's already reorganized my entire CD collection. He traded in the ones he thought I didn't like for CDs I hate. He organizes everything."
"It can't be that bad."
Kenshin's eyes widened in indignation and he let go of her to stand back a step. "My closet is now organized by color. My underwear is in alphabetical order by brand, dark to light. My bedroom is so organized that I can't find anything. He started on the kitchen this afternoon," Kenshin said darkly. "After that he'll start cleaning."
"Think he'll drop by my apartment?"
"Kaoru," Kenshin said calmly. "Hiroshi went through my underwear."
Kaoru shrugged. "Just tell him not to, or don't leave him alone."
Kenshin shook his head. "That's the worst part. He's not doing it on purpose. He actually means well. He tells embarrassing stories about me in public that mostly have to do with him changing my diapers, but he does it because he loves me." Kenshin slouched past her and threw himself face first down on her couch. "Why, God? Why?"
"Your life is so hard," Kaoru commented dryly.
Kenshin nodded into the couch and pushed himself up. "And the worst part is, I feel guilty. I want to like Hiroshi, he's my brother. I try to tolerate him, especially since we don't see each other very often, but it never works. I'm a shitty person." He let himself fall back onto her couch.
Kaoru was shocked. Kenshin didn't usually express self-doubt. He was poise and confidence and charisma. She'd had no idea that the reason why Kenshin dreaded his brother was that he felt guilty, that he felt remorse for failing to connect with Hiroshi. She'd thought his brother actively messed with his head on purpose. Wasn't that what older siblings did once in a while? What all siblings did?
Kaoru sat down on the couch next to Kenshin's prone form. He was taking up the entire couch, so she had to nudge him over a little with her hip.
"You're not a shitty person."
He made a muffled noise into the couch cushion and didn't bother to move.
"You love Hiroshi, even if you don't like him."
He made a slightly louder noise that she took as an affirmative.
"No one ever said you have to like your family, as long as you love them." She wondered how he was breathing with his face so firmly planted in the couch cushion.
He lifted his face up for a moment. "But I used to like him." Back down.
"Why don't you take him to the baseball game tomorrow night? Maybe he'll loosen up. It sounds like he's only trying to make you happy, Kenshin."
Kenshin pulled his face from the couch and moved off his stomach so that he was sitting next to her on the couch. "I don't want him to make me happy. I want him to stop driving me crazy."
"Tell him that at the baseball game. I don't think his feelings are as fragile as you think they are."
Kenshin frowned and shook his head. "But you don't know Hiroshi."
"Kenshin, no one wants to clean their little brother's apartment on their vacation," Kaoru said flatly. "You," she poked him on his leg, "should have taken off work this week too. Hiroshi doesn't know this city and he's probably not the type to sit around and watch TV all week, so there's nothing else for him to do but clean. And then you get back home from work and you're tired, so he can't ask you to go anywhere. And then you hang out with me instead of him," Kaoru realized, and poked him again. "You're taking your brother to that game."
Kenshin just blinked at her for a moment, and then he grinned. "You know I love you, don't you?"
Kaoru felt a thrill go through her whole body, and slowly, she grinned back. "Yeah. Now go take your brother out to dinner. And bring Sano along. He's getting a little twitchy now that the wedding's so close."
Kenshin jumped up from the couch and saluted her. "Yes, ma'am. Can I drive you to work tomorrow morning?"
Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"So I can pick you up."
Kaoru contemplated this for a moment. "Well, I'll save on gas money, so yes."
He waved before he left.
Kaoru threw herself down on the couch, mirroring the position Kenshin had almost smothered himself in a minute ago. He'd said he loved her.
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A/N - Hiroshi means 'generous'. I read somewhere that Kenshin had brothers who died of cholera, so this is one of them.