A/n Hi everyone. Wow I'm surprised at the positive reviews I got. I never posted a drabble before. (Maybe I should more often, eh?) Normally I never would post a story that I didn't know the ending to. I must confess that I have no idea where this story is going and I'm working off the little hints you are giving me in the reviews. So thank you for those. Obviously this isn't my best work, but because it's a drabble and I was challenged to post it, I'm allowing myself to not care and just let myself write.

My other stories, Spoils of war and Endure my Love are still being worked on. I did lose spoils when my computer died so it will be a while. Okay enough of my chatting. On to the drabble.

Disclaimer, I don't own Kenshin.

"You did what?"

"I slept with him." Kaoru said as she shuffled through some papers on her desk, trying not to look her best friend in the face. She wasn't sure if retelling her adventures with the stranger had been a good idea, but Kaoru knew she wouldn't be able to keep the secret to herself.

"You went through all that, went to his place and then slept with him?" Misao demanded. "What were you thinking?"

Kaoru was glad she closed her office door before retelling the story to Misao. For her best friend had little volume control. "I wasn't thinking much." She admitted, tossing the stack of papers into a wire paper holder on her desk. "I just didn't want to care for a while."

Misao reached across the desk and caught Kaoru by the hand. "Did you use protection? I swear I'll slap you upside the head right now if you didn't."

"Yes, yes. He wore protection. I asked for it before he even had a chance to get all the way undressed." her eyes gazed off as she remembered. How could a man look so confident putting on a condom? He was confident in everything, wasn't he?

"Good." Misao dropped her hand. "At least your not that stupid." She pulled out a pad of paper from her pants pocket and flipped it open. "What's his name? I'll get him checked out for you…make sure he's not some psycho…or married with five kids."

Kaoru smiled sheepishly. "I don't know his name." Her memory flashed back to that night.

… . . …

The soup was delicious, Kaoru had to admit that. She had to reheat it but once she was somewhat dressed and was able to get a taste, she had to agree with the stranger…his housekeeper made great soup. She smiled softly as the red-headed man sat beside her. He watched her eat as if it was the most fascinating thing. He wore no shirt, only his pants, they were zipped, but not buttoned.

"I want to see you again." His voice rumbled with the lust they had shared hardly a half hour ago. He reached out with his hand and gave her tousled hair a stroke.

"I…I don't know." Kaoru answered softly . She had just came from a terrible break-up. Though it had been a while ago, Kaoru didn't want to get herself involved with a man just yet. But he seemed to have read her thoughts.

"No strings attached, no feelings…You don't need to know my name and I don't need to know your's. We'll stay strangers…just like we are right now. I just have to see you again. "

… . . …

"And you agreed to that?!" Misao jumped from her chair. "I can't believe you Kaoru. That's not you at all."

"I know…it's exciting." Kaoru couldn't help but smile. Afterwards, he called a car service for me and had them fix my tire before calling me a cab to get back to my car. It was nice of him.

"That was nice of him. He could have done that instead of taking you to his place. What you did was stupid, Kaoru." The smaller woman paced in the small office. "You can't possible stay strangers with this guy for long."

"We'll try. We only get together on Tuesday's and Thursday's."

Misao pulled a face. "Ugh, that's disgusting Kaoru. You're acting like his call girl or something. Soon he'll pay you, like a high dollar whore."

"Misao!" Kaoru shrieked in shock.

"Sorry, sorry." Misao waved her words away. "I'm just worried for you. I know all the stress you went through with your last boyfriend and then there's your brother your stressing about, I just think you're starting to crack. I don't want to hear about you ten months later dead from a meth overdose, your body in some alleyway. Or selling your body for money so you can get your next fix even though your pregnant and homeless."

"Misao, we're two responsible, consenting adults…this isn't going to lead to me being some sort of drug-head."

"I know…I just watch too many of those cop shows, you know. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. This is the start down the slippery slope." Misao took a breath and calmed down. This was just something Kaoru was going through right now and she was sure she would come to her right mind in a week or two once she vented her stress on this man. "So, speaking of your brother…any word yet?"

Kaoru accepted Misao's change of subject but wished she had picked a different topic. "No, nothing yet. The police is still keeping an eye out." Yahiko, Kaoru's teenage brother had ran away a month ago and had been missing ever since. Kaoru's mother and father and the whole community of small town they lived in had banded together those first few days he was missing. It wasn't until Yahiko had called to let them know he was fine that he was classified a runaway and all the searches were called off. He was going to be in some major trouble when he got back. But that didn't stop her parents from begging him to return. Who knew what terrible things her brother was getting into out on his own.

Kaoru was hundreds of miles away in the city and was powerless to really do anything. Her brother had yet to call her, so she couldn't try and convince him to go back home or to at least stay with her. Kaoru worried for him. He was a smart boy and it wasn't like him to do such a thing.

Just like it wasn't her to repeatedly sleep with a stranger.

"So what's he like? This man?" Misao asked as she wandered to the side of the office where some of Kaoru's designs hung on racks. "Was he that good that your willing to go back for more?"

"Misao!" Kaoru sighed as she yanked a drawing from the stack of papers and pulled a wooden case of colored pencils from her desk to finish the doodle. "It's about more than the sex…I mean…he made me feel…I don't know, alive." She attacked her drawing with a sea green colored pencil.

Misao looked over her should at Kaoru and raised a eyebrow. "But the sex was good?"

"It was great." Kaoru blurted, her head hitting her desk. "Like nothing I thought possible." She said, her face still against the cold wood of her desk. She closed her eyes for a moment and recalled the memory. He was skilled, obviously he had done this many times before. While Kaoru was clumsy from her lack of partners, the stranger gently yet confidently brought her to the peek of a pleasure she had never known.

"Mmm..I'm sure." Misao turned back to face her best friend. "But I know you Kaoru. We've been friends a long time. You won't be able to keep this man at arm's length. He can't stay an object of a good time forever."

"I don't plan on doing this forever." Kaoru stated, lifting her head from her desk. "Only until I feel better…no longer." Though she didn't like the idea of using someone. The only peace of mind she got was that he was using her in the same way and if they were obviously both agreeing to use and be used…then it was okay…right?

… . . …

Standing in the elevator, Kaoru fidgeted with the silk obi around her middle. It was Tuesday night…her night. For her fantasy, she went with a traditional style Kimono. The silk was painted with beautiful cranes. Her long ebony hair was pulled back and tied with a ribbon. She glanced down at the wooden sandals at her feet as the conversation with Misao echoed in her mind. She had to be careful, this guy might be crazy and she may just be another notch on his belt. But Kaoru knew he had no feelings for her whatsoever just as she had none for him and so she was okay with that. Let him notch his belt as much as he wanted. The elevator dinged and whooshed open, jolting Kaoru out of her thoughts and she stepped out and hurried over to the stranger's apartment. She knocked and waited.

A moment past before the door swung open and there he stood. In cream Hakama pants and a deep blue gi, he cut a fine figure. His blood-red hair was tied in a top knot, letting the rest of it drape down his back. There was a real katana sword at his hip and Kaoru couldn't help but stare while she was let inside. The stranger it seemed couldn't help but watch her as well. His eyes never left her, even as he shut and locked the door.

"You look wonderful." He said.

Looking him up and down, with his gi slightly parted to give her a peek of his chest, she had to agree that he looked wonderful as well. "So do you." Suddenly feeling bold, she reached out and grabbed the sword on his hip, hilt and all and pulled him slightly closer. "You even know how to use this thing?"

He smiled, resting his hand on the sword. "Actually, I know how to use it very well."

Kaoru arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I've been trained in the art of swordsmanship from the time I was a boy. I had a mentor and everything, that I did." He paused in thought. "My mentor was never pleased, no matter how hard I tried. I use to think he was a stubborn old fool, but now I know that he was just trying to make me push myself harder than I ever would if he praised me."

A memory flashed in Kaoru's mind. A few very old but strange looking scars that crossed many parts of his lean body. Most on his chest, some on his back, a few on his arms and legs. She hadn't thought much of them until now. But it was hard to keep thinking about it as the red-head was threading his fingers through her hair. "Is that giving me too much information about yourself?" she said as she closed her eyes to his touch.

The stranger smiled and pressed closer, the sword hilt gently poking her side. "Yes it is actually. I shouldn't have told you those little details."

Kaoru shrugged. "It didn't hurt much."

"Yes but remember, what are the four things that matter?"

"Yes I know….happiness and so on…and a really good beef hot pot." Kaoru recited.

"Good." He smiled then and stepped close enough to press his body against her. He placed kisses on her neck as he reached around and carefully untied the silk obi. Kaoru tipped her head slightly as his kisses trailed lower and soon she felt the yards of fabric that was the obi fall away. She shivered slightly as she felt the heat of his hands as they dived into the kimono to caress the light undergarment she wore beneath. "You're wearing far too many clothes, that you are." He said with a smirk before claiming her mouth with his.

… . . …

Kaoru blinked lazily over at the red-head. He was sprawled on his bed beside her, gazing up at the ceiling and looking quite content. Her body was deliciously sore from his attentions and she carefully turned on her side to face him. "You told me something personal about yourself…would you like it if I said something about myself?" She asked carefully, hoping for some strange reason that he wouldn't reject her. She suddenly knew that she would be hurt if he rejected her, and that was dangerous territory.

He slid his gaze over at her before tuning his head completely. "I would like that, but not too personal."

"How will I know it's too personal?"

"Well, tell me about it, and I'll let you know, that I will."

"Alright." Kaoru took a deep breath. "My little brother ran away from home last month." She paused, waiting to see if he would stop her.

"Go on." He urged.

"He just turned sixteen a few months ago. He's a relatively good kid. He did good in school, had nice friends, was very active in martial arts classes. But then one day he started getting a little bit of a attitude toward the family, nothing much, you know," Kaoru turned to him, "teenager stuff." He nodded in understanding and Kaoru went on. "He spoke to me about it, we were pretty close and was upset when I moved out here for my job. He said he missed having me around and how our parents were always ragging on him now because he was the only one there and he was the son and so on."

"A few weeks later I got a call from my mother telling me that he was missing. We searched and as the days went by we all feared the worst. But my father got a call from him saying that he wasn't lost or kidnapped or anything, that he was safe and perfectly fine but was never coming home."

At this the stranger raised an eyebrow and Kaoru nodded. "I know it's strange for a boy who was just fine with his life with only little things to gripe about to do such a thing. But I think there was more going on. My father it seemed was putting a lot of pressure on him. He fought with my brother over the phone, demanding that he come home."

"And I'm sure that did nothing to help." The red-head stated.

"Nothing at all. We haven't heard from him after that argument. I'm worried, but I need to be strong. I was able to let him know he can come to me for help…that I'm not going to judge him."

He turned his body slightly, purple eyes reading into her very soul. "It's hard for you to stay neutral."

"Yes." Kaoru breathed, looking away from those eyes. It was creepy the way he was able to read her like that.

"You want to chastise your brother for putting himself in danger and for causing so much worry. But then you know that will only push him away." He reached out from under the cool sheet that covered them and took her hand. "You must have strength and patience. He will come around, that he will. I was a teen boy once myself. I caused hell."

Kaoru couldn't help but laugh even though her mind was on the heat of his large hand covering hers and how nice and comforting it felt. "That isn't very hard for me to believe."

"Would you allow me to change the subject?" He asked.

Kaoru was sure he was getting uncomfortable talking about something so personal. But she felt so much better getting it off her chest and she was glad that he gave her the chance. "Sure." she said simply.

"I want to take you out."

Kaoru blinked back at those purple eyes. "Like a date?" What about those ground rules they made before agreeing to keep seeing each other?

"Sort of. I just want to take you out. We can go to a place where no one will recognize us, that we can." he said. In a city as large as theirs it wouldn't be too hard for them to travel a few minutes away where they would be just another face in the crowd. And there would be very little risk of running into anyone who might know them.

Kaoru couldn't help the little flutter her heart gave a moment before she squashed the feeling. He wasn't asking her out on a date or anything, he's feelings hadn't changed just because they shared a little bit of their personal lives. He probable just wanted to act out another part of his strange fantasies. "That's sounds fun." She said carefully. "Where do you want to meet?"

The stranger shook his head. "Meet me here, I'll have an outfit ready for you to wear." he gave her a sheepish smile. "I don't think you would have something appropriate for the place I have in mind to take you."

"Oh, really." Kaoru tipped her chin up a notch. "Where are you taking me?"

"Just meet me here on Thursday. The sooner you can the better...four or five in the afternoon?"

"Alright, now you have me curious." And a little worried but Kaoru would give anything to forget. To leave the life of her job and her family behind for just a few hours. To do something she would never normally do…to escape.

A/n ooo the stranger is up to something here. I'm not sure what just yet, so it looks like both you and me are going to have to wait to find out …egads. Reviews are loved…thanks for reading!