Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Bathtime ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

As always, Rurouni Kenshin and all characters therein are copyright of their various owners. I'm not making any money off this short story.

AN: Alrighty…two reviews. Better than I was expecting, actually. Thanks folks. Since you asked nicely (and since I've got a lot of time on my hands), here's the second chapter. There will be a total of three, possibly four chapters to this fic. Short 'n' sweet, just like Ken-san. Please review!

Bath Time

Chapter 2

As he crossed the yard of the Kamiya dojo, Kenshin was keenly aware of an expectant stillness in the air. There were birds in the trees certainly, but they all seemed to be watching him expectantly. The thought finally struck that Kaoru could still be bathing, and his steps slowed reluctantly.

It would not do at all to walk in on Miss Kaoru bathing, that it would not. The familiar thought-voice of the rurouni spoke up. Kenshin reached the front stoop of the bathhouse and stopped in his tracks. The sound of muffled off-key enthusiastic humming reached his ears. She was still inside, and probably not decent.

The red-haired man sighed dejectedly, and moved to sit underneath a shady tree. Half of him grumbled at the wait, but there was nothing else he could do. Several urges were tugging at his attention, but surprisingly sleep overcame the rest. Every aching muscles managed to soothe him, and Kenshin drifted, half-dreaming.

"Hey, Kenshin!" Strong fingers lightly pushed at his shoulder, causing the man to blink slowly at the figure in front of him. Satisfied that he was awake, Kaoru stepped back and placed her hands on her hips. In a second he was wide awake, as her form was clad in only a light towel. Raven hair cascaded down her back, leaving rivulets of water to stream down her arms. Steam from the bathhouse had given a rosy gleam to her porcelain skin, and it was all the rurouni could do not to fall over in a surprised stupor.

"Well, are you coming in, or not?"

Kaoru cocked her head to the side. Her tone was light enough that she might have been asking when dinner would be ready. Kenshin's eyes grew large as the question finally made sense in his brain. "I-I…Oh!" She must mean to go clean up the puddles on the floor. The request was to be expected, but the way she had phrased it…

He began to get up, but she stepped forward and offered him a hand. And much more than that. Spoke up a new voice in his head. Kenshin closed his eyes and gave her the rurouni grin to escape from the luscious partial view of her chest as she bent to help him.

Kaoru harrumphed lightly to herself when his eyes remained closed. "Kenshin! Hello!" He unwillingly opened his eyes, and wished to shut them immediately. The slender woman stood less than a foot away from him, watching with a strange look in her eye that he couldn't place. "Excuse me, Miss Kaoru. I-" Need to get the mop and bucket, is what he had meant to say, but she placed a slim finger on his lips.

"You're not going anywhere except straight to the bathhouse." Her voice was husky, and its pleasant musicality played on his crumbling control like a stringed instrument. With a slight growl of frustration, she grabbed the front of his gi and with surprising strength hauled his mostly-unwilling body close behind as she marched back to the bathhouse.