Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Benefits ❯ Chapter 8

Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, I make no money off this work, etc. Characters of Rurouni Kenshin are the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki.

 

Warning: This work contains references to adult material.

 

Author's Note: Many thanks to all my reviewers. I was shocked to see I hit 35 reviews at fanfiction .net. I am very happy so many people like the story, I really didn't expect a lot of people to read it. We're almost 2/3 of the way through the story with this chapter. I'm hoping the timing of this chapter works okay. I'm always annoyed when authors have something like an hour pass during the course of a short conversation. I'm hoping the timing here feels somewhat natural.

 

 

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Kaoru opened the door one Saturday morning to find Kenshin standing there holding bags of groceries. She grabbed a bag and let him in, asking in an annoyed voice, “Why are you bringing groceries? I do keep food on hand.”

 

“Kaoru, a freezer full of microwave dinners and a cupboard full of canned soup is not a well stocked pantry.” He replied, bringing the remaining bags to the kitchen.

 

“Hey! I'll have you know those are gourmet dinners and soups. I shop at Trader Joe's even,” Kaoru exclaimed, slightly outraged. “You really don't need to be buying me food.”

 

“I've eaten breakfast here quite a few times in the last month, the least I can do is replace what I've eaten.” He began to unpack the bags.

 

“Yes, and you've also brought over dinner a number of times as well. I'd call us even. I probably even owe you some.”

 

“Besides there's a new recipe I wanted to try, so you can test it out for me,” Kenshin replied calmly, ignoring Kaoru's irritation.

 

“I'm hardly a good judge of food, Kenshin. I'm sure you know more professional people than me to taste your creations.”

 

“I thought you just claimed to have a `gourmet' selection of food here, just a minute ago.” His mouth quirked up into a teasing smile.

 

Kaoru frowned.

 

“Besides, this is a cassoulet recipe -- it cooks for hours. I'd rather spend it's cooking time doing something more … exciting, shall we say… than watching TV at home.” Kenshin took a ceramic covered container from the bottom of one of his bags and set in on the counter. He turned to unpack the last bag.

 

“Cassoulet? What's that?”

 

“It's like a French casserole of beans, duck, and smoked sausage.” He tapped his container. “I soaked the beans last night, so that should help things.”

 

Kaoru groused. While it did sound tasty, she still wasn't sure she liked him grocery shopping for her. “Are you sure you can make it here? It's not like I have a bunch of kitchen equipment,” she argued.

 

“I brought the container to cook it in, your frying pan will suffice, and the knives Misao left here are quite nice.” Kenshin countered. “While I'd enjoy the conversation, you don't have to keep me company if you have other things to do.”

 

Kaoru pouted, but couldn't seem to find any more objections to his activities. It had been a while since she had duck and her stomach would be quite annoyed at her for passing up this opportunity. More over, she had been a bit bored before his arrival, so it wasn't like he was interrupting her day.

 

Kenshin finished unpacking the last bag, pulling out a glass bottle of milk and two bars of high quality chocolate. “Now, I can make some real hot chocolate first, if you'd like.”

 

Kaoru shook her head, got a glass from the cupboard and sat next to the counter to watch him. Pouring herself a glass of milk and unwrapping the chocolate, she said with a smile, “I'll just pretend. Valharona chocolate is much too good to make into cocoa.”

 

Kenshin quirked his brow and shook his head, then turned the oven on and began to assemble the onions and garlic for chopping.

 

Once situated in his work, he said, “So I've been meaning to ask you. Why aren't you dating?”

 

Kaoru finished savoring a bit of chocolate and watched him move on to slicing the sausage before she answered. “It's really just not worth the trouble.” She shrugged. “First you spend a bunch of effort trying to look nice and attract attention. Which generally results in inappropriate advances and awkward dates.”

 

Kenshin nodded at her to continue, as he started cutting the duck.

 

“Now let's say you find one guy who's not a total loser or complete bastard. And miracle of miracles, you both like each other and have something in common. Where does that leave you? In a relationship, which is more work than dating and prone to even bigger problems.” Kaoru shook her head and had some more chocolate. “Totally not worth it.”

 

Kenshin got out a frying pan to brown the onions. “While I agree that the dating can be tedious and risky, I don't see what's so bad about a relationship.”

 

Kaoru ate another bite of chocolate and drank some milk. “There are two types of relationship men,” she began. “Well three, but I refuse to date a self-absorbed, arrogant prick.” She sucked on a piece of chocolate.

 

She continued. “There's the kind that's looking for a traditional woman. The modern woman is a threat to him. He prefers someone who won't disagree with him, who wants to be taken care of, and who sees him as her hero. He'll insist doing things his way and doesn't know anything except the missionary position.”

 

Kaoru forcefully bit off a large chunk of chocolate and paused to chew rather vigorously. Kenshin looked sympathetic. Beginning to brown the meat he asked, “And the second type?”

 

Kaoru took a sip of milk. “The second type fully supports the idea of an independent woman. So much so that he refuses to help carry heavy items, splits every check down to the last penny, and expects her to always take care of herself in bed.” She ate another sweet morsel. “Like I said, relationships are not worth it.”

 

“I think you might be over generalizing the situation a bit. Really, most relationships are not at either of those extremes.”

 

Kaoru snorted and finished her milk. “They are in my experience,” she mumbled.

 

Kenshin turned and gave her a searching look. As he poured her some more milk, he said encouragingly, “Tell me about it.”

 

Kaoru bit her lip and looked away. Opening the other chocolate bar, she started to speak.

 

“During my second year of college, I dated a guy name Soujiro. It was my first real, adult relationship.” She paused and nibbled at the chocolate.

 

“Go on,” Kenshin said, as he took the duck out of the pan and moved to brown the sausage.

 

 

“Sou was a fun person to be around, always smiling. I felt like an independent, strong, modern woman around him. He always treated me like I knew what I was doing and that I could take care of myself. At first, what seemed like his confidence in me really boosted my self esteem. Made me believe in myself, you know.” She took a bigger bite of chocolate.

 

“However, Sou's world view was very different from mine. He had this idea that `only the strong survive' or something like that.” She sipped her milk. “Looking back I can see how things like not holding open doors or letting me walk home alone at night were part of this attitude. It wasn't that he believed in my capabilities, more that helping someone was not in line with his principles. Sort of like, if I couldn't do it on my own, I deserved to fail. Social Darwinism at it's extreme.”

 

Kenshin's jaw clenched. He wanted to say something, but he was really too annoyed at this `Soujiro' guy's attitude to comment.

 

Kaoru pulled into herself a bit and had some more chocolate. Then, in a small, tight voice, she said “It came to a head at the beginning of fall term my junior year. I had caught the flu and was struggling with my classes. Sou was absolutely no help of course.” She stopped and drank some milk. In a breaking voice, she went on, “Then my father died. He was a police officer. He got shot in a gang war, pulling some kids out of the line of fire.” Her eyes filled with tears.

 

Kenshin turned off the stove and went to put an arm around her shoulders. She turned a buried her face into him. In a muffled voice, she continued, “I went to see Soujiro, sick and crying over my loss. He basically told me that it was my father's fault that he died. The he should have abandoned the kids or been strong enough to take a bullet to the head or something.” She leaned against him crying for a bit and he stroked her hair for a few moments.

 

Then, pulling herself together she sat up. “Needless to say, that was the end of our relationship.” She gulped down some milk and ate another square of chocolate. Kenshin returned cooking. They sat quietly for a bit, she watched as him rinse the beans.

 

While Kenshin opened a can of tomato paste to add to dish, Kaoru thought for a moment. She spoke, this time in a more normal voice. “In the winter of my senior year I began a new relationship. Enishi was quite different from Sou. He always walked me to my door, drove us places, carried my books. He really seemed to care about me and want to take care of me.” She swirled her milk around and took a drink, as he added the meat and onions to the pot.

 

“After we had been dating a while, I learned that his sister had been killed when he was young. Witnessing that trauma was part of what made him so protective - he really didn't want anything to happen to me.” She licked some chocolate off her lips and observed Kenshin measuring out the spices.

 

“Unfortunately, he was also somewhat obsessed with her. His sister had been the quiet, proper type, and he seemed to want or expect that from me. As our relationship went on, he tried to confine me more and more. Encouraging me to stay home, `for my safety', limiting my contact with `inappropriate friends', chastising me for working out, getting upset if I spoke up.” Kaoru paused and watched him top off the cassoulet with bread crumbs.

 

Kenshin looked up encouraging her to continue, as he started wiping down the counters. “One day after sneaking back home from an outing with Misao, I realized how tired I was of keeping my opinions to myself and trying to act like a `proper young lady'. I found him waiting at my place, upset that I wasn't home. We had quite the fight, where I yelled and stomped and said exactly what was on my mind. By the end of our argument I had made it quite clear to him that I was never going to be a replica of his sister, nor did I want to be.”

 

She had a piece of chocolate and while Kenshin put the dish in the oven. Shrugging she said, “I was happy to see him go.”

 

Kenshin set the timer and looked at her. He smiled at the chocolate streak across her cheek. “I imagine you were. Despite you're experience, however, there are some decent men in this world.”

 

“Perhaps,” she said looking away and shoving the last square of chocolate in her mouth. “But they don't date girls like me.”

 

“I wouldn't be too sure about that.” Kenshin eyed her chocolate covered fingers with a smile. “So is any of the chocolate for me?” He walked over to her.

 

Looking down at the empty wrappers, Kaoru flushed and bit her lip. “Um..”

 

Kenshin grinned. “Never mind I've found some.” He proceeded to hold her hand and gently suck the chocolate off her finger. Kaoru looked at him with wide eyes as he put the next digit in his mouth and swirled his tongue around it. When he had finished with her fingers, he then moved to the chocolate streak on her face.

 

Licking the last of the chocolate off her lips, he pulled her close for a deep kiss. When they broke apart Kaoru was quite flushed, but no longer embarrassed. In a rich voice he said, “Here's the part of cooking were we find something exciting to do while it bakes.”

 

Kaoru thought she might like this part of cooking.