Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu ( Chapter 31 )

How the Past can Change

A K&K Rurouni Kenshin Romance FanFiction

by: bunny ;D

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. I do not own and did not create the series or its characters...I'm just a fan, and I have no money anyways, so NO SUING ME!! :D

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A/N: This story is altering the original story of Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X. It also has some OOCness, (especially with Battousai.) If you don't like that idea, or can't handle it…I would advise you not to read this fic. If you are a hard-core Tomoe and Kenshin forever kind of person, I would advise you to not read this fic. Don't get me wrong, I like Tomoe, this is just a different story ok?

Ja ne,

Bunny ;D

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Hearing their student's question, the two teachers breathlessly parted just after Yuki left the room. Looking down, Kaoru blushed scarlet and stepped away from Kenshin and grabbing the rice balls off of the counter, barely breathed out, "Well, I guess we better eat breakfast, the rest of our students will be here any minute."

Kenshin smiled knowingly at her as she left the room, refusing to look at him in her embarrassment. He quickly heated the miso and then only a couple of minutes after Kaoru left, joined her and Yuki at the table, to enjoy his first breakfast with his Kaoru, who now knew of his affection for her, if nothing else. 'Soon, I will tell you everything Kaoru. Then we will be together…forever.' Kenshin thought to himself as he watched a still slightly red-faced Kaoru sip her miso soup.

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Chapter Thirty-One

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Later that afternoon, Kaoru and Kenshin found themselves alone in the dojo, ready to begin Kaoru's training for that day. Kenshin grinned, observing that Kaoru had been very interested in looking everywhere but at him all day long. Presently, she was finding great interest in the dirty dojo floor. 'I think it is time for Kaoru to begin her real training…' he thought with a slow smile of satisfaction.

"Kaoru." He called to get her attention.

Kaoru, for her part, had been on edge all day long. Yes, it was nice that they had kissed in the kitchen that morning. It was great that they had. Ok, so it had made her whole life have meaning…the problem now was that she had NO IDEA how to act around Kenshin. Did he feel the same way? Did that one kiss mean the world to him or had he just wanted to kiss her? And if his world turned upside too, where did they go from here? AND WHY was she so embarrassed to look at him? 'Mou!' she mentally thought in complete frustration. 'All day long, I have been able to avoid him, but now…' Kaoru stopped her thoughts and stared at her feet, trying not to blush as she felt Kenshin smile at her. He called her name, and reluctantly, she switched her gaze to look up into his warm violet orbs.

"Today, we will begin your training in my original style, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu." Kenshin announced.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu?" Kaoru repeated, trying the name of her new style out on her lips.

Kenshin walked up to her, grabbed her elbow and lead her out of the dojo, while saying, "yes, yes, it's VERY fast…" he paused and then added, "and deadly," before walking ahead of her to exit the building.

Kaoru gasped. "Deadly?" she questioned in shock.

Kenshin stopped walking and turned back to face Kaoru. "I'm sorry, that was a bad choice of words. It's very fast, and very…effective." He clarified.

Kaoru frowned. 'Kenshin sure is acting weird today. I feel like I'm in my dreams when he is younger and I am older.' She thought. 'That doesn't make any sense though!! They are just dreams, and it would be impossible for him to be younger and me older!' she concluded before reluctantly following him out of the dojo. She placed her arm above her eyes to shield them from the bright sunlight as she caught up to Kenshin. He smiled at her and took her hand.

"This way…not much longer till we reach the river." Kenshin said to her with a smile.

Kaoru faked a smile at Kenshin's grin and obediently followed, but worried at Kenshin's odd behavior. She restrained herself from saying anything about it…yet. Walking for a few minutes hand-in-hand, much to Kaoru's pleasure, they finally reached the river. At the edge of the water, Kenshin stopped and said, "Ok Kaoru, in you go."

"What?" Kaoru asked, startled out of her thoughts about Kenshin's odd behavior and how it corresponded to her dreams.

"Get in the water." Kenshin instructed.

Kaoru's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? What does it have to do with my training?" she questioned.

"You'll see." Kenshin said as he pushed her in the water.

From Kenshin's shove, Kaoru stumbled a bit into the water, which made big splashes and got her pretty soaked. She turned back towards Kenshin who was now also entering the water to give him a glare for shoving her.

Kenshin gave Kaoru his most innocent smile as he waded his way over to her wet form. Her heart began to pound frantically at his close proximity as he walked behind her, and placed his hands on her hips and angled them perfectly. Kaoru bit her lip at his soft touch on her hips and tried to focus on why he would be adjusting her hips, as opposed to the feelings they awakened inside her. After adjusting her hips and legs, Kenshin walked around her, making adjustments to her posture, her arms, and her grip on her bokken. Finally, he waded away from her a few feet and then turned to face her.

"Ok, now…we are ready to begin." He said, his tone now much more serious.

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Kenshin, was all that stance adjustment really necessary? You know, I've known how to do that since I could walk!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. When using Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, your technique must be perfect, even to the most basic level. It makes all the difference in achieving the god-like speed needed to successfully practice it." He answered.

Kaoru chewed on her lip for a moment in thought before saying, "But Kenshin, I've seen you fighting tons of times, and although you are very quick, I wouldn't exactly say you have "god-like" speed. I don't see what the big deal is."

"That's because you have never seen me use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu." Kenshin said mischievously before he disappeared.

Kaoru gasped at his sudden disappearance. "Ken-" she began to call for Kenshin, but was cut off as a cold, wet hand covered her mouth. Kaoru's heart stopped for a moment in fright before she screamed and bit down hard on the hand, drawing blood. "Kenshin!" She yelled as the hand removed itself from her mouth.

"Ouch!" Kenshin said as he pulled his hand away from Kaoru's mouth. As she yelled out for him, he grabbed her and turned her around to face him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you so badly." He apologized as he pulled her against his chest and smoothed her wet hair.

Kaoru let out a sob as she pounded her small fist against his chest with a great force. "Oof" he let out as she said "Kenshin! Don't ever do that again, you scared me half to death!"

"I'm sorry Kaoru." He repeated. "I didn't think it would scare you so badly since you are so good at sensing me. I guess my god-speed startled you." He said with a chuckle.

Kaoru pounded his chest once more for his chuckle before saying, "Mou! You did more than startle me! I thought something had happened to you! I was really worried, and then you grabbed me, and my heart started pounding in my chest and-" Kaoru stopped mid-tirade as she noticed that Kenshin was cradling a bloody hand between their bodies. "Oh no! What happened to your hand?" she asked as she grabbed his wrist and held his hand up to her face for closer inspection.

"You were bit!" she declared after a minute of cleaning the wound.

"I know." Kenshin replied as he started laughing again.

"Mou! Why are you laughing it's not funny that you were bit! What if it gets infected!" she exclaimed, her tone becoming a bit frantic.

"I don't think that will happen unless you have some horrible disease, my Kaoru." Kenshin answered his affection apparent in his tone, but still laughing.

"What?" Kaoru said, now completely confused and frustrated that Kenshin seemed to get some joke that only he was privy to. Kenshin watched her emotions dance across her face as the meaning of his words began to come together in her mind and then quickly ducked as she swung at him while yelling, "don't you laugh at me you jerk! You're the one that scared me!"

Kenshin laughed as he made his way upstream, while dodging Kaoru's attacks, which were thankfully for his sake, slowed down by the pull of the water.

"I'm going to get you for that Kenshin!! Don't think you're going to get away!" she threatened, still hot in pursuit of her instructor.

Just as Kaoru thought she just might catch up to him, Kenshin whirled around on her, grabbed both her wrists, pinned her arms behind her back and pulled her soaking wet body tight up against his own. Kaoru was stunned into silence; their playful squabble quickly forgotten.

Kenshin moved his face next to hers and whispered into her ear, "Don't be mad, I just wanted to be close to you."

Kaoru shivered in excitement at his comment. 'I wonder if he's going to kiss me again.' She thought as she subconsciously pressed her body closer to his.

Kenshin suppressed a groan as Kaoru pressed closer to him, and gave into the urge to kiss her senseless. 'Brings back sweet memories,' he thought absentmindedly as he released Kaoru's wrists from behind her back in order to wrap his arms around her proper and pull her closer to him. Lost in the moment, Kenshin breathed out to her between passionate kisses, "I love you so much, my sweet Kaoru."

Kaoru gasped under his mouth at his confession before she threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug and said, "Really Kenshin? I love you too Kenshin…so very much!" She squeezed him tightly and Kenshin wrapped his arms back around her slight form, and squeezed back.

"Of course. I've always loved you. Since the day I met you, I loved you." He confided as he held Kaoru in the middle of the river, droplets of water dripping down both of them, and neither caring.

"Me too." Kaoru murmured as she pushed her face into Kenshin's neck and nuzzled.

Kenshin stiffened for a second as he picked up the sound of muted voices. He paused a second and stretched out his senses-he quickly located two forms heading down towards the river and pulled away from Kaoru slightly before saying, "someone is coming this way."

"Oh." Kaoru mumbled in a daze, as Kenshin let out a low growl of annoyance, picked her up and jumped to the riverbank. Without more than a pause, he jumped them up onto a tree branch and sat them down out of sight from the intruders on their special time.

It was only a moment before both of them could make out what the voices were saying.

"Did you hear about the manslayer in town saying he's from the Kamiya Dojo?" One of the voices, distinctly male, said.

"I hear he's claiming to be the Hitokiri Battousai." Another voice said, also male.

"I didn't know the Hitokiri Battousai was from the Kamiya dojo." Commented the first voice.

"Yeah, me either. My son used to study there, but we pulled him out as soon as we heard about the Hitokiri Battousai being one of their students. My wife and I didn't want our son to become a cold-blooded killer."

Up in the tree, a Kenshin with blazing golden eyes, not hiding his anger restrained a seething Kaoru.

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A/N: Ok, that's it for chapter 31. This was a longer chapter right? I think it was. I hope so…I've been working on trying to make them longer. I wanted to apologize to those of you who I told this would be posted last Friday…I thought I would be able to post it, but I forgot to email it to my computer so I could finish it up. O_o;; (silly bunny)

In any case, there is a lot of action and drama coming up in the next few chapters that I hope you will all enjoy thoroughly!

In other news…I have been given the privilege of hosting the Official Kenshin and Kaoru Couple fanlisting by TheFanListings Org. Make sure you hit up the site and sign up to show your support of K&K! The URL is in my profile here.

Also, the 2002 Rurouni Kenshin Readers Choice Awards are taking nominations. Make sure all you loyal RK fanfiction readers participate, it's an awesome contest! (I nominated a few stories that really impressed me.)

The next review party should be coming up in a few chapters if you want to put in comments or ideas on what you would like to see happen, leave a note in your review.

Special Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter, please keep up the comments, it helps keep me motivated! ;)

red faith - thank you, I'm very happy that you are enjoying the story…I'm not quite a genius though. falls over laughing take care.

Jezika - thank you. It worked out well for you since I updated soon after you left your review. Most other people are probably about ready to ring my neck by now. X_x ß- dead bunny

Lizzie*g* (lizwiz@attbi.com) - thank you, I tried…I'm happy that you are enjoying the fic.

AT-chan!! - I'm so excited that you're a K&K fan now!! Whoo hooo!! Now I have someone on the forums to talk about Kenshin with. ::eheheheheheheh:: I'm super excited that you like my story and that I inspired you to start writing fix again. I hope to read an awesome K&K fic by you real soon. (See now the pressure is on.) LOL Catch ya on my forums. ;)

Silver Eyes Bright - thank you!! I'm really happy and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Minako-chan - thank you. Yes, I was really happy with the last chapter too. So did you like the confession or was it lame? O_o;; Will they get married? Maybe. Will the rest of the gang join in the action? Probably. When will it all end? Your guess is as good as mine. ^_^;; (I think I know how I want to end it, but I don't know when. Special Spoiler - I'm probably going to 2 an alternate ending and a real ending. I was toying with a few ideas about it this week, but we'll see.) I hope you liked this chapter too!!

ying_fa - no worries, I always have happy endings. ;)

Silver Goddess - here's some more, I hope you liked it ;D

crystal of psyche - Yeah…Kenshin is slow. ::hehe:: Are the rest of the RK gang coming in? Probably.

aniprinzess (eh too lazy to login :-P) - thank you! I've put a lot of work into this 'lil fic. :D I love K&K too! ;)

LSR-7 - thank you, and thank you for noticing the transitions in the moods of my story. I appreciate that a lot. I also wanted to thank you for the miso tips! If you notice I updated this chapter with it, but I still need to fix chap. 30. Thanks again for all your support throughout my long drawn out fic ;)

Naoko Himura (ruroken@latinmail.com) - thank you! I hope you liked this chapter too.

Chibi Battousai - thank you, no worries, lots of times I can't think of much to say either. (hence my constant writers block! >_<) In anycase, why did you change your s/n?

redroseprincess678 - thank you. Maybe I will tell you what happens in the future. I don't want to spoil it for you though. ::hehehehehehe::

Saby-chan - YAY!! I'm so happy you liked the WAFF!! I was a bit surprised at myself actually, but I loved that whole scene! ::eheheheh:: You would really print my story? You're so sweet! I take that as a really big complement.

marstanuki - hey girl!! Sorry about the 2 long hiatus' in a row. O_o;; GOMEN bows really low I'm super sorry. I got a new job and so I've been really busy. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm loving your fix…time for you to update ne? ::eheheh::

Kriska - blushes aww, you're so nice to say that. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy my fic. :D

Vesca - ME TOO!! I hope you liked this chapter :D

Macy - I LOVE Yuki too!! I just watched DVD #3 last night so I'm all FB'ed out at the moment. ::heheh:: Thanks for all your support from the beginning. big hug

kyanos - ::eheheh:: YAY!! That's so cool!! Loved your review, that I did! I love WAFF too!! Did you like this chapter too? Will the rest of the gang come into the fic? Maybe. Thanks again.

Himiko-chan (wu_manthesolitarydragon@yahoo.com) - thank you so much for your well said and wonderful review. I really appreciate that you took the time to say so much. You read my whole fic in an hour? You must be a speed reader. O.O &#61663; super impressed bunny. Thanks for the support!!

Gina - thank you!! I know, I loved that part too. I was so excited when I thought up that idea because I thought it was so totally wicked cool. (I don't consider myself to be that imaginative so I was quite proud of myself for that one (for once!) so thank you bunches for noticing!)

Battousai angel - I know, I'm so happy!! Thanks for all your support from the beginning ba-chan :D

almira (almi_saure@yahoo.com - you're so sweet, thank you!!! Thanks for all your support since the beginning.

eLoQueNCe - no worries about not reviewing the other chapters, your one review made up for them all!! big grin thanks for reading and reviewing and I hope you continue to enjoy this fic!

Kamimura Kaoru -thank you. Yeah…Yuki was a cool cameo I thought. ::eheheheh:: I'm SO HAPPY you liked the part with Kenshin's eyes. I was so excited when I thought up that whole scene! Thanks for appreciating it. ;D

Shiko - thank you, I'm really happy that you like my fic. What do you mean by Kenshin never met Tomoe? Wedding? Maybe. Sequel? Don't hold your breath. ::heheheh:: I'll be ecstatic when I finish this fic ;)

Lysse-chan (lysse_chan@hotmail.com) - thank you, what nice comments about the character development too. Thanks for the support ;)

Crystal - Aww! Thank you! It makes me feel better that you said the last chapter was worth the wait. ;)

Yen - Thank you so much, what a nice thing to say. ::hehe:: I think Kenshin & Kaoru are pretty funny too. I'm super happy that you got a kick out of my fic. Thanks for the feedback and support ;)

Leigh - I'm really excited that their relationship has finally blossomed as well. It's so exciting to write about it ::hehe:: Yeah…this fic won't be over for a while still. O_o;;

Shizuka - I'm sorry about the long wait periods between my updates. ;( I'm so happy you liked the kitchen scene! I loved writing it, it was soooo much fun. I had a blast looking up the best adjectives in the thesaurus!! ::hehe:: Thank you bunches for reading my humble fic and for your support ;)

AngelsExist - Happy to have you back!! Um…I'm trying to update as often as possible, but it's very random so far. Sometimes it's a couple of days, sometimes a couple of months. O_o;; I'm very sorry…I just don't have the schedule to allow me to be super regular at the moment, and each chapter takes a lot of work and thought on my part, so usually it takes longer. I hope you will enjoy the story and continue to read it, regardless of my flaws ^_^

Zackire - Yeah…he's been slow, but not as slow as the Kenshin from the future…you know since he never wandered…oh wait!! I'm getting into spoilers. Anyhow, thanks for all the support!!

Jason M. Lee - ::hehehe:: I won't forget Tohru, I totally love her, she's so awesome. I want to be just like her when I grow up. LOL *falls over laughing hysterically mumbling "when I grow up" * Thanks for always being here ;)

Lizzie (lizziea51@yahoo.com) - You're so nice!! What a lovely review!! ::chants "one of the best" "one of the best":: ::hehe:: You took my breath away and it's so encouraging to know that some of my readers feel that my sorry attempts at writing are worth waiting for. big hug Thanks again!!

Ewunia - Thank you, what a nice compliment!! Sorry about the long waits between updates, I'm working on it!!

Val - Thank you!! I loved the eyes thing too…it was hard for me not to melt into a puddle and I was the one coming up with those lines (ok…that's kind-of a scary thought! O_O) In any case, thank you bunches for your support and reviews, they are a real encouragement to me.

J - thank you…I hope so too. I think it will, at least for a little while since I know what I want to write about for the next few chapters anyhow. Let's hope for the best. Thanks for all your support!

WHEW! wipes sweat off brow that was a lot of work! O_o;; Thanks everybody again for all the support. And also thank you's to the readers and reviewers at my website, media miner and Mir's archive TFME.

Till the next chapter,

SORRY ABOUT ALL THE FORMATTING PROBLEMS. FF.net was Tripping!! O_o;; ::hehehehehehehe::

Bunny ;D