Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chances ( for now...) ❯ The day part 3 ( I know....it's getting old, ne?) ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Phew! Finally! I pulled it off!! So, you've probably noticed that I took some time in finishing this, sorry for that, but here's your new instalment, I hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I think I've made myself clear on this point by now...Rurouni Kenshin and all related characters belong to various people and companies, me not included...

~@#The Day III#@~

Kenshin opened his eyes and yawned.

He forced his eyes open and immediately grinned as he saw the state of himself. His arms and legs were entangled with Kaoru's, who was currently partly draped over his chest, one hand gently clasped in his hair. Heaving a content sigh he tightened his hold on her and turned into her embrace, but something was nagging in the back of his mind for him to get up. ` Something's not right…but…'

"OROROROOO!!!"

He shot up straight, roughly shoving Kaoru off him in the process, only to be yanked down by his hair again.

Kaoru stretched herself like a cat before gingerly letting go of his hair and giving him an apologetic kiss.

Kenshin gaped at her for a moment before remembering his predicament. He jumped out of the bed, hurriedly grabbing his clothes from the floor and dashing into the bathroom where he'd `lost' his shirt.

Watching from her station in the bed, Kaoru silently enjoyed the fact that there was a naked man running around her room and the fact that said person was her man. But it didn't stop her from worrying.

She wrapped herself in her blanket and followed him into the bathroom, where he found him debating with himself, partly dressed, over what to do with his shirt, which was currently dripping all over the already soaked bathroom floor.

"Anata? Dou ka shita no?"

Kaoru tucked the blanket under her arms and took the shirt from his hands, wasting no time and dumping the foul thing into the waste basket.

"I'll get you one of my father's shirts. What's going on Kenshin? Please…"

"I-I…ano…breakfast- won't your father mind?"

Kaoru looked away from him, her hair shielding her face from his view.

"Otou-san and okaa-san died…six years ago…"

"Koishii…" Kenshin muttered under his breath as he enveloped her in his arms, "I'm sorry…We should talk…"

He felt her nodding against him and kissed the top of her head. `There's so much we don't know about each other…'

"Anata…Weren't you in a hurry??"

"Oro!"

She laughed as she watched the blur disappear into the hallway and down the stairs. `I actually made him ruin his cooking?????!!!'

Kaoru looked around the bathroom and sighed. `I should probably clean this up…before nee-sama notices…'

She grabbed one of the towels she had used earlier and dried the floor with it, tossing it in the laundry basket when she was done. When she saw the mirror, she stopped, letting the blanket drop from her body. Turning and twisting she tried to look at every part of her body, marvelling at the way she looked the same but felt so different. A loud clanging from the kitchen reached her ears and she smiled.

Looking around the room to make sure there was nothing left that could embarrass her, she picked up the blanket and went back to her room to get dressed.

She dressed quickly and pulled her hair into her usual ponytail, `I'd better hurry and make sure Kenshin is presentable. It's getting late…'

After straightening the bed and making sure she looked alright she went back into the hallway and over to the door of what once used to be her parent's bedroom. Kaoru took a deep breath and opened the shoji.

`Ohayou tou-san, kaa-san…I know I haven't been in here since…I was scared.' She sat down on the bed and smoothed her hands down the comforter, feeling the tears running down her cheeks. `It still smells the way it used to.' Kaoru smiled and got up. `Tou-chan, I met a man…or again…I'm sure you know everything. I know you and kaa-chan understand, but I'm afraid Tae won't. And I don't want to lose a sister too…So I'm going to borrow one of your shirts…for damage control.

I really do love him...you know?'

She opened the wardrobe and pulled out a dark grey shirt which she remembered to be one of her father's favourites.

"I'm not scared anymore."

Kenshin was struggling to get the smell of burnt rice out of the kitchen. He had opened the window, which was a bad idea, seeing as he was only wearing his pants and the weather wasn't all that warm. Now he was staring at the pots he had used.

`Maybe I should replace them…'

The moment Kaoru stepped into the kitchen, she found him scrubbing feverishly at the pots she had already ruined long ago.

"Anata…Never mind those, I'm the only one that knows it was you," she smiled wickedly, "And I know you had a perfectly valid reason! Tae will just think I tried to cook something, so just leave them…"

She stepped up to him and handed him the shirt, staring at the way his muscles moved as he pulled it on. `Grey is definitely a good colour for him...'

Kaoru hopped onto the countertop and studied him as he went around the kitchen preparing for another try at making breakfast. She giggled at the look he gave her. He looked determined, to say the least, his eyes were telling her that he was not going to let anything distract him this time and that she'd better not try anything or she would have to pay.

She tried to relax her face, failed and quickly abandoned the kitchen before her laughter got her into any trouble.

Kenshin watched her from the corner of his eye and smiled happily, humming some tune that had been stuck in his head for a while as he got back to work on breakfast.

In the meantime, Kaoru was ransacking her bedroom. `Mou! That hairbrush has to be around here somewhere! I'm not going to let him ruin al my hard work! Then again...that would mean I'd have to wash his hair again...' She blushed and shook her head.

"Anata!? Have you seen my hairbrush?"

"Aa...I think I saw it in the bathroom, koishii?"

Kaoru jumped up and walked into the bathroom again. `Unbelievable...' She picked up the brush from the shelf it was lying on. `I have got to start organising myself...' She disapprovingly shook her head and made her way down the stairs.

~@#*#@~

`Anata? Koishii? What the he-`

"KAORU-CHAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Sano rubbed his ears and slowly edged away from his girlfriend, sitting down at one of the tables, grinning at her even though she was oblivious to anything that did not have anything to do with her sister's behaviour at the moment.

`Poor tanuki...That'll teach her to hide anything! But really...I wonder...she's a lousy liar so what is she up to here?'

Kaoru just reached the bottom of the stairs and stared at her sister with wide eyes. `Like a deer caught in the headlights,' Sano mused. ` This is going to give one hell of a lot of noise...' He looked at Tae again and shivered.

Tae opened her mouth for another volley but Kaoru ran into the kitchen before she had a chance to start. She glared at Sano for grinning and tried again.

"KAORU! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!"

It took some time, but eventually Kaoru came out of the kitchen, slowly, and clutching the hand of a red-haired man Sano hadn't seen before, Tae just wasn't paying attention to the guy so he couldn't figure out if she knew him.

At the moment Tae was having an all out rant at Kaoru, who somehow looked less scared as things got scarier.

`Well, no man's gonna suffer through Tae for a girl he doesn't love...so...Huh? What the hell?'

As he was watching the couple, Tae struck with an especially nasty comment, "You-can't-just-invite-strangers-into-your-bed!", and something changed. Before Sano's eyes the entire appearance of this `new guy' seemed to change. His eyes narrowed and seemed to take on a gold-ish hue, somehow giving his complete feel a lethal edge.

Sano nearly fell off the chairs he was currently occupying trying to get to Tae to warn her, but the guy blinked and it was gone, the eerie smile back on his face.

Then he did something Sano didn't see coming.

The new guy tugged on Kaoru's hand, pulling her into a protective hug and extended his free hand to Tae, who was baffled to say the least.

"Himura Kenshin, hajimemashite. Although we have met, I hadn't properly introduced myself."

"Y-You?!"

Really extending her attention to envelop the man she was fighting about, she suddenly recognized him. Completely dumbfounded, Tae shook his hand and mumbled her name.

Sano nearly fell over, again, laughing this time. `Heh, I think I like this guy!' He strode up and yanked Tae back into him. Casually waving his hand he introduced himself.

"Sagara Sanosuke, I'm just going to borrow this one for a sec okay?"

Kenshin started to open his mouth but found himself impersonating a goldfish so he closed it quickly, eventually able to utter a "So that was the tori-atama?"

Kaoru wiped her eyes on his shirt and wrapped her arms around him, thanking Kami for the fact that Kenshin was able to keep his cool, `The lot of them may think I'm completely oblivious, but I'm not that stupid!' , and the for fact that her `brother' was there when it all exploded. After a minute she backed away and smiled at him.

"Hai! This is my family..."

Suddenly she remembered something and started to dig around in her pocket.

Kenshin looked quizzically at the funny dance she was doing but did an `Ahaaa!' with his eyebrows when she eventually pulled out a hairband.

From a distance Sano was trying to control Tae, who was just coming out of her Kenshin-induced stupor. When nothing worked he gave her the serious-look. It was one he very rarely used and so was sure to get her attention. He grabbed her by the shoulders and smiled.

"Look at them, itoshii...Just look..."

He turned her around and rested his chin on top of her head. Tae stared for a minute before she clapped her hand in front of her face, stifling a strangled sob. Sano smiled again and wrapped his arms around her was, gently pulling her into his chest.

"You see, right?"

Kaoru motioned for Kenshin to turn around, which he did, without question of thought, and gently combed trough his hair with her finger. She giggled when he sighed and leaned back into her hands and playfully tugged on his auburn locks. Finally, satisfied with her work, she pulled it together low in his neck and tied it with the hairband she had kept between her teeth.

Kenshin took her hands in his and turned around slowly.

"Is this better, koishii?"

"Iya! I-I mean," she stuttered and blushed her way through the rest of her sentence in a hushed voice, "I like it better when it's loose..."

He chuckled and pulled her into a hug again just as she started giggling again.

Tae couldn't help but gasp when she felt a teardrop slowly make it's way down the side of her face.

"Sano..."

"I know...You didn't mean to. I know you...And you see now, that's all that matters, isn't it?"

Tae smiled. The last time she remembered him acting this serious had been the night he finally told her he loved her. Of course she had had to fight him to get him to say what had be bothering him, but he did say it...and he meant it...'They belong together.'

Swiftly she turned around and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, which he never realised until she was walking towards her sister and brand new brother-in-law.

"Kaoru-chan...I-I..." Her younger sister cut her of with a hug.

"I know, nee-san, I think it all caught us by surprise too, ne Kenshin?" She thought for a minute and then suddenly started grinning.

"Anata? Do you smell something? Like....burnt rice? Maybe?"

Kenshin dashed into the kitchen for the second time that day as a laughing Kaoru was dragged to a cornerbooth by her sister.

Sano watched with a self-fulfilled smirk as the argument dissolved into their usual banter about things he was sure he didn't want to know about.

`Heh, time to bond with my new brother then?'

He found Kenshin staring at the kitchen sink with a blissful smile and couldn't pass up the opportunity to laugh his heart out.

Kenshin blinked and turned to the source of the laughter, lounging in the doorframe.

"Oro?! Sanosuke-san..."

Sano winced, "Oi! Drop the honorific man! So did Jou-chan try to cook something again?"

He grinned sheepishly and glanced over the pots he had been using.

"Iie...actually I did this...twice..." He hung his head down low in shame.

It only made Sano laugh more.

"What? D'you get d-distracted?" Sano gasped between fits as he held on to the countertop to keep from collapsing. "I know the f- feeling! I didn't get any br-breakfast either to-today..." Kenshin stared at him, blushing ten different shades of red at once. But Sano's enthusiasm and the relief that everything was alright got the better of him and soon he was sitting on the kitchen floor, clutching his sides with tears of laughter rolling down his face.

Minutes later they were picked up from the ground by their respective girlfriends. The sisters instantly agreed.

"I don't want to know."

~@#*#@~

Half an hour later, they were all sitting on the sofa in Kenshin's apartment, finally enjoying a well-made breakfast. Sano and Tae were bickering, as usual and Kenshin was in the kitchen, cleaning up.

Kaoru stood in the doorway and watched until something caught her eye.

"Anata? Something's blinking...Over there in the corner..."

Kenshin swivelled around in the direction she was pointing and recognized the tiny red light as his answering machine.

` Who could possibly have called...I don't think I've ever had a message on the thing before...'

He wiped his hands on his pants and carefully pressed the button while Kaoru decided to give him some privacy.

"BAKA DESHI! HOW DARE YOU NOT BE HOME WHEN I CALL!?! CALL ME!!! NOW!!!"

Kenshin sank to the floor and buried his face in his hands. `I should have guessed everything was too good to be true...Why does he have to call now??!'

He sighed, straightened himself and pressed the call button.

"Moshi moshi? Shishou? It's Ke-"

"Demo! I-"

"Shishou, you can't ju-"

"SHISHOU!!!!"

He was yelling at a set of beeps that indicated the lack of an interested person on the other side of the line. When he was sure he had vented all his anger on the poor telephone, that's when he finally noticed Kaoru standing in the doorway, looking terrified. He dropped his scowl and quickly pasted his trademark smile on his face. To his dismay it seemed to make things worse; Kaoru blinked and ran back into the living room.

Swearing under his breath, something he hardly ever did, he went after her.

"Kaoru! Doushite?" He gently caught her arm and pulled her around.

Tae and Sano exchanged a look and agreed. As one, they got up, grabbed their respective coats and walked towards the door. Kaoru looked up with a bewildered look in her eyes, not understanding her sister. Tae smiled and kissed her forehead, turning around to shake Kenshin's hand. Sano smiled one of his rare reassuring smiles for her and winked at Kenshin, who was just as confused as his lover by now.

When they were gone and Kenshin finally looked at her, the anguish in her eyes nearly sent him to his knees. He gently pulled her to the couch and sat her down, kneeling before her and holding her hands in his.

He didn't need to ask her any questions, she could see them in his eyes, he could probably see her answers in her eyes too, she mused. Her affirmation came only seconds later when his eyes suddenly went wide and he squeezed her hands just a bit tighter than before. Instantly he began muttering apologies.

"You know I can take anything you could throw at me except you locking me out like that, ne?"

Kenshin smiled ruefully and nodded.

"So tell me..."

Glancing up into her serious blue eyes, he took a deep breath, and told her everything. How his parents had been killed when he was six years old and living in Kyoto, how he was taken in by an art schoolteacher, how he had attended his benefactors Academy of Fine Arts, until he got to the point of his story.

"My Shishou, Hiko Seijuuro the 13th, had a sister who died a few years after we moved to Kyoto. Her son Aoshi joined us at the Academy where we sort of grew up together."

Kaoru had been listening in silence but couldn't prevent her eyes watering, her mind kept going over the casual way he had mentioned his parents' death. She reached out a hand and laid it against his flawless cheek.

"Kenshin, your parents...h-how?" She didn't like how broken her voice sounded but there was nothing she could do about it now.

Releasing the floor at her feet from his intent gaze he finally looked her in the eye again.

Instead of practicing the evasive behaviour she was expecting, he suddenly shot into action and sat down on the couch, quickly pulling her into his arms in one fluid move.

"There were some violent gangs in Kyoto at the time, one day a big fight occurred between two of them. My parents had gone shopping and just got caught in the crossfire. There's not much I remember...", his voice trailed off into a whisper before it stopped.

The tears were now freely streaming down Kaoru's face, even though she was glad he showed some emotion on the subject. Suddenly he looked up and reached out to wipe some tears away.

"What about your parents, koishii?"

Kaoru leaned her head into his chest and smiled.

"Okaa and Otou got involved in a car accident some years ago, I had a hard time after that. Probably wouldn't be here now without my best friend Misao. Tae was appointed as my legal guardian, because I was still a minor. It must have been so hard with her, I was so mean to her!!"

She shot up and instantly turned to the door, when she distinctly heard Kenshin chuckle. He pushed some hair out of her face and kissed her forehead gently.

"You'll never change..."

For a while they just sat in complete silence, comfortable with each other and the world around them until something occurred to Kaoru.

"Anata! I still don't know what that phone call was about!"

Although he started laughing his mood dropped quickly and his eyes fixed themselves on the carpet again.

"Hiko called to tell me Aoshi apparently needs my help and that I will be in Kyoto by ten o'clock tomorrow morning..."

Kaoru swallowed through the lump in her throat, `I can't believe this is happening again...'

"So that means..."

"Aa...I'm going back to Kyoto..."

Kaoru understood, but the small phrase he uttered brought back more of the pain she thought she'd put behind her, and Kenshin watched as her eyes glazed over again. He firmly grabbed her face between his hands, forcing her to look at him and smiled.

"Will you come with me Kaoru?"

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "I would have come after you anyway, ne?" The wheels in her mind suddenly jump-started themselves and she shot up.

"Demo! Ten tomorrow morning?!! Then...!!"

After vaulting into his bedroom she reappeared with some of his clothes, showing them to him and rolling her eyes.

"I knew it! We have to go...NOW!"

Kenshin was confused again.

"Shikashi...where?"

"Shopping of course!!!"

A/N: So there! *giggles* Did you notice I wrote the last bit of this chapter ages later than the first couple? Well I did...I'll try not to do that again!

Love and Peace!