Hello and thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking a chance on my first RK fic!! I must warn you now, this is intended to be humorous, so if you read something that you *think* is supposed to be funny, please go ahead and laugh and make me feel good ^_^ Also, this will be a flufftastic fic, got that? F-L-U-F-F. So if you're one of the more sophisticated readers on ff.net in search of a good fireside tale with plenty of substance, then you may want to locate the closest emergency exit, keeping in mind that the nearest exit may be behind you. I am covering my own ass ahead of time should we encounter any blatant OOCness, sappy sweetness, or humor-that-just-can't-be-called-humorous-ness in the course of this fic.
That said, all standard disclaimers apply. The closest I come to actually owning Rurouni Kenshin are the two DVDs I've 'borrowed indefinitely' from a friend. I borrowed them because I don't have the money to get them on my own (hint, hint…this means I'm too poor to be sued!!)
And most importantly, PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! Pretty please?? I'd love ya forever if ya did!!
CH1: How Kenshin Says 'Good Morning'
She was warm…
She was very, very warm…
Grinning lazily, Kaoru turned over in her sleep, her mind blanketed by a deep soothing heat, and the feel of her own blood pulsing in her brain with an evocative rhythm like a distant drum. As her mind wavered in and out of early-morning consciousness, images of her dreams played across her closed eyelids. She couldn't quite remember just what she'd been dreaming about exactly, but the imprints her dream left behind made her feel languidly satisfied.
Mmm…fuzzy…
Then she heard it. A voice echoing through her mind…a masculine voice, with a sweet, pleasing timbre that settled in her ear and made her own voice crave to be used, to respond. The voice was calling her, speaking words she couldn't quite comprehend. Such a gentle, inquisitive voice…
"Mmm…" Kaoru turned her head further into her pillow. Dream…what a nice dream this is. Then she heard the voice call her name.
Kaoru…
Kaoru…
The honeyed male voice only added to the thick miasma of Kaoru's dreaming. She curled her toes and snuggled further into the futon.
Kaoru!
She turned her head, as the voice suddenly seemed to come from somewhere, rather than being all around her. Eyes still closed, she reached outwards, drawn by another unintelligible stream of words that fell on her ears like gentle rain. A smile played upon her lips. Those tones…they seem so familiar somehow…mmmmm…someone is leaning over me…talking so sweetly…
Without opening her eyes, Kaoru felt her hands come in contact with folds of cloth. She allowed herself a wicked grin. Twisting her fingers into it, she pulled forward the owner of that delicious, spine-tickling voice.
"Closer…" she mumbled, still half-dreaming. She sat up halfway and then pulled whoever-it-was downward, nearly on top of her, wrapping one arm around a head and sliding her fingers through lengths of hair.
"Oro?!"
Kaoru's eyes snapped open as the soothing voice broke and jumped an octave, wavering in surprise. Looking down, she saw a tangle of red hair spreading messily over her bound breasts, as she clutched an all-too-familiar face into the opening of her yukata. She froze, breathing hard, stunned into silence, until she heard the figure in her arms make a slightly choked noise in the back of his throat. She immediately released her victim, flushing red with embarrassment.
"K-K-Kenshin?"
Kenshin kept his eyes carefully averted as Kaoru hastily re-adjusted her robes. "Ah, um, g-gomen, gomen nasai Kaoru-dono! I would never have dreamt of invading your privacy, indeed I would not, but you see you slept in so late that I feared you might be ill, indeed I did." Kenshin knew he was babbling. He carefully extracted himself from Kaoru's bedclothes, and stood up, fidgeting, while keeping his eyes trained completely on the floor. "I, uh, have saved some breakfast for you, if you wish." He began backing away towards the door, fearing Kaoru's wrath at his having invaded her room, not to mention the fact that they had been in a rather, ahem, compromising position only minutes earlier, and that her embarrassment would more than likely fuel the fire of her anger.
"Ah…um, thank you, Kenshin." Kaoru had finally regained her ability to speak, although her face was still a VERY vivid shade of red.
Kenshin looked up, with wide, violet eyes. Why hadn't Kaoru-dono thrown a screaming fit at his invasion of her privacy? Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kenshin gave her a small, half-smile before bumping into the wall. Clumsily, he slid the door open, still wary to turn his back totally on the petite woman before him who was blushing very prettily with downcast eyes and seemed only to be awaiting his exit. Still rather flustered, Kenshin 'Oro-ed' under his breath as he nearly tripped while he backed his way out of the room. Sliding the door shut again, Kenshin carefully leaned back against the frame, and miserably cast his eyes upwards. For a split second, he had imagined that Kaoru was fully awake, and he had lacked the willpower to extricate himself from her embrace. Running a hand through his already-tousled hair, he groaned inwardly. What must she think of me? With a defeated sigh, he made his way back to the kitchen.
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Still sitting upright on her futon, Kaoru let her head sink forward into her hands. Kami-sama…what must he think of me?! Ugh! Of all the days for me to go and dream something so…so…Kaoru looked up in consternation. Just what in the world WAS I dreaming about anyway? Pull yourself together Kaoru! It was just some dream…Pulling the blankets aside, Kaoru slowly stood up and stretched. Yeah, she thought wryly, just some dream that felt very, very good, and ended with Kenshin in your bed, as you nearly suffocated him with your—nevermind. Kaoru blushed red again as she recalled the sight of Kenshin's face being pressed so intimately against her. Normally, she would have thrown a fit of some sort to cover her embarrassment, blaming Kenshin for being a hentai, or a baka, or just about ANYTHING to get the attention off of her, but the fact of the matter remained that *she* was the one who had grabbed Kenshin, *she* was the one who had pulled him on top of her, and it was *her* hand that had been wantonly pressing his face into her—Enough! Kaoru shook her head angrily at herself as she dressed. It was just an accident, that's all. It's not like I *knew* that it was him. She yanked a comb through her hair. However, when you realized just WHO you had pulled into your bed, it wasn't exactly your first instinct to release him now was it? a voice prodded. N-nani?! NO! Bad Kaoru! Mustn't think like that! Bad! Kaoru slapped herself mentally. Snap out of it, Kaoru no baka! You still have to eat breakfast with the man after all! What's the big deal anyway? It's just Kenshin…he'll understand…Kaoru tried vainly to fight off her embarrassment, hoping that she need not grace the table with a face resembling a tomato.
Right. Just Kenshin.
Kenshin…
Oh Kami! KENSHIN! Kaoru flushed hopelessly red once more as the realization hit her that Kenshin, the gentle, honorable, polite-to-a-fault, devastatingly attractive (Hey where did THAT come from?!) Rurouni had had his nose shamelessly pressed into her cleavage that very morning, by her very own hands!
Miserably, Kaoru trudged towards the kitchen, hoping against hope that Sanosuke or even Yahiko were still eating, so that she might avoid an awkward breakfast with only Kenshin in the room.
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Sanosuke looked up from his third helping of food as Kenshin returned from Kaoru's room. His eyes didn't miss the somewhat dazed look in the Rurouni's eyes, nor did Kenshin's somewhat rumpled hair escape his notice. Watching as the red-haired man seemed to fidget more than necessary, Sanosuke raised an eyebrow as a thought entered his mind. Kenshin said he was just going to wake Jou-chan up, but I wonder…A small smirk graced his lips as he watched Kenshin intently. I wonder just *HOW* he woke her up…Ah, but what am I thinking? This is Kenshin we're talking about here. He'd rather 'Oro!' himself to death than disrespect Kaoru. Still…something's going on…Sano took another bite of fish and chewed contemplatively.
"So Kenshin…"
Still lost in his thoughts, Kenshin responded dazedly. "Hn…yes?"
"What's with the hair?"
Kenshin's awareness returned but his eyes clouded over with confusion at Sano's question. Suddenly, a vision flashed before him: the not-so-distant memory of Kaoru fiercely twining her hands through his thick hair, her eyes shut, and grinning like an epicurean goddess, as she clutched him tightly to her heaving—
"Or-ro!"
Sanosuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he heard Kenshin mutter his favorite word with the kind of inflection that starkly contrasted with his usual mild-mannered tone. Just what the hell happened? For crying out loud he was only back there for five minutes! Then again…it's amazing what you can do in just—HEY! Sanosuke, wake up! This is KENSHIN and KAORU for pity's sake! Shaking his head, Sano cleared his throat, hoping to regain the attention of Kenshin, who was currently staring off into space with a blush that seemed to be getting redder by the second.
"Oi…Kenshin."
The redhead blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. "My apologies, Sano. I drifted off for a moment, that I did. What were you saying?"
Sano smirked. "Your hair? I was just curious as to why you seem to have given up any grooming habits. Although I don't remember you looking quite so…disheveled…when you were making breakfast earlier."
Kenshin's eyes widened in embarrassment. "Oro!" He struggled with his unruly hair for a moment, trying to tame the disarray. "Ah, um, my thanks, Sano. I did not notice, indeed I did not." He attempted a placid smile.
Sano smirked again at Kenshin's obvious evasion of his inquiry, but said nothing, as Kaoru's form appeared in the doorway. Neither the surreptitious glances that passed between Kenshin and Kaoru, nor their subsequent blushes went unnoticed by Sanosuke.
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Taking a deep breath, Kaoru stepped through the doorway to find out what kind of breakfast company was awaiting her. She nearly sighed out loud in relief when she saw Sano sitting holding what was probably a third or fourth helping of food. Hiding a frown, she absently noted that he always seemed to eat more when Kenshin did the cooking. A flash of red at the corner Kaoru's vision caught her attention, and she couldn't help but glance timidly over at Kenshin. She guiltily looked away when she found him looking back.
Sano nearly rolled his eyes at the pair of them. These two are hopeless! He gave it up for a lost cause and resumed eating.
Kenshin was first to break the awkward silence. Speaking calmly, he greeted her with his usual disarming smile. "Good morning, Kaoru-dono. Won't you please sit down?" He motioned for her to take a seat next to Sano.
Kaoru, relieved that Kenshin was not trying to apologize about the 'incident' in front of Sano, smiled a weak but grateful smile in return. "Arigatou, Kenshin…" Hopefully, he's already started to forget about this morning…
Bringing over a bowl and chopsticks, Kenshin intended to prepare Kaoru's meal for her. Hopefully, this morning is causing her no further distress…"Here, Kaoru-dono, allow me to get your breast—GAH! I-I mean, your, um, ah, BREAKFAST for y—ORO!"
So much for 'no further distress.'
In the time it took for Kenshin's slip of the tongue to, well, slip off his tongue and slap both himself and Kaoru with the embarrassed realization of what he'd said, two things happened. First, both he and Kaoru invented seven new shades of red apiece, and second, in his flustered attempt to cover up his horrific error, he clumsily managed to empty the half-prepared bowl of food entirely into Kaoru's lap.
Kenshin froze.
Kaoru's eyes moved slowly from the bits of vegetables and fish adorning her lap up to the wide-eyed, violet gaze of one very panicked, very embarrassed, red-haired Rurouni.
Their faces were mere inches apart…
A/N: Soooooo….is anyone out there interested??? Does anyone think this is worth continuing??? PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW!!! ^_^;; Arigatou!! Ja ne!