Chapter recap:

Kaoru and Kenshin were caught by a teacher and it was explained that Kenshin had walked in on her by accident, she had quickly darted away from him to talk to Misao. The Lunch room was filled with rumors of the night before and Kaoru tried to laugh it off. They were told the rest of the evening was to be in their tents or three detentions were given and Kaoru left into the raining evening to go to her tent, and found she was walking with Kenshin and Soujiro.

Her white shirt became see through so Soujiro gave her his shirt making Kenshin think she liked him and Soujiro obviously likes her. Kaoru ran home with the stress and kenshin burst into the bathroom trying to say sorry. She needed a towel after he left and dashed to her bag, slipping and ending up sitting on his bed with nothing but underwear and a tee-shirt on, Soujiro's in fact. Kenshin made fun of her saying:

"Kaoru. The same girl who was just afraid I was going to rape her. That Kaoru?"

She jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

Sorry it was such a long wait, life has prevented me in many ways from updating and I am truly sorry. I had a Chapter ready about a month ago, but I couldn't update it, so the author's note in the middle of the chapter is where it would have cut off. I choose to give you a little more because I felt so terrible.

Chapter: 7

-Sweetheart-

For the first time on her dash to the bathroom she looked down at the clothes that were in her hands.

"Sexy underwear" as Misao liked to put it, a very revealing light green tank top and blue swish pants. None of which matched by the way. Kaoru groaned but would rather look like a fool than go back out there.

She rolled the door knob and allowed the wooden slab she called a door slide open for her. Her eyes once again visited the dim room. Her cold bare feet touched the wooden floor tentatively. She bounded toward her bed, her feet picking up speed as they lunged forward.

For a moment she was tempted to jump onto Kenshins bed... just to piss him off, but that was a bad idea, she didn't even want to think about his reaction. Let alone what he would say.

Her thin body collided with her fluffy brown blankets and her face pounded into her pillow. She released a small laugh, she couldn't help it, she had just jumped in what felt like whipped cream, you'd laugh to.

He didn't even stir...

She contemplated on poking him, to see if he was alive. But then her finger prints would be on him, and if he turned out to be worm food, she'd be blamed.

She dug under her covers to hide her hideous outfit from any prying eyes. She lay facing Kenshin, her eyes unable to shut. He looked so peaceful, even if she was staring at the back of his head. She wanted to run her fingers through his mane and wrap her arms around his buff torso.

Sometimes her mind ran away with her, and this was one of those times. When her common sense took a little nap and she was forced to fend off her wandering mind by herself.

His body flinched for a moment, his muscles tensing and his arms rushing to his chest. He curled a little bit, as if something scared him, then he relaxed and flipped onto his other side. His sleepy eyes opened for just a second, and looked at her, the violet dark and barely discernable. They closed just as quickly and Kaoru's body froze. Her breath stopped and she didn't even notice, her throat closed and her stomach churned uncomfortably.

A few minutes later, after Kaoru had caught her breath and had rolled over on her other side, she felt extremely guilty...for what, she didn't want to think about.

She assumed she felt guilty for thinking about him in such a dreamy way. She was this close very close to fantasizing about god knows what! She didn't know, but she knew it wasn't good.

Her eyes remained open, staring at the wall, the hair on the nape of her neck sticking up and her breath heavy. She couldn't sleep, she had more energy now than she did when she woke up. She sat up, sliding her legs to the side of her bed.

She sat there for a moment, regulating her breathing and calming herself down. 'That was close, that was really close. He closed his eyes right away. He didn't see me looking at him like that...he would have said something...right?' She thought to herself.

Kaoru's hand held her head delicately, it was throbbing from being to full of thoughts. She didn't like to think of Kenshin that way. Her eyes had been closed very tight, as if she was reprimanding herself for doing something stupid.

She hated him, she always hated him. This was the same guy who tormented her, laughed when she fell down, gave her a hard time about her parents, booed at her concerts. She didn't like that. After she got her thoughts straight and finally realized that she only thought about him like that because he was kinda cute, she opened her eyes.

She stretched across her bed and seized a black hoodie from her suitcase. She threw it on to hide her hideously exposing green top. Jumping up from her bed, her feet cheerfully twittered about the room. She was barefooted and she had this urge to dance. She sat herself on the ground quietly, hoping to allow Kenshin to sleep while she practiced.

She held her legs out and folded her body in half, elongating her muscles. She stretched for several minutes until her muscles felt loose enough for her to dance without pulling something. She jumped into a standing position and began to prance about the room, running and leaping about.

Her feet were silent as they hit the ground, landing on one foot, the other held high into the air. She took baby steps in a circle on the balls of her feet then suddenly dropped her body and appeared to be falling about like a puppet.

She straightened up and tapped her feet about in a circle then frowned deeply. She shook her head, her black hair flinging side to side. "No, I can't make loud noise." She told herself quietly.

Instead of practicing tap she coveted to jazz. Spirit fingers, snapping, bounding about. She combined many of her favorite moves to form an interesting style. It was modern, jazz, tap, ballet, and interpretive, and making up moves on her way.

She leapt through the air gracefully, her legs springing up and her arms poised in the air in strategic places. All the while she had a large smile on her face. Her cobalt eyes sparkled with a child-like pep and she could hear music in her head. She even began to hum along absent mindedly.

She was so used to bounding about a stage, lights flashing in her face that the smile was automatic. However in her head she was contemplating her next move with sharp concentration. Each step, leap, or snap was planned and placed perfectly in tune to the music in her head.

An hour passed like that. Kaoru dancing majestically across the room, falling only once, and Kenshin asleep in his bed. After dancing for so long Kaoru was breathing hard, and she had forgotten Kenshin was even in the room.

Half way through her dance she had taken off her shirt, revealing a sports bra and was now sitting on the cold wooden floor, legs spread out in front of her, and her upper body slumped with fatigue.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, her black hair sticking to her round face and her blue eyes looking tired but satisfied.

"You're not half bad when no ones watching." Came a sleepy voice from behind her. She turned her head sharply at the rough voice that broke the silence. It sounded tired, but it also seemed low and mystical.

She faced Kenshin, who had sat up in his bed, she wasn't sure when he had woken up or why he hadn't announced it. She crossed her arms around her stomach self consciously and turned her head away form him.

"Sorry, I know how much you hate my dancing, but I'm done now." She said lifting herself from the ground and walking towards the bathroom, her face twisted into a frown. He had ruined her moment of serenity and it probably wouldn't return.

She left the door open, but used the far sink out of the two as she washed her sweaty face. She picked up her clothes from the floor and hung them up to dry. She looked at him through the mirror and saw he had pulled out a small black cell phone.

She glared at him, hoping she wouldn't be the only cleanly one. She would have sat down in the bathroom just to get away from him for a bit, but it was the bathroom, so she moved to the kitchen, walking icily past him.

Why she was mad at him, she couldn't tell. But she was. He had interrupted her zen moment with his sarcastic sleepy voice. As soon as he was off the phone, she made a mental note, she would have to do something mean.

Kenshin hadn't meant for his comment to come out so derogative, and had hoped she would pass it off, but she didn't. Kenshin blew the hair out of his eyes in an exhausted expression. He was already sick of the over sensitive woman. Kaoru was good at dancing, even Kenshin couldn't deny that, but she was so picky about her compliments.

He thought back to the day before, regretting even acknowledging Kaoru's existence in the bathroom that night. Suddenly it hit him, he hadn't talked to Tomoe yet. Kenshin called her yesterday but he caught her voice mail and she never called back.

He picked out his black cell phone and slid it open the buttons glowing a bright blue. He dialed her number and waited, listening to the ringing and feeling nervous. He hadn't really talked to her much after her tending to his rib, which was still tender by the way, and he had done some thinking since then.

She picked up, and her sweet voice rang into his ears a tint of melancholy could be heard, but that was understandable, she had just lost a family member. "Hey." He said slowly, his voice feeling shaky.

"Kenshin!" Her excited voice carried to his ear, a smile lit his face at her pleased tone.

"Tomoe, how are you all doing?" He asked, worry present in his voice.

"We're ok. It's hard, she seemed fine just a few weeks ago when she came to visit us. Then she got pneumonia and before we knew it, she was getting a lot worse. But she doesn't hurt any more." Her voice sounded distant, like she was lost in a memory but still able to form coherent sentences.

"I'm glad to hear you're all feeling better" Kaoru heard his voice drift into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes, he was suck a dork. Of course, she didn't know what had happened and only hearing one end of the conversation always lead to misconception.

She had poured herself a glass of water and was sipping it slowly as she listened to his voice flow from the other room. He sounded enthusiastic. Kaoru slowly drifted into her own thoughts, using his voice as a low background noise.

The wooden walls merged into the glass, and she was able to peer out into the wood. There was a red cardinal perched outside the window. Large evergreen trees lined the window, their giant feather like green branches billowing at the sides of the glass. Their green leaves appeared to be dripping from them, thanks to the rain. Oak, sycamore, and fur trees were dotted in front of her, bushes and small trees brushed up against the larger tree trunks.

Twigs and dried up leaves littered the forest floor and a squirrel ran around a tree. Just as soon as Kaoru had spotted the bushy tailed creature it jumped from her view. The forest was dripping and occasionally a bead of rain would find it's way past the leaves and splatter onto the window.

The whole outside world was getting dark, she could see very few rays of sun streaming through the trees, but the fog had mostly settled and the outside looked enchanted. Kaoru stood up, her thick wooden chair tipping and crashed into the counter. Just as it was about to slip and clatter onto the floor Kaoru grabbed it. "Oops." She said to herself quietly as she righted the chair.

"Everything alright in there?" She heard his voice emerge in a silenced yell from the living room, as if trying to keep Tomoe from hearing him.

"Yeah!" She said, projecting her high pitched voice, hoping Tomoe could hear the female voice and question Kenshin. She heard him talk in a calming rushed tone, as if she accused him of something and he had to get his excuse out before she assumed any more.

Kaoru snickered to herself while skulking into the living room, snatching up her zip hoodie. She searched it for a while looking for the zipper and righting it then threw it on and walked towards the door but not before she heard his voice once more enter her agitated ears.

"Where are you going Missy?" Her whole body turned but her hand remained on the golden door handle.

"Out." She said playing along but refusing to tell him why.

"I'm sorry I'm listening, I was just wondering why my room mate wants to receive three detentions when we get back to school." He said enunciating the last part of his statement, looking Kaoru over. He was shocked she was going to walk outside in that.

She was dressed in blue swish pants, a black sports bra that showed off her muscular abdomen and an open hoodie. Her blue eyes looked him over, her facial muscles contorted in disbelief.

"Then I wont get caught." Her body relaxed and she looked at him like he was dumb.

"She says she wont get caught." He said into the phone, an amused smile on his face and chuckled lightly as if joining her in laughter. He reached into his bag and slipped on a tight white tank top over his head.

"What? Why?" He was talking to her again and Kaoru already felt like he had killed the enchanted feeling she received form the forest so she twisted the door knob but was stopped by his voice again.

"Kaoru-" His voice sounded pleading, as if he wanted her to wait for just a second for him to jump up and say something. "Ok I love you honey." He said speaking to Tomoe on the phone and taking his eyes off of Kaoru staring at the floor.

"I'm leaving." She said, more to make her own legs move than anything. She wasn't about to sit here and listen to things that made her want to puke. She turned to door knob and walked out onto the door step. She paused, staring out into the wood, her eyes large. Blue orbs scanned the area about her shocked to see it was more beautiful than a painting.

There was a light sprinkling of mist around the ankles of the trees that seemed to shroud the bushes in gray magic. As she looked above, she could see a canopy at the top of the trees, and it seemed to stretch on forever, and was dripping with water. The rocks that formed the path were glimmering and colored earthy reds, browns, and whites. The rocks melted into the dark brown earth that was soaked full with water.

She watched the forest, the sun had dropped just a little lower than before and now hardly any light could be seen through the thick brown trunks of the trees, yet the scenery around her was washed in an orangey-yellow light.

She felt a rush of air blow past her, nothing but her hair moved with the wind and her velvet blue eyes stayed glued onto her surroundings. "Why did you- It's beautiful out here." Kenshin's voice softened considerably at the end of his sentence.

She had been right up next to the door, so she assumed the warmth she felt wash over her was from inside the cabin. Kenshin stood behind her, stepping back into the cabin since she wasn't moving. He could smell the jasmine in her hair, and though it was very different from Tomoe's white plum it reminded him of her. Maybe it was because he just spoke to her.

He looked out at the misty green collage of trees around Kaoru. Just as he began to really appreciate the stunning scenery about him Kaoru began to move. She hopped down the stairs and started to walk. Kenshin, being as curious as he was, jogged up to her his purple eyes questioning.

"Kaoru? Were are you going? Do you want detentions?" He asked quickly, but in a hushed voice, as if a teacher was stalking students somewhere nearby.

"Since when do you care?" She asked harshly, but her face was calmed from the view about her.

"Tomoe is convinced you are a human being and I should make sure you don't die...or get detentions." Kenshin said, his tone sounding rehearsed. Kaoru couldn't help but make the noise of a whip with her mouth and mimic the motion of cracking a whip.

Kenshin's eyes became slits and he opened his mouth in a resentful gesture. Kaoru's blue eyes danced with joy as she flashed him a look. "I think I'll take a run, hold my jacket." She said throwing her hoodie at him and taking off quickly, the gravel crunching under her shoe clad feet. Her arms raised to her waste as she slowed her dash to a light jog once she was far enough from him.

At first Kenshin stared at her retreating form with rage and skepticism, but his mouth was soon preoccupied with a conniving smirk. He sprinted back to the tent and threw her coat in it and grabbing a pair of pants before closing the door quietly. He then turned and sprinted after her, yanking his pants on as he did so.

By the time he caught up to her his breath was heavy but not in a tired way. Kaoru's mouth was turned up in a tiny grin. The rain poured about her lightly, splashing onto her abdomen, arms, and legs. Her hair was already wet and was now only soaking further.

Her blue eyes searched her surroundings and she looked at ease. That is until she saw Kenshin. Her blue eyes fogged with irritation and her smile faded, her mouth falling open and her breath tingling at her lips.

She searched his face before she spoke. "What are you doing?" Her voice spilled from her mouth.

"I'm running." He said simply, shrugging his shoulders. His mouth mimicked hers and his chest heaved with large gulps of air filling his lungs.

"Wasn't it you who wanted me to stay in so I didn't get detentions?" She asked her eyes still annoyed but a spark of amusement dashed across them.

"No, that was Tomoe." He said pointing his finger in her direction and raising his eyebrows in knowledge.

"Ok, I forget was it you or Tomoe who hated me? You two are like a blob of disgusting teenage love I can't tell you apart." She said raising her eyebrows as well accenting her smart ass tone. A smirk of victory claimed her lips.

"That was me." He said looking at her for a few seconds with pastel lavender eyes then his head snapped forward and he quickened his pace so he was a few steps ahead of her. Escaping her lips was a grunt like laugh at his unspoken challenge.

Her legs moved a bit quicker, graduating form a slow jog to a regular one, matching his stride.

"So if you hate me, why run with me?" She asked shaking her head in fake confusion. Her hair whipped about behind her head, the wet pony tail making her hair stick together and act as a sort of tail.

Kenshin's whole chest moved with his arms, the muscles flexing under his virtually see through tank top. The rain had gotten it wet and his peach skin appeared to stain the shirt that clung so tightly to him. His pants on the other hand, were not sticking to him, but doing the opposite. He continually had to pull them up from around his waste so they didn't fly off.

He seemed at ease running, he must run often if he was up to the challenge of running with Kaoru. She had been the MVP on the track team up until high school were the plays musicals and dance recitals became serious and took up her time. She quit track but never quit running.

Kenshin wasn't the type of person who liked to talk and run, he hated the pauses in between phrases to catch a breath. So instead of giving her a real answer he had to settle on a clip of it. "Why not?"

He propelled himself quicker yet again, tempting her to catch him. She took that last statement as the end of the conversation, and her chance to wipe that grin off his mouth. She continued faster, pulling ahead of him. Their feet could be heard beating in an unbalanced rhythm that seemed to be sprouting form the scattered melody of the rain hitting leaves.

Both continued to push themselves further, every couple of steps exchanging the lead. Kaoru knew she could beat him, he was already starting to look a bit winded, not tired, just winded. She was breathing steadily, her mind focused on one spot in the distance and the continual image of her ahead of Kenshin, cheering for herself.

Kenshin had a similar method, his spot in the distance was Nagasaki, with Tomoe waiting for him with wide open arms and Kaoru leaning over, panting and trying not to be a sore loser.

"You wont beat me Kenshin." She breathed out, then took a deep breath her lungs startled by the disturbance.

"Why's that?" He asked quickly, in between labored breaths. His eyes were taken off the trail for a second to see her grinning face, and her blue eyes set in determination. She glanced at him for a second, her brow furrowed and a evilly victorious grin spread across her face.

"Because-" She paused to get a breath then began to veer towards the side of the trail. Kenshin was confused as to what she was doing, but he continued to watch her and run in a strait line. Her delicate thin hand lightly hit the coerce bark of a tree near her and she slowed.

He looked next to him, expecting to see Kaoru, but she wasn't there. He turned his head and began to slow down seeing he was quite a distance form her. He stood watching her, his hands on his thy trying to catch his breath without looking pathetic.

"I'm fastest when I'm running home." She said giving him a quick wink then turning around sharply her hair whipping about, and leaning forward into a sprint. Her legs stretched out to their capacity and moved as quickly as they could cut through the air, her arms moving quickly back and fourth, her face set in indecisive determination.

Kenshin held his hands up to the heavens, then they slapped back down to his side quickly and just as she had leaned forward he did as well. His body seemed to be slanted as if he were going to fall but his legs continued to pull in front of him, keeping him on his feet, though it appeared he was levitating. As he passed the tree she had touched his arm gently hung out parallel to the ground and the tips of his fingers slapped the wood.

It stung and he regretted touching the tree even though he knew if he beat her she'd tell him he hadn't touched it, whether she saw it or not. His body mirrored hers but she had a head start so she was still half a dozen yards ahead of him.

What if she beats me? Damn it, she wont ever let it go. I have to beat her.

Where is he? If I knew he wasn't going to catch up I wouldn't have run so fast to begin with. Maybe I should just go all out and wait for him at the cabin.

It's so hard to breath, I wish I didn't have a broken rib, then maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a deep breath... I could call her on that!

Doesn't he had a broken rib? Maybe I should let up a bit.

Is she slowing down? She is! She's slowing down for me! Oh, she doesn't want to beat me...

Oh jeeze, he's closer than I thought, it's not to far till the cabin I should pick up the pace.

I can taste the victory.

Neck and neck. Kaoru was fully sprinting, something she rarely did, save for occasions were she had to beat someone. She was panting forcefully her mouth wide open her tongue running across her top lip in determination and concentration.

Kenshin was pushing himself harder than he ever had. Except for the thoughts of beating Kaoru the only thing bouncing in his head was how sore he would be the next day for running without preparation.

Neither could pull ahead, just like race horses they strained their necks to appear ahead but neither were. Kaoru thought she heard a rustling in the bushes, but she ignored it for a chipmunk and continued to sprint down the trail that was shortening considerably.

The beautiful tree line was forgotten in just an instant and hadn't regained it's magic so she made a note to beat Kenshin up for ruining her jog. Kenshin heard a rustling in a tree near him but passed it off for the wind or a squirrel. He blinked and when his eyes opened, several paces ahead of them was a teacher.

Standing tall, a buff man stood in their path, his arms folded across his broad chest. He was wearing a tight black shirt and fitting blue jeans. His black hair was slicked out of his face and thick black sun glasses blocked his eyes from view. "Vhat are you two doing?" Boomed his thick Transylvania accent covered voice.

Kenshin slowed to a stop, his feet literally skidding so he wouldn't run into the huge man. Kaoru on the other hand, had not seen him as early as Kenshin did and had to swerve out of the way so she wouldn't hit him. She was tempted to continue to run, acting as if he wasn't there, but she felt a large hand on her shoulder.

Even his fingers were buff and if he weren't a teacher and Kaoru was a little older and single she might grab his hand and flirt a little, but she had to focus. She turned around and batted her eyes slightly. "I went out for a run." She said in a light sweet voice. He grinned, more in a 'I'm not falling for it' way and removed his hand form her small shoulder.

"I was trying to stop her, I didn't want her to get detentions." Kenshin said backing up when the large man looked down at him. Kenshin smiled, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"You should listen to your boyfriend." The tall man said, his voice hard to decipher from his accent. Kaoru slowly began to laugh and pointed at Kenshin.

"Who? This kid? He's not my boyfriend... he's actually been following me around for quite some time now." She said taking a step closer to the large man, peering behind him at Kenshin in a frightened way. She was good at manipulating people, this man took her very seriously, and they could both tell he had a calculating look in his eye, as if Kenshin might be a rapist.

"Come on! You don't believe that bull...malarkey, do you?" Kenshin said in a loud voice. The large man held his finger up to his mouth.

"Shhh. People are sleeping little man. Your lucky I don't add three more detentions for lying. I understand you vanted to run, but I am ordered to give you detentions. I am sorry, now go to your tent quickly." He said resting his large arms at his side and walking away from the couple. Kenshin turned to watch the man walk, his mouth hung open.

Compared to him Kenshin's muscles looked puny and as Kaoru observed the two of them she laughed, Kenshin was tiny. Kenshin flung his body around and stared hard at Kaoru his eyes deathly slits and his mouth pursed in vengeful anger.

"Well, you heard the man." Kaoru said taking a deep breath and smiling realizing that Kenshin was angry. "Go to your tent." She said mimicking his accent and holding her hand up for dramatics.

She started to walk, but when she heard Kenshin's loud foot steps walking briskly towards her she began to jog from him, looking over her shoulder to see he was running full force at her. Her eyes filled with genuine fear and she began to sprint just as before, however she was pumped with more adrenaline so her muscles pushed her harder and the cabin, which was already close, became part of the immediate scenery.

She leapt over the few steps to get in the cabin and pulled open the door, not bothering to close it or look over her shoulder. She no longer felt her limbs, everything was numb, she was so preoccupied with getting away form Kenshin she could no longer take the time to feel.

The only thing she could feel was her heart beating and pumping the blood through her veins which felt so small. She could feel it beat in her head and her only thoughts were escaping Kenshin's wrath that she knew was coming.

She didn't remove her wet, semi-dirty shoes but she made sure to run on the wood not the carpet. She heard him enter the house almost exactly as she did and her muscles jetted her forward quicker.

She took the corner wide, afraid she would slip. Her wet shoes made a loud squeaking noise and just as her foot left the ground she slipped a little, so she looked as if she were walking on ice. As she took the corner she ran into the cabinets with her hip but had no time to hold the pain down with her hand because he was coming after her still.

Along with the squeak of their shoes the swish of her pants echoed through the cabin and if she weren't afraid for her life she would have been very annoyed. She continued to scramble across the tiled kitchen floor, and assumed he was having as much trouble as she did since he hadn't caught up to her yet.

The next corner she took sharp, hoping that the inevitable carpet would cause friction and she wouldn't fall. However, she under estimated how far away the carpet was from the tile and her shoe slipped, her feet slipping from under her, the only thing that kept her up was her hand that shot out to her side. She pushed herself up her feet clambering about the floor trying to find a hold so she could sputter out onto the vast carpeted floor.

She could hear Kenshin's squeaky shoes right behind her, just as she was able to right herself and make the rest of the turn, however she had stopped her momentum and Kenshin had caught up with her. His arms wrapped around her waist as if grabbing a foot ball. Due to the impact her body flung forward but Kenshin's fell to the side.

His iron grip on her stomach kept the two together and when he opened his eyes it was a mess he saw. Her legs were wrapped around his, her body half on top of his, half on the floor. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, and her head was resting on his chest.

She opened her eyes, searching her body for something, as if she forgot he was there then her head snapped up and she peered over his heaving chest into his purple eyes. She attempted to scoot away from him, feeling uncomfortable but he held her waste tighter. She was breathing heavy and he could feel her chest moving up and down rapidly.

"Hey, what the hell was that back there?" He asked, out of breath, his face red from the strain and anger. Her frightened blue eyes sobered up at his question, he wasn't going to hurt her, he just wanted to talk. She placed her hands on the floor on either side of Kenshin, lifting her upper body from him and staring down at him.

His hair had come undone and was spread across the floor wildly, dripping wet, right into the white carpet. His purple eyes were littered with storm and a few wisps of amber had resurfaced. She stared into them for a moment her face scrunching up with thought, her brow furrowed. She knew when his eyes shone with that golden color not to get him to mad or he'd give her the look that sent shivers up her spine.

Kenshin stared up at her, her body was still placed lower on his, which, if he wasn't so riled up, would have been strange. She seemed deep in thought and that only made him more unsettled, it wasn't that hard to answer the question. After a few moments had gone by he tapped his finger on her back in beat to his anger.

She must have felt it because she seemed to snap out of her revere and opened and closed her mouth several times. He gave her the 'I'm waiting' look and she finally spoke up.

"You would have done the same thing." She said slowly, her voice timid and a blush capturing her cheeks in what he hoped was shame.

"Maybe, but I could have handled that. I work with guys like him, all you have to do is compliment their hair convince them to buy a good brand of gel, and before you know it, they forgot all about the detentions!" He said his voice vehement. Kaoru moved one arm to rest on his chest and placed her head in her hand in a bored gesture.

"I doubt that. He seemed more like a shampoo guy." She said trying to make a joke. Kenshin didn't find it to be very funny but smiled at her attempt.

"Well, now you'll have to use your charm to get me out of these detentions." He said taking a deep breath and loosening his grip. She wiggled her legs free of his but stopped as soon as she heard what he said.

"What? You were the one who wanted to run with me!" Kaoru said loudly. Kenshin thought about that for a second, she was right but he had already apologized one to many times to the big headed girl.

"Maybe if you hadn't made it so easy for me to beat you!" He said his face becoming more at ease. Now he was just toying with her. She untangled her legs and attempted to get up from his wet body but was unable.

"Listen mister! You didn't have to run with me, you choose to, and don't give me that Tomoe made me bull shit! If anything you almost got us in more trouble. Bull malarkey? What the hell is bull malarkey?" She squirmed about in his grasp trying to free herself or become more comfortable but he just held tighter, changing his mind about letting her go.

His wet clothes were cold underneath her. She was hardly wearing anything and the wet cloth made her skin irritated, so she tried not to move to much.

"If you hadn't made the poor man think I was a rapist! Hold still." He yelled, his voice returning to it's normal volume for the last part. It sounded more like an after thought.

Kaoru's pony tail had half fallen out and her hair was very loose around her round face. Her blue eyes looked similar to when she was running, determined to win. However, now there was the element of fatigue, he figured the adrenaline rush had worn off and she was getting tired.

"You are! You should take responsibility for your actions, I was the one who tried to talk you out of running with me! No." She yelled back at him, her last sentence said in her normal tone as an after thought as well.

"Who are you my mother? I'll never let you go if you don't sit here peacefully and argue with me." He fired back at her, she was winning the argument but Kenshin wouldn't give up that easily. She continued to squirm, not taking his threat seriously.

"We have all night together, unless you want to run again and get me more detentions. I'll make you sit here all night." He said holding tighter to emphasize what he was saying.

"Kaoru, I'm not a rapist but I'll force you to lay on top of me if you don't hold still. Yeah Kenshin your real convincing." She said paraphrasing what he had said and kicking her feet about, clawing at the carpet. He wouldn't allow her to move much until she finally tired out, which didn't take long.

"I'm not trying to rape you, this isn't sexual-"

"Oh this" Kaoru said her hand moving up and down near their bodies. "Isn't a sexual position! What is it then Kenshin?"

"Ok, it's a sexual position but the mood is far from sexual. I'm trying to get you to learn. Your uncomfortable but it's because you choose not to hold still."

"Kinda like you, you know, your in trouble because you choose to run with me."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Kenshin said quietly brushing it off. "But anyway-"

"No! I was right! You were wrong! It is your fault! Now apologize to me!" Kaoru demanded.

"I'm sorry" Kenshin said softly lifting his head to look at her, because her head was resting on her arms that were folded on his chest. His apology was short and quick as if he wasn't really sorry, he just wanted her to shut up so he could talk.

"Anyway, your not-"

"No, say it louder. I couldn't hear you!" She shouted.

"Sorry." He said in a normal tone.

"Can't heeeaaar you!" She shouted obnoxiously.

"I'm sorry Kaoru Kamiya that I yelled at you, I'm sorry that you think I'm a rapists because you don't get any from your boyfriend so any male contact you get from another guy you think is rape!" He shouted loudly feeling very angered by her yelling. Kaoru's mouth fell open, and she struggled to get away from him once again. He held tight, watching her, that angry expression returning.

"It's not that I think any guy touching me is raping, it's just you." Kaoru said bouncing back with ferocious spunk. Kenshin laughed lightly at her comeback, he was surprised she didn't drag his parents in this to, since she always did.

Kaoru's eyes began to glow with wrath at his laughter. "Maybe it's just because you don't get any from Tomoe so you can't control yourself with a female trapped in the woods all alone." She said quickly, spitting out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Oh, I don't think I have any problem resisting you." He said, his voice soft and slow, as if speaking to a child who doesn't understand something. That only angered her further and made Kenshin chuckle.

"You're a jerk!" Kaoru shouted her hand flying high into the air then slapping his chest. She hit the middle of his rib cage so only half the blow would effect the broken rib, but he would defiantly feel it.

A/N: It took me three extra pages to realize I should have stopped it here. Well, happy holidays everyone! YAY updates! I really tried to fill this one with imagery since I don't want it to be so boring, but it sorta ran away with me.

I have to warn you, In the next chapter the F bomb is dropped so watch out.

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"Fuck." Kenshin breathed as he watched her hand slap his chest. As soon as her thin but strong hand collided with his skin pain erupted form the spot, causing a wave of infliction to wash over his abdomen.

He had left his chest unwrapped so the wound could breath but he now regretted that. Not only did her flat hand leave a biting red mark on his skin but the rib beneath moved slightly, pressing against his flexed muscles. He laid his head down his eyes shut tightly, forgetting all about the woman on top of him.

One hand was slightly raised in the air and the other folded over his head a hand full of his hair clenched in his fist. He had been holding his breath and a few moments later released it, feeling more pain rush through his system.

All he could think about was his throbbing chest and he hadn't realized that Kaoru had jumped from his chest and was now sitting near his head, gently stroking his cheek and running her hands through his hair in a soothing way. He sucked in a shallow breath and held it for some time, not wanting to continue breathing because that was causing him the most pain.

After about ten minutes of Kenshin regulating his breathing and relaxing his muscles he was beginning to feel better. The throbbing in his chest began to lessen and breathing became easier, his other senses were beginning to take priority again.

He began to listen to his surroundings that he had been ignoring the whole time and could hear Kaoru's worried breathing pattern and I'm sorry's flowing form her mouth.

"I'm sorry Kenshin, oh god, I'm sorry. I hope I didn't kill him. Should I call 911, do we have a phone? If I go find a teacher will they believe me? Will I get in more trouble? I'm sorry Kenshin. Can you talk to me? Kenshin." That was about the extent of her vocabulary at the moment.

Slowly he opened his eyes, his vision starting to refocus and he saw her worried face. Her milky skin blurred together but her bright blue eyes stood out, he focused in on them and wouldn't look away.

They were full to the brim with concern and regret, deep blue; he could feel his mind slipping into them. He tried to snap out of it, but they were so beautiful. The rest of his surroundings became more clear but he continued to focus on her eyes.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru squealed, her eyes lighting up when his opened. "Kenshin. Talk to me. Kenshin! Say something." She said in an excited voice, trying to keep him preoccupied. The last thing she wanted was for him to think about how much pain he must be in.

"Don't worry over me Kaoru." His voice sounded weak and soft, so much so that he didn't recognize it. He coughed slightly then closed his eyes for a second in the wake of more pain. It subsided and he gradually opened his eyes to look into hers again.

"I'm so sorry." Kaoru said, she repeated herself several times until Kenshin rested his raised hand on her face.

"Don't be, I deserved it." He said, his mind was still foggy and he had momentarily forgot who he was talking to. Whatever it was he said he must have deserved something if she had to hit him that hard.

"No, I was just offended, I shouldn't have." She said quickly running her fingers through his wet hair, removing it form his brow. He was tempted to hold her hand against his head, it was so cold and it sent a much needed chill across his skin, but he allowed it to drop to her side.

"You never let it go do you?" He said a strained laugh emerging form his sore chest. He remembered who she was now, he was so used to seeing Tomoe above him when injured, so that's why he had acted so kind. A trace of a smile flickered on her lips and her eyes looked guilty yet relieved. She shook her head 'no'.

"Do you need anything? I could get you a glass of water or something." She said after a moment, he was still looking intently into her eyes and she had uncomfortably torn her gaze from him. He was acting so strange, she must have hit him hard.

"No." He said politely, he knew now wasn't the time to be polite but if she took care of him she would undoubtedly use it against him later. He knew he must be feeling better if he was already thinking up ways to keep her snide comments limited. The throbbing in his chest was subdued and he was able to take large deep gulps of air if needed.

"Can you sit up? Should you sit up? I'm not very good at this nursing thing." She admitted quietly and Kenshin couldn't help but release another stifled laugh. He began to wonder if a doctor really was needed, she had hit him in a very tender spot and he had been roughed up a bit the day before so he thought it would be useless to get medical help.

"I'll just...lay here for a while." He said resting both of his arms on the ground, spread out eagle style. He closed his eyes again, but it was more of a relaxed state than a painful one. Kaoru folded her hands in her lap and repositioned herself so she was sitting on her legs, ready to jump up to any desire he had.

She watched him, his haggard breathing, how his eyebrows twitched slightly as if an odd thought passed through his mind. She knew he should change out of his wet clothes, and he should wrap up his injury and he should get up off the carpet before it got to wet, but he looked to peaceful to disturb.

Kenshin was content were he was and didn't seem to care that he was wet. She felt useless, she'd never felt this way around him before. She had never felt like there was nothing she could do because she never cared enough to stay near him.

Right now, she couldn't leave him, he was to helpless and it was all her fault, but she couldn't do anything for him because he didn't want her help. She was stuck, and a sigh fell from her mouth before she could catch it.

Kenshin's left eye opened slowly looking around then landing on her. His up turned hands twitched and the other eye opened. He watched her, and after a long pause, spoke. "Am I boring you, princess?" His husky voice gurgled from his throat. Now he defiantly was back to normal.

That was the old Kenshin, the one Kaoru could walk away from. But as long as he was laying on this white floor, arms spread out, eyes full of pain, trying to figure out how he was going to move without it hurting him to much, she had to stay, no matter how much he ridiculed her.

"No." Her answer was short and quickly flowed from her mouth, she averted his gaze by glancing about the room. She thought back on her life and found it hard to pick out one moment that she had lived that was more uncomfortable than this one.

"Good." He said in a tone that told her he was feeling much better. That same tone she assumed slave drivers would use, that 'I'm better than you so shut up' tone. It was insulting, hateful, and haughty at the same time. He closed his eyes and she crossed her arms defiantly staring down at him, mouth pursed.

"You must be feeling better! How about we wrap you up." She said, her voice sounding more demanding than suggestion-like. His eyes opened again and he stared at the ceiling.

Obviously he didn't want to be wrapped up, let alone by Kaoru. He just didn't trust her, but she was right, he was feeling better. Kenshin's eyes rolled upon her and they smiled for him.

"It's alright babe, I can handle it myself." The smirk on his face only grew when his sarcastic words reached her ears. She was appalled, and her disgust brought a smile to his lips. Kenshin swore he could turn any girl into a feminist just by his tone, and he was beginning to think he was doing it to Kaoru.

"No, I think you need some help, hon. You'll wrap it to tight and then you'll be on the floor, and then it'll be your fault and I wont be guilt tripped into helping you." Kaoru said, explaining what will happen as if she could see the future. She added the pet name with a sassy kick so he knew she was pissed but wouldn't do anything.

"Oh no, it's alright. I've got two hands, I can handle it." He repeated, lifting them for emphasis. She bent over him, her face moving very close to his and she whispered. "Sure you can." With that, she removed one hand from her lap and gently tapped his rib cage with a feather like touch of her finger tips. He winced and sucked in a deep breath in pain.

She got him, he didn't realize what she had done until the surge of pain subsided then he made sure to throw her a dirty look. He pulled his arms underneath him and sat up on his elbows. She hooked her arms under his and helped him to sit up. "Kaoru-" His clearly agitated voice bounced into her ears. He wasn't joking around this time, he was serious, and didn't want her help.

"I know." She said softly, her voice barely audible. Once he sat up, he pulled his feet towards him, sitting in a loose Indian-style. She maneuvered around him and sat on her legs, facing him, watching him expectantly. He had been preoccupied with finding the most comfortable position when he felt her eyes on him. He looked up and shook his head in wonder. "What?"

"Are you going to take your shirt off or should I?" She asked her intention to make him angry. She knew he didn't want her help, but the way she worded her sentence only made him grin.

He ran one hand through his thick red hair and shrugged slowly, so not to bother his rib. "If you want to, we're moving to quick if you ask me, but-"

"Now see, it might be different if you had something under there that I wanted to see." Her voice hummed as she cut him off, making fun of his body. He didn't want to laugh but he ended up doing so. It was just funny to him, when she made a move towards him his laughter stopped and his arms raised up to shield himself from her.

"Relax, I'm just getting bandages." She said holding her hands up. She stood and began to walk further into the living room. "He thinks I'm the one afraid of him." She said quietly to herself.

He turned his head, glaring at her back. He heard that last snide comment and would have called her on it if he didn't feel so tired. He watched her pull out a white box with a red cross on it, the universal symbol of first aid. He was surprised she had found the first aid so quickly and couldn't help but think she was a freak for checking out where it was.

He watched her rifle through it and his mouth slid to a frown when she returned empty handed. "Ok, so we're out of bandages, but I know the tents have first aid. I'll run over to Soujiro's and borrow some of his." She said tapping her hand on her thy out of habit.

"No, look, I'm fine. I'll just take it easy." He said leaning on his arms and staring up at her. He watched her shake her head, her loose hair flopping about.

"It's no problem, his tent is pretty close." She said refusing to take no as an answer. She felt bad for hurting Kenshin and she was going to make it up to him. She turned sharply and began to walk from the cabin, twisting the knob and taking a step outside. It was dark now, the sun had set and the mood of the forest went form enchanting to haunted. The misty fog remained at the bottom of the trees and gave the illusion of fear. She wouldn't know what was in front of her, but the moon was bright and some of it's rays shone through the leaves lighting the trees dimly.

She turned her head, her confidant stride shrinking a bit. "You better be in dry clothes when I get back." Her voice was strong despite her shaky mind. She was afraid to go outside, it was dark and if that large Transylvanian man came back around she might scream.

He reminded her of the traditional vampire, tall, dark, silent and sneaky with a thick accent. She could just see his eyes glowing red under those huge black sun glasses and his mouth opening, large fangs piercing into her neck.

She was already partly through the forest, eyes wide and wringing her hands in nervousness. She was walking as quietly as she could, practically on her tippy toes as she snuck down the path. She stuck towards the side of the illuminated sidewalk so if she was seen, she could quickly dash into the trees and never be seen again.

She continued to think of vampires, the subject of fear continually changing as she heard different sounds around her. Soon she could see a tent in the distance, the lights were still on spilling onto the path ahead of her. She started to run, she was letting her mind get the better of her and had successfully convinced herself that a wolf with large red eyes jet black fur and a large scar on the side of it's face was stalking her.

The run was short, just a quick dash and she was there. She had practically jumped over the three stairs up to the tent and stood, pressed up against the screen door, knocking on the wooden frame, to make sure the men inside knew she was there. Her frame was rigid and her eyes wide.

She heard rustling inside the tent but refused to look inside, afraid she may see something she didn't want to. She stepped down a couple steps so the door could open. Soujiro pushed open the door and hung half way out looking down at her. He was shirtless and a very loose pair of pajama pants hung low on his hips.

He was clearly confused, his black disheveled hair hung loose in his lazy blue eyes and he stood slouched. "Kaoru?" Came his quiet, high pitched voice, inquiring into the darkness as he stared down at the girl. Her black hair looked like a tangled mess of black surrounding her head, her blue eyes held fear and relief, she was out of breath and the few clothes that she did have on looked wet.

He stood up straighter, pulling himself out from behind the screen door. He ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to brush the knots from it. He opened his eyes more, and attempted to rub the surprise from them. She heard a mumbling from inside the tent and Soujiro turned to look through the screen inside. "Shut up." He muttered as he turned back to Kaoru.

"What are you doing here?" He asked stretching, and resting his hand on his muscular stomach. He had been sitting down playing cards for about an hour now and standing felt good. He was glad to see Kaoru, though she still looked kind of scared, he was very curious why she had abandoned Kenshin to come running to his tent.

"Ken- I need some bandages, can I borrow some of yours?" The words jumped from her mouth before she realized how urgent it sounded.

"What happened?" His voice came out quickly and louder than he wanted. Sano and Aoshi could hear him in the tent and had gotten up and were making their way towards the door. Soujiro stared at her, waving his hand in a dismissive way towards the door, so they knew to go sit down.

Kaoru stared innocently up at them, watching their silhouettes move towards the door, once they moved back to their spots her gaze was cast back upon Soujiro. She stepped up to the next stair, so she was closer to him. "Look, I don't really want to explain, I just need bandages." She whispered. Soujiro was already back against the tent and she was so close he had this overwhelming urge to pull her closer.

A faint sent of jasmine floated towards him and he smiled. He nodded, in a dreamy state, not really remembering what he just agreed to. "Soujiro." Her impatient voice drifted to his ears. He snapped out of it, turning his head and blushing lightly. Luckily it was dark enough outside that she couldn't see the red on his cheeks.

"Yeah." He said in a rough voice. He opened the door and walked inside quickly, searching the already dirty tent for the first aid. "Who's that?" Came the joking voice of Sano. His wiggled his eyebrows and laid down a card, causing Aoshi's stoic features to flinch in anger. They boh continued to slap down cards, not realizing Soujiro was pulling out an old red box.

He grabbed a few rolls of bandages and trudged out the door, ignoring Sano. "Here," He said handing them to her. She took them greedily, flashing an large thankful smile at him. "Thank you so much!" She said leaning in and wrapping one arm around his neck. She hugged him tightly, her chin resting on his shoulder, and before he could really react she pulled away and jumped down the stairs, her hair bouncing behind her.

He watched her go, whispering a good-bye that he knew she couldn't hear. "Oh Soujiro!" Sano said mockingly in a loud high pitched voice, his hands clasped together and held near his tilted head. He batted his eyes, then his hands fell and he began to laugh when Soujiro turned, his face pink form embarrassment.

"She just needed bandages..." He said sheepishly. She could hear his room mates making fun of him for a good five minutes. The loud banter and laughter kept her mind from wandering into fear and she was grateful for that.

However, it was still dark, and she still had a ways to go. Her mouth opened when she found the fear was overwhelming her again and she began to sing. The song was swift and soft and flowed form her mouth so freely she felt like a bird.

She stayed quiet, so if any teachers were near they could not hear her, but it was loud enough to chase the monsters away form her. Soon she opened her eyes and saw her cabin in view. It was one of those, I should sprint, because even if there isn't a monster out there I just want to get home sort of feelings. So of course, she ran. She had done so much running that day her legs didn't seem to work for a few seconds.

Eventually her muscles began to function and she managed to toggle towards the cabin in long strides. She bounded towards the Cabin and before her legs became tired she was already up the stairs and inside the door way.

"Kenshin! I'm home!" She shouted throwing the door shut and mimicking the popular American TV show 'I love Lucy.'

Kenshin wasn't in the living room and her heart wrenched in fear. Large rushed steps propelled her into the kitchen where she saw him perched upon a wooden chair at the large round table. Her huge blue eyes quickly flashed from fear to relief at the sight of him and her body flung forward as if she were to hug him with joy. She regained control of her emotions, that run in the dark had made her fearful of her life and as soon as she had step foot into the house not finding Kenshin in his rightful place in the living room scared her more that she would like to admit.

Kenshin had plopped down on the chair some time ago, after changing into a pair of sweat pants and removing his shirt with delicacy, and was staring off into space for some time before his revere was broken by the rushed sounds of her foot steps and the loud greeting that emitted from her mouth. His eyes, presently filled with a sorrowful look that betrayed the slight smirk sitting atop his lips, slowly roamed to her as she set down a bundle of bandages onto the table next to him.

He hardly moved form his previous position, his arms resting carelessly on his legs causing his back to hunch over as if he were intently watching something from afar. He took a deep breath and sat up very straight at the sight of the bandages and forced his face to brighten with delight before she caught a glimpse of his depressed manner.

Kenshin had been dwelling on his fathers reaction to his behavior the day he left and was wondering if anything had changed between them in his short but meaningful absence. He scratched at his head as she attempted to unroll one bandage to wrap him up. He already felt uneasy about her being so close to him, but someone was needed to preform the task.

Without verbal warning her cool hands began to work about his chest feeling his skin to make sure it was clean and unbroken. "Kenshin...what's this?" Her soft voice protruded through the silence and her thin finger pointed at a large yellow bruise forming on his abdomen. It was in a strange position, more towards the unbroken side of his rib cage, so it seemed to be clearly intended.

Kaoru knew it must have been his parents. Who else besides and abused child would have large unexplained bruises that happened to be on the other side of another unexplained injury? He had looked up at her with innocent eyes then down to his stomach. If he had a shirt handy he would have thrown it on and walked away without a word, but neither was able to be done. Kenshin took an audible breath and shook his head as if he couldn't say anything about it but opened his mouth to speak before Kaoru could protest.

"Kendo, you of all people should know it's a rough sport." He said his purple eyes gazing into hers thoughtfully. He spoke in code, what he really meant to say was 'Parents, you of all people should know they beat me.'

Her hands had been thoughtfully gripping each other the whole time but at the end of his sentence they fell to her sides dramatically. One hand grabbed a wooden chair identical to his and pulled it very close to his, facing him and she sat upon it, staring at him intently.

"Tell me about it, I got one too." She said rolling up her sleeve and reveling a faded purple bruise upon her forearm. Kenshin looked at it for a long while a smirk as faded as her bruise on his lips. He slowly looked up at her, and she smiled down at him. "What kendo club where you at that you got such a big bruise. Because I know I didn't give that to you and I'm the strongest one there." She said in a very reserved voice, as if she were whispering tenderly a secret held between siblings or lovers.

"Second strongest." He said quickly after she finished but sighed deeply when she looked at him with annoyance. "It was a personal club. I have a dojo at my house." he said his voice to chipper for the conversation they where having and caused Kaoru to look him over with question.

"So which one-" Kaoru started before he cut her off.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Kenshin mumbled his eyes never leaving their lock on hers, but they did seem to lose focus a bit. Kaoru watched him for a few moments her hands softly laying on her lap. She shook her head, her eyes full of understanding and she picked up her bandages and resumed searching his skin for injuries she knew nothing about. She found a few more small bruises but no open wounds.

Her cool hands gently danced over his bare skin and he was happy for her silence. He knew if he talked about it, later she would make fun of him for it. The last thing he wanted was for her to get the story wrong after he told it to her, and tease him for it.

The wooly, almost itchy thin strips of fabric were wound around his frame and as it got tighter he felt better. It was like she was wrapping up his problems along with his wound and he released a breath of relief.

"Hey, listen, I know you love to act like a cocky ladies man, but when your friends ask about tonight, or this week in general...you best say nothing happened." She said tightening the bandages sharply for emphasis. Kenshin couldn't keep a large threatening smile off his face.

"Why, are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?" He asked in a baby voice pinching her cheek, but only for a moment because she yanked her face away from his touch distastefully.

"Yes, and because nothing did happen. Tell the truth sometimes." She said the end of her sentence somewhat trailing off as she focused on his wounded chest once more. She tied off the bandages and patted her handy work lovingly, then realized she was touching her enemy and quickly withdrew her hand a look on her face like she was forced to touch something moldy.

"But I'm a sales man, I don't have to tell the truth, whatever gets people to buy it." He said his voice underlying with a cocky tone. The look on her face made him want to throw an insult at her, and since it was so common for the two to fight he choose to ignore any feelings of regret he may have in the future and opened his mouth for another snide comment to slip out.

"What's your problem? First time touching a real man's chest?" He asked his purple eyes glinting in the light with mischief. Kaoru's eyes gained a certain glimmer of their own, but it was more determined and protective than barbarically brutal.

"No, the first time touching a slime ball." She retorted back, fully aware that she would and did offend him. Slime ball, a very first grade like teasing devise, but effective enough to bruise the ego of a teenage male even if it appears not to be so.

"No, I don't think it's the first time, you have slept with Enishi." He said as if stating a well known fact. Kaoru's confident face twisted into one of appal and alarm. She would have shoved him at that moment but she remembered she had just bandaged him up for doing just that a few moments before, she had no doubts that he was watching what he said so she didn't do it again.

"I have not slept with him!" Her boisterous voice echoed off the walls and if there were any tents near by they might have heard her. Lucky there weren't.

"But you think he's a slime ball." Kenshin said tilting his head and a victorious grin she wished she could wipe off his face was present. Kaoru set her jaw in determination and poked his bare shoulder with her long thin index finger. Her lengthy black hair that was ruffled from her run seemed to spike out at the ends with anger and her sharp glare bore holes in him.

"What did I tell you about talking about my Enishi?" She asked, Kenshin opened his mouth but her glare intensified and he quickly closed it.

"He has nothing to do with you, or our constant bickering. He is not a slime ball, I have not slept with him, and you will not question anything about him." Kaoru said poking his shoulder harder each time she repeated the word not. Her anger was evident by the concentrated dose of rage in her eyes and her stoic face.

Kenshin's eyes were light and almost gleeful at her harsh glare. From where Kaoru stood it seemed as if he was enjoying this, or he always had to be different from her.

"Yes master." He said bowing his head in fake submission. His tone was sarcastic and anything but slave like, but Kaoru found herself smiling with delight.

"Very good! That's what I like to hear." She said the proud smile never leaving her face and she folded her arms across her chest, sitting up with superbia.

"And who won the race?" She asked holding her hand cupped around her ear her smile only swelling more. Kenshin's eyes widened but shrunk right back down before she could see his surprise. He hadn't even remembered that, but now that he looked back on it, because of that teacher he lost.

"Well, neither of us." He said, his cocky smile returning once more, it looked so at home on his face since he was the only person she knew who wore it so much.

"Mind explaining that to me, if I remember correctly I stepped foot inside this cabin first." She said her mood switching to brooding.

"Well, I have a broken rib as you can visibly see here, so my breathing was impaired, thus it was an unfair race. Also, that man stepped in front of us and we both lost our focus and once we got it back you were ahead of me already. Clearly you had an unfair advantage and should be punished by sharing the victory with me." He said his argument presented in a formal air, more out of habit than appearance. She could tell he was a very business like man who constantly made everything a opportunity for selling. Not that she didn't previously know this.

"Hmm...no, I don't buy it. I won." She said not bothering I defend her side of the argument, to her it was over. Kenshin's face flashed with surprise at her lack of contestation, he had to get a rise out of her somehow, otherwise it was no fun.

"I don't think so. Also, I was unaware of where we were to stop, at which tree, so you had an advantage there too. This was obviously rigged." He said resuming his business air. She shook her head and released a genuine laugh, one Kenshin rarely heard and hated to admit thought was cute.

"Yes, it was rigged, by you." She said seeing she had to emplane further at his confused face. "You where the one who wanted to race me. Knowing fully well that I was the track teams MVP several years in a row and that I am a dancer and use my legs a lot so they need to be in shape. You figured that I only jogged now since that's what I intended to do. You figured you could beat me even with a broken rib because you sprint in various situations often and are more of a short distance runner than long like me. You were over confident and at the last leg of the race I was running from you, like I was going to let you catch me." She said her explanation soaking into Kenshin. She presented it like she was inside his head and knew every motive he had. Like a crime detective.

Kenshin's brow furrowed for a second analyzing her argument looking for holes he could filter through. "But I did catch you." He said referring to her last statement buying himself some more time to look for a break in her vivid account.

"Only because I slipped, if not for my wet shoes, you wouldn't have." She said knowledgeably. He shook his head as if she were crazy.

"You don't know that." He said his tone becoming similar to hers. She smirked with knowledge and shook her head as he had done.

"Do to. All I'd have to do is run into the shower, lock the door, and jump out the window." She said as if she had it all figured out. He opened his mouth to protest but she stood up patting his shoulder lightly.

"Now, don't be a sore loser Kenshin, it's not easy to be good enough to even think you could beat me. I'm taking a shower, I better see you in that bed when I come out." She said taking on that motherly speech again. Kenshin's brow furrowed and he looked up to her with discontent and protest.

"What? No, who do you think you are, ordering me around?" He shouted, finding he was actually quite curious as to her motives of being so demanding of him. His eyes were filled with a playful rage, not nearly as upset as he had been, but he was getting close to breaking into full irritability.

Kaoru patted his shoulder gently and nodded her head.

"I know you're cranky, but now we know who wears the pants in this relationship." She said tracing her finger down to the area on his chest that she had just bandaged up. He took a deep breath of air, feeling a slight pain from it, and opened his mouth for another stern comment but it was quickly replaced with that playful smirk.

"Relationship? First you want me to take off my shirt, now we're in a relationship, Kaoru, I told you I think we're moving to-" But by the time he got to this point she was out in the living room walking towards the shower. He released a restrained laugh and slowly made a move to get up. She was right, he should go to sleep, even if he wouldn't admit it.

Kaoru had snatched up her towel and clothes to change into, she had gone through so many clothes already she decided to wear Soujiro's now dried shirt to bed, so she didn't have to dirty more clothes. She was still wet from outside and she sniffled, hoping she wouldn't get sick from running around in the rain.

Kenshin closed his eyes as he felt pain bleed from his rib to the rest of his body as he righted himself. Once he was on his feet the pain was gone, it was only when he stood up and made quick movements. He silently cursed his father for inflicting such a serious injury upon him. If he had only bruised the bone it would have been better, breaking it only caused prolonged pain.

He tried to stop sulking, it was hard not to when your life is going to hell. He slowly lowered himself onto his squishy bed and closed his eyes before his head even hit the pillow. A short cough jumped from his lungs and more anguish filled his body for a split second.

As he laid on his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling he couldn't shut his mind off. At first he replayed the events of the day in his head, found that to be to frustrating, then tried to think of how his friends were, found that to be frustrating to, and all he kept resting on was thoughts of his life. Of course that's what he would think of, but it was deeper than just living, breathing flesh and bone. It was his emotions and thoughts, and how he reacted to situations. How he hated and resented his father, and ever being born, how his relationship with Tomoe was strained because of this damned trip, and how the three most important people in his life understood him less than the one he hated the most.

Granted, His father and mother should be the most important, they weren't, but they should be. His father, his mother and Tomoe. 'Dad, Mom, Sweetheart.' He thought to himself, tempted to say it all out loud. Those were words he would never use to describe them, ever. But yet, he felt he should. Why didn't he call his mother, mom? Ma? Mamma? Mommy? Nothing, he had called her mother since he could remember. Dad? Daddy? Da? Pops? Pappa? Papi? Old man? No, it was always father.

This realization hit him as hard as Kaoru had and his lips formed the words 'Mom, Dad, Sweetheart' many times. He couldn't bring himself to actually say it, the words were to foreign for that, but he was slowly getting a feel for them. Maybe he'd come back and call his mother mom...Maybe he'd call Tomoe and call her by an endearment for fun. Yes, he used these words occasionally, but they should be routine. He should be wondering why he never called his mom mother.

"Sweetheart." He croaked out, his mouth moving to form the word Dad but he heard a mumbling. "Kenshin, do you ever quit?" Her soft voice drifted to him. She was wearing shorts which were rolled at her hips and torn form use. They had mickey mouse printed on them and were black and white, save for Mr. Mouses red shorts. Soujiro's shirt covered her chest and she was gently combing out her very wet black hair. She wrung it out as she passed his bed, the cold drops hitting his bare arms.

"No, I wasn't-" He began, but he didn't want to have to explain, He water was cold and tingled, he would have wiped it off on her if she hadn't jumped onto her bed quickly. She had turned off the head light and only the lamp next to her bed was still on. "You're awfully high maintenance." He said trying to take the heat off the endearment that wasn't meant for her ears.

She snapped her head to look at him with a glare. "Excuse me!" She said her voice high pitched and accusing.

"Well, you have taken two showers in a period of a couple of hours." He said pointing out that extremely clean fact. Her glare never stopped and she stared at him with a set jaw.

"And you haven't taken any." She said tilting her head in a snotty way, reaching up to flick the light out.

"If you hadn't given me a handicap, I might be able to." He said his head at first having been turned to look at her but he turned it to look at the ceiling. Her eyes blared in rage at his comment.

"I-" She started but she had nothing to say. She had hurt him, she had incapacitated him, and she would have offered to help him bathe, if it wouldn't be extremely uncomfortable and he would take it the wrong way anyway. Kenshin gave her a flourishing grin before she flashed the light off. He heard her rustle as she jumped under her covers.

"You what? Kicked me when I was down?" He asked his voice protruding darkly from the night. Kaoru took a deep breath, about ready to really show him what handicap was.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Did to, you hit me on purpose and you knew I was hurt."

"Kenshin! I-" She plead with his smug laughter.

"What? Love to add insult to injury?" He asked his voice obviously thrilled by the predicament he had put her in. He heard a loud thrashing and the light jumped back to life. He looked up, his eyes squinting from the bright intrusion of his night vision and he saw a red and furious Kaoru. She stood, taking a step towards his bed and his hand rushed to his chest to cover his wound.

"What do you want from me Kenshin? You want some tea? I'll make you some! Want to stay up all night and talk to Tomoe? I'll sleep in the other room! What do you want?" She asked her voice a bit screeching from her rage. Her fists were clenched and tightly pressed to her sides. Her milky white legs hugged the side of his bed. He stared up at her, his hair sprawled across the pillow, looking much like he had when she had fallen onto his bed, save for the fact that Kaoru couldn't feel a soft spot for him if she tried.

"Tea sounds nice, but Tomoe needs her sleep so I don't want to bother her. Just sit you're abusive little butt back on that bed, turn out the light and go to sleep." He said making it out that Kaoru was the one out of line. She held her hand in the air and Kenshin's other hand jumped to cross over his chest.

"Fine flinch-y!" She shouted stepping back and sitting back down on her bed. She used her raised hand to turn off the light a wicked smile on her face being the last thing he saw.

"I wouldn't flinch if you weren't so dangerous." He said his voice quiet yet still amused.

"Am not." She said her voice more distant because she had rolled over.

"Are to."

"Nuh uh."

"Yeah, you have a wicked slap."

"You of all people should know."

"I do!"

"You're so childish."

He paused as if thinking about her comment, "...Am not"

Kaoru's laughter gently flowed from her lips her laugh seeming to collect on her pillow. It was a hearty laugh, and was joined by a lower laugh, belonging to Kenshin. Her laughter was sweet, his was rough and coerce. They laughed for a few moments, but it soon died out, Kenshin's first then Kaoru's as they began to fall into sleep.

His lids closed and the dark room became even dimer. His eyes flitted behind the sockets and a torment of dreams ripped into his mind instantly, before his calm face was claimed by terror, her laugh was in his ears, making the dreams a little easier to bear.

Her eyes closed softly and her own laughter made her sleep sweeter. Crazed dreams captured her imagination, her subconscious had a lot to say that night, and his deep almost sad laughter rang through her ears for a long time.