By: Bunny
Comedy / Romance
Rated PG
Thanks to DreamHeart for BETA reading for me.
This story is an answer to Kellen's MeijiTalesDOTcom January Challenge. Which states the following rules:
Any
genre
Any
character
(Hey
I'm not being picky this time around.)
Take
what I've given you, and run with it.
You
have until midnight, February 13, 2005 to submit your response.
To
submit, simply post as a chapter here. I've set this up as a
round-robin style story.
Upon
submission to the archives, send an email to or
send me a message via the forum so I know you've responded.
If
you've any questions, feel free to contact me through the above
methods or post in the challenge thread in the forum.
Most
of all, have fun.
All
right, on to Meiji Tales January Challenge…
The challenge: Expand this drabble into a story.
It wasn't that the marketplace was extraordinarily loud, or that there were too many people milling about. In fact, quite the opposite was true. It was a quiet day, and the small figure had no trouble whatsoever traveling down the road, though his hands were full. Perhaps it was the chill in the air. Aa, yes, that was it. Himura Kenshin nodded once. No wonder his attention was wandering. The chill had quieted the sounds of nature and kept people away from the market this day. It was too quiet. Once upon a time, he'd been accustomed to such, but now… now it just wasn't right without hearing someone's shout, someone's argument, or a childish cry of delight. A sense of unease swept over him; how accustomed had he grown to the bustle of the Kamiya dojo when the absence of its airy noise brought unease to him?His step quickened. On a nearly deserted road, short attention span, and a sense of unease… Even if he'd brought the feeling upon himself, he wanted nothing more than to be back at the dojo.
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Arriving at his home only a few minutes later, he uncharacteristically burst though the gate and immediately began to call out, "Miss Kaoru! Miss Kaoru?"
Kamiya Kaoru had had a long, tiring day. She and Yahiko had been up early in the morning, intent on his training of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Since his competition with Yutaro began, he had become increasingly more and more dedicated to learning as much as possible from her and had in turn become more and more demanding on her as his teacher. Kaoru revelled in it though; it kept her on her toes and forced her to hone her own skills. In many ways, it was refreshing for her as both a dedicated student of her own art, and as a teacher. Her father had always taught her that a good teacher had to be a better student, and Kaoru had always lived by this.
After a grueling session for Yahiko, Kaoru had sent him on his way to the Akabeko, where he worked there as a stock boy, for his afternoon shift. She had been a bit irritated this morning for reasons she still hadn't figured out and had taken it out on her student, as she was wont to do. Once he left, she decided to spend the day training herself further and had proceeded to fall into routine after routine of katas she had known since she was old enough to stand and hold a small stalk of bamboo. Slipping onto the floor after hours of practice, she closed her eyes and began to meditate on what had made her so irritated that morning.
She had just begun to relax when a loud bang from the front gate sounded, followed by rushed footsteps and Kenshin frantically calling out to her. Startled, she jumped to her feet and ran out into the courtyard. 'What could he possibly be so upset about?' she worried.
"Kenshin?" she questioned as she spotted his form heading towards the house. She halted abruptly in her mad dash to find him, seeing that there didn't seem to be a fire anywhere.
Kenshin stopped his hurried steps and turned towards Kaoru, both hands gripping the two sides of a tofu bucket and said, "Miss Kaoru, thank goodness. Are you all right?"
"What? Yes, I'm fine. Kenshin, what's with all the commotion? Is something the matter?" she rambled back, even more confused now that nothing seemed to be amiss. 'You would have thought the house was burning or Yahiko had been stabbed in town the way he came into the yard,' she grouched to herself, beginning to get upset that her much needed meditation time had been disturbed over what appeared to be nothing.
Kenshin gave her a sheepish grin and said, "I'm sorry if I startled you. I had a bad feeling and I needed to see you very suddenly."
Kaoru blinked at him in disbelief. Then gathering her wits, she stomped across the yard to him and placed the back of her right hand against his forehead and the back of her left hand on her own. "Are you sure you're feeling ok, Kenshin? You aren't acting like yourself. Are you delirious? Has the cold weather given you a fever? Was it the cold water from doing the laundry? Maybe you should hold off for a few days until you feel better, I can take care of it for you and-" she babbled.
Gently removing Kaoru's hand from his forehead Kenshin cut her off saying, "Is it really that hard to believe I missed you, Miss Kaoru?"
Stunned, Kaoru stared at Kenshin with shock and disbelief written all over her face. 'Is he kidding me?' she wondered. She hated to doubt, but Kenshin had never spoken to her so affectionately when their lives weren't in danger and the sensible part of her just couldn't believe he was being so open without the threat of sudden death before them.
"What is it?" Kenshin asked after Kaoru had done nothing but stare unblinking at him for a few minutes.
Kaoru's face instantly flushed with embarrassment and she stammered, "N-nothing. You just surprised me."
Kenshin grinned and said, "I suppose I should get started on our dinner then. I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." With another smile, Kenshin headed off to the house and a minute later Kaoru could hear the sounds of him chopping vegetables on the breadboard.
Shaking her head over the weirdness of the whole situation, Kaoru made her way to the bathhouse and set the fire to heat her water. Making her way back to the dojo, she put her practice bokken away on the shelf and gave the dojo a once-over to make sure it would be neat and tidy for Yahiko's lesson the next morning.
She headed back to the bathhouse and after testing the water to make sure it was warm enough, she de-robed and eased herself into the bath. Letting out a sigh of complete contentment, she leaded back against the side and closed her eyes to relax and let the tension in her muscles be soothed by the warm water.
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'It sure is nice to have a place where I feel like I belong, a place that I'm anxious to return to,' Kenshin mused as he chopped up a radish he was going to use for their dinner that night. 'It's hard to believe I've been living here for two years already. It seems as if yesterday I had just met Kaoru. Well, then again…we have been through a lot together, and I do think of this place as my home now….' Realizing the implications of his last thought Kenshin stopped chopping the radish. "Home?" he asked himself. Raising his head up, he glanced outside to the courtyard and then, nodding his head in affirmation said more firmly, "home." He briefly resumed chopping the radish on the breadboard before he stopped again. His eyes widened with enlightenment, and setting the sharp knife onto the breadboard, he rushed out of the house and into the courtyard.
"Kaoru!!" he called out. "Kaoru, where are you?"
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Kaoru woke suddenly from her meditative state in the bath at Kenshin's yelling and losing her grip on the side of the tub slipped under the water for a moment. Resurfacing, she gasped for air and clumsily pushed her hair away from her face. 'Did he just call me Kaoru without the Miss?' she wondered.
"KAORU!!!" she heard again.
"Yes, he did," she murmured.
"Kaoru…where are you?" Kenshin called again.
Rolling her eyes Kaoru stood and stepped out of the bath. "What is it this time?" she muttered. "This had better be good," she added. "I'm in the bathhouse!" she called back to Kenshin, hoping she yelled loud enough for him to hear her and quit bellowing for her.
Quickly drying herself off and dressing, she made her way to the bathhouse door and opening it up with a sigh that clearly said, 'You are trying my patience' asked, "Yes, Kenshin? What is it?"
He grinned at her, and despite being a bit irritated with him, was unable to resist from grinning back at him.
"Kaoru…let's…I mean…could we…I mean…wow…I really didn't think this out very properly did I?" Kenshin rambled.
Kaoru leaned against the door frame and crossing her arms over her chest chided, "you've got me out of the bath now, the least you could do is tell me what it is you needed to speak with me so desperately about."
"No, you're absolutely right Kaoru. I'm very sorry about this. The thing is…I would like it very much if you would consider possibly marrying me?" he said.
Caught off guard completely, Kaoru quickly uncrossed her arms and in doing so repositioned her weight on the doorframe, resulting in her losing her balance and falling forward onto Kenshin.
Not fazed in the least, Kenshin caught her effortlessly and helping her right herself offered, "Do you can think about it and get back to me?"
Kaoru blinked at Kenshin and then regaining her wits yelled, "Kenshin! You idiot!!"
Kenshin just smiled. "I think I was expecting you to say that," he confided.
Kaoru rolled her eyes before closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around his neck, she gave him an affectionate hug. "Of course, I'll marry you, Kenshin, but honestly couldn't you have done a bit better of a job asking me?" she whined.
Wrapping his arms around her to return her embrace he admitted, "Probably not."
"Why did I know you were going to say that?" she deadpanned.
End.