Part 8

 All was quiet throughout the Kamiya dojo as the night rolled on. Enveloped in darkness, it’s occupants slept on, lost in their own dreams. Only a lone cricket could be heard from somewhere within the yard.
 Suddenly, Kenshin awoke with a start. Reflexes taking over, his eyes darted quickly around the room, scanning for the source of the sound that had awakened him. His Hitokiri senses had come to life as he reached for his sakabatou without even thinking. He rose to his feet, listening carefully for any sign of movement. Finally, he heard it again. It was coming from the front gate. Sword in hand he silently slid open his door and made his way down the hall. When he was almost there, he stopped with just one more corner to go.
 Kenshin crouched down to a kneeling position the best he could in his female kimono and hid his sword from view before peering around the corner. All was dark and silent, yet he could sense a presence. His foe, whoever it may be, was definitely looming near.
 A faint movement near the well caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes, straining to make out the identity of the shadowy figure. At just that moment, as if being answered by some unknown force, the moon poked it’s way out from behind the cloud cover, casting just enough light upon the earth to make out the intruder’s face.
 It was Sano. Kenshin sighed in relief, and rose to his feet once again. He loosened his grip on the hilt of his sword, slightly taken aback by the amount of force he had been using, and abandoned his hiding place.
 “Sano, what are you doing here so late at night?” He inquired in a soft voice as not to wake any more of the occupants of the house. He brushed some of his loose hair out of his face. Sano gave a lopsided smile.
 “I wish I knew...” he walked slowly across the yard, minimizing the distance between the two of them. “Just making sure you’re ok, I guess....”
 Kenshin frowned slightly. “Sano, are you drunk?” Sano said nothing, just yawned and sat heavily onto the front steps. The answer was pretty obvious, even without a verbal response. He joined Sano on the step and went on. “Maybe you should stay here tonight.”
 He turned to Kenshin and stared at him through clouded eyes for a moment before replying. “You’d like me to do that, wouldn’t you? You find this amusing, don’t you?”
 “I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Kenshin gave a quizzical look.
 “Look at you, just sitting there in your pretty little dress, and your hair and your pretty little face... It makes me sick!”
 “Sano, I think you need some sleep...” He was getting worried.
 “Do I ever do what you tell me to do?” Sano reached up and cupped Kenshin’s chin in his palm, and looked over his face slowly. “Strange... You really do look like a girl...” He studied his face just a moment longer before leaning forward, closing the gap between their lips, and embraced Kenshin in a deep, passionate kiss.
 Kenshin’s eyes widened in horror as the realization of what was happening finally hit him. His small body mass was nothing compared to Sano’s muscular build, which made it impossible to push him off. If this went on any longer.... He quickly abandoned that thought before it could go any further. He spotted his sheathed sword on the floor next to him out of the corners of his eyes and quickly took hold of it. Without another thought, he trusted the end of the sheath into Sano’s gut and took the opportunity to get to his feet as quickly as he could as he could. Panting, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at Sano with cold eyes. Sano rubbed his side, wincing from the pain, and frowned up at Kenshin,
 “Well, you sure don’t kiss like a girl...”
 Kenshin visibly flinched, flicking the hand guard of his sheathed sword with his thumb just enough to show the blade glinting in the faint moonlight. Sano froze, eyeing it cautiously.
 “You do NOT want to make me use this,” Kenshin stated in a dark, cold voice. “If you do attempt to carry this further I just may have found a valid exception to my nonkilling oath.”
 Sano flustered, turning his gaze to the ground, unable to meet Kenshin’s deathly glare. The silence that hung in the air between them was almost deafening. He cleared his throat, still not making eye contact.
 “Well, it wasn’t that exciting for me, either...” He mumbled almost inaudibly.
 Kenshin’s eyes narrowed even more, feeling his control slipping once again, despite his attempts to stay calm. His hand trembled slightly as his grip on his sakabatou tightened, causing his knuckles to turn white. He mustn’t loose control, he knew that. Whatever happened, he had to stay calm...
 It was Kenshin’s turn to stare at the ground, slowly breathing in and out. Gradually, his pulse slowed and he was able to relax his tightly clenched fists. When he was finally able to organize his thoughts, he spoke.
 “Sano, whatever reason you may have had for doing that, I will forgive simply on the grounds of drunkenness. However...” He flicked his wrist to the side just enough to send the sheath of his sword clattering to the ground and proceeded to position the tip of his blade directly beneath Sano’s chin. “I think you deserve a little more pain.”
 Sano swallowed deeply, staring down the sharp edge of the reverse bladed weapon. Only God knew what Kenshin had in store for him now.
 

 The morning sun rose high above the Kamiya dojo once again, warming the ground and evaporating the dew that had collected throughout the yard. Kaoru slowly awoke from her peaceful slumber, blinking her eyes a few times to bring things into focus. She yawned lazily and rolled onto her side, where she watched tiny dust particles slowly float about a small beam on sunlight that filtered through her partly opened window. It was the start of a new day. She groaned as she tossed her bed covers to the side before sitting up and stretching her hands high above her head. It was new day and there was plenty to do.
 But first thing was first. She had to talk to Kenshin and apologize. As deep as her sleep had been, it had been plagued with dream... Dreams that only reinforced the guilt she already felt. She knew now that she had taken the situation too far. She had not only embarrassed him, but she had lied to him, and it was time to bring that to an end. With that decision made, Kaoru stood and proceeded to get dressed.
 Twenty minutes later she emerged from her room, squinting in the harsh sunlight. She peered around the yard, trying to calculate how much more work needed to be done. Surprisingly enough, they were almost finished. There were a few more holes to be patched up and a couple of branches to be moved, but that was pretty much the extent of it. It was nothing they couldn’t complete by mid-afternoon, at the latest. Now all she needed was people to actually start working,
 She could hear the sounds of Yahiko finishing up his morning training near the back of the house, but as far as she could tell, Kenshin still wasn’t up yet. She bit her bottom lip nervously, hoping she was not about to run into a similar conflict as the previous morning. He seemed to be fairly moody lately, but then again, she really couldn’t blame him.
 She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She had to talk to Kenshin as soon as possible. She couldn’t put it off any longer. Kaoru nodded to herself reassuringly before turning on her heals, and heading towards Kenshin’s room. The time had come.
 She approached the door to Kenshin’s room cautiously, unsure of how to address the situation. She raised her hand, poising it just in front of the door, ready to knock. She gulped, hesitating, and stared at the door. She couldn’t turn back. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to knock.
 Just then the door slid open, and Kaoru downcast her eyes quickly, her mind suddenly going blank.
 “Ah, Kenshin... I, uh, was just going to... I mean I wanted to tell you that...” She fidgeted with the tip of her ponytail. Kenshin smiled warmly.
 “I accept your apology, Kaoru-dono,” he placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Kaoru shifted her gaze from the ground and slowly looked up at Kenshin. A small smile played on her lips.
 “You’re back in normal clothes...” she trailed off, watching him expertly tie his sheathed sword to his waist. She had never been so happy to see him in his old traveling clothes and his hair pulled back into his usual ponytail. “Kenshin, I am so sorry! I should never have made you do that! It was a horrible idea!”
 Kenshin just shrugged. “In retrospect, the idea was there, but I think the execution was a little off,” he smiled again. “Let’s just say it wasn’t one of your best ideas.”
 Kaoru started to smile but it quickly faded as another thought came to her. “I also want to apologize for last night...” Suddenly Kenshin felt his cheeks and ears go red, and he quickly looked away out of embarrassment. He laughed nervously.
 “It was nothing I couldn’t handle, really.”
 “No, I mean I lied to you...”
 “You didn’t lie, Kaoru-dono. For all you knew, someone could have attacked the party. Although, I found it slightly suspicious when you didn’t have me take a weapon...”
 Kaoru gave a timid smile. “I should have known you’d figure it out. You must have been so embarrassed!” Her smile broadened. Kenshin went red in the face once again.
 “The dance wasn’t the bad part...” he mumbled to himself. Luckily, it went unnoticed by Kaoru. He continued in a louder voice. “Let’s get to work on cleaning up the rest of this mess, shall we?” She smiled and nodded in agreement.
 “Sounds good! Then for dinner, maybe we could go out to the Akabeko for sukiyaki. I know Tae missed seeing you last night,” she giggled silently to herself. “Although, it looked like she was having a great time trying to get you and Sano together.”
 Kenshin glared at the back of her head as she started back down the hall. “Kaoru-dono, I would appreciate it if you never brought that up again.”
 “Ok, ok,” she smiled secretly to herself. “By the way, what did happen with Sano last night? He stayed behind when we left the party and he was supposed to help us out this morning...”
 Kenshin gave another nervous laugh. “Oh, I’m sure he’s just tied up with something else right now!”
 Kaoru shrugged. “Probably... Oh well.”
 He sighed a small sigh of relief and followed Kaoru outside, eager to get to work, and to leave the past couple days behind him.
 

 It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that Sano came stumbling in, holding his head in pain. Kaoru glanced up from her work and frowned.
 “Sano, where have you been? You were supposed to be here hours ago!”
 He shook his head, but quickly regretted it, and leaned heavily onto a nearby tree for support. He closed his eyes. “I have no idea... All I remember is going drinking with a bunch of friends after the party. The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a trash heap not too far from here...”
 Kaoru walked up to Sano for a closer inspection. Her frown deepened. “You look terrible,” she stated, eyeing his badly bruised eye and other visible cuts and scrapes.
 “You smell terrible, too,” Yahiko gagged from where he was sweeping.
 “Poor fool...” Kaoru shook her head in disgust, “You probably got in a bar fight and don’t even remember it!”
 Just then Kenshin entered the yard, carrying a pile of clean clothes under his arm. “Kaoru-dono, where do you want--” he stopped short as his eyes fell upon Sano leaning against the tree. He fought to hide his embarrassment and act casually. “Oh, hello, Sano,” he smiled.
 “Hey, Kenshin,” he slowly opened one eye, which was followed by his other. “I see you’ve reverted back to your normal noncrossdressing self,” he attempted to smile back.
 “Yes, things were getting a little too strange for me. Besides, the dojo’s almost repaired.”
 “No thanks to you,” Kaoru berated Sano. “He woke up in an alley all beat up with a hang over and doesn’t even remember how he got there!”
 “Gomen, Kaoru, I’ll make it up to you,” Sano gave a pained smile and a thumbs-up with the hand that wasn’t holding his head. Kenshin gave a great sign of relief. Sano didn’t remember what had happened last night, and he had promised himself not to hold his friend responsible for the incident. Time would pass, and things would gradually go back to normal. He smiled to himself at that thought.
 “Kaoru-dono, why not allow Sano to come to dinner with us tonight. After all, he still helped us a lot.”
 Kaoru agreed reluctantly. “I suppose you’re right...”
 “Let me just put these away, then...” He turned and disappeared into the house. Sano’s eyes trailed after him, feeling a faint nagging in the back of his mind. He felt as if there was something he should remember, something that he couldn’t quite place his finger on ... Drawing a blank, he quickly shrugged the thought off. There was no use worrying about it now, anyway. It was time for sukiyaki!

--THE END--