When Kenshin rose before the sun, the next morning, he knew that trouble was
closer than ever before.  Disturbed, he left his room and went straight to
Kaoru-dono's.  He slid the door open carefully and sighed. It was just as he
thought, she hadn't come home last night.

 His left hand slowly closed around the sheathe of his sakaba sword as Kenshin
closed his eyes to feel if any tell-tale signs of  immediate trouble or danger
were about.  When he sensed none, he relaxed and opened his eyes.

  He leaned against the wall as he looked over her room.  He could smell her
fragrance in the air.  He could feel her presence all around.  When he closed
his eyes for the second time, he could almost see her kneeling on the floor,
smiling up at him.  Kenshin felt the corners of his mouth lift in a smile that
would've been nonexistant over a year ago.  <<Has it not even been a year?  It
almost feels like I've been here forever.>>  With that thought, he
straightened and slid the door to her room shut.

 Though he knew Yahiko was still asleep by the snoring that could be clearly
heard from the other side of the house, Kenshin looked in on him anyway.
Yahiko's face in sleep made him look like the mere ten year old that he he
insisted that he was not.  Kenshin carefully stepped over the clothes lying on
the floor near the door and leaned over Yahiko to replace the blanket that had
been kicked off.  As he carefully  covered the boy from chin to toe, Yahiko
muttered something in his sleep and rolled over towards Kenshin, hitting
Kenshin in the head with a wayward arm in the process.  A whispered, "Oro,"
was all that was heard from Kenshin as he straightened and left the young
boy's room.

 Kenshin walked around the porch of the house to the front, opposite the door
of the gate, to wait for Kaoru's return.  He was genuinely concerned about
her.  How far was she willing to go to keep her father's dojo, he asked
himself.  He knew that she was stubborn and could be as immovable as a
mountain, when she made her mind up about something.  He sat down on the
porch, crossed his legs, and placed the sakaba sword so it's hilt was
supported by his shoulder.  He then closed his eyes and waited.

 Kaoru arrived fifteen minutes later,a little startled to find Kenshin up and
waiting for her.  She smiled as she approached, but the weight hanging on her
heart stayed both her smile and her steps.  A feeling of weariness overcame
her when she remembered that she still hadn't told Kenshin the truth about her
job.  She sat next to Kenshin, placing the bag that Yahiko had seen a few
nights ago, which also carried her mother's favorite silk kimono, onto the
porch beside her.  She put her hands in her lap and stared down at them in
silence.

 "Good morning, Kaoru-dono."  Kaoru let the warm bass of Kenshin's voice roll
over her in welcome before she answered, "Good morning, Kenshin."

 There was silence for a while after that, while Kenshin mulled over which
question to ask her first.  He decided to gently ease her into answering his
questions.

 "Kaoru-dono, you were working all night, weren't you?"

 "Yes, I was.  But I'm not tired." Kaoru grimaced as a yawn overtook her at
that moment, "Well, not THAT tired, I mean."

 Kenshin smiled slightly and looked at Kaoru's face.  Her beautiful blue eyes
were lackluster with tiredness.  Her slim shoulders bowed slightly by the
weight of fatigue and of whatever else was on her mind.

 "Kenshin..I'm not going to always be this late.  It was just that-" her
breath was cut off short. She had become distracted by the large, warm hand
that slowly approached and touched her face.

 Gently caressing her face with his thumb along her cheekbone, his fingers
gently lifted her chin up for his inspection.  His head leaned towards hers as
his eyes stared intent on something on her face.

 "Kaoru-dono, you seem to have some flour on your face."  Kaoru almost jumped
out of her skin at the close, husky whisper of Kenshin's voice.  Then her
heart almost left her chest as it's pumping intensified. Not only at Kenshin's
nearness, but also in guilt of the evidence she had been careless enough to
leave behind.  In spite of what she really wanted, Kaoru closed her eyes and
leaned away from Kenshin as she stood up.  Grabbing the bag and holding it in
front of her like a buffer, she nervously spoke, "Um, I guess I got it from
being in the kitchen," she laughed nervously and took a step back from an
increasingly suspicious-looking Kenshin.

 "Kaoru-dono, what is in the bag?" Kaoru's eyes widened a little and she took
another step back as she lied, "Um, it's some laundry that a few of the girls
there wanted me to do."  Baka, her mind yelled at her.  Now he'll be expecting
to see you do laundry. She sighed and blew a wayward piece of bang off of her
face.

 "And Kaoru-dono, why were you late this morning?"  Kaoru almost sagged in
relief of finally being able to give a truthful answer, "Well, I was told that
my boss, Kawasaka-san wanted to see me," honest annoyance crept into her voice
as she continued, "But I wound up waiting for two hours for him to show up."
A slight blush came over her cheeks then, when she remembered what had
happened when he did.  Kaoru looked at the floor for a moment before changing
the subject, "Well..I think I'm going to go catch a quick nap before I do my
chores today." She took yet another step away from Kenshin and smiled a very
fake smile at him before turning and walking with haste to her room.

 Leaving Kenshin standing, staring after her, and not too happy about the
situation at all.  "Kaoru-dono," he whispered, as the wind rose around him and
carried that small sound away, "what are you hiding from me?"  The wind died
down as his eyes narrowed in thought, and why were you blushing?