End of A Weary Day--Formating Revised 12/21

Glossary: Aman=Lover, Aijou=Love, Iianzuke=Finacee, Koishii=Dear/Darling, Saiai=Beloved, Netsuai=Love Passionately, Anata=Beloved Husband, Aisai=Beloved Wife, Tanuki=Dog/Raccoon, Tenshi=Angel, Onegai=Please, Mou=More, Ohayo=Good Morning, Fusuma=Inside Door, Kirei=Beautiful, Jou-chan=Young Lady/Missy


Chapter Two

By Dawn\'s Early Light


The distant horizon that hung over the snow capped peaks of the faraway mountains had just started to fade into the rich pink and lavenders of early morning when Kenshin lazily rolled over onto his stomach. Shifting the position of his shoulders slightly, he noticed that there was a tender ache between his shoulder blades and up along the back of his neck.

\'Hmmm,\" He thought absently as he reached a curious hand over his head to rub the achy muscles along his nape. \'That is strange, I do not remember doing anything differently that would have stretched them enough to make them ache. Perhaps, I slept wrong.\' That seemed a feasible enough thought, and shrugging to himself, he easily accepted it for the moment. He also noticed that he felt amazingly relaxed and exceptionally lazy. It was time to get up, get dressed, and start his morning routine of walking the property perimeter to check for problems or intruders, but he just could not seem to get himself motivated at the moment. So it seemed easier to just give in and enjoy the unusual languid feelings of complete irresponsibility for once in his life. After all, what could possible go wrong if he slept in one just one morning?


\"Has anybody seen Kenshin this morning? I can\'t find him anywhere, and we were supposed to go fishing today.\" A loud hurummph could be heard as Yahiko came stomping around the corner of the dojo looking none to pleased with his mentor who was no where to be found. \"This isn\'t like him. He is always up prowling around the dojo way long before now. Where the hell is he?\"

\"You\'re looking for Kenshin? Well that\'s fine I guess, but where\'s jou-chan? She\'s not anywhere around here either, and there\'s nothing to eat for breakfast and I\'m starving.\"

\"Geez, Sano. Is that all you ever think about? Feeding your stupid stomach? Kenshin and Kaoru are like... well, their like missing or something. Don\'t you think that is a bad sign? What if something really bad has happened to them?\"

\"Hey, lighten up kid. If anything bad had happened to them, there would be blood and guts and all kinds of crap all over the place wouldn\'t there, and there\'s not is there?ahikahiko shook his head and favored Sano with a look that told him he was the most gross and totally disgusting person Yahiko had ever known.

\"You\'re sick, Sano. Do you know that? You\'re just sick and twisted... and, well, that was just sick and wrong to say.\"

\"Yea, probably, but it was cool sounding though, huh?\" The tall gangster burst into loud raucous laughter that had Yahiko jumping on his head and chewing on him in a second. \"Hey, get off will ya. We won\'t be able to find \'em if you keep screwing around, stupid. Now, get off!\" He reached up and yanked the knawing animal that was Yahiko off his now gooey head and dropped him on the ground. \"Ewwwwww... Yuck! Look what you did to my hair, you little worm. You made it all slimey and nasty feeling.\"

\"Yea, well you deserved it. Now, shut-up and help me look around for Kenshin and Kaoru you big moron. They gotta be somewhere, or else maybe they left a note or something. It\'s just not like them to up and leave without telling anybody especially when Kenshin promised me we were going to the river today. He never forgets his promises.\"

\"Yea, yea whatever. Come on worm-brain. Let\'s go look around the koi pond and the vegatable garden. You know how Kenshin is about his vegies.\" Nodding in agreement, Yahiko followed the tall man down the worn path to the fish pond. Soon they were out of sight.


\"She had better be up an dressed ready to go, that is all I have to say about that tanuki.\" Megumi hated going into town with Kaoru, but it was something they had gotten into the habit of doing once a week because it saved them both time and energy. Even though Megumi was desperately trying to make peace with her feelings for Kenshin, she still could not deny the fact that the mere sight of him sent her heart racing and caused little shivers to curl through her stomach. She knew he was in love with Kaoru, though what he saw in the tanuki was anyones guess because she could not see it, but the fact remained that despite all her best efforts to sway him in her direction, Kenshin had still fallen for the kenjutsu instructor. That in itself was difficult to swallow. That she, a cultured educated woman had lost a man to a silly unrefined little girl who acted more like a boy than a young lady. That really burned her up in a way nothing else had before. Sometimes she hated Kaoru more than she loved Kenshin.

\"Kaoru!\" Megumi called as she pushed the gate to the dojo yard open and walked inside. \"Hey, Kaoru? Are you ready?\" She waited but there was no answer. There was not even any movement or noise around the compound. \'Well, that is strange.\' She said to herself as she placed huffy hands on her hips and looked around. \'I wonder where the stupid little tanuki is, and why she is not here waiting for ME? She knows this is the day we go into town.\' Megumi huurummphed in irritation and walked over to the kitched to look inside. \"No one has even started breakfast.\" Now that was odd. Usually Kenshin was up and had breakfast all prepared by now Her sharp blue eyes narrowed dangerously as her mind stared to plow through a dozen senerio\'s that would have both Kenshin AND Kaoru gone from the dojo at the same time.

\"Rotten little bitch. I will just bet she dragged that poor man out of bed this morning and made him go to town with her instead of waiting for me. EWWWWWW! I hate her! She could of at least had the decency to wait for me so we could all go. Damn you, Kaoru.\" She huffed around the kitched and, out of habit, began making something to eat. \"I will not let you get the better of me this time. You\'ll see you stupid, tanuki. I will be here when you get back, and then we will see who comes out on top of this liittle game you think you are playing.\" An evil feline smile curled her shapely lips as she let herself imagine the things she was going to say to that meally mouthed racoon girl when she came home. \'It will be glorious.\'


The sun was high in the sky when Kenshin opened his eyes and greeted the morning for the second time that day. He pulled his arms over his head flexing all the muscles in his sinuous body as he pushed himself over onto his back with his foot.

\"Mmmmmm.\" He was purring like a well fed lion just waking up from a lazy nap, and he felt terrific. Relaxing his arms, he let them dangle off the top of the futon with his knuckles grazing the cold wooden floor. It only took him a few moments to realize that he was absolutely starving, and as if it were reading his mind, his stomach growled loudly announcing its\' presance and lamenting its\' obvious need for sustenance. \"Breakfast...\" He mumbled. \"I need to get up and start breakfast.\" He stretched one more time then rolled onto his side in preparation of getting out of bed when he came nose to nose with a soundly sleeping Kaoru.

Startled violet eyes flew wide open as the first thought through Kenshin\'s stunned mind screamed a loud and panicky, \'Dear God in heaven, how did you get into my room?!\', and then as reality and memory kicked him in the head at the same time, his heart shoved his screaming mind aside and reached a gentle finger out and slid it down the slope of her small nose.

\"Kaoru.\" His voice was barely above a whisper as the warmth of his violet gaze drank in the beauty of her sleeping face. \"It was real, my koishii. It was all real, and you are still here in bed beside me, saiai.\" Gently and with great care, he slid his body closer to hers and, after tucking his bottom arm underneath his head, Kenshin pressed his forehead against hers while his hand began to softly trace the delicate contours of her face. \"So beautiful, so sweet, so fair...\" His lips tenderly brushed against hers as his thumb touched the sotfness of her lower lip. \"Saiai-Kaoru, my beautiful angel. I am truly blessed above all other men in this world because you have chosen me to give your heart to. I promise you, saiai, I will never give you reason to regret that choice. That I will not.\" As he gently brushed a few stray strands of ebony out of her face and tucked them behind her ear, he smiled and let his knuckles graze along the smooth cool flesh of her pale cheek. Kenshin felt perfectly content to just lay and watch his beloved sleep, but it seemed he was not meant to enjoy his langur alone.

Large sleepy blue eyes opened slowly and blinked several times as they attempted to focus on the blurry face in front of them. The hand that was pillowed beneath her cheek pulled out far enough to rub the sleep out of the corners, and then she tried to focus again. As the image of amethyst eyes and shining red hair cleared, a smile cuved her lovely mouth and her eyelashes lowered as she was plagued by a rush of shyness.

\"Ohayo, saiai.\" Kenshin pressed a tender kiss on the tip of Kaoru\'s nose and let a smile of happiness cover his face as he watched a pretty blush color her cheeks.

\"O-oo-ohayo, Kenshin-aijou.\" Her voice was a bit tremulous, and she was completely unsure of how she should act with him now that they had made love and slept together all night. Lifting her free hand, she tentatively touched his scarred cheek with her fingertips. She watched his eyes close as a look of pure contentment slid into place over his fine features. \"You are so beautiful, Kenshin.\" The tenderness in her voice caused him to open those eyes and look directly into hers, and where adoration was reflected in hers\' his were tinged with confusion and amusement.

\"Why do you call me beautiful, saiai? Men are not supposed to be beautiful. Only angels are beautiful... like you.\" His hand caressed her cheek as he gazed lovingly into her shining sapphires. \"I am too scarred to be beautiful. You are beautiful enough for both of us, my sweet angel.\"

Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, Kaoru buried her face against his chest shaking her head vehemently. \"No, you are wrong, koishii. You are beautiful. You are beautiful to me.\" She pressed soft little kisses against his throat and along his jaw as her shyness disappeared and she pulled herself closer to him. \"I think you are the most beautiful man I have ever seen, Kenshin, and I can say that because you are my tenshi too.\" She felt him tremble against her and his arm wrapped aroung the curve of her waist and pulled her closer to him. \"I love you so much, Kenshin, and you will always be beautiful to me.\"

The arm that had been pillowed underneath his head now slipped beneath hers and hugged her tightly against his chest for a moment, and then his hand rose and gently tugged at her hair until she pulled back from him. Dark blue-purple eyes caressed her flushed face, and then let themselves slide into the bottomless pools of her emotion filled deep blue ones. \"I adore you.\" His voice was a ragged whisper that left his mouth and softly fanned her moist lips. \"You are the the most important thing in my life, and I will not live without you any more.\" A small sob caught in her throat just as he pulled her into a moist and deeply passionate kiss.

As a long moan of pleasure and desire rose up in Kaoru\'s throat, she opened her mouth and let Kenshin\'s tongue slid inside and begin a slow seductive dance with hers. She could feel him hardening against her thigh, and the sensation brought back a rush of memories from the night before. They were memories of the exquisite pleasure that particular part of his body had given her as he had made love to her. The very thought of that pleasure caused her to lift her top leg up and, with her knee bent, drape it over his hip and pull him seductively against her lower body.

Kenshin let his calloused hand trail intmately along the smooth tantalizing flesh of her thigh, and then allowed it to follow the curve of her hip over and down to the perfectly rounded sphere of her buttock which he molded into his palm. Kaoru shivered at the boldness of his caress and instinctively tightened the embrace of her leg trying to bring him closer. As he held the soft pliant flesh of her rear in his hand, Kenshin began to massage and squeeze it firmly while he responded to the urgency raging within her by pushing his erection against the moist heat of her. Her mouth was torn away from his as a blistering shaft of desire shot through the lower part of her body, and Kaoru arched backwards in her lover\'s arms as pleasure began to consume her once again.

Beautiful rounded mounds of pink-tipped white flesh surged upward into Kenshin\'s face as his beloved fought the pleasure she felt in his arms. Because they were just too tantalizing to resist, he bent in and closed his lips over the sensitive nipple of the top breast. Once he had it fully in his mouth, he began suckling it with long hard pulls that dragged deep hoarse moans of pleasure-pain from deep within her. She trembled violently as he rolled her beneath him and began nipping at the aching darkened pink bud with his strong white teeth, and, tracing its\' outline with his rough tongue, made it elongate and grow larger even as it become hyper sensitive to his every touch.

Kaoru shuddered uncontrollably as he pulled back and blew a short sharp breath on them causing them to harden even more, and with an agonized moan of urgent need, buried her hands deep into his flaming red mane of hair, and pulling him closer to the throbbing ache of her breasts, silently begged him not to stop.

\"Ohhhh God.... Kennnsshhinn...\" Kaoru\'s head thrashed back and forth while her hips pushed up against him of their own will seeking and searching for that which she knew could offer her the release she so desperately wanted and needed. The leg she had draped over his waist earlier was now tightly wrapped around his buttocks trying to pull him up and into her while the other leg was frantically trying to find a way out from underneath him so it could do the same. \"Onegai, Kenshin, mou... mou, onegai...ooooooo...\"

She was turning into a wild thing beneath him, and Kenshin\'s control was fading fast as the Battousai\'s lust and desire for Kaoru began mixing with his love and need until he did not know where one side of his personality stopped and the other began, but at just this moment he did not really care which part of him was in control of his emotions, or losing control of them for that matter. All that mattered was Kaoru and her growing desire for HIM. She wanted HIM. She needed HIM. It was HIM her body was screaming for to satisfy its\' burgeoning needs, and that reality sent his control and rationality crashing over the edge of sanity.

\"Netsuai, saiai-angel.\" His voice was ragged against her white throat as Kenshin lifted himself above her spreading her other leg out with his knee, and then he reached down and slid his arm under the same leg and lifted it up as he moved his hips between her shuddering thighs. \"You are my zenrei, Kaoru... Aishiteru.\" He groaned, and then he was pulling her leg up and bending her knee over his upper arm thus leaving her completely vulnerable to his body.

Kaoru trembled violently beneath him as she felt the moist center of her spread open, letting him slid inside without any difficulties at all. Her neck arched backward dramatically lifting her shoulders completely up off the futon as the amazing sensation of having Kenshin\'s hardness filling her descended in a blazing wave of liquid heat and consumed her utterly.

As he thrust deeply into her moistness, Kenshin\'s passion glazed mind was still able to register the fact that Kaoru was klinging to him desperately with her nails digging into the flesh of his back as her own passions and needs overcame her rational mind. She was moaning and crying beneath his weight, and the tenor of her voice was rising with each stroke of his hardened need. Burying his mouth against her pale breasts, he slid his free hand beneath her hips and pulled her harder into his rocking rhythm. A satified groan echoed in his chest when he heard her high thin cry of pleasure, and, bracing himself against the futon, he quickened his pace.

Her climax came much quicker and much stronger this time than it had the night before when he had taken her innocence, and when Kenshin felt Kaoru\'s body clench tightly around him, followed by a cascade of uncontrolled shuddering spasms he knew she reached her peak. So clasping her trembling body tightly to him, he fiercely rode the wet saddle between her thighs all the way to his own shattering release.

For several moments after, Kenshin simply lay on top of Kaoru\'s body holding her against him as if he were trying to absorb her into his own flesh. His sweat dampened forehead was pressed into the curve of her neck, his hips still rested intimately between her thighs, but he was supporting his weight on his elbows.

Kaoru had wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, and her legs were entwined with his where they had fallen on the futon. Her tender lips were pressed against the softness of his flaming red hair, and her eyes were closed on a face that reflected complete contentment. She had Kenshin in her arms, his love in her heart, and the committment of his life in her soul. For the first time in her life Kaoru was truly happy and at peace within herself.

\"What on earth is going on in there?\" The voice of Takani Megumi was mixed with equal parts of confusion, anxiety and pique as she ran along the engowa to Kenshin\'s room and threw open the fusuma. She stopped and froze still as a stone statue when she spied the two naked bodies laying on top of his futon with barely a sheet to cover them to the waist. \"Wh-what... I-I-I...You...you... I do not believe... Oooohhhhhh...\" Then she screamed in furious rage and wounded pride, viciously slammed the fusuma closed with enough force to shake the support beams, and stomped back to the kitchen.

Kenshin\'s head had shot up at the first sound of the fusuma sliding open, so he had caught every nuance and emotional shift on Migumi\'s outraged face as she absorbed the fact that he and Kaoru were in bed... together... naked. \"Oops.\" He looked down into Kaoru\'s horrifed blue eyes, and shrugged helplessly. \"I guess we must have been making too much noise.\" His eyes twinkled wickedly despite the embarrassment of the situation and the fierce blush staining her cheeks, but even so, Kaoru could not help but giggle just a little.

\"Kenshin, stop it. What are we going to do now? I mean, what are we going to tell her?\" Then her eyes got very large and very round as something else occurred to her. \"Oh dear, what are we going to tell everyone else, because you know she is going to tell them all?\" KUSO!

\"Hmmmm.\" He pursed his lips and rolled to one side leaning nonchalantly on his hip. \"I suppose that does present a bit of a problem, that is does.\" Dancing violet eyes met anxiety filled blue ones, and he cocked his head to one side as he lifted a hand to touch her cheek. \"I guess we will just have to tell them the truth. That we will.\"

\"THE TRUTH?\" She squeaked in shocked terror.re yre you insane? We cannot tell them the truth.\"

\"Why not? What is wrong with the truth, koishii?\"

\"You think we are going to just go out there and tell Megumi, Yahiko, and Sano that we just... that we are... that we did... oh rats! You know what I mean.\"

A deep rumbling of laughter escaped him as he flopped over onto his back letting his hands drop limply onto his chest. \"Well, that is not exactly what I had in mind, but if you want to do it that way, I guess we could...\"

\"NO...No, Kenshin, no.\" She rushed to cut him off falling on his chest and clamping a hand over his smirking mouth. \"Don\'t you dare. I will die of shame.\" Her panic stricken face was only and inch away from his amused filled one. \"Kenshin, be serious will you. What are we going to do?\"

Chuckling lightly, he lifted her hand of his mouth, gently kissed it, and then met her anxiety filled ones. \"We will tell the truth, saiai, but,\" And he held up his finger and placed it meaningfully on the tip of her nose. \"We will do it MY way. All right?\" Kaoru furiously nodded her head in agreement, and Kenshin sat back up facing her. \"All right then, stop being such a worry-wort and calm down, little one. Trust me. Everything will be all right.\" He pressed a soft kissed against her cold nervous lips. \"I promise. Trust me, koishii. It will be all right.\" Then he pulled her into his arms for a tight embrace meant to bolster her confidence. \"Come, the longer we wait, the harder it will be to face them. That it will.\" They both stood up and put the bedding away, got dressed, and prepared to go meet the justice of the Kenshin-gumi.

As they walked out onto the engowa, they were greeted by three sets of astonished disapproving eyes, one of which was filled with angry tears on a face contorted with betrayal and jealousy.

\"Hmmm,mmm, looks like it is explanation time, that it does.\" Kenshin looked over at Kaoru and saw that her face was frozen in a pinched looked of distress. Reaching down, he grasped her ice cold hand within his much warmer one, and squeezed it until she looked at him. Leaning into her slowly, he let his forehead come to rest against hers and reached out for her other hand. Thusly they stood, perfectly still and silent for several moments before Kenshin leaned back and gently brushed a stray lock of raven black hair out of Kaoru\'s face. His smile was tender and reassuring as he trailed his knuckles down the smooth silkiness of her face.

\"Aishiteru, My Love.\" He said softly. \"Nothing will seperate us... not even the disapproval of our friends... or Megumi-dono\'s jealousies.\"

\"You... you know...\" Kaoru stuttered and stared into his face wide eyed.

\"Yes, of course. I have know for a very long time that she was in love with me, but, dear Kaoru, my heart has always belonged to you and you alone. Megumi-dono is a beautiful woman, but it is time she set aside her feelings and stopped this foolishness.\" A sad but determined light shone in his violet eyes for a moment as he caressed her cheek one last time. \"She has more to be ashamed of this bright sunny morning that either you or I.\"

\"She... she does?\" Confusion filled Kaoru\'s dark blue eyes as she met Kenshin\'s gentle but firm gaze. \"How is that so?\"

\"Was it not she who barged into MY room unexpected and uninvited making assumptions she has no right to make?\" A dark brown eyebrow lifted questioningly. \"What I do in my room or in my BED, is my business and mine alone, and whomever I chose to have with me in my room or in my bed,is also MY business and mine alone.\" A small but dangerous flash of anger danced across his pale violet eyes as they became tinged with amber. \"I do not recall when Megumi-dono, or Yahiko, or Sano for that matter, were ever put in Master-ship over my actions or my decisions so that I had to ask their permission to make-love to the my Iinazuki.\"

Kaoru\'s heart fluttered and skipped several beats, and then surged into a wildly racing pace. \"What...did you call me?\" She choked out around thee lue lump that had magically appeared in her throat.

Kenshin\'s eyes softened and he leaned close to her once again, only this time he pressed a tender kiss into her shocked and trembling lips causing vocal disapproval to add to the already growing upset of the of the gathered Kenshin-gumi. His eyes were filled with love and laughter when he pulled back to gaze her her flushed face. \"I said, I did not need their permission to make-love to or kiss my Iinazuke...\" He watched as her eyes darted back and forth across his face from one violent-amber eye to the other searching for confirmation of what he had just said.

\"Your... Iinazuke? Kenshin? Are you saying...?\" She could not finish what she wanted to say, but one trembling hand rose to gently touch his scarred cheek as she uncomsciously leaned towards him.

\"That I want to marry you, Saiai, or that I want you to marry me?\" A wicked chuckle rumbled in his throat as he captured that trembling hand and brought it to his lips for a soft kiss. \"The answer to both questions, my beautiful, angel, is yes. I want to make you my wife, and keep you by my side for the rest of my life.\"

\"Kenshin.\" All she could manage was a chocked whisper.

\"You see, my lovely koishii, as my Iinazuke, you can share my bed because in the eyes of betrothal laws, since neither you nor I have parents, we are basically already married. Did you know that?\"

Kaoru was staring into his eyes with stunned disbelief and happiness, and managed to only numbly shake her head.

\"Well, it is true, koishii, and as my Iinazuke, the only thing that prevents you from being my wife completely in the eyes of society, is a cerimonial blessing; otherwise, you are in every other way. So, lay your fears and shame to rest. We have few explanations to make.\"

She nodded, and squeezing the hand she still held, let a small smile of trust settle on her face. When Kenshin saw it, he tenderly kiss her cheek and then tuned and walked toward their three friends gently leading her behind him.

\"Ohayo, everyone.\" Kenshin greeted the three stony faces in a flat noncommittal tone. \"It would seem everyone is here and accounted for.\" Violet amber eyes surveyed the angry disapproving faces coming to rest on the outraged furious face of Migumi last. \"It would appear there is also something bothering everyone this morning. Is this true?\" He raised a dark brow sardonically as he took a defensive stance in front of Kaoru.

\"Of course it\'s true, Kenshin. How can you stand there and act like there\'s nothing going on between you and that... that tanuki?\" Megumi was sputtering like a prudish old woman whose obi was tied way too tight, and who had probably never had a wet dream in her life.

\"Yea!\" Yahiko chimed in. \"And you forgot we were supposed to go fishing today. You promised too, remember?\" The young boy favored Kenshin and Kaoru with a ferousious glare.

\"My goodness, such vehemence from one so young.\" Pale amber tinged violet eyes flaired with increasing anger as Kenshin turned to a seething Sanoske. \"I may as well hear what you have to say, Sano. You look as if you are about to explode with whatever it is.\" He absently rested his left hand on the hilt of his sakobatou. \"So, let\'s hear it.\" The baiting tone was uncustomary for him, and it both shocked and confused his friends who looked at each other in bewilderment.

\"Well,\" Sano\'s anger was quickly being replaced by a wary sense of trepidation as he watched Kenshin\'s eyes turn less and less violet and more and more amnber. \"It\'s just Megumi said that you and jou-chan were... well, that she saw the two of you... ahhhh...\" He started to falter in the face of Kenshin\'s direct amber gaze.

\"That we were \'what\', Sano? Please continue. Obiviously the three of you have been discussing quite freely whatever it was Megumi-dono \'thought\' she saw before we came out of my room, so I do not see a reason why you should not be able to tell me. Please,\" His hands spread wide in front of him as he urged his friend to continue his explanation. Behind him, Kaoru was hiding a satisfied smile behind her hand as she witnessed her fiancee\' putting the nosey Kenshin-gumi in their places.

\"Well,\" Sano nervously scratched his head and cast a beseeching look in Megumi\'s direction, but she was standing with her nose in the air and her arms crossed over her chest. It was obvious she was not going to help him out. \"Well,\" He began again. \"She said the two of you were in bed together... ummmm, in compromising circumstances.\" Blushing furiously, he started to stubb his toe into the dirt and grass around his feet.

\"Really, is that so.\" Kenshin\'s hard gaze swung to the huffy self rightous Megumi, and when he spoke, his voice was icy cold. \"Interesting, and how would Megumi-dono be in possession of such private and intimate information?\" Once more his hand came to on on the hilt of his sakobatou. \"Perhaps you would care to answer that question for all of us, Megumi-dono... but, especially for myself, and my Iinazuke.\"

Yahiko sqwacked and Sano coughed and nearly chocked to death on the ever presant chicken bone he was chewing on, but it was Megumi\'s reaction to the title he gave Kaoru that really caught Kenshin\'s attention.

Her face turned a sickly shade of yellowish-gray, her tightly pouting mouth froze and then dropped open in horror and disbelief, and her eyes registered complete shock. \"Iina..zuke?\" Her voice was barely a whisper as she turned to look at first Kenshin and then a smiling Kaorul. \"You\'re... engaged?\"

\"Of course.\" The smile on Kenshin\'s face was enigmatic and smug. \"What were you thinking, Migumi-dono? That I had \'dishonored\' Kaoru?\" The smile vanished, and his eyes grew hard again. \"It would appear to me that you were someplace you did not belong, do you not agree?\"

\"Ummmm, I... ahhhh... well, it was just... I heard...\"

\"You heard? What exactly did you think you \'heard\' Megumi-dono?\"

Migumi blushed from head to toe and bit her lip in consternation as well obvious shame. \"I-I was n-not entirely sure at the t-time. It sounded like... well... it s-sounded like... ummmmm... I do not know really... I th-thought maybe you w-were in trouble or s-something.\" She finished lamely and dropped her eyes.

Yahiko and Sano both busted out into rolling belly laughs and ended up hanging onto each other weakly for support so they would not fall down. \"Kenshin in trouble?\" As Sano repeated Megumi\'s words, he and Yahiko disolved into another round of hee-hawing hilarity at her expense. \"That\'ll be the day... especially from the jou-chan.\" Megumi glared viciously at the howling pair, and gritted her teeth against the malevolent surge of furious shame she felt burning up her neck.

\"Shut-up, you stupid filthy hyena\'s, and stop laughing at me!\" Migumi was shaking with outrage and tears were threatening to fall, but her pride would not let her admit she had made a mistake, nor would it let her admit defeat.

\"Hmmmm,\" Kenshin\'s rich voice sounded right behind her, and she whipped around to find him standing closer than she had anticipated. \"It would appear your explanation is a bit... thin, Megumi-dono.\" As he clasped his hands behind his back and dropped his chin slightly, Kenshin regarded the now silent Megumi. \"I believe, Megumi-dono, that you have tread far across the line between the acceptable propriaties of both family and friendship. Would you not agree?\" When she gulped and finally nodded, he continued. \"Then would you not agree also, that it is time for you to make certain resolutions within yourself.\"

\"R-resolutions?\" She actually had the grace to look very confused and uncomfortable.

\"Indeed,\" He replied, and walked around her like an old school master walks around an errant child. \"There are certain facts you must be aware of, but you are failing to accept. It is time you did so.\" The usually mellow voice was taking on a stern authoritarian tone.

\"F-facts? Ken-san?\" Megumi\'s face started to take on the look of a frightened mouse backed into a corner by a hungry cat. \"Wh-what facts?\"

The sharp stern look he shot in her direction had her taking a step backwards from him in astonishment. \"I am sure you are intelligent enough to know what they are, Megumi-dono. After all, you are an educated physician, but, if you insist on playing the baka, I will gladly lay them out for you.\"

\"Oh, that\'s n-not really n-necessary...\" She stumbled over a denialv as she desperately attempted to save herself further humiliation, but he cut her off sharply.

\"Obviously it is, because so far, you have not seemed to have gotten the point on your own, now have you?\" He leaned into her and locked gazes with her, and Megumi bit her lip in nervous and fearful apprehension. \"Shall we begin?\" Those fine elegant brown eyebrows arched expectantly over violet-amber eyes as Kenshin positioned himself directly in front of Megumi and locked gazes with her.

\"Do we have to?\" She was almost whimpering.

Violet-amber eyes raked her pale face as he considered her question. \"I do not know,\" Kenshin replied flatly as he his head to the side and watched her carefully. \"Do we have to, or can you figure out where your place in this family-unit is on your own, and keep your nose out of my business... AS WELL AS MY BEDROOM?!\"

\"Oh shit... I didn\'t mean to.... I just... I...\"

\"You what?\" His voice was as hard as the steel of his sakobatou. \"Do you really expect me to believe that you had no idea whatsoever what was going on in my room before you barged in UNINVITED?\" Skeptical eyes raked her pale face in harsh accusation. \"As I said before Megumi-dono, you are an educated physician, and I do not believe you are a stranger to the... more intimate relationships of men and women. Not when you were held prisoner for such a long time by such a disgusting man, within such a vile world of drugs and prostitution. You were privey to too many pieces of his organization to have been totally sheltered from everything.\" Crossing his arms across his chest pointedly, Kenshin\'s amber-violet eyes pinned her to the spot. \"Can I really believe what you are telling me? Or is it just an excuse to cover up your own insatiable curiosity to look in my room?\"

Megumi figited self-conciously not only because his glare was chafing her pride, but because she really could not answer that question. The truth was, she was not sure what had caused her to break the first rule of protocol and privacy by running into Kenshin\'s room without knocking or anything. All she could really remember was hearing all those strange animal-like noises, and not knowing what they were, she had been afraid \'something\' was in Kenshin\'s room so she had gone to look. Of course, in retrospect, as she thought about it in a more rational mind, if she had not already been so upset about thinking Kaoru and Kenshin were missing together, she probably would have recognized the sounds exactly for what they were and left well enough alone.

\"I am sorry,\" She finally said shrugging in defeated dismay and guilt. \"I do not really know what I was thinking. I was just so upset that Kaoru was not here to go to Market with me, and then you were gone too... and I figured the two of you were together.\"

\"And why should that upset you so much? If she a wer were together?\"

Mdgumi swallowed hard and looked away from him, and found herself looking straight into the deep brown eyes of Sanoske who was watching her with amused sympathy. \"I guess...\" Sighing heavily and throwing her hands out in defeat, she threw her pride into the wind. \"I guess because I was jealous.\"

\"Jealous, Mdgumi-dono?\" Kenshin sighed gently and grasped her shoulder in his hand and turned her around to face him. \"There is no reason for you to be jealous. I have always loved Kaoru, and I think you must have known this.\" He laughed ironically and shook his head. \"I think I was the only one who did not know that everyone else knew... except Kaoru herself. It would appear love is blind. Neither of us ever saw each others feelings until it was almost too late.\"

\"I cannot help loving you, Ken-san.\" She said quietly and dropped her eyes.

\"I understand, but neither can I help loving Kaoru nor she me.\" He put a gentle finger beneath Megumi\'s chin and lifted her face so he could look into her eyes. \"We both care for you very much, but you must understand from here forward, my heart and soul belong to my Naiyaku, and that is Kaoru. She will be my Aisai soon, Megumi-dono.\" Her lips trembled and tears finally spilled down her smooth pale cheeks as his words sank in to her denying heart.

\"I see.\" Kenshin could hardly hear her voice laiden as it was beneath the weight of her emotions. Gently he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him in a comforting embrace. Softly he began to speak to her, whispering the final truths she needed to hear, and the last words that would break her heart completely.

\"Megumi-dono, forgive me for not being able to love you, but my heart and soul have been pulled to Kaoru from the very first moment I met her. Her spirit calls to me in a way no other ever has, and with her I find the peace and joy I never thought I could achieve in this life. I have tried to live without her in my heart, but have discovered that I cannot. She has become woven into the very fabric of my thoughts, my dreams, my soul... she is the heart that beats my blood, and I cannot live without her. I love her more than any other thing I possess. She is my Angel.\"

Megumi burst into convulsing sobs against Kenshin\'s chest, and he held her close stroking her long black hair as if he were comforting a small child.

\"You mustn\'t cry, Megumi-dono. You are a beautiful woman, and there will be many men who will want to claim you as their Aisai. You have far too much to give to remain alone for very long.\" His violet gaze slid across the few feet between them and locked gazes with a now sober Sanoske. \"In fact, I would not be surprised if there was not someone close by who might have already lost his heart to you. You have only to open your eyes and look, kirei, and he could be right in front of you.\"

She raised puffy red eyes and looked him in the face. \"You are kidding, aren\'t you?\" she sniffled and wipped her eyes on her kimono sleeve. \"There is not one around here who want\'s a nosey, moody, bitch like me.\"

\"Oh, Megumi-dono. You just might be surprised.\" Kenshin smiled and pressed a tender kiss against her forehead then turned her around and shoved her forceably into Sano\'s .
.
\"EEEEEEE!\" Megumi stumbled awkwardly and ended up crushed against the rock hard wall of Sano\'s muscular chest with her lips only a fraction of an inch away from his. She had never been this close to him before, and as the musky male scent of him penetrated her sense of smell and sent her mind into a dizzying tale spin of awareness, she was also noticing how deep brown his eyes were, and that they had a beautiful golden circle of color wrapped around the pupil. Her breath quickened in her chest, and the speed of her pulse felt like it doubled.

Megumi had never really looked at Sano before, and doing it now at this close range was doing very strange things to her equalibrium.

Sano, on the other hand, finally had the object of his desires and fantasies in his arms, and he was damned if he was going to let go before he stole at least one kiss. So, before she could come to her senses, he bent down to her and parted her pliant astonished lips with his and pulled her close into him for a long deep kiss.

Yahiko was watching with a completely disgusted look on his face, and finally stuck his tongue out and mumbled, \"Get a room.\" And he walked out the gate in a huff. \"So much for fishing today.\"

Kaoru moved up next to Kenshin and slid an arm around him from behind hugging him to her chest as she rested her chin on his shoulder. He turned slightly so he could nuzzle her cheek with his nose and lips, while his hand covered hers and held it tightly against his heart.

\"Aishiteru, Kenshin.\" She whispered against his neck and pressed her lips into the sensitive spot just behind his earlobe. \"Will you do something for me, my Anata?\"

Smiling that beloved boyish half smile of his, Kenshin turned in her arms and pulled her against him and rubbed his nose against hers. \"I will do anything for you, Saiai-Aisai. Tell me what you want, and I will do it.\" He kissed her softly and let his hands slide up the length of her back and curve over her shoulders, and then wrap snuggly around her so he could bury his face against her sensitive throat.

Kaoru shivered with pleasure beneath his beloved touch, and knew that as long as she lived, she would always feel this way when he layed his hands on her flesh. She turned her face slightly and let her cheek rub against his in a rough hungry caress that sent a shudder though his body as it transmitted her request to him.

\"Aman...\" He whispered huskily against her throat. \"We just got out of bed.\" But his hands dropped down to grasp her hips, and then slipped into the small of her back and molded her against him.


\"I know,\" Her voice was a breathless entreaty against his throat. \"But I cannot help it.\" Trembling but firm hands dug their way into his thick red hair, and pulled his face away from her neck so she could find his mouth. \"I want you all over again.\" And in the next instant, their lips were fused in a blistering heated kiss that took all reason out of both their minds.

Sano and Migumi were oblivious to the other couple. As Sano kissed her beautiful lips, Megumi had melted into his embrace, wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, and opened the sweet haven of her mouth to accept the invasion of his strong rough tongue. His hands were cupping the back of her head, and he was feasting on her mouth like a man who had not eaten for weeks and Megumi was klinging to him with just as much hunger. So lost were they in each other, neither of them noticed when Kenshin picked Kaoru up, flew back to his room, and disappeared through the fusuma.