“How is the girl?”
“She’s fine, I suppose.”
“And the key?”
“I don’t know anything about no key, boss. Maybe you should ask Himura about that. He’s got the girl.”
“Himura’s a stubborn bastard who doesn’t give a damn about my wishes.”
“Ain’t my problem. Might want to talk to Kogoro about that.”
“I just might do that, Raijuuta.”
Smirking, dark brown eyes regarded the man in league with Kogoro Katsura in amusement, a grin of malice grazing his lips upon thinking of the woman Himura held within his grasp. The bastard didn’t deserve any fun. He, on the other hand, should be the one to tame the bitch.
“Is he coming?”
A dark brow arched in question as the grin widened. “To the meeting? Well, Kogoro’s asked him to come. I’m sure he’ll listen to that washed-up, old man. And the girl’s supposed to be there.”
“Good, good, Raijuuta, I can almost smell my victory, it’s so damn close. They’ll both be brought down to the level of nothing, and I’ll make sure they beg for mercy before their time is up.”
“Good for you, boss.”
Warm sunlight began to pour heavily into the bedroom, covering Kaoru with a blanket of heat. She flinched when the bright light seeped through the creases of her lids, nearly blinding her. Turning onto her side in order to escape the morning sunshine, a soft groan was heard from within the various blankets draped over a petite, slender body. “Leave me alone,” she grumbled irritably while she jerked the blankets firmly over her head, as if she meant to lock the annoying light out. Finally, when she realized that there was no escaping the morning sunrays, she threw the blankets off her in frustration and sat up in the bed, her blue eyes narrowed on the cracked window above her head.
“Couldn’t wait five damn seconds, could you?” With a roll of her eyes, Kaoru yawned.
She had had quite a peaceful rest. No dreams or nightmares had plagued her mind at all last night, as she expected they would. A small, contented smile graced her still peacefully somnolent features as she drew a hand through her long, ebony hair with comfortable ease. Although her situation wasn’t a good one, she couldn’t deny that she slept well last night, in this bed.
“Wait a minute,” she murmured absently to herself, gazing around the room she had spent the night in. It wasn’t the spare bedroom she had been confined to that first night. It was his bedroom, with his unique scent swathing every inch of the room, even his bed. “What the hell am I doing in here?” Her eyes now wide with alert, Kaoru leaned against the wall in the silence of the morning, wondering why she had spent the entire night in his bed.
Shaking her head, Kaoru slid off the bed gradually, looking into the mirror that surprisingly hung on the front of his oak, closet door. Thankfully, she looked the same, which meant that she had slept alone in his bed. Why she was even in his bed, she didn’t know, but she planned to find out.
Kaoru entered the kitchen languorously, her indigo-blue eyes narrowed on the unsmiling face of Kenshin, his lips pressing tightly into a stern line. He looked quite refreshed, if one didn’t count the faint, dark bags of exhaustion under his intriguing, terrifyingly cold eyes.
“What, no happy greeting from you this morning?”
“Good morning,” Kenshin stated in a brusque tone of voice.
“Mind if I ask you why the hell I woke up in your bed this morning?” There was a menacing gleam hidden behind the narrowing of Kaoru’s eyes, and her tone was low and hostile.
“Do you not recall?” A simple arch of a burgundy brow greeted Kaoru, causing her lips to thin with distrust.
“Is there something I should remember?” She plopped down at the small, wooden table across from Kenshin, her blue eyes glaring daggers at him.
Kenshin’s only answer was a simple grunt as he turned to look out of the kitchen window, clearly wanting nothing to do with Kaoru’s short temper fuse so early in the morning. When she refused to look anywhere else but at his face, Kenshin’s patience began to wane, leaving him in a cold, irritated state. “Tell me,” his attention swiveled back onto Kaoru as he placed an elbow atop the table, setting his chin in the palm of his hand. “What do you think happened?”
A faint blush stained her cheeks upon thinking of all the believable reasons she could have been found sleeping in Kenshin’s bed rather than her own, namely one coming to mind. Though, she couldn’t be further from the truth. Kaoru would have known if she and Kenshin—if they, perhaps, got to know one another just a little bit better last night. Besides, Kenshin didn’t strike her as the type of man who would take advantage of a woman’s situation even though he had probably done a lot worse in his time.
“I don’t remember. That’s why I’m asking you.”
“Do you not remember a thing from last night? Woman, stop looking at me like that. I did nothing to you,” Kenshin snapped when the look he glimpsed within Kaoru’s bright blue orbs could be called anything but friendly. “I found you half asleep at this table.”
Now, she remembered.
Closing her eyes as the events of last night filled her mind, Kaoru leaned back against the comfortable, wooden chair, completely unaware of the pair of unwavering, intense hues the color of gold watching her carefully from across the table.
She had been waiting up for him for nearly an hour. She knew that he had left the house in a fit of rage, and having had a brief taste of his rage, Kaoru wouldn’t doubt that he was causing chaos somewhere in a dark, abandoned alley, more than likely feasting on a man’s fear.
She sat at the round, kitchen table, her head bowed as sleep fought to overcome her weary mind.
Though, she didn’t want to fall asleep and miss her opportunity to talk to him.
He might have been her kidnapper, but even though he had attacked her in her apartment for the possession of her key, something about the murderer intrigued her. He wasn’t as cold and cruel as he led others to believe, but she knew he could be very frightening. But that didn’t stop her from studying his abrupt mood swings closely every chance she got.
Half an hour later, she was nodding off to sleep when the oak, front door gently swung open.
The dark, alarming silhouette of a very irate assassin stood in the doorway.
Kaoru’s blue eyes snapped open in surprise. Then, she smiled sleepily when she noticed who just entered the log cabin. “Kenshin,” she murmured softly as a yawn she fought hard against escaped the slight parting of her lips. “You’re back. How’d it go?”
Kenshin stared down at the exhausted teenager, his darkened, furiously calm eyes studying the sagging of her shoulders as she tried her hardest to stay awake.
“Everything is fine, I suppose. What are you doing up at this late hour? You should already be asleep.”
“I wanted to wait up for you. I wanted to make sure you were alright.” Kaoru’s head lowered groggily as her eyes drooping with exhaustion returned Kenshin’s stare openly and with a welcoming smile. “Where’d you go? I was worried that something might have happened to you.”
“You were worried about me?” Dumbfounded, Kenshin walked towards Kaoru just as she turned to gaze out of the dark, kitchen window. “I went into town, needed the time alone to think. Woman, you should be in bed.”
Kaoru shook her head, squinting at the window in an attempt to see clearly into the night. She didn’t need to be in bed. She was a grown woman. She could decide for herself when it was time to lie down. Her smile genuine, she turned her head, peering innocently into the glittering gold of Kenshin’s eyes as he stood near her chair, gazing guardedly down upon the crown of her head.
“I’m not tired. I want to talk to you. Let’s talk. Did you enjoy your time alone? Is that why you were gone for so long? I was beginning to think you would never come back. I’m glad you did.” Giggling, she tilted her head to the side, speculating the tense set of his strong, stubborn jaw and the stiffening of his broad shoulders. “Did you miss me? I missed you.”
Kenshin clenched his teeth as his gaze hardened beneath Kaoru’s sparkling, beautiful indigo eyes. He averted his attention to the wooden surface of the table, refusing to look her in the eyes as he would in any other circumstance. She was a drugged woman, sleep-deprived, and she needed to lie down before she started to say things she would regret in the morning. He knew that some women who were very tired intended to act differently and declare things that they would normally never say. Kaoru was obviously one of those women.
“Kenshin,” Kaoru whispered softly as she coyly touched his hand, where he had been clutching the edge of the table tightly. Almost immediately, he withdrew from her, his lips thinning with distaste.
“Go to bed, Kamiya.” Kaoru was just about to protest when Kenshin’s white-knuckled fist harshly met the rough, wooden surface of the table, catching her full, surprised attention. “Now.”
“But,” she began to object when Kenshin shockingly wrapped a strong arm around her waist and lifted her off the chair, practically carrying her from the kitchen and towards the nearest bedroom, his bedroom, where he deposited her on his bed carelessly.
Kaoru landed with a light bounce, her eyes wide. As she shifted into a more comfortable position, her head touching the soft pillow lying at the head of the bed, Kenshin turned his back on her without a word. “Good night, Kenshin!” Kaoru happily called after him when the red-haired man left the bedroom, his long strides casual, yet, tensed.
Yawning, Kaoru settled back onto the bed for a good night’s rest, a contented smile grazing her lips. In a matter of seconds, she drifted off into the world of the fantasizing.
She must have truly been drained of her energy for she slept peacefully like a baby.
“I see that you remember now. Good,” Kenshin muttered sarcastically as he folded his arms across his chest and settled back into a comfortable position, one ankle casually crossing the other. He had been watching her closely as she closed her eyes, her mind controlled for the time being by her memories of last night. “Your work is today, correct?”
Upon hearing mention of her employment, Kaoru’s eyes snapped open.
Her job.
She was going to work today, but only because he was allowing her to.
She would finally be getting back to civilization.
Only for a little while, though.
“That’s right. I believe I have—“ She paused long enough to search the kitchen for a round, clock’s face. When she spotted one hanging above the white cabinets on the left side of the room, she gasped. “—an hour and thirty minutes to get ready!” Bolting out of the chair as though the Devil himself was snapping at her heels, she dashed down the hallway and into her bedroom, quickly plopping down beside the duffel bag where her clothes were neatly stacked. Himura believed in tidiness; that was for sure. Grabbing a pair of light blue jeans and a scarlet-red blouse, Kaoru hurriedly bolted the door against Kenshin, making certain that she would not be watched while she dressed.
And dressed she did, with the speed of a cheetah.
Kenshin all too soon found himself in the company of the ebony-haired, indigo-eyed woman. He simply observed her as she strode towards him with a threat upon her tongue.
She was ready to give him a tongue-lashing if he didn’t hurry and get out of that chair fast.
She couldn’t afford to be late to work.
That would be just as bad as not showing at all.
“Did you not hear me, Himura? Are you deaf, boy?”
Boy; that was uncommon to hear, especially if one was addressing him in such a fashion. He was at least five years older than her.
“I said we have to leave in an hour and thirty minutes. I have no damn clue where you live, or how far my job is from here, so I suggest we leave now!” Exasperated, she blew out a breath of frustration, her blue eyes narrowed on Kenshin’s stern façade, challenging him with a simple lift of her chin.
“You are rather impatient.”
Kaoru blinked several times dazedly while Kenshin’s offhanded remark settled in.
Then, she glowered. “Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t miss work today? Well, I can’t be late either! So, move your carcass, Himura,” she demanded as she pointed in the direction of the front door.
Kenshin slowly rose from the table, his narrowed eyes flashing their irritation. He stared at Kaoru with the cold aloofness of an enemy. “Are you ordering me around, Kamiya?” Calmly, he braced his legs apart and lowered his head in an attempt at intimidation, golden orbs gleaming through the loose strands of his thick, burgundy hair.
It seemed to work.
Kaoru flushed a dark shade of scarlet when she momentarily glanced into the coldness of Kenshin’s gaze, reminding her of the danger his presence clung to daily. Standing firm against a professional murderer cost her the very last shred of audacity. When she could take it no more, she averted her eyes to the floor and mumbled, “I’ll be in the car, wherever it may be,” before she whirled on her heels and rushed quickly from the hazard known as Hitokiri Battousai’s charisma.
A rare, calm, and almost pleased smile touched his lips as his keen eyes followed her thinning figure, watching as she descended the stairs to the porch and raced across the yard towards the first car she spotted.
He hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision to let her go to work today.
The fresh scent of leather in the morning caused a smile to grace Kaoru’s cheery fascia as she and her intimidating bodyguard, as she liked to call him, walked through the door that would lead her into the heart of Barnie and Steel, a shop her father’s old friend had founded nearly twenty years ago. Stopping in front of the desk she usually worked behind, the area that faced every single interesting object in the shop, she could feel the overwhelming shock that fairy exuded Himura Kenshin’s presence.
Apparently, he was in a state of awe over the weapons that hung on the walls and occupied the many shelves made of glass.
Kaoru glanced briefly in Kenshin’s direction, pleased to notice the faint interest she could detect within his distantly cold, calculated stare. His burgundy tresses altered their position, falling into his eyes with hasty ease and shielding their intensity from her view. She leaned against the desk absently as she continued to study Kenshin timorously under the protection of her own ebony bangs.
He was ever a mystery to her; a frightening, passionate mystery that she intended to solve. She would waste away a few years if she had to in order to solve this aberrant mystery.
“Miss Kamiya!”
Kaoru spun on her heels abruptly, quick to find herself head to head with that familiar, irritable frown her manager, Mr. Yakou, owned. Her smile faltering, Kaoru tentatively folded her arms across her chest, knowing not what else to do.
“Miss Kamiya, why have you arrived a minute and twenty seconds late? Did I not make myself clear during our last meeting? I expect my employees to always be on time.” Mr. Yakou shook his balding head at her, wagging a stout finger in her face, as though he sought to teach her a lesson. “Your late arrival is marked against you. What have you got to say for yourself, young lady?”
Kaoru rolled her lower lip between her teeth, sucking gently on it in a nervous gesture, as she and her manager locked gazes, one trying its hardest to dominate the other. “I apologize for my tardiness, Mr. Yakou. You see, I’ve been staying somewhere else—“
“I don’t tolerate tardiness or excuses, Miss Kamiya,” Mr. Yakou interrupted his young employee, sighing in annoyance, as his emerald green eyes flashed their dissatisfaction.
“Yes, but—“
“Get to work,” Kaoru’s manager commanded as he pointed in the direction of the counter, knowing full well that on any work day, Kaoru could be found standing behind the counter, entertaining herself by searching the catalogs for new purchases she could make for the shop.
“Mr. Yakou, if you would let me explain—“
“I don’t want to hear it. Enough of your excuses, Miss Kamiya, I’m not paying you to stand around all day. Chop chop.”
“You barely pay me at all,” she grumbled touchily as she walked around the counter, facing the customers should the shop gain any this morning. Mr. Yakou narrowed his eyes at Kaoru, sternly pursing his thin, oddly pale lips, as he placed an elbow atop the counter, leaning against the counter itself.
“Care to repeat that, Miss Kamiya?” Mr. Yakou questioned sharply.
Kaoru’s blue eyes shifted from her manger’s annoyed gaze to where Kenshin stood rigidly still, near the exit, his golden hues fastened on Mr. Yakou with unhidden abhor. She had forgotten all about him up until this point. And it seemed her manager had yet to notice him.
“Miss Kamiya, are you paying the least bit of attention to me?”
Kaoru’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing the bitterness lacing each and every word her manager uttered, completely taken aback by his sudden dislike for her and her behavior. “I apologize again, Mr. Yakou—“
“There is no need to apologize, especially when you will continue to ignore me and my wishes,” was the manager’s tart reply as he cast a deep frown in Kaoru’s direction. “If you are tardy one more time, Miss Kamiya, you will be fired.”
“This was only my first time, and I was only a minute late!”
She wanted to throttle that arrogant bastard of a manager.
Ever since Barnie had appointed Yakou Rao manager, she and the clown had clashed on the spot. She couldn’t stand the man, as she knew he couldn’t stand her. It was a trade-off really.
A lone, persistent cough cut Kaoru’s and Mr. Yakou’s argument short. His jaw clenched with the effort to remain calm in the face of his young employee, Rao turned to look at the man who stood near the exit of the shop, noticing the dark frown that graced his cold, unreadable façade only Himura Kenshin could don. Furrowing his brows in slight confusion, Rao demanded in an authoritative tone of voice, “Who are you, and why are you standing in my shop?”
“A customer,” Kenshin murmured softly as he leisurely strolled forward, watching with satisfaction as Mr. Yakou cautiously retreated towards the safe haven of the counter, where Kaoru stood, her displeasure evident in the way she glared secretly at Rao, yet, openly at Kenshin. “Wherever she goes, I go.” He nodded his burgundy head at Kaoru, the look he carried within his darkening orbs sending chills coursing through her body. If Mr. Yakou could stand up to Kenshin’s intimidating presence, even after the red head exulted in domination, she would have to congratulate the manager simply because of the fear running through her veins she felt every time she happened to look into the murderer’s unusual, golden orbs; he was the man she had grudgingly come to know in the past few days.
“What do you mean, ‘Wherever she goes, I go’?” It was a demanding, yet, curious question. Though, the man who had asked it fair shuddered with uneasiness.
Kenshin stared fixedly into Rao’s narrowed, brown eyes, his lips set in a hard line. He didn’t appreciate the man’s hostility and curiosity. And he didn’t appreciate Rao’s harsh sarcasm directed at the young woman, Kaoru. His gait agonizingly slow, Kenshin strode towards the nervously paling manager without taking his eyes from the smaller man’s face.
Yakou’s height surprised him.
Kenshin stood at a little over 5’10”. Yakou did not. In fact, the older, balding man stood nearly a head shorter than him.
Kenshin knew of how the man saw himself; a little man trying to fit in the shoes of a bully, and he was fairly annoyed by it. Not only did he not use his height to his advantage, but he saw it as his failure. Yakou obviously saw himself as a big man, and he even had the grace to talk like one.
“This little one,” Kenshin softly replied with a hint of a hard edge entering his voice. “She is under my care. No one, save for myself and possibly a few acquaintances of mine, will treat her with disrespect.
Mr. Yakou widened his eyes in unhidden alarm when Kenshin continued his pursuit, his stride furiously confident. Who was this man? How had Kaoru come across him? Glimpsing Kaoru from out of the corners of his wide, confused eyes, he asked, “Who is this man, Kaoru? How did you come by him?”
Kaoru turned to look at Mr. Yakou, anxiously nibbling on a fingernail. Her manager had paled noticeably under the bronze of his complexion, and his slightly sagging shoulders shuddered with the chilling aura Himura emitted every time he prepared to do battle, his body taut with the desire to fight.
“Actually, he came by me,” she answered quietly, centering her undivided attention onto the man who now evoked fear into the heart of her manager.
Not to mention her.
Mr. Yakou flinched when Kenshin reached the counter, placing one hand upon the countertop. He must get to his office. He knew he would be safe from this strange, red-haired man. Kaoru could handle herself. She didn’t need him to look after her, especially now that he knew they were acquainted with one another. Bowing his head, he muttered, “I have some business that needs to be taken care of. Remember, Kaoru, no more tardiness.” Without so much as a smile, Mr. Yakou disappeared through the back door, moving as fast as his short legs dared to carry him, wanting to further the distance between him and the stranger. There was just something about the man that frightened him.
Kaoru watched her manager escape the intensity of Kenshin’s gaze, acting as though some horrible creature had graced him with their presence. She supposed that in a way a dark creature had been unleashed, a creature so frightening that nothing could tame it. With a brisk shake of her head, her indigo-blue eyes strayed towards that of her disheartening babysitter, a frown upon her lips.
“So, is this how you treat most people you meet?” Folding her arms across her chest while she leaned against the counter, Kaoru fixed Kenshin with a belligerent glare.
“Perhaps,” he shrugged. “There are few people I like.”
“I believe you.” Rolling her eyes, Kaoru’s gaze shifted towards the nearest shelf, where her favorite Japanese, antique swords were placed. She wished she could afford to buy herself a sword, but she supposed working in a swords shop was far better than buying a sword from a shop. She loved working here, despite the ugliness her manager threw her way nearly every day.
Kenshin followed her pointed gaze to where the swords lay, his golden eyes blazing with a fire that refused to die. At the sight of the murderous objects incased in leather, he had the sudden desire to free every last one of them. A rare, relaxed smile grazing his lips, he sauntered towards the swords, longing to feel the cool sharpness of the blades beneath his expert fingertips.
Kaoru observed Kenshin silently as he wrapped his strong, calloused fingers around the hilt of the longest Japanese sword the shop carried. He was so intent in feeling the weapon within his grasp that he was completely unaware of the interest sparking behind her blue eyes upon watching him carefully fondle the sword’s hilt with a fondness that amazed her.
He must truly love swords.
Possibly more than she did.
Returning her concentration to the task at hand, issuing a search for the order forms she had stashed beneath the counter, in a drawer, Kaoru ducked under the counter, digging through the first drawer she came upon. No order forms were found. When she suddenly spotted a large box pushed casually against the wall facing her, curiosity got the better of Kaoru and she crawled towards it on her hands and knees, kneeling by its side, while her fingers itched to open it. She enjoyed opening packages when they came, especially if they were recent swords she had ordered from the catalogs.
The box wasn’t sealed, and Kaoru smiled when she fitted her forefinger into its tight opening, grasping one of the flaps of the box, which helped to protect the object in question from its surroundings while it was being sent. Gingerly pulling the flap away from the rest of the box, Kaoru curiously peeked inside, squinting into the darkness that surrounded the interior.
She began to reach into the box for whatever antique rapier she had ordered.
Then—“Kaoru, what’re you doing down there?”