Chapter 7: Dinner time

A fanfiction by Kyo

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Kaoru was lying comfortably on Kenshin's bed with her laptop in front of her as she surfed through the net to gather some information for their project. Kenshin was also lying on his bed, using Kaoru's back as a pillow as he read from his psychology book. He yawned widely, causing Kaoru to giggle. It had been awhile since they had started with their project after they had talked with Hiko for some minutes.

The man highly amused Kaoru. It was funny how he affected Kenshin. Kenshin normally was composed and collected, but when in the presence of his father he seemed to lose all his confidence. And Kaoru understood that. Hiko's ego was the size of the Asian continent. But he was not a cruel man, he was only confident of his skills, and with reason. He was the only living Master of Hiten Misturugi Ryuu, and the strongest of them all, by the look of it.

Kenshin's yawn made Kaoru yawn, too. "You hungry?" Kenshin asked without looking at her. "No, not yet." She answered. Then, suddenly, a gentle rumble or growl was heard in the room. It had been Kenshin's stomach demanding for some food. Kaoru giggled and Kenshin reddened. "You hungry?" Kaoru asked innocently. Kenshin nodded, his long fiery hair tickling her back. Kaoru rolled on her back so Kenshin's head was now on her stomach.

"You should start dinner." She murmured, resisting the urge to stroke his soft hair. She liked the way it tickled her through the cloth. "Or Hiko will start complaining some time soon."

"Yeah." Kenshin agreed, but did not feel like standing up, he was comfortable just the way he was.

"Baka deshi!" A voice called outside just before opening the door. "I'm hungry, baka deshi, so get your butt out of here and start dinner."

Kenshin sighed. Kaoru giggled and murmured. "Told ya." As they stood up from their comfortable positions.

"And you better cook something nice, baka deshi," Hiko continued when they followed him out of the room. "or your girlfriend here won't come for dinner again." He said as if nothing while the two teens behind him turned beet red.

"Kaoru is not my girlfriend, shishou." Kenshin said quietly, his voice with some edge. He was reminding him of some warning of some sort.

"Sure, baka deshi." He said, ignoring him utterly and completely. "Start dinner now, or you'll be doing Dou Ryu Sen's for the rest of your life."

Kenshin groaned and entered the kitchenette, not giving him a glance.

Kaoru sat on the round dinner table in front of Hiko, who was serving himself a cup of sake. He offered Kaoru some, but she declined.

"How has my baka deshi treated you?" Hiko asked conversationally. On the kitchenette there was a sound, as if something had fallen down. Kenshin, startled by Hiko's question, had let fall a spatula.

"Why do you ask, Hiko-san?" Kaoru asked, turning the tables.

"Because if he hadn't treated you well, I'll Kuzu Ryu Sen him out of the country, Kaoru-san."

"That's so sweet of you, Hiko-san. I didn't know you were such a gentleman." Kaoru said with a smirk.

Hiko grunted but did not reply to that, instead, he repeated his question. "Has he treated you well?"

"Of course he has treated me well, Hiko-san. And if he didn't, I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, thank you very much."

Hiko smirked. "Of course."

"Mou! You don't believe me, Hiko-san? I can show you." Just then, Kenshin emerged from the kitchen, wearing a very cute blue apron with cute anime-style chibi-katana's all over. He gave his master a slight glare before directing an innocent smile in Kaoru's direction, spatula still in hand. "Shishou believes you, Kaoru. He's just trying to annoy you, like always." Kenshin said with another glare directed to his father.

"Mou!" Kaoru repeated as she took her seat again. Hiko hid his amused smirk under the rim of his sake cup.

"You like sukiyaki?" Kenshin asked sweetly as he placed the dishes he had brought from the kitchen on their respective places. Kaoru nodded at him with a smile and she took the dishes from his hands to help him.

"And why you don't ask me, baka deshi?" Hiko asked indignantly, as always, making his presence known.

"Because I already know you do." Kenshin answered grumpily, retreating to the kitchen to see that the food didn't get burn.

Kaoru smiled at Hiko in apology in the name of Kenshin and went to look for the glasses and chopsticks.

Hiko really liked the girl. He had known she was the right one for his baka deshi the moment she stepped into the room all those years ago when they had first met. She had lot of spirit, but was also vulnerable. She completed Kenshin in many different ways. He would not be able to be with a woman who had not the same strong spirit as he. If she didn't, he would probably get bored with her in a matter of days. And she also needed to be protected. Hiko knew that Kenshin needed someone to protect in order to feel that he was of some use. She offered that. She also seemed to perfectly understand his fiery nature and his need to protect.

Suddenly, there was a noisy commotion on the kitchen. Hiko could not believe they were playing in his kitchen yet again. He stood up, ready to stop the children from making any other mess.

"Mou! Kenshin! I brought no other clothes! And I'm not wearing my training clothes!" Kaoru complained loudly as she tried to get rid of the excess water of her shirt.

"Gomen!" Kenshin apologized vehemently. "It was an accident!" He explained as Hiko entered the kitchen. The older man rolled his eyes in exasperation as he saw the mess his baka deshi had made. The worst thing was, there was no logical explanation as to why Kaoru's shirt and pants were completely soaked, as was the floor.

"Really baka deshi, I cannot imagine you being anymore clumsy." He murmured as he went for a mop and a bucket to clean the mess. "Get the girl some dry clothes, for God's sake, Kenshin."

"Er . . . right." Kenshin said awkwardly. He directed her to his room and looked for something that fitted. He emerged from the closet with a pair of midnight blue draws-string pants and black T-shirt that read "Heart of Sword" in big red sharp letters across the chest with a fascinating picture of the head and wings of a fierce blue dragon (check webpage to see it).

"Thank you Kenshin. Now, go help your father before he Kuzu Ryu Sens you out of here."

"Right." Kenshin murmured as he got out of the room as fast as he could. Kaoru chuckled and stripped from her wet clothes and put in the shirt and pants. She liked to wear his clothes. She felt like he was holding her and they still held his scent. His particular scent of soap and sandalwood. She loved it.

She merged from the room and saw that Kenshin was already back to cooking the sukiyaki while Hiko complained in the background about him having a klutz for deshi. She could almost hear Kenshin sigh. He would never live through that one.

Kaoru entered the kitchen, clutching her pants which just kept falling down. The T-shirt fell from one of her shoulders, giving Kenshin ample view of her skin.

"Hello again, Kaoru. Gomen for that, it's just that I'm a klutz." Kaoru smiled at him. "It' okay Kenshin. You are not a klutz." She stopped. "Most of the time."

He gave her a mock suffering look. "This is ready, let's go to eat." Once the food was set on the plates, Kenshin decided it was time to call Hiko. "Shishou! Dinner is ready!" Hiko appeared almost immediately. "It was about damn time, baka deshi. I was beginning to think I would never eat."

Kenshin arched an eyebrow in his direction but said nothing.

"This is delicious Kenshin! I wished I was able to cook like this."

"Thank you Kaoru." Kenshin said a bit shyly, dreading his Shishou's comment, which would surely come.

"You should have tasted the first Sukiyaki he cooked." Hiko started. Kenshin winced as Kaoru listen attentively. "Not even the dog dared to approach it, afraid it would eat him instead of the other way round."

"It was not that bad!" Kenshin protested. Kaoru sported an amused smile.

"Sure it was, baka deshi."

Kenshin was about to protest again when the phone rang. Kenshin, who was the one nearest to it, answered.

"Moshi moshi."

"Tomoe-nee! Hello! How are you doing?"

"That's good, we are okay, too."

"What news?"

"In three weeks? Isn't that much too soon. You have only met the guy!"

"No, Tomoe-nee, I have no doubt he is a good man."

"Could you wait at least till Shishou and I met him?"

"I know you can take care of yourself, it's only that this is important!"

"You have been planning this for a while already? And you didn't tell us!"

"Kyoto? In three weeks? Sure I can go. We have a tournament anyway."

"You want the gang there too? The girls? And the boys too? All of them?"

"Kaoru is fine. She is here with me. Talk to her? Yes, why not. Bye, sis."

Kenshin covered the phone with one hand as he talked to Kaoru. "It's Tomoe-nee. She wants to talk to you."

Kaoru looked surprised but accepted the phone anyway.

While Kaoru talked to Tomoe in the phone, Hiko complained to his son. "He talks to your girlfriend before she talks to me! She's my daughter for goodness' sake! She should be talking to me, not your girlfriend. And what is this about Kyoto and three weeks, what were you talking about, baka deshi?"

"Tomoe-nee says she's getting married in three weeks time. On Saturday. To the guy she talked us about."

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Hiko shouted.

Kenshin nodded. "She's getting married. She wants us to go (duh!). You, Kaoru, the gang and me. Said she would give you the details when you talked to her." Meanwhile, in the background, they could hear the excited shrieks of the two girls in the phone. After some more minutes of excited squeals Kaoru handed the phone to Hiko, who grumpily took it from her hand.

Kaoru turned to Kenshin. "She's getting married! And by the look of it, the guy's a hunk. A real cutie! And he is the most romantic fellow in the whole world! It would be cool to have a boyfriend like him." Kaoru kept on rambling until they finished eating, and Hiko was still on the phone.

In his mind, Kenshin was taking tips over the things she liked about a guy. He thought it would come over useful if he ever got the guts to try and ask her to be his girlfriend. Not that it was going to be anytime soon.

After they finished eating they washed the dishes, this time without any incidents. Kaoru wanted to wet him to get back at him, but she didn't know if Hiko would like the idea so she decided not to. By the time they finished, it was late.

"Kenshin, could you take me home, please? It's getting late and Aoshi-nii will be worried about me."

"Sure. Go get your things while I finish here." Kaoru disappeared from his sight and he finished cleaning the kitchen. In scarcely two minutes, Kaoru arrived with her bags in her hands.

"Ready? Let's go." Kenshin opened the door for her and took her laptop and schoolbag from her.

"I won't be long, shishou!" Kenshin called right before closing the door. They quickly stepped into his car and in less than a couple of minutes they were at her door. Few lights were on, indicating that Aoshi was probably waiting for her or studying in the living room.

"See you tomorrow." Kaoru said as she stepped out of the car. Kenshin stepped out too and handed helped her with the bags.

"Er . . . Kaoru?" Kenshin started hesitantly. "Hai?" Kaoru answered without looking at him, trying to find the right key.

"Would you er . . . like to go with me to Tomoe-nee's wedding?" Kenshin finished quickly, praying to God that she had understood him so he didn't have to repeat it.

"Sure Kenshin. I'd love that." With that simple sentence, Kenshin felt he had gone to heaven.

"It's in three weeks. And I thought that if we are already going to the tournament, would you like me to take you?" He asked sheepishly.

"Yes Kenshin. I'd like that. I'll talk to Aoshi-nii. He and Misao-chan are going, too." Kenshin nodded. "Okay. See you tomorrow."

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The next day, when Kenshin and Kaoru arrived together to school like they always did, there was strange gossiping going around. Everywhere they went, murmurs and whispers followed. It was starting to unnerve Kaoru so badly that she wanted to stop on her tracks and shout "What the hell are you talking about!?" But she didn't do that. She decided to use more subtle methods to know, and the perfect person for that was her best friend, Makimachi Misao. She wasn't a spy for nothing, and she knew everything there was going on in the school. She found her after second period, when all of them had free hour. She was on the cafeteria with Aoshi and Sano. Megumi hadn't arrived yet.

Kaoru affronted Misao directly. "Okay, tell me what's going on." Misao took a deep breath. "I investigated. It seems they are speculating about your relationship, guys." Misao said, signaling Kenshin and Kaoru. Both their eyes widened in surprise. Then Misao took a paper out of her bag. It was the print out of an internet page. She turned a few pages and found what she was looking for. It was, apparently, a statistic. It contained a few names and a few pictures, too. Megumi arrived at that moment and sat next to her boyfriend.

She handed the paper to them. "This, as you can see, is a bet. It's about the end of semester ball. They, apparently, have set both of you as a prize, separately. If they get you to be his or her date for the ball they get five hundred dollars, one thousand if they get a kiss. This is top secret, I had to hack more computers than you think to get this info out." Misao finished. Kenshin and Kaoru were mad and embarrassed. They couldn't believe something like that was going on around their so called love lives.

Kaoru didn't know what to say. She hated the fact that her so called love life was an open book for everybody to see and everybody to write on, by the look of it. Now they would scare Kenshin more than he already was. Mou!

Kenshin leaned on the table and groaned. This complicated things a little. Well, not only a little. The place swirled around him and pretty colors danced before his eyes.

"Mou!" Kaoru complained loudly as she straightened Kenshin on his seat so he wouldn't fall down. Then she remembered something more important that the stupid bet. "Kenshin! Wake up! You have to tell them you know what!" Kaoru said as she shook him awake.

After some moments the place stopped swirling and the pretty colors went away and Kenshin could talk straight again. "Right. We are going to Kyoto in three weeks time." Kenshin announced. "Tomoe-nee san called yesterday and she is getting married. She wants us al there. About the same day is the tournament, too."

"Tomoe-san is getting married?" Misao asked excitedly. Kenshin sweatdropped at the evident excitement of the girl and nodded.

"Yes! She is! She talked me about him! His name is . . ." And the girls started talking about the guy and the dress and the party and everything else.

All three boys sweatdropped. They had forgotten about them. "They have gone wedding-mode." Sano murmured bitterly. That meant she would ignore him till the topic was over, and that could take some time.

""Yeah."" Kenshin and Aoshi sighed. Then, Kenshin recovered. "I'm taking Kaoru to Kyoto in the car. Kyoto is not too far away, a couple of hours driving. I guess you guys are taking your girls, too?" Kenshin ventured.

Aoshi only nodded. "Of course man!" Sano boasted, smirking at Kenshin's choice of words.

Kenshin checked his clock. It was already time to go to class. He stood up, and the others followed him. Kaoru said goodbye to the girls and joined him. They entered class.

Kenshin was thinking about the wedding.

These are going to be three long weeks. Kenshin thought as he entered the classroom and noticed that some students were already talking behind his back. But thought nothing more of it when Kaoru brushed past him, smiling and choosing two seats for them.

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