In the outskirts of Tokyo, there was a humble apartment complex. On the fourth floor, slept a young woman, basking in the morning sunlight. From the open window, a fresh green leaf fluttered inside and landed on her nose, initiating a sneeze. “WAAAAAA-CHUUU!” The girl sat up in her futon and rubbed her nose.

'Onamai wa Kamiya Kaoru desu. Douzo yoroshiku! It's been whole two years since I started living in this apartment by myself. Ever since Otou-san died, I've been alone.'

She pauced to look around her cluttered room, the mini kitchen stocked with instant ramen, and the modest bathroom to the right. "Mou..." she sighed, wanting to go back to dreaming.

'I have two part-time jobs to get by... waitressing at the Akabeko Restaurant, and teaching classes at the Maekawa self-defense school.'

After folding up her futon, she went to go dig through her pile of laundry. Finally, she found her wrinkled work uniform. “Aaaa… maybe Tae-san won’t mind if I’m half an hour late.” she sighed, shaking the work uniform, “I’ll have to give her a call. Now where did I put the phone?”

Looking around, she eventually found the telephone in the wastebasket. She had knocked it over by accident when she arrived home late last night and wandered through the dark to get to bed. She was still wearing the clothes from yesterday and had about four hours of sleep. Yawning, she hit the speed dial and told Tae her situation.

“Demo ne, Kaoru-chan,” Tae said over the phone, “You don’t work today.”

Kaoru’s mouth dropped open. “I must be losing my mind or something…”

“Kaoru-chan, you’ve been working too hard. That’s why I said you should have the day off. Please rest, otherwise you’re going to wear yourself out.”

“Arigatou, Tae-san. I’ll see you tomorrow.” she uttered, hanging up. Her eyes moved to the mirror on the wall. She looked pale and thin, and over all tired. “Mou, I’m supposed a cute young woman enjoying a happy life.” she mumbled, “Saa, I guess I better handle this pile of laundry.”

Kaoru tied her hair up into a ponytail, and scooped up as much clothing as she could. She then reached for the doorknob and opened the door, kicking it wide open. Unable to see anything in front of her, she tried to make it across the hall, only find herself tripping on something and falling flat on her face.

“I-TAI!” she uttered, rubbing her forehead, “WHO PUT THESE BOXES HERE?!”

A guy was coming up the stairs carrying a box. He had long red hair tied back in a ponytail, and also a scar on his cheek. He seemed oblivious to why she was glaring at him as he planted the box right in front of her.

“You…” she growled grabbing him by the collar, “What are you doing?! Don’t you know that this is a hazard?! People could fall and break their necks and DIE!”

“Oro?”

“Is that all you can say?!” she exclaimed, pushing him to the wall.

He bounced back into her face. “Maa, you must be one of my neighbors. Up early de gozaru ka?” She just kept glaring. “Doing laundry de gozaru?” he said, picking up an article of clothing that turned out to be a pair of underwear. He turned bright red. "Oro..."

“BAKA!” she exploded, and sent him crashing back into the wall.

“Ororororo…”

Kaoru quickly picked up all her clothes and started barking at the swirly-eyed guy on the floor. “What are you, some sort of a pervert?!”

“Ronin.” he sputtered. “Sessha wa ronin de gozaru yo.”

“Studying to get into college, nee? Well, didn’t they teach you in school to never NEVER touch a woman’s underwear!”

“Iya, unfortunately.”

Kaoru just sighed and walked away. “What’s the matter with people these days? Don’t they give interviews before giving away apartments anymore? Mou…”

The Ronin lifted his head and watched her go down the stairs. “It’s going to be interesting living here.” he said with a smile, “Sessha likes it already de gozaru.”

* * *
At the laundry mat across the street, Kaoru started sorting her colors and whites. “Mou, what a way to spend my day-off.” she muttered.

Just then, she felt a shadow behind her. On instinct, she reached back and grabbed the person by the wrist and threw him over her shoulder. A preteen boy went crashing into a basket of socks. "Dammit! Not again!” the boy growled.

Kaoru scratched her head. “Oh, it’s you, Yahiko. Isn’t it a bit early for class today?”

Yahiko argued, “Whatever! I want to get strong fast!”

“Still, attacking your instructor outside of class isn’t going to get you any extra lessons.” she replied.

“Shut up, Busu!” he exclaimed, “I hate being weak!”

She continued to sort clothing. “Baka, there’s nothing wrong with being weak!”

“Yes, there is! It sucks!” Yahiko yelled, snatching away her basket, “Are you listening to me?!”

Just then, they stopped to hear a scream outside. Yahiko dropped the basket on the floor and ran outside. Kaoru looked out the window. A girl was surrounded by four gangsters. Yahiko rushed one of the big guys but was thrown down.

“Heh, what’s this wimp trying to do?” one gangster laughed, pushing him aside, "Get lost, Wimp!"

Kaoru kicked the gangster down. “I’m the only one allowed to beat up this kid!”

“Who does this chick think she is?” the gangsters said as they surrounded her.

The Ronin was passing by in time to see her beat them all up. “Oro…” he uttered, almost dropping the box he was carrying. He noticed a man watching from the alley. ‘Something tells me this isn’t the end of this.’ he thought.

Kaoru turned to the girl. “Daijoubu, Tsubame-chan?”

Tsubame nodded. “Hai. Arigatou, Kaoru-san.”

Kaoru nodded, then looked past her to notice an upset Yahiko. “Wimp…wimp…I hate being weak…I hate it…!”

“Yahiko,” she said, walking over to him, “The only way for you to be strong is to understand what it means to be weak. Strength is built up by your experiences. I may be strong now, but only it was because I was weak once. Do you kind of get it?”

“Aa…” he uttered, “Arigatou, Kaoru.”

She smiled. “Now if you start listening to me like this in class and get rid of that punk-kid attitude, you’ll be well on your way.”

“Hey, Busu, don’t get your hopes up.”

Tsubame interrupted. “Oh, Kaoru-san, I almost forgot. Tae-san told me it was your day-off so I thought I’d bring you a cake.” she said, handing over the wrapped parcel, “I made it myself. Please enjoy it.”

“Arigatou, demo isn’t it a bit too big for me to eat by myself…?” Kaoru started to say.

The Ronin appeared at her elbow. “Mm, cake sounds good de gozaru yo.”

“YOU AGAIN?!” she exclaimed, pointing at him. He just smiled.

She then picked up her laundry basket and started to go towards the apartment. Tsubame and Yahiko followed. Tsubame asked, “Kaoru-san, who’s that?”

“Some perverted Ronin who just moved in next door.”

The Ronin scratched his head. “Oro…”

* * *
That night, Kaoru was walking home from the self-defense school. “That Yahiko has a lot of potential, but he needs to learn to respect his elders…” she thought out loud.

On an empty street, she stopped suddenly and noticed that she was being followed. The gang leader laughed, “So, this is the one who beat up my little brother, Kiheh? Well, this will be fun.”

“I’ll beat you up like I did those other guys.” she sneered, clenching her fists.

“Not likely.” he said. The rest of the gang appeared; there was about ten of them. Kaoru saw that her odds of winning now were lost and took off running. They, of course followed. “You can try, but you can’t get away from us!”

While running Kaoru started feeling tired. ‘What’s wrong with me? I usually can handle this but my body feels like it’s going to give way…’ she thought, taking a sharp turn into an alley. She stopped to notice that it was a dead-end. ‘Oh no!’

“Heh, told you ya can’t get away from us!” the leader said, grabbing her by the collar, “Sure you can protect those little kids, but you’ve got no one to protect you.”

‘Dammit…’ Kaoru uttered as she was being lifted from the ground, ‘I have no strength left.’ She looked around at the blurry images of the cheering crowds and the evil look on the leader’s face. ‘I’m going die…”

“Excuse me!” said a voice. The crowd turned to a small guy standing on the fire escape above them. “Please put her down gently de gozaru yo.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, little boy?” the leader asked.

Kaoru looked up and uttered, “T-the…Ronin…?”

The Ronin leapt down and landed on the leader’s back. He pulled the giant into a headlock so that Kaoru was released. She landed on the ground and watched as the Ronin finished the leader, then preceded to beat up the rest of the gang using a broken chair leg from the ground.

‘Strong…’ she thought, ‘And fast too; they can’t even lay a finger on him.’

Just then, there was a police siren. Cops came and rushed the place, arresting all the gangsters. The Ronin turned to her. “Let’s get out of here before they start asking too many questions.” he said, lifting her up into his arms and climbing the fire escape.

Kaoru stared at his face as she was passing out. ‘Who is this Ronin…?’

* * *
Kaoru woke up to the aroma of something cooking. ‘Hm? Breakfast?’ she thought, sitting up in the bed. She then realized she wasn’t in her room. ‘WHAT THE HELL?’

The Ronin walked over with a tray. “Konichiwa! Did you sleep well de gozaru ka?”

She just started twitching. “T-this is…?!”

“Sessha's apartment de gozaru yo. You see, you passed out after the fight and I couldn’t get into your apartment. Also, it was too late to bother the landlord-dono for a key.” he explained.

“And t-this?” she stammered, pulling at the pajamas she was wearing.

“Eto, those clothes you were wearing were covered with mud so I sent them off to the dry cleaners de gozaru yo.”

“YOU!!!!”

“Oro?” he uttered, as she started hurling pillows and funiture at him. “Oro! Oro! Oro!”

After finally calming down, Kaoru accepted her meal. The Ronin just sat watching her. “Ano, about before…” she said, “I was rude towards you when we first met. I also didn’t say a word of thanks for saving my life and taking care of me like this…”

“So?” he asked.

“Well, I’m not used to relying on anyone else. I’ve been on my own for a long time, so what I’m trying to say is…”

He reached over and felt her forehead. “Are you getting a fever? You’re burning up.”

“BAKA!!!” she yelled, “I’m trying to apologize here!!”

He just smiled. “No need de gozaru. I just glad that you’re okay.”

“A-rigatou…” she uttered.

“The reason you passed out and couldn’t handle all those gangsters yourself was because you’ve been over-working yourself to exhaustion. For the next couple days, you should just rest. Don’t worry about anything.”

“Datte…!” she started to protest.

The Ronin shook his head. “I had my doctor friend check you out while you were sleeping. She said that you won’t get any better if you go back to work and try to do things on your own.”

Kaoru finally gave in. “Sou ka. I guess I can call Tae-san and Maekawa-sensei, and ask for some time off.”

“Yosshi!” he said with a nod, “That’s a good attitude de gozaru yo! You should also eat more nutritious food, so I will be making your meals for now on.”

“Okay with me. You’re a pretty good cook.” she replied. Just then, the door flew open. A tall guy with a red headband and spiky brown hair had kicked it open. He held a case of sake on his shoulder. “Kyaa! It’s one of those gangsters!” Kaoru cried.

“Oi, I gave up that shit years ago.” the tall guy snarled. He turned to the Ronin. “Nice apartment. But, who’s the girl?”

Kaoru pointed at him. “Who’s this guy?”

The Ronin rubbed the back of his head. “This is my friend Sagara Sanosuke. And this is… oh, I haven’t caught your name.”

“Kamiya Kaoru.” she replied.

Sanosuke rubbed his chin. “Yow, you’ve got a girl in your apartment already and you didn’t even know her name? I’ve got to hand it you…”

“Maa maa, it’s really not like that.” the Ronin replied, “Tonikaku, what’s with the sake?”

“We’re friends, right? I thought we could celebrate your new apartment.”

“Sano… in other words you want a party?”

”Damn right!” Sanosuke exclaimed, “Jou-chan, you’re invited too!”

The Ronin dropped his head. “Demo, Sano, Sessha is supposed to be studying de gozaru…”

* * *
That night, Kaoru woke at 2:30 AM to hear knocking. Rubbing her eyes, she put on her robe and fumbled across her room. She could faintly hear music and chatter coming from next door. She opened her door and saw the Ronin standing there with a handful of books. “Ano… Kaoru-dono…”

“Hmm? Nani?” she asked sleepily.

“Sorry to bother you so late, but Sano took over my apartment and is having a party with some other friends. Sessha was wondering… could I study here?”

She rubbed her eyes again. “I guess.”

He smiled. “Arigatou de gozaru!”

She moved away and opened the door wider. He walked right in and made himself comfortable on the couch. Yawning, Kaoru got two bottles of iced tea from the fridge and sat next to him.

“Once again, Sessha is really sorry to bother you.” he said, accepting the tea.

“It’s no bother at all, Ronin.” she replied.

He lifted his head from his book. “It's Kenshin. Himura Kenshin.”

“Kenshin…” she uttered, her eyes feeling heavy.

Falling asleep, she slowly started slump over. Eventually, her head rested on Kenshin’s shoulder. He looked up in surprise. Staring at the sleeping Kaoru for a moment, he smiled then turned a page in his book.