Rurouni Kenshin
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Fandom: Rurouni Kenshin:
Table: table-1


Title: .033 Danger
Characters: Kenshin/Kaoru
Prompt: .033 Danger
Word Count: 432
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Demon!Kenshin I think…
Author's Notes: Random Drabble



Kaoru leaned against the wall, secure in the knowledge that the shadows hid her from the encroaching army slowly making sweeps through the city. Twisting her hair into a tight knot against the back of her head she kept her senses alert as she pulled on her gear. Long, fingerless gloves crafted from dragon hide beaten so thin and malleable; the gloves went to her elbows, protection from magic and the strange, acidic blood of the creatures slowly taking over her city.

Her lips curved in a vicious smile. Not tonight, at least. Hard to take a city that would rather collapse in on itself than surrender. Adjusting her wrist braces over the hide took a little work but it wasn’t long before she was pulling her mask carved from bone out of her bag.

Breath danced against her ear and Kaoru felt some of the tension ease in her neck muscles. There was only one creature that could get this close without her awareness of his presence.

“You’re early.” She whispered, tilting her head so she could see his profile.

“It’s started.” He murmured softly, lips brushing the sensitive rim of her ear. She bit back a shiver and shifted away from the temptation of his mouth. She could feel his amusement and drove the hilt of her sword backwards.

He dodged, but she had expected him to.

“Behave,” she warned, watching the shadows of him from beneath her lashes. “We have a city to burn and enemies to kill and your flirting.”

His eyes were the color of burnished bronze when his eyes met hers. “Yes.”

The first, faint cry of alarm reached her ears and she let her eyes drink him in. There was a spark and his eyes and hair caught the slow growing fire. She wasn’t sure she would ever be used to how bright he was.

“Be safe?”

His smile showed off teeth that were just shy of too sharp. “You as well.”

Sliding her mask into place she took the opportunity to roll her eyes. “If you couldn’t kill me, bright one, then I doubt they will manage it.”

His fingers traced the bumps in her spine. “Be sure of it. I will track your soul into all the dark places of the world if I must, Kaoru.”

She bit her tongue to hide her reaction at the possessive purr to his voice. A promise. A threat. Something between them. Pulling her sword free of her scabbard she gave his profile once last glance before sliding into the night.

She had a duty to perform.



Title: .037 Loud
Characters: Kenshin/Kaoru/Sano
Prompt: .037 Loud
Word Count: 2159
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Roomate Series.
Author's Notes: Random Drabble



Sometimes in life, it was the little things.

Then, other times, it was about how you could get revenge without your roommate being able to get revenge back in a similar manner. In moments like those, you were completely reasonable in playing dirty. Like the time Megumi flushed Misao’s favorite thong down the toilet when she was going on a date with The One. Or perhaps it would be better to refer to the time that Sano put itching powder, not in Katsu’s sheets, not in his boxers, but in his socks. Socks that he hadn’t noticed had itching powder in them until he was halfway down the stairs, twenty minutes late to his Chemistry Lab.

But those were just little things. Unfortunately, on the scale of one to ten, setting her up with the downstairs neighbor for lunch without her permission was just a little thing. Accidentally flushing *her* toilet so that the water in Sano’s shower turned from warm and comfortable to scalding hot so that he jumped back frantically, slipped, knocked him elbow against the side of the tub, and landed on an already bruised tailbone… all the while in really hot water…

Well, that was also just a little thing.

These things happened in life. You shook them off, filed them away for when you’re drunk and want to entertain someone, and let them go until the perfect opportunity for revenge hits you straight in the face. Sometimes it involves duck tape and mayonnaise… sometimes it just involves vodka. Either way, those were little things.

Kaoru wasn’t even sure what she was going to call the redhead sitting on her couch. There was the vague memory of him and an incident with Febreeze and pizza at the end of spring semester, but her mental image of the lost kitten then had nothing to do with the man who was easily destroying every racing record Sano had set.

After he had gone in and deleted all hers.

It wasn’t so much that he attacked the game with a single mindedness that reminded her of a Misao on cookies. It was that, unlike a Misao on cookies, he knew what he was doing with that controller. She could dig a man who could play a game.

It wasn’t so much that the slightly lost look had disappeared into that confidence that only men ever really managed to have. Women could never pull it off. Not that women didn’t have their own brand of confidence, it was just that no woman ever really looked good half-sprawled with that lazy smile across her face that said she knew she was king of the hill. Most men couldn’t either, now that she thought about it. When had the kitten gotten a backbone?

And why was he on her couch?

Indigo-blue eyes met hers as he paused the game, a brow half-lifted in silent question.

“You’re not training to be a firefighter are you?”

His brow lifted the rest of the way into those messy, messy bangs. “No.”

Kaoru nodded sagely and continued to stare at him. Firefighting would have made sense, in a way. She could see him climbing ladders to save stranded kittens for teary-eyed four year olds. Except he said he wasn’t.

Gymnast? Nah. Too much hair. Perhaps he was getting a beauticians degree from down the road. If Megumi went there, it would explain how they met. Sano pretended he wasn’t doing it, but stalking med students seemed to be his favorite past time lately. Eventually she was going to come home to a message on her answering machine telling her that he was needed bail money or a message from Megumi telling her that Sano was dead. She had killed him. She needed help hiding the body.

“Can I help you with something?” His tone was pleasant, but there was a spark of laughter in his voice. Kaoru grudgingly gave him another few points. Most men were nervous fidgeters when they were stared at. Women to. He didn’t seem to mind. With that hair, she supposed he was used to it.

“What’s your degree plan?”

Those lashes of his blinked and then he relaxed a little, turning back to his game. “I don’t have one.”

“You don’t have one?” she repeated, suddenly understanding Sano’s need to drag this man into her home. He was a little delicate for it, but there was very little that her bokken couldn’t solve. She would just have to make sure she hit him… *lightly*.

“I graduated two years ago,” his tone was light.

Kaoru had to grab the edges of the stool she was on to keep from falling over. Glaring at the way the corner of his lips had kicked up in amusement, she narrowed her eyes. He had already graduated but looked like a lost kitten.

“In what?”

“Engineering.”

“Do they actually let you near something heavy?”

“Are you always this nosy?”

“Only with people who look like they either deserve to be fed milk and store bought cookies or need to be beaten upside the head with a bokken,” Kaoru informed him matter-of-factly. “You don’t exactly look sturdy enough be hit in the head with anything heavier than a feather.”

He put the controller down and twisted around so the was facing her. “Was that a challenge?”

Kaoru blinked at him again. “Not really.” Before either of them could say anything else, Sano walked back from where he had gone to change clothes. He was wearing exactly the same outfit that he had been before he had gone into the bedroom. Narrowing her eyes, she tapped her foot against the side of the stool.

“What did you do?”

Sano froze. “What makes you think I did anything.”

“Woman’s intuition.” Kaoru said in return, her foot tapping out the beat to that song she had heard on the radio. “You better tell me how much blood is going to spilt now, so I can start planning out how to get you back for it.”

Sano pressed a hand to his heart. “Would I ever do anything to put you in danger.”

“Ninth Grade. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich in Marcus Whitestone’s face. In which you promptly jumped behind me, leaving me with nothing but a rubber band.”

“If I remember correctly, he had to be taken to the nurse’s office!”

“Only because Jamie Kingston had a crush on me and watched you turn yellow belly and decided he had to come to my defense!” Kaoru reminded him darkly. “I had to put up with those giggling idiots you sat with everyday for a week over it!”

“You could have taken him.”

“That,” Kaoru pointed out with a raised finger, “is not the point. The point is that you are *not* going to distract me with your endless questions. What did you do?”

He held up both hands. “What makes you think I did anything, anyway?”

Kaoru eyed him. “You’re the one who went into his room the ‘change clothes’ and didn’t.”

“Huh,” he looked down at his clothing and blushed. “Oh, that.” He cut his eyes guiltily to Kenshin, who was now ignoring them both, shutting down the game. “I um… forgot.”

Kaoru blinked at both men, getting down off the stool and rolling her eyes at her roommate. “You’re so weird.”

“Hey! No need to revert to name calling!” Sano protested.

“Well,” Kaoru pointed out. “Kenshin is done with the game so you both can go to male bonding somewhere else so I can pretend I’m sane now.”

Sano blinked and looked at the redhead who was rolling up the controllers. “Kenshin came over to do something?”

Kaoru pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose and decided a retreat to her room was the best option possible. If Sano had friends over to take up couch space and nothing else, then well, that was Sano’s issue. She was going to take a bubble bath and hide from men in general.

“Nothing. Never mind. It’s your turn to buy dinner.” She reminded him as she headed for the safety of her room. “You are banned from Mexican for another month, best keep that in mind. Try not to kill him, Kenshin.”

Shutting the door firmly behind her and ignoring the confused tone to Sano’s voice as he directed a question at Kenshin, Kaoru headed into the bathroom to start running the bathwater. A few moments later, her emergency stash of dark chocolate was sitting on the countertop and she was dumping jasmine bath salts into the frothing water.

She just didn’t understand her roommate.



Kaoru picked up a sushi roll with a look of utter delight on her face. “I love you right now.”

Sano scowled. “My pocket book does not love you.”

“It’s jealous because I am getting all the attention.” Kaoru responded after she had chewed and swallowed. “We haven’t had sushi in forever.”

“You need a boyfriend.”

Kaoru peaked open one eye she had closed in bliss. “Why? I just bully you into buying me expensive food.”

“I get nothing out of it. At least your boyfriend would be getting sex in return for buying you expensive food. I just have to watch you make those silly faces.” He grunted when she kicked him under the table.

“I’ll let you order Mexican this weekend.”

“Why?"

“You bought me sushi and I’m not going to be there Friday night.” Kaoru returned as she picked up another piece. “The girls wanna go dancing.”

“I invited Kenshin to join us for lunch.” Kaoru paused mid-chew to give him a speaking look. Sano held up both hands. “He hasn’t been around and he has work tonight. I thought it would be nice to say hi.”

Kaoru swallowed. “You don’t invite Katsu to join us for sushi lunch.”

“That’s because Katsu thinks it’s girly.”

“It protein,” Kaoru reminded him indignantly. “Nothing girly about sushi, and what do you mean he has work? I can’t think of a nighttime job that would hire him.”

“He is a part-time bouncer at the bar.”

Kaoru froze and gawked at him. “Katsu’s bar?”

“Yes, that bar! Do you know of any other bar we call the bar?”

Kaoru kicked him for principle. “I can’t believe you invited him to each lunch with us.” She poked her chopsticks at him. “Katsu came once and he never said it was girly.”

“I think your funny faces offended him.”

Kaoru narrowed her eyes. “You’re buying me green tea ice cream to.”

“Hey!”

“Am I interrupting something?” Kenshin’s light tenor interrupted the growing argument and Kaoru took another piece of sushi for herself. Sano shook his head, waving him to sit down.

“Nah, I was just telling Kaoru that you were a bouncer.”

Kaoru rolled her eyes heavenward and chewed faster. Sano gave her a mischievous grin that spoke of revenge for the kicking. “She didn’t believe me.”

Kenshin smiled his thanks to the waitress who brought him a glass of water and shook his head no if he wanted something else. “Yes,” he said as he broke open his own chopsticks. “I remember a similar conversation from earlier.”

Kaoru finally swallowed. “It’s not my fault you look like a strong wind could knock you over.” She protested.

Those indigo-blue eyes swept over her frame. “You’re smaller than I am.” There was something warm in his tone and Sano coughed into his napkin. Kaoru rolled her eyes.

“You still look like I can break you.”

“You know,” Sano pointed out as he dipped his sushi in the wasabi sauce. “You said you and the girls were going dancing this weekend. You should just go by the bar and see for yourself.”

Kaoru lifted a brow. “You just want to see Megumi dressed up.”

Sano shrugged innocently.

“You should come by,” Kenshin agreed. There something mischievous in his eyes that didn’t really fit the lost kitten imagine in her head.

Kaoru considered those eyes as she picked up another sushi. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“Yes?”

“You managed to get Shinomori into the bar, thus getting me out of watching Misao mope all night, and I will even dance with you.”

Those eyes flickered with sparks of yellow for a moment and then they were gone. “It’s a deal.”

Sano snorted. “What makes you think he wants to dance with you?”

“I’m probably one of only a handful of women shorter than he is,” Kaoru pointed out cheerfully. Setting her chopsticks down, she grinned at Sano. “You may buy me ice-cream now.”

"My wallet hates you."

"Suck it up and be a man. I'm merely offering you practice for what Megumi is going to force you to do. Practice makes perfect you know."

"Brat."

"Rooster. Now a broke rooster at that."

"I hate women."

"I'll tell Megumi your changing preferences."

"Arg!"

"Are you two always like this?"

"No!"

"Of course not. I'm mature."

"Like a toddler."

"Hey!"



Title: .039 Seek
Characters: Kenshin/Kaoru/Sano/Megumi
Prompt: .039 Seek
Word Count: 2159
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Not much to say
Author's Notes: Random Drabble



“Now Jou-chan, you didn’t mean that!”

Kenshin paused at the loud voice that cut through the quiet of the relatively peaceful second floor of the library. Frowning, fingers hovering inches from the spine of a book, he tilted his head to peer through the shelves. He didn’t see anyone, but the annoyed thump of a book bag confirmed that the individuals had paused in what had been his sanctuary for the past hour.

‘All good things do come to an end Himura,’ he thought ruefully. ‘

“Come on, I just need one good word from a friend!”

"If you were my husband-to-be, I'd pour arsenic in your coffee."

Kenshin paused where he was moving to remind people that the library was a place to be quiet, not to argue. There had been a particularly grumpy note in the female’s voice.

“You’re lucky Megumi didn’t come up with something more creative than just throwing you out of the house for the weekend.”

Peering around the bookshelf, careful to keep his hair out of view, Kenshin blinked. He recognized the tall man as the ex-forward for the basketball team. He had graduated last spring. Kenshin couldn’t remember what rumors had said he was doing now, but he vaguely recalled a rather embarrassing proposal at some party or another to his med-student girlfriend. Misao had known the girl proposed to and thought it romantic.

He had never seen the small raven haired female standing with hands fisted on her hips, bangs falling messily into a pair of positively sparking blue eyes. It was warm enough outside that she had apparently felt comfortable in a tank top cut in a way that showed off the ripple of well formed muscle in her shoulders and stomach as she leaned back and glared.

“Ah, Jou-chan…"

The small woman lifted a hand and fairly snarled the next sentence.

“You looked at her wedding dress. On purpose. The weekend before the wedding!”

The man’s shoulder hunched defensively. “It was an accident.”

She snorted, reaching down to pick up her bag. “Hardly.”

“Jou-chan….”

She crossed her arms. “No.”

“Please.”

“Sano…”

“It’s as you said, my wedding is next weekend!”

Kenshin was impressed. He wasn’t certain anything other than half drowned kittens or small children could exude such pathetic airs while putting that whine in their voices.

A small chin rose. “What’s in it for me?”

The smile that had been hovering on his face bloomed into a full fledged grin at the demanding note in her voice. The taller man took a full step backwards at the expression on her face.

“Now, Jou-chan, you can’t possible think this is the time…”

“I most certainly do.”

“But…”

“I’m the one who has to go in there and deal with Megumi!” She took two quick steps forward and shoved her fist into his chest. “You will owe me.”

“Dammitt!”

“Admit it,” she declared. “Or I’ll let you go home and beg, because we both know that’s the only other way you’re getting married next weekend. If you’re lucky.”

“Fine.” The word was bit off.

The girl leaned back. “If you try to brush this one off like the last time, Sano, I’ll break your legs.”

Kenshin ducked back behind his shelf when they moved to leave. He waited until the door had shut before he grabbed the book he had wanted and went to gather his own things. An amused smile put a bounce in his step as he headed down the stairs.

He wondered how much effort it would take to arrange to bump into the mysterious lady this week to get a name, and how much chocolate it would take for him to weasel Misao into getting him into that wedding…

Title: .042 Sink
Characters: Kenshin/Kaoru
Prompt: .042 Sink
Word Count: 658
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Not much to say
Author's Notes: Random Drabble




“Can you fix it?”

He grunted. Kaoru couldn’t decide if the noise was direct response to her question, his irritation at her pipes, his disgust at the condition under her sink (it wasn’t her fault the trashcan sometimes over ran!) or just exertion. She supposed she should have been a little more embarrassed, but what the point of having a boyfriend (even if he was new and unaware of her penchant of breaking things) if he couldn’t fix a leaking pipe under her sink?

“There,” he said as he extracted himself from the depths of the cabinet. Violet eyes were skeptical as he sat up and brushed some undefined substance from his shirt. His once clean shirt that was now dirty. “Are you sure you actually clean down there, Kaoru?”

Blue eyes widened. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

Violet eyes narrowed as he stood and replaced the wrench he had borrowed from her tool box. He didn’t say anything for a moment and Kaoru bit her lip, realized she was being nervous, and let it go. Even after two months of a steady, interesting relationship, he still managed to unnerve at the oddest times.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

Brows tucking together, she looked at the clock. They were supposed to go and catch a movie. Kenshin lived across town. Kaoru had already bought the tickets in a silent declaration that she could and would *pay for something*.

“Can you make it back to your place and to the movies in time?” She couldn’t quite hide the doubtful note in her voice. Looking back over to Kenshin, she swallowed at the way his muscles shifted under his shirt. His gray shirt that was just tight enough to show the definition of his shoulders.

Turning around, the edge of his mouth kicked up, he lifted a brow. “You have a perfectly good shower.”

Trying not to blush at how he knew what her shower was like, Kaoru crossed her arms. “You don’t have anything to change into.”

“I brought a spare shirt. It’s in the truck,” his eyes danced then. “Sano’s suggestion.”

Feeling faintly disgusted at their mutual friend, she rolled her eyes. “Fine, take your shower.” She held up one finger, leveling him with her best glare. “Don’t think I won’t be upset with you if this turns out to be some elaborate plan to pay for tickets.”

Both eyes widened. “Now, Kaoru…”

Kaoru sniffed. “Because I bought tickets for two showings just in case you tried to be sneaky.”

Those beautiful eyes narrowed, and she could practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. Trying to appear too smug, she let her hip rest against the counter. Suddenly, the faint crinkly between his brow cleared and he smiled. Wearily, Kaoru straightened and watched him cover the distance between them in only a few steps.

“Well,” Kenshin said in a suspiciously calm voice. “Since we have enough time before the showing, we should both take a shower.”

Kaoru rolled her eyes. “We do not have enough time for two…” her words died in her throat as he smiled. Swallowing, she took a step away from him.

“Now, Kenshin,” she tried, desperately trying to not laugh at that smug amusement on his face. “I don’t think…”

He lunged. She yelped and tried to dive out of the way. Many things could be said about her boyfriend, and the fact that he was so damn fast was one of them. Warm fingers closed around her hip, catching her mid dive, and that warm, male body pressed up against her side.

Kenshin clucked his tongue, his free hand wrapping around her shoulders so the other hand could slide around to the back of her thighs. His cheek pressed against her shoulder before he dragged his fingers down her bare legs and then swung her legs up, arm settled firmly behind her knees.

“Who said anything about two showers?”