Chapter 11

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Kaoru sighed and sat up in Enishi’s bed. It had been two weeks already, and she had fallen into another one of her routines. She would get up, go to the dojo and practice kata’s until Enishi would join her and they’d spar. He was still infuriatingly better than her, and annoyingly condescending about it. He never bragged, he never told her she did badly, he’d just quietly calmly point out this or that, and they’d go at it again.

He’d often leave around noontime for a few hours to take care of some business and bring Kaoru some food. Occasionally he’d come right back and they’d eat together in silence. When she had asked him why he didn’t have her go get the food herself, he said it was easier to keep her safe if no one knew or noticed she was there. She hadn’t asked him to go out on the ship since. She sighed. It would be nice to get some fresh air, but as she felt it was often her fault that she had to be rescued by Kenshin a few times, she figured she should actually listen for once when someone told her to stay. It was her choice to come along anyhow.

Enishi arrived in his room that day without the usual tray of food. Kaoru looked at him puzzled. He quickly answered her question by throwing a bundle of clothes on the bed beside her.

“Put this on” he said simply. She looked at the clothes then back up at him, but he had turned to face the wall and obviously expected her to do something. She scowled at his back, never having had to dress with someone else in the room. She paused in the middle of standing up. He probably wouldn’t say anything if she went into her room next-door and got dressed. She brushed the thought aside, it would be a rather rude thing to do considering how nice… well maybe more just considerate than nice, he had been to her.

Besides, if he had wanted to peek at her he could have done it anytime before, or even could have forced himself on her. She remembered the incident where he had attempted to strangle her… maybe not. She sighed as she started to undress, putting her doubts aside, but watching Enishi’s back the whole time. He didn’t even twitch. She frowned as she thought of that random spot of insanity she had seen. It obviously wasn’t a constant thing. She hadn’t seen any emotion to speak of on him at all, in fact, since that day. He was hard to figure out.

She finished putting on the clothing he had given her, finally looking down at it and realizing it was a guy’s clothes. She blinked, examining herself. Like everything else he had given her, it fit almost perfectly, yet instead of hugging to her body casually, it hid all of her curves completely, a dull brown color making her complexion seem rather waif like rather than just pale.

“Enishi?” Kaoru queried. He turned around to look at her, and she would be damned if she didn’t almost catch a smile “What’s this for?” she asked.

“Don’t you want to go out on deck?” he returned. Kaoru smiled a genuine heartfelt smile. She hadn’t even said anything about it but he had thought of it. He was so… her thoughts trailed off as she saw his face almost imperceptibly soften, although it was far from an actual display of emotion.

Before she could think about it, Enishi strode over to her in less than three steps, standing directly in front of her. She had to crane her neck up to see his face; she resisted the urge to step back. She realized he wasn’t looking at her face, but her hair just as he reached his arms around her head and undid the ribbon keeping it up. He handed it to her. She blinked and held it, not quite sure what he was up to.

He grasped her hair firmly, yet not tightly as he quickly and neatly wrapped it about in a bun, placing a simple round cap on top. Her shorter strands in front and her bangs were left out as he stepped one step away from her. It was a large step, Kaoru noticed as he wasn’t even near as close as before. Her heart dropped from her throat to the place it normally beat. She didn’t know why it had jumped up there in the first place.

Enishi motioned with his hand for her to look in the mirror that was on his wall. She stepped past him and examined her appearance. She had been right; the clothes not only hid her curves, but fell in just the right places to make her look like a skinny youth. She laughed, with the hat concealing most of her hair, she looked like a fourteen-year-old boy.

“It’s best to go out looking like that,” Enishi said quietly behind her. “There are many desperate men on ships, and not many, women, if any at all” Kaoru nodded, still marveling at the way she looked. She had learned that if she said nothing, Enishi would often answer her questions without her having to ask him. He wasn’t likely to say anything otherwise. She turned around to him, still smiling and politely bowed.

“Thank you” she said as she rose from her bow. Enishi simply nodded and turned to walk out the door, likely expecting her to follow.

Kaoru sat at the long wooden table in the mess hall. There were more people than she could count, and the laughter seemed to fill the whole room, along with the sound of mumbling conversation and excited narration. She sat next to Enishi, her eyes wide from all the coarse jokes she’d heard by the people about her. She sipped on her drink, not quite sure what it was, as she took a big bite out of a piece of bread. She guzzled more of what was in her mug, draining it to the bottom. It was automatically refilled. Enishi eyed her sideways as she started on the second mug. It was very warming, whatever it was.

When she had first entered, people had paid little attention to her until she sat down besides Enishi. People apparently were used to Enishi’s reclusive behavior, although none of them seemed to know that he held an important position. Kaoru assumed that he preferred it that way so she said nothing. She swallowed a hiccup. Enishi looked at her again, frowning slightly. He should lighten up Kaoru thought, smiling to herself as she drunk more of the seemingly endless supply in her mug. She belched. Everyone cheered her on and the next five minutes turned into a contest on who could get the loudest burp.

Fifteen minutes and four mugs later, Kaoru was telling stories. Stories of Sano and Kenshin from what she considered to be a guy’s point of view.

“An he was trying to help this other girl, a doctor lady, but his woomann would likely get mad.” She slurred “but he couldn’t tell her about the problem the doctor lady had cuz shee’d likely try and get involved” she hiccupped “Sozz we tod her she… We’d won her while gambling” she finished her tale and everyone laughed, more at the young boys drunken state then at the story.

Kaoru went on for half an hour more, her stories all fictional towards the end. The guys about the table would randomly interject and the story would often go a whole other way or take a new meaning. Enishi just sat there watching up until Kaoru fell off the bench. He caught her.

Standing up, Enishi slung her over his shoulder and made his excused much to the dismay of the occupants of the table. Kaoru hiccupped and sneezed at the same time as he turned around to leave, followed by a groan of pain, causing the whole table to break out in laughter once more.

The laughter faded away as they reached the deck outside. Kaoru squirmed on his shoulder, finally turning herself around so her face looked up at the sky

“Enishi?” she said. He didn’t respond. “The ship is upside down, we’re going to fall off!” she earned nothing but a grunt as he continued towards their rooms.

Kaoru lifted herself up somewhat on his shoulder and patted his hair ruffling through it.

“See, your hair’s already starting to fall” she cooed happily as she sat up on his shoulder and pitched herself forward. “Wheeeeee!” she squealed happily as she started to fall, stopping with a hiccup as Enishi caught her in front of him. Likely figuring it would be easier to keep her from squirming this way. He twitched as she snuggled into his chest happily.

“Waaaaaarrrm” she almost seemed to purr out. If she could have seen his face at that moment, she likely would have laughed. He looked very strained. He cleared his throat and opened the door to his room. He stood in the middle, as if bothered by something, and then walked through the doors that connected their rooms.

Enishi took the cap off her head and placed her on her bed, freezing as she smiled brightly up at him. She sat up and leaned towards him, staring at his face, studying it intently. Finally she tilted her head to the side and touched the corner of his mouth with a finger.

“Your mouth turns up a bit at the corner, even when you’re frowning” she stated as if it were the most interesting thing in the world “S’cute” she yawned. Enishi blinked at her. She seemed to be nodding off. Finally, she fell forward, forehead-to-forehead, nose-to-nose with Enishi, fast asleep. He sighed and pushed her down onto her bed and left the room. Utterly confused and surprised by this girl. If there was one completely unpredictable thing in the world it would be her.