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For This Dojo's Honor: Part 3

by DQBunny

Kaoru could not remember when she sat at a more strained meal. Yahiko sulked because of her refusal to allow him to fight in the contest. Kenshin sulked because...well, she honestly had no idea. The couple of times she asked him, he shot her one of those odd looks and kept going about his business.

Fine, be that way, she thought. He was acting like most women did before their monthly cycles. That thought made her giggle. If only men were cursed the way she was. Quickly, Kaoru checked the date of the contest against the calendar she kept of her monthlies. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe. Last thing she wanted was to embarrass herself further by bleeding all over her opponent.

But before she could think about the problem, there was a bigger one she had to take care of - her husband.

She noticed it in the middle of the night. For the first time since their marriage, he hadn't reached for her. Even if they didn't make love, Kenshin always held her. This time though, it was almost like sleeping with Yahiko or one of her friends in the room. It was something she didn't like.

Kaoru thought herself a reasonable woman. She didn't want to demand too much out of Kenshin, especially after Yahiko, Misao and the others told her of what happened in Rakinmura. But his sulking had entered a second full day and she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on the contest if she was worried about him.

After a solitary breakfast of rice and miso soup, Kaoru stepped out into the courtyard and faced her opponent - who was bent over a tub of laundry.

She'd taken the time to dress up in a slightly fancier kimono than she normally wore. Her hair, tied back in its customary ponytail, was secured with a new ribbon. She wore the sandalwood scent Megumi had given her for a wedding present. She made sure there was nothing on her that would tempt her to do bodily harm to him. Satisfied, she marched over to the laundry tub.

Kaoru squatted down next to Kenshin. "Hey," she murmured, figuring that being nice and quiet was key. "You seem preoccupied lately. Want to talk about it?"

Kenshin looked up, blinked with surprise at her. She saw the beginnings of a grin tug at his mouth, then he focused back on the laundry. "There's nothing wrong with this one."

Okay. Next thing was humor. "Is it Saitou? I'll have Yahiko go beat him up for you. Or I'll even do it myself!" she accompanied this with the biggest grin she could muster.

Kenshin snorted and started scrubbing on one of her practice gi.

Temper flared up in her, but she quickly beat it back down. The last thing they needed was for her to be angry as well. "You know," Kaoru suggested, "We're husband and wife. It's okay to talk about these things with me. I won't get scared or run away."

Kenshin's head snapped up and he shot her another one of those weird looks of his. He threw his head back and laughed long and loud. Normally that would had cheered her, but Kaoru had the funny suspicion that she was the butt of some joke of his. "What is it?' she snapped. "What's so funny?"

Kenshin grabbed the side of the laundry tub and tried to control his laughter. "It's obvious you do not listen to this one, for that is the suggestion I made to you the other day."

"What, that we should talk to each other about our problems? So tell me! What is your problem, Kenshin?"

"My problem?" The laughter died and Kenshin's eyes narrowed into thin, violet slits. "My problem is you, Kaoru."

"Me?" Kaoru reeled back. "How can I be your problem?"

Kenshin smiled gently. "You're a problem just simply by being yourself. You never want to worry those around you, so you keep your deepest, darkest problems hidden inside, locked away where no one can see them."

Temper took over, a bright red haze that clouded Kaoru's mind and judgment. "You're the one who keeps everything bottled up inside. You're always so calm and placid. How can you accuse me of anything like that?"

As soon as the words exited her mouth, Kaoru wished them back. She saw him shut down, felt him withdraw. She caught the wounded look in his eyes and felt like...she had no idea what she felt like, but it was pretty low. She started to apologize, try to make some amends, but his next sentence canceled that completely.

"That's fine by me, Kaoru-dono. This one will be ready to talk when you feel that this one is ready to listen. If this one can remain calm and placid enough for you," Kenshin shot at her. He reached for another piece of laundry.

That did it. Kaoru balled her hands into fists and closed her eyes, the temper she fought to control escaping free. Instead of hitting her husband though, she reached out, dipped her hands into his precious laundry water, and splashed him with it.

Kenshin stopped scrubbing. He stared at her. She stared back, waited to see what he would do. She expected him to get up and walk away, or at least make some sort of comment to her.

Instead, he cupped his hands, dipped them in the water, then tossed a handful at her.

Kaoru snarled. This was war. She started splashing water furiously at Kenshin. He splashed back just as fast. Must be the speed Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu gives him, she absently thought. Suddenly, Kenshin launched across the tub and tackled her, sending both of them splashing into the mud surrounding the tub.

His hands were quick and deft in finding her most ticklish spots. Kaoru screamed with laughter. Unable to fight back that way, she grabbed handfuls of mud and tossed them weakly at him. He grabbed a fistful of mud and tossed it back. As he did so, Kaoru sensed a rare opening and managed to flip Kenshin onto his back. She straddled him and held up a huge handful of mud over him. "Do you yield?" she gasped.

Kenshin's eyes glittered. "Not a chance." He did the last thing she expected him to do: reach up, grab her kimono, pull her face to his and kiss her.

The mud fell onto Kenshin's hair. Neither of them noticed.

When they broke the kiss off, Kaoru rolled off him and they both lay on the ground, staring at the gray autumn sky and gulping in as much air as possible.

"I don't think this one's ever done anything quite like that," Kenshin wheezed.

"I know I haven't. Father would have had a heart attack if I ruined my good clothes this way."

"We need to clean up." Kenshin got to his feet and stared down at her. He burst into laughter again at the sight of his mud-covered wife. "You're a mess, Kaoru."

"So are you," Kaoru giggled. She slowly got to her feet as well and Kenshin slid an arm around her waist. They staggered like drunks toward the bathhouse and giggled like children on a school holiday. They reached the door and Kenshin pulled her toward him, kissing her forehead gently. She smiled after him as he walked off to heat the bath water.

*****

“So, will you tell this one what’s going on?”

Kaoru settled back in the water. The furo barely held the two of them, but neither of them wanted to go to the trouble of heating bath water twice. It had taken them nearly 20 minutes to scrub the mud out of each other’s hair. They were more at ease around each other, she noted, but realized things hadn’t been resolved.

“There really isn’t anything going on, Kenshin,” she replied. “Nothing other that entering the kenjutsu contest. Are you against me doing that?” Kaoru realized at that moment how much she needed Kenshin’s support. If he was against it in any way, she didn’t know what she would do.

“This one’s not against it at all. It will be good for the dojo.” Kenshin lathered a washcloth and beckoned Kaoru forward. She scooted so he could scrub her back. “Still, this one’s noticed that you’ve been awfully worried about the school lately.”

Kaoru silently berated herself. Of course that was it. She’d been so immersed in her own problems that she failed to notice that Kenshin could also pick up on her emotions. Not to mention that it wasn’t hard to guess what was wrong with her. It had to be either their marriage or the school. Other than the rotten mood they were both embroiled in the past couple of days, their marriage was fine.

So she told him everything, her fears and her doubts. At one point, she tried to see his reaction, but Kenshin placed a firm grip on her shoulder and kept her facing forward. He didn’t say a word the entire time. When her voice died away, he simply started scrubbing her shoulders.

Kaoru had an idea what he was waiting for. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should had mentioned this the first time. I’m not used to this marriage thing yet.”

The scrubbing stopped. She felt his arms encircle her waist, pulling her back against his chest. The physical contact Kenshin made since their return from Enishi’s island still amazed her. In private, he constantly showed physical affection, such as hugging and touching. In public, he constantly reached for her hand, kept one of his on her shoulder, or guided her by placing a hand in the small of her back.

Misao even commented on it during the wedding. “It’s almost like coming to terms with Tomoe-san’s death’s allowed Himura to live again.”

A squeeze from him snapped her out of her thoughts. “This one wishes to help you out with your problem, Kaoru,” Kenshin murmured. “That’s what couples do.”

“I’ve thought of that. But the only way I can see you to help me is to let me practice with you. Yet you said when you first came that you preferred not to work with a shinai.” Kaoru turned around and stared at him. “The reason I’m not a master yet is because I haven’t successfully performed the ougi - either in practice or in battle. I can’t ask Yahiko to teach it to me and I certainly can’t go to one of the other dojos.”

“Then it’s simple.” Kenshin climbed out of the furo and wrapped himself into a yukata. He held up one for Kaoru. “This one will simply spar with you.”

Kaoru accepted it as she climbed behind. She shot him a wary look. “I thought you would never spar with me.”

“That was said when this one thought you would turn me away. You married me instead,” Kenshin gave her a quirky grin. “Things change. Times change. The principles of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu don’t allow me to turn away from someone in trouble. The principles of Himura Kenshin is to make sure that his wife succeeds to the best of her abilities. What kind of husband would this one be if I simply stood by and didn’t do anything? After all, I remember someone coming out to Kyoto to stand by this one because she thought I was worthy.”

Kaoru whirled around and hugged him. “Thank you, Kenshin. This one won’t let you down.”