Inspired by the Ruroken Week over on tumblr. The timezone it's in is way ahead of mine though so technically I'm late. :/

Day 1: Lesson or technique

Warning: FLUFF

Kaoru woke slowly aware of the light of the morning coming through the rice paper doors. She ached a little. Nothing especially painful, more like exercising a muscle that hadn't been worked in awhile.

And as she recalled the reason for that ache, she opened her eyes.

The space beside her was empty.

She lifted her head, her sleepy contentment vanishing. "Kenshin?"

If it weren't for a stray red hair lingering on the blanket next to her, she might have thought the previous day's activities a dream. Tae giggling and tugging on her wedding kimono; meeting Kenshin's eyes clear and bright over the cups of sake, and then at home where it was both familiar and strange. Familiar because it was the place she'd always known and strange because the Kenshin beside her was no longer the same Kenshin. He was her husband .

Kaoru blushed fiercely as she remembered the night's revelations and stood from the futon, folding her yukata around her.

She'd thought everything had gone well last night. There had been awkwardness and fumbling and nervous laughter from both of them. But there had also been a tenderness in his eyes and his touch that melted whatever lingering anxiety Kaoru had been hiding about being compared to his first wife. To Tomoe.

Had she been wrong? Had Kenshin merely humored her because he felt obligated to? Kaoru paused at the engawa overlooking the garden, feeling sick. What if he hadn't wanted to marry her at all? What if the idle gossip of the neighbors had gotten to him? She'd told him over and over again that it didn't bother her and those that truly knew her harbored no ill thoughts about her longtime boarder.

But the gossip had only gotten worse after the Enishi incident. Kaoru swallowed hard against the bile that rose in her throat. Being thought dead was bad enough but when she'd come back to town, explaining that she hadn't been dead, she'd been kidnapped, there had been more than a few embarrassed glances. More than a few matrons who clucked sympathetically to her face but whispered like vipers in the grass behind her back. Even Dr. Gensai had delicately asked if she needed aid with an unwanted pregnancy... As much as she loved the old man, she'd nearly slapped him. The implication that she, daughter of a samurai, couldn't protect herself, that she had been dishonored in the way that all women feared... it had been too much.

But Kenshin was unfailingly polite and scrupulous, even when he was falling over with exhaustion after the battle with Enishi, his manners never wavered.

A thought struck her like a thunderbolt. What if... what if he'd only married her to restore what shreds of reputation she had left?

Kaoru felt her fists clench and her jaw tighten. Forgetting the ladylike steps her mother had so painstakingly taught her, Kaoru stomped around the side of the house, only pausing when she saw Kenshin in his spot next to the laundry tub, up to his elbows in soaking wet kimono.

He looked up as she drew near, his smile shy, his bright eyes showing a glimpse of that tenderness she'd seen the night before.

"Ah, Kaoru-dono, one—"

Kaoru shot out both her arms and shoved him over. Unbalanced as he was perched on his toes, her new husband toppled over, arms flailing, and hit the ground with an "oof!" of surprise.

"Kenshin, you idiot!" she yelled. "I don't need your reputation! I was doing fine on my own!"

Kenshin looked up from the ground, his wet arms now smeared with the dirt of the yard. "Oro?"

Kaoru ground her teeth. "You could have at least had the decency to explain why you wanted to marry me before I went through with it!"

"But..." Kenshin shifted to stand, his expression utterly lost. "I thought you knew..."

Kaoru cross her arms over her chest. "Enlighten me," she snapped.

"I love you," he said simply.

Kaoru dropped her arms, her throat feeling tight. Kenshin was many things, but a liar was not one of them.

"Then..." she had to clear her throat. "Then why weren't you there when I woke up?"

Kenshin's confused expression cleared and he rubbed the back of his head. "Oro... One thought that you might like a bit of normalcy, that is. Overnight you... we became married. One thought that easing the transition... You seemed tired... one wanted to get a few chores done before you woke up... as a wedding present. A poor choice, perhaps, but there is breakfast..."

He trailed off in alarm as she approached him again, but this time she merely put her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder. He was her husband now and this part of the yard was private enough. She was allowed to do stuff like this now and she would not be embarrassed. Kenshin's hands hesitantly came up to hold her close, one hand stroking the river of hair flowing down her back. She remembered that this was new for him too because Kaoru wasn't Tomoe, and he had never treated her like she was.

"I'm sorry I overreacted," she mumbled.

Kenshin stiffened at her apology, and she had to smile at that. She rarely apologized. But... they were married now. Things weren't the same and they never would be again. But that wasn't a bad thing.

"One..." he cleared his throat. "One is sorry for not noticing your distress last night." He pulled away slightly, fingers lightly touching the softness of her cheek. "Please... in the future, tell me what's wrong. You know very well how thick-headed this unworthy one is. One does not wish to be a bad husband."

"I shouldn't have doubted you," she admitted and smiled. "I thought we would be more or less then same after we got married... but I guess we both have some things to learn."

He rested his forehead against hers. "That we do, Kaoru-dono."

-end-