Another one from my phone. Short. Seems my muse got a looong holiday so if any of you happen to meet up with her, please kindly tell her to get her butt back to me. Thank you :)

She was bored. So bored that she actually escaped outside of the room to smoke, which was rare. It hadn't happened for a long time. Accepting Aoshi's invitation had been a hasty decision, though she hadn't had much of a chance to do otherwise. The man was her best friend after all, a brother by heart. Even if she wanted to strangl

e him right now for leaving her alone. He had business to attend, after all.

Sighing, Kaoru watched as the smoke was curled and flying in the air, considering going home.

"You look out of place."

Jumping slightly at the sudden presence, she turned to glare at the owner of the voice, taken aback by the shocking red hair.

"Is that color natural?" She blurt at him without thinking.

"I assure you, it is." The strange man chuckled at her. Nice hair, nice chuckle. Life just wasn't fair. " What of the eyes?"

"Heritage." She smiled, opting for being nice. After all, the man wasn't at fault of her being piled to the side.

"I saw you with Aoshi earlier. I take it you're Kaoru." He leaned against the wall, relaxing. Black looked good on him and he seemed to know that. He was clearly comfortable in his own skin, something she was still struggling with at times.

"So you're friends with Aoshi?" She raised an eyebrow. "He never talked about a red guy."

"We aren't exactly friends." He cocked his head to the side like a hawk. " And he slipped your name once. I was curious about the woman he was so protective of."

She almost choked on her cigarette at that, and started to laugh so hard she had to support herself by the wall. His eyes narrowed at her reaction, but he waited until she stopped.

"That was good!" She breathed finally.

"Happy to be the subject of your amusement. Would you enlighten me?"

Now she made a face, studying him carefully. "I assume he has his reasons of not talking about me. And I'm not about to help you out in the matter."

"I can be very persuasive." He smirked and it did some nice things to her insides. However, she wasn't called stubborn for no reason.

Lifting her chin, the woman smirked. Her look had an edge. "And I can be just a tad clueless."

With that, she sauntered inside, not looking back at the redhead, but felt his eyes on her.

"I remember I told you to leave her alone, Himura." Aoshi's tall form materialised next to the man seemingly out of nowhere.

"From what I have seen, she is perfectly capable of handling herself."

"It's not her I' worried about."

"I'm moved." Himura grinned.

"She won't swoon at your feet. In fact, she will probably grill you." Sighing, the dark man gave him a look. "You would deserve it too."

"Is that your way to say good luck?" Kenshin raised a cocky eyebrow.

"You wish." Aoshi shook his head at him and left.