Kenshin's New Look: A Woman Like You

Kenshin glanced up as he heard Kaoru give an irritable sigh. Her training with Yahiko was over for the day and the three of them had sat down for lunch, but it didn't take years learning how to read an opponent's expression to tell she was upset.

"Oro... Miss Kaoru?" he asked tentatively, as Yahiko munched away at his rice and fish.

"What?" she snapped, glaring at him.

"Is something troubling you?"

She frowned and turned away, her ponytail swinging in his direction.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be me?"

Kenshin blinked and glanced at the young swordsman trainee, who just shrugged.

"This one can't say he does..." he said slowly.

"To be the master of a kenjutsu dojo?" she snapped, turning back to them. "To have such a huge responsibility, and yet to constantly be looked down upon just because you're a woman!?"

The former manslayer rolled his eyes thoughtfully. He knew about the prejudices towards woman in the current era, particularly regarding owning any area of land. The incident with the Gohei brothers made that especially clear. But Kaoru had never seemed particularly upset about it before.

"Miss Kaoru, what is it that has brought this on, may this one ask?"

The yellow garbed dojo master frowned as she looked down slightly. "I had a run in with those men at that new stall this morning..."

Kenshin sighed. A trio of brothers had begun setting up a new stall in the marketplace recently, but they were extremely... shall we say, "traditional." They were very adamant about how a woman's place is in the home by her man's side. They had already tried to give Megumi some grief due to being a doctor, but some intimidation from Kenshin and Sano soon put a stop to that. Now it seemed they were going to start bothering Miss Kaoru...

"I'm not some stupid little girl! I can run this dojo fine on my own!" Kaoru yelled, jumping to her feet. "And whether I'm a man or a woman has nothing to do with it!"

"Yes, we are very certain that you can, Miss Kaoru, that we are..." Kenshin said with an uneasy smile, trying to calm her down.

"Are you patronising me, Kenshin!?" the dark haired woman snapped, glaring at him.

"N-No, of course not! This one would never do something like that!"

"You have NO clue what I have to put up with!" she yelled, clearly not listening. "It's easy enough for you, you can just lounge around the dojo or go out with Sano! I work my butt off to keep this place afloat, and what's my thanks? Some two-bit grocers who think they're better than me! It's not FAIR!"

She stormed over to the other side of the room, muttering under her breath. Yahiko just rolled his eyes, not looking up from his meal.

"This one is sorry to hear that, Miss Kaoru, that I am..." Kenshin said sympathetically. "You are right, this one has no idea what that would be like. After all, this one is not a woman like you, Miss Kaoru..."

Those words seemed to light some sort of spark in Kaoru, as her body immediately perked up. Kenshin looked up, believing that something he said must have made her feel better... until she turned back to him. A chill went down both Kenshin and Yahiko's spine as they say the devilish grin on her face. A mischevious glint was in her eyes, and some sort of dark aura seemed to surround her as Kenshin could practically see the wheels going around in her head.

"Oh, Kenshiiiiiiiin..." she sang in a menacing voice.

Yahiko gulped down the food he had in his mouth and quickly ran for the door. "I'mgonnagotraindownbytheriverokaybye!" he said hurriedly as he grabbed his shinai and sandals, and disappeared.

"Y-yes, this one will come with you, that I will, Yahiko-kun!" Kenshin cried desperately, but he was too late. He felt Kaoru's surprisingly strong grip grab the back of his shirt and drag him through to her room, giggling creepily all the while.

* * * * *

Sagara Sanosuke grimaced as he walked down the street. It was that time again. The horrible time that always seemed to creep up on him when he least expected it.

Sano was hungry.

He placed a hand over his growling stomach as he groaned. Glancing up at the sun, he made a rough estimate at the time and realised it was just around lunchtime at the Kamiya Dojo. Kaoru's cooking wasn't great, but it was still edible, and good enough to fill an empty stomach. He quickened his pace in the direction of the dojo, hoping he wasn't too late.

As he approached the back where he knew they usually ate, he frowned. Yahiko was nowhere in sight. Kenshin was lounging by the back door, his reverse blade sword resting on his should as always with the door itself obscuring his head and shoulders, while Kaoru had changed out of her uniform and into her yellow kimono, and was gathering up the bowls and dishes. Damn, he was just a little too late. Oh well, he thought as he placed a hand on the fence and vaulted over, he might still be able to get some leftovers. Though, he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with this picture.

For starters, Kaoru's hair was bright red.

"Hey, Kaoru!" he called out as he approached. He noticed Kaoru's entire body go tense, and she very slowly turned to look at him out of the corner of her eyes. He noticed a few beads of sweat form on her temple, and a look of anxiety on what little of her face that he could see, almost as if she was terrified of him.

"S-Sano..." she muttered in a strangely deep and raspy voice. He raised his eybrow curiously.

"Hey, Kaoru, you alright? You sound like you got a sore throat or something..."

Upon saying this, he heard an oddly feminine giggle come from Kenshin's direction, as Kaoru turned back to the table.

"This o... I-I mean, I'm fine, Sano..." she muttered in that same wierd voice. "B-But this really isn't a good time, that it isn't..."

"Hey, come on, I'm just hear for some food, that's all." Sanosuke said with a frown. "I'm flat broke and starving. You got anythin' to eat?"

"N-No, Sano, lunch just finished that it did..." The rooster-headed street fighter blinked.

"Hey, Kaoru, you sure you're feelin' okay? You're starting to sound a lot like Kenshin..."

Another girly giggle came from the back door, as Kaoru seemed to sweat even more.

"Anyway, come on! You gotta have at least some rice left over!" he whined, folding his arms. "Is this 'cause I said your curry was too salty last time I was here?"

A tiny, almost unnoticable clink came from Kenshin's direction. It would have slipped under the radar of most people, for someone as perceptive as Sano he recognised it as the noise of Kenshin's sword being gripped tightly, as if in frustration. Why would Kenshin be mad that he insulted Kaoru's cooking?

...unless...

It finally all clicked as Sano gasped. "No way..."

Kaoru gulped as she straightened up, starting to turn around. "S-Sano, let this one explain..."

"You and Kenshin are having a romantic night tonight!"

Kaoru immediately spun again so her back was facing Sano, her posture straight and tense. He couldn't see for sure, but he thought he say Kenshin facepalm.

"That's gotta be it! That's why the little brat isn't here, it's why you don't want me around, and that's why you got your hair done!" he grinned at his own genius. "Gotta say, girl, you make a pretty cute redhead!"

Kaoru almost seemed to shudder at that comment, but she bent back over and returned to cleaning the table.

"Y-yes, that's it! S-so please, if you could leave us alone..."

"No problem, all you had to do was say." he chuckled. He smirked as he leaned closer and slapped Kaoru's rear end, causing her to jump in shock. "Knock him dead, Kaoru!" he laughed, as he turned and walked away, soon leaving the two alone.

As soon as he could sense that Sanosuke was nowhere nearby, Kenshin glanced in the direction he had gone, blushing as red as his hair and rubbing his behind. "That was close, that it was..." he muttered to himself as Kaoru walked over, laughing. He frowned as he saw her clad in his usual outfit of a red kimono top and white hakama, carrying his sakabato. But that wasn't nearly as bad as the fact that she had forced him into her flowery yellow kimono, even untying his ponytail and retying it the way she normally wears it, complete with a ribbon tied in a bow. He touched his cheek where his cross-shaped scar was, though a little application of cosmetics had hidden it well. Kaoru meanwhile had used two quick strokes from a caligraphy brush to draw a similar shape on her own cheek. He was at least thankful he had talked her out of making him stuff the chest area of the kimono to simulate breasts.

"What's wrong, Kenshin? Not used to getting male attention?" Kaoru giggled, causing the crossdressed swordsman to blush deeper.

"Please, Miss Kaoru! Has this not gone on for long enough? How much longer must I dress like this?"

"When I feel you know what it's like to be a woman, THEN you can change out of it." Kaoru said sternly before walking into another room. Kenshin just sighed and carried the gathered dishes into the kitchen, cursing the way his current attire limited the length of his stride, and forced his body into a feminine wiggle.

* * * * *

"Yeah, come right on in!" Yahiko stated as he walked through the dojo's front gate, a young girl and a tall man following behind. "She should have calmed down by now..."

Misao giggled as she looked around excitedly, Aoshi merely folding his arms. "I'm so excited! It's not every day we get the chance to visit Tokyo, Aoshi-sama!"

"Hm..." the Oniwabanshuu leader simply said. Misao frowned and placed her hands on her hips.

"You know, Aoshi-sama, you're always so moody... why don't you try and lighten up once in a while?"

"I don't do 'light'." Aoshi stated firmly. "I am a man of the shadows, and it is what I shall always be."

"Oh, come ON, Aoshi-sama!" Misao whined, her braid going straight. "When you see Kaoru, at least give her a hug or something! Let her know you're happy to see her!"

Aoshi frowned and looked down at her. Okay then, he thought to himself. Though "a man of shadows," he wasn't without a humorous side. He'd make sure Kaoru knew he was happy to see her.

"There she is!" Misao cried. Speak of the devil, there the young dojo master was herself, sweeping the dojo grounds in her yellow kimono. She must not have noticed them enter, as she had her back to them and didn't react.

Aoshi smirked and strode up to her with the two youngsters. But before Misao or Yahiko could catch her attention, he grabbed Kaoru by the shoulder, spun her around, lifted her off her feet and kissed her full on the lips.

"What thmmMMPH!!" Kenshin cried as Aoshi's lips met his.

"Oh... my... god!" Misao cried, sparkles in her eyes. Sparkles that promptly faded when she noticed "Kaoru's" odd hair colour. "Wait a minute... Himura!?"

Aoshi, for what must've been the first time in his life, went wide-eyed as he realised that it was not the dojo owner whose mouth his tongue was currently exploring.

"Kenshin!?" Yahiko cried, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Alright, Kenshin, I guess you've learned your lesson by n-" Kaoru began as she walked out, having changed out of Kenshin's clothes to her pink kimono, but froze mid-sentence when she saw Aoshi kissing him.

There was silence for several seconds.

It was broken only by a quiet smack as Aoshi pulled his lips from Kenshin's.

Then by a loud thud as the spy dropped Kenshin to the ground.

"Oh... oh god!!" Aoshi screamed as he ran inside, searching desperately for a tap, or a bottle of sake, or anything to get the taste of Kenshin's spit out of his mouth.

"Aoshi-sama, wait!" Misao cried as she ran after him.

Yahiko was silent for all of three seconds before he just burst out laughing, keeling over and clutching his sides.

Kaoru placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her own giggles as she squated beside the shell-shocked Kenshin.

"Um... y-you can get changed now if you want..." she said, struggling not to laugh.

Kenshin just stared at her and nodded, scrambling to his feet and hurrying off. She noticed he was forced to swing his arms at the elbow to keep his balance, as the feminine sandals on his feet made a quickly fading "click click click click" on the dojo floor.

The young dojo master took a seat on the front step of the dojo, looking up at the sunset.

"Well..." she thought aloud to no one in particular. "...at least he can't say he doesn't know what it's like to be a woman like me anymore."

KENSHIN'S NEW LOOK - A WOMAN LIKE YOU