11Baaaack. Hope you've all had some happy holidays! This one is AU, fluffy, and hella cute so we'll jump right in, shall we? Author's notes at the bottom.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own creative process. And student loan debt. Definitely student loan debt.
Ten Ways to Say I Love You
Prompt 3: Slipped under your tongue, twisted into something else. "I trust you," maybe. Trust them to figure it out.
From the door frame, he stared at the lump under the bed hiding under the covers. She was under there somewhere. 'I think…'
"Kaoru?" he questioned carefully.
"No." He blinked, shifting backwards minutely, taken aback at the outright refusal of his person.
"Don't take offense. She's been under there all day." Startled, Kenshin turned to see Yahiko walking towards him through the hallway nonchalantly, a towel around his waist. Water dripped from his hair. A second smaller towel lay around his neck, a catch all for the loose water.
In a moment Kenshin could only describe as absolutely terrifying, he watched as Yahiko flung the wet washcloth from around his neck at his sister, landing right where Kenshin assumed her head was.
"Yahiko, you're an asshole!" The blankets shifted angrily, struggling to fling the washcloth, without her actually coming from underneath the blanket. It fell onto the wooden floor with a splat.
Said little brother cackled, making his way to his room before shutting the door with his foot.
Placing his bag by her door, Kenshin entered the room cautiously. "Kaoru," he started gently, sitting on the edge of her bed. She'd insisted on a boho look in her new apartment, which meant light pink sheets and plants everywhere. "What's wrong?"
"It hurts Kenshin," she whined, voice muffled from underneath her duvet.
Kenshin's head fell to the right like a confused puppy. "What hurts?"
Kenshin tensed as the blanket flew, revealing a miserable looking Kaoru in a giant black fluffy robe and midnight blue fuzzy socks. Her hands were thrown over her face in distress. "Everything! My vagina, my stomach- it all hurts, and I have to go to the store because I'm on my last tampon, but I don't wanna 'cause it huuuuuuurts."
Kenshin blanched, caught off guard by the sudden emotion directed his way. 'Help her,' his inner voice urged, not enjoying the way his stomach churned at her pain. "I can go for you if you want."
She stilled, peaking out at him from between her fingers. "Would you really?" questioning the validity of his too-good-to-be-true offer in her time of need.
He nodded. "What do you need?" The quickness with which the kendo instructor shifted to her knees had Kenshin wondering if his offering was a mistake.
"It's a small pink box, not a soft package, a box. The soft packages are always pads, and I need tampons. Grab the one that's around eight dollars, not seven. That should have enough so that I won't have to go back later this week. But make sure you grab the ones that have super AND regular in the same box. Anything else won't be helpful. You'll see a bunch of other things too, like douching kits and period cups, blah blah blah- the works. I promise you I only need the tampons. And pleeeease, don't grab the scented ones. Unscented only. I know they say it's fine, but who sticks perfume up their hu ha? It just doesn't seem safe, ya know?"
Kenshin wasn't sure if his jaw had dropped on its own, or if he was attempting to ask one of the tens of questions running through his mind. 'Did she name her vagina, Hu Ha? And period cups? How would that even..?' His eyebrow twitched.
Kaoru looked at him. Really truly looked at him, slightly concerned. "You okay? I can come with you if you want." She shifted to her side, ready to swing her legs off the side of the bed."
His hand on her leg stopped her. 'The point of me offering was supposed to take things off her plate, not stress her out more.' "Maa, maa, I'll be fine, Kaoru. Don't worry."
His face must have shown her he was lying, but she shrugged nonetheless. "If you say so." she said knowingly. She always had a way of knowing. With a small smile, she stroked the x on his left cheek. "I trust you, Kenshin."
That statement gave him less hope than he was already feeling. 'I'm glad one of us does…' he thought, leaving the room dazedly. Shaking his head, his hair whipped side to side like a cat's tail. He steeled his resolve. 'It's just a box of tampons- how hard could it be?'
Kaoru blinked at the variety of bags strewn haphazardly across her boyfriend's person. She'd forgotten he was an advocate for only making one trip from the car with the groceries. "Kenshin…" she started slowly, confusion dripping from her tone. 'He wasn't even gone for thirty minutes.' "What is all this?"
"Well," His tone was excited. 'Or was that anxious?' she wondered. "I got to the store and remembered that you said a box of tampons but wasn't sure where to find them. I asked one of the female employees, and she guided me to the aisle. You know, the male ones are pretty clueless." He began, unloading the boxes onto her bed as he spoke. She probably would have enjoyed that last comment if the items from the bags weren't so distractingly different and unrelated. 'Is that an aloe vera leaf?' the bluenette pondered. 'And sriracha?' She continued to blink blankly at the redhead in front of her, head tilted to the side. The messy bun piled on her head followed the motion, threatening to fall loose from its confines.
"But looking around the boxes, I realized you said pink, and I didn't know what color pink you wanted? Light pink? Fuschia? Magenta? What type? Gentle Glide? Sports?" Out of the bags came so many different boxes. She wanted to both laugh and cry at the situation. Her blue eyes softened at his thoughtfulness.
"Then I remembered you mentioned period cups and pads so I picked up a few of those too. But when I told the employee you were in pain- her name was Emiri by the way. She was so nice- Anyways, Emiri suggested some things to make you feel better." More bags were unloaded. 'Was he even carrying those when he walked in?' Her eye twitched, right hand covering her mouth to cover her quiet laughter. She hoped her shoulders shifting wouldn't give her away.
"This bag has Cookies and Cream Hershey bars, Ben&Jerry's Americone Dream and Pecan Sticky Buns ice cream, and Italian raspberry sorbet. Over here are some face masks. Emiri showed me a recipe for a homemade one though, so the ingredients for that are in here. 'That explains the aloe vera leaf,' Kaoru thought with a small smile.
Kenshin was far from done, hands flurrying over the remaining bags. "I've got Disney+, and I'm pretty sure Atlantis is on there. We can watch that or the Goofy movie maybe? Plus, there's a weighted blanket and a heating pad here somewhere. Though I can cuddle with you too if you want." Kaoru ignored the way her face flushed in favour of admiring the light pink tint that now decorated Kenshin's face. 'My boyfriend is adorable.' she decided, mentally cheering that she'd called dibs on him at lunch with Misao and Megumi that day last year in their dorm. Though he'd assured her that he'd only had eyes for her from the beginning. "You think you chose me?" he'd questioned. "Kamiya Kaoru, you were the only one I'd noticed at that table." Her heart warmed at the memory.
"I also stopped by the Oriental Market- your favourite on 5th- on the way home and got your favourite spicy ramen -that's what the sriracha, egg, green onions, and crushed red pepper are for- and some chocolate almond pocky." Kenshin finished, finally looking up from his findings expectantly, only to find Kaoru with tears in her eyes. "Kaoru, wha-?"
Overwhelmed with emotion, Kaoru pounced, knocking them both to the floor.
Kneeling between his legs, Kaoru had thrown her arms around his shoulders as he sat leaning against the door where he'd landed. His own hands, that had caught her just below her ribcage on instinct, slipped around her waist slowly. She reveled in how that touch made her feel. She was taller than him like this. Just barely though. "I don't know what I've done to deserve you, but I'm so happy to have someone who spoils me so when I need it." Leaning back, she lead her forehead to his own. Her eyes glanced to his lips and back, eyes glimmering like crystals with unshed tears and sheer joy. His tongue licked his own lips, hoping they weren't too chapped from how much he'd chewed on them, distressed from trying to find what Kaoru needed.
Despite her assertiveness, she kissed him gently, hands cupping his face, right hand tracing his scar soothingly. Coaxing him into the kiss took little effort at all- her affection made him eager to be closer to her. No matter how many times her lips found his, his heart never failed to stutter in his chest at her happiness. He smiled against her lips, before pulling away gently, teeth scraping her bottom lip affectionately. She'd almost pulled his mouth back to hers because of it, but thought better of it. 'Another time…' Glancing up at her, he pulled her forehead to his once again. Her bangs tickled his forehead, and she adored the way his nose scrunched in response.
Still stroking his cheek, she smiled. "See, grabbing tampons; not so bad, huh?" His eyes crinkled with mirth. "So bad. Women are amazing. You're amazing." Her smile widened, beaming at him. His heart leapt as her hand traced the bones in his face before tapping his nose gently with the tip of her index finger. "I knew I could trust you, Kenshin." His eyes widened in understanding. He leaned into her touch, eyes fluttering shut with joy.
"Always happy to help."
I jumped through so many scenarios before settling on this one. A clueless Kenshin, eager to please and capable of so much, yet struggling to pick the right set of tampons? Honestly hilarious to me. I truly love the love this couple has for each other. A love that stands true against time. As always, reviews keep me going. Preferably positive or constructive. I recognize I want to continue to portray these two throughout time, though I'll admit, I'm struggling on a variety of whens. Taking suggestions for time periods and scenarios you'd like to see these two navigate, and I'll work with what fits in the prompts!
-BABN
