After Komagata-San left, the bells of the village shrine rang the Hour of the Ram and Kaoru got to work finishing her chores. She grumbled as she wrapped a wet towel around a bottle of sake. Why couldn't it be evening already?
Himura had promised to return before sunset but how could Kaoru wait much longer? If she didn't say what she wanted to right now, her resolved would fail her.
Kaoru left the wet towel-wrapped sake bottle to chill in the cellar until after dinner. She placed in a shady spot between two baskets filled with radishes. On her way back to the house, she passed Yahiko and Tsubame returning from gathering mushrooms. Tsubame carried her basket with one arm and let Yahiko lean on the other. Yahiko, being young and strong, regained his stamina more and more everyday. He would be running around and getting into trouble again before Kaoru knew it.
"Allow me," said Kaoru, taking the basket of mushrooms from Tsubame. She needed to get rid of Yahiko and Tsubame so she and Himura could be alone tonight when they had their conversation. "Tonight should be the last time the fireflies come out by the river. Yahiko, why don't you take Tsubame-Chan to see them?"

Tsubame gave Yahiko a pleading look. "I would love that. Can we?"
"Why not?" said Yahiko. He put an arm around Tsubame. Kaoru glared at him.

The two youngsters probably weren't going to get up to anything naughty, but they must want to some spend time alone together without a mean old dragon like Kaoru breathing down their necks.
Kaoru carried the basket onto the engawa. "Have fun you two," she said. Before Yahiko could walk away, Kaoru grabbed him by his collar with her free hand. "Don't get fresh with that girl or I'll run you through with a bokken." I've done it before and I'll do it again. She shoved Yahiko into the house.

Himura returned during the Hour of the Monkey with fresh tofu. Kaoru welcomed him with a bow and a smile.
"Hello, Kaoru-Dono." Himura handed the tofu container to Kaoru. His skin glistened with sweat and his clothes smelt musky. Kaoru's heart fluttered. "How was your day?"
Kaoru told him about Lord Hiko's courtesan friend, Kohana-San's visit, but left out the revelation that Kohana-San was really Komagata-San and the wife of one of Himura's fellow Choshū assassins.
"And what did you ladies talk about?" said Himura.
Kaoru giggled. You of course. "Don't be nosy." He'll find out when they had their talk later. 

While Tsubame whipped up a mushroom and tofu stir fry for supper, Kaoru drew Himura's bath. The steam and the intimacy of the act made Kaoru feel flushed. She had to draw cold water from the well and splash away images of Himura removing his clothes and lowering his lean, scar-covered body into the tub from her mind.
Baka. Cold water slapped Kaoru in the face. When did you become such a pervert?

After supper, Yahiko and Tsubame went to look at the fireflies down by the river.
"Don't stay out too long," Himura called to them  as they were leaving, but they brushed right past him.
Once they were gone and she and Himura were finally alone, Kaoru went and fetched the bottle of sake from the cellar. When she returned, Himura had made himself comfortable out on the engawa and was cleaning his swords.
Himura hadn't used his swords much since they moved to the country, but he still practiced his katas every morning (exercise after waking up was good for the body and mind) and cleaned his blades every evening. Kaoru always enjoyed watching him when he did this. His katana, a masterpiece by the great Shakku Arai, certainly was a beauty.

Light danced off the blade, revealing the elegant wave pattern in its grain. Even someone who wasn't knowledgeable about weapons, which Kaoru flattered herself she was, could appreciate the exemplary craftsmanship.

Himura's eyes flashed amber when they met Kaoru's gaze. "This one would be happy if you joined him," he said. "That he would be."
Kaoru, shrinking under his smoldering glance, knelt and poured a cup of sake for each of them. Would he believe her if she told him she was just admiring his sword? 

Himura raised his cup to the star-filled sky. "Blossoms in spring, stars in summer, the full moon in autumn, and snow in winter, their beauty makes sake taste all the sweeter."
Kaoru took a sip. Those lines came from a poem written by her father-in-law (poetry was another of Lord Hiko's many talents) about his greatest love: sake drinking. The poem had circulated among Lord Hiko's drinking buddies, including Kaoru's father. Its final line went like this, "but someone to drink it with, makes sake taste the sweetest."
Himura put down his cup and continued polishing his katana with an old piece of flannel. When he finished, he held the blade up to the porch light so Kaoru could admire its gleaming surface. 

Kaoru gasped. How could something so pristine be Battousai's instrument of death and destruction? A samurai's sword was meant to be a reflection of his soul, but one was easier to wipe clean than the other.
A breeze made the wind chimes hanging from the house's eaves dance. Kaoru shivered. Her nipples hardened and poked against the fabric of her sleeping yukata. She wrapped her arms around her chest.
Himura raised an eyebrow. "Is Kaoru-Dono cold?" he said.
Kaoru nodded. Himura placed a quilt around her shoulders and she pulled the blanket closer to her body.

"Are you cold as well?" said Kaoru. The season of long days and balmy nights was coming to an end. Himura could catch a chill. She threw half the quilt around him and used it to draw him close.
Himura blushed like a maiden. Kaoru rested her head on his shoulder.

Fireflies danced among the trees and above the flooded rice paddies surrounding the farmhouse accompanied by the dry buzzing of cicadas. Kaoru smiled. Summer wasn't quite over just yet.
Kaoru took another drink of sake. She'd never lacked the courage to speak her mind, but speaking her heart was another thing entirely.

"Himura," she said. He turned his head and waited for her to say more. She took a deep breath. Just spit it out, baka. "When we were in Shimabara...before we came here... you said we should be together, not just for appearances. Do you still want that?"
Himura's amber gaze shifted to a gentle violet. "Is that what Kaoru-Dono wants?" he said.
What did Kaoru want? She and Himura hadn't exactly come together in a normal way. If Otou-San and Lord Hiko had arranged the match, would she have been happy? Most of the marriages around her, Otou-San and Oka-San, Uncle Saito and Aunt Tokio, Sanosuke and Megumi, had been arranged. Even Kaoru, as willful and unruly as she was, accepted that her future husband would be chosen for her. And if that future husband was a good man like Himura, she should be grateful.
"Yes," she said.
"Then this one wants it as well," said Himura. He leaned in and tucked a piece of Kaoru's hair behind her ear. His lips brushed hers.
Kaoru's pounding heart drowned out the buzzing cicadas. Hadn't Megumi said that first kisses tasted like lemon? No, they tasted like sake.
Himura spread out the quilt on the engawa and laid Kaoru atop it. He stroked her cheek. "Kaoru-Dono?" 
Kaoru nodded. Himura knew this path better than her and she'd follow his lead.
His hands untied her obi. He slid her yukata off her shoulders and kissed her neck and collarbone. Her breath hitched. She'd been curious about this part of marriage and now she was finally going to find out.
Himura's knee parted Kaoru's legs. Kaoru ran her finger over the web of scars on his back, a better reflection of his soul than his katana, committing each one to memory.
She loved every damaged, beautiful part of this man.
"Himura?" she said. Before they went further, she should tell him how she felt.
He kissed her forehead. "Kenshin."
"Kenshin?" She was his wife, soon to be his lover, she could at least call him by his given name.
"Yes, Kaoru-Dono?"
"You bastard!" Yahiko charged out of the darkness and tackled Himura. Himura blinked at him and oro-ed. Kaoru pulled her yukata closed. Where the hell did he come from? "Get away from my sister!"
Tsubame, who appeared from behind Yahiko, giggled. "No I see why you guys wanted to get rid of us." She went to Kaoru's side and helped her make herself decent while Kaoru pouted.
It was strange how you could never know you wanted something until it was placed in front of  you and taken away.
"It wasn't what it looked like, Yahiko-kun!" Kaoru turned her head. Himura was dodging a punch from Yahiko.
Tsubame dragged her boyfriend away from the cowering rurouni. "They're married," she said. "That's what married people do."
Yahiko looked at Kaoru to back him up but Kaoru glared at him. If what he'd seen disturbed him, then he should have had the good sense not to walk in on them. Kaoru pushed her little brother through the door. "Bed, brat," she said. "Now!"

After Tsubame and that snot-nosed punk, Yahiko, had finally fallen asleep, Kaoru moved her futon next to Himura... no...Kenshin- he'd asked her to call him that.
Kenshin's eyes flickered open. "Kaoru-Dono?"
Kaoru held her finger to her lips. Don't wake the rug rats. She laid down beside him. They couldn't finish what they'd started earlier, not if they didn't want to scar poor Yahiko for life, but she rested her head on his chest.
"Goodnight, koibito," said Kenshin. He kissed the top of her head. His arms drew her close, holding her safe and warm in his embrace.
Kaoru closed her eyes and fell asleep to the steady beating of Kenshin's heart.