La Fleure qui est Belle

The usual warning and
disclaimer applies, see chapter one.

Chapter Nine

The
next day, Kaoru sent Kenshin a letter saying that it had been good to see him and
that she hoped he was doing well. And,
honestly, it had been, and she did hope.
He was a kind man who deserved more than he had ever received from Jean.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> One day he would find someone, and she hoped
she could be around when that happened, which only resulted in her berating
herself. Kaoru, she thought, you have to
put him out of your mind. No more of
this half-hearted chasing after a man who will, most likely, never feel anything
more for you than the relationship an employer has with a former employee.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He replied in kind, his letter ending up
being much longer and verging on chatty.
He mailed it anyway, and it made Kaoru smile, then frown.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It was likely, she thought, that he’d moved
on entirely, wanted nothing else to do with her, and this was just his way of
being nice.

Besides,
she had a party to go to the following evening with her current employer.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She had no wish to go, but there was no way
she could get out of it. Any attempt to
back out would result in another beating, and that was the last thing that she
wanted. She would have loved to kill the
man, but that would be detrimental to her job.
She really would have to become at whore at that point, because she would
no longer be putting money in the bank without clients.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Best to not dwell on it now, Kaoru, she told
herself. Just live day to day, and
somehow you’ll get by.

As
it turned out, Kenshin was at the same party.
It was a get-together for the business in which he was a partner, so he
was obligated to attend. However, he had
no inclination to dance, and so was standing in a corner of the room with a
glass of champagne. Across the room,
Kaoru had been shoved into another corner by her employer, who was angry at her
having stolen a couple of glances at Kenshin.
Her head hit the marble wall, and the breath was knocked from her lungs
by the force of both hitting the wall, and the shock.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Her employer’s breath reeked of alcohol, and
he was far too close. She wanted to
close her eyes, to sink through the floor….anything to block out his presence,
but could not.

From
his place across the hall, Kenshin’s eyes grew cold.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He knew that woman, and he did not like the
way she was being treated. Striding
over, he tapped the man on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, if there a problem, Monsieur?”

The
taller man gave Kenshin the once-over. class=GramE>“Nothing that you need to concern yourself about.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She’s not your business, much as I’m sure
she’d like to be,” he sneered. Kaoru
merely gave Kenshin a pleading look over her employer’s shoulder; she was in
too much pain to speak at the moment.

Kenshin
managed a small smile, although he wanted nothing more at that moment than to
hit the taller man. “Behaving like this
in public doesn’t make the best impression.
Have a care with your reputation.”

“They
won’t care,” he spat, slapping Kaoru across the face, quit hared.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Where are you looking?style='mso-spacerun:yes'> You’re mine, you hear?”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Kaoru bit back her cry of pain.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> If she made a sound, he’d only hit her
again. This caused Kenshin to gape for a
fraction of a second, and then trow his shoulder against the other fellow,
knocking him into the wall. He then took
Kaoru’s hand and led the shaking woman from the building.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

There, it’s short, but
it’s done. I’m off to bake cookies.