Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
-THIS IS NOT A HIGH SCHOOL FIC-
AN: Yes, I am a bad girl. sad face But I just had to get this out there. Believe me, I am working on "He loves her, He loves her not" I promise.
I hope you enjoy- this is a work in progress, and well, I finally decided to make it a/u (big surprise). You'll notice some changes; I think if you ever check my profile- that and I changed my penname to "infinite nemo."
Let me say, I don't think this will be your typical fanfic-it might border on angst, and should have realistic elements.
Thank you for your support!
Juxtaposition
Prologue: Growing Up
"Hm? Yes of course I'm listening Misao-chan…" Kaoru said absent mindedly.
"Well, what did I just say then?" The petite queen of genkiness asked with her hands on her hips.
"Something about how great Aoshi is," Kaoru said, waving her hand vaguely, "as usual." She said with a grin.
Misao tried to glare at her friend, but found she couldn't keep it up, as she was doing it half heartedly at best. The girl giggled. "I do talk about Aoshi-sama a lot, don't I?" She said ponderously.
Kaoru looked at her friend and said kindly, with her eyes twinkling, "No, not that much… you do eat and sleep after all."
"Ahh!" Misao pushed her friend good humoredly. "I wish I had an incredibly attractive cousin for you to meet and fall for. Just you wait, Kamiya Kaoru—your time will come."
"I certainly hope not, Misao." The older girl replied laughingly, finally tearing her eyes away from the thing- or person, rather, that had been so distracting. A light blush graced her cheeks at nearly lying to Misao- but if Misao ever even got wind of Kaoru potentially finding someone attractive, Kaoru would never hear the end of it. She rolled her eyes.
"Neh- Kaoru, you-"
"So, Misao, did I tell you that Aoshi'll be home tonight?" Kaoru interrupted quickly.
"Whaat? No way! Oh I'm so glad my class was cancelled today!"
Kaoru only partially listened to Misao's gushing, occupied with her own thoughts, especially since the source of those thoughts was right in front of her. As the boy turned into a classroom, she firmly decided, 'No… I know I don't have time to be involved with boys. And I don't have a crush on that guy- whoever he is. He has really interesting hair- nice- but I don't like him. And there's a difference between finding someone attractive and liking them.' And with that settled, Kaoru turned her full attention back to her best friend.
"We're high schoolers!" Rang out in the classrooms and hallways as soon as the bell rang. Kaoru and Misao rushed out into the hallway with the rest of their classmates. After meeting up with some friends and reluctantly bidding one of their favorite teachers, Hannya-san a sentimental goodbye, they walked outside with the throngs of students pouring out to loiter in the sunshine.
Calling out their goodbyes, Kaoru and Misao separated from their group, knowing they would see everyone shortly. The two girls ignored the police officers standing outside and walked into the surrounding neighborhood. They had agreed to meet at Misao's house after school, and Misao and Kaoru were going there first to clean up a little.
While the two girls were walking, they passed groups of kids out in the yards of surrounding homes. Their attention was gotten by a voice calling out their names.
"Misao! Hey! Misao! Kaoru!"
"It's Kamatari!" Misao exclaimed, grabbing Kaoru by the arm. "Hi!" She called back.
"Come on over here, you guys!" Kamatari called out. "Join the fun!" Kaoru and Misao looked at the yard then each other dubiously. It was packed with people who had just graduated with them, and some high schoolers, but there were rather suspicious sounding squeals ringing out.
"Come on!" Kamatari urged again, cheerfully.
"Well…" Misao took a few hesitant steps towards crossing the street then looked back at Kaoru who was hesitating. "Kaoru? Should we?"
"I…" She began, but was cut off by Kamatari screaming as one large male sprayed him with shaving cream, and another broke a water balloon over his head.
"Nevermind." Misao said quickly, determinedly stepping back unto the sidewalk. "Let's go." The two hurried on, leaving the groups of people behind for a while, until they noticed a gang of thuggish looking people skulking down the road parallel to them.
"Hey!" one of them called. "Hey! Did you guys just graduate from Middle School?"
The girls ignored them and kept walking, but a few minutes later, some of them crossed the street and began calling at them again.
"You know…" Kaoru growled, eyeing the cans of shaving cream and cartons of eggs they were holding. "We should just take them out."
A squad car drove by at that moment, and the boys fell back. Both girls laughed. "What perfect timing, Miss Anger Management." Misao giggled.
However, the group caught up to them again, and finally Misao turned around to glance at them, then looked forward again. "Let's just get this over with now and see what they want."
"What who wants?" A male voice asked as a rough hand clapped unto each of the girls shoulders. They squealed and spun around to attack the stranger who had snuck up on them.
"Ack! Stop it! Down Tanuki- down Itachi!"
The girls stopped, then eyed each other, fists still raised, as if contemplating getting in another hit.
"Sano? What are you doing here?" Asked an incredulous Kaoru.
The taller boy glared at them for a second, then straightened his clothes and shrugged. "You should have seen how quickly the parking lot cleared out at the high school, so with the extra time, I decided to check up on you girls. There's always hazing going around the middle school today, so both me and Aoshi thought it would be a good idea, and he dropped me off at the Middle School. Both you girls were gone so I thought you'd be walking. He went to get food." He said for Misao's benefit.
"Aoshi-sama is sooo thoughtful!" Misao sighed, all starry eyed.
Sano opened his mouth but was cut off by Kaoru who punched him on the arm, then pulled him into a hug. "Thanks coz."
"Anything for my favorite oversized animals." He said with a grin, which earned him a bump on the head.
"It's hard to believe you and Aoshi are twins…" Kaoru muttered darkly.
Kaoru hurried, throwing on the clothes she had set out the night before for her first day of high school.
"Kaoru-chan, Aoshi and Sano are here!" Her mother called.
"Ok!" 'I haven't even brushed my teeth!' Kaoru hurried, while her mother ushered her two cousins in and pushed them to the breakfast table. When Kaoru ran down the stairs and was pulling on her jacket, both Aoshi and Sano were just finishing up their stacks of pancakes.
"Here, dear." Kaoru's mother held out a paper lunch bag, and a plastic sandwich bag holding a waffle. "Have a good day."
Once they got into the call, Aoshi started the car, waiting until everyone put on their seatbelt, then drove off.
'Wow… Aoshi's driving is scary…' Was Kaoru's thought. She leaned up in her seat to whisper into Sano's ear, "Why don't you drive?"
"As if ol' Ice Man there would ever let me." Sano snorted. "Older by 6 minutes, and that's what happens."
"I can hear you, you know." Aoshi said dryly, then continued on. "And Sano drives like a granny. Once we get closer to the parking lot, you'll see."
A third into the day, and Kaoru didn't know if she was still overwhelmed, or becoming more and more overwhelmed. Aoshi was right. Trying to get into the parking lot and finding a space was like trying to shop during a super sale the day after Thanksgiving. Kaoru shuddered at the thought of ever driving herself to school.
Then, the building was so much bigger, and with it the student population also increased. Luckily, the setup of the building was rather simple. Kaoru found it difficult however, to push her small form through the masses of people in the hallways. 'It's like a mob…'
Kaoru stumbled into the classroom, glad to be out of the press of bodies in the hallway.
Just as the door shut behind her, the bell rang. 'Just made it. Phew.'
The teacher, a kind looking woman turned towards her. "Ah- and now we have our last student. Miss Kamiya, you will sit on the far right in the first row. Ok everyone, partner up!" She then turned to Kaoru, "Just go to your seat and don't bother moving, dear."
"I'm sor-" Kaoru began, but the teacher had already turned away. Aoshi had told her that Miss Tae was an interesting woman… Kaoru sighed then sat down in her seat. She set down her book bag, then turned as someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to face a shock of bright red hair.
"Hi- we got partners before you got here, but anyway, my name is Himura Kenshin." He stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Closing AN: Gratuitous scenes all around, yes, but I guess I was hoping the introduce the characters and… well, please stick with me and find out- remember this is only the prologue. I believe time will be passing very quickly in this story hereafter.
(Incidentally, I just wanted to post this story- for multiple reasons, but most of my time will be going towards "He loves…" but I am working on all my other stories. Please bear with me!)
I hope you read my first message. Believe me; I don't intend to linger in the high school time period very long at all. Forgive this chapter.
bows
Thanks for reading!
Make me smile!
