ESCAPADES

In the college years…

Listening In

"Misao! Oh my gosh!" Kaoru giggled girlishly in the other room, curled up on the couch with the TV muted while she watched the evening news. Her best friend, Makimachi Misao, was telling her an outrageous story—the only kind Misao ever had to tell—about the weasel mishap in one of her veterinary classes. Apparently, the professor was now calling her "Weasel Girl" and the name had stuck with all the other students.

"It's terrible!" Misao wailed into the phone. "Stupid little varmint!" Misao grumbled to herself about the stupid animal that had unexpectedly pounced on her in the middle of class, and had followed her around for the rest of the day like a faithful puppy, while Kaoru asked her, "Um, Misao, did you just say 'varmint'?"

Varmint? Hiding out in Kaoru's small kitchenette, Kenshin listened with interest to her conversation with her best friend, a hyper girl Kenshin had only ever heard of in outrageous stories. Apparently, those stories were Misao's whole life. That, and her obsession with a guy named Shinomori…

I wonder if I'll be able to slip out of here unnoticed… Kenshin thought. He hadn't meant to be here so late…not really…

Truth be told, Tae had let him in earlier, but had had to leave a few minutes afterward, saying that Kaoru should be in any minute. She allowed Kenshin to stay there and wait for her, since she trusted him, regardless of school policy. And Kenshin had honored that trust by staying dutifully silent and only rummaging through Kaoru's room for, oh, half and hour or so.

So he was a little obsessed! He wouldn't have had the time to look around if she hadn't been so late! And, in his defense, he got really bored… He had never had the opportunity to look at a girl's stuff before, and in his boredom, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable, entertaining idea…

When Kaoru finally did show up, he was in her kitchen, staring at the wall and the puppy dog calendar next to it. He held his breath, thinking she would come in for something to eat and find him, but Kaoru surprised him. She had plopped herself down on the couch to do some homework and watch TV, and then Misao had called, leaving him where he was now, an hour even later. Of all the days for Kaoru's healthy appetite to fail him…

He felt like such a stalker, and all he wanted was to get out of there before she found him and labeled him as one. But, while he was here, he felt he might as well listen to the conversation going on in the other room. It wasn't every day he got the opportunity to listen in on what Kaoru was like with her best friend, when she didn't know anyone else was there to hear.

"Oh, Misao…" Kaoru groaned. Kenshin tilted his ear in the general direction of her exasperated voice.

"No, he hasn't asked me out. Misao, he doesn't like me, I've told you! And, look here, weasel girl, you've never even seen the guy, so how can you--?" A piercing screech emanated from the phone, and Kenshin guessed Kaoru was holding it a few inches away at this point. Apparently Misao didn't like being called a weasel girl. Well, who would?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, mou! …Just don't bother me about Kenshin anymore…" Kaoru warned her.

Kenshin froze in his chair, in the dark kitchen. Kenshin who? Does she mean me? His heart rate accelerated at a somewhat unsettling pace at the thought, but he wasn't holding his breath yet… She couldn't possibly be talking about him…

"What's his surname name again?" Misao was asking Kaoru on the other end. The first time Kaoru had told her about him, she thought his name sounded familiar… But for the life of her, she could never remember what it was.

"Himura."

"Himura! Oh, Kaoru, I have seen him! I have! Himura Kenshin went here last year! With Aoshi and me! No, we didn't know him, and he didn't know us, but I remember him 'cause he was the champion of the kenjutsu conference last year. He's an incredible swordsman, but I forget what his style is now… I'll ask Aoshi later, he was more interested than me…" While Misao rambled on about Aoshi some more, Kaoru thought, She was only at the conference because of Aoshi, I'm sure…

"So, if you saw him, then what did he look like?" Kaoru asked her. In the other room, Kenshin was sweating now, because Kamiya Kaoru was definitely talking about him for some reason, and he was still in her kitchen, with no escape route!

And to make matters worse, he heard movement… Damnit, Kaoru's getting up! Now he prayed that she wasn't hungry…

"Oh, he was pretty cute," Misao informed her. "Different looking too. He had the brightest red hair I've ever seen, and he wore it in a ponytail, which is definitely different…it looked good on him, which I give him points for. There aren't many guys who can pull that off and still look masculine, but he does. Maybe it's just the swordsmanship stuff, though, 'cause he was also really short--,"

"You're just used to Aos--!"

Kaoru stopped mid-sentence after interrupting Misao to defend Kenshin, because said man was standing nervously in her kitchen when she flicked the light.

Kenshin looked back at her, horrified. "K-K-Kaoru…dono," he stammered, raising one hand to the back of his head, as was his habit when nervous. When he had realized she was indeed coming to the kitchen, all he could do was stand and face her… But now that that was coming to pass, he wasn't sure he could stand it…

Kaoru looked back at him in utter, complete shock. Her mind reeled from the fact that he had been there the whole time…listening to her talk about him.

"Kaoru? Hey, tanuki, you there?"

Kenshin's eyes darted quickly to the phone and back to Kaoru's face. Misao's voice was very clear and, she had just called Kaoru a tanuki. If he wasn't so horrified, he would have laughed, because it seemed like these girls had the most unflattering nicknames for one another…

"Misao… Shut up…" Kaoru cautioned her, a little tersely. The voice on the other end went ominously silent.

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru demanded. She stared Kenshin down, her blue eyes wide, yet unreadable, and leaned against the doorframe with the phone held only a few inches from her mouth. Kenshin realized that Misao was going to hear everything. Well, I don't know her anyway…

"Uh, well, you see, Kaoru-dono, I came by earlier, and then, um, well, you didn't come home, and T-Tae-dono let me in! That she did, and she told me I could wait for you, so I did, because I wanted to see if you were free…later…but I guess you weren't, because you came home so late, and then I realized you might think I was stalking you, but I couldn't get away, and then…you came in here…" he finished lamely, after an overall rambling, lame excuse. He blushed in shame and embarrassment, and stared forlornly at the phone.

"'K."

His eyes went back to Kaoru's, and she was looking at him thoughtfully. She put the phone back to her ear and said, "Misao, I'll call you later, okay? No! Don't start! Just shut up! Later! I'll call you later! Go bother Aoshi!" She hung up and tapped the phone against her shoulder. Kenshin wasn't sure what to expect next, but was waiting for her…

The phone rang. Kaoru smiled knowingly, clicked it on and said, "Misao, I know it's you, and you need to calm down! I won't pick up again!" She hung up just as Misao started to protest loudly, and then smiled at Kenshin. "C'mon, Kenshin, let's go."

"Go where?" Kenshin asked, hurrying after her as she hung up the phone in the living room and turned off the TV.

"I dunno. Where did you want to go?"

"Oro?" Confused, Kenshin saw her lips quirk in a satisfied smile.

"I thought you said you came here earlier to see if I was free, ne? Well, I'm making time now, so…where do you want to go?" She looked at him with a grin. Then she laughed, because he looked completely clueless, and unable to form coherent thoughts, let alone words…

"Okay, I'll pick. I think that's the nice thing to do anyway…" Then she took him by the hand and led him out of her dorm.

"Oh, and the next time you come by, if there is a next time, just leave a note. This is the first and last time you spend unsupervised visiting hours in the girls' dorms, and listen in on my phone conversations…"

"Okay…"

Kenshin smiled at the back of Kaoru's head as she led him away from her dorm, and thought, Oro… Well, at least it all turned out okay…

Revised 2/26/10 - ce