A/N: Don't ask where this one is from….

Jump Rope

Summer was a teenager's greatest salvation. Once the school bell rang, there was nothing to stop us from running out into the world and being as stupid as we could possibly be. These were the times that we were allowed to do the things that we would regret later in life. We didn't care. It was fun at the time right? And if you weren't doing it…well you were just screwed.

With this said, I couldn't help but notice a lovely girl, no older than maybe fifteen standing on the corner with an overly decorated piece of rope.

"Hey look at that," my friend Sanosuke slapped my arm to catch my attention. I had already seen her though. The longer we watched, the sooner we realized just what that colorful rope was for. She opened it up and started jumping, one leg then the other.

I could have asked many stupid questions, or I could have scoffed at what she was doing. We were not in kindergarten anymore, so why was the jumping rope? Then I realized that her motive was clear. There were boys all around this neighborhood. In fact, if there were any other girls about, I would be surprised. About this time they were at the mall where they sat and ate in the food court talking about nothing and making up shitty stories about the people that passed by them.

The boys around this neighborhood, as I learned long ago, were as horny as any other teenage boy who began to understand the wonders of his sex drive. And this girl, so innocent in her gestures, was jumping rope in a skirt that was just short enough it would show something each time she went up into the air. It also showed off fined toned legs, freshly shaven.

"Isn't that Kamiya?" I asked dumbly.

"Yeah. Quite the beauty isn't she?"

Sanosuke was more than happy to oblige and answer my pointless questions. We both knew the kinds of images that were going through our heads. My father Hiko would be so proud of me.

Then, there was a different kind of urge within me. I stood up, my eyes following her as she delicately jumped across the street. She wasn't tired in the least. She looked like she could go all day long in the eighty degree weather.

"Where ya heading Ken?" Sanosuke asked me. I rolled the sleeves of my t-shirt around my shoulders and started toward Kaoru Kamiya.

Kaoru was the perfect little girl. She was smart without being geeky or nerdy. She was pretty without being slutty. She was innocent without selling anything. Not until now at least.

"Can I help you?" She asked, noticing me following her.

"Maybe."

"I am not doing your book report again."

"That was once in the fourth grade Kaoru."

"You never thanked me for it," Kaoru replied. She hadn't looked me in the eye yet, despite my strong attempts.

"So, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"Trying to send Sano into some fantasy."

She stopped her dress landing at mid thigh. "Excuse me?"

"Aw c'mon. You're not really subtle."

"Oh I get it," she shrugged her shoulders. "Buzz off mush brain."

My hands went behind my back and I smiled. Yeah, I knew Kaoru about as well as anyone else in the neighborhood did. She was strong willed and not afraid to speak her mind. Despite the flower covered dress that she was in, she was definitely the designated tom-boy of the neighborhood.

Kaoru and I were pretty close, in that friendly kind of way. We weren't so close that anyone would think anything. Those our age decided whether or not you were going out with the opposite sex depending on how close you were to them. Kaoru and I shrugged it off for the longest time, but maybe they were right. I had befriended her the moment that she moved into the area, and we had been that way ever since.

"Can I jump with you?"

"Do you have a rope?"

I looked back at my house just to make sure that Hiko wasn't looking pointlessly out the window. He worked from home, which only made it harder for me to slip things past him. If I entered the house now, he would ride me for the next three months, right up until school started back.

"Naw, do you?"

"You're so lazy Kenshin," but she went toward the stoop of her home and grabbed the second rope. She came back to me, handing it off.

"I thank you."

"You're welcome."

And I started jumping. For whatever reason there was a sudden exhilaration. Not the kind that Sanosuke and I were experiencing moments ago, but something different. I think adults called it 'love' but I wasn't willing to admit anything like that. I simply smiled at the feeling and pretended that the warmth on my cheeks was a growing sunburn. She probably pretended it was too, since it was happening at nearly the same pace. We both had our heads lowered, and we danced around each other, using the jump ropes as a barrier.

"So, you plan on doing this all day?" I asked.

"No…why?"

"I was just curious."

Kaoru cleared her throat. "You…wanna come over later?"

"I would be ditching Sano."

"You already did that."

"Oh."

I glanced over to my friend. He sulked to himself, and I was sure he was pretending that he had the gall to come over and ask to jump rope with her.

"Maybe we could all three Double Dutch later," I suggested. "If you know how."

Under her breath she muttered 'criss-cross applesauce' and turned the rope around still jumping through it.

She had skills.

A/N: Don't ask…..tell me what you think…..KenSan out!