Fall in love? Never.
By
Queen Hermy Penguin
Summary: Kaoru thought that her life was at its worst point already. But that thought completely changed when she met a certain Count and she realized that NOW, her life was at its worst point. Or is it? KK. (Horrible summary, I know, but please read this story anyway!)
A/N: Don't know what got into me really, this story just popped into my mind and urged me to write. I've NEVER written a fanfic, but I'm giving it a try now, so please be nice! No flames please, constructive criticism is appreciated though!
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or anything from it, only Nobuhiro Watsuki sir owns it. You happy now?!?! I don't own anything other than is plot!! Savvy?!?! sniff Oh Kenshin…..
Warning: I'm trying my best to keep everyone in character as much as possible, but seeing how my story is going, there is going to be OC stuff. Gentle Kenshin is NOT going to be the gentle Kenshin, so don't kill me. He's the only character so far that's really going to be off. I think Aoshi miiight be just a little, but that's all so far.
".." – talking
'..' – thinking
Italics – past/flashback/strain on a word
Chapter 1
Kaoru Kamiya was angry. In fact, that would be an understatement. She was so infuriated that her anger was felt all the way in Antarctica and scared the living daylights out of all the penguins there that were squawking happily.
'How in seven hells did I end up in this predicament?' she thought bitterly. 'This is absolutely unfair! It's an outrage! Why do things like this ALWAYS happen to me?!'
Kaoru has every right to wonder about that, especially after all the disasters she had to endure for the past few months.
It all started when Kaoru's father fell sick. He was so sick that he was strictly told to take bed-rest by their family doctor, Dr. Gensai. His assistant, Megumi Takani, had been the one who took care of Kaoru's father whenever she could. But none of that could stop the inevitable, the death of Kaoru's father. Kaoru, naturally, was immensely saddened now that she had no family left. As per the culture, she had to wear all black dresses for a few months to show she was mourning her father, but that, unfortunately, brought down her already low funding.
What was worse, or so she thought, was that an old enemy of her father attacked her home about a month after her father's death. Gohei Hiruma, the said attacker, thought this was the best time to take revenge for what Kaoru's father did. Her father was the captain for one of the units in the British army and he suspended Gohei from it since he was being too much of a pompous and villainous arse. He completely ruined Kaoru's home so much that it needed to be rebuilt top to bottom, or in this case, bottom to top. Thankfully, Kaoru's rich friend Misao Makimachi, swooped in at the right time and took Kaoru under her care. She offered to help rebuild Kaoru's home and deal with all the money problems, but until that, Kaoru would be staying with her.
All of those disasters were not even close to what Kaoru was enduring right now.
Kaoru was walking back to her temporary home, Misao's house, from the marketplace. Even though Misao offered to send a carriage for her, Kaoru refused it. She liked to walk alone for a while so she could think. Also, while at the marketplace, Kaoru bought two beautiful brooches for her and Misao. Hers was a beautiful blue flower that started as all white in the middle and slowly became all blue at the end of the petal. It also had an elegant red bough tied at its green stem. The center of the flower was studded with yellow topaz and the all these colors put together made a beautiful brooch. Misao's brooch, on the other hand, was a gorgeous mermaid. Her hair, the colour of the ocean, cascaded around her shoulders like water ripples and her scales were studded with bright turquoise gemstones. Kaoru couldn't help but stare at both of the brooches, mesmerized by them.
'I suppose it is a good thing I went to the marketplace then. I absolutely LOVE these brooches! Oh, Misao would be ecstatic after she sees her brooch! I picked this one especially for her since it matches her eyes!' she thought happily. She skipped a little and jumped but then looked around to make sure nobody saw that.
'Oh dear me, what am I doing? This is not the behavior of a proper lady! Control yourself, Kaoru!' she thought exasperatedly. She smoothed down the imaginary wrinkles on her black dress.
"Thank goodness, I don't have to wear black anymore after a few days! I was beginning to think I'll never be able to wear any other colour!" she muttered to herself as she smoothed down the last of the imaginary wrinkles. She then looked up at the sky and saw that it was turning grey.
"Oh no! I HAVE to get home soon! I do NOT want to be soaking wet!" she yelled as she quickened her pace. The weather has not been too good for the past few days and the streets had many puddles all over and Kaoru had to make sure she didn't step in any of them.
Kaoru started jogging a little by the time the sky got even more grey, but unfortunately, she dropped everything in her hands. What was worse was the fact that she dropped them all in a puddle, which made it harder for her to find. She didn't realize that there were two men on their horses were approaching her way in a fast manner. It was too late to realize they were coming and she got splashed by the water from the puddle. She also heard a significant "crack" and she knew in her heart that that was from one of the brooches.
'Ooooh, those arrogant men! How dare they do this to me!' she thought angrily and she took a handful of wet mud and threw it at one of the men.
"You insolent pig, you call yourself a gentleman?!?! You splash me with dirty water AND you broke my friend's brooch and you don't stop to apologize?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
The victim of her mud-throwing was a red-haired man whose long glossy hair was covered with the said mud. He turned his horse angrily and came back to Kaoru.
"Why you insubordinate fool! You dare to throw mud at me?! Do you KNOW who I am?!?!" he said angrily as he got off his horse.
"I do not know, nor do I care, sir. You owe me a new dress AND a brooch," she said venomously. "Be happy I did not throw my shoes at you; they're in worse condition than your precious hair," she said, pointing at her shoes.
The other man who was traveling with this man got off his horse and glared at Kaoru with his icy grey eyes. His black bangs blew in the wind from the upcoming storm and he took a step closer to Kaoru.
"How DARE you throw mud at my friend, you wench…you call yourself a lady?! You ought to pay for this!" he said angrily as he took out his sword from his belt. "Apologize to him!" he yelled.
Meanwhile, Kaoru stood shell-shocked at what this man did.
'Good lord! I-I can't BELIEVE he's pointing a sword at me!' thought Kaoru, absolutely scandalized.
The red-haired man significantly paled at this point as well.
"A-Aoshi, now calm down! You do NOT have to do this. It's only mud. I'll go and wash it when I'm taking a bath! Just put your sword down, please! I beg of you!" he said calmly like talking to a wild animal.
"No Kenshin. Women like her need to be taught respect. After all, NO ONE treats nobility like that!" said Aoshi angrily, glaring at Kaoru.
"Are you really going to hurt me, sir? You think I can't fight back because I'm a woman?? Who do you think you are, the executioner? I am NOT scared of you!" said Kaoru bravely, even though she was not feeling a tiny bit of bravado.
Suddenly, all three of them were surrounded by men in uniforms. A tall man stepped forward from the men. He had short, black hair sleeked back and a few strands fell forward on his face but failed to cover his golden eyes. He calmly lit a cigar and took a few smokes.
"I hereby arrest all three of you in the name of the law for causing menace to the society," he said while puffing out more smoke.
Kenshin was the first one to revive from the momentary shock.
"I beg your pardon, sir? I have nothing to do with this whatsoever and neither does my friend over there. If you should arrest anyone here, it would be that woman! She threw mud at my hair! She doesn't even know who she's dealing with!" said Kenshin, pointing accusingly at Kaoru.
"If it comes to that, then neither do I, nor do I care for that matter. It doesn't change the fact that all three of you were being a menace to the public, right in front of the police station nonetheless," said the police officer.
"And who might you be?" asked Aoshi.
"Even though it's none of your business, I'm Saitou Hajime, the chief police officer in charge of guarding the public from the likes of you in this area," he said, glaring at Aoshi. "Arrest the three of them. Put the woman in a separate cell."
Kenshin and Aoshi were taken away towards a prison cell on the left side of the station by a couple of police officers while Kaoru was taken to the right side.
Another couple of officers came and talked to both parties to ask about who should be informed about this. They also told their side of the story of what exactly happened. Then both parties were left alone to their thoughts.
And that was how Kaoru ended up in jail while there was a thunderstorm outside. She scowled and sat down on the dirty ground and took out the brooch that she did manage to find. It was hers.
'I suppose I should give this to Misao since hers is broken now…' she thought sadly. After all, she bought this one since it was the best of all the brooches she saw at the shop. 'Oh Misao…I'm so sorry!'
She quietly sobbed to herself.
A/N: Whoa..I can't BELIEVE I wrote/typed so much! I seriously didn't think it would be THIS long! Anywho, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! And be nice! Oh, the funny thing was that when I was typing the second half of this chapter, there was actually a thunderstorm going on outside! Hehe, interesting, isn't it?