Ok, I had actually written this story in June of 2002- posted it even, but then a friend from "real life" found me, and I freaked out, and started deleting chapters- and got a bit over zealous. I have six chapters written, actually, but I think I am going to do some major construction on all the chapters but this one. So, I would ask that you please not berate me for writing this as a new fic, since it's not, and it's actually the reason why I began writing. It is very near and dear to my heart, and I ask for your feedback. Love.
""=dialogue
''= character thoughts
typos= I'm an idiot
Prom
Prologue: An Unexpected Encounter
"So Kaoru, what've you read for English so far?"
Kaoru laughed glibly and said,
"None of it. How about you?"
Misao's blue eyes widened. "Kaoru… you can't be serious! I'm not even finished with my second to last novel and I've been doing the readings all summer! I haven't even started on the reports and I know that will take all of forever!" Misao wailed.
"Well, don't worry hon, I'll get it done. Anyway, I still think it's dumb we get homework over the summer… "summer reading"…why on Earth did we sign up for Honors English? High School is going to suck..."
"Yeah, but at least we know some seniors..." Misao trailed off dreamily.
Kaoru giggled,
"Honestly Misao… you're never going to get over my brother are you? Really… Aoshi is such an icicle! And his friends are all antisocial too…"
Misao hotly defended her "Aoshi-sama."
"Kaoru, you only think that because he's your brother. Aoshi-sama has just been through a lot."
"Hm…" said Kaoru, essentially ignoring what her friend had just said, "wouldn't it be crazy if he started dating your sister the head cheerleader? Well… former head cheerleader thank goodness…"
"Yeah… thank goodness is right, but her friends now are all in National Honor Society and talking about their college applications and stuff like that…"
"Bleh. How boring. Maybe cheerleaders are better. I've been dragged on a few college visits… neh Misao, let's go get some cappuccinos!"
The two girls headed off in search of the instant cappuccino machine that they knew was in the building somewhere. Their parents were attending some Asian Association conference that was all special because some sort of touring group was also attending. There weren't too many kids there that they knew… just Yutaro, and Yahiko. Ayame and Suzume had been bundled home by their parents not too long ago.
Kaoru and Misao had found the cappuccino machine and they carried their Styrofoam cups carefully blowing at the tops to cool down the drinks. Misao took a sip.
"Ow!"
Kaoru looked at her sympathetically. She knew how painful a burned tongue was. Misao had her tongue stuck out of her mouth and was fanning it frantically with her free hand.
"Eat a packet of sugar. I'm serious. It helps. Just let the sugar dissolve on your tongue. Come on, the kitchen in the gym is closest and there's always sugar packets in there."
When they arrived, the two girls saw some of their guy friends playing basketball.
"Hello Sano! Hey Aoshi!" They called.
"Jo-chan! Itachi!"
"Grr… We have names you know!"
Two SD faced girls yelled at Sano.
Aoshi characteristically had nothing to say. Kaoru rolled her eyes, looking pointedly at Misao, who choose to ignore her.
"Hey, they didn't put away all the tables… let's sit and watch the game."
"Aa… there's nothing else to do…"
Misao agreed, fervently wishing that in the next game her Aoshi-sama would not be on the shirts team.
As Kaoru and Misao began discussing the upcoming school year again, there was a slight interruption. Kaoru who was sitting on top of the table with Misao seated to her left on a folding chair almost fell on her. They turned to look at the person once the impending doom had been overcome. The person who had disturbed them was a slightly sweaty yet incredibly attractive redhead.
"Ano… excuse me… I was wondering if you knew where the drinking fountain was de gozaru?" He asked, looking directly at Kaoru.
"Um… sure… it's just outside those doors to your right between the bathrooms." She said, pointing, hoping sincerely he wouldn't go. "It's really easy to find." She blurted out as he started to walk away. He turned back in midstep and smiled at her. "Thanks."
Slightly disappointed, Kaoru resumed her conversation. A throat was cleared gently in front of her. Kaoru glanced at Misao who had a smile playing about the corners of her mouth.
The handsome red- haired young man extended his hand to Kaoru.
"Hi, my name is Himura Kenshin."
Kaoru took his hand and shook it, noting that he had grasped her hand firmly.
"Hello Kenshin," she dimpled prettily. "my name is Kamiya Kaoru. There are my friends Makimachi Misao, and Yahiko and Yutaro back there in the kitchen fighting as usual."
He smiled and shook hands with Misao. 'Is it just my imagination of did he take my hand the most firmly?' Kaoru thought as she watched Kenshin shake hands with Yahiko and Yutaro who had magically appeared. Kaoru shook her head slightly. 'Get a grip girl… you're probably never going to see that guy again… but he is really cute…'
Kenshin opened his mouth to say something more when some guys playing basketball called him back.
"Oi, Kenshin! Stop flirting! We need you in here!"
He flashed an apologetic smile at Kaoru and jogged across the gym.
"He's really hot." Misao commented.
Kaoru lifted an eyebrow. "Reall-"
She was cut off as Misao squealed, fingernails digging into Kaoru's arm. "Ow, Misao I can't fee-"
"Look!" She hissed excitedly. "Aoshi-sama is on the skins team…" She then moved dreamily to the chair closest to the basketball court that was still at the table. Misao stared at the sweaty players starry eyed. Kaoru sweat dropped. She tried to get Misao's attention. She called her name, snapped her fingers, and waved her hand in front of her face—all to no avail. Kaoru then gave up and looked up. She wrinkled her nose distastefully.
"Thank goodness Aoshi drove himself… otherwise the car would smell like B.O." She muttered.
Having nothing better to do, Kaoru pulled open her book bag and surreptitiously sprayed herself with the Iced Pineapple Body Splash she had purchased from Bath and Body Works a few days ago.
Kaoru then picked up the novel Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and tried to read it. She heard a throat being cleared and looked up. In front of her was a large group of guys.
"Ano… where's the drinking fountain?"
She pointed them in the direction, her heart sinking as she saw Kenshin was one of the guys headed towards the fountain, but he was almost hugging the walls, and she was about halfway across the large gymnasium. 'So much for that!...' She tried to go back to her book when someone coughed slightly to get her attention. She looked up irritated, ready to give the poor hapless person a piece of her mind 'Rather unfairly…' a part of her mind admitted, when she saw it was Kenshin.
Immediately, her frown softened.
"Hey there." He grinned.
"Hey yourself." She said softly.
"So… what're you reading?"
She dumped out her book bag and handed him the four novels.
"Any one of these."
"Ouch."
"No kidding." She changed the subject. "So what happened to the game? Is it over?"
"Guess so… we decided to take a break… we were getting creamed by the skins… that tall guy is a beast de gozaru yo!"
"Hm? Oh… him?" Kaoru pointed at Aoshi.
"Aa."
"That's my brother… yeah… he can get pretty… intense."
"Oro. I'm sorry…"
"It's ok. So, why're you here? Are you a part of that traveling group?"
"Yeah, I'm in the choir… my parents thought it'd be good for me to 'do things with kids my own age'…"
"I see. So, how long are you guys going to be here?" She asked with her fingers crossed.
"Just till tomorrow. We're performing early in the morning and then we have to go continue on our tour… Are you going to be there tomorrow?"
"I think so." She said automatically. 'I hope so…'
"Great." He started to walk off as some guys were hollering his name again, telling him the game was back on. Suddenly, Kaoru's mind began working again.
"Kenshin- wait."
He turned and walked back to her.
"What's the matter?" He asked concernedly.
"Did you mean tomorrow at noon?"
He looked confused, but answered her anyway. "No… we're singing at the morning seminar."
"The Asian one or the American one?"
"The American one- we sang at the Asian one today."
"Oh… well then… I guess I won't see you… so… good luck tomorrow then…"
'Was it my imagination or did he look disappointed?' She paused. 'Kaoru, get a grip on yourself! He probably has a girlfriend back home… wherever his home is… I think someone said they were from… oh… I don't know… Anyway, a guy like him must have girls clamoring to be with him…'
After he made sure she had nothing more to say by hanging around her a few moments longer, he said "Thanks" and slowly trudged away.
Yutaro looked up from his gameboy from a few chairs away and grinned at her.
"He likes you."
"Whatever." Kaoru said brusquely, hiding her smile.
Misao snapped out of her trance for a moment to glance behind her to say,
"I think he does too, Kaoru-chan."
Kaoru merely rolled her eyes but this time she let her smile show.
A few minutes later, the parents came in to collect the children. Yahiko's dad stood in the doorway.
"Yahiko, Kaoru, Misao, Yutaro, time to go!"
Kaoru packed up her things slowly and smoothed out her blue shirt carefully, all the while looking longingly at the guys who were wrapping up their game. She paused to fix her hair. Finally, she stood up. 'Give it up, Kaoru, you're delusional. Kenshin does not like you. You're insane.' She sighed and looked away from the players, when she caught Kenshin heading her way before he was tackled affectionately by another player. She sighed, knowing she couldn't stall any longer, and if Kenshin had been heading towards her, there was not a chance she would get to talk to him at this point…
'Mou. Stupid boys. Aren't they supposed to be all impersonal?'
"Kaoru!" Called Myojin-san.
"Aa… Coming…" As she walked through the doors she thought she saw Kenshin stretch an arm out towards her out of the corner of her eye. She half turned to make sure she had really seen that, only to find Yahiko's father directly in front of the doors.
"Your parents are waiting." He said.
Kaoru ran to catch up with Misao, swearing under her breath. The two then went to find their parents who were still talking and clearly not about to leave. After five minutes, Misao blurted out,
"That Kenshin kid was really cute."
"I guess so…" Kaoru said non-comittically.
"I think he likes you…" Misao said, watching her friend carefully.
"Whatever Misao-chan… and even if that's true, I'm never going to see him again in my life…"
"Ok Kaoru. Oh- hey! Let's go see if the guys are still here!"
Kaoru looked at her friend suspiciously but let herself be dragged along. She glanced at her parents who were still deep in conversation. Her mind replayed the last few seconds before she had left the gym as she followed Misao through the hallways. They navigated the dark hallways skillfully and arrived at the gym to see some guys carrying sleeping bags, but there was no sign of anyone they knew.
Some of the guys who had been playing basketball noticed them and they began to stare.
"C'mon Misao… we can't find anybody- Sano and Aoshi and them are probably long gone, and our parents have got to be done by now…"
"Ok…" Misao agreed, looking around one last time before she turned away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kaoru opened her eyes. 'That was more than four years ago… I wonder why I suddenly thought about that now…' She rolled over in bed and looked at her clock. 7:03 it read. 'Eep! I am never going to make it on time… I still need to find a bag to pack all my stuff in!'
Kaoru raced around her house trying to pack up her stuff for the convention she would be attending all weekend. 'I'll never make it by 7:30…' She wailed in her mind. Then she growled… 'I am going to skin Aoshi alive for stealing my gap bag…'
Amazingly enough, Kaoru made it into the classroom right before the bell rang. She picked up her attendance card and dropped it off on the teacher's desk.
"I'm here but I have to go now." She said to her teacher who was hunched over the attendance book in a rush.
"What?"
"I'm here, but I have to go and load my stuff on the truck now." Kaoru said slowly and impatiently.
Her teacher rolled her eyes. "Well, what about your project?"
"I'll get it done…" she promised. "Now can I go?"
"Ok… Whatever…" Her teacher said in the "long suffering, 'I-told-you-so'" tone of voice that set Kaoru's teeth on edge while throwing up a hand. Kaoru ground her teeth, hauled up her heavy luggage and swore steadily under her breath until she arrived at the main doors of the school building. She left her stuff by the office door and walked inside, straight up to the senior's secretary.
"Hi, I need a pass to go outside so I can load my stuff onto the trunk."
The secretary looked up and smiled.
"Sure… Kaoru is it?" Kaoru nodded. "So you're going to the convention?" Kaoru nodded again.
"Well, here you go… and good luck this weekend! Bring home another first place for the school!"
Kaoru grinned as a few of the other secretaries piped up and told her "good luck" and "have fun." Just then, the senior principal, curious as to the goings-on outside of her office poked her had out of her office. "What? Oh- good luck this weekend." She told Kaoru, noticing the pass in her hand.
"Thanks."
Her principal smiled and went back into her office. Kaoru blinked and swore she saw red hair and heard a semi-familiar voice, but she quickly dismissed the thought. 'It's just got to be the stress and weird timing of my memory/dream…'
Kaoru then went out to her stuff and glared at it. Deciding that trying to kill her stuff by the heat of her glare would be useless, Kaoru sighed and hefted the heavy bag and bulky portfolio, her overstuffed book bag on her back. As soon as she walked outside, she saw Misao waving energetically at her.
"Hey Kaoru!"
'I swear that girl is on heroin and caffeine and sugar…'
Kaoru grinned at her own thoughts.
"Hey Misao…"
~*~*~*~end
Who should Kaoru's best friend be? What should the other pairings be? More realistic? Less realistic?
Talk to me. ^_~ You know you want to!
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