Author's Note: This story didn't come out the way I intended it to. It was suppose to be a Sano/Megumi story based on the word "anger." Instead my Kenshin muse threw a tantrum that I was writing a Sano/Megumi story before one of him and Kaoru. He stole the prompt and demanded that I write this story before I could work on anything else. Eventually I just gave in.
Summary: Stereotypes are hard to break. But sometimes learning lessons can be quite enjoyable. Alternate Universe.
Warning: Unedited
Status: Complete… I think.
A Lesson in Stereotypes
Blazing violet eyes framed by fiery red bangs stared down at the enemy. Kenshin fought to keep the snarl locked deep within his throat. He sought a level of calmness he knew he no longer possessed. When he spoke, his words were accompanied with underlying bite. "There is no reason for this."
No effect.
"You are being impossible."
No response.
"It doesn't have to be this way," he tried again, hands tightening into fists on either side of his body.
Still, no change.
Finally, he released the growl that had been building since this whole thing first began. He jumped to his feet uncaring when his chair hit the floor with a heavy thud. Hands slammed down on the desk before him as he leaned in closer to the bane of his existence. "Why won't you work!" he shouted.
The computer screen before him didn't waver. The blue error screen remained permanently fixed on its face with white lines of computer code and technical speak speckled across the screen. It had been this way for nearly an hour. And Kenshin was about to grab the baseball bat buried in his closet and smash it to pieces. Unfortunately, he knew that breaking the computer wouldn't bring back the thesis paper he spent the last two months working on. With a frustrated groan, he righted his chair and sat back down. He would try this one more time…
"Behave," he warned the computer as he hit the power button to turn it off and restart it. The blue screen flickered a few times before fading to black. He took a breath to calm himself and hit the power button again to turn it back on.
Nothing.
He waited a few seconds and then tried it again. And again. By the fifth time, he was coming to the conclusion that it wasn't working. By the seventh, he was fighting the urge to dropkick his computer out his second-floor window.
Sighing, he realized the computer had indeed won this round. He reached for his phone and the school's directory. It was time to call in some reinforcements. Since the majority of his friends preferred sports and martial arts to computers and coding, he was forced to call the University's tech team.
It took four rings before the phone was finally picked up.
"Yeah," a kid's voice drawled from the other end.
Kenshin squinted at the number he dialed on his cell phone. "This is computer assistance, right?"
"Yep."
Kenshin sighed. If they had kids like this one working for the university, he was officially old. "I'm having some problems with my laptop…" he said staring at the blank computer screen.
"What kind of problems?"
He shrugged a little helplessly. "Uh, it's not working?"
"Did you try restarting it?"
"Yes," he insisted, "that's why it's not working."
The next suggestion the kid recommended came out in complete, grabbled tech speak. "Wait, what did you say?" Kenshin asked struggling to find a piece of paper to write the steps down. Four library books fell to the floor in the search.
He managed to catch the words "operation disc" and "safe mode" but the rest was a blur. "Could you repeat that one more time?"
The kid sighed heavily and if Kenshin wasn't so against starting petty arguments, he might have called him on it. "We'll send someone over."
Kenshin gave the kid his address and jotted down the name of the guy who would be stopping by. The kid said it would probably be another hour or so before they could make it out there since Kenshin lived in one of the University apartments further away from campus.
After he hung up, he glanced around his room. He briefly entertained the idea of cleaning up a bit. He wasn't a messy person by nature but when working a project especially one like his thesis, he tended to let a few more things slide. The result meant books and scraps of paper now covered nearly every flat surface in his room and a mixture of pop cans and empty energy drinks filled the small plastic trash can underneath his desk. It was a bit of a mess but he doubted some nerd with a body odor issue would really care.
In the meantime, he decided it was time to take a break. He snapped on the radio before heading to the kitchen. Battling with technology always left a person hungry. And he was craving something sweet.
With his radio cranked near full volume, he completely missed it when his intercom went off. Fortunately, he saw a flash of green light on the intercom that meant someone was ringing his door to get into the building.
He snapped off the music and pushed the buzzer to let him in. Checking the clock on the microwave, he saw he still had a couple more minutes before he needed to check the food. He didn't make homemade cookies often but tonight he was feeling the need for some comfort food.
A few minutes later, he heard a soft knock on the door.
"It's open," he called from the kitchen as he set the timer for three minutes as a reminder. He didn't want the cookies to burn while he showed the tech person around. He heard the door open and someone enter.
"I'm really not sure what's wrong with it," he said, setting out the hot pads for when it was time to take the cookies out. "It was working fine yesterday."
Tossing the towel on the kitchen counter he headed into the living room. And he saw a girl. A very beautiful girl. She held a black bag in one hand and a clipboard in the other and stood in his living room. "You're a girl," he said dumbly.
One eyebrow quirked up and he immediately thought it had to be one of the cutest gestures he had ever seen. "Yes, I am," she said slowly with a hint of smile on her face.
Distracted by her almost-smile he forgot what he was trying to say. "I mean," he said floundering, "I was expecting a guy. I think the name was Kaoru?"
The almost-smile disappeared. "Kaoru is a girl's name too, you know."
Kenshin eyes widened, he had heard that tone of voice before from some of his female friends and it meant he was headed straight for some dangerous territory. "Of course," he said, hands up in a surrendering gesture, "I just was a bit surprised. It's been a long day."
The girl – Kaoru – seemed to relax and he felt himself ease back into the neutral zone.
"I mean," he continued, "I was expecting some computer geek or something."
And with that he plunged himself full-steam ahead back into the danger zone.
"Girls," she said with a hard edge that sent his eyebrows up to his hairline, "can be computer 'geeks' too, you know."
Kenshin didn't know what to say. Instead he nodded once, hesitantly.
"Good," she said cheerfully making the switch in disposition so fast that left him both bewildered and fascinated, "now where is this computer of yours?"
He regretted not cleaning up the moment she stepped across the threshold into his room. She took a careful look at the floor and the room and then stared at him.
He felt the blush overcome his face and knew his skin had to be as red as his hair. One hand rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "It's usually not like this," he said. "I'm usually quite a neat person."
The look in her eyes told him she wasn't quite buying it.
"My thesis is due in a week or so," he began.
"Wait, a second. You're a grad student?" she exclaimed.
He blinked. "Yes?" he answered hesitantly.
"How old are you?"
He winced, he already felt old today he'd rather not feel it again. "Old enough to be in grad school," he responded.
Her eyes narrowed at his cryptic response and he felt his body lurch at the way her blue eyes seemed to spark with electricity. But before he could respond or she could reply he heard his timer go off.
He swore and ran back to the kitchen. He grabbed an oven mitt and opened the stove door. The cookies seemed a bit darker than he would have preferred but it seemed that otherwise they were fine. He smiled relieved and set them on the counter to cool.
He headed back to his room. He found her sitting on his chair at the desk. Although innocent in nature, the image she made amongst all his things made a strange possessive feeling rise up in his chest. He smiled as he stood in the doorway and watched her.
When he realized that his actions might be considered slightly voyeuristic and had the potential to be interpreted very badly, he cleared his throat to let her know he had returned.
"So, think you can fix it?" he asked
She nodded without looking up from the computer screen.
"What was that beeping sound?" she asked continuing to type something, some sort of secret computer code no doubt, into the computer.
His smiled brightened. "Cookies. Would you like some?"
The typing stopped. "Cookies?" she asked turning around to give him the cute one quirked eyebrow thing.
"Yeah, they just finished baking."
"You baked cookies?"
The incredulous tone in her voice had his smile turning slightly smug. He stepped over a pile of clothes and made his way closer to her. "Yeah," he said in a gentle teasing tone, "guys can bake too, you know."
The widening of her eyes and the way she began to sputter incoherently set him over the edge. He began to laugh. By the time he had finished, she had returned to furiously typing on the computer steadfastly trying to ignore his presence. But he noticed she couldn't block him out entirely. The tips of her ears were still pink with embarrassment. He grinned and sat on his bed to watch her. Although she never said a word, he could tell that his staring unnerved her. But he was finding that unnerving her was a delightful way to pass the time.
"Finished," she said.
That awoke him from his contented stupor. "Finished?"
'Yep, all done," she said, quickly packing her bags.
"Done?" he asked glancing at the computer that for all purposes seemed to be back to normal again. He glared at it. Sure, now when he didn't want it to, it would work again.
"Yes," she said slowly, giving him a curious glance, "all done."
When he turned to look back at her though, she resumed packing up her stuff. He struggled for some way to get her to stay for a few more minutes. He regretted not trying to talk to her while she worked. All he knew was her first name and since Kaoru was a popular name he would never be able to find her again that way.
"What was wrong with it?"
"Computer virus," she said brushing by him to head back into the living room and towards the door. He followed behind her like a lovesick puppy. "It's gone now and I updated your protection so it shouldn't happen again."
She was nearing the door now and he needed to find a way to stop her or risk losing her forever. "Cookies," Kenshin said suddenly.
She paused at the door but didn't turn. Her ears however turned a delicate shade of pink.
"You never tried one of the cookies," he cajoled, "they're very good."
Her hand still hesitated near the doorknob. "What kind of cookies?" she said slowly.
"Peanut butter," he said hopefully, however he was willing to bake an entire new batch if that meant she would stay for awhile longer.
She sighed, her hand dropping back to her side. As she turned her head to look at him he noticed her smile, a real smile that caused a strange, but not entirely unpleasant, tightening sensation in his chest. "That's my favorite," she confessed.
He smiled back, relieved. "I have a lot extra," he said trying to keep his expression hopeful but innocent. He didn't want to risk scaring her away when he was so close.
"Just one," she replied firmly, stepping away from the door.
His smiled broadened into a grin. "Whatever you say," he replied innocently, gesturing for her to go to the kitchen. She watched him slightly warily but her expression relaxed once she noticed the tray of cookies.
"They smell delicious," she said taking a deep breath in. She smiled at him again, a mixture of sheepishness and eagerness, "I might need to have two instead."
"Take as many as you like."
She carefully grabbed one from the tray. She glanced his way once last time and then took a bite. The look of pleasure on her face that followed had Kenshin smirking triumphantly. He had successfully gotten her attention, now he just needed to figure out a way to get her phone number.