the Lady of the Rings
"Okay, Kenshin, you can do this," He told himself.
Gathering up his courage and hoping he wouldn't be seen by anyone he knew, he walked into the jewler. There were a few show cases and one mean looking clerk. She must not be having a good day.
She sported the bushiest unibrow he had ever seen on the planet, bright red, over applied lipstick, and yellow eye shadow. Too much of it too. She was wearing a tight shirt and pants that showed every roll in her large body. Kenshin was suddenly soooo thankful that he had Kaoru.
Kenshin looked for the simplest ring since he didn't have much money. Suddenly his cell phone rang.
"Hello?" He answered it.
"Kenshin? Where are you, babe?" Came Kaoru's sweet voice.
"Oh, I won't be long, koishii," He chuckled nervously.
"Kenshiiiin…Where exactly are you?"
"Sessha is trying to uh…to, well…(sigh) I was looking for a place we could eat. I didn't want to tell you, but I had something special planned for our anniversary…" He said, cunningly thinking of some excuse before arousing suspision.
"Oh, Kenshin, that's so sweet…! Okay, I'll go get ready then. See you later, darling."
He heard the line click and gave a sigh of relief as he shut the phone and stuck it back in his pocket. Then he gave a sigh of aggravation. He was pretty much broke to begin with. Now he had to get the ring and buy dinner…
He pushed it to the back of his mind and started looking for a good ring again. There! He spotted it!
He walked over to the clerk and pointed towards the ring he saw, "May sessha have this one onegai?" He asked politely.
The woman walked over to where he was pointing and stared at the ring before bursting into a laughing fit.
"Y-You?! Ahahahahah!!! You want dis ring?! Ahahahahahahah!"
"Is it not for sale?" He asked downheartedly. This was the perfect ring, he needed it. No other ring would do.
"Oh, is for sale," She said with her hard time of speaking problem, "But you no have the money! You look flat broke!"
Kenshin looked himself over. Did he really look that poor?
"But surely I have enough to buy this ring?"
"You have dis much money?" She asked, pointing to the near hidden sign.
"Aiiiiieeeeee!!!" Kenshin gaped at the sign, "No, sessha hasn't got that much money!!"
"Then you no get ring!" She said walking away.
"B-But, wait!" He shouted after her, "Can I pay you some then I'll give you the rest tomorrow?!"
"You come back the 'nother day when you have the money," She said stubbornly.
"But, I need the ring today! It must be this day! Today is our anniversary!" He argued.
"Dat the thing about the annivursies. There one each year! Forever! No matter how many long year it take you get money, there still be annivursy for you in dat year or the next to give you woman the ring!"
"B-B-But…! You can't do this! This is sessha's only chance de gozaru!"
"I can and I will. If you no quit I kick your sorry, unworthy bum outta here! Final word!"
Kenshin's lip began to tremble, "No fair…" He said as he dragged his feet out of the jewler and let his feet carry him back to his car. That car was the reason he had no money for Kaoru's ring. So he kicked it.
"AAAIIIEEE!!! Sessha can't believe he kicked his car! Argh!!!"
He stepped into his Toyota and drove to a familiar broken down apartment. Pushing the intercom he heard a rough voice answer.
"Yeah?"
"It's sessha…" He said solomly.
The intercom buzzed, indicating that he could come up.
Sano was glum when Kenshin entered the apartment, "Sano, I need to borrow…uh…Ineedtoborrowsomemoney…" He said quickly trying to keep his pride.
Sano looked up, apparently hearing him straight. But he didn't say anything, just looked glum. Kenshin looked around the apartment. Something was missing.
"Sano, daijoubu ka?" Kenshin asked him.
"No! I just lost all my money while I was drunk last night gambling! No, I am not okay! So, of course you can't have any money! I don't have any!"
This time Kenshin looked glum. More than even Sano did.
"What's up, Kenshin? Why the long face, and why are you asking me for money? It's usually, well, always the other way around."
"Sessha doesn't have any money to buy Kaoru the perfect ring for tonight…It is too much…Now my anniversary plans are gone. Down the drain. Ruined…"
Sano flicked Kenshin a card so Kenshin picked it up. He read a name, number, and address.
"Katsu…Your friend? Sano, I couldn't possibly ask this person I barely know for money."
"Tell him you're picking it up for me. He'll buy it. He always has money. Get a bunch and drop just half of it off to me, you take the rest for jou-chan's ring. Good luck, buddy. Hope things go well with her…"
Sano waved him out but Kenshin just sat there dumbfounded, "Ask a STRANGER by LYING for money who had previously RAMPAGED against the police in a state of DRUNKNESS, running on HOPE that he'll buy it?! Sessha thinks NOT!"
A moment later Kenshin was on his butt in the hall in fron of Sano's door. He stood up and rubbed his behind, walking down the hall to Katsu's apartment. He knocked on the door and a man with shoulder length dark hair opened it and peered at Kenshin.
"Hey, I know you. You're Sano's friend, ne? The one that stopped me from my almost successful attempt at getting my revenge on the government. What do you want?"
"Uh…I, um…well…Uh…Sanosuke asked me to pick up some money for him. He's pretty bummed out about losing all that he owned last night. Now that I think about it…I didn't see his TV anywhere…hmm…"
"Must have sold it for some food and sake…Well, if he's that desperate, take this to him…"
Katsu pulled a comforting amount of money out of his pocket and put it in Kenshin's hand. Kenshin stared at it, unbelieving.
"Do you know how much money that is…?" Kenshin stammered.
"Unlike Sano, I can gamble. Take it to him, perhaps he'll get a jackpot or something with it and can buy himself a plasma TV…"
"Arigatou, Katsu, I'm sure he'll be grateful…" Kenshin said, but Katsu slammed the door in his face. So he walked back over to Sano's place and slid half of the stack under the door.
He heard Sano's excited voice from within as he rushed to his car.
Sitting down, he heard that cute little jingle, "Hello?"
"Kenshin, where are you? I've been ready for fifteen freakin' minutes here. Are we going to eat or what?" Kaoru sounded aggravated. Time to suck up.
"Poor sessha got caught in a traffic jam. He is in line to make resservations now de gozaru. Sessha tries so hard to please you, you know that, koishii. All this trouble I'm going through is for you, my only."
"Ohhh, Kenshin, what I wouldn't give to see if there was a better man than you, babe. I'll see you in a bit."
"Hai," They hung up and Kenshin started the car. He sped down the road, well over the speeding limit, hoping Kami would forgive him. There it was. The evil ring lady's place.
Walking into the shop, he saw the same woman with the ugly unibrow, the over applied, too-bright red lipstick, the moles. All too familiar. Way too familiar for Kenshin to want to see again…
"You back so soon?" She growled.
"I am," Kenshin said calmly and confidently, "And I have money to buy your ring."
"Really," She said, unibrow raising, "Let see how much…"
Kenshin pulled the money from his pocket and showed her with a smile.
"I don't know where you poor man get dis money but…dis enough. Here your ring. Give me money and leave fast. I no like you! You steal dis money, I know it…"
"Sessha would never!" He said. He snatched the ring from her hand and ran out of there as fast as he could, like she said. There was still plenty of money left for dinner so he sped off to the most expensive one in town.
Quickly getting reservations he ran back to the car and sped once again to fetch his darling girlfriend. The one he had been living with for two years. This was their second anniversary.
Opening the door to their homey little house he called for her, "Kaoru! Koishii? Tadaima! Come, we must get to the restaurant!"
She came running down the stairs and she looked beautiful. She was wearing a black velvet dress that had short sleeves. They fell of her shoulders and the skirt ended right past her knees. She had a matching shawl that she wrapped around her elboes.
Her hair was tied back in a bun and her bangs were pulled back, save for a few strands.
They went to the resaurant in silence and when they arrived Kaoru gasped.
"Kenshin, this is the most expensive place around! However will we pay?!"
"Sessha payed already at the reservations. We're going to the buffet so you can eat as much as you like!"
"Oh, Kenshin!"
When they were all settled at their reserved table and started to eat Kenshin was thinking of when he was supposed to do it.
A half hour later Kaoru was leaning back in her chair complaining that she was stuffed. Kenshin decided to act now.
He stood up and knelt in front of her, "Kaoru-dono?" He asked. He could see her eyes fill with tears as they widened emensely.
(AN: "Well, uh, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurence by switching to Geico! So I bought you dinner! At an expensive place!………As if I would do that guys…well, I could see me doing that actually…)
"Will you marry me?" He asked. The tears poured down and she nodded frantically.
"It's about time, Himura Kenshin! I was starting to think we'd be girlfriend and boyfriend forever!"
She leaned forward and kissed him. Yes, in the middle of a packed restaurant. "Awwwwww"s filled the room and they smiled.
"So when do we walk down the aisle?" She asked.
"Oro…" He hadn't thought about that part…
fin
AN: Did you like it? Okay, anything else? Uh, I just hope you liked. ;P