a/n: Okay. This is the official follow up to Kenshin, The Latte Boy. It can be read on its own, but I recommend reading that first. This was inspired by Taylor's Response. The one I always listen to is sung by Ben Hensley. If you get a chance, go check it out on youtube, because it's awesome. Anyhoo, let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I don't own RK or Taylor's Response.
Misao, The Stalker Chick
She was here. Again. Not unusual in a place so popular, but a little irritating, nonetheless. I don't think she ever missed a day. At least not a day that I was on the schedule. And she was so... perky. I know I shouldn't judge people based on an impression of their demeanor while they were in a crowded Starbucks, but...
I shook my head and asked her if she needed anything else, even though I knew the answer.
"Nope! Thanks a ton," she answered, smiling brightly. I resisted the urge to cringe. "It's Misao, by the way."
"I know," I answered. She'd only told me a thousand times. She continued smiling at me as she moved on down to the end of the counter.
"I think this reminds me of something," Kenshin said as he leaned against the counter.
"Really," I said, making her coffee.
"Yeah." He looked like he was going to elaborate, but then his girlfriend walked in. Great.
He quickly told me that he was taking his break and vaulted the counter. I'd asked him at least four times not to do that. He knows it irritates me. And sure enough, he smiled at me after he was across the counter and in his girlfriend's embrace. I turned away and finished the latte.
Misao was waiting at the end of the counter and I handed it over wordlessly. She pouted at me and I raised an eyebrow. If she expected me to call her name while she was standing right in front of me, she didn't understand that I talked sparingly. Obviously.
She shook it off, though, and smiled at me again (she does that a lot) and bid me good-bye before walking out with her friend, who happened to be Kenshin's girlfriend. That was a long story. I wish I'd never shown him that stupid napkin. Then he wouldn't be such a sap. Well, he wouldn't be as sappy as he is now.
Long story short, his current girlfriend, Kaoru, had written him a poem/song thing on a napkin and then left it on the table. I don't think she meant to, but she did. Kenshin had been bitching about how she didn't understand that he really liked her for a long time so when I found it, I figured it would shut him up. So I showed it to him. I was regretting that now.
Kenshin came back to the counter, grinning like an idiot. I refused to satisfy his stupidity by rolling my eyes. He used the proper channels to get in this time which made me happier.
"Hey," he said. "I invited Kaoru to our gig tonight."
"Great," I said without emotion.
"Come on, Aoshi. You're the one who got us together!" He laughed. "Well, you and Misao. She did give me an address and last name."
I nodded. I knew all this. I had, as he pointed out, been instrumental in it.
"She'll probably bring Misao with her."
I stopped what I was doing. I processed what he'd just said. Oh no. She was not going to this gig. No. I shook my head and Kenshin took a step back, recognizing the look in my eyes.
"Aoshi." He held his hands up in front of him. "I'm just saying! I didn't invite her, but Kaoru-"
"No," was all I said. I couldn't get past that stage in my brain. It was bad enough that she stalked me at work, I didn't need her to find out things about my personal life.
Kenshin shook his head. "I'll tell her that Misao probably shouldn't come, but they're best friends. She probably already told her."
I ignored him after that.
They were setting up when I came in, bass in hand. I waved and made my way backstage. Kenshin was talking to a tech guy, something I was grateful for. I hated talking to them. They never listened to me, but put Kenshin in front of them and you have instantaneous understanding and cooperation.
"Hey." I looked up from what I was doing to see Soujiro, our guitarist, standing next to me.
"Hi."
He shifted. "There's this girl out in the audience..." I closed my eyes, braced for the impact. "And she's totally nuts. She's been asking about you since I got here."
"Ignore her."
"I don't think-"
"Just do it. She'll go away eventually."
"I don't think so. She's been here since the place opened."
I looked back down and fiddled with the amp. "Do not acknowledge her any further."
"Whatever," he said. I could practically hear his eyes rolling in their sockets.
I did not need this. I was going to kill Kenshin. I was going to kill his new girlfriend. And mostly, I was going to kill her friend, Misao. She had been causing me all sorts of grief (even before her friend had started dating Kenshin). It was something I didn't need.
So I pretended that she didn't exist as I took the stage. I concentrated on playing. It worked for the most part. Except in between songs when I wasn't playing. Then it didn't work so well. Because she was in the front row and she was obnoxious as she tried to get my attention. I saw Kaoru trying to restrain her and then giving up and looking embarrassed. At least I wasn't the only one who thought that Misao was embarrassing. Even her best friend thought so.
After the show, I assumed that most of my problems with her were over for the night. Oh, how wrong I was.
I took my time packing up, listening to the guy's plans for the upcoming weekend. I offered little for my part, simply nodding or shaking my head. They'd learned that was as much as they'd ever get out of me. They'd accepted it.
I sighed and shouldered my bag as I finally finished gathering everything together. I waved good-bye to the others and headed out after doing some minor surveillance to see if Misao was still lurking by the stage door. She wasn't. After I deemed it safe, I headed to my car, thinking that my problems with her were over for the night.
And what a relief it would have been if it had been true.
I was about half way home when I realized that there was someone following me. I ran through my mental list of people I knew that drove a silver Honda. the list was very short. And I didn't like the name at the top of the list at all. I held my breath for a moment, realizing that it had to be her. No one else would follow me home.
Christ. Because this was just what I needed. A girl who was so obsessed with me that she followed me home. I had to do something. I jerked the wheel, turning down a side street in an attempt to lose her, because, as I said, I didn't need this. It took me a few minutes of sharp turns and circling, but I finally managed to lose her.
I sighed and proceeded with my ride home. It was fairly pleasant after that. And eventless. I was glad I'd gotten rid of her. I don't know what I would do if she ever found out where I lived. I would probably end up killing the girl. I shook my head and pulled into the driveway. I would just have to tell her that I didn't appreciate her advances and that I wasn't interested.
It seemed like the only viable option at this point.
And at three thirty that morning, I decided that I needed to do that as soon as humanly possible. Because at three thirty that morning, I woke up to someone singing outside my window. And not just anybody. Misao. Misao was singing outside my window at three thirty in the morning. I took a deep breath and counted to ten as I listened to her sing her own version of Kaoru's blasted song/poem.
That stupid napkin. It had caused me nothing but grief.
"Aoshi, the latte boy! I love him, I love him, I love hiiiimmmm!"
I thought about that stupid song that Kaoru made on the napkin and how Misao had changed the names and sang it herself. While I was listening. Outside my window. Right now. And even as I cringed, I changed the words in my head.
Misao, the stalker chick
You're a psycho and you're sick
Oh, Misao, the stalker chick
You scare me,
You scare me,
You scare me
Yeah. That sounded pretty good to me. I was beyond tempted to "leave" a napkin with my song on it somewhere she was sure to find it. But at the moment... At the moment, I'd have to do something a little more immediate than that.
"Go home!" I yelled out the window, trying to control the strain in my voice.
The singing stopped, but I could still see her out there, staring up at me. It was extremely disturbing and unnerving. I decided I needed to do something else to make her leave. I just had to figure out what. Something that would dissuade her from ever doing this again, hopefully. And then it hit me.
I leaned out the window and sang, a little sharply, "Aoshi, the latte boy, is calling, is calling, the police."
The next morning I put in for a transfer. Kenshin laughed himself stupid when I told him why. He thought it was "cute" that Misao had tried to serenade me. I hadn't. Why we were friends, I still wondered.
I almost wanted to wish Misao luck in finding me at my new store. After all, there were thousands of Starbucks. And there had to be at least twenty per block. I doubted she would ever find me again. My life would go back to normal. It would be peaceful. I wouldn't get stalked at work.
Amen.
Owari
a/n: There's no follow up, before anyone asks. I apologize, but I really like it the way it is. Anyway, hit the button and let me know what you thought, either way. Thank you!
