Author's Note: Right... this is kind of abrupt and rather short.
You know those websites that one goes to when one's bored and there's a page saying "Funny Quotes" and stuff? There's your inspiration. That and the joy of emails (who uses emails anymore? I mean, I do, but I'm not sure most people bother).
Hmm... I sound as if I'm babbling so I'll just shut up and let the story play out, shall I?
Disclaimer: This one does not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the characters used in this story... except the boss, who's only really just mentioned and as no name. What's to own there?
Things To Do
A 19-year-old Kamiya Kaoru opened her inbox one morning, and clicked on her morning cheer-me-up from a good friend of hers, currently residing in Kyoto. The bubbly girl -who had spent a time as an exchange student to Tokyo and living in the Kamiya dojo- had an innate ability to get her out of her morning funk. Kaoru had once remarked on this quality to Misao, and Misao had never failed to send her daily email to her since. Of course, there were longer emails at the weekends and phone conversations, though the morning mail was a staple in their friendship.
"I was on a joke website yesterday", the title read.
As she waited for her email to load, Kaoru took a sip of her coffee and checked her computer's clock, careful that she would not be in danger of being late to work.
Though she ran a dojo from 4pm onwards, it was hard to pay the bills without a part-time office job as well. Considering that kendo was offered free, as a club in every normal Japanese koukou, these days, it was amazing she had as many students as she had. As it was, finding a part-time office job without any sort of degree was fortune enough.
She was even more fortunate to have Yahiko to prepare her morning coffee. This was on two counts. The first being that it was almost impossible to adopt when only just an adult herself and single, and the second being the factor of getting a teenage boy to do something nice for an older sister figure. If she was late to work with the excuse that she'd stuffed up a cup of coffee which had subsequently blown up her entire kitchen, she'd not only be laughed at by her colleagues, but she'd probably be fired for lying due to the fact that her story sounded like no more than a story. Her boss was not exactly a compassionate guy. So it'd be better not to be late to work.
"Morning Kaoru-chan n.n
"As you can read in the title, I was on this joke website when I was surfing yesterday, yeah? So basically, there's this bit with 'things to do' to amuse yourself during the day and I'll be sending one of them to you every day for the next few weeks with my normal email. Why? 'Cause it's fun n.n
"Today's Thing to Do: Ask people what gender they are. Laugh hysterically after they answer.
"Will you be able to pull it off? Remember, this is in preparation for your future.
"What do I mean, 'this is in preparation for your future'? Well, when you go around to your mother-in-law's place for the first time and you want to make a good impression, you're going to have to be able to laugh and any joke they throw your way (just make sure it's actually a joke before you laugh, aye?)
"Love ya hon',
"-Misao"
At the office, Kaoru was psyching herself up to do what she felt was a very silly thing. It would be weird to do to one of her colleagues, but Misao would be able to tell if she hadn't accomplished the task and it'd probably follow her for oh, the rest of her life.
Evil little weasel-girl.
So Kaoru had finally mustered up the guts to try it out after a few hours of zone-out donkey work to calm her down. Walking down a hallway, on the way to the photocopying room with a sheaf of papers, she murmured to herself,
"I'll ask the next person who comes around that corner. I will. No doubt."
Sure. They'll have no problem with me acting like a... Misao and asking what gender they are and then… laughing at their answer. Why, Misao?
"No doubt," she repeated.
Everything seemed to slow down as she heard the light treading of a man's shoes across the hard hallway floor grow subtly louder.
When Himura Kenshin turned the corner with long red hair tied up in a graceful ponytail; delicate features complimented by a care-free rurouni-smile and en route to goodness knows where, the first thing he saw was a bunch of papers flying everywhere. The second was, after the paper had settled slightly, a female friend of his clutching her stomach and laughing, well, hysterically.
Irony kills.
A/N: If you happen to notice any errors, please inform me and I'll be embarassed, but seeing as I accidently submitted this before I could check 7 times, it's understandable that there'd be an error or two (there's already been one mentioned, so I'm off to go on checking).
It's really sad to see the decline of the RK fandom. Where has all the love gone?
-RnR