Author's Note: Ahhhh! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long long long time. And it's not even the right story. Please forgive me!!! But this just came to me and I felt the need to post it. I do hope you enjoy it.
Oh, and this has a lot of dialogue. Hope you don't mind.
Standard Disclaimer Applies.
At the Akabeko
The phone began to ring just as she had stuck the floss in her teeth. She frowned and continued on with her dental hygiene as the phone continued to ring incessantly. Just having that feeling, she glared as she walked out of her bathroom, unhurriedly, with the floss hanging out of her mouth and answered the phone.
"What?" She asked in a deadpan voice.
"No hello?"
"Hello."
"What were you doing?" The cheery voice on the other line asked.
"I am flossing!" Kaoru made a very annoyed gesture with her arms but it didn't cross her mind that Misao, her best friend, couldn't see it.
"Since when have you been doing that?"
"Since yesterday, when my dentist told me to start."
"Listen, what are you doing later?"
"Flossing."
"You're funny."
"No, I'm not."
"I have a favor to ask-"
"Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of this. Favors usually mean that I have to do something you know I won't like."
"Okay, answer this question: How long has it been since you've been on a date?" Silence answered her on the line. "Hello?"
"I'm thinking! Mou!"
"See? This is why you have to do this favor!"
"Why do you always have to point out these things to me in order to convince me to do them?"
"What are friends for?" She could just imagine her friend grinning from ear to ear.
"Not that purpose, I assure you." She said, exasperated. She was starting to drool with the floss in her mouth. I know what you're thinking. That's right, very sexy.
"This will be good for you."
"Okay, not that purpose either. I already have a mother, thank you."
"Noted, but you lack a boyfriend."
"Yes, but one is not born with one and does not require a boyfriend in order to survive."
"You're going to do this. I know it, you know it, so quit being stubborn and submit to my will." Kaoru moaned and yanked out the floss.
"How do you do this to me?!"
"Quite easily, actually."
"Okay, now you've hurt my feelings."
"Oh, cry me a 50,000,000 gallon/liter/whatever man-made lake."
"When and where?"
"Tonight, six o'clock. At the Akabeko. It's a new restaraunt around the block."
"Quite short notice."
"Your routine life needed an interruption. A quick interlude, if you will. Take it from Dr. Misao."
"This coming from a girl who can't keep her man."
"Don't be brash with me. This is about you."
"Fine."
"Good."
"Bye." She hung up and took a look at herself in the mirror. She was moderately attractive. Maybe. She smiled for herself in the mirror and then tweaked her nose.
"If only this were less pointy." Her eyes roved over her hair in its ponytail. She freed it from the scrunchie it was tied up in and brushed it out. Her finest feature also happened to be the least manageable one.
With a groan and a quick slump of the shoulders, she began to try to fix herself up. She didn't think it was worth it though.
Six o'clock rolled around faster than she would have liked and she found herself at the entrance doors of the Akabeko. It was nothing too glamorous; refined, although somewhat homey and most importantly, very clean. There were a lot of people in it already and she observed the waiters and waitresses walking to and fro in brisk steps, some carrying trays or menus and others, nothing at all.
"Kamiya," she said to the Hostess.
"This way." She fiddled with her purse strap and tucked some hair behind her ear, all the while biting on her lower lip. She was nervous, although not to the extremes. The extremes were messy, involving embarrassing bodily functions, embarrassing moments of clutziness, and she liked to think that she had gotten past that by now.
When they finally reached the table, an attractive man stood up and held out his hand to greet her.
"Hi, I'm Hayao, Ken."
"Kamiya, Kaoru," she returned with a smile. The waiter left menus, returned to take their orders and they engaged in small talk before their dinner arrived.
"I'm looking to settle down with someone," Hayao said, getting right to the point. "It's just hard to meet the right woman."
"Well, any woman can be the "right" woman, it just has to do with you and the first impression and how you act and react to her afterwards."
"You don't believe in soul mates?" He asked, getting all serious and waiting for her answer.
"Ahh, it's not that I don't believe in them, it's just that I think people are waiting for something that isn't real. They end up passing up people who could easily make them happy for a fairytale that doesn't exist. It could be that they are just scared of reality." At his reaction to her statement, she averted her eyes, took a bite of her steak and checked down at her napkin she had set in her lap.
When the check came and he paid, they walked to the door together.
"Shall I take you home?" He asked politely. She smiled and shook her head.
"Thank you but I'll be all right."
"Oh my God, Kaoru, you didn't even give him a chance! You spoiled it by telling him your oh so sensical non-romantic beliefs!" Misao explained, aghast at her friend's behavior. They slowed down from their jog to a walk.
"He asked me! It's not my fault he went venturing for my opinions. I'm not going to lie and tell him what he wants to hear to score another date! I'm not thaat desperate." She thought for a minute and then huffed.
"I'm not desperate AT ALL!" Misao had a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Well, I kind of thought it wouldn't work out anyway…" Kaoru glared at her instantly and her admission.
"Hey! I already have another one lined up for you!" Kaoru stopped and stared at her "beloved" friend.
"I'm not in need of charity or pity! I'm perfectly capable of getting a date on my own. Stop barging in on the last vestige of my personal, secret life."
"You're insufferable. And I hardly call going home to an empty apartment after work, reading the journal while listening to the t.v. until it's time to go to bed, a personal, secret life." And Misao began to jog again. Kaoru raced after her to catch up, feeling a little guilty.
"Okay…" Her voice revealed her reluctant apology. Misao brightened instantly and began describing her next date.
Once again she found herself at the Akabeko. Once again, she was directed to her date. She was overwhelmed with surprise when she saw that it was Sanosuke, someone she hadn't seen since high school.
"Jou-chan!" He exclaimed as he stood up and gave her a hug.
"I didn't know you knew Misao!" She said, suddenly happy about this date.
"Well," he gave her a lopsided grin, "My girlfriend knows her."
"Girlfriend?" They sat down, Kaoru feeling suspicious about this "date." And he was turning red.
"Ex." He looked away for a bit.
"Oh." She looked own at the menu.
"Anyway! How come you're doing the blind date thing?" He asked, quick to change the topic of conversation back to her. She frowned.
"I'm not doing this willingly," she explained and opened up the menu to the dinner section. Sanosuke chuckled.
"What?"
"You're here, aren't cha? Misao didn't show up to your house and dress you and then drag you here. You're doing this willingly. And another thing," he gave her a pointed look when he knew she was about to interject, "that's not a healthy attitude radiating off of you. You'll be doing this a long time if you continue to see it that way." He opened his menu too. She took a moment and watched him, his words frothing over in her mind.
"Argh! When did you get to be so unnervingly wise, Sano?" He looked up and bestowed upon her his dashing grin, the one thing that hadn't changed since high school.
"I grew up."
"I'll drink to that!" She stated, enthusiastically.
"Waiter! Champagne!!" The night went by quickly, with hearty laughs and great food. And when it came to an end, Sano insisted on seeing her home. He cracked and let out everything that had been bothering him about his break up, on the way. Kaoru learned that Sano hadn't seen her in a few weeks and that this date was to see if he could ever be interested in another woman. He also confessed that he was relieved when she was the one he was to eat dinner with.
"Me and Megumi, we were great. I know I can patch things up with her, I just have to give it time," he said quietly. Kaoru smiled and playfully punched his arm.
"It'll work out." Sano perked up and consumed her in a fierce hug.
"It was great seeing you, Jou-chan."
"Ack!" She coughed into his neck. "Mou! Can't…. breathe." Sano snickered and winked before walking off, away from her apartment. She laughed to herself and shut the door behind her, locking it before going to her room to get ready for bed.
Kaoru was glad to be done with work when the end of her shift came around. Working at a theater was more emotionally draining than it was physical. Just as she left the building, Misao appeared, arriving right on time to pick her up and took hold of her arm.
"Soo… how was it?"
"Tiring. This one lady took forever in telling me what movie she wanted to see. Actually, she came without knowing. She read all of the descriptions twice and then asked me what they were about!!! And then, she had the audacity to be even slower in paying for her damn ticket! Meanwhile, my line is growing. Mou!" Enraged all over again, smoke began to filter out of her ears, a result of her flaming nostrils, as she relived the entire experience in her mind.
"I meant the date, Shiva."
"Oh, you set me up with Sano!" Misao became puzzled.
"From high school! The one who always liked to do back flips off the walls and set off that awful stink bomb through the air ducts." This registered in her friend's mind and it became evident on her face that she remembered.
"Ahh! Sano! You can't go out with him! He always protected you like mad when Enishi tried to ask you out repeatedly. He's like the closest you ever had to a brother!"
"Yeah. He said he had been seeing Megumi. Apparently they broke up. He's still sore about it."
"Oh yeah, that's right…" Misao felt sheepish. She started the car after they got in and she drove them towards her apartment.
"Well, anyway, Aoshi isn't home right now, he's away on a business trip. So I thought we could do like we used to and veg out while watching chick flicks all night long!" Kaoru smiled as she undressed down to her white cotton t-shirt in the car.
"Sounds good to me, John Cusack, here we come!"
"Not to mention, Marlon Brando, Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves!"
"Oh, it's a Par-tay!"
"It was beginning to be oddly easy and comfortable, going to the Akabeko on a date. She'd been on a few now since Sano, mostly with different guys but a few had asked for her number and actually called her asking for another date.
She wouldn't admit it to Misao, but she was beginning to enjoy getting out.
This time, she got there before her date so she went to the bar and sat down. The bartender noticed and stood before her. Her eyes widened as she took in his shocking red hair and deep dark eyes.
"How can I help you, Miss?" She blushed as a few thoughts jumped to mind. She cleared her throat and shifted in her seat.
"Water, please."
"Water, it is," he smiled at her. She looked away, uncomfortable with his pleasant smile and his eyes and watched the door.
"Waiting for someone?" She nodded and looked at her glass of water when he set it on the counter. She took a sip and then watched him as he waited on more bar-goers who showed up, and simultaneously watched the door and the clock.
After waiting for an hour she decided he wasn't going to show. No one is purposefully an hour late. Well… usually no one is.
"Are you all right, Miss?" The bartender's eyes were concerned. Somewhere in between her internal debate he had reappeared in front of her, focused solely on her. Or, it just appeared that way. Sometimes she did make things out to be more than what they are. HA! She was doing it again.
She smiled finally, as much for him as for her own benefit. She wasn't disappointed, not really. It just made her feel weird for having waited so long alone. Her date could have had the decency to call and cancel.
"Yes, thank you."
"Would you like some more water? Or tea, perhaps? We also have lemonade, those already have water in them," he offered and raised his brows in a quizzical comical way, waiting for an answer. She looked down at his name tag.
"No thanks, Kenshin," she answered, with a laugh.
"Oro!?! How do you know my name?" She pointed to his name tag with an amused expression on her face.
"Aaaaa….. Yes, I forget that is there sometimes, that I do."
"Kenshin, stop flirting and get back to work!" Yelled a deeper, authoritative voice. Kenshin's eyes flitted nervously around and back to her.
"Yes sir." He called back. "Excuse me Miss, but I would ask one thing of you before I return to work…" His eyes locked on hers.
"Okay…?"
"What is your name?" Her smile grew impossibly big.
"Kaoru."
"Goodnight, Miss Kaoru."
"Goodnight."