Disclaimer: don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

Italics – represents dreams and flashbacks

the rest are as always…

-

--

---

A car awaited near a corner not too far from a house where to figures stood in front of the gate.

"Aoshi?" a soft spoken voice called out to the man in front of her. He made no effort to reply and looked at woman before him as she brought up her hand to wipe away the tears that threatened to spill before she spoke once again.

"Promise me something? Forgive me."

Aoshi opened his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time. A sigh escaped his mouth and he sat up knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. What seemed so long ago would not be forgotten yet he still wondered why he had dreamt it. Turning his head to check the time he got up and took off his shirt heading towards the bathroom mumbling.

"School is a waste of time."

--

---

"Aoshi-kun!!" a voice yelled out as Aoshi walked up the campus stairs. He stopped and turned around to find Yamada Haruka, who he met freshmen year of college, running towards him.

"Haruka." He replied.

"Looks like this is our last year. Aren't you excited?"

"A bit. By the way how is your okaa-san?" he asked looking at her.

"She's fine. She was discharged from the hospital yesterday. Doctor says she needs a few more days of rest then she can start working again." She then gave a loud sigh.

"Is it all right for you to be in school?"

"Of course! Besides it's the first day. Why would I miss the first day of school? Oh yeah has Sano arrived yet? Hehe I bet he's gonna be late." She asked as they walked down the halls and into their classroom. Their class slowly began to fill with students and just as Haruka had predicted Sano came in catching his breath.

"Heeh…well you got here. Lucky for you Sensei hasn't appeared yet." Haruka taunted. Sano rolled his eyes and ignored her remark looking both at Haruka and Aoshi.

"It's been a while. How was your trip?" he asked looking at Aoshi.

"If your asking if I've gotten a woman then the answer is no. Otherwise you could care less." he replied looking out the window.

"Ouch! Don't kill me now. I was only askin." Sano said putting his feet up on the table.

"What about you Haruka?

"Actually it was boring. I had nothing to do except my job but other than that I didn't go anywhere."she replied. Standing up Aoshi took two of his books and started to walk off.

"I'll be back. I remembered I don't need this book."

"Ah! Hey hey could ya put this one in also while you're at it? Thanks bud!" Sano called out handing him a book. Aoshi took the book and left walking out to the hall. How he befriended the two he didn't know, for one he didn't look like the type to make friends with a very nice yet coy girl and a jockey guy. As for being social he could say he has been a little friendlier than before, that is conversing when needed. Outwardly his appearance has captured the attention of women yet can be nerve wrecking when talking to him. So why is it that his presence is known a bit more this year? Either he's been too friendly or the girls are telling other girls to go too this college. Too troublesome to think any further Aoshi ignored the thought and quickened his pace. What he wanted to do was go back home and sleep. After dreaming about her he had been a little disturbed. It had been five years since he last saw her. For all he knew she could be with someone else or have forgotten him.

Taking his time back to the class the campus seemed a bit quieter now that most had gone to their classes. He noticed a student, probably a new person, looking at a map which was of the campus. She stood near by a bench concentrating on the map and looking up once in a while. Her hair was tied up in a high pony tail yet it still seemed long. It almost reminded him or her. But it couldn't be possible. Minding his own business, just as he turned his head back the girl faced his direction and he caught a glimpse at the corner of his eye. He stopped before he took another step as his eyes slightly widen. Turning his head back to the girl he found her walking away around a corner. His ice blue eyes stayed at where she had walked off too just making sure his head wasn't playing with him.

"Aoshi-kun!" he snapped back to reality as Harukas' voice called to him. ", What are you doing?" she asked walking towards him. He began to walk pass by her.

"Nothing. Let's go back."

---

----

"Take a left turn here and keep going straight. The class is on the left side."

"Arigatoo." Kaoru bowed slightly and followed as told. She quickly checked her watch and quickened her pace hoping Sensei wouldn't be too angry for being late. Being her first time in a University the campus was pretty big. Other schools were huge but not this huge. If it weren't for her parents wanting to come back she wouldn't have come back, much less to Japan. Though the good side is she was in Kyoto . Kaoru fiddled with her shirt and jacket to make sure nothing was out of place.

'How do people get used to these uniforms? Mou!' she sighed out loud 'well at least the skirt isn't short.' Taking another turn a student in a rush brushed her on the shoulder knocking off her bag. She turned around as she watched the student run off without apologizing.

"Thank you for helping! If I had my boken…" she mumbled with a sarcastic tone and picked up her backpack. Once again she began to jog yet bumped into another person.

"Ah..Gomen" she said looking down at the floor. Hearing no response she looked up slowly gasping as she saw who she ran into.

"Kaoru."

"Enishi?" she raised her eyebrow. Now there was someone she hadn't seen in a while. Her face flushed as she remembered a certain incident. A smirk etched on his face as he saw her look away with a blush. Kaoru awkwardly waited for the silence to break not knowing what to say or do. She noticed that he wasn't wearing uniform meaning he wasn't from here.

"Your not wearing uniform. Why are you here?" She pointed out to him. He looked at his clothing and back at her.

"Is that a problem?" he asked teasingly as a frown appeared on her face.

"Of course not!"

"Since when did you come to this school?"

"Just now. I came back to Japan two weeks ago and applied as soon as I got here, I didn't expect to find you here."

"You were planning on keeping it a secret weren't you? Did you think I wouldn't be in Kyoto? I told you I was attending college here but not at this one, remember?"

"That was long ago. For all I know you would have picked another-"

"So you are keeping our promise." He said interrupting her.

"...That wasn't the intention."

"You still haven't broken a single promise. You're here, are you not? Does that mean I still have to pay you the money we bet on?"

"What do you want from me?" she half blurted out tired from his teasing.

"Can I have a hug? You left without saying anything except to HIM." She looked up and sighed. From the looks of it not much has changed from him except for his appearance. She had to admit he was more muscular than before and handsome as ever. If it weren't for his shirt that revealed how much he has grown she'd have no clue. Sighing again she closed her eyes in annoyance and rubbed her temples. She didn't even realize she was eyeing him.

"I feel like I just cheated on someone." She whispered to herself.

"Who might that be?" he asked leaning a little closer to her. ", didn't I say that you'd fall for me?"

"Baka…" he smirked once again then turned serious speaking once again in a low voice that almost couldn't be heard.

"So, how've you been doing?" Kaoru looked up at him and smiled slightly knowing his teasing was over.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Nothing new."

"Any girlfriend yet?" for a second he looked at her with eyes that wanted to devour her and then hid them.

" Stupid question to ask." Guilt tugged at Kaoru hearing the hurt tone from his voice.

"You were young. I didn't think you'd be serious about me." Enishi frowned.

"That's because your eyes were only on him." With that he left her standing there feeling even worse.

---

----

"Ne! Aoshi-kun. Are you busy this afternoon?" Haruka coyly looked away ", cause I was wondering if you wanna go out and eat Udon or something." Aoshi looked at her silently. " I mean of course with Sano also!" Sano looked their way.

"Actually that would be nice. Besides we haven't hung out together in a while."

"All right, fine."

---

----

"Cheers!!" two loud voices were heard through the bar and both laughed loudly. Aoshi, who was drinking tea, knew the two would waste themselves till there's no tomorrow and he'd have to be the one too clean up after their mess. Especially for Haruka she's shy when you first get to know her but later you find out that she loves to drink. (::note: Aoshi's first impression on Haruka.::)

"Pick someone else to be your servant." he said to himself in annoyance.

"Cheers for Haruka still being single!!" Sano said putting his fourth (soon to be fifth) beer up in the air. Haruka also put up her beer and made a toast.

"And here's to Sano who hasn't asked Megumi-chan out yet!!! Ahahahaha!" the two wrapped their arm around their shoulders and happily laughed in unison. A few chuckles were heard from other tables and once again Aoshi drank his tea though his patients were growing thin.

"Are you two done drinking yet? Hurry it up and let's go."

"AWw don't be like that!! Here drink! Who cares if you have a low tolerance?!" Sano pushed his drink to Aoshi.

"Ah!" Haruka stood up. "I know, let's go karaoke!" Aoshi stood up.

"Sano I'm leaving. Make sure you get her home."

"Hai!" Aoshi then left checking the time. He spent two hours in that bar.

"Two hours." He barely whispered out.

"Kaoru…it's been two hours already."Aoshi said to the drunken girl.

"Matte! I can drink one more! I promise then this will be my fourth time drinking!" she said happily.

"It's your second time drinking." He whispered ", if I had known you'd get drunk chugging down that first beer I would have never made that bet." He sighed trying to calm her down. He felt a hand on his shoulder and found Kaoru looking at him.

"You know! I really can't stand you! Your sooooo hard to figure! And when I figure you out, it turns out to be the opposite! Why is that? What's wrong with me?" Kaoru asked with a cute frown. A small smile slowly appeared on his face and he chuckled.

"Nothing's wrong with you. I just pretend that you're wrong. So really you've figured me out completely." She silently mouthed an o and smiled.

"See? I knew I was right! Aren't you glad you accepted this first date?"

That same small smile appeared on his face but washed it away once he realized he was standing on the sidewalk. As soon as he took a turn a blue eyed girl walked towards the bar and went in.

---

----

"Ah, Kana-chan gomene! I'll take over from here." Kaoru said as she put her clip in her mouth to fix her hair.

" Hey could you quiet those two over there? That guy with spiky hair. Other customers are getting annoyed. I'd do it myself but I don't want no trouble." She smiled nervously. Kaoru rolled her eyes and went over to the two drunken figures. As she reached the table she noticed how many beers were on the table and couldn't believe that the two would drink so much.

"Ano…excuse me? Could you two please lower your voice? Other customers don't like it." Kaoru said interrupting the two. Haruka looked up and her eyes widen.

"Ah! You're pretty!! I'm Haruka!"

"Ano…" Kaoru hesitated on what to do next.

"Hoy Haruka, she's askin you to lower your voice. Maybe we should just go home. Sorry Jou-chan we'll leave right away." Sano got up slightly recovered from his drunken state.

"No it's fine. You two don't have to leave. I'm just asking that you lower your voice, that's all." Haruka stood up.

"Yeah! That's all she's saying Sano! We don't gotta leave yet." She turned to Kaoru. "By the way what's your name?"

"Um Kaoru desu."

"Well Kaoru how bout you drink with us?!"

"Actually I'm working at the moment."

"Oh that's too bad." She paused to think. "How bout tomorrow afternoon?"

"Well…we barely know each other and things might be a little awkward…the next day." Kaoru replied thinking of how to get out of the situation.

"Nonsense! I think you look like a nice person so why not get to know each other? Besides making friends isn't a bad thing." Haruka said happily (and still a bit drunk)

"Ah….." Kaoru gave up in defeat. Sano grabbed Haruka by the arm.

"Sorry to trouble you but just say you'll go so she won't bug you anymore. She doesn't take no for an answer to the people she likes."

"All right. I'll go."

"Great! Here's my number just incase you get lost. Meet us at the café near the main mall kay?"

'hah….what a coincidence, that's where I'm going tomorrow.' Kaoru nodded and took the paper from Haruka.

"Yay! See you then. We can leave now Sano." The two then left. Kaoru watched as the two exit the door and put the paper in her pocket. She sighed knowing that work was going to be long and couldn't wait to go home. A smile then appeared on her face and laughed at her self.

Those two were indeed the strangest she's ever met.

TBC…

A/N: Hope you've enjoyed it! Please review. Many thanks. 8D