It was like deja vu. Sipping her iced coffee and listening to her best friend rant about her still single status. Kaoru sighed and rubbed her temples, easing the ache that was slowly building up.
"Misao, I don't mind being single right now. I like having the me time. I like being able to change my mind about a heck load of things without having to be worried about what he thinks. I like being able to just hang out with my friends without having someone being jealous," Kaoru explained.
"But --"
"Besides, if it's about having someone being protective about me and to care about me, I have you and Megumi and all my guy friends who fall under the brother category. And if it's about having someone of the opposite sex making me feel feminine or to pay attention to me, well, that's what all the other guy friends are for. And if it's about the flattery, I suppose all the potential stalkers can fulfill that, in their own goosebump-raising ways," Kaoru continued, shuddering at the last thought.
Misao leaned back, pondering her companion's words before speaking wistfully," Oh but Kaoru, a relationship is more than just all that. It's the way you feel when you're with someone and how the two of you get through things together. Grow together, learn about each other, you know?"
Kaoru smiled tightly.
"It's not that easy, Misao. Some of us aren't quite as lucky as you. After all, Aoshi is your third boyfriend and second real one if you don't count that wimp. I mean, look what my ex boyfriends turned out to be. One was as hot tempered as I am. Another was more concerned about himself than he was about me. And another thought I wasn't subdued enough or elegant enough. Sou thought I wasn't girlfriend material either."
"But majority of your relationships lasted for about half a year. That's telling me that they weren't just flings to you."
The blue eyed girl shook her head, saying, "Still, if none of them made it to a year, that's saying something. Misao, I know you want me to be happy but for once, I don't want to have to adapt myself. For once, I don't want to go looking or thinking of the type of man I want."
Misao pouted.
"Picky!"
Kenshin smiled at the sight of Kaoru. He liked her. She was interesting, with her adorable reactions and sense of humour. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had hair that was thick enough to make him want to run his fingers through, eyes a gorgeous shade of blue and that she had enough flesh to make her slim and not skinny.
"Hello Kenshin," she flashed a smile at him. "Where's the rooster?"
Kenshin flashed her a grin, one that he knew looked good on him.
"Asleep. He was out late with Megumi."
Kaoru set her water bottle next to her treadmill and adjusted the settings on her chosen machine before replying, "I guess it's just you and me then, huh?"
"I guess so. And I sure am enjoying it."
Her head sprung up, caught off guard by his vague comment. She decided to ignore it and turned on the treadmill. Better to go with something she was sure of than to chase the maybes and perhaps. It was no use denying the fact that the red head beside her was attractive. With his fiery and exotic colouring, he stood out. But his facial structure and features made him stand out in a good way. He was no typical tall, dark and handsome Mr. Right but she didn't mind the height. Having a man towering over her had never appealed to her. And while he may not be tall or particularly dark, he was handsome. And with that body...
Kaoru shook the thought away and turned her focus onto the workout she had planned for the day. Besides, good looks were one thing but personality was another. She was pretty close to him after joining the gym both he and Sano frequently visited but not close enough to judge for sure. After all, this was the first time the two of them had spent time together, other friends and acquaintances aside.
Kaoru laughed heartily, listening to the red head's story of how Sano acted the last time he was drunk.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she smiled fondly, commenting," Some things never change. And back home, we used to wonder if he had turned into some country club rich boy. But he has matured, even if he doesn't know it."
Kenshin nodded his agreement. "Things change, people adjust to situations. Though I do think that Megumi has something to do with it."
"That girlfriend of his?" she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "She's snobby."
Kenshin shrugged, "She's not the spoilt brat or the kind of woman who uses people. There's more to her. I've known her for quite a while and I do know that she does care about Sano, even though they are notorious for their bickerings."
Kaoru fidgeted with her straw, uneasy. She had indirectly insulted the man's friend with her body language and careless words. She cursed herself inwardly for not thinking before she did something.
Kenshin smiled inwardly. It was no surprise that the woman disliked Megumi, judging from Sano's words the day after their little get together.
'I'm telling you, the look on Jou-chan's face terrified even me! I am never, ever in my life going to leave those two alone.'
He found it interesting that this blue eyed female could make having a temper so amusing. After all, he usually clashed with people who owned tempers alike his, annoying him immensely.
"I'm sorry."
Kenshin blinked, surprised. "What for?"
Kaoru could not believe this man. He was good looking enough, wasn't he? It wasn't fair that a man, a male could look attractive in different ways depending on what his facial expression was.
"Well, I mean, I just insulted your friend."
"You don't sound very sorry," He remarked, accompanied with another one of those amused little grins of his.
"I am sorry I insulted your friend but I'm free to have my impressions of people and I'm not sorry for deeming her snobby," she shrugged.
"A little too soon to judge, don't you think?" An eyebrow raised.
"No. She's just Sano's type. The tall, ever so beautiful one with impeccably perfect everything who in the end breaks his heart," she pursed her lips, recalling the rooster's previous relationships.
"Sano is... still human. As tough as he always seems or as goofy as his smiles get, he gets hurt too," she elaborated. "I'm sure you of all people would have known that," she finished off quietly.
While she had known Katsu longer than Sano, she was closer to the latter. Of course she loved them both like she would a brother had she any siblings. But Katsu was like the social butterfly who tended to leave her out when he got too caught up, unintentionally of course. She knew it and she didn't mind it. Not until Sano had moved away.
Sano had always been sort of her protector. She had missed him terribly and was thankful that Misao came along a while after. Her chattiness made up for Sano's loud character.
"I thought you didn't know who I was." Kenshin's voice broke into her thoughts.
"Oh I didn't but I knew that he had a real good friend that he met in high school and all. He once mentioned that he was going to flat with that said friend or something similar. So, that'd have to be you, no?"
Kenshin smiled. This girl was sharp.
"Ouch! That hurt you weasel!"
Misao snorted," Oh be a man, Katsu. That was just a pillow. You can go 'Ouch ouch!' when I throw a frying pan at you."
Sano laughed, choking on his water and earning himself a loud thump on the back from Katsu.
"Oi. What was that for? You deserved that comment. Do you want me to go tell Aoshi that you've been calling his sweetheart a weasel?" Sano shot him a dirty look.
Katsu scowled back in retaliation before turning to Misao. "What's up? You seem different."
"Me? I'm fine." Misao replied. "Of course I'm fine. I'm happily involved with Aoshi. You know who's not fine?" she demanded.
"Who?" both men curiously responded.
"Kaoru, that's who! That girl thinks that having a boyfriend is the same as having the two of you and other guy friends! I mean, come on. How is it the same? And if it was the same, why would people want to be in relationships then? Sometimes I wonder if she actually liked those guys she went out with. Didn't she feel anything special? I mean, even if things didn't work out in the end, there has to have been some kind of feeling at the beginning right? Right??" Misao rambled, waving her hands around wildly to emphasize her words.
Katsu and Sano nodded slowly, wide eyed.
"See? Even you two know that. So why on earth can't she –"
The sound of the door opening and slamming interrupted Misao and the three of them whirled around to see Kaoru coming in with Kenshin behind her. A side of Misao's lips kicked up and a mischievous sparkle appeared in her blue-green eyes as she took in the smiles on their faces and the pink rosy tint on her friend's cheeks.
"Well, well, well. So this is why you're late, Kao? Out on a date? And weren't you the one who said this morning that you didn't want to adapt anymore?" she teased.
Kaoru's smile dropped into a scowl and Kenshin's turned into a chuckle. Beating Kaoru to responding, he said, "We just went for a late lunch after gym."
Grinning, Sano jumped in on the fun. "Well, aren't you two glad that I slept in then?"
Kaoru rolled her eyes, walked over to where he was and promptly hit him in the arm hard enough to make him groan and complain.
"Man, what is with you girls and your abusive habits?"
Katsu grunted in agreement, throwing in his opinion, "They're only violent when they're with us. I reckon the only way to keep ourselves safe is to keep Aoshi in the same room as us at all times. Then the weasel would forget all about us cause all her attention would be -- oof! Damn it! Why do you have to have such a good aim…"
"While cissy boy over there is recovering, let's focus on something more important," Misao said, with a smirk on her lips. "Your ex-boy called this morning, Kaoru."
Eyebrows raised in surprise, Kaoru asked,"Sou? What did he want?"
"I don't know, he left his number and said to ask you to call him back whenever you can. Anyway, I'll see you guys around. I got a hot date with my man," Misao wiggled her fingers goodbye before rushing out the door.
"Hey Kao, who the heck is this Sou guy? How come I've never heard his name before?" Katsu said, curious. Turning to Sano, he asked "Do you know this guy?"
Sano shook his head. "Jou-chan, who is he? When did you go out with him? What happened? Did he hurt you?" At his last question, Sano's tone turned darker.
Smiling fondly, Kaoru reassured her friend, "No, no. He didn't abuse me or hit me or anything. Don't worry. You guys know that I wouldn't let myself be treated that way."
"Doesn't explain why neither of us knew about him."
"I went out with him for about almost a month during the term break when Misao went to England. Like I told Misao, it probably didn't last long enough for you guys to know about," Kaoru admitted.
"Still, you could have told us about him. Who knows what kind of guy he is?" Katsu asked.
"Katsu, do you seriously think I would be willing to date some psycho murderer on the loose?" Temper flaring, she snapped back at him.
"Well there had to be something wrong with him if your relationship with him didn't make it. Heck, I bet if he hadn't called, you wouldn't have told us about him! So, what happened, Kaoru? What did he do to you?" Dropping the use of her nickname, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What will it take for it to get into your thick head, Katsu, that he did not do anything wrong to me! It was a mutual decision to break off and become friends instead. You don't even know him. Soujirou is not that bad of a guy, okay?" By now, Kaoru had gotten out of her seat and was glaring hard at her long time best friend.
"This is the first time even hearing his name. I don't know what his last name is, what he does, where he comes from or even what he looks like. How am I supposed to know that he's not a bad guy? How am I supposed to know that he treated you right?" He shot back.
Kaoru was furious. "You should be able to trust my choices, trust my judgments! You should be able to trust me!"
"Then explain why, why is it that Misao knows about him and I don't. What is it? Is she a better friend than I was to you all these years that we've known each other?"
She had had enough. "Before you throw a ridiculous tantrum over me not telling you about Soujirou, you should know that Misao only found out about him a week ago. And you know what? I would have told you about him if you had spared even some time to see your best friend once in a while. You were so obsessed and so blindly mad about that whore who ended up cheating on you last year that I didn't even get a single text message for months. Face the facts Katsu. I didn't tell you about Sou because you were too busy to care."
"Is this what this is about? Me spending more time with another girl? Listen to yourself, you sound like a jealous girlfriend," Katsu mocked.
"Katsu, watch it. Even you know that's too much," Sano butted in, recognizing the danger signs.
Raising her chin, she looked Katsu in the face, with blazing eyes.
"No. This isn't about you spending time with someone else. You have your own life. I know that and I get that. But you don't get to just shut me off from your life completely and then turn around and accuse me of taking you for granted when I don't tell you about one small thing. Let me put this in terms that you would understand. You are a selfish bastard. And I am your stupid ex-best friend that is always push to the back of your priority list," She declared, her voice unnaturally calm. "And you know what, this is my apartment. So if you intend on continuing being so immature, you can leave."
Clenching his jaw, Katsu grabbed his jacket and stormed out the door.
Sano glanced between the door and the scarily quiet Kaoru, undecided. Seeing his indecision, Kaoru sighed before telling him, "Go. We all know how reckless Katsu can be."
After he left, Kaoru collapsed onto the couch, pulling her knees close to her chest. She felt like biting her tongue off or something, after being so harsh with Katsu. She hadn't meant to insult him that bad but once she started, she couldn't stop the words coming out. Her anger had once again, taken over. Maybe she should take up anger management lessons, she thought, half-amused.
Kenshin, who had previously been sitting silent, took in the scene before him carefully. So she knew how to take care of herself. He liked a girl who had a backbone and knew how to stand up for herself. But right now, what he thought and what he liked because the girl sure looked like she needed a hug.
Kaoru jumped when she felt the couch shift. Looking up, she was met with the sight of Kenshin's concerned face. She had forgotten about him, which was ironic, as he was the type of person who rarely went unnoticed without having to try. Yes, Kenshin was attractive but at that moment, his red hair and one of a kind coloured eyes annoyed her.
"Kenshin, don't take this the wrong way but you're so colourful it hurts."
Smiling at the randomness of her statement, he said," I'm sorry. I didn't realize my hair colour was that bad."
Lightly smacking him on the arm, she gave a half-hearted smile.
"You know what I mean. It's just that being sad and miserable is always associated with cold colours and your redness is kinda disrupting my purple-blue world."
"Maybe it's a sign. I bring the warmth back into your world," he replied, only half joking.
"Who knows. You know, you don't have to stay here with me. I prefer to be alone after something like oh I don't know, the destruction of a friendship, took place."
"I'll stay for an hour. Just so you know, you don't go all crazy and kamikaze-like."
"And after that I'm free to go kamikaze-like?"
"Yup," here he gave her a grin.
Kaoru gave him a tight smile in response.
"Thanks for staying with me."
Kenshin made sure to look her directly in the eye before saying, "Anytime."
He reached forward and gave her a hug that he hoped was more friendly than romantic before leaving. Scaring her off was the last thing he wanted to do.
Closing the door, Kaoru closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Kenshin was great company and while the past hour had made her feel better, she couldn't stop the tears from falling.
A.N. well i am known to be a procrastinator and i do things according to my mood, so that pretty much explains the super slow updates. anyway, hope my second chapter is enjoyed and leave me a review to let me know what you think.