Hiya everyone!! I wanna give major proprs to Back-up'girl for being my one and only reviewer for the 2nd chapter of Heading North. Please please please follow in her footsteps and review. I like hearing what you guys loved (and hated). So PLEASE review! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I don't own RK… hell, I barely own myself.
"Megumi! Two days in a row? Seriously?!" I bellowed up the stairs. We were going to be late again! Even worse, Sano's friend was going to be late because of us. I sighed in frustration and leaned against the wall by the front door. It seemed the second day of school was going to be just as bad as the first.
"We would be on time if Rooster hadn't forced his gross friend on us," Megumi said as she walked down the stairs in her usual over-the-top designer clothes.
"You do realize that you can't call his friend gross until you've met him, right?"
"Trust me Kao-chan, if this kid is friends with Rooster, he is most definitely gross. Now if you're done, let's go to school," Megumi picked up her car keys from the key rack by the door, yelled good-bye to our parents, and left me standing in our foyer alone. At least she was back to her normal self, I repeated in head. I rolled my eyes, grabbed my stuff, and trudged outside after Meg.
I quickly threw my stuff in the car and buckled in for the 5 minute ride to Sano's place.
"So what's his friend's name?" Megumi asked.
"Uh…?" I bit my lip.
"What grade?"
"Uh…?" I said again, starting to fidget in my seat.
"Do you at least know the gender of the person we're picking up?" Megumi huffed.
"A boy…" I said with a hesitant lilt. I could feel Megumi's impatience with me swirl through the car.
"You don't know anything!"
"I just said it was a boy!" I protested as I crossed my arms.
Megumi muttered something under her breath before making a left turn onto Sano's street and then the following turn into the parking lot of his apartment complex. Megumi parked the car, crossed her arms in a mirror image of me and glared until I sighed and climbed out. It was up to me alone to go fetch the mystery guy from Sano's fifth floor apartment.
I trudged through the building and opted to use the stairs. There was this bad feeling building in the pit of my stomach. I just couldn't shake it. The feeling got so strong that I had to stop and take a deep breath. Nothing is wrong. He's Sano's friend. Besides, you already promised to pick him up. After my brief Zen moment, I continued up the stairs, more determined than before. I said a little prayer that I wouldn't regret doing Sano this favor and stepped up to his front door. I counted to three and then knocked, but nothing happened. As I was about to knock again the door swung open and an anxious red head greeted me.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't…" The words died in Kenshin's mouth as he looked at me. My jaw dropped for a second before snapping shut in annoyance.
"Are you serious?!" I said glaring up at the ceiling, wondering if God was having a laugh at my expense. Without looking back at Kenshin, I stormed down the hall toward the stairwell.
"So I take it you're my drive to school?" I heard his amused voice as he quickly locked the door and jogged after me.
"Unfortunate. I know. Silver lining: I get to murder Sano now." I said as I hopped down the stairs as fast as possible, hoping I'd somehow lose him.
"You shouldn't blame Sano. He obviously hasn't realized that you're a brat yet,"
"Or that you're a jackass," I shot back.
"And that we're natural enemies." He chuckled. I fought not to laugh and instead settled on a scowl. I shouldn't be fraternizing with the Jackass, I reminded myself.
When I refused to respond to his previous comment, Kenshin began to speak again. I held back an irate sigh. "You know, I was starting to wonder what was taking Sanosuke's friends so long to get here. I'd been waiting for almost 20 minutes. I never thought of you as the late type…" Annoyed, I spun around to look at him. I stared into his violet eyes, challenging him to say something more, but all I saw there was good humor and amusement. If eyes could smile, that was exactly what his were doing… smiling at me. I felt a blush start at the base of my neck and I quickly turned and continued to march down the stairs.
I jumped in the car, slamming the door behind me.
"Where's the gross guy?" Megumi looked at me confused.
"Hey, thank you for the lift!" Kenshin said as he hopped into the back seat. Megumi's jaw dropped for a moment, but she quickly caught her ever-lasting composure. The edges of her lips tilted upward and she purred a "Hello." I wanted to vomit on the dashboard. Only Megumi could turn from shocked to flirtatious in 3 seconds flat.
"Hello," Kenshin responded quietly. Probably contemplating Megumi's beauty, I thought with irritation.
"We should go. We're late," I mumbled. I leaned my forehead against the cool side window as Megumi reversed out of the space and began the silent drive to school.
SCHOOL
The whole day was like a nightmare. First this morning's little surprise, then Misao falling all over herself to tell me about her "amazing Riu", then Sano wouldn't respond to my texts, and THEN everyone and their mother wanted to ask me about Kenshin!
"Is it true you gave him a ride to school? He is sooo hot!" Miko, a petite girl with pigtails, approached me. Her glass looked fogged from excitement. She was the millionth girl since homeroom to come up to me and ask about Kenshin. I wanted to shake her. Maybe it would clear her mind; get her to realize that guys like Kenshin were only in it for one thing and it certainly wasn't long walks in the moonlight.
"Yes, I gave him a ride. No, he is not hot!" I responded gruffly, swiftly grabbing my stuff and stomping off of the bleachers. Miko's cheeks reddened and she hastily looked down at the floor. I felt bad, I really did, but if I heard one more story about Kenshin being the cutest/nicest/smartest/whatever boy at the school I was going to kill someone. I needed a new safe haven, I decided; preferably one with barbed wire and a watchdog.
"Do you always eat lunch out here?" Two watchdogs I amended, as the new 'IT' boy came up to me holding a tray of food in between his hands.
"Well I used to except I keep getting interrupted by your fan club," I looked behind me and there were 5 more girls sitting on the bleachers. All were gazing at Kenshin with dazed expressions. I glanced back at Kenshin. He looked like he had just swallowed some milk that was past the expiration date. His face visibly paled and his lips fought not to frown. He raised his hand in a small salute to the girls. They dissolved in giggles and all but fell over themselves to get a better look at him. And was it just me, or had another 5 girls shown up to gaze at the new boy wonder? I tried not to laugh and was barely successful.
"Laugh if you want. I don't think it's funny," Kenshin said, drawing my attention back to him. His normally good-looking face was set in a deep grimace.
"Oh please, how is this not funny? You have a harem of idiot girls dying to talk to you and yet you look tortured. If I had known this was all it took to annoy you I'd have given them Sano's address. Then you'd have a harem of idiot stalker girls," I smiled brightly.
"What is with you, Brat? I've known you for 24 hours and still you insist on insulting me." His gaze shifted from the girls to my face. "You know, I'm usually very good with females, but you're different." It almost made me fidget. The hell did that mean anyway? What, because I didn't drool over him like everyone else I was "different"?
"You're frowning at me," He said. I hadn't even noticed I was frowning.
"If it makes you feel better, I don't understand you any better than you understand me," He smiled at me and shrugged. It was as if he thought it was a silly observation. Condescending jackass. Immediately, I got angry. Who the hell does he think he is? Rationally, I knew he probably meant nothing by it, but there was just something about Kenshin that made me so mad; made the simplest things tick me off.
With annoyance coursing thickly through my veins, I couldn't stop myself from saying what had been on my mind all day. So, against my better judgment, I squared my shoulders and faced him straight on. "I must say, there is one thing I do understand about you."
"What's that?" His eyes smiled at me again. But for reasons I couldn't understand, it made me uncomfortable and angrier…
I looked at Kenshin for a long moment; until the smile died in his eyes and turned to confusion.
"I understand that all guys are the same, even you. Don't think I didn't hear what you said, 'I'm usually very good with females'" I gathered my anger around me and stepped closer to Kenshin, putting my face mere inches away from his, "That comment tells me that even though you may not like your little fan club, you have indulged in it… Break any hearts lately?"
I waited for him to deny it, but instead he just stood there with guilt plainly painted on his face. For some strange reason, I had hoped that he would say I was wrong; prove to me that all men weren't the same. I wanted him to prove that they weren't all out there to hurt every girl they thought they could benefit from: girls who trusted easily, girls who gave unconditionally, girls willing to bend over backward just for them... girls like me; or at least the girl I used to be. Kenshin, however, did the opposite. He confirmed it. Confirmed everything I had ever known: There's no man worth trusting; not it you want to keep yourself intact.
"Asshole." I spat out and quickly pushed past him, not bothering to see his reaction. I was not about to let some jackass play with me… not again.
