His Royal Geek-ness
By: BrokenSonnet32
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Chapter 4: Troublesome Thursday
"I'll be going!" Kenshin said to his uncle as he stepped out of his house and made his way to the adjacent house where Kaoru was sitting by her mother's swinging chair. She grinned when she caught sight of his bright hair and soon joined him after telling quick 'good-bye' to her mother.
As usual, they stopped by the Takani clinic to fetch Megumi and run into Sano on their way to school. This was a morning ritual for Kenshin.
"Kaoru-chan! Kaoru-chan!" somebody called from behind. The girl in question turned just in time to see but slow enough to react, to a living dodge-ball that was Makimachi Misao.
"Ouch!" Kaoru bit her lip as she twisted her ankle in an attempt to stay at her feet. The genki-girl seemed oblivious to it as she latched herself on Kaoru's left arm and began babbling about something.
"Okay, what was that?" Sano was the first one to break the silence as he watched Kaoru being dragged away by the genki-girl.
"I don't know." Megumi replied, still lost to what has just happened.
"Oro?" Kenshin blinked when the two turned to him instead.
They soon found out the reason to Misao's 'genki-er' than usual attack on Kaoru. Inside the school building, just in front of the huge bulletin board were a thick number of students from different year and section loitering noisily – that it would be a 'mission impossible' for one to pass through the hallways that they had just blocked.
"Hey… what's up?" Sano pulled a random someone who turns out to be a girl from the other section. Furinkan High's 'Power Forward' seemed to be oblivious to the girl's dreamy stare as he frowned at the huge crowd the students had formed.
"Er… the school dance." the girl managed to say almost breathlessly.
" 'School dance'?" Sano blinked as he finally realized the fact that he was still holding the girl's arm. He turned to her and found her ogling at him like a fangirl. He quickly pushed the girl away rather roughly.
"Er… thank you for the information." Sano muttered and pushed his way through the crowd and to their classroom. Megumi and Kenshin followed with great difficulty.
XXX
"Darn…" Kaoru winced as she tried to move her left ankle (the one she has twisted earlier) as carefully as she could. "Darn… I still can't understand why there's so excited over that stupid ball! Geez!" she winced again.
"Well… it was a chance to have some fun and spend the whole night with the man of your dreams…" Megumi said quickly, checking her reflection on her spoon.
"More like the chance for perverted morons to rub against each other…" Kaoru muttered.
"What's wrong with these girls?" Sano sank lower on his seat as another group of giggly girls threw knowing smiles at his direction.
Kenshin chuckled at his friend's great irritation to the majority of Furinkan's female population. Sometimes he becomes envious of all the attention that his friend seemed to grab without even trying too hard. Maybe it all comes with being a part of the varsity team.
Some distance away from their place by the old Sakura tree's shadows were the school's soccer field. Kenshin scanned the whole place for any sign of a certain cheerleader and soon found her cheering as the soccer team captain made another spectacular move. He discreetly wondered if what she'll say if he tries asking her for the dance. Maybe if I can do one of those Slam dunks, then maybe she'll finally see me…
"Thinking of asking someone for the dance?" Kaoru asked, always the first one to catch his thoughts. The redhead gave his friend a small smile and stared back at a certain cheerleader.
"Well… you won't get anywhere if you just sit here and watch her." was her monotonic statement. He turned to look at her but found that her eyes were hidden behind her bangs.
"Ne… Kao-chan, aren't you excited about this 'dance-thing'?" Megumi asked all of the sudden.
"No, it's stupid. I'd rather stay at home and watch DVDs." was the girl's quick reply.
"I'll second that." Sano nodded.
"But… don't you want to grab this chance to look good and make a certain 'dense someone' finally see you in a better light?" Megumi said, completely ignoring Sano. To Kenshin's utmost surprise, found his best friend's face turned even brighter than his hair.
"Mou! What do you mean by that?!? That certain dense someone is inexistent!" Kaoru quickly said, face still bright red. When Megumi continued to stare at her unconvincingly, Kaoru stood up and marched towards the school building with loud thuds.
"She's so obvious sometimes." Megumi shook her head and soon followed the girl, leaving the two men to their thoughts.
"Missy is the weirdest girl around, don't you think?" Sano turned to Kenshin who guiltily nodded.
"You really don't wanna go to this dance?" Kenshin asked, though he already had a fair guess of what his friend's answer was.
"Not that she'll come with me. I don't think so." Sano's answer took the redhead by surprise. He turned his shocked eyes at the taller man and frowned.
"So, there's a 'someone'!" Kenshin said, almost in disbelief. "Is this the same girl you've asked out in junior high?" he added with a slight humor in his tone.
"It's not Kaoru!" Sano frowned at him.
"Okay…" Kenshin only blinked, "I just thought that you still liked her."
"Man!" Sano rolled his eyes, "Jou-chan is like a little sister to me! Nothing more, nothing less! That thing in junior high… that's nothing…" he paused and then smirked at the redhead's direction, "Besides, there's someone else that, I know, she likes very much."
"Oro?" Kenshin blinked, "There is someone she likes?" he repeated, the odd feeling of hearing that he's a supposed descendant to some aristocrat for the first time was coming back to him.
"Anyway… I have a fair guess of who're planning to ask." Sano said with a disbelieving sigh. "So… she's just right there, aren't you going to go and ask her now?"
"It's not like she'll go." Kenshin said miserably – the thought of Kaoru having someone else she likes, soon forgotten, "Why would she go with a loser like me?"
"Here he goes again!" Sano rolled his eyes, "You're already admitting defeat without even giving something a try!"
'You're so pessimistic! Why don't you try it out before thinking that you can't do it?' his uncle's words echoed on his ears and Kenshin found some confidence back. He stared at Tomoe's group and to his relief her friends had all left to walk towards some soccer players.
"I guess… I'll give it a try." Kenshin smiled at Sano and stood up, towards Tomoe's direction. He failed to see the look of disbelief on Sano's face.
"Er… Y-Yukishiro-dono…" Kenshin said, and the girl in question looked up, raising an eyebrow at the sigh of him.
"Yes?" Tomoe asked, standing up from the grassy field.
"Er… Do… Do… Do…" just spit it out, you can do it…
"Yes?" Tomoe raised an eyebrow again, looking highly impatient. Kenshin gulped – this is now or never.
"Did you get the book report that I had finished for you yesterday?" he quickly asked nervously, mentally kicking himself for being stupid.
"Oh… it was the last day." Tomoe rolled her eyes, "Is there something more that you want? 'Coz, I'm afraid I'm quite busy."
Kenshin just stood there dumbly. Tomoe rolled her eyes again and turned to leave.
"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" he quickly asked, his face now rivaled his hair in color.
Tomoe turned to him, looking at him as if he's the biggest clown in the world. Behind her, the captain of the soccer team appeared, glaring at Kenshin's blushing self.
"Sorry… I'm already going with someone else." Tomoe said, putting her head on the captain's shoulder.
"Oh…" Kenshin nodded and gave her a weak smile, "That's alright." he gave them another smile and turned to leave. He was about to but he felt someone grab his uniform and forced his to turn around.
"Hey! Why don't you go mind your own girl?!" Kiyosato Akira, the soccer captain, snarled angrily. He shoved Kenshin rather roughly to the side and walked off with Tomoe on his arms. Tomoe's friends walked past him, giggling like mad.
"Haha! Loser!" some soccer players made a painful push at him as they walked past him. Kenshin sighed as he adjusted his glasses and rubbed the sore spot on his head where one nasty player punched him.
Kenshin heard Sano come over him, angrily yelling at the retreating soccer players and asking him worriedly if something hurts. The redhead wordlessly walked away with his shoulders slumped.
XXX
"You idiot!" Kaoru angrily hit Sano on the head and turned worriedly to her best friend's sullen figure sitting all alone in one of the most secluded spots in the library. Heaving a small sigh and throwing another glare at Sano's direction, she made her way to the sulking redhead.
"Hey… you're alone." she uncertainly took the seat right across her best friend's eyeing the blank expression on his face, "It's just… I mean… Sano told me—"
"It's nothing… Don't worry…" Kenshin gave her a smile but Kaoru knew him all too well to believe that smile.
"Stop it!" Kaoru frowned, "Of course I worry! I care about you… you're an idiot if you still haven't figured that out!" she looked away sharply, her cheeks tinted with pink.
Kenshin only stared at her, smiling at her endless loyalty to him, "Thank you."
"You don't have to." Kaoru smiled back, "We're friends. We're supposed to look out for each other, right? I'm always here for you, don't you dare forget that or I'll pound you!" she said the last part, lifting a fist good-humoredly. Kenshin chuckled.
"Feeling better?" Kaoru said peering at his eyes behind his bangs.
"Yeah…" Kenshin nodded, "Besides, I kind-of expected Yukishiro-dono already going with someone else. She's already got a boyfriend, anyway. It's very stupid of me to ever think that she'll even think of going with some loser like me…" he added with a chuckle.
"Mou! You're not a loser!" Kaoru angrily reprimanded him, "Her Mighty Princess is the biggest fool of them all if she still hasn't seen how special you really are!"
Kenshin only stared as Kaoru suddenly placed a hand on her mouth and turned beet red, as if getting caught saying something she shouldn't have. Her ocean blue eyes wide in horror as she stared back at Kenshin's amethyst ones, face becoming redder and redder if that was even possible at her current state.
"So… you really don't plan on going to this dance?" Kenshin asked. Kaoru's eyes turned even wider than before.
"W-What are you saying?" she quickly asked, her voice in a slightly higher pitch.
Kenshin laughed at her weird behavior, "Well… I just thought, it may be fun. Why not give it a try…" he shrugged, "So… if you want, maybe we could go together… that is, if you want…"
Kaoru's eyes could have made the sun go hiding in shame and the stars go envious as she smiled happily at him, "Of course! We'll go together!" she nodded quickly and sighed, the red tint seemed to be a permanent part of her face.
"Then it's a date… er…" Kenshin blushed at the implication of his words, "I mean… we can also see if we can make Sano and Megumi go. It'll be fun, just the four of us, friends…"
"Oh… that's good…" Kaoru doesn't sound as excited for some reason.
To Be Continued…
