Disclaimer: I don't own RK.

AN: Hope you liked the last chapter. The big break up will either be in this chapter or the next one. Thanks to those who reviewed. I really appreciate it and it is really encouraging me to update as fast as I can.

Chapter 6:

It's been two weeks since my first date with Tomoe and it is the last day before Thanksgiving break. It's also the day of the big Kendo tournament we have all been working so hard for.

When I got home from my date with Tomoe, I was in so much trouble! My parents were yelling at me and lecturing me for a full hour before letting me go to bed. That's not all they did. They told me that I had to stay with Uncle Hiko until the end of my Thanksgiving break! They are so cruel to me. It's not that I don't like my uncle, on the contrary, he is like a second father to me and I care about him and respect him very much.

The problem is that he loves to annoy me. He knows exactly what to say to get me worked up. But I have to admit, that it's that much more satisfying when I am able to get back at him. Sometimes, it's with insults or teasing and other times it's with pranks. And another thing, Shishou sure makes life so much more interesting.

Anyway, Tomoe and I have gotten so much closer over the last two weeks. We have been secretly going out at every possible moment we have. She is now officially my girlfriend and we are considered to be "a match made in heaven" or so Sano tells me. I have to say that I do love her. Enishi isn't very happy about this though. He has been giving me hell for the past two weeks. Fortunately for me, Shishou has been going to Kendo practices earlier to keep an eye on him.

Today is the day that Tomoe's old childhood friend is transferring to our school. She has been so excited to see him that I can't help but feel both happy and a bit jealous at him. I look to my right and see her smiling as we walk. As we walk in the school's front gate, Tomoe squeals in delight and runs up to a boy and flings her arms around him. He is a tall boy with short dark hair. He is smiling brightly and I could see that a lot of girls were already checking him out.

I walk up to them with Enishi still by my side. Tomoe smiles and says, "Oh my gosh Akira. I haven't seen you since sixth grade. I've missed you so much."

"Same here," he grinned. He looks up and sees Enishi. "Hey Enishi! Long time no see! It's great to see you again."

To my absolute surprise, Enishi was smiling gently at the boy. "Hey Akira. Can't believe it's been so long. How have you been?"

"Great!"

Tomoe looks at me and said, "Kenshin this is Akira Kiyosato. We have been best friends since we were in diapers. Akira, this is Kenshin Himura."

I smile and extend my arm, "It's nice to meet you Akira."

"Same here" he replied.

The bell finally rang and we all headed to our separate classes.

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Lunch time finally came and I met up with Akira, Tomoe, and Enishi under a big tree and ate with them. Things started out okay, with Akira and Enishi talking and me and Tomoe talking. But after a while, Tomoe and Akira started talking to each other and weren't really paying attention to what was going on around them. I boredly looked around and finally my eyes rested on Enishi. He had a satisfied smile on his face and when he looked at me, he had a smirk. He got up and said, "I gotta go. I'll see ya later Tomoe." "Ok see ya," she replied barely looking up. I started to feel uncomfortable with the two talking and me just sitting there so I decided to go and eat with my other friends.

"Ummm….Tomoe…I need to talk to one of my friends. I'll catch up with you later."

She finally looked at me with a bit of surprise in her eyes as if she had forgotten I was there, but that quickly changed to guilt. "Alright Kenshin. I'll talk to you later then," she said finally.

I got up feeling a bit upset that she hadn't really noticed me all day, and headed over to Sano and Aoshi. "Hey guys," I sighed.

"Hey. What's wrong with you?" asked Sano.

"It's nothing."

"If you say so," said Sano

"Geez Kenshin, you haven't hung out with us in a long time," said Sano

"He's been busy with his girlfriend," said Aoshi.

"Ya sorry about that you guys," I said.

"Don't worry about it buddy. So why aren't you with Tomoe now?"

"She is talking to that new kid Akira. They were best friends as kids and they haven't seen each other for a few years," I said a little too bitterly.

"You're jealous aren't you," teased Sano.

I felt my cheeks burn up and sputtered, "No! Why would I be jealous! They are just friends and have a lot to catch up on." "Surrreee," drawled Sano.

Suddenly the bell rang and I couldn't be happier. "Well there's the bell. Gotta go guys. See ya after school." I ran off to my locker.

After classes were over, I headed to the gym to pick up my uniform for the tournament. By the time I got there, there was already a line waiting to get their uniforms. I finally got to the table and Shishou was sitting there with a pile of clothes both on and under the table.

"Hey baka. Let me guess, you need an extra extra small," he said with that smirk of his.

I glared at him and opened my mouth to say something, but was interrupted. "Now, now… I was just kidding. No need to get your undies in a bunch. I know your size. Here you go." He tossed the uniform at me. I caught it and sent him one last glare before heading to the locker rooms to change.

When I got to the locker rooms, I finally looked at my uniform. It was a dark blue gi with our school logo on the left corner and a grey hakama. It actually looked pretty cool. I quickly put it on and helped the other freshmen that had never worn one before. After about 30 minutes, everyone was ready and was filing outside to the front of the school where the school bus was waiting.

As I walked out with Aoshi and Soujiro, I saw Tomoe waiting close to the bus. I smiled and walked up to her. "Go on ahead you guys. I'll be in, in a second," I told them. They nodded and headed into the bus. "Hey."

"Hi Kenshin. I just wanted to tell you good luck," she said.

I frowned. "I thought you said that you were going."

"I am going, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I came a little late," she said. "You see, Akira said that he wanted to go and watch, but needs to go home and ask his parents if it's okay first. He asked me to walk with him, and I told him I would… I promise to get there as soon as possible though," she pleaded.

I sighed, "Alright. I'll see you there then." I gave her a small kiss and headed into the bus. The bus ride lasted about 30 minutes and when we got there, we all filed out. I pushed aside my thoughts on Tomoe and concentrated on the coming matches. We all walked into a big arena. It was filled with seats all around the fighting arena in the center. There were about two stories just for chairs. As we walked through, we all looked around in awe.

We finally got into the room that was assigned for our school. We all spread out and started to stretch out. After stretching out, we all got into pairs and started sparring with each other. I was sparring with Soujiro when an announcement came on. "Will all schools please gather around the fighting arena now? We will begin shortly."

We all walked to our specified chairs right beside the arena and took a seat. I took the opportunity to see if I knew anybody. I scanned the crowds looking for any familiar faces when I felt Aoshi nudge me with his elbow. I looked at him and he nodded to his left. I looked in that direction and my mood brightened. There sitting in the front row was my family, Kaoru and her family, Sano, Megumi, and Misao. I smiled at them and waved. They started cheering and I sweat dropped.

Soon, the tournament started. An hour and hundreds of matches later, it was finally the championships. Enishi had already won in the sophomore division and it was down to me and my opponent from our rival school Shogun High. "Now for our freshman division championships, will Kenshin Himura and Makoto Shishio please get ready and head into the arena in 5 minutes."

I stood up and picked up my sakabatou. I did a few quick stretches and headed over to the ring. I scanned the crowds hoping to see Tomoe, but didn't see her at all. I looked at my family and friends, and they started to cheer and yell good luck to me. I smiled at their enthusiasm and stepped into the ring.

My opponent, Shishio, stepped into the ring as well and the bell to begin was rung. I slipped into my battoujutsu stance and carefully watched as Shishio pulled his sword up and got ready to attack. From what I saw earlier, he is a great swordsman that hasn't revealed any of his main attacks yet. In all of his earlier matches, he was toying with his opponents, using very general sword strikes that almost all sword techniques teaches, but then so have I. I cannot underestimate him and I have to stay alert and focused because I don't know what he has hidden up his sleeves.

In less then a second, we had charged at each other and were attacking, blocking, and parrying. He thrust his sword at me and I side stepped to the right and brought my sword down. He saw it coming and brought his sword up at the last second to block. Our blades locked and we pushed against the other. I knew that in physical strength, I am at a disadvantage so I shove with my sword as hard as I can and jump back. "Not bad" said Shishio, "but not good enough. He brought his sword down to the ground and started running at me causing sparks to fly from the tip of his blade.

He swiped at me and I jumped into the air. To my surprise, he abruptly changed the direction of his swipe and brought it up at me. I frantically brought my sword in front of me to block, but I found that I was a little too late. I was able to block his strike, but since my sword was right next to his hilt, he only just had to tilt his sword forward. I felt a burning pain on my chest as he struck me. He pushed hard which brought his sword deeper into my chest. I hissed in pain and pulled back.

By now, we were both breathing hard. We both got back into our stances, charged, and continued to push ourselves to attack. Finally, we broke apart once again. Shishio and I just glared at each other and as we caught our breath. Everything was silent except for our breathing. There is only one attack that I can use to beat him. I pulled my sheath out of my belt and sheathed my sword. In a blink of an eye, we had not only charged at each other, but we had also attacked. I slowed down after passing Shishio and fell to my knees breathing hard. After a few seconds, I hear a body drop down with a loud thud and the crowd starts going wild.

"And the winner of the freshmen division is Kenshin Himura from Meiji High school!" the announcer boomed.

I slowly get up and sheathe my sword. My whole team comes running up to me to congratulate me. I feel a bit overwhelmed as people start slapping me on the back and talking to me at the same time. "Great Job Kenshin!" says one person.

"You had us worried there" says another.

"That was so intense" yells somebody into my ear. Finally, my Shisho is able to get the team under control and ushers us out of the arena. One of the medical teams treat my wounds and then we all start heading to the parking lot where most of our parents are waiting to take us home. As I start to look around for my family with Aoshi, Soujiro, and Shisho, a girl throws her arms around my neck from behind. "Oro!" I spin around confusedly and see that it is my best friend Kaoru. "GREAT JOB KENSHIN! That was so cool. For a second there, I thought you were going to lose," she says smiling brightly.

"Wow. You have so much faith in me Kaoru," I teased while chuckling as her smile turns into a mock frown. She playfully hits me on the shoulder. I put my arm around Kaoru's neck and pulled her head to me while I gave her a noogie with my other hand.

"Mou Kenshin. Stop it! You know I hate it when you do that," she frowned struggling in my grasp. I laughed and relaxed my grip so that only my arm was aver her shoulder and turned as my parents finished talking to Hiko.

"Congratulations Kenshin," said my parents. "YAY! Ken-nii won," Ayame and Suzume chimed. I laughed.

"You did great!" exclaimed Uncle Kojiro.

"Thanks"

"Hey Kenshin," says Sano. "Me and Megumi have to go. It's Megumi's cousin's birthday today and Megumi's family is having a surprise party. I promised to get Megumi home in time. See ya!"

"Okay, bye you two."

"I gotta go too Kenshin. Bye" said Soujiro.

"We are going to go as well," said Aoshi.

"Where are you going Aoshi?" I asked.

"Misao and I are going out to celebrate with our families. See ya later," said Aoshi as he and Misao walked away hand in hand.

Suddenly a thought struck me and I frowned. "What's wrong Kenshin?" asked Kaoru.

I let my arm drop back to my side and said, "Did any of you see if Tomoe was here?"

"I'm sorry honey, but we didn't see her. I'm sure she had a good reason to miss it," said my mom.

I sighed, "Yeah I guess you're right."

"Forget about Tomoe!" said Kaoru. "Let's go out and celebrate." "Well..." I hesitated.

"Oh come on Kenshin! She is probably busy if she couldn't make it to the tournament. Besides, we haven't hung out in a long time," Kaoru said giving me a frown.

"Oh alright. I guess you're right. Let's go celebrate!"

We all decided to go to a restaurant near downtown Kyoto to celebrate. Kaoru and I got into my parent's van and sat down in the middle seats. My dad and Uncle Hiko were in the front and my mom and sisters were in the back. Kaoru's parents were following us in their car. Throughout the entire trip to the restaurant, Kaoru and I were having a pretty good time. She talked about how school has been for her and then asked me about high school.

After a few minutes of that, I decided to do something else. I carefully snuck my fingers up and poked her in the rib and looked the other way. "Hey!" she said. I turned to her and gave her an innocent and confused look. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Don't 'what's wrong' me Kenshin. You know very well what you did," she said. "What did I do?" I asked.

"Do you think that I am stupid Kenshin? You are the only one that can reach me to poke me. I know you did it," she said poking me back. In a blink of an eye, we were poking and tickling each other and laughing our heads off. My parents laughed at our antics. Soon, we finally made it to the restaurant.

We walked into the restaurant and were seated.

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After about an hour, everyone had finished there meals and we were getting ready to leave. As we got to the car, I got an idea. "Hey Kaoru, you wanna hang out in downtown Kyoto for a while?" I asked.

"Okay." She said excitedly. We asked our parents if we could go into downtown Kyoto and they agreed. They told us that they were going to head home so we had to take a taxi home. They handed me some money and said, "Be careful you two. And don't come home to late." "Okay" we both said together.

AN: Please review. For those of you that are waiting for the big break up, don't worry it will probably be in the next chapter. Just bear with me. I already have it planned out. Anyway, tell me what you think and if there is any way that you think I can improve my story.