A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed…I'm sorry I haven't been updating. Senior year's a little too boring for my taste, but I do have this FREAKING big research paper, and I have to battle with sine, cosine and tangent everyday…so I really don't have much time, and when I do, I end up sleeping. Hehe. Sorry. Just flame me if you want.
Disclaimer: I don't own RK.
Chapter Seven: Of Dodging and Wooing
He blinked.
Still looking surprised, he repeated exactly what he had done, ignoring the pain on the tip of his fingers as he started to strum.
"Can't you play anything else, idiot? I've been hearing the same thing over and over again for the last hour," growled Hiko, sipping his whiskey and looking down at Kenshin. "You wouldn't know music if it came up to you and bit your nose," Kenshin muttered with a smile as he put down his guitar. "I heard that, you moron. Now go get dressed, will you?" Kenshin looked up, surprised. "We're going somewhere?" His manager snorted. "Sano's got a big dinner party over at Preston Hotel, remember, idiot?"
Kenshin sighed. "Why again?" Hiko shrugged. "I'm pretty certain it's something to do with him and the new line of clothing he's having. I believe he's going to call it 'Evil.'"
Kenshin smiled. "Ahhh…now I remember."
(scene change)
Kaoru flopped down on her sofa, extremely thankful that the shoot for the day had been canceled. She had just turned on her television set when her phone rang, instantly making her jump. She'd hardly even said 'hello' when Sano's voice boomed out of the receiver along with a loud stream of music.
"Yo, Jou-chan, come on over at Preston, won't you?"
Kaoru squinted and held the phone a few inches away from her ear for a while before putting it back to its normal position. "Er. Why…?" A pause. "Evil? Sano, what kind of…I don't have a ride there…" Another pause. "You hired a limo to pick me up from my place…? But…What should I wear? What do you mean anything…? Sano…"
"Please, Jou-chan? Everyone in the cast is gonna be here. Except you, if you don't come. Come on, don't make me use my sexy voice on you."
She snorted. "I'll go if you don't use that voice."
"All right. Limo'll be there at six. See ya then, Jou-chan."
(scene change)
Kenshin entered the hotel's pool area, his eyes scanning the long tables for food and the white balloons all over with the character 'evil' on them. The music was pretty loud, and some women (Goodness knew where Sano got them) were already lazing all over the swimming pools in their bikinis while some lounged around in their expensive dresses and such. He sighed. "Let the party begin…"
He reached for one of the goblets containing chardonnay on the table, and stepped back just in time before something huge and white bumped into him from his right. Unfortunately, he was unable to dodge Sano's arm as it snaked around his shoulders, the other man's breath already smelling like beer. Still, for what Sano was worth, Kenshin could tell his friend was still far from being even the least bit tipsy. "Glad you could make it, Kenshin. Where's Hiko?" The redhead shrugged. "He got me all dressed up and then decided not to come himself."
Sano grinned. "Ah, well…who needs him?" He gestured to the double glass doors on the other side of the pool area. "The modeling's gonna take place inside. Got the whole ramp and lights set up, but that won't happen till later. Meanwhile, enjoy yourself, won't you? You look like a grumpy child who's been dropped off at the wrong birthday party."
"Himura Kenshin, a grumpy child? Now that's one nickname for him I've never heard of."
Kaoru laughed at the expression on the redhead's face and nodded at Sano. "Nice party, roosterhead. Thanks for inviting me. Are we going to insult Kenshin all night?"
The taller man faked a sigh and shook his head. "Alas, no. For as much as I would like to mock my dear friend Red Shorty here, women and alcohol await me in abundance." And with that he walked away, leaving Kenshin staring at Kaoru with a raised brow. "Making fun of your acting tutor now, Miss Kamiya?" He followed her as she began walking towards the double doors. She was still grinning. "What are you going to do about it, Kenshin? Tell me to re-enact a drowning woman so you can be the lifeguard who doesn't save me as revenge for my insults?" "Would you like to try it?"
Kaoru shrugged and pulled the cream-white shawl up her shoulders as they entered the other wing of the hotel. She had worn a simple, sleeveless beige cocktail dress that trailed around her calves in soft white ruffles. She was glad to see less bikini-clad women inside already as they entered. "That would work, except you couldn't learn playing the guitar anymore." "I could always hire a professional." "And actually pay for it, too. So did you learn what I showed you yesterday?"
She watched him eye the room carefully, his light gold orbs scanning the long black ramp at the center of the room and the elegant chairs lining its sides. It was hard to believe she was talking to the infamous Himura Kenshin. She never thought conversation would flow this easily. He cleared his throat. "What's this, Miss Kamiya? You have so little faith in me. Of course I learned it." "Silly, proud little man." She rolled her eyes. It was nice to have a woman roll her eyes at you, when they usually just battered their eyelashes and asked for an autograph. The only other woman who had done much rolling of the eyes at what he supposed was his silliness was…
"Prove it, then…Er. Hello? Kenshin?"
Kaoru's voice brought him back from his reverie. He forced a smile. 'Get over her, Himura. Go play the guitar instead…' He thought. "Sano hired a band for this party. We can ask if they brought an acoustic guitar along. I'll show you at the other pool room; I believe it's empty." Before she could answer, he had gone up to a group of punk rock tee-shirt-clad teenagers and had come back with an acoustic guitar.
He gestured to the part of the room that she supposed led to the other pool area. The hallway was left unlighted; clearly it wasn't part of the area Sano had had reserved for the party.
"Um. I don't think we're allowed to go there." To her surprise he smirked and offered her his arm. "Let me be your escort for the night." "Erm. Excuse me?" He sighed, gently pulled her hand and put her arm though his. Kaoru followed his lead curiously as they edged along the crowd, casually looking as though they were merely mingling. A few stealthy steps along and they were into the hallway and almost out the door.
Kaoru let out a loud laugh. "That was fun!" She laughed even more when the redhead beside her widened his eyes, put a finger to his lips and looked behind them cautiously. She giggled, more quietly this time. "You're funny when you panic." She drew herself majestically and pointed to one of the plastic chairs lying around next to the pool. "Now play, Sir Minstrel."
Again, he smirked. He had a feeling someone was watching, but ignored the feeling. He sat down, and began to play.
(scene change)
Working for a tabloid was fun. It was sneaky, and fun. Especially if you were the photographer. He stayed in the shadows and slowly took out his camera. He wasn't too near nor too far from them. Perfect.
(scene change)
Hiko stretched luxuriously and watched the view from the wide glass window of the room he occupied in Kenshin's penthouse. He had stayed up late, pretending to watch TV and waiting for the idiot who had come home at two AM. Said idiot also came home massaging his fingers for no reason Hiko could understand. Unless of course that roosterhead had unwisely asked Kenshin to play some tunes at the party, which Hiko doubted.
He finished washing up, and headed for the kitchen counter where one of Kenshin's assistants had already put the daily newspaper. He glared in disgust. Whichever assistant it was, they'd gotten the tabloid along as well. He pulled the tabloid away from today's newspaper and almost fell back in surprise as he read the headline:
"HIMURA KENSHIN SERENADES CO-STAR KAMIYA KAORU AT EVIL LAUNCH:
Do we sense something juicy, or what?"
It wouldn't have been as bad, Hiko thought dazedly as he walked towards Kenshin's door, if there hadn't been a picture below the caption.
A/N:
Um. There. Sorry it was kind of rushed. I'm tired and I still have to work on some research paper-related stuff. Oh the pain. Please review. If ever, flames must make sense, please. :D And no…KK aren't exactly lovers…yet—more like something between being acquaintances and friends…Go figure.
