A Second Chance
Chapter Ten
"How was your date with Kaoru? Huh? Huh?" Sano asked, leaning back in his chair, with his feet up on the table.
Kenshin was tearing his sandwich into little bits, blushing a light shade of pink, "Kaoru looked so hot last night and the food was awesome. It was like everything was perfect."
"OOooh somebody's Mr. Romantic. She's a real fox huh?" Sano teased.
"Yeah, don't you remember meeting her?"
"Yeah but I didn't see her all dressed up and stuff. Do you guys have any plans for the weekend?"
"It's Kaoru's birthday tomorrow. We're leaving in the morning to go camping."
"Wow! How old will she be? Are you taking her to one of our secret spots?"
"She's turning 25. I'm gonna take her to the Two Rivers Campground, near Nashville."
"You go for older women don't you." Sano snickered.
"Shut up Sano." Kenshin growled.
Kenshin had no appetite and pushed plate away. The torn up sandwich seemed to stare at him and say "eat me!" But Kenshin scowled at it and looked away.
"Did you tell Jason you're going to take some time off work?"
"I called him this morning."
"What do want to do today?"
"I don't know." Kenshin declared, scratching his back.
~o~o~
It was a chilly Friday morning. Kenshin and Kaoru were packing Kenshin's car with Sano and Kaoru's camping gear. Kaoru had slept over at Sano's last night so she could wake up with Kenshin at 5am and pack the car.
"Did you pack the tent?" Kaoru shouted from the garage.
"Yeah!" Kenshin shouted back, rubbing his arms to get warm.
"Where should I put the fishing tackle?"
"Just stick it in the trunk." Kenshin said as he pulled on his black beanie.
Kenshin went into the garage when he saw her struggling with the sleeping bags. He zipped up his hoody and got to work helping her carry them to the car. Sano was watching them from the window while drinking a cup of coffee. He wanted to say goodbye, so he lugged himself down the stairs and out to the garage. "Damn its cold!" Sano muttered to himself. He took a sip of coffee and called "Hey Kenshin!"
Kenshin looked his way and smiled back. "Sano what are you doing up this early."
"I came out here to see your ugly mug." Sano taunted.
Kenshin let that comment roll. "Aren't you cold?"
"Hell yeah! But I wanted to wish you well. Say bon voyage and all that."
Kenshin and Kaoru came into the garage to pack the last of the camping gear. Kenshin stopped packing and gave himself some time to say goodbye to Sano. Kenshin walked up to Sano, offering his hand for a shake. "Sano take care, watch some football, and have a good weekend. Bye Sano."
"Kenshin don't do anything stupid. Have a nice time with your little lady." Sano threw his arms around Kenshin and gave him a squeeze. "Take good care of my main man." Sano said to Kaoru, giving her a soft hug. "Go have some fun lovebirds! Get outta here!"
Kenshin grabbed a box of flashlights and lanterns, and put it in the trunk. That was the last item to pack. Kaoru and he got into the car, Kenshin started the engine, and as they drove of they waved goodbye.
~o~o~
Kaoru had fallen asleep after they went through the drive-thru at McDonald's. Her Egg Mcmuffin was still sitting on her lap from half an hour ago. Kenshin listened to her breathe in and out as he drove. He had turned the radio off a long time ago. He took his hands off the steering wheel and drove it with his knee. Using his free hands he picked through his CD collection and found The Spill Canvas. He put one hand back on the wheel and popped the CD in. The song Connect the dots played as he drove. He imagined Kaoru with clothes and without clothes as he listened to the song. She and him were flying and soaring through his imagination. Even after the song switched he was still dreaming about her.
The car felt like it was tilting and Kenshin looked ahead. He slammed on the brakes, when he realized he was driving off the road, and was about to hit a stop sign. He tried to clear his mind of his daydreams and collect himself. Kaoru was still asleep. Kenshin thought Kaoru didn't need to know about this incident. Before he pulled back onto the road he switched the CD to The Grateful Dead.
Once that was done he pulled back onto the road and drove off.
~o~o~
Kaoru's laughter was like bells to Kenshin's ears. She was sharing jokes with Kenshin.
Kenshin says "A guy walks into a bar and orders a drink. After a few more he needs to go to the can. He doesn't want anyone to steal his drink so he puts a sign on it saying, "I spat in this beer, do not drink!" After a few minutes he returns and there is another sign next to his beer saying, "So did I!"
"Oh I bet I could top that!"
"Try me!" Kenshin taunted, looking ahead.
"Man walks into a bar, has a seat and asks for two double shots. He knocks one back and tosses the second into his vest pocket. This goes on for about a dozen rounds before the bartender says, "Excuse me, but I'm curious as to why you knock back one drink and toss the other into your vest pocket?" The man says, "That's none of your damn business." A mouse pops out of the vest pocket and yells." And that goes for your damn cat too!" Kaoru challenged.
Kenshin almost drove off the road from laughing. But he made sure to keep concentrating.
~o~o~
"Kaoru could you pull out the map?" Kenshin asked. Kenshin was at a fork in the road and found himself lost.
"Sure." She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a large map. She unfolded it, nearly getting it into Kenshin's side of the car. It was an aged map of the Nashville area, it looked as though Kenshin had had it for a long time.
"We're a half mile away from the campgrounds, but I don't know exactly where."
Kaoru scanned the map with her finger. "We're near the river. You need to make a left turn here."
"Ok thanks." Kenshin veered to the left and made the turn. They were nearly at the campgrounds.
~o~o~
The stars were twinkling amidst the bright night sky. The couple glowed by the fire light.
Kenshin and Kaoru were sitting on a log, huddled together under a blanket. It was around 7pm and they were roasting fish that they had caught in the afternoon. Kenshin leaned towards Kaoru and kissed her. She wrapped the blanket around them and leaned so far backwards that they fell to the ground. Kaoru giggled as she kissed his face. They lay on the ground, cuddling closer and closer. Kenshin rolled Kaoru around on the ground as he kissed her.
"I love you." He whispered in her ear.
"I love you more." She whispered back.
They joined hands and played with each other's fingers. Kaoru laughed as Kenshin tickled her hand and went down along her arm all the way to her shoulder. Kaoru turned Kenshin over so that she on top. The blanket lay under them.
"Are you ticklish?"Kaoru asked deviously.
"I'm not telling."Kenshin deviated.
"I'll just have to find out!"
She dug her hands into the sides of his chest and tickled him. He jerked back his laughter and didn't notice himself kicking for dear life. She tickled him under his knees and around his stomach too. It was like torture for Kenshin. He grabbed her arms and gave her a passionate kiss. She melted into his arms. They stayed like that for awhile, kissing and holding one another.
Kenshin broke the kiss when he smelled something funny.
"What's wrong Kenshin?"
"I don't know? Something smells weird."
"I don't smell bad do I? I put on plenty of this spray an---"
"Kaoru hush. It's not you. I smell something smoky."
"I smell it too…"
"Yeah it smells like something is burning."
"Why would something be burning?"
Kaoru and Kenshin leaped up off the ground and saw what was burning. Their tent was ablaze.
"Ah fuck! How did that happen!" Kenshin yelled, kicking the flames, trying to smolder the flames. Kaoru ran to the river nearby with a bucket and managed to fill it. She hurried back to their campsite. When she came back she dumped the water on the tent, forgetting Kenshin was still on the tent. Most of the water ended up on him and but the flames had been doused in the process.
"Sorry Kenshin." Kaoru said earnestly after dumping a gallon of river water on her boyfriend.
"The tent's done for." Kenshin grumbled.
"I guess we're sleeping outside." Kaoru commented.
Kenshin took his hand and wiped the water off his face. Kaoru offered to get him a change of clothes out of the car. Kenshin told her that would be great. Kaoru took his keys, went into his duffle bag, and quickly put an outfit together. She brought it back for Kenshin.
"Did you lock my car?"
"Yeah."
Kenshin went behind a giant tree and changed. Kaoru knew that even though they were lovers he was still too shy to do things like change in front of her. Once he was in dry clothes he hung his wet clothes up on a low tree branch and returned to Kaoru. He took his keys from her, slid them back in his pocket, and embraced her.
While Kenshin had been changing Kaoru had taken the fish dinner off the fire. The fish were on stakes, cooling on a rack. Kenshin and Kaoru sat on the log and each took a fish. Kenshin ate fast, biting chunks out of his fish. Kaoru ate like that as well, minding the bones.
When they had finished their fish they threw the bones into the fire. Kenshin spread the blanket out on the ground so that Kaoru didn't have to lie in the dirt.
"Kaoru come here." Kenshin patted the blanket.
Kaoru had comeback from washing the rack and stakes at the river. "Already time for bed?"
"I want to share something with you. Just come here. Set those down." He urged Kaoru, pointing to the utensils.
Kaoru set the cookware down and came over the blanket. Kenshin laid down first and Kaoru lay down next, nestling her body into Kenshin's. Kenshin wrapped his arms around and he told her to look at the sky.
"See the stars?"Kenshin asked, pointing to the sky.
"Yeah they are beautiful."
"The sky is much clearer out here."
"I can see constellation! And the moon is so bright!" Kaoru blurted out excitedly.
Kenshin named the constellations and told ancient stories about them. He told Kaoru he had been fascinated by astronomy as a kid. Kaoru asked Kenshin what his sign was. He told her he was a Gemini.
"Me too!" Kaoru exclaimed.
"That'd make us twins." Kenshin joked.
Kenshin got up and took the bucket to the river to get water. He put out the fire and settled back down with Kaoru. Kenshin and Kaoru nestled closer to each other. Kenshin spooned Kaoru and kissed the top of her head. They fell asleep under the stars.