Author's Note: I know the last chapter was short, so I hope this makes up for it.

-----oOo-----

Detention: Cocoanut Flavored Rum

Megumi stared expectantly at Misao who was purposely procrastinating, her attention focused on tugging off a loose thread.

Megumi grumbled, "Well?"

Misao was startled, "Well, what?"

The woman quirked an eyebrow and Misao sighed loudly.

"Alright, FINE! I'll tell you whatever you want to know, but not here."

"Why not here?"

Misao looked at her like she was insane.

"It's a restroom." She said, gesturing toward the stalls and sinks.

"Ah, you have a point. I told Sano to get us a table; he's probably pissed by now." Megumi made a beeline for the door until Misao frantically grabbed her wrist.

"I can't go out there."

"Oh stop being such a little coward. If you want to stay and sulk in the bathroom all by yourself then by all means, stay." The Fox pulled her wrist out of the girl's grasp and left.

Misao stood in the middle of the bathroom alone, contemplating her situation. She had winced, internally when Megumi had thrown that "coward" comment at her face. It felt like being slapped. She knew that her friend was right, and that was what made things worse.

So what if Saitou saw her? I bet he isn't driving himself crazy over what happened like I am...this is total bullshit. I shouldn't be acting like this. I refuse to be called a coward!

She wrenched the door open, her mind made up.

-----oOo-----

Okita eyed the amber-eyed man across from him over his cup of coffee.

"Is something wrong, Hajime? You've barely even touched your soba noodles."

Saitou, who had previously been staring out the window in thought flickered his gaze toward his favorite dish.

"I'm not that hungry."

"You seem troubled."

"Hardly…" He said, while taking a sip of his tea.

"Something tells me otherwise."

Saitou rolled his eyes at the other man's concern.

"Shall we go then?" Okita asked.

They both stood up to leave.

"Hey, it's your turn to pay."

Saitou grinned wolfishly, "I beg to differ. I recall having to pay last time because someone claimed to have forgotten his wallet."

Okita grumbled while tugging out his wallet while Saitou just smirked.

The two men made their may to the exit when all of a sudden Saitou had to sidestep quickly to keep from running into a door that had been carelessly thrown open.

"Oh crap, I am so sorry!"

He found himself staring into a familiar pair of bright blue eyes and cursed his luck while schooling his features into an apathetic expression.

"Oh, it's only you. In that case, watch where you are going." Misao remarked calmly and silently applauded herself at having almost smacked him in the face.

"Maybe you shouldn't be throwing doors around. You practically pulled the thing off its hinges."

"Ah, see that is where you are wrong. I wasn't throwing any doors open." Even though this was exactly what she had been doing, but that was beside the point. "You just happened to walk INTO the door, making this your fault not mine."

Okita just stood watching, slightly at a loss for words.

"I don't walk into doors." He glared fiercely down at her, but she never faltered, making him ask himself, yet again, why he even tried. She was immune…

"Well," She smirked and patted his cheek gently. "There is a first time for everything. Now if you'll kindly move, I have friends who are waiting for me." Misao smirked and maneuvered around him.

Okita just gaped after the girl. He looked from her retreating form to Saitou's murderous expression, and promptly burst out laughing.

The girl not only withstood one of his friend's glares, but she had actually patted him on the cheek and lectured the elder man as if she were reprimanding some petulant child.

Saitou narrowed his eyes at his companion and promised to make that girl suffer even if it killed him.

-----oOo-----

Misao walked over to the table in a fit of giggles. She was content in the fact that she had just succeeded in embarrassing him in front of a co-worker, that poor excuse for a kiss be damned.

"Was that Saitou over there?" Sano asked.

"Yeah..." She said, simply.

"So what was all that about? You guys looked like you were arguing just now." Megumi inquired.

"Oh, he just accidentally ran into a door and tried to blame his stupidity on me, that's all." Misao smiled.

Sano chuckled to himself.

Megumi smiled knowingly and Misao simply nodded in answer to the woman's silent question.

They ordered their food and sat back to wait in silence.

Misao started to eye the ring around Sano's eye again when it dawned on her that Megumi hadn't even mentioned anything. She figured it would've been one of the first things out of her mouth, seeing as how she volunteered on the Medical staff at the Community Club.

"So, Megumi, you're a medical person, have you seen that bruise over Rooster's eye?"

Sano sighed as Megumi examined the dark circle that could easily be mistaken for lack of sleep.

"Yes, I was there to witness his receiving it, too."

"You didn't tell me anything about Fox being there." Misao commented.

Sano just smiled sheepishly, "Hey, look, food's here."

Misao sent him a "you-aren't-off-the-hook-just-yet" look before picking at her food.

Halfway through her food, Misao felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out of her pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Are you busy right now?"

Megumi and Sano looked at her and she mouthed "Kaoru" in response.

"Yeah, I'm eating lunch with Sano and Megumi. I'll be free later, though."

"Alright, because I wanted to talk to you…"

Misao felt a knot form in her stomach at her friend's tone.

"Okay, "She said softly. "Come over to my house tonight. Bring some spare clothes to spend the night. Gramps isn't home, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Alright, I'll see you around later."

"Sure thing…Bye." Misao clicked the phone shut.

"Um, Sano, do you think you could give me a ride home after this? I need to go make the place presentable before Kaoru comes over."

"No problem."

"Anyone want dessert?" Megumi commented after finishing up her soda, all the while staring at Misao pointedly.

"Dessert" being the code word, Misao suddenly recalled her promise to fill Megumi in on the day's earlier events, sighed. She could have easily agreed, Saitou was already long gone.

However, a promise was a promise…

"No, I'm full. Did you want to come over tonight, too? It's been a while since you've seen Kaoru."

Megumi smirked, "Girl's night out, then? I'll have to drop by at my place to get some over-night stuff."

"What about me?" Sano whined pitifully.

"You get to go home to be bed early. You have work tomorrow." Megumi said, while plucking stray crumbs off the front of his shirt while he pouted.

Misao couldn't help but smile at the two.

-----oOo-----

After having been dropped off by Sano, Misao made quick work of cleaning up the house. Her definition of clean was simply stuffing all the laundry into a hall closet and piling the covers on her bed instead of leaving them scattered on the floor.

Her job done, she went to the living room and flipped on the TV to wait.

Megumi was the first to arrive. Dressed in yoga pants, hair pulled back, with a duffle bag over her shoulder, she strutted past Misao into the house.

"So where's Gramps?" She asked.

"He had some conference. He won't be back until tomorrow."

"Good, because I thought I'd bring over a little something special." Megumi smiled and pulled out a bottle of cocoanut rum.

"I'm not even going to ask where you managed to get that."

"The parents have an extensive collection. You should come over sometime." Megumi said while heading to the kitchen, bottle in hand.

The doorbell rang and Misao rushed to get it.

Kaoru stood before her smiling lightly, but there was no mistaking the anxiety in her eyes.

"Hi, you sounded upset on the phone, what happened?" Misao asked while moving to let her in.

"Um…" She hesitated.

"Hey, Weasel, where do you keep the good glasses?" Megumi hollered from the kitchen.

"I invited Megumi, I hope that's okay…Top shelf, far left corner!"

Kaoru's smile lit up a bit more.

"Oh, that's fine. It's been a while, but what I can say to you, I can say to her, too."

"Great, so let's get this party started!" Misao clapped her hands together.

Megumi came back with three glasses and pineapple juice.

"There's my favorite raccoon. Long time no see."

Kaoru laughed and helped the woman set the glasses on the small table in the middle of the room while they all took a seat on the floor.

"Alright, so let's get down to business. Misao, I believe you owe me an explanation." Megumi said while proceeding to fill the glasses up with the juice and mixing in the rum.

Kaoru looked at the weasel curiously. Misao took a bug gulp of Megumi's concoction.

"Well…"

Misao explained everything from Friday's after school event to the day's little restroom fiasco, opting to leave out Kenshin's involvment for Kaoru's sake. When she was finished Megumi was laughing so hard tears were starting to stream out of the corners of her eyes and Kaoru was smiling.

"I can't believe you actually kissed that wolf!"

Misao flushed in anger, "I doubt that could be deemed a real kiss!" She countered.

Kaoru giggled, "She's right, fox."

"Thank you!"

"But then again, it depends on what you felt." Kaoru finished.

Misao froze and Megumi's laughter came to an abrupt halt. The Fox smirked evilly.

"So, did you feel anything?"

They both stared at Misao who shifted under their gaze uncomfortably, while they waited patiently for an answer.

"You did, didn't you?" Kaoru's expression brightened up immediately and it wasn't long before she too started laughing.

"That is so nasty." Megumi protested, looking disgusted. "I mean, he's a teacher. Sure he's a bit handsome, but he's like forty-eight."

Misao couldn't help herself, "Thirty-six…" She corrected before taking another sip of her drink and taken sudden immense interest in the pattern on the rug beneath.

"You've got to be kidding me! She knows his exact age!" Megumi protested glancing at Kaoru who just shrugged.

"Anyway, moving on…So, Kaoru, are you going to tell us why you sounded so antsy on the phone?" Misao asked.

Kaoru placed her glass on the table and she sighed, wearily.

"I would've told you sooner, but with the tournament I was too preoccupied. On Friday after school when I was heading out to the gym, Kenshin was waiting there for me. He asked me if I'd like to tutor some underclassmen for him after school."

"What'd you say?" Misao asked even though part of her already knew the answer.

"What do you think? If I get the opportunity to spend two hours with him I'm sure as hell going to take it."

"Then why do you seem so upset?" Megumi had been one of the first people to find out about Kaoru's feelings, especially since she shared them for the man, but had since set her sights elsewhere.

"The fact that he's just so close, but we could never be more miles apart. It's sucks." Kaoru answered.

"You could seduce him." Megumi suggested as if it was something normally said.

"Megumi!" Kaoru looked horrified.

"Don't do anything Megumi would do and you'll be fine." Misao teased and Megumi huffed.

Kaoru giggled at that.

"Hey, Megumi, you mentioned earlier that you saw Sano get that black eye. What happened there?"

Kaoru looked at Misao concerned, "Sano got a black eye? Is he alright?"

Megumi just waved them off.

"That big oaf is just fine. He was attempting to defend my honor. We were at work the other day and one of the other volunteers started getting a little too touchy feely and Sano got pissed. He was jealous; he just didn't want to admit it." She winked.

Misao and Kaoru just looked at each other in surprise.

"No way! I knew you guys had something going on! You've never been so friendly."

"It's about time Sano got himself a girlfriend." Kaoru smirked.

Megumi laughed, "Whoa, whoa, let's not go jumping to conclusions. There is nothing going on."

"It sure didn't look like that today. What was with that whole 'picking off the crumbs on his shirt' thing?" Misao sloshed her drink, mostly ice, around.

"What was so wrong with that?" Megumi moved to fill her glass up again.

"My point being is that he actually let you fuss over him."

"He didn't!" Kaoru exclaimed.

"He did." Misao responded.

"He likes you." The two admitted simultaneously.

"If you say so…"

"Do you like him?" Kaoru questioned silently.

Megumi didn't answer but when they looked up at her, they noticed her cheeks were tinted a shade of pink, her glass wasn't even half-way finished either.

"You two and your boy problems…" Misao commented.

"Look who's talking! At least I don't go making out with teachers!"

Misao choked, "I do not, shut up Fox!"

"What about that Shinomori guy?"

Misao looked imploringly at Kaoru.

"What's this? Two guys…tsk, tsk, Misao!"

"Ugh! You two are horrible!"

"So what are you going to do about Saitou, pretend nothing ever happened?" Kaoru eyed her friend.

"Sounds like a plan." Misao declared.

"I say you toy with him!" Megumi chipped in.

"Well we all know that's what you'd do, Fox." Misao said and was rewarded with a pillow in the face.

"Hey!"

Thus a pillow fight ensued…while Kaoru stood on the sidelines playing referee.

-----oOo-----

I know, I know…kinda boring. So, I went into Kaoru and Megumi's issues, but that'll be it for a while…maybe. I am very indecisive. Not the most eventful of chapters, like the last one. Next one starts off on a school day, so we'll be back to the humor. I just HAD to put in a Saitou/Misao confrontation at the beginning there, the idea came to me and I was laughing so hard. So, what do you guys think? Should I have Misao follow Megumi's advice and toy with Wolfy? But then again, I wonder if it would be more realistic for her not to….I'm still debating on it.

Let me know what you think!