The first taste of the liquid splashing in the back of her mouth was pleasant enough. Refreshing and satisfying. But unfortunately on the 20th shotofsake does start to loose its appeal.
"Twenty!" yelled Misao and Megumi in unison as they slammed their shot glasses on the bar counter.
Kaoru refilled their glass.
"So feeling a bit tipsy yet Misao?" asked Megumi as she slung back another shot.
Misao drank hers as well before replying, "Not a chance. You?"
"Hardly."
Both of them were actually feeling quite sedated at the moment and no doubt that they weren't far from actually showing signs of tipsiness. Kaoru continued refilling their glasses and fetching new bottles of sake every so often but the whole time kept encouraging Misao to keep going.
Another 10 shots later Misao and Megumi were wobbling on top their stools, but luckily for Misao she had Aoshi behind her to balance her. He remained silent the whole time and only smiled when Misao would look up to him to give her some reassurance.
"You can't…finish this one," said Megumi as she struggled to find the proper vocabulary to finish the sentence.
Misao quickly snatched her refilled glass and Megumi did the same.
"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do," lectured Misao as she raised her glass to empty into her mouth, "Old woman," she muttered.
Megumi growled in her stool as she saw Misao slam down another empty glass. She leaned back rather far in her seat and weakly raised her glass. It shook in her hands.
The crowd got silent as Megumi struggled to bring the glass to her lips. Misao watched carefully, even though she was drunk she still had some sense of what her goal was, 'Come on you damn woman pass out!'
Megumi got an odd look on her face and as she leaned back even further the sake started to spill out of the glass and on to her chin and throat. Megumi's eyes wearily closed and she finally fell off from her seat and the crowd backed away from where she fell. Her back lay on the floor and her legs on top of the stool and the small glass rolled away from her limp hand and empty on the floor.
The crowd erupted and Misao let out a sigh of relief. Kaoru leaned over the bar and hugged Misao, "See I told you could win didn't I," she said.
Misao gave a tired chuckle, "Yeah sure. Thanks Kao, I'm going home."
"Take care. Call me when you get there!" yelled Kaoru as Misao headed in Aoshi's direction. She didn't even notice when he left her side.
"Aoshi?" she asked as she stumbled into a stool next to him.
"Hey, take it easy," he said quietly. "Misao, I don't know how I can tell how grateful I am for…everything."
Misao leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, "Quiet," she said with drunkenness starting to fully set in. She put her finger to his lips lazily, "How about you just take me home and perhaps we can have a sleep over. You know we could stay up late and watch movies and eat popcorn and then…you could kiss me again." Misao smiled dumbly looking up at him.
Aoshi only smiled and shook his head in amusement, "But if I kissed you I doubt you'd remember in the morning, and that just wouldn't be every nice now will it Misao?"
Misao took a minute to process what he said and giggled, "So does that mean yes?"
Aoshi sighed and called over Kaoru still cradling Misao, "Kaoru do you think that you could take Misao home?"
Kaoru was rather surprised to hear this, "And just where do you have to go?"
Aoshi looked to Megumi still sprawled out on the floor, "Well we can just leave her hear and I'm the only one who knows where she lives."
"NO!" cried Misao like a child as she pounded a fist on Aoshi's chest. "Your supposed to come home with me!"
Aoshi looked to Kaoru waiting for a answer, "Do you honestly think I'll do something to hurt Misao after what she just did for me?"
Kaoru considered this and replied, "OK, give me Misao and you get Megumi. We'll carry them out to the car.
Kaoru walked around the bar to the other side of the counter and put Misao's weight on her shoulders with Aoshi's assistance. Once Misao was balanced on Kaoru Aoshi picked up Megumi in the same manner and they both carried their drunks to their cars in the parking lot.
Aoshi buckled in Megumi in his back seat and started up the car. He backed it out and drove off beeping to Kaoru who waved. After getting Misao buckled in the back rambling about how Aoshi smells fresh like newly washed bed sheets, did Kaoru remember Kenshin was still inside. Kaoru ran back into the club that was now full of energy with people dancing to a new song and easily spotted the red head sitting lonely at the bar.
Kaoru tried to call his name but he didn't seem to hear her. She started to push past the crowd of people.
Kenshin sipped a martini and sighed, 'Guess Kaoru ditched me,' he thought as he gulped down the rest of his drink. He decided he might as well just go home and he stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his white button up shirt and put his hands in his black dress pants and started to walk towards the door.
"KENSHIN!"
He looked up to see Kaoru struggling to get through the wall of people blocking her path. Kenshin ran over and skillfully slipped through the group of people.
"Hey come on! We got to take Misao home," said Kaoru as she grabbed Kenshin by the hand and pulled him outside.
"But what happened to that Shinomori guy?" wined Kenshin as his thoughts of snuggling with Kaoru at his apartment were dashed.
"He had to take Megumi home."
Kaoru and Kenshin got into the car, Kaoru in the driver's seat. They both buckled in and when they heard this terrible noise in the back seat, which happened to only be Misao snoring quiet loudly.
As Kaoru turned on to the road that was mostly empty at the late hours Kenshin looked out the window and noticed a full moon and felt a sense of loss.
'Tonight would have been great for a romantic night with Kaoru,' he thought as he sank into his seat as he gazed into the night sky sprinkled with millions of tiny lights.
Kaoru kept driving but noticed how quiet it was and looked over a Kenshin who was looking wistfully out the window. She felt guilty inside. It was her pleading that dragged Kenshin to come to the club and support Misao and she'd almost completely forgot about him.
'I have to make it up to him,' and the wheels started turning in Kaoru's head.
A few minutes later Kaoru drove up to Misao's apartment building and she and Kenshin hulled her up to her room and Kaoru rummaged through Misao's purse to find her keys and opened the door. Carefully Kenshin laid Misao on her bed and was ushered out of the room by Kaoru who took off Misao's work uniform and slipped on a large t-shirt she found in the closet and through touch unhooked her bra and tossed everything onto the floor beside the bed. Kaoru tucked Misao in and locked the door as she and Kenshin left Misao sleeping peacefully.
Silently they both got into the car and Kaoru drove to Kenshin's apartment.
"Thanks for everything Kenshin," she spoke finally breaking the silence.
Kenshin looked up in mild surprise and then smiled, "It was no problem Kaoru."
'Oh why does he have to be so damn polite and caring? It makes me feel like crap when I let him down,' thought Kaoru.
Kaoru drove up to Kenshin's apartment building that was a bit more expensive than Misao's and parked the car.
"Mind if I come up for a drink?" asked Kaoru as she got out of the car with Kenshin.
"Sure," replied Kenshin.
They took the elevator up to the 6th floor and Kenshin opened the door to apartment 355 and let Kaoru in.
Kaoru had obviously been in Kenshin's apartment before but she assumed it looked so foreign to her because she hadn't been there in so long. It seemed to be lacking her usual touches of a few dirty dishes in the sink and a pile of her clothes on the floor from the previous night. At the moment the apartment was abnormally clean and spotless, its off-white walls held up pictures of her and Kenshin laughing.
Kenshin went into the kitchen and Kaoru sat on the couch and heard Kenshin throw his keys on the counter and take out glasses and pouring liquid. He reappeared a few seconds later and handed Kaoru a tall glass filled with soda, he drank the same.
"So Misao did very well for herself tonight didn't she?" said Kenshin making pleasant conversation.
Kaoru rolled her eyes mentally at Kenshin's utter politeness, "Yeah, I just hope things work out between her and Aoshi."
Kenshin nodded, "All good things will eventually."
Kaoru sighed and set her glass down on the glass top of the coffee table in front of her and did the same with Kenshin's glass. She slowly leaned over to Kenshin and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Kenshin, I think we need to catch up on a few things," she whispered in his ear that she then kissed gently.
Kenshin immediately blushed as Kaoru worked her alluring power over him and Kenshin obey submissively and glowed inside as their relationship was rekindling to what it once was.
'Perhaps tonight won't be such waste," he mused as he and Kaoru would awake the next morning cuddled up on the couch…
A/N: There you go all those who asked for some KenshinxKaoru goodness. Yeah I felt a little bad if I included Kaoru in this fic but not Kenshin, plus Kenshin is so adorable for this. Don't forget proper manners, read and review. Right now I'm listening to a song I think I'll put in later on with Aoshi and Misao, its really sweet and perfect for them. Oh and what I have planned for Aoshi and Misao I think you guys will really be pleased with, but that's for the next chapter so you'll have to wait my beloved reviewers, oh and many thanks to all of you. Take care everyone.