Hey there, FF fam! ;)
So the big dance is drawing closer, but before we get there, I thought it would be nice to spend a little more time with Misao. She's Kaoru's BFF and we haven't seen them interact much. Time to change that...! Welcome to the Makimachi soiree, please enjoy yourselves, and as per usual... I have zero ownership rights in Rurouni Kenshin. :)
Side note: In hindsight, I kinda wish I had given Kenshin his characteristic cross shaped scar. Ah well. Oh, and send me some feedback! I love reviews!
Well, this isn't awkward at all.
I stared at the swirling bodies in front of me with slight distaste. Soft music was playing and there was a waltz taking place on the wood paneled floor under the large white tent. I knew I should have expected this when Misao had begged me to attend, yet I somehow still managed to be thrown off. It was the 10th Annual Makimachi Fall Dinner Party, and yes, it's that serious. All of the execs, board members, and higher-level staff were in attendance; their tailored suits and designer dresses screaming "I make more money than you!" Opulent food piled high, being served by a wait staff. A live band played everything from jazz to pop to classical music. Armed guards circled the outskirts of the property and a few stood just inside the large tent that housed the event in Misao's huge backyard. Every once in a while, a faceless waiter would circle me and offer a variety of cheeses. Or perhaps, a drink from the open bar? A napkin? A kiss on the ass? If one more person approaches me, I'm going to snap!
See, normally, I wouldn't have come, but Misao had wanted me to meet Riu. Apparently meeting him under normal circumstances was impossible. Annoyed, I scanned the crowd for my date (Sano, of course. Like I'd really bring Kenshin!?). He was supposed to be keeping me company, but instead he was at the bar talking to the blonde, blue eyed bartender. She was clearly older than him, but stunning no less. He looked pretty good too, though he had to be the most casual person in attendance. He had on some nice jeans, a white shirt, and his only blazer (that Megumi nearly had to physically harm him to buy). His hair was just as relentless as usual, though he swore he had tried to tame it. Realistically, I couldn't really argue about his hair, mine was up in its normal, tight ponytail. Snotty party or not, I had already gone down the road of trying to make myself more "decent," and I had ended up half naked on Sano's couch with a hang over and a blank memory. It had already been a few days and nothing seemed likely to resurface. Kenshin promised that I hadn't done anything too bad, but judging by the anxious glances I was receiving at school, I was willing to bet that the Jackass had been lying. It made me second-guess my decision to attend the dance with him, but what was done was done. I had tried to get Megumi to tell me more about the rumors, but she was still being frosty toward me. All I really knew was that I had drank too much, tried to go in the pool, slapped Kenshin, and got dragged out of the party. Plus, all these dating rumors kept getting back to me. Somehow, that night had made me semi-popular, or at least "dating" Kenshin had. Now it seemed people were begrudgingly being nicer to me. I wasn't sure I liked the attention, though that had been my aim that night: to stand out. But, I couldn't stand the thought of people liking me for the guy I was "dating." Been there, done that, and it hadn't turned out well. But this is different, this is Kenshin. Still, every time I thought about it, my stomach roiled.
Hence, the reversion to my strict and controlled wardrobe. I did manage to don a black dress for the party, though! Sure it was plain and landed on my legs at mid calf, but who was looking at me anyway? The only indulgence I had were the black Jimmy Choo's I'd stolen from Megumi. They were 3 inches high with a pointed toe and a strap that wrapped around my ankle. Basic, but still nice. I glanced down at the heels and smiled.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!" Misao said, virtually popping out of nowhere.
"Eh, I guess. The atmosphere is nice." I waved my hand at the dancing people and the live band behind them. "So where's Riu? I've been here for an hour and I haven't seen him."
"He's running late," Misao sighed. She glanced off to the other side of the massive tent. I tried to follow her gaze but a broad chest was in my way.
Sano cheerfully balanced a toothpick between his lips as he stated, "I got her number."
"The bartending cougar? I asked you to get me a drink; not her number," I smiled dryly and reached out to grab my soda from his hand. Sano pulled his hand back, forcing me to mutter an irate "please?'
With an obnoxious grin, Sano handed me the drink. I contemplated tossing it at him, but decided that I'd get instantly kicked out if I did. I may be best friends with Misao, but her father wouldn't hesitate to throw me out if I made a scene at one of this elaborate shindigs.
"So what were you ladies talking about?" Sano inquired, sipping on a beer.
"We were wondering why I invited you," I muttered.
"Because you'd be bored without me," Sano slung an arm around my shoulders. I fought back a smile and playfully shrugged his arm off.
"You're here and I'm still bored. Not to the point of tears, but give me a half an hour more of this music."
"Well, we could dance. I'm not sure how to waltz, but I can do a mean electric slide."
"So tempting, and yet, I think I'd rather just stand here and deal with my utter boredom while waiting for Misao's mystery man."
Ever persistent, Sano continued, "Come on Jou-chan, when was the last time—"
"Actually, I was about to drag Kaoru into some girl talk," Misao interrupted. Sano and me instantly turned to her. I'd almost forgotten she was there. She was biting her lip anxiously. "Gotta steal her from you, Sano," Misao said. "Sorry."
Misao grabbed my arm and tugged me away, I glanced back at Sano. He nodded toward the bar, silently telling me if I needed him he'd be chatting it up with Ms. Tall, Blonde, and (obviously) Willing.
Confused, I let Misao pull me to a vacant table in a back corner. The corner was fairly shadowed. There was no one to see or hear us except for the security guard who was standing still as a statue. I gently placed my drink on the table and waited for Misao to start. Misao should have looked bubbly and bright in her breezy yellow dress. But even with her ears glittering with diamond drop earrings, and her face done with simple make up, she seemed upset. Even her hair was done up in an intricate twist. Sitting next to her, I suddenly felt like the ugly stepsister, which wasn't exactly a new feeling, especially since I lived with Megumi. I swallowed my annoyance and looked away from the pretty face that was staring back at me. I hadn't really felt like having a heart to heart, especially since my heart definitely needed a break from everything, but if Misao needed me, I was here. I just hoped that this had nothing to do with Jason's party and all the rumors buzzing around the school. The only silver lining I clung to was the fact that I was a small fish in the highschool pond and everything would blow over soon. I hoped.
"So I've been trying to get you alone for forever, and now that you're at this party, I have you." She began.
I pushed aside my shallow jealousy and leaned closer, "What's wrong? Riu isn't coming?"
"No, he's coming," Misao said, her face confused and annoyed.
"Then what is it?"
"Kaoru, this isn't about me. This is about you!" Misao said exasperatedly.
"Me?! What about me?" I said using my best incredulous facial expression. This was exactly what I didn't want.
"You haven't talked to me these past few weeks. I know you've been avoiding me AND the issue."
"Issue? What issue?! And Misao, we could talk any day of the week if you spent more than 5 minutes away from what's his face! Don't make it seem like I'm the one who's avoiding you!"
Misao huffed and threw her hands in the air, "Well, I'm sorry if I want to spend time with my boyfriend. But if something's wrong, I expect my best friend to come talk to me."
"Nothing is wrong. Who the hell have you been talking to?" A whisper of logic pointed out the obvious, she obviously heard about the party. The thought didn't exactly ease my tension.
"I don't need to talk to anyone to see that you're upset." Misao paused for a moment and looked me in the eyes. I looked away because my annoyance was quickly overriding my patience. Despite her focus on me, a part of me did think that Misao was having problems with Riu. Why hadn't he come? Why had he never made an effort to even meet any of her friends or come to our school for lunch? She may feel like I'm the one being flaky, but could she really ignore that she was hiding things, too?
"Are you jealous of me? Is that it?" I heard Misao say quietly.
It took a few seconds for her statement to penetrate. I tried to push my anger down again, but my mouth snapped open before I could stop it. "Are you serious, Misao? You didn't seriously just ask me that?" I locked my jaw and clenched my fists. Her comment was stupid and out of line and… somewhat right.
"I'm sorry. But ever since I stated dating Riu you've been—"
"Oh jeez, you think I'm jealous of Riu?!" I fought back a laugh and my anger subsided. Sure I was jealous, but of a man? Hell no! Jealous of her luxuriously simple life? Yes. Jealous of how certain she was about everything and everyone? Double yes. But over Riu? Again I say, hell no! I relaxed my hands and slumped a little in my chair.
"Ok, so I'm going to take your reaction as proof that my assumption is off," Misao slumped in a mirror image of me.
"It's very off. When you pulled me over here I thought something worth my attention had happened." I joked
"Ha. Ha." Misao rolled her eyes, "but it could have happened!"
"Oh yeah, in an alternate dimension."
Misao smiled at me, but the smile seemed weak.
"You know what I think," I said suspiciously, "I think there really is something going on with you."
"No. Maybe. I don't know." Misao slumped even further in her chair, looking less lady-like, but much more Misao-like.
"Tell me," I prodded.
"Aoshi came back a week ago and it's driving me crazy," Misao glanced into the opposite corner again. Without Sano annoyingly obstructing my view, I could clearly see Aoshi now. His lean form was standing tall and still. He was in a suit and was standing in the usual bodyguard position with his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes continuously scanning the crowd. Of all the things in Misao's world, he seemed to be the only thing that could throw her off balance. Really, I should have guessed he was the reason behind her odd behavior.
"I thought you were over him," I murmured
"As if that could ever really happen," Misao murmured back.
"Well you have Riu now, so no worries. Right?"
"Right!" Misao said brightly, but there was an obvious strain to it. "Anyway, I also still think something is going on with you."
"Oh, come on!"
"No, I'm serious." Misao straightened and turned to me with her full attention, "I heard all about you getting wasted at Jason's party. It just sucks that none of what I heard came from you. When you stop telling me things, I know something is wrong. I'm not saying you have to tell me everything right now, but tell me something."
My first instinct was to deny, deny, deny. But Misao was right. Something was wrong. I hadn't realized until now that I had been counting on Riu preoccupying her so she that wouldn't notice that I was slowly losing my sanity.
Lying was out of the question; I didn't want to lie to her. Plus I was terrible at lying. Omission was how I got away with things. Straight up lying was never my strong suit. I fidgeted in my seat, trying to think my way out of this. I couldn't tell her everything. I'd have too much to explain and none of it was pleasant. Well, it all starts with my shitty ex-boyfriend that I never told you about… Better to leave the past out of it, I decided. So I thought about what had happened most recently that would be easier to explain… On the basic level, I had started thinking about college, which was stressful. Megumi was driving me up the wall, but that wasn't anything new.
On a personal level, which is the level that Misao was digging at anyway, I was losing what little sense of self I had. Sano had me confused about Megumi and who SHE was… and then there was Kenshin… Kenshin was a big question mark. His face flashed in my mind; bright hair falling over his shoulders, lavender eyes darkening to a deeper shade, lips spread into a smile, strong hands reaching out to me…
I shook my head, but I really felt like hitting it against a wall instead. Over and over again my mind circled back to him. He was just so damn annoying! Which brought me to a new conclusion: I couldn't tell Misao about Kenshin. What was I going to say? That he was irritating me? That wasn't sufficient. I should just keep the idea of Kenshin to myself. Just for now, I reasoned.
"Ok, you look a little agonized. I wasn't trying to torture you," Misao joked lightly, pressing a hand to my arm.
"No, it's just that there's always so much going on in my brain lately. And it all goes back to…" Kenshin. His name lingered in my mouth before I swallowed it back and muttered,"Misao, I'm sorry, I'm just having an identity crisis. I don't know how to explain it." I finished lamely.
"Well, I want to help. That's what best friends are for," Misao said, rubbing her hands together in determination, like we were about to take on some great challenge. I instantly felt like shit for not confiding in her.
"Oi, it's ok. I'll work it out," I said mildly.
"You sound like Sano," Misao frowned.
"Hah, yeah, I guess so. But either way, we're at a party. We should be partying." I said with little to no conviction. At this point, I didn't know what to tell her. Half of what was going on in my head didn't even make sense to me. If I wanted to be fully honest with myself, I'd have to admit that I had no intention of explaining my past to Misao. I mean, even if I wanted to, I wasn't sure I could form the words. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that Misao has never chosen to press the subject, or even worse, just dig for it. But there was just no way I could tell her anything. What would Misao think of me? Ok, ok, lame excuses, but still…
It can never happen.
"How about we pause this talk until later?" Misao asked. I nodded, though I knew that I'd sneak out of the party before that could happen. Me? A coward? Oooh yeah!
To lighten the mood, Misao jumped into teasing me about my outfit and how "old maid" it made me look. Happy to change subjects, I launched straight into a defensive argument. We relaxed into the familiar companionship and soon started to gab about stupid highschool stuff while the older folks enjoyed the dancing, the boozing, and the wonderfully catered food.
After another half an hour of chatting, Misao's father came to fetch her and I went to find Sano. I found him right where he said he would be, and quietly teased him about the bartender. Over dinner we extensively planned his first date with the woman. With a final spoonful of tiramisu, he decided to take her dirt biking, something about wanting to get her dirty. I made gagging noises and tossed a raspberry at him. He easily caught it and popped it into his mouth. It was nice joking around with him. Having had a few minutes of normalcy with Misao and now Sano, I actually felt good. A fleeting thought passed thru my head that I could have at least told Misao that I was going to the dance with Kenshin, but considering I was finally in a good mood, I decided that that could wait. Why focus on that jackass, when I was having a perfectly good time with my friends?
Pretty soon it was 10:30PM and the dining was well over. Sano and I were sitting alone at our designated table. Most people were milling around, having a last drink of coffee before leaving. Riu still hadn't arrived. I searched the tent for Misao. I had wanted to leave earlier to avoid another awkward conversation, but I had hoped to meet Riu first. Though she hadn't said anything bad about him, his absence spoke loud and clear. Something wasn't right. After briefly considering asking Aoshi if he knew where Misao was, I decided to give up and headed back to Sano.
"Do you think he's ever going to come?" I asked Sano as I lazily rested my head on his shoulder.
"Maybe he doesn't exist. The Weasel has been known to lie." He said.
"She'll lie about little things, and it's usually in order to protect someone. She doesn't lie about people existing. Plus, I googled this Riu guy. Trust me, he's real. I couldn't find a picture of him though."
"Look at you turning into a spy. Weasel's family should hire you."
"Oh come on. Her family isn't into spying. They're just a regular detective company. They detect things… like cheating husbands."
"Yeah, sure. A detective company that makes millions. Whatever you say." Sano murmured, eyeing the armed guards.
"Ok, fine so they're shady, but Misao isn't. I'm sure Riu is nice." I could feel the doubt in my voice even as I said it. I fought the disbelieving smirk off of my face but it wouldn't fade.
"Sure." Sano smirked back at me. "Ready to go, Jou-chan?"
I nearly sighed in gratitude, "I thought you would never ask."