A/N: Shit's going down.
Standard disclaimers apply.
02: Impulse
Kaoru Kamiya only had sex once. The only two people who knew this were Yumi and Shishio; everyone else assumes she's still a virgin.
Kaoru is strangely calm as she enters her mother's house, her hands steady as she pulls out her suitcases from under her bed, quickly debating which things she can bring and what she can leave behind.
"Uh…Kaoru? What are you doing?" Kenshin asks slowly, deciding to lean against the door and not get in her way, which was a smart choice.
"Packing," she answers, going to her drawers and actually pulling them out so she can dump them into her suitcase.
His eyes are tracking her every move, which annoys her, but she's too busy trying to fit as many of her shoes as she can without overstuffing. Eventually he gets sick of watching her so he closes it for her, leaving her to admire the way the muscles in his forearms flex and strain.
When he passes the train station, she feels a rush of gratitude and something else for him.
"I feel like you're going to have a psychotic breakdown in the middle of a train," he mutters to himself as he merges on the highway.
She knows she should say something snappy back, but her tongue is heavy in her mouth.
She likes that he's going above and beyond the speed limit; her blood is thrumming under her skin and she wants, needs –
"Pull over," she breathes out, her voice a bit raspy from lack of use.
"What? Why? We're only a half hour away –"
"Just do it."
He rolls his eyes and throws on his signal as he merges off the road, putting on his hazard lights before parking the car. "What the hell do y –"
She grabs his face between her hands and pulls him for a bruising kiss. Given that he's the smart boy that he is, he smoothly cradles her face, angling the kiss lower so he's sucking on her bottom lip into her mouth.
It's rough, full of released sexual tension, and just hot; she can definitely get used to this.
She pulls away just a little so she can say, "Sleep with me."
"What?" he breathes, his voice so low and fuck, she didn't know he can sound like that.
"In my apartment. It won't mean anything," she supplies because there's no way in hell she's getting it on in a Honda, even if it is new.
He's licking his way into her mouth again and just when she thinks this is going to happen, that she's going to have sex with him and just erase that horrible first with another one that's a lot more acceptable, their lips suddenly slow down. The kisses are smoother, longer, more languid; it's a pace she's never really experienced before and she doesn't want to stop now that she has, is, now that she knows what really kissing someone feels like.
They break apart and his hand on her face slides away, fingers lingering on her cheek. "It'll mean something," he admits, looking away in a rare moment of insecurity, his heart so clearly visible on his person.
She's breathing heavily and she may be trembling just a little because –
Oh god, it would.
She faces forward, her head falling back into the seat as she stares without focus at the traffic going past them.
"Fuck," she says, breaking the silence.
He takes the car out of park and merges into the highway again.
The silence is so tense that she's afraid to breathe.
He double parks in front of her apartment building, eyeing the structure with undisguised admiration; it is really nice.
She quickly gets out the car and heads to the trunk. He steps outside and is about to help her when she exclaims, "No. No. Stop. I got it. Just…stay in the car."
He ignores her and grabs the suitcases from her grasps. "You'd never be able to get these out," he murmurs as he places them on the sidewalk.
"Great. Thanks. Merci. Now can you just…?"
She tired, embarrassed, and really attracted to him right now and she needs him to go away.
He sighs. "Fine. Je vous en prie." He walks back to the driver's side without looking back.
That's a really formal way of saying your welcome (it's for strangers) and she really hates it; it stings so much more than she wants it to.
After he turns off her block, disappearing from her sight, the doorman is already grabbing her bags.
"Welcome back, Miss Kamiya," he greets and she chokes on her breath.
"J-just have them brought up, would you?" she whispers, not sure if he can even hear her, but she already inside the building and abusing the elevator button.
She's having trouble breathing again and she's not sure if she's having another panic attack, but her nose and eyes are stinging and –
Finally.
The ride to the hope floor is quick and she's bombarded with the inherent smell of home. Her chest constricts painfully as she passes the living room and kitchen to the source of blasting music.
Sano's sitting on his bed, his attention glued to the TV in front of him as he plays a video game; she hates him right now.
She doesn't realize she made the strangest choking noise until Sano's eyes are on her, widening to the point of silver dollars.
"Kaoru? What are you…? Are you crying?"
She brings a hand to her face, drawing it away to see oh, yeah, tears. They're stained black and she can feel them on her cheeks as she brings her hands to her hair, collapsing to the floor as she just sobs. They sound frightening, like out of a horror film, and they involve her entire body as she crumbles into herself.
Sano jumps off his bed and has his arms wrapped around her by the time something in his game explodes and states, "Game Over."
Game. Over.
Kaoru would give anything to erase that, everything.
A/N: We're getting close to the end, guys!
Please review!
MissGoalie