A/N: No more flashbacks! I know it's sad, I rather liked them and I think a few of you liked them as well, but there's not a need for them anymore.

Standard disclaimers apply.

29: Writer's Choice

Kaoru wakes up with her head pounding, worse than any hangover she's ever experienced, and her mouth tasting like rotten cherries. She tries to groan, but no noise comes out of her wrecked throat. It's probably from the screaming.

And then she remembers sobbing so hard that she was actually vomiting and her brother forcing her to take Nyquil because he didn't know what else to do.

She cracks open an eye to her alarm clock, which reads half past seven. She was knocked out for a good ten or so hours.

Ever so slowly, she lifts herself to a sitting position, noting her suitcases by her door, which is wide open. She rubs her eyes and grimaces when she feels her dry, crunchy makeup still all over her face.

She must look a fright.

Taking her time, she stands up, not even bothering with the state of her dress, which will probably have to be dry-cleaned a million times before it's wearable again, to walk to her bathroom to shower. When she's done an hour later, she goes into her suitcase and changes into Kenshin's sweatpants and the band shirt he lent her.

She'll have to return that at some point. Fuck.

She leaves her bedroom and heads to the kitchen, surprised to find Sano already there; glasses perched on his nose as he reads the textbook in front of him.

But like a sixth sense, he feels her presence and glances up. "Hey," he says, plucking off his glasses to rest them on his textbook, "How are you?" he inquires slowly.

She sighs. "Fine. Bad headache," she answers, her voice scratchy. She clears her throat again and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Is that my shirt?" he half-demands.

"No, it's…someone else's."

"You mean you met someone in the hick town who knows them?"

"Yes."

Okay, she's done handling this situation sober.

She heads to the fridge and first pulls out orange juice. Once she takes out champagne, Sano exclaims, "Whoa there, Boozy, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Sano? I want to get fucking trashed," she snaps, going to the cupboards to find a pitcher to mix the drinks in.

"Grandma's death really fucked you up that much?"

She takes the corkscrew and begins twisting. "Among other things," she admits quietly, the bottle making a pop sound when the cork is released. She pours the champagne and orange juice inside the pitcher, making sure it's evenly split.

"Where's Dad?" she asks, searching for a stirrer.

"We moved it to the drawer by the fridge," Sano points out before answering, "Business trip in L.A."

"Did you tell him I was here?"

"No, he hasn't called."

"Oh."

She stirs for a while and once she's done, she climbs onto the counter so she can reach the cupboard that holds all the flutes and wine glasses.

Sano chuckles behind her. "Sometimes I think you're still fourteen when you do shit like that."

She shoots him a half-glare when she climbs down with two flutes.

"Want some?" She doesn't bother waiting for an answer as she pours the contents of the pitcher into the glasses.

She slides the pitcher into the fridge and places his flute in front of him. She holds her glass out. "Cheers."

He eyes her for a second before muttering, "Fuck it," and saying, "Cheers."

"I have something to tell you," Kaoru states after her third glass. She's starting to get tipsy and she's ravenous, ripping apart a bagel as she watches him collapse onto the couch, the perfect picture of laziness and half-drunk.

"What?" he asks, sounding sober enough.

"I never believed in that karma shit until now," Kaoru says, playing with the hem of Kenshin's shirt. "I feel like the first part of my life was just…perfect. And then Mom left and everything just went to fucking hell. I couldn't catch a break."

Sano snorts. "Please." He brings the glass to his lips and downs the rest of it.

Kaoru narrows her eyes at him. "I've never been happy," she tells him, sadly finding it to be true, "Not really. Not for a while. I can't remember the last time when I wasn't…" she trails off, not sure how to finish that sentence. When she wasn't on guard? When she wasn't trying to think one step ahead?

She finishes her glass too.

He frowns. "I find that hard to believe," he says, but it's said with pain; he knows.

"The point is that I'm clearly not meant to have anything good in my life. I've accepted it. I'm fine."

"You just had a major psychological breakdown yesterday. You're not fine."

"I'm surprised you knew that term, Sano. And you're ine-briated."

"Fuck off. I'm serious. You need help or something."

"No, I know what's wrong with me. I was stupid to try to ruin a relationship and I was retarded for giving my virginity to Shishio and I'm incompetent for trying to involve myself in that hick town."

Oh god.

"Time to break out the vodka," she shrills, stumbling to her feet to get to the liquor cabinets, but Sano is took quick and he's on his feet also, gripping her arm tightly.

"What?" he growls.

She shrugs, trying to play it off. "Stupid. Nothing."

"That's not nothing, Kaoru! Are you serious? That…asshole actually –"

"It's not like he raped me or anything."

"He's my age. It's still disgusting."

"You're two years older than me, so what."

"Still gross."

Kaoru rolls her eyes. "Let go of me. We need something stronger."

Sano clenches his jaw. "I can't believe…so that's why you –"

"Sano? Please, shut the fuck up. I can't deal with this right now."

They're in the middle of a staring/glaring contest when the elevator chimes. They whip their heads toward the hallway and then Sano moans, "Fuck, I forgot I invited Sozo to play Wii."

Why does that name –

"Are you joking?" she hisses, "I'm wearing his fucking band shirt. This is just –"

"Hey…oh. Did I come at a bad time?"

They whip their heads again to stare at Sozo, who's standing on the other side of the island, his hands in his tight jeans with his hair shielding an eye, his guitar leaning against his leg. He looks so much hotter in person – Kaoru only got to see him in grainy YouTube videos.

Sozo grins. "Nothing pleases me more than seeing a gorgeous girl in my band's merchandise."

Sano shoots Sozo an unimpressed look.

"I'm getting the vodka," Kaoru states.

"Whoa, going hard, are you?" Sozo asks, eyeing the two empty glasses on the coffee table.

"I haven't gotten black-out drunk since the summer. It's about fucking time," she answers flatly, walking away.

She overhears Sozo say, "Why have you never introduced me to this fine creature? She's incredible."

She grins when she finds one of the giant bottles of Grey Goose. Score.

"S'like…he's a fuckin' giant," Sozo drawls, taking another sip of his screwdriver. "But his bass-playing skills are un-fuckin'-believable."

"I need to see this guy," Sano says, shakily getting to his feet. "I'm gettin' my laptop."

Sozo beams at Kaoru, who's draped on the couch, so very pleasantly buzzed and just on the good side of drunk. "You seem better."

She grins. "Alcohol's a miracle worker."

He laughs. "We're so pathetic – it's Wednesday, for fuck's sake."

She laughs as well. "I should be in school in…Hicksville. Oh, no…"

"Wha?"

"My phone," she whines as Sano comes back in with his laptop.

"Wuddabout it?" Sano asks.

"It's gone. It must've fell out in Kenshin-fucking-Himura's car."

"Who's Kenshin?"

"Nobody. A guy."

Sano grins as he goes onto the Internet. "You liiiiike him, you want to hoooold him…"

"Grow up," she snaps, considering throwing her drink in his face.

"Log in," Sano tells Sozo, the Facebook homepage open before focusing his attention on her. "Wait…you're like…shit, you actually like that guy?"

"I'm not drunk enough to talk about him. And I doubt I will ever be."

"We can find that out," Sano says, taking the bottle of vodka and pouring some more into her makeshift cocktail.

She tips the glass in thanks before taking a generous sip; it's pure vodka.

"Alright, I need to eat," she states, swinging her feet over the couch and walking to the kitchen, not even bothering to try walking straight.

She pulls out some more bagels along with some random things she can find in the pantry and fridge. She dumps it all the table and collapses next to Sozo, her thigh brushing his.

"Look at him," Sozo says, the webpage on some guy's Facebook – Aoshi Shinomori. He looks kind of scary and he's really tall.

"I think he has you beat, Sano," Kaoru murmurs.

Sano gapes. "No fuckin' way. When are you gonna meet him?"

"This weekend. He's comin' with his girlfriend, who's looking at colleges." Sozo gasps, "She's your age!"

She rolls her eyes because while she's kind of drunk, she's not stupid drunk.

"Actually, it's so funny – he's so tall, but she's so short."

"That's kinda creepy," Sano comments.

"Whawuzher name…" Sozo mutters, scrolling down his wall. "Ah! Misao Maki…whatever."

It takes Kaoru three full seconds for that to sink in. "What?" she almost spills her drink as she leans over, her head resting on his shoulder as he clicks on Misao's profile.

She looks exactly the same.

Then she starts laughing, loud and bright. "Holy fucking shit."

"Isn' tha…?"

"Fuck yeah it is," Kaoru laughs, twisting the laptop so it's facing her. "Gotta friend her. The little bitch finally decides to get a Facebook."

"Sign me off first!"

"I've never…drunken…the entire day," Sozo says, dazed and so very drunk.

"Some band person you are," Kaoru counters before giggling. "You know what I always wanted?"

"A new person…pers…fuck. Can't talk."

"Fuck you," she tells Sano, trying to slap him in the head but ends up hitting somewhere around his shoulder. "I always want…someone to write me a song."

"Your very own song?" Sozo asks, trying to bring a chip to his mouth, but keeps missing it. "Like…my gift is my song, this one's for you," he sings, still managing to sound on key.

"Yeah, like, oh my god. Even though he's gay and probs wrote it for a guy…it's like…universal."

Sozo lifts himself up. "I'm gonna play you that song and it's gonna be for you."

Kaoru squeals as Sozo crawls on the floor to drag his guitar back to the couch. It takes him a while to tune, and even when he's done, it's not perfect. He begins to play for half a minute before Kaoru realizes something's off.

"That's 'Tiny Dancer'!" Kaoru bemoans.

"Oh, fuck. Now I can't stop!"

She pouts.

"HOLD ME CLOSER, TINY DANCER!" Sano yells, sounding so terrible that Kaoru and Sozo groan in misery.

"Wow, Sano, I didn't think you could sound any worse."

Kaoru realizes too late that a fourth party has joined them.

"Me-gumi, you came," Sano cries happily before collapsing into a fit of giggling and snorting at his poor sexual joke.

She purses her lips at him before focusing her gaze on Kaoru.

Kaoru hasn't seen her in a long, long time.

"Is it true?" Megumi asks sharply. "Did Shishio really sleep with you last year?"

Kaoru throws her empty glass in Sano's direction, but ends up missing him by a foot, the glass shattering on contact with the floor. "Fuck you, Sano. Fuck you. And your drunking texting."

Megumi's eyes widen. "Oh my god," she mutters, looking dazed. After a few seconds, she snaps out of it and grabs Sano's half-fully glass and downs it one go. "Yumi told me you tried to get him to sleep with you, but…" she shakes her head, pouring pure vodka into the glass. "Now that I really think about it, it just screams bullshit."

Sozo starts playing again, this time it's a song Kaoru doesn't recognize, or is too drunk to use her brain properly.

"I wonder if Yumi knows."

Kaoru looks at Megumi again. "She knows. She has to," she answers in a low voice.

"It's your word against hers and frankly, you weren't my best friend for a million years."

"Maybe that kind of loyalty blinds you," Kaoru points out, wondering how the hell that sounded so sober. "Taking advantage," she adds with a mumble.

Megumi narrows her eyes.

"I still fucking hate you for what you did," Megumi states acidly.

"Yes, it was really fucking shitty of me, but to be perf-ectly fair, I thought you were inv…part of it."

Megumi rolls her eyes. "I hate having serious conversations with drunk people. Part of what?"

"Humiliating me, duh."

"Wait…what?"

Kaoru shakily gets to her feet, making her way to stand in front of Megumi. "Call her and ask."

Megumi laughs through her nose. "I don't think so, Drunkard." But her eyes soften a little. "But it doesn't surprise me that Shishio took advantage of your stupid crush. He was your first, wasn't he?"

"You need to get drunker," Kaoru says, tapping Megumi's glass with a nail.

Megumi sighs. "Fuck it. I have to catch up with all you losers."

"Hey," Sozo garbles, "I've ne'er met you in my life."

"Then Sano's loser enough to make up for my lack of knowledge on you."

Five full seconds pass before Sano exclaims, "Hey! That was an insult, right?"

"Oh yeah, too sober right now."

A/N: I have an obscene amount of fun writing drunk people...

Please review!

MissGoalie