A/N: This came to me while thinking about NYC.

Standard disclaimers apply.

095: New Year

"Misao! I'm going to fucking slaughter you for making me do this!" Kaoru screams over the enormous crowd massed in Times Square.

"Oh, come on! We've lived in this city our entire lives and not once have we celebrated New Year's here!"

"That's because real New Yorkers don't!"

"But…"

"No. This whole…congregation is for tourists, which we are not!"

"It'll be exciting! We may even get on TV!"

Kaoru groans. "Why, oh why did I have to draw the short straw…"

"Wait…what?"

Kaoru begins looking around, pretending she didn't say anything. Megumi, Tomoe, and Sayo all drew straws a few days ago to see who would actually accompany Misao to this awful event; the other two could drop out and claim they have family plans.

"I hate my life," Kaoru moans.

"It's an experience! Lighten up!" Misao says cheerfully, patting her friend on the back.

"I'm freezing."

"Stop being a downer," Misao threatens, her smile never faltering.

Kaoru sighs in defeat, knowing that absolutely nothing is going to dampen her friend's mood. Crossing her arms and shivering, she glances at the people around her, cringing at a few of the oh-so-obvious tourists.

"Stop it, Sano! I don't want to be here!" Kaoru hears a voice near her. Good, someone else is sane here. She tries to find the voice, but when she's not looking, she nearly ends up being trampled by someone with the reddest hair she's ever seen.

"Sano! I almost killed someone! Stop pushing me!" the guy yells. He turns his attention to Kaoru, his violet eyes wide. "I'm so sorry. I have the dumbest friend on the planet, and he's been dragging me around the entire night. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I understand; I don't want to be here either."

"Finally! There's a sane person here!"

Kaoru smiles. "My thoughts exactly! Are you from here, too?"

"Yeah. But Sano is from the middle of nowhere, and this is his first time here, so…" he explains, trailing off, as if no other words are necessary.

"Ah. I'm sorry. My stupid friend and I are both from here, but she's just…weird."

"My apologies."

"Kaoru! The ball is dropping in a few minutes!" Misao cries excitedly, gripping Kaoru's arm tightly.

"I know." Kaoru looks to the redhead and rolls her eyes. "Misao, this is…" She realizes with a jolt that she doesn't know this mysterious (and extremely hot) person's name.

"Kenshin," the redhead supplies, holding out a gloved hand. Misao glances at Kaoru, who refuses to meet her eyes, and then grabs Kenshin's hand.

"Hiya! I'm Misao, as Kaoru already informed you. Are you here with anyone?"

Kaoru wonders if there's a sewer opening underneath her so she could jump inside and hide in embarrassment.

"I'm with my rooster-head friend, Sano," Kenshin says.

"Hey! Don't start spreading that nickname here!" Kaoru hears a deep voice exclaim by her left ear.

She's surprised to see a guy over six feet tall with extremely spiky hair glaring at Kenshin.

"You deserve it for making me come to this stupid thing," Kenshin retorts.

"I have an idea! Why don't the rooster-head and I hang out, since we're the only two people who are appreciating this. And you miserable people can hang out!" Misao suggests, pointing a finger in the air.

"We've only just met. Are you sure you want to trust us so quickly?" Kenshin inquires.

"You seem harmless," Misao says dismissively. She reaches out to Sano and grabs his jacket. "Come on, tourist, let me tell you a bit about this great city."

She drags him a safe distance away from Kaoru and Kenshin; they can still see each other in the crowd, but there's no way they can hear each other.

"She's going to talk his ears off, you know," Kaoru says to Kenshin.

He shrugs. "As I said, he deserves it."

"Where do you live?" she inquires.

He looks sheepish for a moment. "Central Park."

Her eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. "Really? I never would've guessed." Judging from his well-worn clothes, he certainly didn't fit that part of Manhattan.

"Good, that's what I was going for."

"I don't live too far from there…but I didn't go to one of those fancy private schools."

"Consider yourself very fortunate."

"One minute!" they hear someone scream by their ears.

Kaoru winces. "I feel like we're going to lose our ears too by the end of tonight."

Kenshin's face is just coming out of its grimace. "Never again."

She nods. "Never again."

People are beginning to count down, and it suddenly hits Kaoru that people normally kiss when the ball drops.

Of course, she wouldn't mind kissing this Kenshin whatever-his-last-name-is, he's certainly attractive enough, but…

He seems to be thinking the same thing because he's blushing a bit (at least she thinks he looks pinker than before; the cold can do that to your face).

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!" everyone choruses, except Kenshin and Kaoru, who continue to stare at each other.

"Why not?" he asks, rather than states.

She shrugs, trying to be casual. "Sure."

"Three! Two! ONE! WOOOOOO!"

The crowd explodes around them, and they learn forward to kiss.

She's not quite sure if it's because the cliché of celebrating New Year's in Times Square is getting to her, or if it's the cheering ringing in her ears, or maybe it's the confetti that's falling along with the snow, but this kiss is better than anything else she's experienced. She's not cold anymore as his mouth moves smoothly moves with hers, his hands holding her waist.

After a minute or so, she feels her phone in her back pocket vibrating. Pulling away, she pulls it out, surprised to see six texts and a few missed calls. Kenshin seems to be looking for his phone, and his violet eyes widen when he finds it.

"You don't think…" he starts.

She opens her phone and the first text she sees is: OMFG I SAW U ON TV WHOS THAT REDHEAD?!?!?!

"We were just on TV…" she says weakly, feeling lightheaded.

He gives a strangled laugh, looking down at his own phone, probably reading a similar text. "So we were…"

Suddenly, the entire situation seems so funny that they both start laughing hysterically, leaning onto each other for support.

She's so glad she played tourist for a day.

A/N: A bit different from the previous one, right?

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