I guess it ends when it ends (I think a couple more chappies, but you never know with them)! Trying to carve out writing time, but it's been a bit more stolen and broken up than I'd like.
Disclaimer: See part 1
That rotten bastard. All that insistence on duty and obligation and then as soon as he gets a little busy he stands her up. She sat there for a full hour in a cold, empty shop worrying and raging in turns. She ate no less than three stale donuts, merely shredding the last one to crumbs out of pure nerves. What if something had happened to him? Then chiding herself for thinking something so ridiculous she had moved herself out of the shop and in the direction of the library. Disaster was always what she thought, ever since her father had gotten into that car accident that took him from her. She remembered how she had raged that day over how careless he was at not letting her and Yahiko know where he was going to be for dinner. Then the call from the hospital had come.
Most of the time when people were late it was because they had forgotten, or gotten too busy, or otherwise had had a competing priority she reminded herself in that calm tone that Megumi coached her in when she was entering a panic spiral. Kaoru could give a wild guess at what level on Enishi Yukishiro's priority list she rated. Somewhere between 'getting the car washed' and 'picking up the dry cleaning' no doubt.
Well the joke was on him because he had been a good enough tutor that she was able to struggle through the problem set without him. It may have taken her much longer than with his help, but she had done it at the library until they closed and kicked her out at six. She had missed Enishi's laptop almost more than the man himself because the convenience was amazing. While she rode the bus back home in the cold dark evening, there was a fleeting thought that it was disappointing to not be able to see him, to have those little moments of triumph when she got him to respond to a non-statistics question, or to watch the magical workings of his mind when he was doing her math problems. In a way, since their association was so prescribed and with an expiration date, it was freeing. If she could sit at a table with Enishi Yukishiro and cooperate then maybe she could also find it in her to finish that degree and get out of her fiscal rut.
He wouldn't have appreciated being symbolic of her overcoming something unpleasant to move on to better things.
Having convinced herself that he was an irresponsible and selfish prick, it was with utter shock when she answered her doorbell on Monday morning at an hour early enough to still see the streetlamps on and Enishi Yukishiro in the flesh was partially slumped in the doorframe. One lens of his glasses looked like it was cracked through the center and his eye darkening behind it said the punch he had received was none too gentle. But it was the blood soaking his dark suit and dripping down his fingers to mar her welcome mat that both shocked and galvanized her.
"Come and sit at the kitchen table. I'll call an ambulance!" Not knowing how or where he was injured, her decision to pull him inside by the vee of his suit vest was probably a bad idea, but he let her. She slammed the door and guided him by the non-bleeding arm to the kitchen. When she realized she was clutching him with white knuckled hands she suddenly let go with a guilty peep.
"Kamiya," he said calmly, repeatedly, as she stormed around him.
"I think I have some first aid supplies in the bathroom, and my phone's in the bedroom so I'll pop over and get it, but don't move too much I don't know what's happened or how much blood you've lost or… are you ok?" Kaoru was in full panic, having tried to go to the bathroom, the bedroom, and back to Enishi in the kitchen all without accomplishing any of her objectives. She had done it again, assumed the worst and here was the living proof he hadn't stood her up on purpose, that he was badly injured. The guilt was consuming her. Memories of her father were consuming her.
"Kaoru!" He had not raised his voice at her since they had started the tutoring, and somehow this shocked her back into the present. "No emergency services. I'm not here for that."
"Not here for that?! You obviously need help!"
"This," he gestured at his bleeding arm that had already left a few crimson drops on her faded light blue linoleum, "is under control for now. I need to know if you still have that phone."
The situation had twisted too many screws in Kaoru's mind, such that this totally broke her thought pattern from hospitals and home remedies. "You're here… for the phone."
He leveled his calm stare at her while she worked through worry, anger, confusion, and confounding old memories. When he noted she wasn't going to be moving to fetch that phone any time soon, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and examined the wound in his arm through the bloody hole in his once expensively tailored robin's egg blue dress shirt. He was right that it wasn't bleeding so freely now that he was stationary. Kaoru watched him tear the sleeve off from the wound site down, depositing the bloody fabric on her kitchen table. That tablecloth was probably toast thanks to his carelessness. It had ugly hand stitched turkeys on its center, and she had always brought it out after Halloween. Now she'd probably have to consign it to the dustbin.
No emergency services. Probably no police as well. And he always paid for everything in crisp cash.
Suddenly chilled in a house she often didn't bother to heat well and far too aware that she was in her pajamas and ratty old yellow robe, Kaoru wondered if she should tell her friends he was here. She should really call someone. "Is anyone looking for you?" Or text.
"Not here."
That was small comfort. "Why me? I'm sure one of your employees has a phone you can borrow."
Enishi noticed how she had gone from hovering mother hen to practically cowering near the kitchen entrance and his slight frown said a lot. "I don't know who I can trust right now. You exist outside of this little problem."
"And your condo?"
"An unknown quantity." Something like annoyance flashed across his face. He pulled broken glasses from his bloodshot eyes and slightly squinted in her direction. "I realize given our… history… you might be disinclined to help me. If that's the case I'll leave."
He had probably been awake all night, and he had definitely been in a fight. He had come to her for help. He said he couldn't trust anyone, and then he had come to her. There was a sinking feeling in her heart, that soft pit that made room for all sorts of misfits since she was a kid and ran at Misao's schoolyard bully with fists flying and earned a friend for life in the smaller girl. The vulnerable were her people. Enishi was about as vulnerable as an injured tiger, but damn it all he had come to find her and how could she turn him away into the unknown by himself?
"I didn't say I wouldn't help you," Kaoru said sharply, reentering the kitchen and retying her shabby robe belt. "I'll get the first aid kit and then I'll make us some eggs. I'll get some clean sheets for the couch, too."
"I just need the phone." Enishi insisted, his mouth quirking up as Kaoru made suggestions for his care as if preparing for a battle.
"You'll get that phone after you've eaten and rested and not before!" She scolded, more shrill than she meant to be but unwilling to give on this point. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was scolding herself as well for being a complete idiot, but she simply couldn't kick him out. "… And showered. I'll go find you some clothes. I don't need you getting blood all over my sheets."
Texting Megumi furiously, Kaoru had tried to convince her friend that she absolutely didn't need to visit today and that perhaps lunch would be better next week. Megumi, knowing Kaoru as well as she did, was having none of it and after threats to come over that moment only relented when Kaoru spilled the beans that she had male company. The amount of amusement at Kaoru's expense in Megumi's texts should have been illegal. Yes, he was over awfully early. No, he hadn't spent the night. No, she wasn't lying. Yes, they would be occupied all day. No, that wasn't a euphemism for something more salacious.
Kaoru was ready to fry up her cell phone instead of the eggs, when Enishi put her out of her digital misery and marched into the kitchen. She wanted to reflexively apologize again for the clothes, but instead they both ignored the poor fit of Yahiko's old soccer jersey and track pants. The shirt was so tight it was like a second skin and the pants were both too tight and too short. Enishi was sporting a fair amount of ankle, and it looked like if he flexed hard enough he might burst a seam but since the fabric was all built to stretch anyway the danger was likely all in her imagination.
"Egg?" She slid an overcooked fried egg on now slightly cold buttered white toast in front of him at the table, and then joined him with her own even colder version of the same breakfast.
Normally her kitchen felt enormous, lonely and cavernous. Every noise seemed to echo, and silence was the enemy. With Enishi here sitting across from her it felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in the room let alone space. Her eyes kept flicking over to his arm, where a bloody stripe was visible on the bandage from her first aid kit he had put on after his shower. She wondered if he needed stitches. She figured he didn't think it important even if she was concerned. By the time she worked up the nerve to say something, she met unblinking blue-green eyes behind cracked glasses and immediately flushed crimson even if she had done nothing to warrant embarrassment.
"It's ok, I know it's bad. You don't have to spare my feelings." She took another bite of her own egg, wishing she hadn't spaced out while texting and cooked the eggs until they reached the consistency of rubber. Typical.
Enishi merely nodded and took a couple more bites, grimacing each time. Kaoru told herself maybe he had a bruised jaw instead of her egg and toast being nearly inedible. That black eye was certainly looking rather vicious.
"Hold on, I think I have something for your eye…" Kaoru stood up too quickly and had to steady herself at the kitchen counter before she grabbed a kitchen towel and a bag of frozen spinach that she had to brush frost from as she unearthed it from the back of the freezer. "You should be icing it, after all. Other than the eye and your arm, is there anything else I should be worried about?"
Pushing the last of the egg aside, Enishi accepted the makeshift ice pack with a sneer even as his words belied his cooperative actions up until now. "It's all superficial. If you'd give me that phone I can go about my business."
Anger cleared the cobwebs of worry and self-consciousness. "Oh sure, so you can stumble around town in bloodstained clothes? Sleep. Once you wake up we'll see if I think you're in good enough shape to leave."
His glare was softened by the spinach blocking half of it. "Most of that blood wasn't mine, if that was your concern."
The shiver was involuntary, but she wasn't conceding and giving up the phone just yet. "Either way I'm no dry cleaner. I have to call in a favor, but I think I can get you some clothes. No promises."
"My clothes are sufficient once they dry."
Kaoru wasn't about to hear any more of this. "Your shirt has one arm missing!"
Enishi seemed to be done with the conversation because he didn't answer her so much as stand up and stride back to the living room where Kaoru had prepped the couch with sheets, blankets, and a pillow. She followed him, not done with what she was pretty sure was an argument she was only partially winning even if he was following orders for now.
Clearly too long in the leg to fully stretch out on Kaoru's couch, Enishi gave a huff of disgust and dropped the bag of frozen spinach to the side. "When I wake up I expect to see that phone, Kamiya."
Kaoru was seething with unsaid words as he dropped his broken glasses next to the spinach, turned his back to her, and appeared to otherwise fall asleep. It was a dismissal, even if she had told him that was the condition he had to meet if he wanted the phone. What an ungrateful bastard! She should have just handed him the phone and kicked him out in the cold in those ridiculous clothes!
By the time she had gone to her own room and changed into some faded jeans and a comfortable old purple sweater that had gone from a teenage favorite to slightly threadbare and nostalgic, Kaoru had already traded more texts with Megumi. Having deleted Sanosuke's number in a fit of pique after the whole car repair incident, she had needed to have someone send his contact information again. Then, having brokered a deal with him (she would buy him a pizza and stop telling all their friends what a terrible mechanic he was) Sano was willing to bring some clothes over.
Naturally, he had questions as to why she needed men's clothing on short notice. Kaoru told him it was none of his business. Sano, unlike Megumi, simply shrugged off her defensiveness and left her alone. There were plenty of reasons Sano and Kaoru had had words with one another in the past, but personality differences aside he did always respect her privacy when she asked him to and she could admire that part of the amateur boxer's approach to life. He was far too laissez faire about just about everything else.
It wasn't long until Kaoru met Sano at the end of her driveway, and accepted a garbage bag tied up with tape that the tall man withdrew from the storage compartment on his motorcycle. In it would be a shirt, a coat, and some pants. From the tilt of her head as she glanced up at Sano's messy helmet hair, Enishi was about as tall so this should be a bit more practical than Yahiko's cast offs from high school.
"You're going to catch a cold riding a motorcycle in winter."
"Hey, missy, it's still fall technically. Besides, it's always good weather for a ride." A blatant lie, but he was devoted to the esthetic of the motorcycle life and his tough guy persona so Kaoru let it slide without an argument to the contrary. Sano looked down the driveway, eyes sliding over the car he couldn't fix and blatantly baited her. "Your boyfriend too bashful to meet me?"
Kaoru tried to step in front of him, even if that was useless given how short she was in comparison. "He's resting. He got, uh, mugged last night and he needs time to recover."
"Raw deal. Don't worry about the clothes, I'll just tell Megs I ruined another pair of jeans. She always digs up more in my size at the thrift shop somehow." Sano hadn't even paused at Kaoru's terrible lie, possibly because she had expressed to him it wasn't his business, but equally possible he didn't really care. Drama wasn't really his thing. "Are you sure I can't come in for a quick glass of water?" Now he was teasing her, wide smile lighting up his eyes and reminding Kaoru why Megumi kept this shiftless bum around. Sano was such an easy person to be around, perfect for her high-strung friend.
Deflection was all Kaoru had left. "Go see Megumi today. I had to break plans with her so I know she's free. Plus you don't look like you're doing anything important."
All Sano did was snort and ruffle her hair as if she were a kid, messing it up while Kaoru protested. He was barely older than her, a couple years at best, but he liked to act like she was his bratty kid sister. Sometimes it was refreshing, but her nerves were too raw from this morning to be able to take Sano with much grace.
"You're just lucky I didn't have anything going on today. Stay safe, missy." Sano plopped his helmet on his head and started up his bike. He was gone in a puff of exhaust and Kaoru wondered if he would really visit Megumi today. Probably, but then he enjoyed his free time on his own as well. Watching Sano and Megumi circle one another was more like being close to two housecats that generally but not necessarily got along in each other's company.
Kaoru watched the bike round the corner and then with a shiver she walked back in, garbage bag of clothes in hand. Enishi appeared to still be asleep, so Kaoru took the bag into her room and ripped it open. Sano had been nice enough to at least pull from whatever his clean pile was, and there was a musty odor to them that she associated with the thrift shop more than Sano's particular brand of body spray so it was likely these had never even been worn by him.
"I assume those are for me."
Startled, Kaoru instinctively grabbed the closest and hardest object and threw it in the direction of the perceived threat. Enishi elegantly dodged her old digital alarm clock and Kaoru flinched as she heard it no doubt shatter in the hallway behind him. She could always use her phone, but the clock had been a nice useful little relic of a simpler time in her life.
"You could knock!" She finished lamely as Enishi gave her a placid stare that somehow also managed to be judgmental.
"You could stand to be a little more aware of your surroundings. I wasn't attempting to frighten you."
Rather than discuss her failings any more than they already had, Kaoru walked over and thrust the wad of clothes at Enishi. He accepted them from her, their hands brushing in the exchange long enough to set fire to Kaoru's blood in a way unlike her previous fight reflex. It was ominous, a sign of something she didn't want to accept right now about herself.
"Get dressed and I'll get you your phone. A deal's a deal, even if I think you need more rest. You still look like hell." A half-truth. He seemed much more alert after a mere hour and a half of sleep, regardless of his still bloodshot eyes. "Well go on, I'm not going to show you where I hid it even if I'm giving it up."
Kaoru waited a few rapid heartbeats after his retreat then she started to dig through her closet. It was a mess of clothes, shoes, bed linens, and other miscellany that she hadn't had a place for when she had come home tired. It would be a nightmare to sort through it at this point for the average person who couldn't see the method in the madness, but among the plush chaos was a plastic wrapped box and she cradled it to her chest in triumph once she located it.
This time, when Enishi silently crept back to her room, she was facing the door so it was less shocking when he addressed her. "I trust you didn't break it in the interim."
All too aware that he could see into her messy bedroom closet, Kaoru squared up her shoulders and owned it. "If the screen is cracked I'm sure you're more than capable of returning it, seeing as you were the one who bought it in the first place." She smiled as sweetly as she could. "Or did you not keep the receipt?"
Aqua eyes rolled behind broken glasses and Enishi held out his hand to accept the phone. Kaoru noticed that while he was wearing clothes that were clearly in Sano's style that there was absolutely nothing careless or casual about the way Enishi held himself in torn jeans and a band tee with bleach spots on it. His posture was still a chiropractor's dream.
Enishi's eyes darted over the phone as he peeled off the plastic and started it up. "I'll stay long enough to charge this, then I'll be leaving." There was a determined glint in his eye that told Kaoru he was plotting something terrible for whoever had caused this situation for him. "I'll forget about how you delayed me. You'll find I repay my debts generously. I incur them rarely enough."
"I didn't do this to be repaid!" Kaoru responded testily to his retreating back.
She was annoyed again. And hungry. It wasn't even lunch time yet, and it didn't take that long to charge a phone. Maybe Megumi would want to have a meal with her after all. She knew that she needed to decompress, even if she couldn't tell anyone the whole story. This situation with Enishi was getting more complicated than she liked, but even free food wouldn't loosen her lips about the real problem.
"I'm so screwed," she whispered to herself as she performed a little experiment and pictured Enishi as he might have looked changing his clothes in the living room, sculpted muscles on display. Still fine. Then she pictured him leaving her home and walking into an unknown fight against a faceless enemy. Slightly dizzy with concern, she forced herself to sit down heavily on her bed. She could ignore simple lust, but this felt like more. There simply wasn't room in this arrangement between her and Yukishiro for more. "... so screwed..."