Chapter 4- Ring and Kiss???
*ding dong ding dong*
"Hey Jou-chan. Wh… why don't you get it?" Sano stuttered while tugging on Kaoru like a little kid.
"Baka." Kaoru murmured. "Don't you know that the only person I'm gonna be kissing is Kenshin?!"
Kenshin started to blush. He only looked like he was blushing but inside he was jumping for joy. At that same moment he felt like his hand was reaching out to touch Kaoru's cheek. Well, actually his hand was about to reach out to hold Kaoru's head and he would give her the best kiss he could. Unfortuantely…
*ding dong ding dong*
"Ohh… what a spoiler. Just when everything was getting hot de gozaru yo." Kenshin started to mumble trying to cast a cold glare at the door. But before he could turn into Battousai, Yahiko ran into the room all of a sudden. Naomi shortly followed. She went straight to the door.
*ding dong ding dong*
"Hey Naomi!" Yelled Yahiko.
"What is it?!" Naomi yelled back.
"Where did you say it was?!"
"On the table near the shelf!" Naomi faced the door again.
"Do you really think she's gonna open it?" Kaoru whispered to Kenshin.
As Naomi opened the door, Yahiko came running in and accidentally pushed her. This time, Naomi was able to keep her balance and did not fall. Instead, she just took three small steps forward because she was left quite unstable. She looked back to see if Yahiko was still there, so that she could scold him.
"Next time watch where you're going. Okay Yahiko?" Called Naomi as Yahiko ran back into his room.
"Sure!" Yahiko waved back.
"Well… she opened it. Only thing is she didn't kiss the visitor…" Kenshin said to Kaoru.
"HEY! That's Kenshin's voice!" Megumi pushed Hiko, who was infront of her, and made her way through the door. The tall forty-two year old man fell down because of the sudden push. What a push It didn't take long for Kaoru and Megumi to start fighting for Kenshin. The two kept yanking him everywhere like a rag doll.
"Maa maa Kaoru-dono, Megumi-dono. Please stop. Look, Naomi seems to be missing de gozaru yo." Kenshin had his spiral eyes on because of the continuous pulling.
"Ugh… Don't worry Kenshin. That girl is probably somewhere right now… Ugh! Let go!" Megumi kept pulling harder and harder. But Kaoru was not willing to let go.
"Hmm… Naomi answered the door, right? So that probably means that… Ahah!" Sano's eyes widened. He put on his mischievous smile once again and faced Kenshin and the two girls. "That means… she's on the floor!"
Kaoru and Megumi stopped pulling and looked at Sano with the "baka-no-baka" face. Since the two girls were not paying attention, Kenshin managed to struggle free. He peered down from the couch and to his surprise found Naomi and his, ever mean, shisho on the floor.
"OH MY LAUNDRY!!! Shisho!" Kenshin started to turn red. His eyes bugged out and he had one big sweat drop on his head. The others peered down as well and had the same reaction.
"Damn! I guess you are suppose to do that if you open the door, huh? Well…" Sano shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that's what you get for living in such a messed up time."
"Hey Hiko! When are you gonna get off of her?" Kaoru asked, still shocked.
"Anytime soon would be nice. Just the sight of older men and much younger women together makes me sick." Megumi turned away with her hand covering her eyes.
Naomi's face was red now. Hiko was not really blushing because he found himself pretty lucky for doing this. "After all, all the younger guys probably get to do this all the time. It has been a while since I got to kiss someone." Hiko thought. After a few minutes of enjoying his position on the floor, he got off of Naomi. Before he could apologize to her, about his misbehavior, a sort of squeaky voice was heard in the hallway of the building. Along came a jumpy, hyper, average height, girl and a tall, serious and expressionless-faced man.
"Aoshi-sama! Aoshi-sama! Look! This place is so cool!"
"…"
"Come on Aoshi-sama! Let's go get a room for the two of us to stay in. Okay?"
"…"
When Sano peeped outside, he saw Misao pulling Aoshi's gi continuously in the hallway.
"Hey weasel woman! What a surprise finding you here." Sano popped his head back inside to tell the others. "Hey, minna! Weasel woman and Shinomori are here."
He popped his head back outside again. But when he took a look outside, Misao was right in front of him. She had a very creepy look on her face and there were veins sticking out all over her forehead. When she raised her fist, to hit Sano, more veins showed on her hand. Sano gave his best smile to calm her down. Unfortunately, she was really pissed off. And so Misao tortured and clobered, and tickled and did all the most horrible things to Sano. Kaoru rushed to the scene to hold Misao back while Megumi rushed to Sano to tend to his wounds. Well, actually she walked really slow, not really caring a thing about Sano. When she finally got there, she took out some bandages and started wrapping.
"Ouch! Hey fox lady! Cut it out! Can't you see that you're making it worse?!" Sano yelled.
Megumi got irritated and started wrapping the bandages harder. Sano started wailing in agony. It didn't take a very long time for Megumi to mummify Sano completely, leaving no unwrapped place except the nose.
"That'll teach you to be quiet. Ohohoho." Megumi said as she started to laugh with her fox ears on top of her head.
While Misao was still trying to struggle loose from Kaoru, Megumi was still laughing, all the other people were just making a fuss. And as for Hiko and Naomi, they were just standing in the corner. They didn't say much and were just exchanging glances instead of talking. Naomi was pretty much embarrassed because of the whole kissing thing and so she bowed her head in embarrassment.
"I uhhh… umm…" Naomi stuttered as her eyes looked up to see Hiko.
"I am very sorry for falling on you." Hiko started in a straight face. "But I also had the pleasure of doing it for you. I just hope we can share that moment again sometime."
Naomi turned super red and looked down at the floor again.
"Just tell me whenever you wish to do so." Hiko gave a bow and then went to join the others.
Naomi's embarrassment tuned into a surprised look. "Hmm… how come… why do these people look so familiar and yet… I've never met them in my whole life? Hmm… well anyway, I should at least be a good host." Naomi smiled and walked towards the crowd in the hallway.
"You make me sick! Do you know that, Hiko?" Megumi pointed at Hiko as she started scolding him.
Hiko smirked at her. "Well, almost everyone can make a fox sick."
"Ohh… why I would…" Megumi started to grind her teeth as she took out some bandages from her medical box. Before she could do anything to Hiko, Kenshin went in between the two.
"Maa maa, Megumi-dono. Shisho was only kidding de gozaru yo. Please calm down."
"Calm down?! You want me to calm down, Kenshin?! Well, this is how I'll calm down. I'll hang him with this!" Megumi readied her bandages and headed towards Hiko, shoving Kenshin aside.
"Go right ahead, fox lady. Come on. Bring it on." Hiko smirked once more and held his sword.
Before anything else happened, Naomi stood in the way of the fight to call them all in.
"Sorry for interrupting again but I would like to call all of you in for some tea. Please. This way."
All of them followed Naomi. They took their seats in the couch while Naomi brought out some tea. She then went away to prepare some more room materials. Shortly, Yahiko came out with a towel hanging from his shoulders and his hair all wet.
"Hey! What? Megumi? Hiko? Misao and Aoshi? How the heck did you guys get here?" Yahiko walked to a pillow, on the floor, and sat on it.
"By air, baka. What else did you think?" Hiko muttered with his arms crossed. All of a sudden, a wet towel came flying through the air. He dodged it by just moving his head slightly to the side. "My my. Aren't we hot headed today."
"I'M NOT A BAKA AND I'M NOT HOT HEADED!!!" Yahiko yelled.
"Ya sure… baka." Hiko grinned.
"WHAT?!" Yahiko's eyes reddened as veins popped up everywhere.
Kenshin put one hand on Yahiko's head to calm him down.
"Maa maa de gozaru ka. Please. This isn't our dojo. That is why we must not mess it up de gozaru yo."
Hiko smirked as a sign of approval while Yahiko just cooled himself down.
"Since Yahiko's done, I'm going to head to the showers." Sano stood up with a smile of mischief and headed to his room. But before he could enter, Naomi came out with a bunch of towels, blankets, bed covers, slippers and mattresses. "Huh? Oh, here let me help you with those." Sano walked towards Naomi.
Naomi shook her head. "No. It's okay. I'm fine with all this stuff. I'm use to carrying a lot."
"I see."
"Oh! By the was, I haven't introduced myself to everyone here yet." Naomi gave a short, low bow. "My name is Sekitsu, Naomi. Most people call me Naomi. But my close friends and relatives call me Ni-chan." She quickly fixed the blanket on her arm. "It is very nice to meet you all."
The Kenshin-gumi, along with Megumi, Misao, Aoshi and Hiko, stood up and followed the way Naomi presented herself.
"Okay. I shall now tell all of you the sleeping arrangement. Kenshin, Yahiko, Sano, Aoshi and Hiko will sleep in that room." Naomi pointed to the room where Kenshin, Yahiko and Sano were staying. "And Kaoru, Megumi and Misao will sleep in my room." She took a few steps towards the men's room. "I thnk it is best if all of you go to your rooms now. All of you should get ready for supper, too. Don't mind me. I'm just going to fix the rooms." She made her way into the room, where the guys were going to sleep, and started fixing mattresses and towels. After a short while, she retired into her own room. There, she fixed the mattresses and towels as well. She then came out of the room and disappeared into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
All of them did as they were told and went into their rooms. Each of them took a bath while some of them got their clothes ready. As soon as they all finished, Naomi called them all into the dinning room. They all came in a hurry and in not time were seated and eating.
"Woohoo!!! So much food!!! This is what I've been waiting for!" Sano yelled in excitement.
"For once I have to agree with you Sanosuke." Megumi said as she ate and drank.
Yahiko stuffed his face with food, food, food and more food.
"If you ever want more I can always bring out more." Naomi smiled.
"I don't think that will be necessary. There is a lot of food here on the table already de gozaru yo." Kenshin said in his sheepish voice.
"By the way Naomi." Kaoru placed more food into her bowl.
"Huh?" Naomi turned her head to face Kaoru.
"Why is there an extra plate beside you? Are you expecting anyone?"
"Ano… yes." She said with a happy smile on her face. "As a matter of fact, I am expecting someone to visit me. It has been a while since I last saw him."
"Did we come on a bad day? We're sorry. We can leave you two alone once he arrives."
"No no. It was me who invited all of you to stay. So that's why it doesn't bother me if you stay here when he arrives."
"Oh… well then, let's have as much fun now! Okay?!" Kaoru gobbled down the rest of her food in her bowl and filled it up again.
All of them were eating and talking a lot. They were truly having a great time. In spite of all the loud noises they were making, Naomi was still able to hear the door bell.
*ding dong ding dong*
Outside the door…
"Even if you have all those fans, you will never get yourself a girl who you would really love. And that's not your only problem. No matter how many times those fans of yours kiss you… not to mention where they kiss you… you will never have a kiss you would ever enjoy." Saito pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He inhaled a bit and blew out a puff of smoke.
Soujiro looked at him with doubt. "Then I'll make a bet with you Hajime, Saito. I'll kiss whoever answers this door. If I like her during our stay, I'll ask her to be my girl friend." He smiled a smile of victory.
"Sure. And if you are able to do all those things, including her becoming your girl friend, I'll give you 1,000 Yen." Saito said as he blew out another puff of smoke.
"Very well. And if she doesn't become my girlfriend I'll give you 1,000 Yen as well." Soujiro answered back.
"You're on." Saito showed a grin on his face.
"Ummm… excuse me." Tsubome said bowing her head. "But how are you so sure a woman is going to answer the door?"
Saito bent down a little until his face was as low as Tsubome's. "Well Tsubome, that means that Soujiro here will just have to become gay."
"Is that normal?" Tsubome gave a confused look.
The door knob gave a small twist.
"All right Soujiro, Setta. Better get ready with your lops." Saito gave one last puff of smoke and finally extinguished his cigarette.
"If it's a freaking guy then I'd rather pay you 1,000 Yen." Soujiro muttered under his breath.
The door opened and Naomi was the one who answered it. Soujiro quickly grabbed her, wrapping his right arm on her waist and placing his left hand at the back of her head. He then gave Naomi a kiss. Naomi turned bright red all over again. Soujiro didn't let go of her until sometime. Naomi wasn't able to pull away because she was frozen with shock.
Soujiro then, gave Naomi a quick bow and a happy greeting. "Konban wa." Soujiro smiled said with a smile on his face.