Disclaimer: *holding up a sign that reads: I DON'T OWN NOTHING* Ooooh, bad grammar.
Notes: Aaaaaahhhhhh… another chapter. Not much to say this time. *Really bad, fake southern accent* Ah hope y'all lahke it. *chokegag*
Warnings: Ummm… nothing really. No real shonen ai. Innuendos and insinuations, but nothing above and beyond the realm of friendship. Okita holding a hair brush. Yeah.
Life's a Dance
Prom was coming up, and soon after, the school would be preparing for graduation. But before both, there was still Fine Arts night. It was a big event for Central High, and many upstanding members of the surrounding communities attended it each year. Artwork done by students from the school would be displayed in the main hall, while the bands and choirs sang in the gym, the concert starting at seven-thirty.
"I don't see why we have to go to this stupid thing," Sano grumbled, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his dress slacks. He looked good, dressed in black slacks and a tan sports coat. Granted, the white tee shirt was not very classy, but as long as he kept the jacket on, he looked fine. Still muttering under his breath, he picked up his soda can and threw back a deep swallow. "And what's taking them so long?"
Aoshi smirked and shrugged, glancing back to Misao, who was keeping up a steady flow of chatter. They made a cute couple. Aoshi was dressed in khakis and a black, button-up shirt, complete with a tie. To his chagrin, Misao had given him the tie as a gift, and he was obligated to wear it. He did find the Warner Brothers characters amusing, though. Misao wore a cute, yellow dress. The shoulder straps tied together to hold up the dress, fitted, and with an kicky swing to the skirt.
On the other side of Sano, Kaoru stood, wearing a plain black dress with a sexy slit, clean up to her thigh. She looked good, even with the way she clutched her purse to her chest, uncomfortable with how low the dress was cut. Sano grinned, recalling who else he had seen wearing that dress.
"Hey, Jou-chan," his grin broadened at Kaoru's irritated glance. "You look good."
She smiled, relaxing a bit.
"You think so?"
"Sure," Sano nodded. "Although..." her eyes darkened. "I still think Kenshin looked better in that dress."
"Sano, you jerk!" Kaoru shoved her elbow into his side, making the older boy double over, gasping for air. Kaoru stuck her nose up in the air, sniffing indignantly. "Serves you right."
"Ah, Kaoru!" Okita appeared in the kitchen door. "What are you doing to your date?"
"Sanosuke is not my date!"
"Sano pointed out to Kaoru that the dress she is wearing now looked better on Kenshin," Aoshi explained.
Kenshin walked up behind Okita and peered over the other boy's shoulder at the scene. He smiled and shook his head.
"I disagree," he blushed when Hiko gave him a knowing glance. "That dress seems to fit Kaoru much better. Hiko, not a word."
"I didn't say anything," the immense man stood over him, studying him calmly. "You look good, squirt."
"Thanks," Kenshin screwed his face into a pained expression. "But next time, I'll find someone else to help me. Okita nearly pulled out half of my hair."
"It's not my fault!" Okita protested, admiring his handiwork. Kenshin's hair was half back, the rest hanging down his back loosely. "Your hair is just so soft that it fell out of my hands whenever I tried to pick up the elastic. No wonder you never bother to do anything with it."
"What?" Sano recovered enough to speak again. "No suit? That's hardly fair."
"If you had the opportunity to see what this child looks like in a suit, then you would understand," Hiko muttered.
"For a guy to look so good in a dress is a sin," Okita smirked. "It makes sense you can't wear suits."
"This coming from the one who styled my hair," Kenshin rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with my clothes."
And indeed, he did look nice in black pants and a Chinese-style, deep purple and blue shirt, buttoned up to the top and snug around his neck. With his hair--tangle free for once--spilling about his shoulders like the silk that made the shirt, he could have passed for a very short super model.
"Let's get going," Okita held out his arm to Kenshin, grinning when Kenshin rolled his eyes and slipped his hand around the crook of Okita's elbow. Turning his smile on the group, he nodded toward the door. "Now that we all have our pretty dates, we can be on our way."
Kenshin leaned over and whispered into Okita's ear, making the other boy turn bright red. Blinking in astonishment, Okita glanced down at Kenshin.
"That was obscene, Himura!" he gaped at the other senior, receiving a sweet smile in response.
"What did he say?" Kaoru wondered, following with a solid grip around Sano's wrist.
"I don't want to repeat it." Okita was an interesting shade of pink by this point, Kenshin laughing softly beside him.
"If Okita is embarrassed by it, it must be bad," Aoshi shook his head, taking up the end with Misao hanging on his arm.
"Way to go, Kenshin!" Misao giggled. "I don't think I've ever seen Okita that red!"
"I still want to know what he said!" Kaoru whined.
"No, you don't," Okita coughed uncomfortably. Next to him, Kenshin was nearly falling over, laughing so hard that the others could not help but laugh along. Okita looked like he was about to pass out. They continued to the van. Aoshi and Kaoru's father waited for the group to clamber inside, then took them to the school.
^_^
Fitz notes: Actually, I never came up with anything for Kenshin to have said. I leave it up to the reader's imagination to fill in that particular space. My apologies.
^_^
Misao, Kaoru, and Kenshin sang with the choir that night, promptly at seven-thirty. After they were done, they sat in the bleachers and listened to the band. The three choir altos--Kenshin's high voice relegating him to the section usually reserved for girls--sat together and searched for their friends.
"There's Sano," Kaoru pointed in the direction of the bleachers across the gym.
Kenshin and Misao followed her gaze and quickly spotted the lanky senior. Misao lifted her arm and waved frantically at the boy, even as the choir director glared at her in disapproval. Kenshin and Kaoru caught the girl, pulling her back to her seat when she attempted to stand.
"He's watching the band, Misao," Kaoru giggled at her friend's antics. "See? There's my brother--"
"Where?!"
"In the trumpet section, dummy," Kaoru rolled her eyes and pointed. "With the other trumpet players."
"And there's Okita," Kenshin added. "I never knew he played the flute."
"Can you blame the guy for hiding it?" Misao murmured, still swooning over her Aoshi. "He's the only boy in the section."
"The only boy, and he's got a solo on the piccolo, according to the program," Kenshin smiled. "Aoshi has a solo as well."
"He had better blow us away with that solo," Kaoru added, halfhearted irritation in her voice. "With how much I've had to hear it at home these past few weeks."
The band started playing, and they stopped talking to listen. Misao's eyes were riveted on Aoshi, and if anyone took the time to study her, they might imagine they saw little hearts floating around her. Kaoru blocked out the music, having heard it enough times that she felt she had it memorized. She glanced around, taking in the mixture of bored, amused, and chatting choir students in their section of the bleachers. Nothing interesting was happening. Sitting directly in front of her, Kenshin was half-listening to another student, nodding absently at her comments. Kaoru glanced at the girl--who she recognized as Tae--and frowned at the look she had on her face. Kenshin seemed oblivious to those amorous glances, and he did not even seem to notice the way the girl played with the ends of his hair.
Then, something interesting happened--at least, in Kaoru's humble opinion, it was interesting. Tae leaned over and said something into Kenshin's ear. He startled visibly, a slight tinge of pink on his face as he turned his head to look at Tae. She smiled, not pulling away as that shift left them with their faces only inches apart. Blushing deeply by this point, Kenshin quickly turned to face forward. Kaoru tried not to giggle at the crestfallen expression on Tae's face. After all, she like the girl--she was very nice--but if she had just asked Kenshin what Kaoru thought she asked Kenshin, then it was just as well that she was rejected.
Kaoru clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the shriek that escaped her when something grabbed her choir robe. She had never even seen Kenshin move, let alone notice that he had turned partway and reached back to catch hold of the excessive fabric of her robe.
"Kenshin!" Kaoru hissed, leaning forward to meet him halfway as he nearly stood, eyes still focused on some point in the gym. "You scared me!"
"She's here!" Kenshin replied, ignoring Kaoru's complaints completely. "Kaoru, I can see her, in the crowd!"
"What?" Kaoru tried to follow his gaze, but she did not know what she was looking for. "Who?"
"She--she's talking to the principal!" he was half turned by this point, trying to keep his eyes on the object of his excitement and still talk to Kaoru. He calmed a bit, a puzzled expression crossing his features. "Why would she do that?"
"I can't imagine anyone wanting to talk to Mr. Saitou," Kaoru agreed.
"Not that!" Kenshin's fingers clenched in Kaoru's robe in frustration, pulling her forward and making her yip in surprise.
"Kenshin! You're wrinkling my choir robe!" she complained.
"Nothing that woman ever does is without reason," Kenshin spared an instant to glance back at Kaoru, releasing her as an afterthought. "I doubt she's talking with Principal Saitou just to be sociable."
"Wow," Misao finally broke away from watching Aoshi to see who Kenshin was talking about. "She's beautiful. Who's that?"
"Yes, Kenshin," Kaoru added. "Who is that woman?"
The band stopped playing. Applause thundered through the gymnasium, blocking out Kenshin's response. He stood--much to the choir director's dismay--in attempt to get a better look at the woman and their school principal. Unfortunately, he set off a chain reaction. Students and parents stood around him, still clapping.
"No!" Kenshin's shout was drowned out by the cheers.
He had unwittingly blocked his own view by starting a standing ovation. His curses were swallowed up by the noise around him, although Tae looked at him oddly, thinking she had just heard him say, "Bucking hill!"
"Kenshin, move!" Misao got hold of his robe and shoved him forward. "We're singing with the band now, remember?"
"But--"
"You can go talk to the lady after the concert!" Kaoru insisted as well, helping Misao drag the protesting boy along. He twisted, and suddenly there was no resistance. Kaoru and Misao stared dumbly at the choir robe they held between them.
"I can't believe he just did that!" Misao blurted.
"Kenshin just--" Kaoru still could not comprehend what the senior had done.
"Slipped out of the choir robe," Misao glared into the crowd, but Kenshin had disappeared. "I hope Ms. Sayo penalizes him for skipping the concert."
"Misao!"
"Well, why should we have to sing at this stinking place while Kenshin gets to run off after some pretty girl?" Misao whined.
"It must be important, or Kenshin wouldn't have run off like that," Kaoru insisted. "He's not like that."
"I know!" Misao glared halfheartedly at the empty space between Tae and some other girl whose name she did not even know. The two girls moved together, hiding the space, and the concert began.
^_^
Twenty minutes later, Kaoru and Misao met up with Sano, and the three were in the process of locating Kenshin, Aoshi, and Okita. They had thought they would find Aoshi and Okita together, but this was not the case. Aoshi stood alone outside the band room door, arms crossed casually, waiting for the others to find him. He lifted his head when Misao appeared in his line of sight, nodding once.
"Okita went with Hiko to take Kenshin home," he announced without preamble.
"Wh-what?!" Kaoru stammered. "Why? They were supposed to go out to have ice cream with us."
"Kenshin can't even eat ice cr--"
"I know that!" Kaoru interrupted her brother angrily. "Why did they leave?!"
"Because Hiko was concerned that Kenshin was going to have a psychotic episode," Aoshi shrugged. "Kenshin was a bit... excited when I saw him."
"Kaoru and Misao mentioned a girl," Sano frowned.
"I have certainly never heard of this woman," Aoshi shrugged. He tapped his forehead thoughtfully. "It was a... Terri?... Tammie?"
"Tomoe?" Sano offered.
"That was it," Aoshi spread his hands helplessly. "Hiko would hear nothing of it. He quite literally picked Kenshin up and carried him out of here. Okita was worried and followed. As he has not returned, I assume he went with them."
The four looked at each other, silently trying to decide what to do. Finally, Kaoru opened her mouth again.
"We could go to Kenshin's--"
"No," Sano interrupted, even as Aoshi shook his head a murmured a quiet, "Bad idea."
"Why not?" Misao asked as Kaoru tried to recover her voice.
"Just leave Kenshin be for now," Aoshi pushed away from the wall and gestured down the hall, rapidly emptying of students and parents. "Hiko knows what he's doing."
"Let's go get that ice cream," Sano suggested, sauntering after Aoshi.
"Without Okita and Kenshin?" Kaoru asked plaintively.
"Would you want everyone to drop everything to go home and be miserable just because you got sick?" Aoshi replied calmly.
"Well..." yes. "No, I guess."
"Jou-chan's selfish that way, Aoshi," Sano slung an arm around the girl's shoulders and grinned at her dejected expression. "You should know that."
"Just trying to make her put things into perspective," Aoshi replied unflappably.
"Jerk," Kaoru sniffed.
"Come on, Kaoru," Misao hooked her arm through Kaoru's and offered her brightest grin. "Let's go get some ice cream. I'm in the mood for a good binge."
Kaoru laughed, despite herself. She nodded in agreement, and they left the school.
^_^
Kenshin's room, Okita decided, was about as boring as they came. On one, white wall was the bed, full-sized and neatly made. The comforter was plain blue, hiding white sheets. Against the next wall was a simple, utilitarian desk with a rather beat-up wooden chair beneath it. It was free of clutter but for a little desk lamp and a pencil that had been left carelessly on its surface. Beside the desk was Kenshin's backpack--neatly packed for the next day. On the third wall was a tall bureau, drawers tightly closed so that no one could see their contents. Atop the plain surface of the dresser was a plain, five-by-seven picture frame. In it, a photograph of Kenshin and Hiko, obviously very old if the little redheaded kid sitting on one of Hiko's broad shoulders was any indication. Hiko had his trademark smirk while Kenshin had an expression of thrilled terror on his little face. Finally the last wall contained the door and a closet. The closet doors were closed, but Okita had seen inside of them before, and he knew the inside was just as neat as the rest of the room.
There were no posters on the walls. No family pictures but for the one on the dresser. There was not so much as a stuffed animal on the bed. The room struck Okita as something out of a prison film--but for that dresser. All he needed was a toilet in the corner, and he would be set.
"You know what you need, Himura?" Okita asked abruptly, filling the silence that had hung in the room for well over twenty minutes.
Kenshin did not even open his eyes. He was laying on his side on the bed, still dressed in his nice clothes, hair spilling out around him crazily. Okita lounged beside him, one hand in his lap while the other rested on Kenshin's head--a constant reminder that the boy was not alone in the room. The dark-haired boy glanced down at Kenshin, not really expecting a response and not for a minute believing that Kenshin was asleep.
"A poster," Okita concluded. "Maybe one of those movie posters, you know? Those things that look like they're better suited to being outside a theater. Star Wars, maybe. Everyone likes Star Wars."
Kenshin opened his eyes, hazy and bloodshot with the combination of exhaustion and crying. Taking this as an invitation to continue, Okita smiled and tilted his head back to rest against the headboard, staring unseeing at the ceiling.
"I used to have one of those The Little Mermaid posters in my room," he declared. He glanced down at Kenshin again, pleased at the smile he saw on the other boy's face. "I thought Ariel was hot. And the seagull... what was his name? Scuttles. Yeah. He was cool."
Breathy chuckling and the slight movements of the head beneath Okita's hand made him look down. Kenshin did not seem particularly inclined to move, but he was smiling slightly--laughing a little. Okita grinned.
"I've got a thing for redheads, you know," he patted the boy's head lightly. "Ariel, you..."
"Lucille Ball?" Kenshin murmured.
"Ugh!" Okita cringed. "Okay, not all redheads. Geez, Himura. Lucy?!"
"I couldn't think of any other famous people with red hair," Kenshin replied softly.
Sighing heavily, Okita sank down on the bed, shouldering his way into the thick pillow behind him. His black pants and white, Oxford shirt were wrinkled, his tie loose around his neck. The shift made it awkward to have his hand on Kenshin's head anymore, so he stretched his arm out over the boy.
"C'mere," he ordered.
Not protesting, Kenshin let Okita pull him up, and he relaxed into the only-slightly-taller boy's embrace. Resting his head on Okita's collar, he closed his eyes wearily.
"Tell me about her, Himura," Okita suggested abruptly.
There was a heartbeat's period of silence, thick and uncertain, that hung between them. Kenshin sighed.
"What do you want to know?" he asked quietly.
"Whatever you feel comfortable talking about," Okita tilted his head to rest his cheek against the top of Kenshin's head. "How'd you meet her? What's she like?"
For a long time, Kenshin was quiet, considering the questions. Then, he nodded against Okita's shoulder and smiled, almost fondly.
"Well... I
couldn't tell you how I met her," he said softly. "All I remember in that
respect is that one minute I was in the bunker--don't ask," he cut off Okita's
questioning quickly. "That's one avenue that I don't want to go down."
"That's your right," Okita
returned mildly.
"Thank you," Kenshin settled back down. "Um... right, I was in the bunker, and when I looked again, I was um... handcuffed to a small cot in a room I'd never seen before, my head feeling like I'd been hit by a truck." He paused, opening his eyes to stare dully at Okita's tie, inches from his nose. He lifted his hand to brush it away. "The headache, I was told, was one of the side-effects of chloroform."
Knowing better than to comment on that, Okita just shifted so that he was hugging Kenshin with both of his arms rather than just the one. Kenshin smiled faintly at the gesture and did not comment.
"Well... I didn't like the handcuffs, but as I was also locked in a room without windows, I didn't immediately attempt an escape," he continued, following the events impassively, as if he had not been frightened when he had woken in a strange place, had not been angry over his predicament. "She came that night, while I was sleeping, and I threatened her with grave bodily harm."
"How could you do that if you were...?" Okita trailed off, curious about this.
"One of my hands was free," Kenshin shrugged awkwardly. "As soon as she touched me... I had her on her back on the bed, my fingers cutting off the blood supply to her brain. She's really not that much bigger than I am."
"Sano said she was a good five or six inches taller than you," Okita murmured.
"She also had on spike heels," Kenshin sighed. "She always wears those. In the middle of a war zone, and she wears four-inch heels."
"Amazing that she didn't twist an ankle."
"And she could run in them as good as anything," Kenshin chuckled softly. "But you're making me sidetrack."
"Sorry."
"She looked so shocked..." violet eyes went unfocussed as Kenshin recalled the next events. "She honestly had not thought I would fight her. We talked a bit... ah... I asked a bunch of brief questions, and she answered them. It's not all that clear, but I know I let her go. She told me that the handcuffs were there because the door to the room I was in didn't lock."
"There's a kick in the butt for you."
"Ironic, I know," Kenshin smiled. He looked up to Okita, not seeing much more than the line of the other boy's jaw. He sighed and dropped his gaze again. "I won't go into the details. They're long, boring, and bring forth a slew of memories I don't really care to deal with right now..." he cleared his throat. "Tomoe... she was beautiful. I was barely fifteen when I met her. She was almost twenty. Needless to say, she considered me little more than a child--a very dangerous child, maybe, but a child."
"Were you dangerous?" Okita wondered quietly.
"This was before I knew anything about fugues and multiple personalities," Kenshin frowned. "But I knew something was wrong. It's not normal to just miss three weeks of your life. Tomoe was the one who told me... she said I was a totally different person from the young man they brought in."
"But dangerous?" Okita insisted.
"You've seen what I can do," Kenshin poked at his ribcage lightly, making Okita twitch. "The only person who has ever beaten me in a fight is Hiko."
"Hiko is three times bigger than you!"
"That has little to do with it," Kenshin chuckled. "'The bigger they are, the harder they fall,' right?"
"That's an old cliché that doesn't..."
"I thought we were talking about Tomoe."
"We were!" Okita smiled quickly. "So... what's she like?"
Kenshin hesitated, then continued.
"...She was a cold bitch," he said, smiling at the memory. "Irritating and quick to dismiss something if she didn't agree with it." (Think female Aoshi.)
"Sounds like a real winner."
"She was also indescribably strong," Kenshin shook his head against Okita's collar. "A bit sarcastic at times. I got used to her pretty quickly, and we got along just fine. Good thing, too, because I spent the better part of a month with her."
Okita smirked and nodded for Kenshin to continue. Smiling faintly, Kenshin pressed closer to Okita's side.
"Contrary to what Sano hinted to me, I did not sleep with Tomoe," he murmured. He blushed and bit his lip. "At least, I don't think I did. She never suggested that we did. Occasionally, the other personalities did strange things... but that, I don't think so."
"Did you want to sleep with her?" Okita wondered.
"Okita!" Kenshin blushed a deep crimson.
"Sorry."
Kenshin chuckled and shook his head.
"It's okay. I just can't see Tomoe ever lowering her guard that much," he said quietly. "I would be lying if I said I didn't love her... in some way or another. I know I could never be with her. She is devoted to her cause, and I... am a high school student with a serious psychological disorder."
"When you say it that way..." Okita muttered. "It's not like you've got the plague."
"No, but no one wants a guy who's got so much emotional baggage," Kenshin sighed. "Not to mention rather underdeveloped."
"You don't seem underdeveloped to me," Okita giggled. Then, he made a big show of widening his eyes and groaning. Kenshin lifted his head to look at him oddly.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, you just said you were in love with that woman," Okita scowled, looking more pouty than fierce. "If that's true, then you certainly aren't gay. And that's where I put my money."
Kenshin laughed and shoved at Okita's side roughly. Okita doubled over, mocking grave injury. Then, as Kenshin moved to push him again, his hands snaked out and poked at Kenshin's sides. The smaller boy yelped and scrambled back, shouting when Okita followed him, tickling his sides relentlessly. He collapsed into a giggling ball, turning to fight back when he discovered that fleeing was not working. Okita gasped as he found himself flat on his back, a triumphant Kenshin on his stomach. Violet eyes glittered down at him mischievously.
"You know, I once read that no one is completely straight or gay," he announced.
"Then the bet is over," Okita grinned. "Kamatari and Kaoru won."
Blinking in surprise, Kenshin stared at Okita.
"I didn't think Kaoru put any money in the pool."
"She broke down and placed her bet about three months ago," Okita snickered. "No one else thought you were bi. It was either straight or gay. And the bet split even... uh, twenty-five apiece."
"Twenty-five people bet on my sexuality?!"
"I bet you didn't know Ms. Takani thought you were gay."
"She did not!" Kenshin's face was a bold flush of red.
"Go ask her!" Okita was laughing uncontrollably by this point, unable to stop. Kenshin stared dazedly down at him, in a state of mild shock. Poking his lip out in a mild pout, he reached for his pillow. Okita's laughter did not even stop when Kenshin shoved the pillow over his face and proceeded to suffocate him.
"Uncle! Uncle!" Okita gasped, pushing at the pillow. "Kenshin!"
Kenshin yanked the pillow away and grinned down at him. Okita blinked at him owlishly, forgetting his merriment for the moment.
"What?"
"That's the first time you called me by my first name," Kenshin pointed out.
"Well, it was a life-and-death situation," Okita smirked.
"And here I was, thinking it was something special," Kenshin rolled his eyes.
"With you, everything's special."
"Ooooh, flattery," Kenshin smiled. He swung off the other boy's stomach smoothly and flopped to his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Do you have to go home soon?"
"No sooner than is necessary," Okita replied easily.
"Spend the night?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
^_^
Notes: Hmmm. Absentminded Aoshi. It's not really coming, is it? Ah, well. At least Sano got the opportunity to act like he knew it all. And poor Kaoru. I'm a little mean to her in this chapter. She can be selfish at times. That doesn't mean she's not a nice person, right? Right. I can't stand it when people are never selfish. It's just not human. Do something for yourself once in awhile!! *pantpant*
And everyone knows who Lucille Ball is, right? I Love Lucy. It was a television comedy.
Yet another, Random Omake
Okita: I've got a thing for redheads, you know. Ariel, you...
Kenshin: Opie?
Okita: Eh???
Andy Griffith: *walks by whistling the opening song to the show*
Kenshin and Okita: o.O
Random Omake again! I'm having so much fun.
Okita: Let's get going. Now that we all have our pretty dates, we can be on our way.
Kenshin: *rolls his eyes*
Okita: Lucy! Are you coming?
Lucille Ball: *shoves Kenshin out of the way and walks out arm-in-arm with Okita*
Sano: I think I'm going to be sick.
Fitz: O.o um… disclaimers… I don't own anything involving I Love Lucy or Andy Griffith… *faints*
Kenshin: Should I be relieved or insulted?
Ooooookay… on to the reviews. *waves* Hiya reviewers! I love you all!
mae: Glad you liked. I'm still searching the real world for shorts like that. I may have to get them custom-made.
nemo: Yes… things will start to wind down. It'll peak in the next several chapters. I counted. There's eight more to go after this.
Jason M Lee: Sano is now comparing you to Saitou. If you listen closely, you can hear soft mutterings…
Sano: *grumblemumble* Narrow-eyed bastard. *muttermutter*
Although that might be because Principal Saitou gave him a detention. *grin*
Vesca: Wow… very electronic. My own conclusion: Vesca is an analytical computer program! Heehee. I'll keep teasing.
Louis: *points to a door* There's the bathroom. Hopping around tends to make it worse.
Black Soul: A liiiiiiittle more romance. It'll come. I'm not very good on the romance-type stuff, so I usually avoid it at all costs. I'm trying. And a question that's off the subject, but does 'Black Soul' come from something? I'm curious as to if there's any significance. Tell me if it's not my business, but otherwise, I'd love to know. Thanks!
marstanuki: Umm… thanks. Wow. I'm all tingly.
Kaoru: Stop sitting on your feet.
Fitz: Is that what causes that?
*blinkblink* Okay, I'm goofy. I'm glad you like my story enough to be able to tolerate the lack of K/K.
ColbyWolf: Hmm… sad. But I'm glad you like my story. Keep reading. I've latched onto Okita as my new favorite character, so you can at least expect that you'll see more of him.
Koneko-chan: I will keep my own experiences with love (or lack thereof) to myself lest I embarrass myself completely. And Kenshin disagrees with you.
Kenshin: She's one of those mean people who likes to torture me, isn't she, Fitz-dono?
Fitz: Most fanfic writers are like that, Kenshin.
Kenshin: You're not like that, Fitz-dono.
Fitz: That was an obvious lie, and you're just trying to get on my good side.
Kenshin: ……noooooooooo. Did it work?
Fitz: Yes. But I'm still going to torture you.
Kenshin: *Muttermuttergrumble* Jerk *Muttergrumblemumble*
Oryo: Okita has bad taste? How is that? *shrug* Kamatari… oooh, I'm amused. And as for Misao… well, there's a very small group of people out there who would actually like to see her with Kenshin. Unfortunately for that group, I am not a fan of that coupling, so I would never attempt it. I would most certainly slaughter the story. Finally, thanks! Both for reviewing and that comment about school. I am having fun, even if I do have to get up at five-thirty every morning.