Chapter 12:
"It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To"
Silent, Kenshin sat on his little Tantra mat in the middle of his room, his hands clasps together as if in prayer in front of him and he wove back and forth in circles, humming some incoherent sound. The party was downstairs, raging with noise and clamor, but he wanted to stay up in his room for a little while longer and have some peace to himself and Tantra was a good way to do that.
Meanwhile, Kaoru was standing with Megumi in the middle of the party, drinking from her cup of beer as all the guests, either high schoolers from Jinchuu or people from the colleges, tried to move around them. Some were too drunk to even realize that they were standing at the side of the room and they were occasionally bumped into here and there.
"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" Megumi grumbled, frowning at yet another person that bumped into her before turning back to her friend, "I didn't think there was gonna be so many people here tonight." Megumi paused as Kaoru took another large gulp of her drink and the fox lady gave her a high eyebrow raise. "Uh, I think you've had enough to drink already, Kaoru. You sure you can still see? How many fingers am I holding up?" Megumi held up two fingers.
"Two. Megumi, don't be ridiculous! I'm fine!" Kaoru protested and as if on cue, she gave out a loud belch that was most likely heard all the way down to America, sending them both into a laughing riot.
"What's so funny?" Mina asked as she idly strolled over to them, beer cup in hand and a little swagger in her step. People had just started to arrive for the party about an hour ago and in only a few minutes time, it had been filled with an enormous population of teenagers from Lake Biwa and that traveled all the way from their home. Mina was the first person to get a drink and would most likely be the last to pass out. Surprisingly, she wasn't slurring her words yet, but she was obviously very close to it and Megumi and Kaoru took a step back from the strong smell of beer in her breath. "What? Does my breath smell bad?"
"Eheheh... um... How's the bump on your head?" Kaoru asked, avoiding the question as much as possible; she didn't want to tell Mina that her breath stunk to high heaven, "Is your headache gone?"
"What, this little bump for nothing?" Mina asked, pointing at the huge bump on her head that she claimed was nothing at all, but had probably doubled in size, "I've seen aphids bigger than this! This is nothing! I'm still good enough to get drunk off my ass! Besides, my headache's gone so now I can get as smashed as I want! Ooh! There goes a congo line! You ladies have fun, alright?"
"Later, Mina!" Megumi called after her red-headed friend as she pushed away about two or three other people in her effort to join in on the rapidly lengthening dance line heading out the door, "Just don't come running to us saying we didn't warn you when you find out just who you spent the night with!" Megumi turned to Kaoru with a smile, knowing perfectly well that Mina wasn't going to wake up alone and she motioned for Kaoru to follow her. "Come on, let's go see if Kenshin's coming down for the party or not. No amount of that Tantra stuff is going to make him want to miss this party!"
"I dunno, Meg, he might be busy meditating or something... I don't think we should bother him," Kaoru responded, shaking her head, "if he wanted to come down he would and..." She was cut off as she felt a hard slap against her backside. "HEY!"
"What?" Megumi asked, taking a small sip of her drink as she looked at the raccoon girl in confusion, "What happened?"
"Somebody just grabbed my ass!" Kaoru exclaimed, torn between being embarrassed or in pain as she rubbed her sore bottom, "And not very gently either..." Megumi started to laugh at her "problem," shaking her head as she was about to explain that occasional ass-grabbing was all part of going to a party when she was instantly struck out of it when she heard a loud shout.
"YOINK!"
"Hey!" Megumi spun around as a guy whizzed by her on a skateboard, snatching her drink right out of her hand, and he winked at her, begging for a little attention. And boy, was he in for it. "That's mine!"
About an hour or so later and after more than a few bashings of a certain skateboarder, Kaoru and Megumi found themselves at the top of the stairs, right in front of Kenshin's bedroom door, huffing from the chase around the house. Someone on a set of wheels versus two women in high heels was not a very equitable race. Lucky for them, Kaoru had good aim and after realizing that they didn't stand any chance of catching up with him, she had thrown a beach ball at the back of his head. The best part was that he had been standing in front of a group of girls as he fell over, a huge lump on the side of his head, and got a fast full of carpet. First mission, get back at stupid skateboarder: Complete. Second, get Kenshin to leave his weird exercises: In progress...
Carefully, Megumi raised her hand up and lightly rapped on his door, "Kenshin, hey! You wanna come out now? You're missing the party!" A small muffle was heard behind the door, indicating that he was inside, but the door remained shut. Megumi automatically took a step back as Kaoru approached the door, eyes closed, with her left eyebrow twitching upward in impatience.
"Kenshin! Open this door right now!" Kaoru shouted, half-annoyed and half-excited to drag him downstairs to the party. She doubted he was any good at dancing since he obviously had no poise when it came to pool, but if he did any of that crazy Tantra stuff on the dance floor, she supposed it wouldn't seem so bad. And of course, if anyone asked what the hell he was doing, which she was sure they would, she could always blame it on alcohol. (A/N: Aw, good ol' alcohol. Is there anything it can't help you do?)
"Kenshin! We know you're in there, get off your lazy butt and open up this door! Quit your meditating already! If you don't open the door, we will!" Silence. Kaoru waited for only a few seconds before she really got fed up. She could hear was some light shuffling around in the room, an obvious sign that he was still in there and she sighed dejectedly. "Okay, we're coming in there!"
Kaoru opened the door, actually, more like kicked it open, expecting to see Kenshin on his meditation mat and his eyes closed, the usual thing he did while he was doing his Tantra exercises, and it would have been her chance to whack him over the head and bring him back to the real world. But no, that wasn't at all what he was doing up in his room. Kaoru and Megumi stood completely still in the doorway, their mouths almost hitting the ground below as they stared at Kenshin on the floor, his hair all array about the carpet with Mina on top of him, her mouth devouring his.
Kaoru dropped the cup of beer in her hand in shock, not even noticing as it spilled out onto the carpet as she kept her gaze glued on the couple on the floor, her heart ceased to beat and her breath nonchalantly caught in her throat. Megumi was in a less than surprised state, in fact, she was starting to get angry.
Kenshin's eyes remained open throughout the entire ordeal, most likely just as shocked as they were that this was actually happening; he seemed to be paralyzed, scared even. Mina remained oblivious to the two extra human beings that had just entered the room as she continued in her pursue on Kenshin's body. At the tiny gasp that escaped through Kaoru's mouth, Kenshin looked up, and his mouth fell agape as his lavender eyes slowly caught those of the sparkling sapphires of Kaoru's.
"K... Kaoru..." Kenshin was able to murmur, but he didn't get to say anything else because before he knew it, she had already fled from the room without even turning back. The tears in her eyes were unmistakable and it ripped out his heart when he realized just what she had walked in on and seen him doing. He immediately pushed Mina off of him and rose to follow after Kaoru's form, already halfway out of the house, when Megumi suddenly came out of her surprised trance and slapped him hard across the face.
"You selfish bastard!" Megumi spat, the fire burning in her usual bright cinnamon brown eyes, smothering Kenshin with guilt, "How could you do this to her?!" She raised her hand again, but slowly brought it back down, the scowl never leaving her face. "No, you don't even deserve to get slapped. You are the most egocentric person I know! You don't even know how much...! I thought you cared about her! I thought she meant something to you! What is the matter with you?! How could you...?!" Megumi didn't finish, she couldn't. Instead, she just stalked away, leaving Kenshin alone with Mina yet again, his cheek burning red, but his heart more pained than the throbbing on his face.
Mina slowly got up from where he had pushed her aside to stand close to him and give him comfort. Her hand leisurely went up to touch his reddened cheek, but he jerked away before she could even brush a finger against him. He drew away from her as if she were some kind of plague endangering his life, but he did not look at her with anger; he didn't look at her at all.
This was the woman that had thrown herself at him, begging for his forgiveness for treating him so horribly since the night at prom, and here she was still, practically asking him for forgiveness again. This time, he had no pity for her. He had told her earlier not to worry about it because it was all in the past and he held no grudge against her, and that was when she had flung herself on him, saying so many things that Kenshin couldn't quite catch it all. She had said she loved him, he was the most wonderful person in the world, and that she had always loved him and tried to cover it up for Kaoru's sake. Then she had caught him off guard by kissing him, and he had been so surprised that he hadn't had time to react before the door was opened and Megumi and Kaoru stepped inside.
'Kaoru...'
He had wanted to call out to Kaoru when he heard her beckoning him at the door, but Mina had smothered him with kisses and covered his mouth, preventing him from speaking. After that, it had all fallen apart as he had tried to pull away from Mina and explain to Kaoru what had happened, but she had already run from the room before he had time to say anything other than her name.
Megumi had been right to slap him, and he didn't hold anything against her for saying what she did, after all, it was half his fault that the entire thing had happened in the first place. He shouldn't have let himself react so slowly, he should have pushed Mina away at the first sign he had seen of what she intended to do, and he should have spoken up when Kaoru had stood there with tears in her eyes.
"Kenshin..." Mina began, but he held up his hand to stop her and her mouth closed so fast that her teeth clicked as they made contact.
"Mina, please. I have to find Kaoru and explain this to her, that I do," Kenshin said calmly, "This was all just a big misunderstanding and I have to let her know that. Please don't tell me anything else because I don't have anything on my mind right now other than fixing this problem with Kaoru."
Mina opened her mouth to say something to stop him, but she knew it wouldn't do any good and she silently slunk back to allow him to leave the room. On the outside, she was quiet and obedient, but on the inside she was bawling her eyes out. Kenshin going to Kaoru to explain that it was all a 'big misunderstanding' meant that all that what she said meant nothing to him, therefore, his heart solely belonged to Kaoru. It always had.
Mina kept her head bowed as she couldn't watch him leave, knowing that she would most likely throw her arms around him again and beg him to stay, only to have him pull away and shake his head. No, she had more pride than that and she kept her face hidden from view as a tiny tear escaped her and she angrily clenched her fists, fighting against her own will to not cry in front of him. Mina had never lost a fight and she wasn't about to lose one now, but somehow, her tears seemed to be a whole lot stronger than her at that moment and one was followed by many.
She let out a shudder. She felt completely disgusted by herself to sink so low as to cry over a man, but she was shocked when Kenshin moved over to her, tilting her chin up so her own violet eyes looked into his and he kissed her on her forehead.
"Mina, thank you for telling me what you did," Kenshin whispered, his voice so soft and smooth as his words slipped off his tongue and into her ears, "I am very flattered that you feel that way about me, but I'm sorry to say that there is nothing besides friendship that will ever become of us. But I want you to know that I will always be your friend, that I will. You stay here and dry those tears and I will go to talk to Kaoru."
Mina watched him exit the room, his red hair swishing left to right behind him with every step he took and she seemed unable to move. She remained paralyzed as she watched his disappearing figure lose it's shape in the crowds outside and very slowly, her ability to control her body came back to her and she ran to the top of the stairs, her hands gripping the railing as she overlooked the crowd for the red haired rurouni. But he was already long gone and she had no way of finding him.
The tears had dried on her cheeks, now staining the sides of her face, and she viciously wiped them away. She didn't want proof that she had been crying to be worn on her face and she quickly regained her straight posture, pulling her shoulders back and holding her head high. Her life with Kenshin had turned out just as she had first suspected; they were friends and that was all that they would ever be. The difference now was that she accepted it and she could only hope that Kaoru and Megumi had the heart to forgive her for her selfishness.
Kaoru didn't know where she was running to and frankly, she didn't care, just as long as she got as far away from the party as possible. She was well aware of Megumi running after her, only a few feet behind, but she neither turned around to acknowledge her or stopped.
'Kenshin...' Kaoru thought to herself as her tears slid off her face and got caught in the heavy breeze of the beach, creating tiny spots on the sand from where they fell, 'Kenshin... Why, Kenshin, why?' She only stopped running when she sure she was far enough down the beach that no one would be able to interrupt her unless they searched for hours on end.
The footsteps of Megumi behind Kaoru were now gone and had been for the past ten minutes as Megumi had gotten tired of chasing after her; it was no use anyway since it seemed she had wanted to be alone.
Megumi sighed as she looked down the beach again, Kaoru's form suddenly only a mere speck in the distance and she held her hand over her eyes as a shade to see if she could look any farther down the beach. But it was useless. Her hand fell to her side in defeat, her sides cramping up from the long run from the beach house to where she now stood and she kicked at some sand in front of her in anger.
'Now I have to walk all the way back to the beach house!' Megumi thought to herself angrily as she started her long walk back to the party, 'I've got to be at least half a mile away already! How did I get so far down the beach?' Megumi turned around again to look out for Kaoru, but she saw no sign of her. 'I hope Kaoru's alright... She's probably crying over that jerk. How could Kenshin do that to her?! And all this time, I thought he cared about her! And Mina! What the hell was going through her head?! Oh, forget it... Maybe I should just concentrate on my own problems... Like getting back to the beach house! Rooster-Head's gonna throw a tantrum when I get back! He's probably gonna be sending out a search party if I don't get back soon. Either that, or he's gonna start looking for me himself, then boy am I gonna be in trouble! He's gonna start interrogating me again and asking what took me so long... I have no idea where he gets all these "bad vibes" from Aoshi, but I bet it has something to do with Saito! That asshole always gives him wrong ideas and bad advice! Hmph! There seems to be nothing wrong with Aoshi how I look at it. I'm sure Sano's just jealous of me spending so much time with him...'
"I thought I saw you come out here," Aoshi's voice suddenly came from behind her, startling Megumi out of her thoughts and she jumped in surprise, catching herself before she let out a very inappropriate curse she heard Sano say quite often. Aoshi smiled. "Did I startle you?"
"Holy sh... iz! You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, Aoshi! Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Megumi asked, holding her hand over her heart as she tried to bring it's pace down to normal level, "What are you doing all the way out here anyway? Why aren't you at the party?"
"I saw you run out here and I was wondering where you were going," Aoshi replied with a shrug and he began walking in the opposite direction of the house, "Besides, I wanted to go for a walk anyway. Wanna come?"
"Uh... I think I should be heading back. Rooster-Head.... I mean, Sano will get worried," Megumi excused herself and she started off towards the beach house again, but Aoshi gently took hold of her arm.
"It won't take long, I promise," Aoshi said sincerely, his ice blue eyes cutting into her gaze and he let go of her arm to continue walking down the beach. After a few seconds, he turned back to her. "Are you coming or not?"
"Well... alright. Just for a few minutes though, then I have to head back," Megumi agreed and she jogged over to catch up with him and meet up with his steady strides.
They walked side by side down the beach in the opposite direction of the beach house, the distance between where they were and the party getting farther and farther apart with every step they took. Little did she know that that was exactly what Aoshi wanted; to separate them from everyone else as much as possible, and especially widen the distance between Megumi and her boyfriend.
Yahiko sat awkwardly in his room next to Tsubame, the space between them extremely small as Tsubame edged closer to him, a shy but provocative smile on her face. Now Misao had never trained him for anything like this so he was pretty much stuck with no intelligence of her flirting whatsoever and he just sat there like a deer in car headlights.
With every inch that Tsubame closed between them, Yahiko became even more immensely aware of his attraction to her, doubling by the second until she was only an inch away from his face. He suddenly wondered if he should've changed his shirt.
Yahiko's eyes remained as wide as ever as she slowly inched her face towards his, leaning in for a kiss. She was so close to him, her scent was almost overwhelming, and he unconsciously moved away from her, only to find that he had been sitting on the edge of the bed and he fell onto the floor with a loud thump.
"Ow!" Yahiko exclaimed, rubbing his sore backside, thinking to himself that he most likely broke off a piece of his tail bone as his body continued to vibrate from the hard collision.
"Ohmigosh! Yahiko! Are you okay?" Tsubame asked, concern written all over her perfect features as she leaned over the side of the bed to peer down at him, "Did you hurt yourself?"
"Yes... no..." Yahiko answered, not sure if he should admit he, a "strong manly man," had hurt himself falling ten inches off the ground or denying it and saying that he was completely fine.
"Well, which is it?" Tsubame asked, her voice very worried, but it quickly changed to soft and seductive, "Do you want me to kiss your injury?"
"I....uh... well... um.. uh... ksjdfhksjdhjne....kjghjdngfj," Yahiko mumbled, his eyes again going back to their original state of practically popping out of their sockets and he searched for something to say.
Tsubame smiled, "Yes? What're you trying to say, Yahiko?"
"POSTCARDS!" he exclaimed suddenly, "I have postcards!"
"Huh?!" Tsubame asked dumbly, confused as to what the hell postcards had to do with her kissing away his 'bruises and pain' and she watched as Yahiko shot up from where he sat on the ground and lunged for something under his pillow. Tsubame used this time to wonder again about why exactly she loved dorks.
"Here! Postcards!" Yahiko announced as he thrust all the tiny cards and mini letters she had sent him while she was in China into her arms, "Lots of postcards!" Her surprise fading a bit, Tsubame sat them all down in her lap, fingering through them and examining each one as if she were trying to re-memorize them. "You sent a lot and I kept them." Yahiko scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling like a complete idiot for changing the subject from her kissing him to some stupid postcard collection he had started. If Tsubame hadn't been there, he would've smacked himself for his stupidity.
'Damn it! She almost kissed you!' Yahiko scolded himself, internally kicking at his brain, 'God, you're an idiot! You just HAD to whip out the postcards, didn't you?! As if not enough people think you're a dork already, you gotta let her know too!'
To Yahiko's surprise and utter joy, Tsubame smiled.
"You saved them all? That's so sweet!" Tsubame exclaimed, bright flashes of stars shining in her chocolate brown orbs as she began reading the back of one of the postcards she had sent him out loud, "Dear Yahiko, I hope all is well over there because all is well here. Please tell your grandpa that I did get to see Cats on Broadway while I was here. I miss you a lot and I count the days when I will get to see you again. Love, Tsubame." She finished reading and faced him, the bundle of postcards in her lap slipping from their place in the shape of her legs and they all fell to the ground. "That's really cute that you kept them all. I thought you probably threw them away."
"So you don't think I'm a dork or anything?" Yahiko asked, surprised that she was actually pretty fascinated with the fact that he owned a postcard collection, or any collection for that matter, and she moved closer to him, placing her hand on his inner thigh and sending shivers up his spine.
"Well... dork or not, Yahiko, that's what I like about you," Tsubame admitted and again, she slowly raised her eyes up to look at him, gazing at his face through her dark eyelashes. Yahiko gulped back the lump in his throat. Gradually, Tsubame's hand left it's place on his thigh and moved up to the side of his face, gently cradling his cheek as she leaned in to kiss him again. This time, Yahiko was determined not to fall off the bed and humiliate himself yet again.
Nervous, Yahiko licked his lips before he closed his eyes, leaning in as well. Tsubame's mouth was only about a centimeter of two away from his when Sanosuke suddenly burst into the room with wild eyes, breaking Yahiko and Tsubame away from each other to stare at him.
"Yahiko! Have you seen the fox?! I can't find her anywhere!" Sanosuke panicked, frantically picking up a few stray clothes on the floor as if to find her hiding out underneath them. Finding nothing under the pile of dirty shirts, he turned back to Yahiko, not even realizing that he had just interrupted him and Tsubame as he opened up the closet to search through there as well; he didn't even notice the couple's sweatdrop from his crazed rampage. "I got up this morning and she was gone. I asked around a little, but no one knew where she was. You know where she is?"
"Nah uh," Yahiko said, shaking his head from left to right, Tsubame's arm still wrapped around his shoulders, "I thought she was with you."
"Are you guys talking about Megumi? I thought I saw her outside on the beach walking with some guy," Tsubame spoke up and she turned to Sanosuke, confused when both he and Yahiko exchanged worried glances, "Why? What's with the weird faces? Is Meg alright?"
"Did this guy she was with have black hair? Kinda weird looking? Thin guy?" Sanosuke asked, making small hand gestures as to how tall Aoshi was compared to him, "About yay high?"
"Yeah, that sounds like him alright," Tsubame said with a nod, "I think they went down the beach somewhere that way." Tsubame pointed out the window to a far end of the beach, now clear of any human life, let alone the rooster-head's girlfriend, and Sanosuke felt his stomach tie into tight knots.
"Alright, thanks," Sanosuke murmured as he turned to the door, but then suddenly turned back as he realized that Yahiko and Tsubame had been about to... probably.. you know... when he had barged in. Laughing nervously, he gave them both a look of apology. "Eheheh... sorry for interrupting your uh... yeah. I didn't see anything! Uh... have fun, kids! Be safe!"
And with that, Sanosuke ran out the door, bounding down the stairs so fast that the echo of his footsteps needed to be drowned out by the music speakers. He jumped the steps, two at a time, with only one thought going through his head: 'Get Aoshi Shinimori away from my Megumi!'
A/N: BUM BUM BUM! more dramatic music So this happened to be my drama chapter, where the story is now veering off more to my original work instead going along with the movie. Hopefully it's still good though! Lemme know what you think and I'll try and update as soon as I can! Thanks!