Chapter 13:
"I Just Can't Help Myself"
Kaoru didn't know when she stopped crying, but it was a long while until she had found a spot on the far off end of the beach to rest at before she had actually been able to calm herself down. She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder once again as the wind picked up and blew it in her face, like a persistent child asking for attention. Her hands lay limp in her lap, every once in a while twitching every so slightly. If she ever felt even the tiniest bit like crying again, her fists would ball up and she'd fight against it.
Her melancholy state had soon been replaced with anger as the day soon turned to evening, the first stars gleaming above her as she sat still on the log that had washed ashore, and her silence almost made it seem as though she weren't even alive.
Kenshin stood a good two feet away from her, watching as her fists clenched tightly in anger in her lap. With her back to him, he was still not able to see her face, nor the expression she had, and he cautiously made his way over to her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he knew that such a forward action would only give him yet another slap and Kenshin's right cheek was still red from the last one he received from Megumi.
"Kaoru...?" Kenshin started, his footsteps so close behind her, causing her tense up and her spine grow rigid.
She spun around to face him. Only for a moment did she forget that he was the one that had upset her so much, and she almost smiled at him. She wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him about her tearful issues, but the biggest problem was that HE was her problem. Immediately, the sparkle in her eyes vanished, quickly replaced with dark pools of nothing other than heated anger.
Kenshin had to take a step back from the look she had given him, but his intuition to stay and explain everything to her made him sit down on the log beside her. He made sure that he left a huge gap in between them of arm's length, that way, she would have to make an effort to move if she wanted to hit him and it would give him a little more time to duck.
"Kaoru, I need to explain about what you saw in there," Kenshin began again, "Mina was just..."
"You don't have to tell me about her. You don't even have to explain yourself to me at all. Why should I care what you do anyway?" Kaoru harshly spoke, cutting at him with her words like a dozen sharp razors that shaved way too close, "It doesn't matter to me what you do with her or anyone for that matter, it's none of my business. I had no right to run out of there like I did, after all, I don't own you. Do what you want with Mina, I could care less."
"You're lying, Kaoru, that you are," Kenshin said quietly as the sky seemed to almost envelope him up in the light pink and orange colors of the horizon across the water, "If you didn't care what I did with her, you wouldn't have stormed out like you did and you wouldn't be... hurting so much. Kaoru, it is as much your business as it is mine. Whatever you think you saw, that wasn't it at all, that it wasn't."
"And what do you know what I think it was?!?!" Kaoru demanded, her voice rising in volume, reaching higher and higher until it practically tore at the clouds and she turned her angry glare towards him, "You don't even know what I saw! Or what I was thinking! Mina was with you in your room! Kissing! Yeah, I think I know what was really going on in there, Kenshin! If you and Mina were together, you could've at least told me! You could've at least let me know so I wasn't going around like a total fool and saying that I...!"
Kaoru trailed off, not wanting to tell him the rest of what she was about to say, but the damage was already done and Kenshin already knew what she didn't finish. She turned her face away, her face burning hot with embarrassment and the tears began coming on again. This time she brushed them away, too tired to hold it all in anymore, and she wiped the falling tears off her face as if they would explode at any given second.
No, she didn't want to give him the liberty of hearing her say she loved him and she didn't want to let him see how much this event had affected her. She'd like to keep that little thing to herself, even if dignity was a very lonely friend. Kaoru refused to let him know what was truly in her heart.
"Saying that you what?" Kenshin pushed on, "Kaoru, please tell me."
There was no way he was about to let that one slide! No way! No how! She was about to say that she loved him, he felt it, but she had stopped herself before she could actually say the whole thing. Kenshin felt the air between them growing tenser with every second that passed by that Kaoru didn't speak and he knew that she knew he was not leaving her alone until she admitted how she really felt.
"Kaoru, please finish your sentence," Kenshin practically pleaded, his violet eyes begging her to continue, for her to say what he had been longing to hear. And if she hadn't been so self-righteous about not telling the selfish bastard, she would have yelled it from the roof of the light house that she loved him since the day they met.
"Kaoru, if you don't talk to me, then I will talk to you, that I will," Kenshin replied with a sigh of defeat and he settled himself closer to her on the log, his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms at his sides, "I don't know if you know this, that I don't, but I'm going to tell you anyway... That party at your brother's about a month ago, I wasn't invited, but I went anyway so that I could see you. I went to your room to say hello, but you weren't there. The next thing I knew, Saito was coming after me, threatening to break every bone in my body for ever setting foot in your house. I saw you come to my defense, but I was tossed outside. I tried to talk to you through your window, but I suppose you didn't hear me..." Kenshin looked up from his gaze on the ground to inspect Kaoru's reaction, but she remained silent and her back was still to him. Despite that, Kenshin was determined and he continued.
"You see, Kaoru, I went willingly to that party because I knew you would be there and despite the fact that Saito would most likely wring my neck, my need to see you again was far greater than my fear of what could happen to me if something happened, that it was. I had missed seeing you then, but I miss you even more now, even if you're sitting right next to me. It's just not the same."
Kaoru paused as she let out her breath, not even realizing that she had been holding it in until he had finished speaking, and she turned to face him. Indeed, the anger was gone from her eyes and the blue color in them seemed to turn more into the ocean glint more than the blackened gloss that had been there only moments before. Her face softened when she looked at him, but still she didn't say a word. She didn't move any closer, neither did she move farther. Kenshin took this as a good sign and he resumed his speech.
"Mina is my friend and although you may think something else of what happened earlier today, what I'm telling you is the truth, that it is," Kenshin replied softly, his violet eyes shining under the downcast of the approaching stars, "I was in my room while the party was going on downstairs when Mina came in and said she needed to talk to me. Of course, I let her sit down and tell me whatever was on her mind, but somewhere in the middle of all that she was saying, I got lost and her words were rushed like she didn't really want me to hear them. Then, she threw her arms around me and told me she loved me and such. To tell you the truth, I was too shocked to really do anything, that I was, but I was even more shocked when she started to kiss me. I heard you outside the door, but I couldn't say anything because she was covering my mouth. And then I saw the look in your eyes when you saw us together, and it tore me apart. Kaoru, I didn't mean to hurt you and I'm sure Mina didn't either; you just walked in on the wrong moment, that you did." Kenshin stopped in his explanation and turned to look at her. Was it just him, or were her shoulders tensing up less and less? He cleared his throat before he began again. "You don't have to believe me, that you don't, but I most certainly hope that you will. I would never lie to you, Kaoru, I never could and I never will. At least believe that much."
Kaoru remained silent. Only the low whistle of the breeze and the washing up of the shores brought noise to where they sat, the sun barely peeking up over the ocean tide and it left shimmering elements of the last of it's light over the water's reflection. She sat still, not daring to move as if it would break away her deep concentration as she played what Kenshin had said over and over in her mind until she could have repeated them back to him, word for word.
She found no error in it at all, only sheer honesty, as the honest man Kenshin was. Slowly, the corner of her mouth curved up and she diverted her eyes to him, the tears there startling him more than Mina ever could have, no matter what she did. Immediately, he rose and knelt by her side, his eyes questioning her for why she was crying yet again.
"Kenshin..." Kaoru murmured and she threw her arms around him, pulling him close to her, the smell of dishwashing liquid and fabric cleaner filling her senses as his aroma enveloped her into what he had done during the day. The tears still came, landing in great pools on his shirt sleeve, but Kenshin didn't seem to mind.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, nuzzling her hair to his neck as she cried into his shoulder, "I shouldn't have accused you of doing anything I knew was completely unlike you. I believe you, Kenshin, I really do. I just doubted it all when I saw you with her. I had no idea that you cared so much about me, not by a long shot. But I know now and I can tell you that I..." Kaoru paused a bit, her hesitation hovering over her for only a few brief moments before she recovered herself. "I can finally tell you that... I love you..."
"I love you too, Kaoru," Kenshin said, completely forgetting to add his usual, 'that I do' after his sentence and Kaoru looked up at him in surprise at the lack of a few syllables in his sentence, "Oro? Oh, right! That I do."
Kaoru smiled at his quick fix and hugged him closer, the wind whipping her hair out of her ponytail and the long black strands enclosed around them like a soft veil. Neither person pushed away any of the stray hairs that blew across their faces as they leaned in closer to each other, the swift kiss on their lips meaning more to them than wasting any amount of energy to wipe away loose strands of entwined red and black hair. After all, they would need to save up as much energy as possible for later...
Megumi turned around for what seemed to Aoshi, to be the millionth time in the same minute and he let out an exasperated sigh. They had already passed the noisier part of the beach where all the seagulls were, but they still continued on.
She obviously wanted to go back to the beach house, but Megumi didn't want to appear rude to Aoshi if she didn't at least walk with him for a little bit. She wasn't at all aware that they kept getting farther and farther away from the party and she didn't become aware of that fact until she realized she could no longer hear the music in the background.
Megumi turned around questioningly, her eyes scanning back to where the beach house had been once before but was now only an inch wide from where she stood. Megumi abruptly stopped walking, looking back at the house with worry and Aoshi stopped a few seconds later as he realized that she had stopped following him. He turned back and gently touched her arm.
"What's the matter?" he asked, trying very hard to keep the annoyance from his voice. All she had done for the past twenty minutes was turn around and look back at the house with longing eyes. Aoshi was a bit past being irritated.
"I've been out here a lot longer than I should have been. I should start going back now," Megumi answered him and she gave Aoshi a polite smile, "Thanks for the walk, it was nice." Silently, she started to leave, but Aoshi was able to grab her shoulder and pull her towards him again.
She gasped in surprise when her back hit the hard surface of a nearby boulder and Aoshi leaned forward in front of her, one arm pressing against the rock behind her on her right side, blocking her from escape.
On instinct, Megumi moved to the empty left side, only to come across Aoshi's left arm, now blocking that exit as well, his blue eyes piercing through her as if he had every intention on claiming her his prisoner with his eyes as shackles. Megumi stiffened and gave him a confused expression, looking him in the eye to avoid the claws of his forward thinking.
"Aoshi, what are you doing?" Megumi asked, pushing gently at his body to move out of her way, "Come on, this isn't funny, I have to go back to the party now. Everyone's probably wondering where I am. I wouldn't be surprised if they were looking for me right about now."
"Don't worry too much, Megumi. You're with me so there's obviously no reason to be concerned. Besides, even if they did go out looking for you, it's not like they'd find you that fast. Not if they leave right now anyway since we're about a mile and a half away from the beach house and it'll get dark soon. They won't be able to find you at night, not even that boyfriend of your's," Aoshi said, never moving even an inch away from where he had deliberately blocked Megumi from evading him.
She was surrounded at every angle thought possible and there was no way Aoshi was going to let her get away. He had her all to himself now and he wasn't about to let her go back to the party until he had his fill of his daily dose of Megumi Takani.
Something about the way he spoke to her, the way he had practically spat out the words, "that boyfriend of your's" as if it hurt him to say it, it all set off an alarm in Megumi's head that rang out about her ears like a police siren. The things Sanosuke had told her earlier about bad vibes suddenly became very apparent to her as she started to feel them too. The first thing that entered her head at that moment was to get as far away from Aoshi as possible, the second thing was that she was indeed about a mile and a half away from the beach house, and the last thing that entered her mind was that, with almost two miles distance from any other people, no one would be able to hear her scream...
Her eyes widened as the possibilities of what could very well happen if she wasn't careful ran through her mind like a tornado sweeping up the countryside. But mostly, her thoughts were to get herself away from Aoshi; the problem was that he was blocking her of any exit and if life taught her anything, she knew very well that the only way to go, was forward.
"Aoshi, let me go," Megumi commanded, her cinnamon gaze challenging his icy one, the look that usually set people straight and running, but Aoshi didn't even blink. Shocked at his ignoring her request, Megumi cleared her throat to make sure he heard her the next time. "I said, let me go."
"What will you give me if I do?" Aoshi asked her, his voice low and deep and she couldn't help but keep the prickling feeling that crawled up her spine at his suggestive question. The siren went off in her head again, warning her of the close distance she had with danger, but it was no use trying to resolve the problem with Aoshi still blocking her path. Suddenly, Megumi became very alive with the feeling of his breath against her cheek and she turned to look at him.
"Just cooperate, Megumi," Aoshi soothed as he inched closer, his nose nuzzling her neck so smoothly that she barely felt it, "don't worry about a thing. I'm not going to hurt you, just give in. You know how I feel about you, don't you? You know I would give you the world if I could, right? I can give you everything you ever dreamed of, anything your boyfriend couldn't provide. I could give you anything you wanted, anything. All you have to do is admit you feel the same way about me..."
Megumi's eyes flashed with fear as Aoshi closed in on her, his breath on her face growing hotter with every movement he made as he got closer and closer to her. Her body was practically pinned against the boulder behind her and she turned her face away from him. She couldn't take the intense look he held in those eyes of his, a look she saw only on Sanosuke, the only person she ever allowed to look at her in such a way.
His hand moved to touch her face, leaving the right side of her free of his guard and Megumi took this chance as Aoshi was so distracted with leaning in to capture her lips. She instinctively turned her face away, quickly lifting her left leg up and kicked him hard in between his legs.
"Fuck!" Aoshi shouted as he pulled away to cover his crotch from the hard blow he had just received, "Jesus!"
With her body free of his practically smothering her against the rock, Megumi ran as fast as she could while he was too caught up in comforting his private areas. But she didn't get too far down the beach when she felt a strong arm pull her back and Megumi soon found herself face to face with a quite upset Aoshi Shinimori. This time, he roughly pushed her up against the boulder, no longer being patient with her, and his eyes grew as dark as coal, his grip on her shoulders tightening to the point that Megumi couldn't move.
"Let me go, Aoshi!" Megumi shouted, struggling against his grip, but his glare silenced her. It sent shivers down her back, adding to the throbbing headache the sirens in her brain kept ringing in her ears, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise on end. Frantically, Megumi looked around for someone to help her, but that only made Aoshi even more enraged and he shook her vigorously to get her attention back to him.
"Let me go or I'll scream!" Megumi threatened, not able to keep the wavering from her voice. She had been told numerous times that she was a brave woman, but right now, none of that mattered when she was compared to the strength of Aoshi Shinimori.
"Don't be stupid. Are you really gonna throw away your chance at being with me with some guilty conscience vibe?" Aoshi asked her, his voice booming out in anger, so different from the soft gentle one Megumi was used to and she felt herself trembling under his grasp, "Just admit it. You've wanted me since the day we met! Go on, admit it. The only reason you're pulling away is because you don't want that idiot boyfriend of your's finding out, isn't that right?!"
"No! You think that just because you have all this money that I'm supposed to fall head over heels in love with you? That I'm just supposed to drop everything and everyone I care about so I can live a life of luxury?! You thought dead wrong, Aoshi! I pulled away because I don't want you," Megumi drew back her neck and hawked spit in his face, the saliva taking it's time as it dripped down his cheek like the last few drops of a river dying down into light air.
He turned to her, fire flashing before his eyes, melting away the cold ice that she used to think made his eyes remind her of the sea after a storm, but now only made her cower with fright. Gathering up all her courage, Megumi looked Aoshi in the eye.
"It doesn't matter if Sanosuke's here or not! He's still gonna kick your ASS!" Megumi snarled at him, never losing the strength in her voice, because right now, she knew what she was saying was in no way something to be taken lightly, "I don't care if he can't hear me now because he will hear about this later! And if you think you're gonna get anything from me besides another kick to the groin, you've got another thing coming!"
"We'll just see about that, Megumi," Aoshi snapped and he turned her to face him again, running his tongue down the side of her neck. Megumi cringed under his touch and again tried to wrestle away.
"Get off me!" she shouted, wrenching her body every which way to avoid his wandering and unwanted kisses, "Stop it!"
"SANOSUKE!!!" she cried again, hoping with all her might that wherever her boyfriend was at that moment, that he would hear her. But even Megumi knew that the likelihood of that happening was slim to none; he wouldn't be able to hear her if he was still at the party almost two miles away. This time, her shout succeeded in making Aoshi even more frustrated with her and his hold on her shoulder tightened.
"You still think that he's gonna save you, huh?" Aoshi asked, acting impervious to the fear he was causing her, "Kick my ass, will he?! I'll believe that when I see it!"
"Seeing is believing..." Megumi suddenly replied, holding her head high as she glared back at him, but her gaze slowly wandered to something in back of him.
Puzzled, Aoshi turned around to see the thing that had created such a looming shadow over both of them and distracted Megumi enough to stop her pleas, but only to find his face to come into direct contact with Sanosuke's fist.
POW! (A/N: Just imagine one of those old Batman television series screen popping up with a million stars surrounding the word 'POW!' and you'll get the picture. ^^)
Aoshi immediately flew backwards, his back roughly made contact with the boulder that Megumi still stood pressed against, and his unconscious body slid down the tall rock until he sat on the ground, his head hanging low, obviously out cold.
Cautiously, Sanosuke averted his eyes away from the despising rich boy on the ground and turned his attention to Megumi, who still stood unmoving against the boulder.
"You okay, Fox?" Sanosuke asked her, his hand still balled up into a fist, huge beads of sweat rolling down his face from running down the entire beach trying to find her. She said nothing. "Megumi?"
The sound of his voice snapped her out of her trance and upon hearing her name, Megumi automatically ran into his strong arms, a sure sign that she was fine. Sano took special note that there were no blood stains or bruises on her body whatsoever. Instantly freed of his concern, Sanosuke breathed a sigh of relief that he had gotten there in time and he held her shaking body closer into his embrace, kissing her lightly on the forehead.
"Don't scare me like that, okay? I practically went nuts lookin' for you. You sure you're alright? 'Cause if that bastard hurt you, I'm gonna...!" Sanosuke began, but after Megumi's vigorous nodding against his shoulder, his concern returned and he shut up. Shaking still, he softly whispered soothing words into her ears until she was finally calm enough to stop her endless murmuring. Finally satisfied that no vital harm was done, Sanosuke quickly diverted his eyes back to Aoshi Shinimori, still unconscious on the ground.
Megumi noticed him looking at the fallen man and she turned as well, watching him sleep for a moment before she kicked a heap of sand on him. Sanosuke laughed and did the same until Aoshi's arm was completely invisible to the naked eye. It was buried deep in the sand now, his face covered with the hard beige grains and they made him look like he had a very severe case of dry skin. Megumi couldn't help it; she kicked more sand.
"What are we going to do with him?" Megumi asked, nodding her head towards Aoshi's form, never letting go of her hold around Sanosuke's neck, as if he might disappear and leave her with that pervert again if she didn't cling on to him. Sanosuke looked from Megumi's face to Aoshi's sleeping one sprayed with mists of sand and a mischievous smirk crossed over his lips.
"I've got an idea," Sanosuke said as he reluctantly pulled away from his girlfriend, her trembling now gone, and he spotted an object a few feet down by the shore, "Here, hand me that shovel over there." Megumi was about to ask what for, but after Sanosuke's shooing with his arms, she merely nodded and took off.
With Megumi running a little farther down shore, Sanosuke strutted over to the pompous jerk that had dared try and make a move on his fox and glared him down with his eyes. He was very much tempted to just pick him up and toss him in the ocean, but he was sure that Aoshi would sink straight to the bottom with all the pounds of cash in his pocket.
'And speaking of cash...' Sanosuke thought to himself, a clever idea making it's way over to the electric bulb over his head, and he smiled devilishly at the idea that had just occurred to him. Quickly scanning his eyes over the beach for any witnesses of the crime, Sanosuke smiled when he saw none and he discreetly grabbed something from Aoshi's shirt pocket. Looking down the beach for any signs of watchful eyes, he placed the leather object in his own pocket when he saw that he was alone. Megumi soon came back with the shovel and he gladly took it from her hands as he busied himself with his plan. Sanosuke barely noticed that a few coins fell out of his pants' pocket.
Aoshi awoke to the sound of numerous squawking surrounding him, his eyes still not focused enough for him to realize where he was and he shook his head to clear up his vision. His eyes slowly came to converge and they widened as he looked at his surroundings.
Everywhere, there were seagulls, walking along the sand, flapping about, all so very close to him. Frowning, Aoshi tried to lift his arm to swat them away, only to find that it wouldn't budge. Looking down confusedly at where his arm would be, all Aoshi saw was sand. Even more confused, he gasped and strained as he tried to move his legs, but they didn't move at all either.
'Wait a second! Why are all the birds eye level with me?!' Aoshi thought in panic as he watched the birds again, and in realizing that one was actually taller than him, Aoshi gasped, 'Oh my god! They buried me! Those poor pathetic sons a bitches buried me!'
He became frantic as he struggled again from under all the heavy weight of the sand, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even move a single finger.
"Damn it!" Aoshi shouted out loud, succeeding in scaring off the flocks of seagulls around him and they all took off on their wings into the air. Seeing that they would no longer be around to bother him, Aoshi breathed a sigh of relief, "Phew! They're gone!"
But not even a second later, he felt something warm and gooey fall onto his head and Aoshi frowned in confusion at the goopy mush he felt slowly making it's way down his once clean strands of hair. Looking up at the sky, he gulped back his last amount of saliva he had in his parched mouth as he saw all the seagulls he had scared off hovering overhead, dropping down their little gifts for him for taking up their space.
"Aw, hell! Get away, you little fuckers! I'll get you for this as soon as I get outta here!" he shouted at them as he tried to move his arm again to reach for the log a few inches away and bat them off, but to no avail. "God damn it! Quit fucking shitting on me!" Aoshi felt another dropping hit him on the forehead and he sighed in defeat. Within moments, Aoshi Shinimori's entire head was covered in seagull crap, a frown on his face and a hopeless look in his eyes, his body buried up to the neck in the beach sand. And all the while, he muttered low under his breath, "I HATE the beach..."
A/N: Come on, you just knew all the couples were gonna get together in the end! You weren't worrying, were you? Hehe. Newayz, there's still Yahiko to deal with...
Yahiko: HEY! I RESENT THAT!
Me: I mean, there's still Yahiko to WRITE about... eheh... yeah... Leave a review and lemme know what you think, alright? Sorry for not updating fast enough, but I'm working on it!