Author's Notes: I'm here a little late, but can't be helped due to academics... Unfortunately I failed a major exam :( and I needed time to recover... Well, not much to say. Please read the story first then check out the actual notes at the bottom of the page. But at this point in time, I can say, that there might be many more chapters to come... ^_^


Night Sky
by: Ezra
Standard disclaimers apply.


Chapter 3: Reality Bites


Kaoru patiently waited by the entrance of the commerce department for her cousin to finish class. He had promised to drive her home every day after his, which was only an hour after hers ended. Kaoru mentally noted about how kind he had become since four years ago, after the incident... Although, she had to admit, even though he spoke to Kenshin less, it hadn't ceased his and Misao's midnight phone calls.

She shook her head, smiling a bit. The events of four years ago were still pretty painful for her, and she wasn't willing to tell anyone about them yet. Shura had asked her about it some hours ago, but Kaoru had not spoken a word. The former respected her privacy and politely added that if Kaoru would be wanting someone to listen, she'd always be there. Kaoru smiled. Shura was a wonderful friend, and still is until now. If she hadn't met her, God knows what would've happened to her over the past four years.

Finally the bell rang, and out came the juniors. Kaoru looked around for any possible sign of her cousin, and she didn't have to look that far. There, towering over the other juniors, was her cousin Shinomori Aoshi, looking very confident and dignified in his favorite navy-blue shirt snug fitly around his body. When Aoshi saw her, he approached her and wound an arm around her shoulder.

"Nice abs," Kaoru greeted, smiling.

"Domo," was all her older cousin replied, steering her towards his car amidst the jealous feminine faces around them.

"How was class?" Kaoru asked, trying to start a conversation. "Teacher okay?"

"Old, but okay," Aoshi answered, digging the keys from his pocket. "I think he'll be handling the freshmen too, so I can give you a few tips."

"Arigato ni-chan," she said, hopping into the front seat of his four-wheeler.

Ni-chan, Aoshi thought. I've missed that pet name.

Kaoru never had an older brother. All she had was a bratty kid bro named Yahiko who always got on her nerves by calling her names.

"I wished for an older brother," Kaoru had told him some years ago. "I wanted Yahiko to be born before me, but it happened the other way around."

"Why do you want one?" Aoshi had asked.

"Well, my other friends tell me it's nice to have one," she replied. "I envy them. I see their brothers getting over-protective when guys come around, help them with their homework, pick them up from school and drive them to the malls, things like that."

"So you want a slave?"

"Of course not!" Kaoru retaliated, a small blush staining her cheeks. "Well, maybe, I want one, but there's Yahiko anyway."

"If you want one," Aoshi said, "just call me."

Kaoru looked up, her eyes gleaming in happiness.

"You're always so nice Aoshi. It's like, you're more than a cousin."

"Well if I'm going to be your older brother, figuratively of course, I have to be nice," he spoke.

"Is it alright if I call you 'ni-chan?"

"Well I am your older brother..."

"Arigatou!"

"You actually haven't told me all the details of four years ago," he said, turning on the engine.

Kaoru was quiet, and Aoshi drove out of the parking lot.

"Kaoru, it's been four years. And seeing him again, you've got to be prepared. And as your ni-chan, I want to help you, but I can't if you're being so distant," Aoshi gently chided. "Now, tell me. We can drop by a cafe if you want."

"It's a long story," Kaoru finally spoke.

"It's only 1:00 pm, and I haven't had my lunch. Curfew for you, I understand, is 7:00 pm, so we have at least 6 hours. I believe it's long enough," he said.

Kaoru nodded, and Aoshi turned the wheel to the mall's direction.

***

"Tadaima!" Megumi greeted, setting her bag on the chair by the window. "How was orientation for you?"

"Fine," Misao replied, ducking for cover under her pillow to hide the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Misao-chan, you shouldn't cover your face with a pillow. You know you can't breathe well like that," the other girl commented, walking to the bathroom to wash her face.

"I'm fine," Misao mumbled, her words very much muffled for Megumi to hear.

Back in the bathroom, Megumi pressed her back against the bathroom's tiled wall. A slight chill crept up her spine as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The day's events had most certainly been unexpected, and she silently thanked herself for keeping her poise and cool althroughout the day. Now alone, she felt her heart beat fast, taking in deep breaths to steady it.

She was back, the one girl she had tried to get rid of for the past four years. She had been successful, but not for long. She knew Kaoru was bent on getting in the same university as she was, and the both of them had done their best to get into it. It was pretty much expected of Megumi, but Kaoru had outdone herself. She graduated from high school number 2 in the list, with a stack of scholarship invitations from a variety of schools.

But she was Kaoru, capable of anything just as long as she set her mind and heart to it. She was Kaoru, the girl who put her heart and soul into what she considered worthwhile. She was Kaoru, the girl whom Kenshin held in his heart for the longest time, even until now. At this thought, Megumi let a tear slide down her cheek. All the while, she wanted to make Kenshin see she was the better of them, the one truly made for him. She had liked him ever since they met as children at a party at Kenshin's home. Their mothers were friends, though not as close as Kaoru's mom, Kumiko, and Kenshin's mom, Sayako, were. Kumiko and Sayako, much like their kids, were inseparable, and her mother was desperately trying to fit herself in whenever the two were together.

Megumi hated the fact that she was like her mother, always vying for attention with the people she wanted to be friends with the most. Kenshin, during their youth, was too engrossed with Kaoru, that Megumi had almost wrecked her brains trying to figure out how to make him notice her. Opportunity came when he began mingling with the wrong friends. All she had to do was feed the evil growing in him, and he would be hers.

At this Megumi fell to her knees and shook her head. She was wrong. She had been wrong. In steering Kenshin to the wrong side, she had risked her friendship with Kaoru and Kenshin's welfare. Her tears fell steadily as unbidden thoughts of the past flashed through her mind, making her all the more regret what she had done.

***

"And that's it," Kaoru finished, taking a sip from her coffee. "That's the whole story."

Aoshi frowned a little and continued to eat his burger. Kaoru fidgeted in the silence.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Kaoru finally spoke up.

"What am I supposed to say?" Aoshi responded nonchalantly.

"Something like, 'Oh, so it was like that', or something," Kaoru muttered. "I hate it when you're quiet."

"Oh, so it was like that," Aoshi said, fishing for something in his pocket.

"Mou! Since when have you become sarcastic?"

"I wasn't sarcastic," Aoshi replied. "I was just being nice."

Kaoru merely raised an eyebrow, prompting Aoshi to make some sense.

"I honestly think that you didn't make a good choice," he spoke, placing his keys on the table.

His cousin blinked in surprise. Up to now she had believed she had made the best choice by choosing not to speak to any of her old friends. And by old friends that meant Sano and Misao, even though they didn't have much to do with her little conflict with Kenshin and Megumi. Kaoru's pride began to hurt. She frowned at her cousin, signaling him to elaborate.

"It's not that I'm favoring Misao because we're, um, close, but why'd you have to stop speaking to her and Sano?" Aoshi asked. "They didn't directly hurt you anyway."

"That's the point," Kaoru replied. "They did it indirectly."

"But unintentionally."

"Still they did."

"It's unfair."

Kaoru cocked a brow.

"Look, you're acting like a child," Aoshi remarked.

"Me? Like a child?" she shot back with indignation. "Aoshi, I happen to pride myself as the most mature in our circle!"

"Which is what has been feeding your ego for the past four years," Aoshi answered. "You've grown up too fast Kaoru."

There, he stood up and started walking towards the door of the cafe. Kaoru remained seated, frozen to her place, lost in thought. Aoshi had to tap her on the shoulder to snap her out of her reverie. But she remained perfectly silent as he drove her to the fairly large house in the city's more private districts, and so she remained until a few days after. If she were mature as she claimed, he thought, she would start forgiving them and try healing old wounds. But if she weren't, then he would just have to give her another lecture. After all, he was technically her older brother, wasn't he?

***

"Misao-chan, I want to talk to you," Megumi called from inside the bathroom.

"Nande?" came the soft response.

"About four years ago," Megumi said. "About what happened in between."

At this Misao retreated from the refuge of her pillow and curled into a tight ball.

"I'm listening," she whispered, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She closed her eyes.

Megumi emerged from the bathroom, her cheeks slightly pink, and sat on Misao's bed. Closing her eyes as well, she lay down next to Misao, also curling into a tight ball.

"I don't know how to start," she spoke. "I'm sure you've got the general view of it, but I'm not sure you know the nit-picky details... Do you?"

Misao shook her head.

"It's going to be a long story," Megumi breathed.

"We've got all night," was the reply.

Megumi sighed, bracing herself emotionally.


End of Chapter 3. To be continued!


AN: Cliffhanger yet again. So sorry about that. ^_^ But I'd like to explain a few points here, which I'm sure you might need as the story goes along. The whole point of this story is how these old friends reconcile. Only after then, I firmly believe, that a relationship between Kenshin and Kaoru can fully bloom. The story will lead on to that point, and most probably end somewhere there. Unfortunately I can't say anything more, since I'm going to give away some things. ^_^

I'm also going to do justice to Megumi, since she's been taken very badly in the past two chapters. Part of my justice is sort of bringing out some negativities in Kaoru's end. We need some equilibrium here, and a little of the negative side won't hurt. ^_^ In the next parts I hope to show the softer side of her. Megumi isn't a hateful character, and I apologize to all Megumi fans if this story made it seem that way. It's just that in my story, she's a teenager playing on others' insecurities because she was afraid to face her own. And so, the next chapter will be devoted to clearing her name, I promise that!

Kenshin's side of the story... Well, that'd probably come at a later date. But I'm taking great care not to let this story drag. After reading half of a long, tedious novel, (with an extremely weird plot) I told myself that I would never write like it's author! Believe me, she writes one sentence to begin a paragraph and after three pages, it's still a single paragraph talking about the same sentence. Anyone heard of Isabella Allende's "House of the Spirits"? That's the book I'm talking about. I wouldn't even dare touching it if we didn't need it for school.

And thank you to all the wonderful reviewers! ^_^ Funny how you got the deeper side of the story than I did. ^_^ Sorry I don't have any individual responses, but I'll work on that in the next chapter. Hehehe. ^_^ I do hope that you like the story, and please keep the reviews coming. Constructive criticism is very much welcome! ^_^