Dementedchris: Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. They're really helpful and I really try to consider each one. Archery will not be up till a couple more chapters. Soujiro's gonna be in this chapter =)
Omochi: Isn't Saito adorable??? Haha, I think he's so cool, I like Saito a lot, hihi.
SAGE: Your questions are definitely onto something. That's all I'm going to say! No spoilers here..hehe.
Lady Lightningblade: The fine wine and Godiva chocolate in your review made me laugh. LOL.
MaraJadeblu: Really? Last chapter's grammar was great?? I'm so happy, I was kinda waiting for you to say something about the grammar, lol. Don't get me wrong, you weren't being harsh at all! It actually helps me make the next chapter better.
Thanks sync*in, Tan Kimiko, Gypsy-chan, chibigreenwizardmon, selene, Kashke, and Shin-chan for your encouraging reviews.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. This fic is entirely fictional and Japan did not have a Project Messiah nor a Mission Messiah as far as I know. The makers of Weiss Kreuz own the song 'Other Side of the Moon'. I'm just borrowing it as the fic's title.
Other Side of the Moon
The Sudden Chilliness
Chapter 8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In spite of everything,
I still believe that people are really good at heart.
-----Anne Frank, Diary of Anne Frank, 1944
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"As I was saying, before I was RUDELY interrupted by weasel girl over here," Sano spoke aloud, getting on Misao's nerves even better.
"What did you say rooster head??" Misao burst, but this time Sano ignored her and continued.
"I have three extra tickets to the upcoming huge game this weekend, and take note, tickets are already sold out."
"Wow, Sano, however did you get your hands on those?" Kenshin tilted his head to properly read the tickets on Sano's hand. "And they're not just 'extra tickets.' These are tickets for the lower box seats!"
"Yup, you read it right! I got these tickets from someone," Sano answered with a wink.
"Oro? Fujima-san?"
"Correct!" affirmed Sano.
"What? You mean you took advantage of the poor girl? I still think she has this virus or something for liking you so much," Misao said.
"I'm sorry but I do not follow. Who's Fujima-san?"
"Fujima-san is a very rich junior student who has been very fond of Sano for quite sometime now," Kenshin filled in Ryo.
"I didn't take advantage or anything! I just thought it would be nice if I go out with her just this once."
"Yeah, and those tickets surely didn't serve as a bribe or anything," Misao said sarcastically.
"Aww..come one. Do you think I'll actually go out with someone if I didn't like her at all? This Tae Kwon Do Club President will not be controlled and pushed around with a mere handful of box seat tickets! I thought you would like it if you can watch the game with us."
"I can't, I promised Gramps that I'll help around this weekend. I can't leave, sorry Sano."
"How about you Kenshin, Ryo?"
"Sounds good to me," Kenshin approved.
"Ah, I'm pretty sure I can go. I think," 'This is getting embarrassing. I'm always the only one who has to ask for permission every time I go out. Soon, they'll think Ryo's such a wimp.' Kaoru thought miserably.
"Great!!!!" Sano exclaimed catching a lot of the students' attention.
**
"Over here Ryo! We thought you'll never come."
"Sorry for being late."
"No problem. We kinda expected this anyway. By the way, I think you haven't met Akiko. Akiko this is Hirameshi Ryo. Ryo, Fujima Akiko."
Ryo extended his hand and shook Akiko's while he greeted her, "It's a pleasure to meet you Fujima-san, and thank you for the tickets."
"Nice to meet you too, and about the tickets, you're very welcome," the girl answered sweetly.
'Sano must really have the charms. This girl is so pretty! Not to mention, well mannered, graceful and polite, or maybe she just has the virus like Misao said.' Kaoru thought before saying hi to Kenshin. "Hey Kenshin, what's up?"
"Same as usual. I think we better go in already, the game's beginning in twenty minutes."
Just as they were getting settled on their seats, a couple of guys walked toward their place.
"Hey Akiko! I didn't expect that we'll meet here!" shouted one of the guys.
"Hi Makoto! Hi Toshiro" greeted Akiko.
When the two men reached their area, Akiko initiated the introductions.
"Guys, I'd like you to meet my cousin Makoto and his friend Toshiro," Akiko started, which was followed by a shake of hands between the two groups.
"Pleased to meet you," Kenshin said whenever he shook hands.
"Makoto, Toshiro, this is Sano, Kenshin and Ryo," continued Akiko.
Makoto's attention was caught when Akiko introduced Ryo, "Hey, do you have a sister by any chance named Ogata Ume?"
Ryo shook his head almost defensively.
"How about a relative?" Makoto hopefully probed some more.
'Mou! What is Makoto doing here? And out of the billion people in the world, why does he have to be Akiko's cousin?? And how the hell did he recognize me? Just when did men became such observant people??'
Kaoru was miraculously saved from her overloading mind with Toshiro's apology.
"Excuse Makoto here. Actually, ignore him," Toshiro said.
"Hey!!" protested Makoto.
Toshiro ignored his companion and proceeded with his explanation, "Makoto sees Ume's face wherever he goes."
"Why who's this Ume and where is she now?" Akiko curiously inquired.
"She's a former schoolmate which Makoto has a huge crush on," Toshiro answered.
Toshiro continued, oblivious to the slight pinkish hue on Kaoru's cheeks, "But then this school year, she transferred to another school, I think. She's not studying at our school anymore."
"Err, sorry about that Ryo. I don't know what came over me. For a second, your eyes just reminded me of Ume. What's even weird is that she doesn't even have the same color of eyes as yours," Makoto apologized, while he scratched the back of his head. He also had a slight color on his cheeks probably because of Toshiro's revelation and his sudden impulse to ask Ryo too.
"It's ok," assured Ryo.
"Yatta!" shouted Sano as the first point of the game was made.
Makoto and Toshiro headed back to their seats, while everyone started to focus on the game.
**
"What a great game!" exclaimed Sano
"Yeah it was! Thanks again Fujima-san," thanked Kenshin.
"Stop thanking me, because it's getting annoying," Akiko said sweetly. "Can you please excuse me for a while, I have to use the powder room."
"Sure. Take your time. We'll wait right here," Sano answered.
Once Akiko was out of sight, Sano spoke to the other guys. "Can you guys offer to leave already once she comes back?"
"Oro? What do you mean?"
"I mean Kenshin, I want some private time with Akiko now that the game's over." Sano explained but became only more frustrated with the clueless look Kenshin continued to exhibit.
"Do me a favor Ryo, just take this 'oro friend' or ours away, ok?" Sano asked, terribly hoping Ryo was not the least like the clueless red head over there. Luckily he wasn't.
"Sure. No problem," Ryo answered just as she spotted Akiko heading towards their direction, "Here she comes."
"Sorry if took a long time," Akiko apologized.
"No need to apologize, it was alright. We had a great time today. We really don't want it to end anytime soon however, Kenshin and I really need to go now."
"Aww..do you have too? Too bad," Akiko answered with a sincere disappointment in her face.
"Yes I know. Maybe we can do this another time?"
"Sure, that would be lovely."
"Well, see you around. Enjoy the rest of the evening."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Where do you want to go now Kenshin?"
"Maybe we can go hang out in my place, if it's ok with you," Kenshin asked.
"Sure," agreed Ryo.
"Great."
**
"Come in," Kenshin said as he flicked the light switch beside the door. The lights opened instantly and revealed a cozy average-sized home, which was simply decorated but was kept quite well.
"Nice home you have," Ryo complimented as his eyes wandered around the house.
"Thanks. Shishou decorated it, but I'm the one who does most of the cleaning and maintaining."
"Shishou?" asked a confused Ryo.
"Yes, that's what I call my uncle. Remember I live with my uncle?"
"Right," recalled Ryo.
"He's the one who taught me kendo. I've called him Shishou ever since."
"I see. Is he home?"
"Nope. He's out of town. So what do you want to do? Hmm.. I know, I just bought Grand Theft Auto 3, wanna play for awhile?"
"Sure!" Ryo replied rather excitedly.
"Ok, the console's in my room. It's upstairs, the first door you see to your right. Why don't you go ahead, while I get some chips and soda in the kitchen," Kenshin instructed and pointed a couple of places before he proceeded to the kitchen.
Ryo did as he was told, entering the first door to his right. Surprisingly, the room was well organized. The bed, which was pushed against the wall, had its sheets neatly arranged. The books were lined up in a small shelf. In one of the corners stood a desk with a computer on it, opposite of which was the television with a VCR and PS2 console stacked in the lower shelf of the TV stand.
'I always thought a guy's room was pretty messy, I guess it depends on which guy.'
Kaoru walked towards the TV stand and found a stack of video games piled under it. 'Let's see, Grand Theft Auto he said.' Kaoru recalled, as she browsed through the games Kenshin owned. 'Tekken Tag!' Kaoru eagerly popped the CD out of the case and loaded the console with the CD.
"I think we ran out of chips so I just popped some popcorn in the microwave, if that's ok with you," Kenshin spoke aloud as he ascended the stairs with a bucket of popcorn and two cans of soda. "I see you found the games."
"Yes I did, but I chose Tekken Tag, is that ok?"
"Yurrp, I didn't now you liked that better," Kenshin assured as he munched on the popcorn.
"I like it better than GTA. Wanna play with me?"
"Sure."
"Ok, Mr. Himura get ready to lose!" Ryo proclaimed, and so the Tekken marathon began.
**
"I didn't know you were a pro Ryo," Kenshin commented after losing most of the night.
"Hehe, not really. I can't believe I'm still good at it, I haven't played for quite sometime."
"Well, you were. I didn't know that Chinese girl could be so deadly, I haven't played with someone who always chooses that girl, so I've never really seen what she can do."
'That's probably because you always play with Sano or some guy. They always choose the mean looking characters. The main reason I choose Xiaoyu is because she looks so cute!' Kaoru thought to herself. 'Wait a sec, was that a not-so-smart move? Will he suspect something?' "Well, you should try every character you know," Ryo remarked.
"Hai, you're right. I will," agreed Kenshin.
"It's late Kenshin, I better go," Ryo said as he motioned to walk through the door.
"Do you want me to walk you?" offered Kenshin.
'Is this guy kidding? Do guys walk their friends home? Is this guy hitting on me??? Nah, that's impossible I'm a Ryo. Is Kenshin gay???? o.O;; NOOOO!!' "No thanks. I think I can manage to find my house," Ryo declined.
"Oh alright. See you in school."
"Bye."
**
'Did his voice actually had a worried tone?' Kaoru continued to plague her mind with questions as she followed the path home.
"Ryo…"
'Is Kenshin worried about me walking alone at night?' she asked some more.
"Ryo!"
' What is he getting at?' a frustrated Kaoru thought.
"Kaoru!"
Kaoru quickly turned around once she snapped out of her reverie and finally heard the man who had been calling out her name for the past 30 seconds.
"You almost gave me a heart attack Soujiro!! Don't ever do that to me!"
"Do what? I called your name thrice already. You didn't even hear a thing till the last call. What's eating you up?"
"Oh nothing," Kaoru denied poorly.
"Oh yes, I'm sure it was nothing, except for a certain red haired classmate who you just spent most of the evening with," Soujiro said sarcastically, immensely teasing Kaoru at the same time.
"I was not! Do not tell me you were watching us the whole time!"
"Whoever said I couldn't?" Soujiro answered mischievously.
"Sou-chan!"
"What? Did you expect me to leave you alone with a man you barely knew? I don't think so, Ryo-chan." 'Now that just sounded weird.' Soujiro ended with a thought.
"This is Kenshin, not some stranger!"
"How much do you actually know him, Ryo?"
"I… ah… I... umm..." Kaoru froze for a moment once Soujiro's question registered in her mind.
'How much do I actually know Kenshin?' Kaoru repeated in her head.
'I know he lives with his uncle, practices kendo, does relatively well in school, umm... ummm... says oro all the time, does that even count? Mou…. How much do I know Kenshin?'
'I do not know Kenshin much at all. Not at all.'
A/n: If my memory serves me right, Fujima Akiko was the first Asian Ms. Universe Pageant winner. So, I do not own her, I'm just borrowing the name. I was originally thinking of using the name Akiko after the late empress of Japan, but I didn't have a surname. Then I ran into Fujima Akiko, so I used that name. Oki?
Sorry for the Sano/Megumi fans. I'll work something up later.
Short again?? Gomen, don't kill me. Teehee, at least the update was faster, neh?
To make up for my short chapters, here's a little hint and a sneak preview on Chapter 9:
"Just when I almost forgot who I really am, there just has to be a new assignment. Guess I have to hold my katana once again."
Kenshin, Sano and Misao's characters are FINALLY developed.
That's all for now. Please review. Thanks.
