Thanks again for all the reviews especially the ones that were constructively critical. They're the only way I'm going to improve my writing. But unfortunately my plot isn't so good which is true, so far I've just kind of been going with the flow. I had a whole plot outline but I haven't been following it at all. But I thought long and hard about this chapter so hopefully it won't be overly predictable. Oh and I changed chapter one a bit to give more reason as to why Kenshin just suddenly kissed Kaoru. Plus, I tried for longer more descriptive paragraphs. So, tell me what you think. Oh yeah, so what does OOC mean? I see it all the time but I can't quite figure it out. Oh and waff too, any help one those definition would be greatly appreciated.
Anyways, constructively flame away!
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Chapter 4
I Can't See a Thing but You
There wasn't a cloud in the sky that night. The moon shown brightly in full bloom lighting every in sight including Kenshin's now completely amber irises, they pierced through the night. Like a cat, he stalked the streets of Edo. Oh, was he ever angry.
I'm going to make that damn Arima wish he had never been born. I should never have let him get away so easily before. But it didn't matter; I'm going to make up for the lost time once I catch up to him. How dare he touch his beautiful koishii! Oh when I get my hands on him, I'm going to- going to. Gah, I'm so angry, I can't even think what I'm going to do but it's going to be something very painful. His eyes blazed at the thought.
Now, all he had to do was find him...
"Oro..."
Perhaps, I should have put more thought in that before running off so hastily that I should've... Dragging his feet, Kenshin walked to the nearest house and softly leaned his head against it. His now violet eyes reflected how his mood had now changed to sorrow. However was he going to find his koishii? He didn't care if she didn't love him back. So long as he could see her and be near her, that was all that mattered.
"Would you give me another god damn hit! I've had a really bad day."
That voice, Kenshin's eyes narrowed and their violet swirled into oblivion. Turning towards the voice, he noticed that he had been leaning against no house at all but one of the local bars. It was one of the higher class ones a place even Sano would rarely drop by for a drink.
"I think you had enough sir..." replied a meek little voice, most likely the bartender.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" retorted the familiar and fury inducing voice. "I am Arima Ichijoji, greatest-"he began cockily but before he could utter another word, Kenshin had him flying across the room.
"You should be more polite on other people's property that you should," the rurouni desperately tried to remain in control. There was no telling what the battosai would do with Kaoru missing and him being convince that Arima was the cause.
Ah! What are you doing? Screamed the battosai, resonating intensely in Kenshin's mind. This is the man responsible for the loss of Kaoru. We should be beating him to a bloody pulp not helping him with his manners!
And what would that accomplish? Kaoru obviously isn't with him. We won't be able to beat information out of him if he's unconscious or dead. And as for improving their manners, I'm sure the bartender would be more open to letting us take him if he thought we were trying to help him out.
Arima eyed the strange man with cross shaped scar and the fiery red hair. He was all sprawled out on the ground and in a very uncomfortable position but wasn't about to dare moving. After seeing what his woman could do, there was no telling what the little pipsqueak was capable of. So he laid there desperately trying not to move despite the incredibly painful way his foot somehow managed to dig into his back. What the hell is taking him so long? He's just standing there with a big stupid look on his face, as is he was having a heated conversation with himself… The bar was silent ... A young man seated at the second stool coughed ...
"That's it! I can't take this anymore!" Arima desperately tried for a more comfortable position but ended up just toppling over on to his side. Kenshin snapped out of his daze but the sight of the man he had earlier thought held Kaoru's attention more so than him keeling over on to his side just made him stare quizzically. Finally, Arima got to his feet. The sight of a now composed enemy reminded Kenshin of his lost Kaoru.
Grabbing Arima by his collar, he started to drag him out of the bar. Glancing towards the bartender, "I will teach this man some manners for you that I will." The shaky bartender was too dumbfounded to reply.
Once Kenshin had dragged Arima completely out of the bar he threw him onto the cold, hard, dirty ground.
Grimacing at the way the dirt penetrated his brand new hakama, the thought of brushing it away crossed Arima's mind but quickly disappeared at the sight of the small samurai drawing his sword and then flipping it. Great, now I'm going to die.
"Come on now..." Arima squeaked, "there's no need to go rushing into anything here-"
"Shut up," Kenshin snapped. Arima was silent except for a faint whimper responding to Kenshin's constant and deadly glare. "Now," Kenshin almost growled moving the tip of his sword so that it was in contact with Arima's soft and so very fragile neck, "tell me what you have done with Kaoru-dono."
That brute? Arima even didn't want to give a second thought to her tonight.
"Well, you see," he began lowering his face in shame. "It's kind of a long story…" Kenshin waited for Arima to begin this long story of his to no avail, soon enough his impatience caught up with him.
"Then tell it!"
"Alright, alright, after I left, I just couldn't bring myself to leave my sweet flowe-"Growling, Kenshin applied more pressure to his blade. "Err- I mean her. So I wandered around the block for a little while and when I returned, I spotted you and that tall man with the spiky hair man on the roof talking. Curious as to why you weren't inside with um Kaoru-dono I decided to eavesdrop and I overheard how you had rejected my ra- I mean Kaoru."
What? Desert Kaoru, he would never do that. She obviously wanted him to leave. Was everyone blind but him?
Noticing that Kenshin was starting to space out again, Arima decided that this was probably going to be his last chance for survival tonight. Slowly, he inched away from Kenshin's blade. What a weirdo. After his girlfriend or should I say x or never girlfriend, who he won't have but refuses to share, after she kicked the crap out of him, he's now going to do it too. Except of course, his "girlfriend" didn't have a sword…
Dammit, he was doing it again. How come whenever Kaoru popped into his head, which was often, he seemed to forget about everything else? Returning his attention to Arima, he realized that he was slowly trying to inch away. Irritated, Kenshin moved his sword so it was back at Arima's neck who froze. "Continue," he barked.
"As I was saying," Arima desperately tried to retain his composure. Honestly, men of his class weren't made out for this sort of rough-housing. "I listened to you two discussing the way she was now in there alone and hurt." Kenshin increased the intensity of his glare, if that was possible. "And um, so naturally I went over to one of the windows and peeped in and to my great luck, there was sleeping like a baby, an incredibly sexy ba-" Pressing his blade a little harder against his neck, "Erm," Arima squirmed a bit but Kenshin's blade followed his movements. He continued trying to escape it's dull but constant pain but to no luck. Finally he could no longer take it. "You're hurting me!" he whined. "How am I supp-"
"Well then I guess you should have left Kaoru alone!" he snarled, eyes flashing amber while giving Arima one of the scariest faces he had ever seen in his life. But the rurouni fought it back, "... That you should have." He calmed down slightly.
Arima was really scared now. "Yes, sir," he peeped. "Um, well when I looked in, I also saw some little kid and that foxy lady who was throwing the party."
Great, thought Kenshin, did this man love every woman he saw.
"Well I couldn't very well go after her when they were around. So I waited till they left and when they did, I crept to her and whisked her away, checking first to make sure you and that chicken-man were gone. Then when we were a good five minutes away, I laid her down by a tree, thinking I had this all wrapped around my finger." He sighed. "I thought for sure that her self-esteem would be so shot that she'd be up for anything."
Kenshin wasn't too happy about the last comment but his eagerness to hear the rest of Arima's story stopped him from showing any signs of his irritation other than an eye-twitch.
"So, I began waking her. It seemed like I shook her for hours but eventually she opened her eyes and then," he sighed.
"And then?" Kenshin questioned eagerly.
"She-she..."
"She?" Kenshin was going crazy waiting for his reply. What if, what if Kaoru had allowed this man to- to touch her? That would explain why she wasn't here right now. She would have just left afterwards and he would've let her because he'd just see her again later. And that would also explain why he kept calling her such ridiculous names. Kenshin would've kept on pondering for hours but his thoughts were cut short.
"She- she woke up and kicked the crap out of me again…"
"Oro!" Kenshin was so shocked that he toppled right over. In relief, he glanced towards Arima who was cowering in shame. He smiled but reminded himself that this did not mean that by any means Kaoru was his. In fact, this meant that he still had no idea where she was though it was some comfort that she wasn't locked away somewhere by this man. "So, where did Kaoru-dono go after sh- wards, afterwards." Kenshin tried his best to sound serious. Come to think of it, Arima did look pretty beaten up but Kenshin had just assumed that it was from earlier.
"How am I suppose to know?!" Arima squealed. "I could barely stand and was scared shitless. I certainly wasn't interested in where she was going, I just wanted to get the hell away from her!"
"I thank you for the information you've afforded me that I do," Kenshin replied, flashing him one of his famous smiles which disappeared as quickly as it had appeared when he added, "But if you ever go near Kaoru-dono again, I will not forgive you so quickly that I will not."
"Don't worry," Arima thought it best that he should keep his other comments about Kaoru to himself. Sure she was beautiful, but was she ever violent! "Wait," Kenshin turn his head but continued walking. "Can I ask you one question?"
"Ask as many questions as you like but I can't guarantee that I'll answer them."
"Um, I'll that as a yes…" Increasing his volume, Kenshin was getting a little too far away, he continued. "Why won't you have Kaoru?" Kenshin stopped. "I mean she's a bit violent but you seem like you can handle her and she's so very beautiful and is quite obviously very in love with you and after hearing the conversation you had with the chicken you seem to love her too."
Odd, even he seems to think that Kaoru was in love with me. What did that make now? Arima, Sano and battosai: three people. Perhaps he was missing something...
"You have interpreted things wrong, Kaoru-dono has no interest in this unworthy one that she does not."
"If you keep telling yourself that," Arima hastily continued, "eventually someone's going to come and steal her heart away, if not me-" big glare from Kenshin, "Err, just joking. But she's not going to wait around for you to come your senses forever!" Kenshin started walking away. "Pretty girls like that don't deserve to be so miserable!"
Pff, this guy was so vain. I don't love Kaoru for her looks, I love for her heart. Kaoru would never have been happy with this guy. And with that Kenshin disappeared into the night.
To be continued...
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Okay, I lied. I still just went with the flow with this chapter. But it's hard to control the plot once you've started a story. I'll try for a better plot next fanfic. And speaking of my next fanfic, I was thinking of doing a Seta Soujiro one. And I was just curious as to if anyone knew how old Seta was when Shishio found him and what the name of the town he lived in was called.