Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and its characters for they rightfully belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki-sensei. I have issued my affidavit so don't sue me. I'm painfully young.

Author's greetings: Hiya all! Sorry for not updating sooner. I guess it's already been two and a half months, ne? The past few months had been unbelievably busy. So forgive me. Thank you or whatever. Read on and please enjoy. And please kindly por favor onegai palihog review!

Rating: PG (may fluctuate)

Love Me As Who I Really Am

Chapter V: Getting To Know You

"Why in the world did I even let her go back there?" Misao muttered as she stared down at her reflection from her cup of coffee. "What was I? Insane?"

An hour and a half has passed after Kaoru left for the club. After leaving a note for Yahiko that Kaoru has left already and that she'd be going out for a cup of coffee (also adding that he could eat Kaoru's and her shares of the Chinese food), Misao went out for a breath of fresh air. She finally ended up in this coffee bar.

"Let me see. men! I even helped her get ready! If anything happens to her tonight, it's all gonna be my fault. Ughhh!!" She was so mad that she bumped her head down on her table on purpose. Her coffee spilled from her cup dirtily.

A waiter approached her tentatively. "Uh. are you okay, miss?" He asked with all the best intentions.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU!" Misao suddenly exploded, standing and rolling her sleeves up. "WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!" Her eyes narrowed to such tiny slits that it was almost impossible for her to see and her fangs showed as she challenged the shocked waiter.

"Sure. sure! I'll leave you, uh, now! I-I'm sorry.!" The waiter stammered as he hurried back to his boss, apparently frightened.

Misao growled once again as she sat back down angrily. *Some people just can't give other people privacy. * She told herself as she brought the cup up to her lips and took a sip. *Maybe that waiter just can't restrain himself from being worried over someone as beautiful as I am. Nonetheless. I DON'T KNOW HIM! * Her brain screamed. She began pondering once again on what would probably happen to Kaoru tonight. Negative pondering.

Suddenly, the door opened and a guy walked in. The girl at the counter froze as she stared at the strikingly good-looking man walking towards an empty table. The girl quickly signaled one of the available waiters to serve the newcomer.

Misao was still deep in thought and didn't realize the man sit at the table beside hers for she was still staring down at her cup of coffee blankly like a nut head.

"What would it be, Mr. Shinomori?" The waiter asked Aoshi, cracking on his gum lazily and holding a pen and paper.

"No sugar. Brewed. Move it." Aoshi replied bluntly, not even giving the guy one look.

The waiter was taken a back at Aoshi's coldness but recovered. "Sure. In a minute."

Aoshi sighed as he glanced around warily. All of a sudden, something caught his eye. Or rather, somebody caught his eye. T'was the girl from Oishii Restaurant.

*The cute one with the braided hair. No. the attractive one with the braided hair. * He shook his head at what entered his brain. Nevertheless, she's just a girl. A girl sitting at the table next to his.

The waiter walked towards his table and placed a mug before him a few moments later. "Here you go, sir." He said cheerfully.

Aoshi nodded at his direction absent-mindedly, staring at the dark fluid swimming inside the mug.

The waiter shuddered as he slowly tried to walk past between Aoshi's and Misao's tables. *The Ice King and the War Princess. * He thought. He carefully slid past them both. Unfortunately, his right thigh brushed against Misao's left leg.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH ME, SHRIMP!" She suddenly screamed, standing up and taking the guy by the neck. "DON'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO THINK HERE?!" "I-I'm sorry.! It was an accident!" The waiter struggled to free himself from Misao's death-grip. "Please! I'M TO YOUNG TO DIE!" He pleaded nervously as Misao's grip tightened.

"Fine!" She said as she removed her hand and watched the waiter take in air. "JUST STOP BUGGING ME!" She screamed with her hands on her hips, feeling everybody's eyes on her.

"Ye-yes, ma'am!" The waiter replied, scared as he turned and fled.

She sat down huffily and glared back at the people staring weirdly at her.

But there was one person not looking at her. It was the gorgeous guy with the ice blue eyes from that day's lunch. And he was sitting right next to her table.

"Hey." She said, hoping to catch his attention.

The guy slowly turned his head to her direction and stared at her with that same stoic expression, looking quite uninterested.

"Well." She began. *Now what am I going to say?! This is soooo very embarrassing! * "Well. I think I saw you somewhere." She said. She almost slapped her face. *That was DEFINITELY dumb! *

"Oishii Restaurant." The man replied, expression remaining blank.

"Oh now, I remember!" Misao beamed. "By the way, I'm Misao Makimachi." She reached out her hand, hoping for a handshake.

Too bad. The guy doesn't like handshakes.

"Aoshi Shinomori." He stated as he brought the mug to his lips. But he still did not take her hand and shake it.

She withdrew her hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Soooo. ooo-kay. You don't like handshakes." She observed. "Anyways, your name sounds Japanese. Are you Japanese?" Misao asked, desperately hoping to start a conversation.

"My grandparents came here at the start of the World War II." He answered.

Misao beamed. "Wow! So I guess our family histories are kind of similar. Don't you think it's quite a similarity?"

Aoshi shook his head. "Not exactly."

Silence finally took over. It lasted for several seconds and Misao was really desperate to start a conversation. A real LONG one. She scrutinized his face curiously.

"You've got nice blue eyes." She finally blurted out.

No answer. She suddenly saw something glinting beneath his polo shirt. A gun? She decided to ignore it.

"Did you know that your polo shirt matched the blackness of your hair?" She continued.

Still no answer.

Misao was starting to get really annoyed. She took a deep breath, trying to control herself.

"Have you ever tried talking to a corpse?" She asked him, right eyebrow raised.

Aoshi turned to his face to her direction, wearing that same blank expression but his eyes were questioning. "I'll try next time."

The right corner of her mouth twitched up. "You know, it's EXTREMELY boring."

"So I'm boring." He answered. "You said so."

"Well, not exactly. But if you'll just talk to me for a sec, then maybe I'll change my mind." She challenged.

*Clever girl. * Aoshi thought. He stood up, gulping the remaining contents of his mug. "I gotta go." He said. "Nice meeting you, Miss Makimachi." He started towards the door.

"Hoping to see you soon." Misao called after him.

He stopped. "Don't count on it."

Misao sat back, grinning. *Ohh. I'll count on it. You'll see * She looked up to the wall clock. *Oops! Gotta go back home too. I've got class tomorrow! *

She grabbed her handbag and stood up. She immediately paid for her coffee when something hit her. *Aoshi didn't pay for his coffee. * She grinned. *Yeah. I'll surely see him again. * She told herself as she took a cab and drove back home.

*I wonder what Kaoru's doing at the moment? *



@@@

"I have a feeling you're letting me win." Kaoru mumbled as she made her winning move; she placed the queen on the square right in front of Kenshin's king, giving him no place to move into. She grinned. "Checkmate."

Kenshin and Kaoru arrived at his apartment fifteen minutes ago. She was so quiet. until Kenshin took out his chessboard and they began playing.

"You're good." He stated as he analyzed the chess pieces, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He looked up and smiled at her. "I've never concentrated this much on a chess tournament before."

"Should I take that as a compliment?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin smiled adorably once again, closing his eyes in the process. "I guess so."

"I'm not that good." She said, clasping her hands on her lap. "It's just my luck this time."

"Maybe." He replied as he began tossing each piece into the overturned chessboard. "Maybe not." He placed the chessboard inside the storage box.

Kaoru blushed.

"Oro! Miss Kamiya, your face got red all of a sudden." Kenshin commented. "Are you feeling okay?"

Talk about mood breaker.

Kaoru felt herself heating up as each second passed. *This guy is--- is. INSENSITIVE! * Her brain screamed. "I'm fine." She spat out, angrily trying to calm herself down. "Just fine." *Can't he see I'm just uncomfortable? *

Kenshin stood up and walked around the low cabinet, which separated the living room from the dining room, and into the kitchen. "I guess you haven't eaten yet?" He opened the refrigerator and began searching for something edible.

"Well, I, uh, kinda forgot to, uh, eat." She stammered as she stood up. "But please. Don't worry over my account." She said, all in a rush.

"Nonsense." He took something from the cupboard. A menu or something. "Do you want egg rolls?" He asked, glancing at the menu in his hand. "Noodles? Chow fun is always fun. I could go out and pick up some Chinese food if you want."

Kaoru shook her head. "No really, I'm fine."

Kenshin stared at her intently. "You have to eat too. Please don't tell me you're on diet."

She burst out laughing. "I am NOT on diet. Okay, peanut butter sandwich is fine."

He smiled. "Okay."

A few minutes later, both were seated on the sofa comfortably, with a glass of juice and a peanut butter sandwich for each.

"Thanks a lot, Mr. Himura." Kaoru began as she took a bite from her sandwich.

"Please call me Kenshin. Actually, there's no need to thank me. I made a promise to someone that I'd keep you safe." He told her.

She almost choked. "You promised what? I mean, to whom?"

"Soujiro."

"But - but how'd you two meet? I mean,where? When?" She frantically searched for the answers on the face of this man who said 'he'd protect her'. "Why?"

He smiled at her. "Well, we met accidentally and since I saw him with you. I felt like I should have his acquaintance, too. Then he told me what you were doing and he made me swear that well. I won't let anyone. touch you." He brought his hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

In mere seconds, Kaoru was shaking him almost, if not, violently. "Sou- chan made you promise what? Who does he think he is? I can-hell-I can take care of myself!!" She began screaming hysterically. *Man! What am I saying?! Am I making sense here? *

Suddenly, Kenshin caught both of Kaoru's hands and held her tightly by the wrists. He looked at her. "Please, Miss Kamiya. I know you're a bit confused and all, but you see, I have had a long day. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit tired." His voice trailed off.

He still did not let go of Kaoru's wrists.

"Soujiro just made me swear to take care of you." He said once again. "I have all the best intentions. As for your other problems, we'll talk about it later. We also need your help. for something. Is that okay, Ms. Kamiya?"

"WE?" She asked. "What do you mean, WE? Who's with you anyway?"

"Let's eat."

Kaoru nodded slowly as Kenshin let go of her wrists and smiled at her. "So. let's eat."

The both of them began eating. But a few minutes later, Kaoru felt something loosen at her neck. *What could it be? * She pondered.

All of a sudden, the strings at her neck, which held her backless blue shirt up, snapped.

"Ohmygosh!" She exclaimed, embarrassed as she grabbed the shirt by the top so as not to let it fall. That's when she remembered: she's not wearing anything underneath. Ooooh. this is going to get interesting.

She looked at Kenshin frantically. He was looking back at her with eyes as big as saucers, apparently panicked. He stood up immediately and darted across the room and stopped outside a door, probably a bedroom door.

He glanced back at her as he fumbled into his pockets, taking out his keys, and opened the door. "I'll, uh, get a T-shirt for you." He said as he dashed into the room.

Kaoru sighed, still holding the dangerous shirt up by the revealing collar. *Why in the world did I wear this thing? If Kenshin was a PERVERT, then he would have probably pulled this shirt done and had his way with me. Or maybe harassed me! Brrrr! I can't imagine Kenshin doing that. I mean, he's nice and all but. *

"Here you are." Kenshin said, interrupting her thoughts.

Kaoru looked up. He had his back on her but he was handing her a white, over-sized, men's T-shirt.

She snatched it from him and pulled it on in a hurry. She felt her won sexy shirt fall down as she put on Kenshin's T-shirt. "You can look now."

He turned around and smiled. "I'm sorry if the shirt's too big for you."

"No, actually it's fine." She smiled at him warmly. "You're nice."

He smiled back. "So I guess all we have to do is finish our snack, take a bath and go to sleep."

Kaoru blushed when she thought of his bedroom. "Well.."

He smiled at her uneasiness. "You can sleep on my bed." She became beet red. ".and I'll sleep here on the sofa."

She was obviously taken aback. But she recovered. "Oh, okay."

"Like I said, Miss Kamiya, I'm not going to let anyone take advantage of you." He said down beside her and began biting his sandwich.

"Well, uh." She began. "What do you exactly mean by 'taking advantage, Kenshin?"

Kenshin grimaced at the word. "Rape." He looked at her. "That includes me."

She chuckled. "You are indeed nice." She began devouring her food.

"By the way."

Kaoru's glass froze halfway to her mouth. "What is it?"

His face was grim and she saw the muscles on his jaw flex, twice. "There's something we need to discuss."



TBC



Author's notes: Yeah! Finished! Okay, okay! I'm sorry for the delay, minna! It's been close to three months since the last time I actually updated. Well, sorry, but it had been busy months. Lots of things changed. So I'm sorry.

Cuz you see, we just moved, I attended a Bible Camp (I'M NOT THAT INNOCENT) and I joined a Journalism Contest. BWAHAHAHAHA! And I won! First place in Feature Writing and Most Promising Campus Writer. I can't believe it, you guys! And I had just my exams. Hahaha. Big deal.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Hitokiri's woman: Aw! Don't worry, I'm not going to make her do anything bad. C=

Marstanuki: LOL You figure! Anyways, I love TIMELESS. Continue!!!!

Hotaru Yukishiro Tomoe Kamiya: Aw. not really

Thanks to all those guys who reviewed!!!!

So if you guys want to e-mail me and make friends, my e-mail addy is lieveit1@yahoo.com

Hope you'll like this chappy! Please review! And yeah, 'TADAIMA' IS ON- GOING! Please review! Aishiteru!!!!!!!

REMINDER: PLEASE REVIEW CUZ I'D BE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

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