Disclaimer: Ruroni Kenshin? Heck no, I ain't that creative. No to Inuyasha too (you don't need to know anything about the show). Also, if these screen names really exist, please respect their REAL owners.

Author's Notes: This is still PG for anyone who doesn't bother to read ratings. Another note, this fiction will probably start to get extremely confusing to anybody who doesn't know at least a little bit about Instant Messaging. If anybody has any questions, you can ask me through review, e- mail, or Instant Message. Well, since I have said all I need to say, here's chapter three.

He's Two of the Same-Chapter 3-Next Time, Take the Stairs

BokkenGirl: So, what school do you go to?

BattousaiBoy: Two Roads High.

BokkenGirl: No way, that's my school too!

BattousaiBoy: Should we tell each other our real names? I mean, what if we actually hate each other?

BokkenGirl: In that case, no. I seriously doubt I hate you, though.

BattousaiBoy: Same. So, who is your favorite Inuyasha character?

BokkenGirl: I like Shippo.

BattousaiBoy: Inuyasha. Do you play any sports?

BokkenGirl: I used to play softball when I was eight. You don't want to know.

Well, that was one unsuspecting internet friendship. But, it grew. Of course, when Kenshin and Kaoru were off the computers, the insults and pranks commenced. They were also both extremely dense.

Two weeks later

"Thank heavens for the weekend. Misao, are you okay? Hey, wake up Misao!" Kaoru yelled at her friend who was staring into space. Drooling all over her uniform.

"Misao, what the hell is wrong that you are ignoring your friends and getting spit on your good uniform?" Megumi yelled. Misao woke up, but kept drooling.

"Well, maybe if any of you guys read the gym schedules, you would find out. I can't wait for Monday..." Misao said lazily.

"Good Tengoku above, Misao, you HATE gym! We'll only be swimming!" Kaoru screamed in her friends face, attracting much unwanted attention from people walking past. Misao stood on her toes and whispered something in her friend's ears.

"Swimming equals swimsuits. Male gender plus swimsuits equals swimming trunks. Male gender plus swimming trunks plus joined classes with the grade above us equals MISAO LOVES GYM!" Misao got another dazed look on her face, and stared at the sky. So did Megumi. Kaoru just kicked a broken piece of glass along the sidewalk, focusing on getting home and talking to BattousaiBoy. They had made friends fast and always talked to each other at least once a day.

'Misao's crush on Aoshi is too much! Oh, arigatou Kami-sama, that's the apartment complex! I want to get away from these two right now.'

"Sorry guys, gotta split, see ya later!" Kaoru yelled and ran. She ran into the elevator, and pressed the button for floor nine. The elevator went up two floors, and then stopped. Kenshin stepped in, and decided to keep his mouth shut, Kaoru did as well. The glass elevator moved in the dusty, disgustingly old shaft, not a very pretty sight. Both of them kept their distance from each other, but then, the elevator came to a halt. The lights installed in the top went out; the lights behind the little buttons went out.

"ORO!!!!!!"

"Oh, yeah, that will REALLY help our problems. Baka-tomato boy, you see if the service phone works. I'll try to IM my brother to tell him I'm stuck in the elevator shaft with a moron." Kaoru snapped, pulling her laptop out of her backpack. She signed on to IM, to find a horribly shocking fact out. At the top of her buddy list, it said "Buddies (0/5)". She settled for e-mailing Aoshi and Yahiko, praying they'd be home soon.

Hey Bros!

I'm stuck in the elevator! PLEASE HELP ME! Not to mention, I'm stuck with our baka neighbor! TELL SOMEONE AT THE FRONT DESK OR I'LL KILL YOU BOTH WITH MY BOKKEN! Thanks!

-Kaoru

"Hey red-head, nobody was on, I e-mailed my brothers, and they should be home. How's the service phone?"

Kenshin slumped his shoulders pathetically, and lumbered over to the service phone. On the other side of the line, there was the fascinating beep that said the phones were dead. He smacked his head against the wall, making sure the glass didn't crack.

"I guess that answers my question. Maybe if I play my music stored in my computer loud enough, someone will hear and we will get out of here."

Kaoru was cut off by the battery in her computer running out of juice and the screen turning dark. She shut the laptop and stuffed it in her backpack angrily.

"What happened, Tanuki?"

"It's KAORU! And my computer battery needs to be recharged! We'll run out of air and food and."

"Unless you'll miss your make-up, we shouldn't have much of a problem. We won't starve for a long time; the elevator should be fixed before then. There is a trap door up there; we can use it to get air. Too bad we can't fit out of it." Kenshin sat down on the floor of the elevator.

'Ayame, Suzume, Tsubame, I have to get back. Wait, Sano is coming over today! He can take care of them.'

Kaoru noticed Kenshin didn't look too good. He was almost crying, but after his mental war, breathed a sigh of relief. He kept his back to the wall, and drew circles on the ground with his finger. Kaoru leaned against the wall, scared out of her wits. She slowly looked at the ground out of the glass. They were so high up!

"Uhnnnn..ehhh..ohhhhhnnnn!" Kaoru moaned looking at the green tiles of the lobby.

"You're scared of heights, that you definitely are. Come here for a second." Kenshin muttered. Kaoru walked across the elevator, nervous that it would collapse. Kenshin punched open the trap door, and pointed out of it. Kaoru looked. A large variety of steel beams were keeping the elevator up.

"Now, Tanuki, do you really think those beams up there will give in easily?"

"I-I-Iie."

"I thought not."

Kenshin slammed the trap door shut, and Kaoru resumed sitting in the corner, still feeling uneasy, but not because of the height she was currently at. Kenshin was being NICE! Maybe he wanted to apologize for what he did.

"Okay, tomato-boy, this is a truce. No more name calling or insulting 'till we're out of here. Clear?"

"Crystalline glass, Kamiya."

------

Sanosuke miserably knocked on the door to Kenshin's apartment for the 30th time.

"Chibis? You there? It's Sano! Lemme in, please!"

Ayame opened the door cautiously and peeked out. She flung the door open and jumped on Sanosuke. Suzume walked to the door and did the same. Sanosuke almost fell over from the sudden weight.

"Ok, Chibis. Say, where's Kenshin-oniisan? We were supposed to hang today."

"Oniisan hasn't come home yet. We think he may have gotten in trouble." Ayame said.

"Yeah, 'niisan may have gwotten in twubble!" Suzume added, in tears.

Sanosuke's eyes bulged. 'Kenshin can take good care of himself. I don't think he's gotten in "twubble" anytime recently. He must be somewhere around here. That's it!'

"Chibis, you're both comin' with me. Wait, where's Tsubame anyhap?"

"On a date with Yahiko-chan, hehehehe." Ayame giggled. Sanosuke rolled his eyes. He helped Suzume put on her shoes, and went out the door, Ayame and Suzume trailing behind him. Sanosuke ran to the elevator, and pressed the down button. He noticed that the lights behind the buttons were dead, and the elevator wasn't going any higher.

"Oh no! Now we have ta twake the stwairs."

"Wait Suzume. Listen." Sanosuke had his ear pressed to the elevator doors, where he heard something that sounded a lot like.

"Kenny-oniisan!" Ayame yelled.

"Hey, Sano, it looks like you found me and Tanuki! Go tell someone who can help us!"

"Are you sure you and Jou-chan don't want to spend a little quality time in there?" Sanosuke yelled. Kaoru fumed. Kenshin backed away from her very, very slowly.

"Sano no HENTAI! If I had my bokken, you wouldn't be here right now! I know where you live!"

Sanosuke got very nervous, very, VERY nervous, and made a dash for the front desk. The woman sitting there, or Mrs. Messina, looked up. Many of the high school kids knew her because she used to work in the elementary school as a third grade teacher. She was the only one who could control Sanosuke and Kenshin outside their parents. Mrs. Messina was also the only American adult in town who could speak some Japanese.

"Why, konnichi wa, Sanosuke, are you here to cause more chaos and trouble for our residents? The janitor wasn't very happy about the pudding incident you know."

"Not now, ma'am, Kenshin and Jou-chan err, Kaoru are stuck in the elevator!

Mrs. Messina looked very frightened.

"Oh dear. Kenshin's parents aren't home yet! Did you check on Ayame-chan, Suzume-chan, and Tsubame-chan?"

"Hai! The chibis are talking to Kenshin outside the elevator shaft, and Tsubame is out with Yahiko."

"That's a relief; I'll see what I can do. Wait; aren't Kenshin and Kaoru in a bitter feud over what happened at the softball game a few years back?"

Sanosuke nodded his head, his eyes very big. Mrs. Messina took a phone off the wall and pressed a button, obviously talking to an electrician. She took a few seconds off of the conversation to point at where Ayame and Suzume were standing, and then smacking his lower back as an indication to go to them. He took off like the wind.

"Alright, Kenshin, Jou-chan, I talked to Mrs. Messina, she told me to come back here while she was talking to some dude on the phone."

Kenshin turned pale. "Y-y-y-you told-d-d th-hat lady t-t-t-t-to help!?"

"She was the only one there! Besides, I think she has gotten over all the incidents that happened when you were in her class!"

Kenshin kicked the floor, and drove Kaoru into a panic when the elevator started back up right after he kicked it. Then, when she realized that they were moving again, was extremely happy. The elevator stopped, and who else was waiting for them but their third grade teacher, along with Sanosuke, Ayame, and Suzume.

"KENSHIN HIMURA! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW HAPPY I AM YOU DIDN'T TRY TO KILL KAORU; SAME GOES FOR YOU MS. KAMIYA! Ahem.Kenshin, you are very lucky that Sanosuke here was smart enough to take care of your sisters, I understand your parents are on that two month business trip and won't be back for seven more weeks, so I am extremely sorry this happened. Class dismissed, I mean, you can go to your apartments now."

Kaoru was very interested. Kenshin's parents were leaving him alone for two months? That didn't happen too often with most families, yet Mrs. Messina seemed to act like it happened all the time with his family. She wondered. Did it? Is that why he always acted like such a little arrogant ass?

'He needs more friends.'

"Hey, Tanuki, what is so interesting about my back that you haven't taken your eyes off it for the whole walk up here?"

"Kenshin, I'm sorry for getting so pissed at you when the bat broke in the fourth grade. It was my fault."

"That's what you were so worried about? I forgot that even happened. Now, if you don't mind, I have to get to my computer."

Steam came out of Kaoru's ears. She ran back to the apartment, and put her laptop in the charger. About five minutes later, she pulled it out, and signed onto Instant Messenger.

BattousaiBoy: Hey, what's happening?

BokkenGirl: Don't ask, please don't ask.

OWARI (for now)

Yes, I know, that chapter was longer than usual. As always, comments are appreciated, if they are stupid and untrue; don't expect me to follow them. Well, here are the translations, as usual.

bokken: wooden sword

Tengoku: Heaven

arigato: thank you

Kami-sama: God

oro: Huh! or What!

baka: idiot, moron, stupid

bokken: wooden sword

tanuki: raccoon

iie: no

chibis: kids

oniisan: big brother

-chan: 1: a term used for people younger that 15. 2: a term of endearment
(used between close friends also) (in the case of a younger person saying
it to an older person, it is an insult)

Jou-chan: little missy

Sano no hentai! : Sano you pervert!

konnichi wa: hello

hai: yes

owari: end