Chapter 2

"Listen to me Rika. You may not want to, but I am making you speak!" Yumi said to Rika when she said she could never speak to Kenshin.

"Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to talk to him?" Rika complained. Just then Kenshin stepped up behind them. "That's him" Rika whispered. Rika turned around. Yumi called for him to stop and pushed Rika over to him.

"My friend wants to tell you something," she said. Kenshin sighed.

"If it's that she hates me, I wouldn't be surprised," he said. Rika all of a sudden felt sad. Then she did what she thought she never could.

"That's not true and it will never be...I hope," she said. Kenshin looked surprised. She turned blood red because she was blushing so bad because she was so embarrassed. She finally stopped when Kenshin was looking suspicious.

"See. How hard was that?" Yumi asked. Rika nodded. Then she decided to do something unthinkable for her.

"Um. Want to...Come over to my house after school...and meet my little brother?" she said. Kenshin nodded. He sort of smiled at the thought that she didn't dislike him. "O.K. Here's my address. But if he's annoying, don't blame me," she said laughing. Kenshin laughed too. She started to leave but Kenshin stopped her.

"I have to tell you something," he said. She stopped, dead in her tracks. She turned around and walked back to him.

"What is it?' She asked. He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Never mind. It's not important," he said. She remembered Kizar, then she remembered what a jerk he was.

"If you have something to say, tell me. Don't act like my first boyfriend did. He was such a jerk and he kept things from me and lied to me. Kenshin, don't do the same," she said. Then she hugged him, to her surprise and to his.

"Hey. How are you? I'm glad you came. Come on in and I'll go get Naku," Rika said when she opened the door to see Kenshin there. She ran back down a hall. Her house was a big one story house. A few minutes later she returned, a boy around three feet nine inches tall with blondish hair and green eyes who seemed only nine or ten years old with her. "This is my little brother, Naku. He's ten," she said. Then a big black lab dog came into the room. "This is Asheena. She's my dog. I got her name from a book I read. I've had her since she was a puppy," Rika said, petting the dog's head. Kenshin stepped over to pet the dog as well, but instead it sniffed his hand and barked as loud as possible. "Shh. It's ok Ashe," she said. Kenshin looked confused. "Ashe is her nickname. She was barking because she doesn't know you yet," she explained. Kenshin nodded and walked over to the dog, this time able to pet it. "Naku, this is Kenshin. He's the one I've told you about, the one you wanted to meet," Rika said. Naku nodded. He walked over to Kenshin and looked at his sword.

"Hello" he finally said, after inspecting Kenshin's sword. Kenshin as well said hello and walked over to Rika. Naku did the same. Rika looked from one to the other. The dog then followed. Then all three looked at her expectantly.

"I suppose you all want me to show Kenshin around the house," she said. The dog nodded. And so did Naku. "Fine. But you're coming too Naku," she said. Then they were off.

"Thanks for coming. I'm really glad you did. I hope maybe sometime you could come over again," Rika said when Kenshin left. She hugged him for the second time too. She swore this time Kenshin whispered something to her.

"Did you say something?" she asked when she released him. He nodded. "What?" she asked. Kenshin shook his head to say he meant for her not to hear it. "Well fine then. I have something I wanted to say, but I won't unless you tell me what you said," she said, crossing her arms. Kenshin laughed. Rika smiled.

"Ok. I'll tell you. But promise you won't tell your brother?" he said. Rika nodded.

"Ok. I just wanted to say that I...I...I l...lo...love you," he said. Rika looked somewhat surprised. She walked over and whispered in his ear

"I love you too."

"I don't believe it!" Yumi screamed when Rika told her about the day before. She was with her three friends again. Shiina was about to pass out and Asami was hugging Rika. Kenshin walked up behind them and tapped Rika on the shoulder. She turned around.

"Hey" she said smiling. Kenshin smiled back.

"Good morning" he said. She hugged him. Kizar then came up with Dosana. Dosana took one look at Rika, then stuck up her nose and flicked her hair over her shoulder. Kizar left Dosana and walked over to Rika. As soon as he got close to Kenshin, Kenshin looked him in the eye and said "Are you Kizar?" Kizar nodded. Then Kenshin punched him in the stomach. "Don't ever come near Rika again unless you want me to hurt you," Kenshin said. Kizar flashed him a thumbs up and walked back over to Dosana. Kenshin stood next to Rika. Rika looked at him and smiled. She had told him about what Kizar did and that she now officially hated him. He looked at her and smiled back. Then the bell rang to start class. Rika ran in the school to her locker.

"Great to see you after school" Rika said as she walked home with Kenshin. "Thanks for getting rid of Kizar for me. I'm so glad he won't bother me anymore," she said. Kenshin nodded. She stopped and looked him straight in the eye.

Why do I have the most sudden urge to kiss him? she wondered. It seemed Kenshin had the same urge because he was getting closer to her by the second. Then Asami came up and stopped when she saw them.

"Hello!" she called. Kenshin stood up straight again.

"Hey Asami" Rika called back. They waited as Asami walked up to them. She looked back at Kenshin and quickly kissed him on the cheek. Then she ran to see what Asami wanted.

"So he's coming back today?" said Naku excitedly. Rika nodded. She then also remembered that he was bringing a gift for Naku.

"Wait up in your room till I call you, k?" she said. He nodded.