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Chapter 8

Kiruchi shook her long hair out of her face and brushed it quickly. + Why did Riokushi give me his room number? Argh! He's so weird sometimes… + She placed the brush back on the table and walked out the door. She was leaning on the banister looking down the staircase when Riokushi came out of his room. They glanced at each other until Koburo whispered something in his ear. He nodded and walked towards the banister where Kiruchi was leaning on. "Ready for dinner? I heard that they're serving some dinner special today. That should be good."

She nodded. "I just hope they have some steak or ribs." He smiled. "Yea, steak and ribs are good." They both smiled at each other for a moment and walked down the stairs to the dining room. "I guess I'll see you later then." Riokushi nodded. "Why don't you come over to our room? We already invited Narumi, Yahiko, and Soujiro." She shrugged. "Maybe. I was thinking about doing something, but I'll try." He glanced at her hand. "You remember what number our room is?" "Yup."

They both left the doorway and went to their tables. Misao had gone with Aoshi to get food at a different restaurant. Soujiro, Narumi, and Yahiko were sitting at the table waiting for her. Soujiro was not smiling when she came. (Imagine how that would look like.) He waited until she sat down in her seat when he whispered something into her ear. "Is there something going on between you and Riokushi that I don't know about?" Kiruchi was shocked. (Thinking so annoying -_- Now when she's thinking it's gonna looking have + around it.) +Oh crap, has he been stalking me? If he finds out…he'll never forgive me. + She turned back towards his face. "Of course not. That dweeb is a loser compared to me." He glared slightly at his table. "You better be right." He sat back straight in his seat and continued eating his meal.

She sighed slightly and turned to her meal. There was a small steak, broccoli, and rice placed on it. She picked up her chopsticks and started eating. Yahiko was glancing at her every now and then. +Why is he glaring at me so much? I wasn't doing anything. + Yahiko was the first on done. "I'm gonna go practice for a bit before we head off towards room 9. You're all coming right?" They all nodded. He stood up and walked out the door passing Shikono was leaning against the doorway. Kiruchi squinted at the doorway.

He was motioning her to come. She swallowed the last bit of rice and walked towards him. "Great job today. Keep it up." She nodded. "Why'd you really call me here?" Shikono scowled. "Fine, be that way. I was wondering about tomorrow…the iaido spars…did you bring your sword?" Kiruchi rubbed her head. "I think so…Let me go check. Stay here." She ran to the staircase and opened the door to her room.

She went to her bag and was about to open it when she heard something fall down behind her. Kiruchi turned around. She saw two heads with black hair sticking out above their beds and whispering. + Who the hell are these two? + She grabbed a pillow from the floor and walked cautiously over there.

Kiruchi shut her eyes and turned around the bed. Two loud thuds were heard as she opened her eyes. She lifted her pillow and saw Riokushi and Yahiko fall. Her favorite photo album was opened and was between them. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!?!?" She was furious and they both retreated to the corner. Riokushi finally stood up and helped Yahiko up. "W-We were um…" "Looking at the stars." Yahiko had interrupted Riokushi and was pointing to the open window. A large cross vein appeared on Kiruchi's head. "LIARS! YOU TWO WERE LOOKING AT MY FAVORITE PHOTO ALBUM!"

They both panicked and made a run for the door when she threw a pillow at them. Yahiko had barely managed to close the door as the pillow hit his fingers. Kiruchi clenched her fists and relaxed. + Those idiots are getting really annoying…+ She walked back to her bag and opened the pockets. When she was done looking through all of them…she gasped. + Crap! I forgot to pack my sword! +

With her long hair trailing behind her, she ran downstairs to Shikono. "I can't find my sword anywhere!" He chuckled. "I knew you would forget it, that's why I packed it after you left…but, they wouldn't allow me in with it because it wasn't a katana, kodachi, wakizashi, or any other sword they recognized. Don't get discouraged though, I brought my katana with so that you can use it." She nodded and hugged Shikono. "Thank you so much! You're the greatest Shikono." "I am? Yea, I am." He let go of Kiruchi. " I have to go. Here's my katana." He handed her a thin, black sheath. "Don't loose it. It's a very precious sword to me." She nodded. "I won't"

Shikono ruffled her hair and walked off to join Sano and Kenshin who were talking to Enishi and Saitoh. She sighed. + That was close. Good thing Shikono's here or else I would've been screwed. + Kiruchi pulled out the hilt of the sword and thumbed its ha(blade). She slid it back in and walked out to the shore of Tokyo Bay.

(45 minutes later)

She swung the sword around and slid it back into its sheath. + Shikono's katana feels a lot different sword. It's so light…I can barely feel it. + Kiruchi put the sword by her side as she folded her arms behind her head and lay down in the sand. The sounds of crickets and water churning were fitting in with the salty scent in the air. She closed her eyes and relaxed to the gentle breeze tugging lightly on her hair. The sound of a wave crashing into a boulder woke her out of her relaxation. She groaned," How long was my relaxation time not thinking?"

"Three minutes exactly." She swung around. Soujiro was standing on a large boulder with a smile on his face. He walked over to her and helped her up to her feet. Kiruchi wiped the sand off her robes and tucked the katana into her obi. "How'd you know I was here?" He shrugged. "I didn't. I just came out here to get some air before I went to Riokushi's room. Didn't he tell you?" She clenched her teeth silently. + Would he please stop freaking out? + "Yea, he told me."

They walked back to the hotel together. Soujiro was looking at her when he opened the door for her. She looked back at his dark brown eyes with her amber ones. "Are you okay?" He nodded slightly and Anime blush. "Sorry, it's just that…you're different from when we were younger." She blushed slightly. "Of course, we're all different physically and emotionally. You, Yahiko, Narumi, and me. All of us are different now. And well, I think you've changed a lot from when you were younger too."

These words floated into Soujiro's heart as he just stood there smiling at her. "Let's get inside. It's getting pretty chilly outside." She walked through the door and he followed. "I'll meet you at Riokushi's. I wanna go to my room first. Alone." Soujiro was about to protest but stopped when Koburo came running to Soujiro. "Soujiro, Riokushi wants to ask you something." Soujiro glanced at Kiruchi and nodded back at Koburo. "Okay, I'll be right there." Koburo ran back upstairs. "I wonder what he wants to ask you-" She stopped short. + Oh no, it's probably about me. Great, just perfect. Oh well, guys are guys. +

Soujiro place a lock of hair behind Kiruchi's ear. "I wish we could talk more, but I gotta go." She nodded as he ran upstairs. She sighed and walked upstairs to her room. + I hope everything's all right between them. + She placed the katana into her bag and tied her hair into a loose ponytail. Narumi opened the door. "Hey Kiruchi. You ready to go?" She nodded and stood up. Narumi smiled. "I heard a rumor that you were with Soujiro on the beach."

Kiruchi froze. "Um…yea, but we were just talking." Narumi smirked. "Only talking, eh?" She nodded and walked out the door. "So did you see Yugaski again?" Narumi ignored her and kept walking until they got to Riokushi's room. "Yea, we talked after dinner. He's a great guy. He lives with his family in between Yokohama and Kawasaki." She smiled and knocked on the door. Yugaski's face appeared. "Good you both are here." They walked into the room and saw Koburo, Yahiko, Soujiro, Hatsuka, and Riokushi were eating some dinner rolls slathered with butter and cinnamon.

Yahiko was the first one to notice them and stood up. "Hey you two. What took you so long?" Kiruchi shrugged. "I was just doing something in my room. What are all you doing?" Hatsuka grabbed another dinner roll. "Eating dessert, what else?" A giant sweat tear appeared on both of their heads. "You call dinner rolls dessert?" Koburo nodded and stuffed his mouth with another roll. Narumi went to go sit on their bed and talk to Yugaski. + Why are people being so very strange these days? + (So very true…)

She shrugged and took the dinner roll Hatsuka was offering. The cinnamon was sticking to the butter like glue making it sticky. She tore a piece off and placed it into her mouth. The butter melted in her mouth as she swallowed. "Not too bad I guess. Who made it?" Yahiko raised his hand. "I got it from the kitchen." "It figures." She stuffed the rest into her mouth and chewed slowly.

(10 minutes later)

The plate of dinner rolls were gone and the guys were all laying on the floor except for Kiruchi, Narumi, and Yugaski who were talking about the different techniques they were using today. Soujiro got up from the floor and went to the bathroom muttering," I don't feel so good." Riokushi went to his dresser and took out a bottle of water. "Water…" He broke the seal and tilted his head back letting the water flow into his mouth. He swallowed and passed the bottle around. "That feels good." Everyone started standing up and headed for the door saying," Good luck to everyone." Kiruchi waited for Narumi to say good-bye to Yugaski while Riokushi took the plate off the ground and threw it into the trash bin. "Too bad we only do this once every two years." Kiruchi looked up. "Yea. Can't wait till next time." He nodded and ran his fingers through his black hair letting the sweat drops fly off to the ground.

Kiruchi had a hard time prying Narumi from Yugaski and dragged her to the door. "See you tomorrow." Riokushi looked up. "Yea. See ya." She flashed a smile at him and opened the door leading her and Narumi to the hallway. "That was sorta fun…" Narumi sighed. "Yea, Yugaski's so cool." Kiruchi rolled her eyes and opened the door to their room. It was already 11 o'clock and they still had to get up at 6 to stretch with everyone else. She untied her hair and rolled into her bed. "G'night Narumi." Kiruchi sighed one last time and drifted off to sleep.

~*~

That was a bit…I dunno how to explain. Wow, it took two chappies to fill in the rest of that day… Sorry it took me a bit long to type. I was too lazy watching tv. XD. Sad, but true. Review, review, review. Click the pretty button and review. Anyway, I'll stop bothering you a leave now. I'll just go watch Samurai X now…

To be continued…