Hey! I'm osrry if this took a while to get out again. It feel like a long
time for me. Anyhoo. This week has been so crazy, and I'm really happy that
I pre-wrote this fic, so posting it is easy! I just need yal to review.
PLEASE REVIEW! It's a good fic!!! Oh, and I can't post next week, so you
won't get an update for TWO WEEKS!!! I KNOW I KNOW IT SUX! I'M SO SORRY! I
kinda feel bad giving you that amazing preview at the bottom now because
you're gonna have to wait forever to see next chap. I'm so sorry!
Disclaimer: I have no Kenshin, but feel free to donate one to the Give VanyD a Kenshin Fund (GVKF).
"Come on! It'll be fun!" Misao said smiling widely. She was too perky for 9 in the morning.
"Misao, I'm so tired. Must we go now?" I asked yawning. I had only slept for four hours. I spent all last night thinking about Kenshin. There's something about him, something safe, warm, and sexy. I had avoided using the word sexy when I thought he was a girl, but God am I happy that he's male. Now I can admit that I've never seen a sexier head of hair. I really shouldn't be getting this riled up about a man. It could become a conflict with my job. Men complicate things. They complicate things that they're not supposed to. Men are supposed to sit there, look hansom, comfort you when you're sad, keep you safe when you feel weak, and be a constant supply of sex. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. I don't know if anyone has ever told you, but men are emotional. If you think women are emotional, just take that emotion and add on an ego; then you got a male.
"Kaoru, I didn't want to say anything, but you're getting a bit round here and there..."
"WHAT?!?!" I was insulted. How dare she?!?!?! I am not fat. I hadn't gained a thing. I don't think I gained a thing... where is my scale?!?!?! I ran off into my bathroom. 115 pounds. That's an amazing weight! So, Misao could kiss my shapely ass. She was just jealous. "115" I smiled at her; re- entering my kitchen.
"I weigh 110" She said smugly. I wanted to say "That's because you've got nothing on top!" but I didn't. I don't think she would be too happy with me saying that. Plus, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. The thing is: you NEVER imply that a woman is fat. Not unless you plan on paying for a hospital room.
"Whatever." I said rolling my eyes, and finishing my last piece of toast.
"Please come to the gym with me!" She begged.
"Why do you want to go all of a sudden?"
"I want to start using my kunai again. It's a hard to learn technique, and I'd hate to loose it."
"And you're going to revive this technique at the gym?"
"It's more of a dojo."
"And this new found interest in relearning to use your kunai has nothing to do with you seeing Aoshi?"
"Maybe."
"That's not an answer."
"When you tell me how you know him, then I'll answer anything you want, but until then shove off Kaoru." Misao was touchy. This was the second time I've ever seen her like this, and the time before was just yesterday, it was definitely the Aoshi thing that was upsetting her so much.
"Ok." I sighed, getting up and changing into a sweat pants, and a tank top. I threw on a sweatshirt over my tank top. I had taken a shower at 3 in the morning after I couldn't sleep. I was hoping it would soothe me and help me get some Z's. I was wrong. Anyway, it meant I didn't have to bathe now! Time saver.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We can find you a sensei or w/e to teach you something Kaoru. It'll be fun." Misao said when I asked her what she expected me to do while she concentrated on re-mastering her kunai. We were standing in the middle of a vast room filled with people doing various fighting techniques, exercises, stretches, and what not.
"I don't think so." I could probably beat up anyone here. Why learn something I already knew and was damn good at?
"Don't be a party pooper!" Misao playfully frowned at me. She walked over to a really cute guy, spoke with him for two seconds, and then dragged him over to me. "Michael this is Kaoru. Kaoru this is Michael."
"Um, hi." He said. He seemed really confused. I was betting that Misao didn't know him and had pulled a complete stranger up to me.
"Michael do you know martial arts?" Misao asked.
"Yes. I'm a black belt." He said looking from me to her. I tried not to laugh at his confused expression.
"Could you teach her?" Misao said pointing to me.
"Misao, leave the poor guy alone." I said trying to swallow my rising laughter.
"Kaoru, you need to do something while I'm busy. This will keep you occupied."
"Misao, look how confused he is. Let him go." I said laughing. He frowned, but I just laughed harder. He was cute when his face was like that. He wasn't anywhere near as cute as Kenshin, but he wasn't bad.
"Kaoru, laughing at your new sensei is not smart." She warned playfully.
"He is not my new sensei." I said sticking out my tongue.
"But I would like to be." He said, and immediately my laugher died. Was that flirtation? So, confused boy has finally gotten some courage. Took him long enough. Maybe it helped that Misao and I were acting like two idiot girls.
"Fine Mikey. Let's go practice." I pulled him away from Misao. Misao and I laughed at the nickname.
"Number one, don't call me Mikey. Number two, I need to see how you fight before I can improve on anything." He said as we found a free area to start. Misao had walked off to a separate area on the opposite side of the room where a target was sitting on the wall.
"Whatever you say Mikey." I flashed him a smile, and he smiled back. He was stuck with the nickname. He surrendered peacefully. Smart man. Now, I just have to try and suck at fighting. That was going to be a challenge. I made sure I kept my feet way too much together. I made a fist incorrectly. I punched with everything I had at an invisible opponent in front of me, and then promptly fell on my ass. Who says I can't act?
"That was horrible." He chuckled. He tried to fix various different things, and he actually was a pretty good teacher. I kept messing up, and an hour had passed. I was getting tired of pretending, and his laughing at my stupidity was getting boring. I scanned the room, and Misao was nowhere in sight. I decided to have a little bit of fun with my newfound sensei. "You want a break? We've been doing this for an hour now. I know a great restaurant across the street that we could go and grab a bite at." Mikey smiled at me. He was being a flirt after all.
"Lunch, huh?" I asked. He nodded. "One more time first, though. I think I finally got the hang of it." I smiled broadly. It was a smile of pure evil, but I don't think he noticed it. "Do me a favor, and come at me."
"You're not ready for something like that." He said frowning.
"Please Mikey. For little 'ol me! Or maybe you're afraid of getting hurt."
"You're not ready, Kaoru."
"No, you're not ready for me. Come on, just this once." I pouted at him. No one resists my pout. No one.
"Ok, but I won't do it all out."
"That's no fun. I want you to put up a fight."
"Fine, but I can't say I didn't warn you." He had a cocky smile on his face. He wouldn't be cocky for long. He came at me and slowly kicked to my head. He was holding back. Ok, I'd hold back too, but not a lot. I ducked his slow kick, and kicked his leg out from under him. He fell into a heap on the matt.
"Can't say I didn't warn you." I smiled down at him. He frowned at me, and got back up again.
"One more time." He said, taking a fighting stance. I punched, and he blocked, I punched with the other hand, and he blocked that too. He came forward with his forehead, but I leaned back. I was flexible enough to lean out of his way. The two of us backed up, and circled each other. He was smiling at me. He was so eager to get his ass kicked. He came at me, and stooped at the last minute, going for my legs as I had done to him. I jumped, avoiding his low kick, and when I landed I back flipped away from him. "Do gymnastics?" He asked still smiling.
"Used to." I answered, smiling back. I don't think we were friends anymore. The look on his face was too mocking to be friendly. He was absolutely confident that he could beat me. So confident that he felt like he should humor me with my little game. Too bad this wasn't a game. This was a fight. A fight I was going to win.
We fought for a while after that, nothing really bad happened. He'd come for me, and I'd block. I'd come for him and he'd block. We were holding back, and exhausting ourselves by prolonging the fight that I was bound to win anyway.
"You're quick." He commented. He was no longer smiling. He was irritated. He couldn't land a hit on me. So sad; too bad.
"No honey, you're just slow." I stuck out my tongue at him. Those who had seen me make the gesture would have believed it was a joke, but he was looking straight into my eyes, and he knew it was a flat out insult.
"You bitch." He muttered. That stopped me in my tracks. What did he call me? A bitch? No one calls me a bitch. The humor died out of my face, leaving it perfectly blank. His eyes widened a bit. He saw the anger in my eyes. He had hit a cord. Now, I was going to kick his ass. He could feel it. He was scared. Of poor little helpless me? Good.
"Who are you?" He said his voice was low, barely above a whisper. I attacked. In a few seconds I had him on the ground with me straddling his waist. I bent over him, and whispered in his ear, "I'm Kaoru, Mikey. Plain Kaoru." I got up, and held my hand out to him. He probably didn't mean to call me a bitch. I felt bad for kicking his ass now. He deserved it, but he probably didn't mean to deserve it. Know what I mean? He reluctantly took my hand, and stood up. "I've been doing martial arts for 12 years. You had no chance." I said.
"Why did you let me teach you?"
"Sounded like fun." I smiled. I finally noticed that we had attracted a crowd. They applauded. It was embarrassing, but I didn't blush. I just stared blankly out into the crowd. I searched for Misao, but she wasn't there. Who I did find was Sano and Kenshin. Why the hell were they here? Kenshin looked shocked. Sano looked impressed, but I could see him sizing me up, possibly thinking he could beat me. Hah.
"Miss Kaoru, where did you learn that?" Kenshin said moving up to me when the crowd began to disperse. Poor Mikey was leaving too.
"I've been doing martial arts forever. It's no big deal." I smiled.
"Jou-chan, I wouldn't call that no big deal. You're almost good enough to beat me." Sano smiled.
"I could beat you blind folded," I retorted. It was true. I had trained blind folded before, and it was a piece of cake once you concentrated hard enough. Anyway, Sano snorted his response.
"I didn't know you came to this gym, Kenshin." I said.
"Not usually, but Sano dragged me here. We just got here a few minutes ago. We came to see what the crowd was doing. We did not expect to see you fighting, that we did not." He said. He was wearing sweat pants and a t- shirt, perfectly normal. Sano also had on sweat pants, and he was wearing a tank. The odd thing about his appearance was the red thing he tied around his head. I hadn't seen that before. Or at least I didn't remember seeing it.
"Misao dragged me here, but I don't know where she went. I should probably go find her." I said excusing myself.
With in 10 minutes I had searched everywhere and couldn't find her. I was about to give up when I realized I hadn't searched the bathroom. I walked in, and looked under the door of each stall. In the last stall I found Misao's Nikes. I knocked on the door, and I heard her yelp in surprise. "Occupied," She said in a small voice. She was crying. I waited patiently till everyone else left. I knew she wouldn't be leaving soon. Not when she was crying. She wouldn't want anyone to see her crying. Once everyone was gone I locked the bathroom door, and knocked on her stall again. "Occupied." She responded.
"It's me Misao. Come out. I know you're crying." I said softly.
"Kaoru?" She said. Her voice shook, "Go away."
"No. Misao I'm your best friend. Now, come out, and let me help." I pleaded. She was my friend. I couldn't leave her there to cry. To my surprise she came out. The was relatively easy...
"I didn't come out for you. So, don't feel special. I'm just feeling too weak to argue right now."
"What's wrong?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Yes it does. It matters to me, now tell me."
"I can't do it! Ok? Happy now?" She said angrily. Tears ran down her red face.
"No I'm not happy. What can't you do?" I asked, moving closer to her.
"I can't throw my kunai."
"Why not?"
"It's not the same. It's not the same without him." She said looking away.
"With out who?"
"Aoshi." She said quietly, and out of nowhere she flung her arms around me and started to sob. I held her like that for 20 minutes. Now and then people would try and open the bathroom door, but besides that the room was quiet save from Misao's crying. Aoshi did this to her. That ass did this to her. Not only did he pollute Soujiro's mind; he somehow, at some point, broke Misao's heart. I am going to make him pay. Mark my words, I will make him hurt. Question was: how?
PREVIEW: I needed to hurt someone. I needed to feel tough. If I didn't I was going to cry. I hate it when memories are brought back up. When secrets begin to become exposed. When someone gets too close.
Disclaimer: I have no Kenshin, but feel free to donate one to the Give VanyD a Kenshin Fund (GVKF).
"Come on! It'll be fun!" Misao said smiling widely. She was too perky for 9 in the morning.
"Misao, I'm so tired. Must we go now?" I asked yawning. I had only slept for four hours. I spent all last night thinking about Kenshin. There's something about him, something safe, warm, and sexy. I had avoided using the word sexy when I thought he was a girl, but God am I happy that he's male. Now I can admit that I've never seen a sexier head of hair. I really shouldn't be getting this riled up about a man. It could become a conflict with my job. Men complicate things. They complicate things that they're not supposed to. Men are supposed to sit there, look hansom, comfort you when you're sad, keep you safe when you feel weak, and be a constant supply of sex. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. I don't know if anyone has ever told you, but men are emotional. If you think women are emotional, just take that emotion and add on an ego; then you got a male.
"Kaoru, I didn't want to say anything, but you're getting a bit round here and there..."
"WHAT?!?!" I was insulted. How dare she?!?!?! I am not fat. I hadn't gained a thing. I don't think I gained a thing... where is my scale?!?!?! I ran off into my bathroom. 115 pounds. That's an amazing weight! So, Misao could kiss my shapely ass. She was just jealous. "115" I smiled at her; re- entering my kitchen.
"I weigh 110" She said smugly. I wanted to say "That's because you've got nothing on top!" but I didn't. I don't think she would be too happy with me saying that. Plus, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. The thing is: you NEVER imply that a woman is fat. Not unless you plan on paying for a hospital room.
"Whatever." I said rolling my eyes, and finishing my last piece of toast.
"Please come to the gym with me!" She begged.
"Why do you want to go all of a sudden?"
"I want to start using my kunai again. It's a hard to learn technique, and I'd hate to loose it."
"And you're going to revive this technique at the gym?"
"It's more of a dojo."
"And this new found interest in relearning to use your kunai has nothing to do with you seeing Aoshi?"
"Maybe."
"That's not an answer."
"When you tell me how you know him, then I'll answer anything you want, but until then shove off Kaoru." Misao was touchy. This was the second time I've ever seen her like this, and the time before was just yesterday, it was definitely the Aoshi thing that was upsetting her so much.
"Ok." I sighed, getting up and changing into a sweat pants, and a tank top. I threw on a sweatshirt over my tank top. I had taken a shower at 3 in the morning after I couldn't sleep. I was hoping it would soothe me and help me get some Z's. I was wrong. Anyway, it meant I didn't have to bathe now! Time saver.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We can find you a sensei or w/e to teach you something Kaoru. It'll be fun." Misao said when I asked her what she expected me to do while she concentrated on re-mastering her kunai. We were standing in the middle of a vast room filled with people doing various fighting techniques, exercises, stretches, and what not.
"I don't think so." I could probably beat up anyone here. Why learn something I already knew and was damn good at?
"Don't be a party pooper!" Misao playfully frowned at me. She walked over to a really cute guy, spoke with him for two seconds, and then dragged him over to me. "Michael this is Kaoru. Kaoru this is Michael."
"Um, hi." He said. He seemed really confused. I was betting that Misao didn't know him and had pulled a complete stranger up to me.
"Michael do you know martial arts?" Misao asked.
"Yes. I'm a black belt." He said looking from me to her. I tried not to laugh at his confused expression.
"Could you teach her?" Misao said pointing to me.
"Misao, leave the poor guy alone." I said trying to swallow my rising laughter.
"Kaoru, you need to do something while I'm busy. This will keep you occupied."
"Misao, look how confused he is. Let him go." I said laughing. He frowned, but I just laughed harder. He was cute when his face was like that. He wasn't anywhere near as cute as Kenshin, but he wasn't bad.
"Kaoru, laughing at your new sensei is not smart." She warned playfully.
"He is not my new sensei." I said sticking out my tongue.
"But I would like to be." He said, and immediately my laugher died. Was that flirtation? So, confused boy has finally gotten some courage. Took him long enough. Maybe it helped that Misao and I were acting like two idiot girls.
"Fine Mikey. Let's go practice." I pulled him away from Misao. Misao and I laughed at the nickname.
"Number one, don't call me Mikey. Number two, I need to see how you fight before I can improve on anything." He said as we found a free area to start. Misao had walked off to a separate area on the opposite side of the room where a target was sitting on the wall.
"Whatever you say Mikey." I flashed him a smile, and he smiled back. He was stuck with the nickname. He surrendered peacefully. Smart man. Now, I just have to try and suck at fighting. That was going to be a challenge. I made sure I kept my feet way too much together. I made a fist incorrectly. I punched with everything I had at an invisible opponent in front of me, and then promptly fell on my ass. Who says I can't act?
"That was horrible." He chuckled. He tried to fix various different things, and he actually was a pretty good teacher. I kept messing up, and an hour had passed. I was getting tired of pretending, and his laughing at my stupidity was getting boring. I scanned the room, and Misao was nowhere in sight. I decided to have a little bit of fun with my newfound sensei. "You want a break? We've been doing this for an hour now. I know a great restaurant across the street that we could go and grab a bite at." Mikey smiled at me. He was being a flirt after all.
"Lunch, huh?" I asked. He nodded. "One more time first, though. I think I finally got the hang of it." I smiled broadly. It was a smile of pure evil, but I don't think he noticed it. "Do me a favor, and come at me."
"You're not ready for something like that." He said frowning.
"Please Mikey. For little 'ol me! Or maybe you're afraid of getting hurt."
"You're not ready, Kaoru."
"No, you're not ready for me. Come on, just this once." I pouted at him. No one resists my pout. No one.
"Ok, but I won't do it all out."
"That's no fun. I want you to put up a fight."
"Fine, but I can't say I didn't warn you." He had a cocky smile on his face. He wouldn't be cocky for long. He came at me and slowly kicked to my head. He was holding back. Ok, I'd hold back too, but not a lot. I ducked his slow kick, and kicked his leg out from under him. He fell into a heap on the matt.
"Can't say I didn't warn you." I smiled down at him. He frowned at me, and got back up again.
"One more time." He said, taking a fighting stance. I punched, and he blocked, I punched with the other hand, and he blocked that too. He came forward with his forehead, but I leaned back. I was flexible enough to lean out of his way. The two of us backed up, and circled each other. He was smiling at me. He was so eager to get his ass kicked. He came at me, and stooped at the last minute, going for my legs as I had done to him. I jumped, avoiding his low kick, and when I landed I back flipped away from him. "Do gymnastics?" He asked still smiling.
"Used to." I answered, smiling back. I don't think we were friends anymore. The look on his face was too mocking to be friendly. He was absolutely confident that he could beat me. So confident that he felt like he should humor me with my little game. Too bad this wasn't a game. This was a fight. A fight I was going to win.
We fought for a while after that, nothing really bad happened. He'd come for me, and I'd block. I'd come for him and he'd block. We were holding back, and exhausting ourselves by prolonging the fight that I was bound to win anyway.
"You're quick." He commented. He was no longer smiling. He was irritated. He couldn't land a hit on me. So sad; too bad.
"No honey, you're just slow." I stuck out my tongue at him. Those who had seen me make the gesture would have believed it was a joke, but he was looking straight into my eyes, and he knew it was a flat out insult.
"You bitch." He muttered. That stopped me in my tracks. What did he call me? A bitch? No one calls me a bitch. The humor died out of my face, leaving it perfectly blank. His eyes widened a bit. He saw the anger in my eyes. He had hit a cord. Now, I was going to kick his ass. He could feel it. He was scared. Of poor little helpless me? Good.
"Who are you?" He said his voice was low, barely above a whisper. I attacked. In a few seconds I had him on the ground with me straddling his waist. I bent over him, and whispered in his ear, "I'm Kaoru, Mikey. Plain Kaoru." I got up, and held my hand out to him. He probably didn't mean to call me a bitch. I felt bad for kicking his ass now. He deserved it, but he probably didn't mean to deserve it. Know what I mean? He reluctantly took my hand, and stood up. "I've been doing martial arts for 12 years. You had no chance." I said.
"Why did you let me teach you?"
"Sounded like fun." I smiled. I finally noticed that we had attracted a crowd. They applauded. It was embarrassing, but I didn't blush. I just stared blankly out into the crowd. I searched for Misao, but she wasn't there. Who I did find was Sano and Kenshin. Why the hell were they here? Kenshin looked shocked. Sano looked impressed, but I could see him sizing me up, possibly thinking he could beat me. Hah.
"Miss Kaoru, where did you learn that?" Kenshin said moving up to me when the crowd began to disperse. Poor Mikey was leaving too.
"I've been doing martial arts forever. It's no big deal." I smiled.
"Jou-chan, I wouldn't call that no big deal. You're almost good enough to beat me." Sano smiled.
"I could beat you blind folded," I retorted. It was true. I had trained blind folded before, and it was a piece of cake once you concentrated hard enough. Anyway, Sano snorted his response.
"I didn't know you came to this gym, Kenshin." I said.
"Not usually, but Sano dragged me here. We just got here a few minutes ago. We came to see what the crowd was doing. We did not expect to see you fighting, that we did not." He said. He was wearing sweat pants and a t- shirt, perfectly normal. Sano also had on sweat pants, and he was wearing a tank. The odd thing about his appearance was the red thing he tied around his head. I hadn't seen that before. Or at least I didn't remember seeing it.
"Misao dragged me here, but I don't know where she went. I should probably go find her." I said excusing myself.
With in 10 minutes I had searched everywhere and couldn't find her. I was about to give up when I realized I hadn't searched the bathroom. I walked in, and looked under the door of each stall. In the last stall I found Misao's Nikes. I knocked on the door, and I heard her yelp in surprise. "Occupied," She said in a small voice. She was crying. I waited patiently till everyone else left. I knew she wouldn't be leaving soon. Not when she was crying. She wouldn't want anyone to see her crying. Once everyone was gone I locked the bathroom door, and knocked on her stall again. "Occupied." She responded.
"It's me Misao. Come out. I know you're crying." I said softly.
"Kaoru?" She said. Her voice shook, "Go away."
"No. Misao I'm your best friend. Now, come out, and let me help." I pleaded. She was my friend. I couldn't leave her there to cry. To my surprise she came out. The was relatively easy...
"I didn't come out for you. So, don't feel special. I'm just feeling too weak to argue right now."
"What's wrong?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Yes it does. It matters to me, now tell me."
"I can't do it! Ok? Happy now?" She said angrily. Tears ran down her red face.
"No I'm not happy. What can't you do?" I asked, moving closer to her.
"I can't throw my kunai."
"Why not?"
"It's not the same. It's not the same without him." She said looking away.
"With out who?"
"Aoshi." She said quietly, and out of nowhere she flung her arms around me and started to sob. I held her like that for 20 minutes. Now and then people would try and open the bathroom door, but besides that the room was quiet save from Misao's crying. Aoshi did this to her. That ass did this to her. Not only did he pollute Soujiro's mind; he somehow, at some point, broke Misao's heart. I am going to make him pay. Mark my words, I will make him hurt. Question was: how?
PREVIEW: I needed to hurt someone. I needed to feel tough. If I didn't I was going to cry. I hate it when memories are brought back up. When secrets begin to become exposed. When someone gets too close.