YAY FOR ME! I finally updated! WOW, ne?! AND I have a *NEW* penname! Yay for it! Well, anyway....

Shards, I've been having a busy week... My stupid evil Honors English teacher decided to give us a 10 page research paper, and I have two other projects to do... -_- *proceeds to hit life-size dummies of all of her teachers with a shinai* That's better... No, wait a second.... *Throws several kunai at them* NOW, that's BETTER! Pent-up anger, just ignore that, my dear readers... "^^

And my friend Lizz, who I've known since kindergarten, her father just died of cancer. It was really sudden; he just got sick a few weeks ago... So there's been a lot of stuff with that...yeah...anyway...

Augh. I think I made half the characters WAY OOC in this chapter.... And I made Sou-chan a good guy. "^^ OH FREAKING WELL! "^^ That's okay! I made them just how they need to be for my story, yes, yes... Well, you aren't here to listen to my random babblings, so here is the story! Yay for it.

Contact me @ SlightImperfections@yahoo.com

"So you just moved here from Kyoto?", Misao asked Kenshin conversationally.

Kaoru had gotten Sano to invite Kenshin to sit with them. Well, actually, Sano invited the newcomer before Kaoru had a chance to ask him. *He's like that sometimes...* she had thought. *Such a rough exterior, but he's a really nice guy. Too bad Megumi doesn't think so...* She was referring to Sano's crush, Takani Megumi. She was the biggest flirt Kaoru knew, the only guy she didn't seem to like was "The Rooster-Head" as she was fond of calling him. Misao was convinced that this was because she liked him too, but Kaoru disagreed.

"Yes, my ...uncle... Hiko Seijuuro and I just got here a few weeks ago.", the redhead answered in his quiet voice.

The pause was not lost on Kaoru and she raised an eyebrow, but decided to ignore it for the moment. About to ask about his old home, she was suddenly aware of Seta Soujiro, one of their classmates, standing next to their table, balancing his lunch on one hand. She had vaguely noticed him walking past, since he sat with them sometimes, but he has stopped dead at Kenshin's comment.

"THE Hiko Seijuuro?!", he asked incredulously. Kenshin looked slightly surprised at this. The others just looked surprised. Kaoru figured they hadn't noticed the boy's approach. *Typical...* she thought wryly before waiting for Kenshin's answer.

"Um. Yes. Why? You've heard of him?", he replied.

"Of course! My kendo teacher never stops talking about him!"

"Uh, no offense Soujiro, but your teacher's kinda...messed up.", Misao pointed out.

*Oh yeah, I remember him, Soujiro's kendo teacher Shishio Makoto. Kaoru grinned to herself He has a neverending grudge against all insurance companies ever since his house burned down and he got injured in the fire but his insurance didn't cover it or something. What a freak!* ((A/N *falls over laughing* I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me, I just couldn't resist!!! *pictures Shishio trying to overthrow all of the world's insurance companies, and laughs hysterically*))

The boy smiled half-embarrassedly, half-apologetically. "Well yeah, but you gotta admit, it really wasn't fair that-"

Everybody at the table groaned, cutting him off, knowing that one of his long adoring speeches about his teacher would come up if Soujiro wasn't stopped in time.

"So you do kendo then?", Kaoru broke in, looking at Kenshin hopefully. "Why don't you join the school Kendo Club? Soujiro here's the captain. He could sign you up!"

"Well I don't kn-", he tried to answer.

"Yeah Himura!", Misao piped up. "They really need more members! "

"Just come by after school! It's our third practice of the year.", Kaoru pleaded, her wide blue eyes silently imploring him.

"Oro...I guess so...", the redhead answered, looking slightly flustered at the two girls' sudden fervor.

"YES!", Misao and Kaoru gave each other high fives.

"Weasel girl, you and the tanuki REALLY need to cut back on sugar!", Sano laughed, lounging back in his seat before yelling in surprise as Misao pushed his chair over. Kenshin just sweatdropped as Kaoru snickered, and the weasel girl cackled evilly.

.::*OrO*::.

*They all seem so nice...* Kenshin thought idly, lightly tapping his pencil on the desk, while staring blankly at the math problem being written on the board. *It's a lot different from I'm used to. They're all so trusting...naive...AUGH! No, must stop being morbid... Things are different now...you have a second chance... a clean slate, if you will...* He stared down at the floor, frowning thoughtfully. *Why did I let them convince me to come to Kendo Club after school?! Why did I even sit with them at lunch anyway...it's better for everyone if they don't get close to me, and if I don't get close to them.* The image of Kaoru's hopeful blue eyes when she'd asked him to visit the club after school suddenly came to him, he smiled slightly at the memory, a drastic change from the unhappy expression a moment before.

"Mr. Himura!", the teacher's voice interrupted his musings. "May I ask just what is so interesting about the carpet?"

*Oro...* "Um, nothing really...", he answered, covering up his annoyance with an amiably embarrassed expression, putting his hand behind his head, and looking up at the teacher.

She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, hands on hips. "Then I don't suppose you'd mind coming up here and solving this problem?", she gestured towards the particulary long and difficult one she'd just finished writing.

Kenshin stifled a groan, and shot a glare at the snickering Sanosuke, who was in his class, not noticing that half the girls in the class were doing the same. ((A/N Glaring, not snickering...))

.::*OrO*::.

"Come ON, Kenshin!", Kaoru practically dragged the reluctant redhead behind her. "Here he is!", she announced upon reaching a door marked, predictably, "Kendo Club", and throwing it open.

Soujiro turned from where he was stretching, customary cheerful smile in place. "Kaoru! You brought Himura! Good, good... You can just sit (or stand) anywhere you want, unless, of course, if you want to practice or spar or anything?", he cocked his head, blue eyes inquisitive.

"No, no, I'm fine..", Kenshin smiled back, leaning against a wall. "I can just observe, at least for now, ne?"

As they began, Kenshin couldn't help but notice that the club was, indeed, pitifully small. Especially so since this was one of the largest schools in the city. *Maybe I should join...* he thought. *It might not be so bad, and I'm already better than, well, most of the people here.* He watched as Soujiro cheerfully called for the members to begin sparring.

"Oi! Seta! I'll spar with you again!", called one boy.

Soujiro laughed, "Don't you still have the bruise from last week?"

"It was a lucky shot!"

"It's my turn to spar with Soujiro!", Kenshin turned at Kaoru's voice. "I want to see how I fare against the best our school has to offer." she glanced at Kenshin.

*Is she taunting me?*, he wondered. *Probably...*

"All right then...", the ever-smiling boy agreed, "Let us begin...", he said, after the rest of the people had paired off, and the clacking of wooden sword against wooden sword began.

Soujiro was obviously better than Kaoru, Kenshin had to admit. But the firey girl was no amateur. He was certain that she could easily beat any of the other members. Soujiro was also holding back. Kaoru probably hadn't noticed. She'd surely be "very angry" (to put it lightly) if she knew. Even so, the fight was over quickly. *I barely had time to wonder what styles they use, or even if they use certain styles,* the redhead thought ruefully, as the two bowed and congratulated each other. A*ctually, I'd kind of like to spar with them. They're surely not as rough as Shishou...I hope...Oro...* He winced at the mere thought of his teacher's lessons, and walked forward to tell them that he'd join.

.::*OrO*::.

WOW. Completely pointless, ne? I suppose I'm just trying to begin to establish the plot, yes yes... Kenshin seemed a bit depressed though...hmmm...he needs more caffeine...

Well, please bear with me as I just kind of made up a buncha junk with the Kendo Club thingy, lol.

Um, lesse.... Please R&R, and no flames! I'm allergic to third degree burns...And first and second degree...

Contact me at SlightImperfections@yahoo.com, as I've already said. If anyone would like to chat about anime or whatevr...PLEASE! Absolutely none of my friends like anime, and only one has even heard of FanFiction.net, or even knows what a fanfic is! (Pathetic, ne?) I'm starting to have conversations with myself about anime! (Not that I didn't talk to myself before...) Okay, enough self-pity! Ja ne!