27 reviews for a chapter! That's the most I've ever gotten for a chapter!
Thank you very much to all who have reviewed my previous chapter!
SilverLightning – No, you didn't miss a thing, Kenshin is injured. However, I believe he is stronger than he looks so he could just do light sparring. Soujiro and Aoshi will not be too hard on him knowing his condition. Most importantly, he's just looking for an excuse to avoid Kaoru.
mexican princess – You reviewed every chapter! I felt bad actually since I'm a lazy reviewer but others review my every chapter! Oh yeah, I'm still in school! I'm studying in Singapore and I'm in secondary 3, I think that's equivalent to grade 9. (I'm not really sure) I'm 16 by the way. I hope you like the pic! ^_^
beriath – Thank you for your review! Hope you like the pic and thank you for your compliment on it!
flyinangel777
Starry Night – Glad you're no longer confused. Thanks for asking, I think the title really needs to be corrected, it's rather confusing. Thank you! Nope, it isn't a trouble for me to send the pic, just took a few minutes to accomplish that. Besides, I'm the one asking people whether they would like to be sent the pic. By the way, I have tried sending it to you several times but your e-mail is over your storage limits. Could you make some space so that I could send it to you?
ChildlikeMoonTenchi – Good guess! I know it's rather an overused plot but I'm trying to make it different. Thank you for your review!
Yuhi – That's a sad thing that I couldn't send you the pic. I agree with you, what could e-mail possibly do to affect your studies? It would only take a couple of minutes to check after all.
Ryoko57 – LOL. That's rather sad you haven't seen the manga, coz I prefer the manga to the anime (but the anime is still great!) Hope you like the pic. "Forever in my debt?" LOL ^_^ Just a small thing. Don't worry about it. Besides you review my story and without reviewers, there would be no encouragement to write more. Thank you for your review! It' positive and very encouraging! Thank you for your compliment on the drawing too!
Chris
Kakarlena – I don't mind late reviews. I'm a lazy reviewer so I've got no right to criticize people. (I should criticize myself instead!) I will be updating at a rather slow rate as I'm still busy with school, so bear with me.
Punky – Thanks for your encouragement but I just lack self-confidence honestly. That's just the way I am. Thank you for your review! Hope you like the pic!
l3al3yanime – You change your nick? Well, I couldn't recognize you until I check your page.!
Aki
tiaravball15 – LOL I'm glad that you think the pace is alright now.
Chiruken – Yay! You're back. You haven't reviewed for quite a while. You don't need to review every chapter if you don't want to. I agree with your opinion on the last review. Thank you very much for taking the time to review my every chapter! Hope you like the pic! Did he really say that? I'm flattered @_@ Anyway, I'm just good in copying and perhaps shading but when it comes to imagining and draw it out, I sucks! Well, thank you for your compliment on the drawing!
Foxrocker – I'm flattered by your comment. Thanks! Hope you like the pic!
Firstly, I'm very, very sorry for updating late. My internet connection had been down for almost one month. Besides, I'm having a rather major writer's block. I'm also still busy with my school life.
For those receiving my pic, hope you like it. I'm not sure if I send it to all that asked for it. If you already asked me but have not received please notify me in your review. I'm quite surprised that quite a lot actually asked for it so I may have miss count and did not send it to some of you.
I've said too much. Now, on to the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin (maybe only in my dreams)
Chapter 11 – The Day After
Kaoru's POV
When Kenshin came to school the next day, everyone had the biggest shock of their life. It was like the world is coming to an end. Those were clearly written on everyone's faces. Well, maybe except me. He sat next to me as usual and gave me a smile. Now that surprised me. I sat there gaping at him. I was not really ready for such a major change. His eyes had remained steady violet since yesterday and his expression was definitely friendlier. It unnerved me. I'm not used to seeing him like this. At least I'm coping better than the others.
The others stood gaping at us. I felt like taking out my bokken and whacked everybody's head. It's not what they think. Sure, I changed Kenshin back to he was but I'm not his girlfriend or anything. I'm just a friend. I felt cold stares at my back and some murmuring. Wiping the entire class population suddenly seemed like a good idea to me.
Fortunately, the teacher had come into the class and everyone got back into their seats. What a relief. I bet that those people would still be staring at us until the end of the day if the teacher did not come. I could not really blame them. After all, I still couldn't believe it myself. The staring and the murmuring were unacceptable though.
Kenshin still acted the same during the period. He still took down notes on his note book and paid attention fully to the teacher. I kept glancing to him. From a cold, expressionless man to a warm and smiling one is a drastic change to me. My mind was in a whirl. 'Calm yourself down, Kaoru,' I told myself repeatedly, 'You're the one who wanted the change, so accept it.'
The ringing of the bell jolted me back from my deep thought. It was time for lunch break. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I could get out from those idiotic people. Did I just mention idiotic? My, I was starting to get insulting. Well, it seems that I can't control my temper well enough with their attitudes. Even as I was leaving the class, the people were still murmuring. "Would you believe that? She changed him back!" I heard a guy saying those rather loudly, seemingly to forget that I was still outside the classroom door. At least it was a confirmation that I had successfully changed Kenshin back into his normal self. Well, maybe not entirely.
Lunch time was not coping well with me either. The first person I met in the canteen was Misao and she rushed to me with the same familiar disbelief look on her face.
"Kaoru, is it true about the rumour? Himura is back to his normal self?"
I nodded, not in the mood to talk about the subject. However Misao was persistent and she bombarded me with all sorts of questions even as we were queuing to buy the food. I answered all her questions rather curtly and I felt bad for her but at that moment I was not in the best mood. My tone started to get rougher with each question and Misao finally noticed my hesitance in talking about the so-called "rumour" and she immediately dropped the subject. We ate in silence for a while and I noticed Misao waving to the people coming from my back. I turned around to see a group of people coming towards me. Guess who they were.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kenshin's POV
I couldn't believe what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was shaking her hand. What shocked me the most that she succeeded in bringing my normal self back. It was even more surprising that she only knew me for about three weeks and she had achieved something that other people, even my friends, had not accomplished for a year. You would never expect a stranger bringing this significant change to you. Well, we had only known each other barely. She was still a mystery to me. She was a unique girl, I had to admit. She had an exceptionally strong ki, considering she was a woman. However, it was her characters that drew me. She was energetic, full of innocence, and was always cheerful. Her heart seemed to be open for everybody, even to a cold person like me. She did not mind about my past and told me that what matters the most was the present.
I had to admit I was falling for her. She was beautiful, especially her sapphire eyes. They sparkled magnificently every time I looked at them. She seemed perfect for me, both on her appearance and characters. Well, maybe not exactly perfect. I had seen her temper during the party. Everyone had their own negative sides, so who cares? I would be able to deal with her hot temper anyway. At least I could run out from her sight before she could get her bokken. Being a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu certainly had its advantage. Well thinking about these things all night was driving me crazy.
When I went back to school the next day, everybody had a shock look written all over their faces. It was like an alien was standing right in front of them. I couldn't really blame them though. Seeing such a drastic change overnight was definitely unnerving, even to me. I still think of this as a dream. The gawking definitely confirmed that it was not.
I saw Kaoru sitting at the usual place in class. I'm not sure how to face her after what had happened yesterday. I breathed deeply and mustered all my courage to walk up to her and gave her my smile that I had frequently used a long time ago. Now it was her turn to be surprised and she stood there staring at me like I'm Bigfoot or something. Her surprised look was worth a million. It was rare to see her with that kind of expression. I enjoyed her look, smiling inwardly in satisfaction. The others were certainly not happy though. There was a lot of murmuring in class.
The teacher's arrival ruined my entertainment on enjoying Kaoru's shocked face. I bet she would remain gaping like that forever like a statue if the teacher had not come into the class. Throughout the day I just sat quietly and pay full attention in the class. Well, ALMOST full attention. Though I did take down some notes, I was actually still pondering on yesterday's incident and I was stealing glances at Kaoru. God, she was beautiful. I know there are a lot of guys who have been dying to ask her out and she had refused all of them politely. In the process, she had broken quite a few hearts. I think my turn would be coming soon as my urge of asking her out is getting stronger each day. I dared not to though as I feared that I would get turned down. It would be embarrassing but I had a hard time fighting this urge and I tried to avoid her as much as possible for the past few days. Well, it turned out that it had been unsuccessful. In fact, now things are becoming really unbelievable to me.
Speaking of asking her out, I must say that I had actually been with her alone. Not exactly the case as she was the one asking for me to teach her and it was purely for studying, not for recreational purposes. Now that I think about it, I had been really lucky to have the chance to be alone with her considering that none of the other guys had gotten and instead, they got their hearts broken.
The bell shook me out of my trance. I did not realize that time had passed so fast and it was already lunch break. I quickly rose from my seat and went to the canteen. I needed time to think over the matters and seeing Kaoru was not going to help me as she made me very nervous. I went to find Sano and saw him cutting queues to buy food. I was used to seeing him like this so it did not bother me. Sanosuke was never a good student and he never pretended to be. That was why I like him. He was honest and straightforward in voicing his opinions.
Things were getting worse. Everybody was looking at me like I'm a supernatural being or something. That included Sano. He was rubbing his eyes as a mean to convince himself that it was just a dream. Well, too bad that it was not. He went over to me and looked at me with a look that tells me that he still did not believe what he saw in front of him. He stood there for about 2 minutes before he realised that we were attracting a lot of attention from the other students. He walked with me to find a table in embarrassment. He noticed something and began walking towards a table at the corner. Correction, it was someone. Kaoru was sitting there with Megumi and Yumi on one side while Aoshi and the rest on the other. All of them, except for Kaoru and Aoshi of course, had the familiar look on their faces that I was starting to get sick of. I let out a big sigh to no one in particular. This was going to be a long day for me.
To be continued
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sorry if the ending of this chapter is rather bad. Seriously, I find it appropriate to stop here or else I would be rambling endlessly. Hope you guys still like the chapter!
SilverLightning – No, you didn't miss a thing, Kenshin is injured. However, I believe he is stronger than he looks so he could just do light sparring. Soujiro and Aoshi will not be too hard on him knowing his condition. Most importantly, he's just looking for an excuse to avoid Kaoru.
mexican princess – You reviewed every chapter! I felt bad actually since I'm a lazy reviewer but others review my every chapter! Oh yeah, I'm still in school! I'm studying in Singapore and I'm in secondary 3, I think that's equivalent to grade 9. (I'm not really sure) I'm 16 by the way. I hope you like the pic! ^_^
beriath – Thank you for your review! Hope you like the pic and thank you for your compliment on it!
flyinangel777
Starry Night – Glad you're no longer confused. Thanks for asking, I think the title really needs to be corrected, it's rather confusing. Thank you! Nope, it isn't a trouble for me to send the pic, just took a few minutes to accomplish that. Besides, I'm the one asking people whether they would like to be sent the pic. By the way, I have tried sending it to you several times but your e-mail is over your storage limits. Could you make some space so that I could send it to you?
ChildlikeMoonTenchi – Good guess! I know it's rather an overused plot but I'm trying to make it different. Thank you for your review!
Yuhi – That's a sad thing that I couldn't send you the pic. I agree with you, what could e-mail possibly do to affect your studies? It would only take a couple of minutes to check after all.
Ryoko57 – LOL. That's rather sad you haven't seen the manga, coz I prefer the manga to the anime (but the anime is still great!) Hope you like the pic. "Forever in my debt?" LOL ^_^ Just a small thing. Don't worry about it. Besides you review my story and without reviewers, there would be no encouragement to write more. Thank you for your review! It' positive and very encouraging! Thank you for your compliment on the drawing too!
Chris
Kakarlena – I don't mind late reviews. I'm a lazy reviewer so I've got no right to criticize people. (I should criticize myself instead!) I will be updating at a rather slow rate as I'm still busy with school, so bear with me.
Punky – Thanks for your encouragement but I just lack self-confidence honestly. That's just the way I am. Thank you for your review! Hope you like the pic!
l3al3yanime – You change your nick? Well, I couldn't recognize you until I check your page.!
Aki
tiaravball15 – LOL I'm glad that you think the pace is alright now.
Chiruken – Yay! You're back. You haven't reviewed for quite a while. You don't need to review every chapter if you don't want to. I agree with your opinion on the last review. Thank you very much for taking the time to review my every chapter! Hope you like the pic! Did he really say that? I'm flattered @_@ Anyway, I'm just good in copying and perhaps shading but when it comes to imagining and draw it out, I sucks! Well, thank you for your compliment on the drawing!
Foxrocker – I'm flattered by your comment. Thanks! Hope you like the pic!
Firstly, I'm very, very sorry for updating late. My internet connection had been down for almost one month. Besides, I'm having a rather major writer's block. I'm also still busy with my school life.
For those receiving my pic, hope you like it. I'm not sure if I send it to all that asked for it. If you already asked me but have not received please notify me in your review. I'm quite surprised that quite a lot actually asked for it so I may have miss count and did not send it to some of you.
I've said too much. Now, on to the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin (maybe only in my dreams)
Chapter 11 – The Day After
Kaoru's POV
When Kenshin came to school the next day, everyone had the biggest shock of their life. It was like the world is coming to an end. Those were clearly written on everyone's faces. Well, maybe except me. He sat next to me as usual and gave me a smile. Now that surprised me. I sat there gaping at him. I was not really ready for such a major change. His eyes had remained steady violet since yesterday and his expression was definitely friendlier. It unnerved me. I'm not used to seeing him like this. At least I'm coping better than the others.
The others stood gaping at us. I felt like taking out my bokken and whacked everybody's head. It's not what they think. Sure, I changed Kenshin back to he was but I'm not his girlfriend or anything. I'm just a friend. I felt cold stares at my back and some murmuring. Wiping the entire class population suddenly seemed like a good idea to me.
Fortunately, the teacher had come into the class and everyone got back into their seats. What a relief. I bet that those people would still be staring at us until the end of the day if the teacher did not come. I could not really blame them. After all, I still couldn't believe it myself. The staring and the murmuring were unacceptable though.
Kenshin still acted the same during the period. He still took down notes on his note book and paid attention fully to the teacher. I kept glancing to him. From a cold, expressionless man to a warm and smiling one is a drastic change to me. My mind was in a whirl. 'Calm yourself down, Kaoru,' I told myself repeatedly, 'You're the one who wanted the change, so accept it.'
The ringing of the bell jolted me back from my deep thought. It was time for lunch break. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I could get out from those idiotic people. Did I just mention idiotic? My, I was starting to get insulting. Well, it seems that I can't control my temper well enough with their attitudes. Even as I was leaving the class, the people were still murmuring. "Would you believe that? She changed him back!" I heard a guy saying those rather loudly, seemingly to forget that I was still outside the classroom door. At least it was a confirmation that I had successfully changed Kenshin back into his normal self. Well, maybe not entirely.
Lunch time was not coping well with me either. The first person I met in the canteen was Misao and she rushed to me with the same familiar disbelief look on her face.
"Kaoru, is it true about the rumour? Himura is back to his normal self?"
I nodded, not in the mood to talk about the subject. However Misao was persistent and she bombarded me with all sorts of questions even as we were queuing to buy the food. I answered all her questions rather curtly and I felt bad for her but at that moment I was not in the best mood. My tone started to get rougher with each question and Misao finally noticed my hesitance in talking about the so-called "rumour" and she immediately dropped the subject. We ate in silence for a while and I noticed Misao waving to the people coming from my back. I turned around to see a group of people coming towards me. Guess who they were.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kenshin's POV
I couldn't believe what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was shaking her hand. What shocked me the most that she succeeded in bringing my normal self back. It was even more surprising that she only knew me for about three weeks and she had achieved something that other people, even my friends, had not accomplished for a year. You would never expect a stranger bringing this significant change to you. Well, we had only known each other barely. She was still a mystery to me. She was a unique girl, I had to admit. She had an exceptionally strong ki, considering she was a woman. However, it was her characters that drew me. She was energetic, full of innocence, and was always cheerful. Her heart seemed to be open for everybody, even to a cold person like me. She did not mind about my past and told me that what matters the most was the present.
I had to admit I was falling for her. She was beautiful, especially her sapphire eyes. They sparkled magnificently every time I looked at them. She seemed perfect for me, both on her appearance and characters. Well, maybe not exactly perfect. I had seen her temper during the party. Everyone had their own negative sides, so who cares? I would be able to deal with her hot temper anyway. At least I could run out from her sight before she could get her bokken. Being a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu certainly had its advantage. Well thinking about these things all night was driving me crazy.
When I went back to school the next day, everybody had a shock look written all over their faces. It was like an alien was standing right in front of them. I couldn't really blame them though. Seeing such a drastic change overnight was definitely unnerving, even to me. I still think of this as a dream. The gawking definitely confirmed that it was not.
I saw Kaoru sitting at the usual place in class. I'm not sure how to face her after what had happened yesterday. I breathed deeply and mustered all my courage to walk up to her and gave her my smile that I had frequently used a long time ago. Now it was her turn to be surprised and she stood there staring at me like I'm Bigfoot or something. Her surprised look was worth a million. It was rare to see her with that kind of expression. I enjoyed her look, smiling inwardly in satisfaction. The others were certainly not happy though. There was a lot of murmuring in class.
The teacher's arrival ruined my entertainment on enjoying Kaoru's shocked face. I bet she would remain gaping like that forever like a statue if the teacher had not come into the class. Throughout the day I just sat quietly and pay full attention in the class. Well, ALMOST full attention. Though I did take down some notes, I was actually still pondering on yesterday's incident and I was stealing glances at Kaoru. God, she was beautiful. I know there are a lot of guys who have been dying to ask her out and she had refused all of them politely. In the process, she had broken quite a few hearts. I think my turn would be coming soon as my urge of asking her out is getting stronger each day. I dared not to though as I feared that I would get turned down. It would be embarrassing but I had a hard time fighting this urge and I tried to avoid her as much as possible for the past few days. Well, it turned out that it had been unsuccessful. In fact, now things are becoming really unbelievable to me.
Speaking of asking her out, I must say that I had actually been with her alone. Not exactly the case as she was the one asking for me to teach her and it was purely for studying, not for recreational purposes. Now that I think about it, I had been really lucky to have the chance to be alone with her considering that none of the other guys had gotten and instead, they got their hearts broken.
The bell shook me out of my trance. I did not realize that time had passed so fast and it was already lunch break. I quickly rose from my seat and went to the canteen. I needed time to think over the matters and seeing Kaoru was not going to help me as she made me very nervous. I went to find Sano and saw him cutting queues to buy food. I was used to seeing him like this so it did not bother me. Sanosuke was never a good student and he never pretended to be. That was why I like him. He was honest and straightforward in voicing his opinions.
Things were getting worse. Everybody was looking at me like I'm a supernatural being or something. That included Sano. He was rubbing his eyes as a mean to convince himself that it was just a dream. Well, too bad that it was not. He went over to me and looked at me with a look that tells me that he still did not believe what he saw in front of him. He stood there for about 2 minutes before he realised that we were attracting a lot of attention from the other students. He walked with me to find a table in embarrassment. He noticed something and began walking towards a table at the corner. Correction, it was someone. Kaoru was sitting there with Megumi and Yumi on one side while Aoshi and the rest on the other. All of them, except for Kaoru and Aoshi of course, had the familiar look on their faces that I was starting to get sick of. I let out a big sigh to no one in particular. This was going to be a long day for me.
To be continued
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sorry if the ending of this chapter is rather bad. Seriously, I find it appropriate to stop here or else I would be rambling endlessly. Hope you guys still like the chapter!