Across the Hallway


Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin et al is owned by Watsuki Nobuhiro. I'm just a Sessha follower that dreams…

A/N: Just a warning, i'm not sure if its rated, but at the very least it should PG for the topics. ;) R&R please! all comments, even vegetables, welcome... although hopefully, no veggies...

_____________________

Chapter 3

The Neighbor

Kenshin walked across the elevator bay to the only other unit on their floor. He noted that the door was half open, and shook his head. The neighbor was either very naïve or a new comer to NYC, or he/she would've known that it was a bad move to leave anything open. That just leaves invitation for a bad element to come in. Someone should really warn them. As he went nearer the door, he could hear sounds of female laughter and Yahiko's voice complaining and saying something like Hag. At that, Kenshin frowned, thinking that it was time for the kid to learn how to respect his elders, envisioning an eighty year old little lady living next door.

"Hello?" Kenshin rapped on the half-open door. No one seemed to have heard him, and all the sounds seemed to have come from inside one of the rooms, so he went inside, making sure to lock the door securely behind him. He noticed that there were a few unopened boxes lying around, but the room was already fixed, and what astonished him was that a large part of the space was fixed dojo-style, the authentic Japanese way that never changed since several hundred years ago. He drew nearer to the wooden plaques with names hanging on the far wall, and caught Yahiko's name on one.

Yahiko studying a martial art?! I'm impressed! No wonder his behavior changed. But why is he hiding it from us? I should really spend time with him and update myself on what he's doing. Or maybe his teacher.

"Errr... Hello?" He ventured calling out a second time, walking towards the shoji door where he saw several shadows moving on the other side, another style he approved of. Obviously, the sensei was a traditionalist. Good, he thought. Yahiko has the good sense to recognize the structure, even if he can't understand it yet, growing more and more impressed at the direction things were taking.

As he neared the door, it suddenly slid open to reveal a girl in cutoff jeans bending over, pulling something on the ground with her very nice backside and a great pair of legs facing him. He could do nothing more but stare since its been some time since he had such a nice display of assets in front of him that he didn't notice the girl turning her head back until she screamed "HENTAI!!!", pulled out a bokken and whacked him hard on the head with a swing that would have made Joe DiMaggio proud.

"Oroooo?!"

The last thing he heard was Yahiko's "Hey, that's Ken—-" before he crashed to the floor and blacked out.

-o-

"Oro" was an understatement for what Kenshin felt the moment he came back to consciousness. He felt like hell. His stomach felt curiously cramped. What he also felt was tickling sensation, like hair falling on his face. He decided to open them, although he felt as if he had a major hang over and a large bump on his temple was throbbing like there was no tomorrow.

Gentle lavender met worried deep blue pools. At least that was what he thought when he saw just who was sitting on his stomach, leaning over him with her raven hair falling out of her ponytail onto his face. It was the girl with the cute butt. On closer observation, the rest of her was very nicely put, too. Oh give it a rest, Battousai. Kiss mine, Himura, I'll stare as long as I want.

Kaoru Kamiya blinked. Hubba-hubba. I thought he was quite good looking unconsious, but those eyes just put everything into a great looking package, don't they? She felt a strange connection with the stranger that Yahiko said lived with him, and then—

"If it pleases you, Sessha is alright and would like to try standing up now." The red haired man said and smiled gently at her.

Omigod. I knew I missed the line where Kami-sama handed out brains. "Oh I'm so sorry! I thought that somebody had broken in the house when I saw you..." Kaoru trailed off because how in God's name was she going to say, 'when you were staring at my hiney?' delicately to someone she just met and knocked unconscious? So instead, she just scrambled up, not knowing she was giving him yet again a very nice view of herself, particularly the very hiney in context. All she saw that he winced when in her hurry, she made him shift his position on the floor uncomfortably. Guilt made her feel bad and ask, "are you sure you're ok?".

"Hey Hag, what did you do to my friend?" Yahiko spoke after the scuffle, making Kaoru glare at him with a 'you're dead' expression, bringing Kenshin back to reality. Yahiko had his arm around the waist of a familiar, young, pretty girl hiding half her face with a box she carried. Must be the girlfriend he was telling us about, he thought. So who's Blue Eyes? And why does Yahiko call her Hag? She isn't even remotely...

"I... I think he's coming to, Kaoru-san" Tsubame, Yahiko's junior high friend and current girlfriend, said at the same time that another voice coming towards them said, "Kaoru, I have the ammonia..." All the voices died away as they observed Kenshin getting up.

A chorus of "Oh good, he doesn't seem to need this" and "Kaoru, Tsubame, Tae, meet Kenshin, Sano's best friend, business partner and our roomie" and "Are you feeling all right now, or should I go fetch a doctor?" greeted him as he stood up.

"Maa, maa" Kenshin said, smiling back at all of them, "Sessha is feeling alright and there's no need for a doctor, really. Kaoru-dono, Tae-dono and Tsubame-dono, it is nice meeting you. I'm sorry for interrupting, but I just wanted to see where Yahiko was, because he was not at home when I came, and to see if you still needed any extra help."

Kaoru and Tae looked at him in astonishment. Was he for real? In New York?! He was so polite! Not what they expected after Yahiko's story of him being a former Secret Service agent, and everyone knew that if you were one, manners were never a crucial point in training. And what was this Sessha business all about? Kaoru thought. Talk about low self-esteem. He's built like a rock, for all that he looks slender and slight. I personally felt his muscles when I sat on him... Kaoru blushed slightly and to cover the awkward silence, she said "Oh no, that's quite all right, we were just finishing up here, we were about to go for a midnight snack back at the Akabeko, the restaurant down the street. Tae-chan and her sister, Tsubame-chan, own and operate it. Would you like to join us?" Kaoru asked. She hoped he would say yes. She was dying to know more about the next door neighbor and she was sure Tae with her ever-present matchmaking heart would, too. Who wouldn't? He may be on the short side as compared to some men she knew, but he was just perfect for her. She was never model height, anyway.

"Of course, as long as it's this Sessha's treat" Kenshin gallantly said. Yahiko whooped and lead the way out the door with Tsubame in tow, chattering animatedly about computers and the newest alternative rock group. Tae told him "Oh, I wasn't planning on charging, you know, Kaoru being my childhood friend and all, but it was nice of you to offer." She smiled at him, then she saw him looking at Kaoru and both grinning at each other like idiots and understood better than anyone else what had just happened, so she shut her mouth and followed the kids out the door, her matchmaking instinct suddenly turned on. She had been after Kaoru to get a new boyfriend, after she broke up with Enishi when she found out that he was shacking up with a pink-haired bimbo. And that was 3 years ago! But Kaoru always had unique taste in men, she thought silently, and this one seems like a keeper. Yahiko is pretty ok, maybe a bit bratty, but Tsubame seems to be good for him, and I don't believe that he's the type that would be happy living with a jerk--- so I guess that redhead isn't. I hope that this time around, though, no one gets hurt. Let the games begin! Tae smiled craftily as she stepped outside the door.


______________________________________________________________

A/N: I actually have 9 chapters already, but slowly going through the pace of putting them up one by one... thanks again to everyone who reads this in advance :) R&R please!