Across the Hallway

A/N: Surprise lemon comes in here... Rated! Definitely. But only for about 2 paragraphs... Don't forget to R&R! Oh and Hiko isn't dead by the way, just some major psycho hangup that Kenshin has in dreams about killing everyone close to him re. Chapter 5 :D





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Chapter 7

The Conference

The living room of the luxurious 2 storey penthouse of Aoshi Shinomori, ex-CIA agent, gave a great panoramic view of Central Park to the group assembled there. Sano, of course, had called in all the reinforcements to help his best friend conquer his self-loathing--- just SO said friend can get laid and the rest can quit pestering him.

Present in the group were: Aoshi-sama (it was his house, after all), Misao, Yahiko, Tsubame (at Yahiko's insistence), Sano, Hiko Seijurou (Kenshin's godfather and mentor), Megumi, and Kenshin. A surprise guest arrived, the chief of police for oriental affairs, Saitoh Haijime.

"Yuck. Who invited chimney over there?" Yahiko spat, on seeing Saitoh. They had no love for each other--- Saitoh was responsible for almost landing Yahiko in juvie. The chimney just stared at him with cold, yellow eyes and lit a cigarette.

"Yeah, who invited you?" Sano also said, just because he hated Saitoh's guts.

"Aoshi did. I had no desire to leave my wife's cooking for this, except that he said it was important. I owe him one." Saitoh's lips curled in distaste.

"You're married? Kami-sama how does she stand you? She must be a real saint to put up with the likes of you---" Sano was about to say more but Megumi reached out to hush him.

"Married with four kids" came smug reply.

"Ehem. Is there anything else to drink around here except Goddamned GREEN TEA?!" demanded Hiko.

He startled everyone into dropping from their seats.

"I don't have any sake but perhaps scotch on the rocks would do?" Aoshi asked after a stunned silence, bringing a bottle from the bar overlooking a jacuzzi.

"Straight up, please. Aaaah, much better. So, what has my baka-deshi been up to?"

"Wow, Aoshi-sama, I really love this view!!!" Misao called out from the floor to ceiling windows, hopping on one foot, Tsubame at her side looking slightly nauseous.

"Thank you. Now, come back to the group before I answer Hiko-sama's question."

Tsubame gave a sigh of relief as she and Misao joined the group again. Hiko didn't seem to notice that his question was unanswered, as he was busy polishing off the bottle of scotch. Sano and Megumi were poking each other, disagreeing upon something, and Yahiko was reading one of the Kendo magazines. Saitoh was smoking his 5th cigarette for the night calmly. Throughout the whole time, it was only Kenshin sitting silently, holding the file Aoshi had given him earlier in a death grip and looking as if his head was about to be cut off anytime.

"Shall we start? Sano, maybe you better explain the reason why we're all here, since it was your idea to hold this, er, shall we say emergency? meeting tonight."

"Okay ice-man, well, it looks like our red haired friend here is quite taken with someone."

At that announcement, there burst sarcastic laughter from Hiko, a raised eyebrow from Saitoh, fox ears on Megumi, and identical grins on Misao, Yahiko and Tsubame's faces.

"Oh seriously, rooster-boy, you mean all this hooplah is because baka-deshi suddenly remembered that he has hormones?! Might I tell you that I have better things to do than update myself on that baka's lovelife?!"

"Oh, Kenshin-kun, have you really? Is she pretty like me? Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

"I knew it, I knew it! You really have a thing for Busu! She must have hit you pretty hard with that bokken last night!!!" Yahiko couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Saitoh rolled his eyes.

"SHUT UP!!!" Aoshi roared out of the blue. For the second time that night, they were stunned into silence. "I noticed that Kenshin, who should be the one talking, hasn't said a word since he came here. I think the reason is that we are taking it much too lightly, and had forgotten that we are all here to help him because he is frightened to death at the very notion that he could have something with the mystery girl whose name, by the way, is Kaoru Kamiya. Isn't that right, Kenshin?

Kenshin, already a sickly pale green from all the comments, nodded. "I… I don't deserve her. That I don't. She's too innocent." He meekly said, his head hanging in embarrassment.

"WHAT?!" outrage sprang from the group as they sweat-dropped in unison.

"Kenshin-no-baka!!! What do you mean you don't deserve her, who's she, St. Teresa or something?" Misao shrieked and lunged at him, landing on his back.

"Ken-kun, stop punishing yourself over those past incidents. How can you heal if you don't let yourself?" Megumi said, fox ears in place.

"Dude… you've been my friend for many years and I think Jou-chan could be right for you… I'd have a thing for her myself if it wasn't for Megumi over here…" Sano got a whack from the fox lady.

"I still don't get why you're interested in her, but she's pretty ok, as far as Hags go." Added Yahiko.

"And maybe she likes you too." Tsubame had the final word. Everybody shut up and looked at her. Unaccustomed to such attention, the girl blushed, but continued. "I mean, my sister and I talked last night and Tae said that she could feel sparks flying off the two."

"Are you… is she… is that…?" Kenshin was unable to form a coherent thought.

All except Saitoh relaxed and started laughing. They (except for Hiko and Sano, and more recently, Yahiko) had never seen Kenshin so tongue-tied before.

"Dude, I think Megumi was right yesterday… you should really get laid!" Sano said, still chuckling.

"ORO?!"

"What a jackass." Saitoh commented. "Can't even ask a girl out without getting a consensus."

"Yeah, asshole?! No one here wanted you to come!" Sano spat back at him, itching to fight.

"Hey, no fighting in my home please. You break something, you pay for it. And you'll disturb the peaceful aura I spent years creating here." Aoshi interceded, seeing Saitoh and Sano start snarling at each other.

"Is that it, can I go home now?" Asked Hiko, looking bored, waving an empty Jack Daniel's in front of his face.

"Here, have another drink." Aoshi passed another bottle of scotch. Hiko gleefully took it from him.

"Wait, not yet. We have to plan how Ken-san will ask her out. So I think a background check is in order." Misao said, going into professional mode, prying the file from Kenshin's hand.

"Hmmm. What do we have here… Kaoru Kamiya, 24 years of age, born in Napa Valley, California. Master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu or the Sword That Protects style in bokken fighting. I knew it! This was the school I heard about! Anyway, P.E. teacher at the Three Crosses High School on the corner of 10th and 5th. Hum, hum, mum, what's this? Orphaned at 16 years old, moved to New York at 18. Finished college in 3 years by supporting herself waiting tables and translating Japanese into English. The poor girl! Lived alone since then. Had one boyfriend, Enishi Yukushiro at 20. Broke it off after one year of relationship." Misao looked up, teary eyed. "I admire her… not too many people can get in this situation and turn out successful like she did. Kenshin, I changed my opinion…. This girl can be a saint!"

Sano and Yahiko laughed hard at that. "Jou-chan?! A saint?! Bwahaha!!!!"

Tsubame frowned at her baka-boyfriend. "Yahiko-chan, shut up."

Yahiko shut up.

Sano, however, was laughing even harder. "Woo hoo!!! Just a kid and already under a girl's thumb! Nice going, Yahiko-chan!"

Misao, Yahiko and Megumi threw expensive tea sets and other assorted items they got their hand on at him. "BAKA-TORI-ATAMA!!!"

"Stop! Stop!! I said STOPPPP!!!!" Aoshi, finally pushed to the point of anger, raised his voice for the second time that night.

"But Aoshi-sama---" Misao stopped dead at the glacial glare she received from him.

Hiko, apparently, had fallen asleep with bottle in hand and was snoring lightly through the fracas.

"I see this is going nowhere. Tokio and the kids are waiting up. I'll go home now. Shinomori, lets call it quits." Saitoh stood, dusted ash off himself and made for the door. Aoshi stared at him in stony silence.

"Ah, Saitoh-san, thank you for at least trying to help out." Kenshin found his voice. Saitoh just looked at him and rolled his eyes. What a waste of a man, he thought.

Contrary to Saitoh's belief, however, in the chaos after Misao read Kaoru's profile, Kenshin had finally stopped struggling against the truth and had already formulated a plan.

I'll be damned before telling any of them, though.

Oh, so we're going to bust a move, huh?

There's no 'we' about it. Just me. Plain old Kenshin Himura.

Kenshin stood up and told everyone, "Arigatou de gozaru yo, minna-san. Many thanks to Aoshi-sama especially for volunteering his house, and I think we should think about going home, ne?"

"But we haven't planned anything yet!"

"I know, I know, Megumi-dono, but I think I'm old enough to get through this on by myself, right?" For a second, an impish amber gleam appeared in his eyes. She blinked, but then it was gone.

Everybody except Aoshi, Misao and Hiko stood up and started gathering their belongings.

"Oi, weasel, aren't you going to get on home?"

"Go ahead, boss-rooster, I have some things to talk over with Aoshi-sama."

"Ok, then, just promise me that you won't molest him… we still need our top consultant, you know?" Sano winked and ducked a mini-knife. Aoshi cracked a smile but went back to his stoic stance when Misao turned. Kenshin, catching the smile, smiled at them. So Ice Block has feelings for weasel girl after all! That's interesting… but Aoshi just might kill me before he even admits it. I'll leave the two of them alone.

"LLLooove meee innnn theee morning!!!!! WA-hoooo!!!" Hiko woke up and started singing drunkenly.

"Man, your godfather is a lousy drunk singer… Come on Tsubame-kun, I don't want to share a cab with that one." Yahiko said, grimacing in disgust at Hiko. The couple went out the door.

"Maa, maa, Yahiko-kun. He's a master at what he does." Kenshin went around to Hiko's side and lifted him up born out of experience for his former guardian's occasional drunken sprees.

"You mean he's a master-drunk-singer?" Sano asked in a mock-shocked face.

Kenshin shot the door a nasty look as it closed on Sano and Megumi. Sometimes he didn't know why he did put up with his friend. Then he looked at his godfather who passed out again and was now drooling lightly in his sleep, and smiled a wry smile. Maybe he was just a sucker for pain.

"You can put him up in one of the guest rooms on the second floor. He can go home in the morning, I don't mind. Can you see yourself out after?" Aoshi offered, while directing Misao to a door of a room in the corridor nearby.

"Many thanks, Aoshi-san. I don't know how far I can bring Hiko-sama with him being a deadweight. And yes, I'll see myself out." Kenshin, polite as always, replied with his rurouni smile.

Kenshin found the stairs after a while of going up and down corridors with dead ends, locked rooms and hidden doors. He toiled up the stairs… Shit! How many damn steps does it take to get to the second floor?! Sweat was already beading on his forehead, and with each step he felt like it would take a hundred years before he would reach the top. Curse Fucking-Aoshi-ice-block-sama on being too involved with the CIA that even his home looks like a classy terrorist hideout!

Oro! Did I just say f---?

Oh, and aren't we snippy today, my dear better half… I might be wrong about you after all… you do have spirit!

Yeah, and you're not carrying Mr. Weighs-a-ton-here. Get lost!

Finally, he found a good bedroom and decided to put Hiko down, panting. He sat on one of the chairs and tried to catch his breath, wondering how the heck did his esteemed godfather gain all that muscle since they did the same exercises, both were a master at the ancient style of Hiten Mitseruugi, and ate the same food--- at least for about 15 years. Hmmm… then again Hiko always said that my father was not a large man. I guess I'm stuck with a small physique forever… just another one of those cosmic jokes that Buddha loves to sic on people *sigh*. But at least I know that in the locker room, well… I can walk around naked with pride! He grinned at the thought. All his past affairs were always pleasantly surprised at how his short, wiry frame carried a rather large package along with the muscles acquired from his disciplines, which worked out to his advantage, of course. Inner ego satisfied, he went out the room, and tried to retrace where the front door was. He promptly got lost for about half an hour.

-o-

Whew! Finally… I see the light!!! Or rather, the bar where the living room is! Kenshin was so happy at finally discovering the right corridor, it took about a second for him to realize that there were loud moans, snaps, bumps and a few creaks coming from the room at the left where a door was partially open, spilling a beam of light on the floor. His protective senses alerted, he crept in silence nearer to the door and watched the ceiling to floor mirror on the wall opposite it. The 2 minds in his head squeaked in unison…ORO?!

It took years of military training and discipline for Kenshin to be still after what he saw because the priceless sight before him was Aoshi spread eagled, buck naked, cuffed hand and foot to a four poster king sized bed with furry pink handcuffs. Misao was straddling him with her back arched, head tilted to the ceiling, tits in the air, clad in black leather strips that didn't cover anything, hanging on to 2 solid metal chains attached to the ceiling, both bumping and grinding for all their worth, expressions of ecstasy on their faces and yowling like cats. Kenshin, wide eyed in shock, blushing like crazy and flabbergasted, tiptoed along the hallway. He figured that they were too far gone to notice even if their room was burning down so he just went for it to the front door and let himself out as their moans started building up to screams that shook the whole house.

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A/N: Sorry to all readers, I really wasn't up to putting up a long lemon about them... that would belong to K&K ;) And I always thought Misao and Aoshi are perfect for the S&M thing.... *ducks from a tomato thrown by a Misao-Aoshi fan* R&R :)