Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is not mine either. Oh the tragedy . .
In the strange world of Rurouni Kenshin, the author popped out and called to Kenshin. The crimson-haired man looked up into the sky. The sun grew brighter, the clouds parted, and a shout of 'hallelujah!' was heard from beyond.
"Oro?"
"Kenshin . . I have found that while reading through this series, you have had too many women. Even Shishio had only one woman by his side. You had Tomoe and now you have Kaoru. To punish you, I've decided to take away Kaoru."
"Oro? Sessha . . sessha doesn't understand de gozaru."
"Kenshin! I hope you didn't sneak out to do laundry again! Come inside and put Kenji to bed. It's time for his nap," Kaoru called from behind him.
"Hai!" Kenshin peered suspiciously up at the sky and with a wave of the hand dismissed it as he walked back into the dojo. I'm hearing things again.
*POOF!
Kaoru, who had stood before him just a second ago, suddenly disappeared. Kenshin grew wide-eyed as he looked around. After a few minutes of searching the grounds, he growled and raised a shaky fist to the air. "Give me back Kaoru-dono!"
A crack of thunder was heard from the far distance that slightly resembled cackling. Kenshin's eyes narrowed as they turned amber and he pulled his sword out of his sheath as he directed it at the sky.
"GIVE ME BACK KAORU-DONO!"
"Haha! Now you will face the wrath of the author!"
"Sessha does not deserve any wrath, that he doesn't. Sessha has been repenting, that he has."
"You are getting the wrath of women whom you have scorned!"
"Oro? What women?"
"And men!"
"Orororo! Sessha is straight, that he is."
Flashes of pictures of women who had loved him flashed through his eyes. Megumi, Shura, Koneko, Sakura, the list went on and then it started to show images of men who had once ..
"Don't say it!" Kenshin pleaded.
The author cleared her throat and then continued on with the images: Ryu, Yuuhi, Sasuke . . .. . the list that went on was much longer than the list of females. Kenshin sweatdropped. I'm a man for god sakes and I'm straight. I'll make sure to never cross paths with them again. The thought sent shivers down his spine and they were not good shivers either.
" . .and Saitou."
Kenshin stopped and looked up. "Ano . . did I heard that right?"
The author laughed. "You heard it right."
Kenshin sweatdropped again as his eyes grew swirly and his skin grew a sickly green shade. Not Saitou! That . .that. Kenshin swallowed back the nauseous feeling in his stomach.
"Battousai! What's with the commotion around here?" A tall policeman strode into the grounds with a cigarette placed in between his fingers.
The red-haired man fainted on the spot from fear.
(Saitou is not gay. I just wanted to poke fun with the dialogue!)
Author's Notes: Hehe .. I know that the above was a bit weird, but it's late at night and I felt like typing up something wacky. =P Blame it on my sporadic insomnia ^_^.
I think I'm on a role here! I've pretty much finished the chapter after this one also! Well, not quite. So maybe I can update again sometime towards the end of this week or early next week.
Special Thanks to moderndaybattousai and Tenshi no Sin for adding me to your Favorite Author's List! *author smiles brightly
Warning: Characters are a bit OOC (especially the new one)
~ WHEN SOMETHING CHANGES ~
Chapter 7
Beginnings
Present Day, Kaoru-chan = 8 years old, A week after her birthday
"Hello! Welcome back to MTV Road Rules!"
"Kaoru-chan! Turn the volume down on the TV!" Kenshin yelled from across the room. He was busy doing paperwork from the office. There was going to be a big merge in the upcoming days and it would mean big business and big money for the company.
The volume was turned down. Kaoru watched intently as the people on screen were getting ready to play a quick game.
TV
"Okay guys, here's the game. I say a word and you say the word that comes first to your mind. The word that you say in response to mine is from your subconscious. Okay, let's begin. .
"Flirting."
"Kissing."
"Beautiful."
"Anjali." All eyes turned to the guy who had said the name of one of the girls from the program.
"So you secretly have a crush on Anjali, Rahul?" the person who gave the rules of the game said with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
Rahul turned red as he tried to shrug it off. Anjali's eyes widened as she watched the man and she blushed also.
"Haha! It looks like Anjali likes you, too!"
Click, TV is turned off
This is a great idea, Kaoru thought to herself as she hit her hand with her fist. I can find out how otousan feels about Kaoru!
"Otou-san!" Kaoru looked up from the couch towards her father who was sitting at the table.
Kenshin lowered his reading glasses as he looked up from his paperwork and at his daughter. "Yes, Kaoru-chan?"
"Can I play a quick word game with you?"
"Your otousan has lots of work to do right now, Kaoru-chan. Maybe in a little bit?" Kenshin said apologetically.
Kaoru made a pout as she put on her puppy dog face. Her lavender eyes were wide and teary looking. Kenshin sighed. "Okay, okay. Just for a little while, all right?" he said with a laugh as he stood up and walked over to her.
Kaoru jumped up and down in excitement. "Okay! Real fast! It's a word association game. Like if you said red, I'd say apple. Okay?"
Her dad laughed and nodded his head in understanding the rules.
"Me first!" Kaoru said while pumping her hand into the hair. The young girl's vivacity and cheerfulness made Kenshin's heart warm. If Tomoe were here . . she'd be so proud.
"Maa, maa. Sit down first Kaoru-chan. You'll wear me out if you keep jumping around like this."
Kaoru cupped a hand over mouth to stifle her laughter. "Hai hai. Okay. First word. Food."
"Miso," Kenshin replied quickly.
"Gi."
"Magenta."
Magenta? Kaoru wondered. How did he come up with that one? She shrugged it off as she continued the game, "Sword."
"Sakabatou."
"Love."
"Friendship," Kenshin responded.
"Kaoru."
"Kamiya."
A pregnant pause came afterwards. Kaoru-chan's heart began to beat faster. This meant that her father still thought about her. She looked up at her father innocently. "Ano . .otousan? Do you have another Kaoru?"
Kenshin laughed as he loosened his tie that was around his neck. He had started to sweat. "Ano . . your otousan used to have a good friend named Kamiya Kaoru."
"Oh?" Kaoru asked, her interest perking up. She got up to take her father's hand and pull him into the couch with her. "What about her? Can you tell me about her?"
Kenshin smiled wistfully as he looked down. "She was full of life, beautiful, funny, and compassionate. You know . .in many ways, you are just like her." Kaoru smiled. "But . . sometime before we graduated from college she left and I haven't seen her since."
"Oh . ." she said melancholically as she looked down at her hands.
Kenshin gave a firm pat on her back. "But that's all in the past. . anyway, why are you so interested?"
The young girl faked a laugh. "It's nothing otousan. I was just wondering. I would have thought that I would be the first Kaoru that would come to your mind."
Kenshin laughed as he got up. "You're always on my mind, Kaoru-hime. Now I have to go and finish up the paperwork."
"Okay," she said with a smile as she turned back to the television screen. As she flipped through the channels the only thing that she could think of was,
I have to find Kamiya Kaoru .. Okaasan's wish .
Kami-sama, please help me fulfill okaasan's wish.
But . .Where do I start?
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"Why do I have to do all the menial labor around here. I'm not your slave you know, busu!" a young boy said while roughly scrubbing the wooden floors of the dojo.
Kaoru looked up from her dusting. "You're not the only one who is cleaning, Yahiko-CHAN!"
Yahiko's squeezed the sponge in his hand harder in frustration. "I'm not a kid!"
Kaoru smiled victoriously as she continued with her feather mop. She began to hum to herself as time went on. Her physical appearance had changed quite a bit since college. Her hair had grown long and reached her waist. Her face had become much more mature due to the hardships she had gone through in life, however it only made her beauty that much more prominent and made her that much more of a stronger person. For the past nine years Kaoru had moved to another city in Japan, Kobe, which was located south of Kyoto. It was not as large of a city as Kyoto or Tokyo. She moved there because her only other living relative, Dr. Genzai's sister, resided in that city. Since her father had died, Kaoru did not have enough money or the ability to maintain the large dojo in Kyoto. The little money that he did leave her, she used to open a smaller dojo in Kobe.
In the beginning, no one would allow her to teach at the other dojos nor did she have any students attending her own school. But through time, people around the area began to recognize that although she was a woman, she was very skilled in the arts of kendo. Even though this was so, she had only two students that went to her dojo.
One of her students, Myojin Yahiko, had been living with her for the past two years and she had grown to see him as a younger brother. Two years ago, he was a pickpocket that had tried to steal Kaoru's wallet, but Kaoru had caught him. Afterwards, the girl had found out that the boy was working for a local gang that was using the fact that Yahiko's parents owed some "debt" and the young boy had to pay it off. When Kaoru learned about where he was located, she went to save him. In the end, she had brought back the boy, but she couldn't say she had come out of the matter unscathed.
The other student, Yutaro, used to belong to another dojo run by a man named Raijuuta. The dojo was shut down once government officials found that Raijuuta was spending the money from the school for malicious dealings. Since Kaoru used to go to that dojo to give lessons at times, Yutaro came to her to continue his studies.
Although she had students, she did not have enough money to pay off the rent and food. Because of this, she made most of her money teaching a few lessons at other dojos. Since summer had begun to approach, Kaoru had decided that she would advertise her kendo school to larger cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto. She hoped that more students would enroll.
"Kaoru," a man's voice called warmly.
Kaoru spun around wide-eyed.
The man smiled as he grabbed her from behind and embraced her tightly. "I missed you," he whispered into her ear. Kaoru chuckled lightly as she became free of his arms.
"Hey! No kissing and stuff like that! I have virgin eyes, ya know!" Yahiko shouted from the far side of the room.
"Mou! Enishi! We're still cleaning up," she said with a pout as she gently nudged him away.
Enishi grinned as he smoothed back his spiky white hair. His turquoise eyes creased into smile as he looked at the woman before him. "All right." He looked at his wristwatch. "You still have an hour left, but you're coming to dinner with me. Wear something nice."
Kaoru smiled and nodded. Enishi then walked over to where the young boy was and ruffled his hair.
"Hey hey! No touching!" he said while pushing Enishi's hands away. "I don't want the old hag's germs on me!"
"Five hundred katas after we clean up, Yahiko-CHAN!" a stern voice commanded from the other side of the room.
"WHAT?!?! That's not fair!" Yahiko yelled with his fist raised. There was no way he was going to do extra swings after cleaning up the place. He still had Tsubame to visit that night. He began mumbling to himself about old hags.
"Hey Yahiko. That's not nice. Kaoru's only making you stronger by doing this," Enishi chided with a grin.
Yahiko looked up and sighed. "But . . but . . oh, all right. I'll surprise that dumb Yutaro with my strength next time we spar."
Enishi chuckled. "That's the right attitude."
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An hour later
The couple had arrived at the Italian restaurant "The Stinking Rose". (A/N: Arnold Schwarzenegger's fav restaurant =x). They had received several glances while they were walking towards a table. Many people nodded in agreement that the two seemed to look good together.
Kaoru was dressed in a long blue gown that clung closely to her curves. Her long raven-black hair was tied up in a bun. Enishi smiled as he watched her sit down in the seat across from at the dinner table. He had decided that he wanted to take her somewhere special because he had something to tell her that night.
"I didn't think it was possible, but you look even more beautiful tonight," he said.
Kaoru blushed. "T-thank you, Enishi. You look . . nice tonight also."
Enishi grinned. He was wearing a black suit that highlighted his blue-green eyes. The confidence and tall stature that oozed from this man had always attracted many women. But the only person that Enishi had eyes for was Kaoru, the woman before him.
"So what did you want for dinner?"
Kaoru scanned the menu and made a face. She furrowed her brows as she tried to guess what each item was. Enishi chuckled softly under his breath at Kaoru's many expressions. He had always liked how the woman's many emotions could be seen easily on her face. He had dated too many women who had second agendas when they were with him. Not only was Enishi good-looking, but he also had money, lots of money. Most of the women he had dated before had only interest in his bank account and could have cared less about knowing the "real" him. But Kaoru .. this girl was different. She was honest, truthful, and compassionate. Character traits that were lacking in the women he had dated in the past.
"What's wrong?" he asked after a minute more of enjoying the display.
She hmphed and crossed her arms as she lay back in the seat, "These words . . I can't read it at all! Mou! Enishi, why'd you pick someplace where we can't understand what's on the menu!"
Enishi laughed this time. "It's Italian. I was able to study some of it during my college years in China."
"Oh."
"Well, the penne pesto with scallops and lobster is pretty good. Why don't you order that?"
Kaoru put a finger over her lower lip and tapped, contemplating and then nodded. "I guess so. What are you ordering?"
Enishi scrutinized the menu as he finally decided and pointed to the dish he wished to order. "Pasta primavera with shrimp." And then he looked through the menu once more. "Let's finish up with spumoni."
Kaoru looked up confused. "Sp- Spoo . .what?"
"Spumoni. It's an Italian ice cream."
"Oh."
Kaoru's face reddened. She always felt out-classed when she was with Enishi. He seemed to know so many things, while she knew very little. Enishi was even better than her at sword fighting, an art that Kaoru had specialized in the majority of her life. Mou! He's even better than me at cooking!, she added to herself whil a small frown began to appear on her face.
Enishi caught the slight frown and asked, "What's wrong Kaoru?"
Kaoru looked up surprised. How could he tell I was upset? "I . .nothing. It's just that . . I feel a bit awkward being in this dress," she replied as she picked at the thin straps of her dress that were making her skin itchy. I always hated these kinds of things!
Enishi's face turned a bit red while watching her and he began to pull the collar around his neck to loosen it. Stop it!, he berated himself. But .. the way she looks now ..
The woman looked up at her companion with a worried face. "Are you okay? You seem a bit flustered."
The man's eyes widened a little when he was caught and he broke into a semi-sheepish smile. "Um . ." he started, "I . . I was just wondering where the waiter was since we've already decided what to order."
Kaoru glanced at him suspiciously with one eyebrow raised. "Okaaay. But if you're not feeling well, we can go home."
"I'm feeling fine. I'm just ready to order now, that's all," he replied quickly as he scanned the room for a waiter.
An hour and a half later
" . . and Wu Heishin said 'There's no way I'm going to work with a man who doesn't know Chinese. Na ge shen jing bing bu hao de dong xi!' (That no good crazy person!) And he said it right in the man's face. You could imagine how the American man had felt at the time."
Kaoru laughed jovially. Enishi watched her and his heart warmed. He had never felt like this about anyone before. The twinkle in the blue midsts of her eyes was captivating. He smiled. She had to be the one. When Kaoru stopped laughing they found that the waiter had already put out the desserts in front of them.
Enishi watched the girl eat her own dish with anticipation.
Kaoru took the spoon and tried a bite of it. "Mmm! This is great, Enishi!" Enishi nodded his head as he took a bite of his own, but he couldn't help but steal anxious glances at Kaoru while she was eating.
SPUTTER
*COUGH COUGH
Kaoru stood up with her hands bracing the table as her blue eyes grew in alarm. Enishi's eyes went wide with shock as he quickly went over to her side and patted her back, encouraging her to keep coughing. All the customers stopped what they were doing and focused on the couple.
*COUGH, COUGH
And then something launched through the air from Kaoru's mouth into the soup of the person whose table was next to theirs.
After taking a few labored breaths, Kaoru regained her composure. "Enishi! I can't believe that they stuck something that big into the dessert!" she said with exasperation. Her face was all red. Enishi didn't know what to do. He was on the brink of laughing and dying of embarrassment.
"Excuse me, sir. I do believe this is yours?" the man said as he took an object out of the soup.
Kaoru looked up at the object that the other man held between his fingers.
It was a ring. Is Enishi . . Is Enishi . . is he . . am I.. Her heart began to beat faster and her breathing quickened.
Enishi strode over to the man and apologized about the mishap and said that he would pay to replace his soup. The man nodded his head. Then the silver-haired man took the ring and walked over to the woman who was still in shock.
He got down on one of his knees and looked into her widened eyes. With a tender smile and unwavering eyes he took one of her hands ever so gently.
"Will you marry me, Kamiya Kaoru?"
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- To be continued. (and so the plot thickens)
Author's Notes:
Please read and review! Thanks much! Here are some questions that may have arisen while reading this fic:
1.) Why the heck is Enishi so OOC?
a) This is Modern Day (no war and such for Enishi to get upset about)
b) Tomoe is not his sister, but a cousin. (this will be explained in the later chapters)
c) He did not see her killed. Instead, she had died a natural death.
d) Kenshin is just a normal guy .. not Battousai (so Enishi doesn't have the feeling that he needs to have revenge of any sort on him or wreak Heavenly Justice upon him)
e) . . and the list can go on. ^_^
On another note, it was hard deciding who Kaoru would be with: Soujiro or Enishi, but in the end I chose Enishi because Soujiro is one of the main characters in my other story and the dynamic between Enishi and Kenshin is much more interesting. =) Plus, I love Enishi/Kaoru hehe. ^_^
2.) How does Kenshin's daughter feel about finding Kaoru and bringing her dad together with her?
a) Chibi Kaoru (Kenshin's daughter) hasn't had a mother since birth. She doesn't know how it feels to have one and she wants a mother.
b) Her mother, Tomoe, has given her a mission to find Kaoru and bring her dad and her back together. Since it's her mother's wish, chibi Kaoru would gladly do it.
3.) Dr. Genzai's sister?
a) If you've watched the series, Dr. Genzai's sister appears in the Raijuuta Arc where they meet Yutaro.
4.) What about the part where Anjali puts on make up and dresses up in order to impress Rahul? (For those who are avid fans of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai like me ^_^)
a) I was going to add this scene into the story, but I didn't because unlike Anjali, Kaoru had two good friends who would have told her how to put on make up and how to dress up (ie. Mainly Megumi). So I didn't think this part would blow over well.
Reader Responses:
OniTokage – Yay! I'm so glad you finally updated your fic. ^_^ Hehe. It was great! =) Anyway, in the first chapter when Kenshin clenched his fists after hearing that her daughter's name would be Kaoru wasn't out of anger. It was more out of sadness and hurt because Kaoru had left him. And now Tomoe was leaving him.
MissBehavin – Hello! Yeah, =) in the movie there was a scene like that and the male lead character gets upset and yells at the girl. It was so sad on screen and I had started to tear up during that scene. ^_^ If you have the time, you really should watch "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" The movie is great. =D
Lonelystar-07 – Thanks for reviewing. ^_^ I know it's been a pretty sad story so far, but expect things to lighten up a bit later. =D
PhoenixG – Hi! I'm an absolute fan of Sharukh Khan and Kajol (Rahul/Anjali). I loved that movie and I love it still. The last time I saw it, I got the idea for this fic because I could see it happening between Kenshin and Kaoru. Haha . . the hot character . . could you mean the guy that Anjali was going to marry? It's Enishi in this fic! I had a hard time choosing who . . Soujiro or Enishi .. but since Soujiro was a main character in my other fic "A Memory Forgotten", I chose Enishi. =) I think there can be more interesting tension between him and Kenshin anyways.
Koishii Sweet - =D Hi. I'm glad you liked the story so far. I hope you liked this chapter as well.
Ryoga – Thanks for reviewing
Saotome – Thanks for reviewing!
Tenshi no Sin – Hi. Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked it so far. Hmm .. whether or not it ends well. =) You'll see. This is based off a Bollywood movie after all and if you're familiar with the Bollywood movie genre, you'd know. ^_^
Anna – Thanks!
Wistful-Eyes – I liked how you used the Kaoru(1) and Kaoru(2). Anyway, thanks for asking the question, I'm sure others have wondered that also. So I hope the above answer made sense. =D
Moderndaybattousai – Thanks for reviewing!
Rekka's Angel – Hello! Thanks for the kind review! Things will start getting more cheerful in the upcoming chapters. =D
Oyuki – Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story so far. =D
Clemen – Yeah, it's sad that Kaoru's dad died. Sniff sniff. . but things will start to lighten up as the story goes on.
Kakashi – Thanks
Rurouni madness – Hello! I'm glad you like this romance/drama fic. =) It's based off of one of my favorite movies =) (I'm sure you have heard the title over twenty times by now .. hehe). Hmm .. yeah I think your senses are right about that.
Ice angel Kaoru – =D Another Kuch Kuch fan! =D I'm so happy. Hehe. Actually, it's funny. I'm Chinese, but I was introduced to Bollywood movies like two years ago. "Kuch Kuch" was the first one! And I have loved them ever since. (well, a certain few.) And yes, I bawled my eyes out during the scene where Anjali left Rahul. Well, the whole business meeting thing and summer camp thing .. I'm sure you can tell where I'm going with that through this chapter. I hope you enjoy the rest! And if you have any ideas, please throw them at me!
Fan4000 – Thanks for reviewing. ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.
Serenity Blossom – The part you want to see is finally coming? Hehe . .
CrismHeart – Hi hi. Thanks for reviewing again. =) I'm happy you like it. Hehe ..yeah, I have midterms coming up too. But luckily the next couple of chapters won't be sad. =D
^_^X – Hi. Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
ME – Thanks for the review! The next couple of chapters are pretty light and happy.
Jen – Thanks for the comments. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.