I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
Midnight Racers
Chapter 2
'So… bored…' Aoshi sat in his first class that day, spinning his pencil languidly at 8:30 AM, thinking back to late last night as the teacher droned on.
He had chased the yellow M3 all the way to the freeway, where the girl had sped off, but slowed down for him to catch up, taunting him. The corners of his mouth quirked upward at the thought, oblivious to his present surroundings. He had lost the girl eventually, unsure where she went because a CHP (California Highway Patrol… ^_^) had come up and decided to drive behind him the entire way to his exit.
He got home late that night, and had to finish a couple of reports, which left him with three hours of sleep and a following day of four long classes.
Well, there was another race in a few days, maybe she would turn up again… And this time, he would talk to her…
~*~
Misao stretched her arms, linking them behind her back and pulling them upwards as she leaned forward. 'I am so sick of all this work!!' she thought, standing up and walking towards the main dining room of the Aoiya. "Jiya!!" she yelled in the empty restaurant, "Where are you?! I am so sick of looking at numbers! It's too early! And plus, if you want me to bring Okon her birthday lunch, I think I should get to leave early!"
"Misao! Stop yelling! Are you trying to scare away customers?!" Jiya suddenly appeared, trying his hardest to look stern. "But…" he thought out loud, "You have been working all morning… Hmm."
"Please!" Misao whined, trying to give him her best puppy eyes look, "Okon must be starving, and it's her birthday!"
"All right, just make sure you're back later in time for her dinner tonight, ok?"
"All right!!" Misao shouted ecstatically as she grabbed her keys and rushed out the door to meet Okon, her best friend and cousin.
~*~
The bell had just rang at the University of California - Los Angeles and many classes were getting out as others were starting. Misao pulled up into the parking lot, trying to remember which class her cousin had just gotten out of. 'Eto… what class was it…' Misao sat in her car with the window open, thinking hard. "Political Science!" she shouted suddenly, startling a woman opening her car next to her.
Okon was majoring in Political Science and was working to become a lawyer as she went to graduate school at UCLA. Misao always found Okon's work boring and uninteresting, but she constantly supported her nonetheless.
Misao opened up her door and hopped out, pressing a button on her keys to lock it. She looked around confusedly, wondering where to go next. She had been to the UCLA campus a few times before, so she decided to head towards the library, where Okon usually went after class… she had said something about a guy, but it had never interested Misao.
~*~
Twenty minutes later found Misao wandering around the campus, still looking for the library. If she didn't hurry, she wouldn't be able to catch Okon. She looked around again, looking for someone who seemed nice enough to help her.
Finally she gave in unhappily, and reached for her cell phone to call Okon. "So much for a surprise…" she muttered as her phone called Okon's. She sat down on a bench near a patch of grass and waited, listening to the phone ring until she heard Okon's voicemail.
"AGH!!" she shouted, frightening away a group of birds when someone put their hands over her eyes. She had been taught kendo by her grandfather and was definitely not afraid to use it.
"Misao-chan!"
"Okon?" A pause. "Okon!!! Happy birthday!!" Misao jumped off the bench and hugged Okon, her disposition changing quickly as she smiled, happy to see her cousin. "Look!! I came to take you to lunch," Misao grinned happily, "Let's go!"
"Great! Oh, Misao! Do you remember how I was telling you about that one guy, Aoshi Shinomori?" Okon said after glancing around quickly, apparently looking for someone.
"Aoshi Shinomori?" Misao repeated dully, not remembering at all. "Umm…sure?" Misao replied hesitantly.
"Misao!"
"What?!"
"Anyways, he's coming over to the Aoiya for dinner… I asked him to come a few days ago, and he told me today that he wasn't doing anything tonight!" A blank look from Misao made Okon pause, extremely irritated, "Misao. He's coming to the party!"
"And?"
"I like him! I bet you will too! He's really polite, nice, very good looking—"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Misao waved her had nonchalantly, hardly listening to Okon as she prattled on about this Aoshi guy. All Misao wanted was a nice boy that liked to race. ^_^
~*~
Misao slipped on a new dress that she had bought specifically for this occasion. Okon said the shimmering green brought out her eyes, and since the party was formal, Misao decided that the strapless, deep green dress was perfect for the dinner.
The party had been set up since that afternoon while Okon was with Misao shopping, so all Misao had to do when she got home was get dressed. Okon had been ready since they got home and was practically running around the main room of the restaurant, eagerly awaiting arrivals like a child and calling Misao incessantly, telling her to hurry up.
Misao exited her room after looking over herself quickly, walking quickly downstairs, where a chauffeur would take her to the Aoiya. Misao stepped into the black door of the sleek limousine, the driver taking her directly to the Aoiya in 10 minutes.
~*~
He stepped out of his car, reluctantly handing his keys to his Skyline to the valet. He didn't say anything, but looked at his car slowly, then turned at looked at the valet. The young boy quailed and nodded as if Aoshi had said something, walked slowly to the right side of the car (A/N: Right side because it's imported), opening the door slowly as Aoshi's attention was drawn from his own car to a glossy limousine that had just pulled up behind his car.
The chauffeur got out and opened the door for the person inside. Aoshi's eyes slightly widened as a long, creamy white leg stepped out, the leg belonging to… Aoshi's thoughts trailed away as she stepped out, smoothing out her low cut, strapless dress lazily, brushing away invisible specks of dust.
The second their eyes connected, Aoshi's heart began pounding in his chest rapidly as he looked away hastily, walking to the entrance, trying to get there before her so he wouldn't have to say anything, his confidence waning quickly.
The moment he opened the door, Aoshi was greeted excitedly by an even more excited Okon. "Aoshi! I'm so glad you could make it!" she said happily, just as Misao walked in, barely brushing Aoshi's sleeve as she slipped by, her composition denying recognizing him… Denying the turmoil and confusion within herself at him and Okon…
A/N: Wow! Such a positive response! I'm glad that people found this idea interesting... I'll try to keep you all happy! All right… I am kinda unsure where to go with this, and I was pretty unsatisfied with this chapter, but any ideas are welcome! Oh, and if anyone was wondering why Misao is done with college and Aoshi is not (or if no one was wondering… ^_^), it's because Misao has a Bachelor (4 years) and Aoshi is going to school for an extra two years, so basically, they are the same age.
Thanks very much to: unique-starfish, me, kitty-jinxx, yume no naka, romiross, vena A.K.A katrina-chan, Dana Daidouji, Suki, ~sTrAwBeRrY~ (to answer your question, I'm not quite sure if I should put in other RK characters… if I do, who do you think I should?), Namiko-Daughter of Sekhmet, LuckySpirit (yeah, I'm pretty into cars... ^_^), Sakura Star (if I do put in other RK chracters, who do you think I should put in?), Silverstar, dusk-angel, BGR, Ameea.Y, sOfAaNdAnImE (yeah, the girl is Misao ^_^), and ThiMonkey
Next chapter: Racing!
Please review!