This was stupid. This was crazy.

Yet, somehow, some way, I still had to get the gym set up, my people ready, judges in place, in just forty-five minutes! And at the same time, keep an eye on Yahiko! I mentally cursed whatever vengeful god who had decided to make my parents dump him on me today. He was at his brattish best - or should I way worst?

"Hey, busu, you better move that fat arse, or you'll never be ready on time!"

I reined in my temper sharply, then turned around, and smiled poisonously sweetly at my dear, helpful, wonderful brother. "Why Yahiko. thank you for volunteering to carry the judges tables in. I'll expect to see them on the far side of the gym mats by the time I get back."

I left, with him standing there with his mouth hanging open. Despite the verbal abuse he would hurl at me when I returned, I knew that the tables would be set up. He was my little brother, after all.

Now, I just had to find the teacher who would be our supervisor. Mou! If only the teachers would get organized - that was half the problem!

"Hey Jou-chan! What's the hurry?"

Then again, idiot students were a large problem too, I guess.

Meiji Heights
By Aishiteru
Part 7: Fight!

I just wanted to sleep now. We had only been given the rosters from the other schools on Thursday - so we had a grand total of one day to organize all the matches. Students from Rakinmura, Tokugawa, and Kaio High were coming to Meiji's grounds to compete in any number of competitions. Kendo was going to be a huge part of it this year. I still couldn't believe I had been elected captain - and was therefore automatically on the Student Council. I was only in first year still! Kiyosato-san was in third year, and so were a few others, but he was the furthest along in kendo. Yet, they all voted for me!

Probably to avoid messes like this weekend.

I sighed, and checked my watch irritably. My club members were talking idly, all dressed up in light yellow gi with contrasting charcoal grey hakama. Our supervisor, Saitou-sensei, of all people, was leaning back in a chair, chain smoking. Disgusting habit, especially in this day and age. Yahiko was sparring with Aki, teaching the older boy some of his superior skills. I shook my head wryly. He was going to get a big head.

The other schools were twenty minutes late.

Alright! Alright! It might not seem like much, but I had been rushing around school since six o' clock, and I loathed getting up that early. And yet, now when everything was set up and ready they weren't here. Argh! I checked my watch again, and tapped my foot impatiently.

"Kaoru-san?" I turned at that quiet voice.

"Tomoe-san!" I exclaimed. It was indeed the rather shy senior. I had known of her for quite a while - she often came to see Kiyosato practice - but hadn't even spoken to her once. However, after that episode with our idiot younger brothers, she had opened up a little more. I don't think it was safe to say we're close friends - Tomoe is a very cautious person - but we are friends. Shamefully enough, before, I always thought she was a snob. A lot of people do. But she's just incredibly retiring. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to ask...if it's alright to put up these posters around the gym." She held up one to show me, between slim perfectly manicured hands. I glanced down at my own calloused broken nailed fingers, and winced at the contrast.

The signs were boldly coloured, and read "Come to 3-E's stall in the Quadrangle at lunchtime! We're serving mouthwatering hot dogs, slurp-worthy noodles, icy cold ice-cream and assorted thirst-quenching refreshments. Bring a friend! Bring an appetite!" And then in faint letters grey lead letters below "And bring your wallet!" I barely restrained a snicker. The hand writing looked suspiciously like Megumi's, and she had probably forgotten to rub out the last message before sending the poster off to be copied. Thick lined pictures of various food and drinks were interposed around the text, and I recognized Tsuikioka Katsuhiro's hand in the intricate detail and neat arrangement.

"Sure," I grinned. "You need a hand?"

She shook her head. "It's all right. I don't want to inconvenience you."

I sighed as she delicately stepped her way across to the far wall, and began to strategically blue-tack the papers to the wall. "I don't want to inconvenience you," seemed to be one of her favourite phrases. Despite her being taller then me, I often felt too large and rough next to her refined manner and way of speaking.

I grimaced in distaste for my thoughts, and picked up my bokken. I swung it idly.

"Ouch! Why'd you hit me for busu?" Yahiko spun to face me, dark eyes flashing indignantly. His shinai was sticking out - right into Kiyosato-san's path as he made his way to Tomoe!

"Watch out!" I yelled, stretching out a hand.

Too late.

It was almost as if I could see it happening in slow motion - Akira's left foot came up, then down, his shin came against Yahiko's shinai, and then he came tumbling down on the floorboards with a bone jarring crash. If it hadn't been so horrible, I would have started laughing at the comically surprised expression on his face.

"Akira!" Tomoe cried. She flew across the room, and knelt next to him. He came up slowly, his face contorted in pain. His foot stuck out at an utterly unnatural angle.

"If everyone will step this way, we can starte- Oro!"

I looked to the doorway, and silently groaned. Perfect. Just typical! Now the other schools turn up! And just to make it even more ironic, Himura Kenshin had led them in. I could already feel that really nervous butterfly feeling in the base of my stomach. It always happened whenever he was around - something about that red hair and those soft violet eyes made me....I pushed those thoughts away firmly, and avoided looking at the cause of them.

"Welcome," I said calmly to the competitors. "As you can see, we've just had a little accident. However, we are ready to start, just after we look after this student."

Akira's face looked not only pained, but terribly embarrassed. He sprang to his feet, then groaned as his left ankle gave out underneath him. Tomoe half caught him, but was dragged down by his weight. I knit my brows, then helped them both up, and to a bench along the wall. Sympathetic whispers and snickers could be heard from the other students. This was just wonderful.

I took a deep breath, then turned to face the crowd. "Competitors. please line up on the benches to your left. Non-competitors, please be seated on those seats to your right. The first matches for all events," -I checked my watch quickly- "should begin in about two minutes. A bell will signal when you are to start. Will you please pair up as follows..." I grabbed the schedule and list of names from the table. "First match, A team, Mat 1, Kaio's Kishimoto Tezuka Vs. Tokugawa's Okita Soushi. First Match, A Team, Mat 2,Tokugawa's Hijikata Toshizo Vs. Rakinmura's Shishio Makoto. First Match, A team, Mat 3, Rakinmura's Seta Soujirou Vs Meiji's Kiyosa-" my voice faltered for a moment. "Kiyosato Akira. First Match, A team, Mat 4, Meiji's Kamiya Kaoru Vs Kaio's Souma Kazuna...."

I read the first matches out numbly, trying to think of what to do. If we forfeited Kiyosato's match, it meant that Takashi and I had to win our matches to keep A team in the running. It counted for something at the end just to have participated, rather then forfeit. I scanned the seats, for a Meiji student that I could just yank out and...

"Himura!"

"Oro? Is there something wrong Kamiya-san?" He looked at me in confusion.

"Ummm....Can I talk to you for a moment?" I quickly hustled him away, steering us towards the changing rooms.

I was so anxious to see how Himura would go in his match, that mine was over in seconds. On his first swing, I captured Souma-san's shinai with the Hadome, and then immediately launched into action with the Hawatari. I felt rather guilty actually when the hilt went smashing into his shoulder, throwing him completely out of the ring. It was bad practice to use my strongest techniques in the first match up, but I had been very quick, and hopefully none of my future opponents had seen the specifics.

It had taken Kaio longer to select their umpires then Tokugawa had, so Kenshin's match was only beginning, while mine had been first. I breathed a little easier, then settled down to watch, crossing my legs easily.

I groaned inwardly as Kenshin selected the heaviest shinai from the umpire's choices. It was weighted to have the balance of a 'real' sword, not that people used those very seriously anymore. There was no real reason to use a steel blade anymore. But to my surprise, the slender red head hefted it's weight easily, taking up a perfect double-handed grip, and waiting in the ring in perfect stance. My eyebrows rose up incredulously.

His opponent from Rakinmura, a boy who was even shorter then Kenshin, slim, almost frail looking, with sparrow brown locks of hair softly framing a serenely smiling face with huge brown eyes. He selected a lighter weapon, loosely bound bamboo with a long plastic hilt, wrapped with cotton strips so it wouldn't slip. I gave a little involuntary sigh as he took up a stance opposite Kenshin, sword hilt loosely held, the tip pointing toward the ground. Despite the casual posture of Kenshin and his opponent, I could feel the tension rising in the ring, and neither of them took their eyes from each other, even when they slowly began to circle one another, in perfect balance. Eyes narrowed, faces tense.

Then Himura flashed forward, feet scuffing against the mats, and I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do.....

......and my eyes popped as he brought his shinai down in one of the most clumsiest, most awkward swings I have ever seen. In fact, the shinai went flying out of his grasp, and out of the ring. His opponent was so startled he didn't even block, and the blow struck on the chest ....and sent him stumbling out of the ring.

There was a collective shocked silence, and then the murmurs began, leaving Kenshin in the middle of the ring, a very puzzled look on his face. "Oro?"

Lunchtime! I gratefully dug into my packed bento, ignoring Sano's laugh as I did so. "Stop laughing, Sano!" I glared indignantly. "I've been under all sorts of stress all morning, an-"

"Busu, can I have some money to get lunch?"

I shoved ten dollars at Yahiko. He ran off laughing evilly, but I ignored him. "And I deserve to be well fed! I'm not surprised that the only person who got elected for Kendo Captain was me - no one else was crazy enough!"

Katsu shrugged sympathetically. We -Sano, Katsu, the injured Akira, and I- were all in a shady corner of the quad, waiting for Kenshin, Megumi, and Tomoe to get back from the crowded food stands. It felt strange and too quiet, despite the roar of four school's students, without Masaru's endless flow of energetic chatter, and Aoshi's occasional - very occasional - quiet remarks. I grinned slightly to myself. I had thought about in this way before, but we were a pretty tight knit group of friends now. Even though I had only known them for a few months. It was awkward when I was in class - I usually only had Masaru-kun to talk to, but not when he was attending his senior classes. I was friendly with a few girls - Shougo Sayo, and Sekihara Sae and Tae - but it was with Megumi, Tomoe, Masaru, Kenshin, Akira, Sano, Aoshi, and Katsu whom I was becoming close friends with. I guess it was because I spent all of my lunchtimes with them, doing Student Council things, although I had met up with Akira and Tomoe through the kendo club. They had started coming to the Student Council as well, oddly.

"Kiyosato? He's under that tree over there." That loud, familiar voice broke through my contemplation, and I sat bolt upright, seeing Yahiko and Tomoe's little brother unerringly pointing out Akira to Kenshin's first opponent, one Seta Soujirou according to my roster. I gulped. He was coming over, with a very puzzled look on his face...

"Ano...Kamiya-san, wasn't it? I wanted to talk to Kiyosato-san about our match...But those boys over there said that Kiyosato-san was over here." Seta-san was smiling still, looking cutely perplexed.

Any minute now I was going to sweat blood. Please-don't-let-us-be-disqualified-please-please-please was the mindless chant going through my head.

"Kamiya-san, here's your drink...oro?"

I spun, and slapped a smile on my face. "Thanks, Akira. It was really thoughtful of you!" I jerked my eyes toward Seta-san pointedly.

Kenshin 'oro-ed' again, then smiled widely. I tried not to giggle like a school girl at that, even though I was a school girl and all. "Soujirou, was it not?"

Behind him, to my horror, I could see Yahiko and Tomoe's little brother approaching us.

"Busu, I need more money."

"Neesan....I'm hungry." Enishi grimaced. "Oh you found Kiyosato, did you?" My heart stopped as he jerked his thumb at the real Kiyosato, who looked just as petrified. Seta-san looked mystified.

"Eto..." I stammered. Ice coursed through my veins. "Oh! Uh...I should introduce everyone. That's Kiyosato Himu- uh, Kenshin, yeah, Kiyosato Kenshin. Him and Akira are brothers, that's why they have the same last name and everything, and that's why Yahiko and Enishi must have pointed out Ak-Kenshin when you were looking for K- Akira!"

I smiled nervously, more a showing of teeth then anything. Tomoe's brother was looking at me as if I had two heads, Yahiko looked like he was about to explode from internalized laughter, and everyone else looked pole-axed. It was all over, I realized. Kenshin is short, with red hair and violet eyes. Akira was tall, with black hair and brown eyes. They looked nothing at all a like. It was over. I was going to have to resign as Captain.

"Ano, step-brothers, actually." Kenshin smiled again. We were all smiling too much. My face felt frozen into one actually.

"Y-yeah!" I mentally blessed Himura. "Anyway, that's Sanosuke, Katsuhiro, and Megumi. That's Tomoe, she's going out with Akira!" I didn't know where it came from. It just slipped out. I was talking way too much, and naturally landed with my foot in my mouth. Everyone stared at me with round eyes again, except for Seta-san, who was starting to look a little non-plussed behind his polite smile.

"Um...That's nice..." He replied uncertainly.

Kenshin - the real one - took one look at Tomoe and went bright red. She had gone red as well, as much as her fair skin could. I swallowed nervously, eyes darting around from Kenshin, to Tomoe, to Seta-san, and back to Kenshin, while an awkward silence reigned.

"Soujirou! It's time to get back." I breathed a sigh of relief, as Seta-san said his good-byes, then hurried after a tall lanky guy with his long brown hair tied up in a messy ponytail high on his head. There was a girl in rather revealing clothes hanging onto his arm, and she turned to greet Seta-san, as they made their way back to the gym.

"I'm so sorry, everyone." I whimpered pathetically. The next round of matches, and tomorrow stretched on like eternity.

Actually, the other shoe didn't drop until Sunday evening. Everything seemed like it was going smoothly - the kendo grand finale was mesmerizing, between a Shishio Makoto of Rakinmura, and Tokugawa's Okita Soushi. Even though both of them did several fouls, and were knocked out of the ring a couple of times, everyone, including the umpire was so fascinated by their swift flashing movements that it wasn't called to a halt. In the end, they called it a tie, since no one remembered who had set foot of the arena first, and blows had slashed in too fast to be tallied. It was rather funny actually. There were no more run-ins with Seta Soujirou. Although he had seemed like a nice guy, I was heartily relieved.

Watching the kenpo matches had been really enjoyable - it was rather different, and certainly rougher then the kendo matches. When Masaru-kun beat that giant up, I nearly burst from pride. My throat was sore from all the yelling later on, as we re-did the cheers again, for not only the grand finale between Aoshi and some guy from Tokugawa, but for Hannya, Shikijyou, Beshimi, Hyottoko, Shiro and Kuro's matches. The Oniwabanshuu won again of course - not even Tokugawa's prized 'Yaminbou' could take them down, although they certainly tried.

I was looking forward to when we would all go out. That's what we had planned - after the chaos was over, we'd escape the tyranny of cafeteria food, pool our money to eat somewhere reasonably good, and then go out and have some fun. All we were waiting for was for my parents to pick up Yahiko, and Tomoe had to find Enishi and take him back to the Junior High campus. She always worried about him, and he bore it remarkably well. If I tried that sort of thing with Yahiko, it would be a disaster.

"Yahiko!" I called, looking around at the deserted grounds. "It's late! You have to go home, it's a school day for you tomorrow!" Not for me, though, I thought smugly to myself. In return for having this weekend, we got two days off for fun and games, or more likely homework. I had so much to do...

"Ya-hi-ko!!!!" I called. Where on earth was that little brat? When had I last seen him...

A shiver of apprehension ran down my spine, as I realized the last time I had seen him was at lunch time. He had pestered me for money again, then run off with Tomoe's younger brother.

I ran back to the quadrangle, where I had last seen Tomoe. She had organized to meet her brother there twenty minutes ago. I rounded the corner, and a broke out into a cold sweat. She was still standing there, and even from here, I could see her hands had a stranglehold on each other.

"Tomoe!" I called, praying desperately that against all odds she knew where they were. I tried to shove out thoughts of kidnappers, murderers, and just how pathetically easy it was to get onto the school grounds, and just how big they were. "Have you seen Yahiko!?"

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay. Not only have I not been able to access my computer, (damn family was hogging it) but I've been really busy IRL. And just when I thought I would have plenty of time to write as well! It really sucks. I hope all of you have stayed with me....*sad puppy dog look* In addition, I found Kaoru hard to write for. Sorry if her POV seems no different at all from Misao's, but I tried to make her a little more girly. I find Misao and Kaoru's characters pretty similar anyway - that's probably why they get along so well! Sorry if this chapter seemed a little short, and disjointed. In the end, I felt awful writing Kaoru, but I just waded through it. *sniffs* I meant to get into The Fight between Soujirou and Kenshin more, and the fight between Shishio and Okita, but in the end, the thought of jamming all those fights in great length in one chapter made me tired. Sorry. You'll get lots of fights later on, when we delve into the tournament, ne? Alright, next chapter in Misao-chan again, and the long awaited SHOWER SCENE! She's in big trouble this time...and just how is Aoshi going to get her out of it? Hehehe. Oh and just out of interest, was it just me, or did Meiji High's kendo team really suck in comparison to the other schools? I mean, Kenshin's not in it, and he'd be about the only legendarily strong guy at Meiji who uses a sword.

P.S: We hit over 100 reviews!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review Replies:

JML: *snickers* Insidiously addictive, ne?

Oracle: YAAAAAY!!!!!!! You addressed all my concerns! I LOV-, er, really like you. Wouldn't want to scare you off now, would I?

blue eyes: Heheh. She's a fast talker that one. Sorry for not continuing sooner.

IYandKH4ever: Misao knew that Aoshi pretty much knew, but he wasn't acting like he knew, so she was hoping against all reason that he didn't think it was her, or rather she was Masaru. Did that make any sense at all? And what IS wrong with music? *puzzled*

Mara: Yahoo!!! A new reader! Ehehehe....I did some martial arts when I was younger, but not for very long before my mom pulled me out. Pity that. I don't really know what I'm going on about - but I do read a lot, and watch lots and lots of anime. At least someone thinks I'm convincing. ~_^. Thank you! And next chapter definitely has The Shower Scene.

DiaBlo: Sorry. My bad. I didn't update soon, sir.

phoe-chan: There will be some Misao and Soujirou interaction, but it's more that they're good friends, not love interests. Sorry. Hehehe....I'm about the same as Misao figure-wise, although taller, and maybe not as skinny and cute. Oh well. Oh wow! You put in more reviews for the chapters you missed before! How....unlazy and so...NICE of youuuuuuuuu.......T_T....Well, look, Soujirou makes his first appearence! But MIsao isn't around...dang.

Go-chan: Thank you Go-chan. I'll try to get off my ass, and actually review usefully every now and then. But I never know what to say when the author is good besides "I like it." Un, I'm getting a little tired of 1st POV, I might slash in a 3rd person perspective 'interlude' like chapter on the baddies side every now and then in this story. And I'm glad you like the fight scene! But yours are more entertaining. Oops, I'm not fishing for compliments, honest. Ehehe...I'll shut up now.

Kyme-chan: Thoughts in Aoshi-sama's head? Hehehehe. Let's just say....he does start to notice Misao is a girl. Well, in the next chapter it's kind of hard for him not to, but....*grins*

Tiian: Thanks Tiian-san! Awwwwww....you wait for this one? Thank you! I'm sorry I've been so terribly slow, ne?

Noa: No. I get frustrated when Aoshi-sama is stupid as well.

selene: Do a little dance! Make a little love! Get down tonig- ororoorororo!!! *is hit by several things orginating from trash cans* Sorry. Heheh...Do you think he smiled at her too early? This is Aoshi after all.

blacksakura: Yes, torturing Sano is an amusing hobby, isn't it? Ah, another hanakimi lover....If you want to find people who love hanakimi, join this yahoo group: It's the only site you need for your hanakimi addiction. Well, learning how to use MIRC would be good too. Then you can access TFT group. And then you can teach me how to use MIRC!

Innocent Dreamer: It was a long wait. Sorry.

lebleuphenix : There is SO much Aoshi/Misao interaction coming up soon, so you should be quite happy. Hee. It certainly brings out that mushy feeling in me, anyway.

jaded: I hate it when people stuff up their grammar too, although I can forgive the occasional typo. The thing I hate is when people say 'drug' instead of 'dragged.' Ugh. But, one shower scene coming up! And I do believe I'll take your suggestion - it could be fun. And who else other then Megumi would notice. *grins* It fits in quite well with other bits of my story actually.

nekonomiko: Of course! Although most of it's on Misao's side of course.

dynast: cho-co-late....

Fallen Virtue: *gawks in open amazement* Wow. You're talking about me? Flowing? HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH....Okay, now I'm going to be grinning for a week. *patiently baits fanfic hook with teasers*

saicho-18: *grins* It's coming up!

JadeGoddess: *evil laughter resounds* And Aoshi-sama is lovely of course, to make up for him being so mean in so much fanfiction.

Shicsaczzz: I reviewed! Sorry if I was mean - like I said, i felt horrible, especially after you left me a nice review.

anonymous nameless person: *sweatdrops* Everyone says to update quick, and I couldn't! Sorrrrrrrry....I feel really bad.

Mattel: Ooooh....That's the nicest compliment anyone has said to me. I admit to being a lazy reviewer on occasion, although I have improved. The best A/M.....T_T....*grins*

Everyone, thanks for reviewing! Until next time....and sorry for the wait.