Hey minna! Lara-chan here with the horribly late update for Paradise. Sowy! Reviews and flames alike, as always, are quite welcome, and I hope you enjoy the update. Sadly, I won't be updating until after June 25 b/c I'm going to Europe and will have NO computer access .
But read anyway! Now, as for my lovely reviewers who rock my BEiNG!!
Asilin Kheldarson : WHOO! That's awful hard to spell! Hehe, I feel bad for our little Ken-ni-chan too! Here's your update!
Nigihami Haruko : Haha, hopefully I've laid a few surprises for you along the way, ne? Enjoy this chapter and thankies for the nice review!
victoria :Haha, you're right, Kazuo is turning out to be much more of a prick than I expected. If you REALLY wanna hate him even more, read on! And thankies for such a long review!!
Himura Hotaru: Haha, you and Ken-nii-san will just have to wait and see. But I agree, Kenshin is being a bit on the WAY-too-understanding side about this whole thing. Maybe Battousai will break free?
Cyberdemon :Thanks! I agree about the Kazuo part, he just keeps getting meaner and meaner every time I write him! Hope you like the update!
black ninja wolf : Thankies! Glad you like it! Kenshin is being WAY passive, ne? Well, hope you like this chapter as well as the last one!!
Battousai-Lover : MWAHAHAHAHA! Wouldn't you like to know!! Hehe, glad you liked it and here's your update! Thankies for the review!!
Goddess of Books : ooh! Good idea about the sushi thing! Then we could just eat him away, ne? haha, hope you like this chapter and thankies again!
rurouni madness : Kaoru is being really oblivious on all this, isn't she? Someone should beat some sense into her! Thankies for the review!
aphrodite24goddess :haha, not only is Kazuo annoying, but he's MEAN! Just read on and find out how he behaves himself this chappie!!
Alea Seikou :HAHA! Kaoru's kinda missing what's right in front of her face, ne? And our poor little Kenshin!! Thankies for the nice review!
nene-chan :heh, I'm starting to agree with you about Kazuo… thankies about the summary, that's sweet of you!! Here's your update! :]
Silent Tears of Agony : I totally agree, and Kenshin agrees with us. I know Ken-ni-chan is jumping at the chance to give Kazuo's brains a good, solid whack! .
Zxully anti-nostalgic : First of all, THANKIES for such a long review!!! (and the music from gravitation ROXXX) hehe your English is wonderful and so is your grammar, no worries buddy! I liked your idea a lot!! It's always interesting to see where the reviewers think the story will go!! I hope you'll keep reading to find out what happens in our little Kenshin-Kaoru-Kazuo triangle of love/hate/pain!! I hope you like this chapter as well as the last one, thankies again!!
gwkitty :aww, thankies! I appreciate the bit about the personalities and I hope you like the update!!
Zippy and Chunks : Hehe, I tried to make this chappie a bit longer for ya. Hint: interested in Kazuo's angle? That'll be revealed in chappie 7!! Sowy, that's all I'm gonna say! Thankies for the nice review!!
Kenshin's Heart : haha, I did that to Kenshin because I am evil and soul-less!! :0) !!Thankies for reviewing!!
Crystal Renee : GLOMPITY GLOMPITY GLOMP!! Hehe, I love your reviews! They never fail to make me smile. I hope things are all ok in your neck o' the woods! Thankies again, love and hugs!
Lendra-chan :tucks her tail between her legs and runs for cover hehe, thankies for the review and I hope you keep reading!!
Hitokiri oro-chan : thanks! Glad you liked it! Hope this chapter is to your liking also!
TenkunoMeiou :Your wish is my command! Hehe thankies for the review! (:
WolfCreek :But it's so much FUN to be mean to him!! Hehe, thankies!
Monkeystarz : awww, no worries, buddy! Here's your update! Thanks again for the nice review!
unicornfan :Oh, the sakabatou/katana thing…. Lemme see if I can explain. Think about Kenshin's split personalities like they're on a stage (which represents Kenshin's mind) and they're both two entirely different people; one in a pink gi and a low ponytail, one in a blu gi and a high ponytail. Now, inside his mind, these personalities are different as night and day. So, it follows that when I'm talking, and when Kenshin is thinking, about or through the 'Battousai' side of Kenshin, that side has a Katana just like it did in the revolution. If I'm talking, and when Kenshin is thinking, about or through the 'Rurouni' side, that side has a Sakabatou just like it did in Kenshin's wandering days. Did that clear anything up? Hope so! Thanks for all the reviews!!
dinkydaelf :right on! Maybe you could smack Kaoru into shape, ne? and what was that whole 'honest days work' thing about?! GRRR! Haha, thankies for the review!!
kenshin's grl : haha, I have no idea! Just wait and see! Thanks for the review!
Child-of-the-Dawn : HAHAH! She is pretty blind, isn't she? She really needs to get her act together! Hope you like the update!
AngelicFairy : Haha, right on, Maura! Maybe Battousai will have to go slasher on him! Hope you're still reading!
Quist :hehe, I liked that part too! And Kenshin squirming is always quite funny!! Hope you enjoy the update and thanks for zee nice review! And thankies again for the nice review on me other stories, you rock!!
misenagi :here y'are! Hope you enjoy it lots!! And thankies for the review!! awww, I wouldn't leave you hanging forever, just a LOOOONG time, sowy about that! But thanks for all that you said about my story, that was so sweet!
the nadja : Right you are about the meaning of it; it's actually a term of endearment in France, although I would be rather offended if someone called me that! Thankies and hope you like this chapter!
Ethereal Waves : haha, wouldn't you like to know!! Hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and thankies muchos muchos for reviewing my ficcie!
psychedelicaya :aww thankies about the humor part! I really appreciate it! I hope you're staying with me to enjoy chappie 6!
Now, ON WITH THE STORY!
Chapter 6: A Paradise Paradox
Kazuo was still leaning against the dojo wall when Kenshin and the now-out-of-breath Kaoru entered the courtyard.
"Mon petite chou!" he exclaimed while stomping out his cigarette and opening up his arms to receive her.
"Koshii." She giggled as she settled her head into his shoulder. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough…" He began, shooting Kenshin a death glare that seemed to ask for silence about the 'incident' beforehand.
"Oh! So you got to know Kenshin a little better, ne?"
It was amazing how Kazuo could adapt. You could almost see him thinking up what he was going to say next. His expression grew wide like that of a painted clown's face. "Hai! Hai, Kaoru, we talked a long time, didn't we, Himura?"
"…"
"Kenshin?" Kaoru raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you listening."
"H-hai, Kaoru-dono."
"Well that's good. I'm glad you two are bonding so wel-oh! What's this?" Kaoru was pointing to the mess of clothes, most of them her clothes, now laying in the dirt and mud.
"Ahem," Kazuo cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes just a bit. "Your little friend over here wasn't exactly paying attention to what he was doing and spilled your nice clothes all over the muddy ground."
"Is…is that what happened, Kenshin?" Kaoru bent down over her now filthy kimonos and sighed a bit. Something yellow flashed deep within Kenshin's eyes; Kazuo seemed to sense some weird internal struggle going on inside the red-haired 'servant'. "Kenshin?" Kaoru questioned again, rising up to look at him. "You've been acting awfully strange lately, are you sure you're not sick?"
"H-hai, Kaoru-dono, that must be it. Something in the air smells rotten and is making sessha ill, de gozaru yo." Kenshin nodded towards Kazuo. "If Kaoru-dono will excuse sessha." He turned around and stalked off towards the inside of the dojo, his pink gi flapping in the wind.
"Kenshin! Wait-" Kaoru began to run forward, trying to catch his sleeve, but he acted as if he didn't hear her. "Kenshin?" Within a few seconds, he was gone from view.
Suddenly something closed around Kaoru's arm. "Forget about him, Kaoru. He's just trash left over from the revolution." Kazuo made an attempt to pull Kaoru back towards him.
She wheeled around, her hand flying up as if to smack Kazuo right across the face, her cheeks flushed. "Don't you ever talk about him like that!"
Kazuo caught her hand in mid-air. "Now, that's not very ladylike of you."
"Ladylike? LADYLIKE? I'll give you LADYLIKE!"
Kaoru made another pass for him, this time trying to rip out some of his hair, but he caught her hand just in time. Then, suddenly, a look of mirth came over his face. "Kaoru?"
"What?" She spat out, her cheeks still red.
"You know what this means, don't you?"
"……."
Unexpectedly, Kazuo pulled her into a hug, pressing her hard against him. "We've…we've just had our first fight." There was a tremor in his voice, whether it was authentic or not, it made Kaoru's heart quaver.
"Oh…Kazuo."
"It's all right. Let's- let's just forget about it, ok? Kaoru, smile for me, will you?" His voice dripped and intoxicated her like alcohol.
She pulled away from his chest and flashed a grin. "So…what're you doing here anyway?"
Kazuo ruffled a hand through his short, black hair. He led her over to the dojo porch and the two of them sat down together. "I wanted to talk about the wedding."
"Oh!" Kaoru's eyes lit up. "I was thinking about my dress and the flowers, I'm seeing a white kimon-"
"Kaoru, I've arranged for a wedding planner."
"You…you what?"
"Koshii, why are you mad?" Kazuo looked on the verge of laughing.
Kaoru blushed again. Why was Kazuo so good at making her feel like such a child? I just thought…well… I thought… It's our wedding, after all. Couldn't we just plan it?"
Kazuo sighed. "Kaoru, try to understand. I have business partners from all over the world that are coming to attend our wedding. It must be spectacular. It's not just our little wedding, you see. For most of these people, this will be the only experience of Japan they will have. Forever afterwards, they'll associate Japan with this occasion." Kaoru frowned. "Petite chou, it will be beautiful, I promise. We'll have it at The Church of the Holy Rosary downtown-"
"B…but I wanted a traditional Shinto wedding at the dojo! Why would we have a Christian wedding? Neither of us're Christian!" Kaoru sputtered indignantly.
"No, no, that's out of the question. It would offend my partners from Spain and France. And as far as having it here," He waved his hand around the dojo, "Darling, look around. Is this what you'd call stunningly beautiful?"
"Ye-"
"No, think bigger. I can see you walking down the aisle now, in a white western wedding dress with a huge train and tiara-"
"You mean a white uchikake, don't you?" Kaoru's eyebrows knotted.
"No, dear. A wedding gown. No one wears uchikakes anymore, it's so backward compared with the rest of the world. Now, where was I…oh, yes, and a big bouquet of calla lilies in your hands-"
"Calla lilies?! But I've always dreamed of carrying wildflowers!" Kaoru was near tears now, her balled fists rigid at her sides.
Kazuo let out a long sigh. "Dear, please be sensible."
"I am being sensible!"
"It's 'our' wedding. Shouldn't my opinion count for something? And anyway," Kazuo wrapped Kaoru into another hug, kissing her on the top of her head. "It's just a ceremony. We love each other, don't we?"
"……yes."
"Then what does it matter what flowers you carry or what dress you wear as long as we're getting married? It doesn't."
There was a long pause; Kaoru's fists slowly unclenched themselves. Kami, he always knew just what to say to make her forgive and forget.
"O-ok…" Kaoru gave up reluctantly.
"I'm right."
"I…guess… you must be…"
The shoji door slid shut with so much force that the wall it was attached to began shaking.
'I'll kill him. I will KILL him.' Battousai's amber eyes flashed around as he paced the room, grappling with the hilt of his sword.
'Sessha wishes you would stop storming around in circles. It's making sessha dizzy…'
'YOU!' Battousai turned on his other self who was sitting calmly, in the midst of pouring himself some green tea. 'You, this is YOUR fault. The bastard accuses you of wrecking the girl's kimonos and all you can do is stand there and stare at him like you haven't got a single thought under all that red hair of yours! The way you act, you'd think you wanted Kaoru to marry that baka! If you'd of just let me kill him when we first met him, things would have never gone this far-' Battousai stopped suddenly and cocked an ear towards the shoji.
'Why stop ranting at sessha? It really seemed to be helping our situation, de gozaru yo-'
'Shhh!'
'N-nani?'
Battousai narrowed his eyes. 'Someone's running this way.'
'Kaoru-dono?' Rurouni asked hopefully
'Iie. Someone heavier. It's-'
The shoji door flung open and the unmistakable scent of sake wafted to Kenshin's delicate nose.
"Baka. BAKA. BAKA!"
"Good morning to you, too, Sanosuke." Kenshin smiled, trying to mask the flash of amber that had just emerged in his eyes. Sano slammed the shoji shut again and stalked to the middle of the room. He sat down across from Kenshin and scowled across the top of Kenshin's tea cup. Then-
WHACK!
Sano's hand connected with Kenshin's head, sending hot green tea running down the front of his now-soaked gi.
"O-Oro, oro, oro!" Kenshin rubbed the new knot on the back of his head.
"I'm only doing it because you're my friend."
"T-tomodachi? Sessha would have never known! Don't you think you show your affection for sessha a little strangely, de gozaru na?!"
"Well, someone's gotta smack some sense into you!" Sano crossed his arms over his chest and turned his nose up in the air.
Silence.
"So, it's true?" Sano leaned forward on his knees until he was an inch or two away from Kenshin's nose.
"Nani?"
"Jou-chan's getting married to that prick with the cigarette?"
Kenshin sighed in reply.
"Come on! This is ridiculous! How many days has she known the guy?"
"N-not many." Kenshin looked up at the ceiling, in the corners of the room, anywhere to avoid staring directly at Sano.
"This isn't right! You love her! You've loved her forever! Don't you?"
Kenshin stared down into his lap. Stillness overtook the room again.
"And you're just going to sit there, hand her over to somebody else? BAKA!" Sano held up another hand and gave Kenshin another sound whack across the back of the head.
"WILL YOU STOP THAT, DE GOZARU NA?!"
"NO! YOU'RE BEING STUPID, KENSHIN!"
"SANO, SHE DOESN'T LOVE ME!" Kenshin's eyes blazed amber.
Sano stared in disbelief at his friend's outburst, his mouth hanging partially open.
When Kenshin spoke again, his voice was pained. "Sanosuke, Kaoru-dono doesn't love sessha… and can you blame her? Sessha can't give her what he can, sessha can't shower her with kimonos and presents, sessha can't provide her with financial security. Sessha can only give her himself. She deserves more. It'll be better this way…Kaoru-dono will be safe and cared for, and sessha can be a wanderer again…"
Sano ran his hands over his face and through his hair. "Kenshin, I know she does…"
"There was a time that sessha thought so, too." Kenshin reached across to the shoji that led out to the dojo porch and cracked it open. Sano craned his neck around to see Kaoru and Kazuo sitting casually on the porch engaged in a hug. He caught snippets of their conversation.
"O-ok" She was saying as he kissed the top of her head.
"I'm right."
"I…I guess… you must be."
Kenshin snapped the shoji shut again and turned to look at his friend. "Kenshin… that doesn't mean she doesn't love you-"
Kenshin's cold eyes stared up into Sano's. "Sessha wishes to be left alone." With that, he turned his back to Sano altogether and stared at the wall.
"I just thought tha-"
"Goodbye, Sano."
"But-"
"Goodbye, Sano."
"NO! You listen to me! You're being an idiot! And you're dishonoring Jou-chan, thinking all she cares about is money when you KNOW that's not true! It's not her fault that you never told her how you felt about her, so don't act like some poor martyr! Whatever happens, it's your own damn fault because all you did was sit there with your damn green tea and your damn sword and your damn pride!"
The shoji door that led to the hallway opened rapidly and slammed shut again. Sano's footsteps pounded across the wooden boards. Then, a second pair of footsteps with a shorter stride joined Sano's big, heavy, long ones.
"Where's Kenshin?" A boy's voice asked. "Is he in his room? I gotta talk to him!" The footsteps started running again, this time towards Kenshin.
"Hey, kid!" Sano's voice rang out down the hallway, but the footsteps kept running. "I said, Yahiko!"
"What?"
"Leav'm alone."
"Sano, I gotta talk to him!" Yahiko's voice echoed and carried down to Kenshin's ears.
"He doesn't wanna talk to you. Leave him alone."
"S-so it's true? Busu's getting married to that jerk, Kazuo?"
Sano grunted in reply. A silence followed, trailed by a scuffling of feet back down the hallway.
"How old are you again, kid?"
"12."
"'S time you learned how to get drunk. C'mon."
"Baka. It's not even noon yet." Yahiko scoffed lightly.
"Yeah. But if you get drunk enough, you'll forget what time it is anyway. C'mon. Let's down one for Kenshin."
As the two walked away, something strange began to happen in the back of Sano's brain. Right in between the catalogues for good sake drinking and skirt-chasing, a plan…a very interesting plan…a slightly unethical plan was emerging. Kami, this was gonna be fun.
Well, that's all folks!! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! As always, Reviews and Flames alike are more than welcome!! Bye minna, and thankies for reading!
