Author: Phoebe Otaku
Title: College Life (please people, help me out here!)
Chapter 4: never have I ever...
Disclaimer: don't have nuttin but sum free time, me ol'compooter, an a maginashun that be done makin crazy stories agin.
(disclaimer: I don't know where that disclaimer came from)
Author's notes: so I posted a chapter, cooked some chicken, ate some chicken, posted another chapter.
I told you this fic was on fire with the updates.
Orororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororo.
"Misao is throwing a party at her house. Just a bunch of us having some fun before 'exam and paper hell' starts up." Kaoru stated watching Kenshin stretch out after the movie finished. Saturday afternoon curled up on the couch with him, taking in one of the cheesy movies that seemed to be on TV all the time, made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
"Sounds like fun." Kenshin replied. Kaoru wanted to walk up to him and kiss him, smile in a mysterious way, and then tease him about something. She had sort of a 'cat in the cream' mischievous feeling, this was what came of lying around all day like a feline. She settled for tickling the man, gasping in delight when he retaliated in kind finally pinning her arms in an embrace. They were inches apart, most of her body pressed to his; she hoped that he couldn't feel the speed of her heartbeat.
"Do you want to come to the party Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, with an incredibly cute look on her face. "It's just some friends of ours: Sano, Megumi, Misao, Aoishi, the gang...please come?" She knew that eventually it would dissolve into Misao trying to flirt with Aoishi and Sanosuke and Megumi suddenly disappearing. Misao had been in love with Aoishi since the dawn of time, it seemed. And Megumi, despite yelling at Sano and generally being bitchy toward him, was inexplicably attracted to the younger Ex-Yakuza. To the general delight of their friends they had finally begun dating seriously at the end of the previous semester. As much as these things made her happy, it meant that she would typically spend the rest of her evening amusing herself with computer solitaire. She hope that Kenshin would come both to save her from being the odd one out and because she loved being with him.
"I have a hard time saying no to you, that I do." Kenshin said with a smile. Somewhere, subconsciously, he was registering that her heart was racing and his would have been, if he didn't have excellent control over himself. Without that control, he didn't know what he would do in this situation. She was so obviously inviting, but in such an innocent way that Kenshin was sure that she didn't realize it. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he hoped that he could enjoy himself a bit with his friends by making an appearance at this party.
An hour later at the 'gathering', Kenshin was beginning to wonder what he had gotten himself into as a game of 'never have I ever' started up.
"Should I just go with the usual? Never have I ever had sex." Kaoru stated with a blush after some prodding by the others. This was a typical beginning to the game, but things would definitely get more creative later. Kaoru watched, blushing, as all those who had done the deed reached for their drinks, she expected it to be everyone except herself and Misao, but surprisingly Aoishi hadn't moved, neither had Soujiro. Most of the room was now focused on the two guys, looks of utter shock on their faces when their eyes passed over Aoishi and looks slightly less disbelieving, but still surprised, for Soujiro.
"Care to explain that one to me?" Sano blatantly asked.
"Not really." said Aoishi emotionlessly, while Sou-chan just blushed profusely instead of responding.
"OKAY. I'll go next" Screeched Kamatari, before taking it down a notch and continuing. "Never have I ever had sex...with a woman..." he finished with a large grin.
"Too much information..." Megumi sighed.
"Oi! That's not fair!" said Sano, still holding his drink.
"Well, who said this game is fair?" Kamatari retorted. Kenshin merely blinked and took a swallow from his drink along with Sano, he really couldn't believe he was playing drinking games.
"Megs, I think it's your turn." said Kaoru, hoping to leave the subject for the moment. She really didn't want to find out the extent of Kenshin's experience in that department yet. Or, at least not with all the other people here she thought with an immediate blush. Megumi, oblivious to her thoughts, continued on to the next statement.
"Okay, um...never have I ever had red hair." She said while everyone just looked perplexed.
"Having a hard time thinking of things you haven't done?" Kamatari commented with a smirk, not noticing Sano's malevolent glare.
"That was uncalled for, that it was." Kenshin said as he took another drink. At this rate he would have to mix himself another before the first five minutes of the game was up. "Perhaps we should pick on someone else."
"Never have I ever been a cross dresser." Misao said with a grin. Kamatari grumbled and drank while Sano leaned forward to give her a High Five. Everyone had been surprised that Kamatari and Soujiro had been able to make it to the party. Kamatari was attending a more artsy university an hour away and Soujiro was general very busy with his studies and work. Both of the young men had attended high school with Kaoru and Misao, making for an immediate acceptance to the little 'group' that typically spent time together.
The game became progressively worse as the night wore on and the tongues were loosened. Soujiro was very near passing out, having the entirety of the players decide as a unit to pick on you would do that to anyone. Surprisingly, after spending a good deal of time picking on one of the more innocent guys, the game was actually 'cleaner' at the moment having moved on to torturing Kaoru.
"Never have I ever seen Kaoru naked." Misao said, thinking little of it. Kaoru however turned beet red while Kenshin was merely a shade lighter than his hair. When both leaned forward to take a drink Megumi nearly choked, it really wasn't healthy for Sano's eyes to be so wide, Misao looked shocked, Soujiro blinked and (as usual) smiled, Kamatari made cat call noises, and Aoishi just looked...well...like Aoishi. Kenshin was having a hard time figuring out how this of all things was the most shocking of the night. He would admit to himself he had enjoyed seeing Kaoru... Kenshin forced himself to stop his train of thought.
"Kenshin, I think it is your turn now..." Kaoru said quietly to the dazed man. Of course, it was somewhat drunken whispering so it was actually quite loud compared to normal standards.
"Oro?!?" Kenshin said, coming back to his senses. He knew that he could maintain some semblance of control no matter how much he had to drink, it had indirectly been a part of his training. His reaction time was so fast typically that the slowing of reflexes would not have been a problem. However, his mind wandering that much was kind of scary.
"He was just remembering how hot Kaoru's body is..." Megumi said smirking. In retaliation for this scathing, albeit true, comment Kenshin said the first thing that came to mind before his brain could filter it out. "Well, never have I ever seen Sano naked." Megumi flushed -something that would only happen while she was intoxicated.-
"Hey! What did I do to deserve that?" Sano asked to a grinning Kenshin.
"Guys, we skipped Kamatari." Aoishi said, wanting to somehow get back at the man for making fun of his 'never have I ever been bowling.' It was the logical choice, being that everyone else had had to drink on that one.
"It's okay, I can't think of anything any way." Kamatari said.
"Come on..." said Misao "you have to be able to think of something you've never done.
"Well. Okay, I've never been married..." Kamatari said shrugging, not expecting Kenshin to lean forward.
Of all the questions, Kenshin thought to himself. He had instinctively leaned forward and reached for his glass, so now there was no covering it up and simply lying by omission. Kenshin brought the glass to his lips with a sigh and downed the rest. Tomoe. He had been thinking about her a lot lately, her and a certain woman who was currently staring at him with confusion in her beautiful eyes.
The only thing that could have been worse was 'never have I ever killed anyone.' Though, come to think of it, he wasn't the only one in the room that would have had to drink.
"NANI!?!?" screamed Misao. "You're MARRIED." Kenshin cringed at the pitch and the stares of a good half of the people in the room, Kaoru included. Sano and Aoishi both knew a bit of his past, so weren't so shocked.
"I was married....I..." he just barely stopped himself from saying 'I killed my wife' and instead said "...she...passed away."
"Ken-honey, I'm so sorry..." Kamatari started.
"No, its okay you didn't know..." Kenshin wasn't much in the mood for partying anymore. Kaoru's mind reeled. 'WHAT?' she screamed mentally. After a couple of seconds of trying to figure out if she had heard Kamatari correctly, she forced herself to calm down. Taking a deep breath or two, all while keeping as unreadable of a face as possible, she looked at a now subdued Kenshin. Even her sudden shock and jealousy at his admission took a backseat to her concern for him. He looked so forlorn that Kaoru was fighting an urge to throw her arms around him and cry the tears that she knew were locked inside him at the moment. Kenshin had an iron grasp on emotions he didn't want others to see, but Kaoru was getting good at reading his moods despite his best effort.
"Kenshin," she whispered underneath the general babbling of the group tying desperately all at once to change the subject. "Do you want to go home?" Kaoru sobered up exceedingly fast when she had a wish to.
Kenshin looked down at her smiling sadly up at him, fingers twined through his. He didn't want to make the whole group feel bad but he knew that he would just drag the party into the gloom with him. Before he could open his mouth, though, Kaoru seemed to hear his answer and looked meaningfully at Aoishi.
"I have to get to work in the morning pretty early, so I'm going to head out now." said the taller man, standing slowly. "Kenshin, Kaoru, if you want a ride I would suggest coming with me instead of Soujiro." He gestured to the younger man with somewhat of a smirk, Sou-chan was lying prone in a corner looking very glazed.
"Yes, that'd be great" Kaoru said reaching out a hand to pull Kenshin to his feet. As they left, all Kenshin could bring himself to say was "Thank you." to both of them. Aoishi granted him a rare smile that seemed to say 'no problem.'
After spending the entire car ride, and walk up the stairs, trying and succeeding at cheering himself up, at least on the surface, he was somewhat surprised when Kaoru came into his room a moment after him and threw her arms around him in a comforting hug. Kenshin resisted for a moment before relaxing and giving in to his grief for the moment. He never shared it with anyone, but Kaoru's soft embrace, so freely giving, brought him the peace he needed for the moment.
They spent the night like that, curled up around each other in Kenshin's bed. Kaoru fell asleep first, even in slumber soothing him. He knew that he would have to tell her the story, the truth about himself, because he simply couldn't keep his distance from her. She didn't force him to speak, and that drew him more. He would have to tell her the truth because nothing else would push her away. But tonight he would take the comfort offered to him. Nuzzling against her warm body, he fell into a blissfully untroubled sleep.
Orororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororororo.
Author's notes: that was sort of a long chapter by my standards... whew!
okay! I've hit the point were I really have a gigantic plot GAP I have a scene written that must occur later (was the inspiration for this entire thing)... and I have an idea for a scene that must be much later...but between then and now I have nothing...
On another note...Aoishi and Soujiro being virgins... well partially I wanted someone to be sort of shocking, and I was originally just going to use sou-chan (I think more people can see that one)...but then I started thinking...Aoishi is always so dedicated to his work and the oniwabanshu... and I don't, at the moment anyway, see him just giving in to such a distraction as lust. Also, can see him not wanting to waste time on a girlfriend unless its serious (and even then there are some doubts about wasting time on anyone...) -not saying he's completely inexperienced...someone that hot just wouldn't get away without it... but Aoishi is one to take the responsibility aspect very seriously....therefore skipping what could potentially be a very bad mistake simply by ...er... abstaining...
So there we go, that's my lengthy dissertation/defense on a miniscule plot point.
What the real question should be: 'why the heck are Soujiro and Kamatari there at all?'
I have no idea! Like I said plot is currently missing from this story.
IM or email! Thanks!
REVIEW PLEASE!