Disclaimer : Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, and Sony Productions.

Warning : Characters are OOC

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 4 : First Day

Kaoru stared at the money with dull eyes and then slowly reached out her hand to pick it up. They were all five hundred dollar bills. Money, to him, that meant nothing. The girl's eyes became watery as she stared at how careless he had thrown it at her. Once again she realized the situation that she was in and she laughed pitifully at herself. The area around her eyes became red and it seemed like tears were about to flow out at any second.

What have I become now?, Kaoru asked herself as she picked up the last remaining bill from off the carpeted floor. Like Kenshin said, I'm just a doll.

She walked out of the room and then went into her own room. When she stepped in, a young maid greeted her warmly. She had vivid green eyes and had her hair tied up in two braids.

"Hi Kamiya-san," she said with a bright smile.

Kaoru looked up, a bit surprised by her friendly tone. "Hello."

"I thought I would check in on you and see how you're getting along," the girl said. Her green eyes flashed with delight as she looked around the room, checking to make sure that everything was clean.

"Thank you," Kaoru said with a shadow of a smile.

The maid finally looked back at Kaoru and took a good look at her. "You're kind of pretty," she said. "By the way, my name's Makimachi Misao. I'm one of the maids here."

"Oh . . . nice to meet you, Makimachi-san," she said with a short bow. "My name is Kamiya Kaoru."

"Okay, Kaoru-san it is then. And please call me Misao. I don't like it when people around my age address me by my last name. It makes me feel really old," she said with a pout as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh? How old are you, Maki . . I mean Misao?" Kaoru was genuinely surprised. The girl looked much younger than herself.

"I just turned eighteen," she said as she gave a small twirl on her heels. "I'm finally old enough to get married to Aoshi-sama." Kaoru noticed how quickly her jade eyes had turned dreamy when she thought of the man. A heartfelt smile appeared on her lips.

The maid saw it and laughed. "Oh, you should smile more Kaoru-san! You look so much prettier!"

The girl laughed along with the maid. Things might not be so bad after all.

Misao then walked over to Kaoru's closet and pulled out a few clothes. "Anyway, Master Himura wanted me to tell you that he wanted to you to wear this for today." Kaoru looked at the clothes on the bed and saw that it was another expensive suit. The maid then started to leave the room. "Oh, and Kaoru-san? After you change, make sure that you come down to the dining room."

"Okay. Thank you," she said as she started to pick up the clothes.

"Well, it was nice meeting you!" Misao said with a smile and a wave before closing the door behind her.

Kenshin's mother and father were already in the dining room eating breakfast when Kaoru came downstairs. When she saw them, she hesitated before going inside.

The mother saw her figure standing there and stopped eating. Kaoru couldn't help but stare at the woman. She was absolutely breathtaking. She had hazel eyes and dark black hair tied up in a tight bun. Everything about the woman screamed that she was strong and powerful. However, the same could not be said for the Mrs. Hiko's reaction towards Kaoru. The mother's eyes scanned the girl's physique up and down with dissatisfaction.

"Is this the girl?" Mrs. Hiko asked in the coldest most demeaning voice possible.

"Yes," Hiko said as he continued to eat and read the paper. He didn't bother looking at his wife.

The older woman narrowed her eyes as she pointed to the young girl with distaste. "Is she even worth all that money?" The mother acted as if Kaoru wasn't even in the room.

"Well," he said as he took a sip of his coffee nonchalantly, "we'll just have to wait and see."

Kenshin, who was also seated at the breakfast table, looked over at the Kaoru. "Don't you have manners? Why don't you say hello?"

Kaoru looked at the boy surprised and quickly bowed. "I'm sorry. I'm Kamiya Kaoru."

Kenshin's mom didn't even look at Kaoru and passed by her without saying anything. The girl had never felt so little in her entire life.

"Come sit and eat," Hiko called out as he pointed to an open chair. The girl nodded as she rapidly walked over and sat down. A maid brought over some toast, eggs, and orange juice and placed it in front of her. Kaoru slowly lifted her fork and started eating. Kenshin, who was sitting across from her, stopped eating and looked at her. The girl ignored his stare and continued to quietly eat with her head lowered. After a few minutes, the young master who had been staring at her, slammed down his spoon and got up. Surprised, Kaoru lifted her head up and looked at him.

"Hey, baka deshi! I don't want you throwing one of your little tantrums around the house!" Hiko said with his eyes narrowed.

More anger built up inside the young man when he heard his father berate him. He narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Hurry up and come out! I hate anything slow!" With that said, he left the room. A sigh flowed out from Kaoru's lips when he left for she felt relieved. The father looked over at the girl and grunted.

"Well, I got to get back to work. Enjoy your breakfast," Hiko said as he stood up and left the room with the newspaper in his hands.

"Thank you, sir," she said as she quickly finished what was left on her plate.

Kenshin and Kaoru sat in the back seat of the limousine. The boy was looking outside the window with his arms crossed and the girl sat quiet with both hands placed on her knees. He then dug a cigarette from out of his pocket and lit it. Kenshin took in a deep puff of the nicotine and blew out the smoke towards the woman. She scrunched her nose up in reaction. Then he handed the cigarette he was smoking to Kaoru.

She looked at it for a long while before replying. "No . . I . . I don't"

As Kaoru became flustered, Kenshin smiled in absurdity and brought the cigarette back towards his mouth. After awhile, the car stopped in front of the school that he attended, Three Willows High School. The second the car stopped, she rapidly got out and opened the door on his side. Kenshin got out and walked towards the building while she was left behind to retrieve his backpack and books. Kaoru then followed him inside.

As Kenshin and Kaoru stepped inside the school, everyone's gaze instantly became fixed on them.

"It's Kenshin. Who's that with him?"

"She's kinda cute."

"I heard that she sold herself to him," another voice whispered.

"Ugh. What kind of girl would do that?"

All the stares and whispers made Kaoru feel uncomfortable and only served to deplete whatever pride she had left. She looked over at the boy and he seemed to be unfazed by what was going on. He must not care. After all, what they're saying is true, she thought as a deep pain clenched itself around her heart.

"Hey! Kenshin!"

Someone recognized Kenshin and ran towards him. There were three of them. Among the group, two of them Kaoru remembered from the club. Kanryuu and the girl companion that he had with him. The other person was someone she had never seen before. He had dark brown hair, clear cut features, and dark blue eyes. The way that he was smiling softly had only added to his charm.

The group of three came towards Kenshin and stood in front of them. The guy that Kaoru hadn't seen before was the first to speak.

"Sorry I couldn't go yesterday, Himura-san. Something suddenly came up." He smiled politely as he shrugged his shoulders. Kaoru felt as though she couldn't take her eyes off of the young man. He seemed so nice.

"Something? Something so important that you couldn't attend a friend's party?" Kenshin accused jokingly with a frown playing on his face.

"Haha . . sorry. I couldn't get myself out . .," he paused as he shifted his attention to the girl companion who was standing behind his friend. His eyes widened in surprise. "Eh? Who's this? It's the first time I've seen her. Why doesn't she have a uniform on?"

The girl next to Kanryuu smirked as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "It's Kenshin's birthday present, right?"

"Present?" The boy looked incredibly confused.

"A very grand present. Haha. You should have been there, Soujiro," Kanryuu added.

Kaoru felt insulted by their unhesitant words, but what they said was true. She couldn't contradict it.

Soujiro looked between Kaoru, Kanryuu, and the other girl. "What? You guys know each other already? What do you mean by present?"

"My birthday present, Kamiya Kaoru. There was a welcoming party yesterday at the club!"

Soujiro continued to look at the girl with confusion playing in the pools of his eyes. "Hi. I'm Seta Soujiro," he introduced himself as he thrust out his hand towards the girl, who had her head slightly lowered. The girl had a perplexed expression on her face and didn't immediately go shake his hand. She looked over at Kenshin, but he ignored her. Kaoru, who was staring at Kenshin, turned her head towards Soujiro and slowly stuck out her hand and shook hands with him.

"I'm . . Kamiya Kaoru."

A serene voice flowed out of Kaoru's mouth as she introduced herself. After the handshake, Kaoru tried to take out her hand from Soujiro's, but he held onto it and didn't let go. She widened her eyes as she looked at the boy, but then quickly dropped her eyes to the floor again when she was met with Soujiro's intense gaze. Soujiro smiled at her awkward behavior and finally let go of her hand.

"You have a nice voice, Kamiya-san. You should talk some more. I like hearing it."

Kaoru looked up a bit surprised by the boy's flattering words and felt her cheeks heat up. Kenshin noticed this and grimaced.

"Why don't you get going now? Go do some shopping with the money that I gave you and then come back to school!" he commanded in a cold and harsh voice.

Soujiro looked up. "What? Then Kamiya-san isn't transferring to our school?" he asked doubtingly.

Kenshin ignored his friend's question and directed his anger at the girl again. "Didn't you hear me? Hurry up and go!"

Kenshin's brute voice reverberated inside the hallways of the school. Kaoru quickly bowed and walked out of the building. The young master watched her with his face flushed with anger.

"What is wrong with you, Himura-san?" Soujiro said with a disapproving frown on his face.

"It's nothing!" he shouted with a frivolous wave of his hand. "You guys just take your minds off of her!" He stomped off to class with his last words.

Soujiro's brows knit together as he watched Kenshin's form retreat into the classroom. He then looked over at Kanryuu and his girlfriend, Kaede. "What is wrong with him? Why is Himura-san acting so cold to Kamiya-san?"

The dark-haired man with glasses smiled wickedly. "Well, yesterday at Kenshin's party . . ."

Soujiro's eyes widened as he found out more about what had happened that night. Kanryuu and Kaede could not wipe the grin from off their faces as they retold him the story. The frown that had presently been on the boy's face only grew deeper and deeper.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Please read and review! Thanks much!

Special Thanks to rkfan246, cyjj, super, koishii, Lendra-chan, Ochanoko, tooQie, Chibi Kiki, Mimi, S3R3nity, Ryoga, saotome, Reiganashii, kik-ting, nobody, Babo, Lilliana Moon, kenshin's angel, Illusions-chan, Mz. Amber Eyez, Battousai Lover, and gaby (hyatt for reviewing!