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

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 8 : Of Kindness and Fury

After the teacher had left the room, the students sat in their seats, bewildered and a bit frightened of the situation that was at hand. But none dared to raise their voice against the young man. Himura Kenshin was a name to be feared. They had heard many rumors of him banishing students from their school just because the boy didn't like the way that they looked at them. And none of the students in that classroom had wanted to leave the institute. Three Willows was a preparatory school for both gifted kids and those who were well off financially that wanted to attend Ivy League schools in other countries. It was because of that reason that they continued to carry on and opened their books instead of looking at what was going on behind them.

"Are you okay?" Sanosuke asked for the third time as he tilted Kaoru's chin up so that he could see if she was okay. She flinched as he did so.

"I'm fine, sir," she said as she tried to turn her head the other way. Sano furrowed his brows.

"Stop being so stubborn, jou-chan. This is for your own good," he said.

This time Kaoru turned and looked up at him willingly. Sanosuke's eyes widened. Her forehead was slightly red from the hot liquid.

"What do you mean you're all right?!?! You're forehead is red! Follow me," he said as he dragged her outside of the classroom to a nearby water fountain. He wet his red bandanna with the cold water and placed it on her forehead gently. As he was about to clean off the coffee from her hair and clothes with some paper towels, Kaoru stopped him.

"I'm okay, sir. Thank you," she said. She bowed down slightly and left in the direction of the cafeteria to get another cup of coffee. As the spiky-haired man watched her walk away, his heart saddened. He wished that he could help her somehow. He shook his head and decided to take a walk around the campus to quell the anger that he had within him.

Kaoru returned a few minutes later and walked into the classroom balancing a hot cup of coffee in her hands carefully. What she saw in front of her shocked her and she dropped the cup from within her hands. The brown liquid splattered everywhere.

It was almost as if she were seeing things in slow motion. One of Kenshin's fists was balled up and raised in the air while his other had grabbed a fistful of the student's collar. The man had been lifted a foot off the ground. Kaoru noticed that Kenshin's eyes had turned a shade almost like amber as he shook the boy senseless and punched him roughly in the face. The boy was sent flying through the air and hit the cold ground with a hard thud.

"You son of a bitch! What did you say? I dare you to say it again! You say you can't concentrate in class because of me?"

Thick, dark blood spurted from out of the boy's mouth as he lay there on the ground on his stomach. His eyes were lidded close as his fingers blindly pried around for some sort of support.

Kaoru watched in horror as Kenshin went over to the young man and kicked him in the stomach. Fear seemed to grab at her throat as she saw the fearsome expression on the man's face. But then reality kicked in. He could kill him!, she screamed inside of her head while the pupils in her eyes dilated with warning. Without giving another thought, she ran over to the red-haired man. She stood behind him and grabbed both of his arms as she tried to withhold him from continuing to beat up the other student. This only made Kenshin angrier.

"You!" he snarled as he tried to wrestle himself from her grasp, but her arms were strong and they would not let go. "You . . Kamiya! Are you trying to go against me? Would you rather get yourself hurt instead of him?" he spat out.

I can't believe that insolent girl would help someone like him. She doesn't even know him! How can she care for someone so much when she doesn't even know his name? Does she hate me that much? Why . . why does she do this to me?, Kenshin thought in anguish.

Finally letting his rage overpower his logic and completely blind his senses, he pushed himself from out of her grasp and turned around and sent a fist flying towards the girl. The girl stood there in numb shock as she saw it come towards her and closed her eyes tightly shut. However, his fist never connected. She opened her eyes little by little and saw to her utter surprise that Sano had stepped in front of her and taken the punch instead.

Kenshin's eyes widened when he realized that he had punched Sanosuke in the face, instead of the girl. He stopped his actions as he just stood there looking at his friend dumbfounded. The other man seemed firmly angry and threw a fist towards Kenshin's stomach. Kenshin, who was defenseless, fell to the floor from the sheer power and strength of the blow.

"Get a grip of yourself man! What the hell are you doing?!" Sanosuke shouted as he turned towards Kaoru. She was crouched over the floor clutching her stomach and the other student that was getting beaten was now unconscious.

Kenshin looked at her and reality seemed to crash down on him. Kaoru's arms were bruised and her lips had cracked open again. It must have been from all the thrashing he had done while she was trying to hold him back. How could he have lost his mind like that during the fight?

"Someone take this kid to the nurse," Sano ordered to no one in particular. No one seemed to budge as they just stared at the limp and bloody body in the middle of the floor. Two of the students finally came to their senses and carefully carried the person to the nurse.

Meanwhile, Sanosuke bent down and had Kaoru place an arm over his neck and supported Kaoru as he walked out of the class. Kenshin just sat there quietly on the ground, unmoving.

"Kenshin! Follow me!" Sano called out as he looked back.

Sano's voice was like a cold bucket of water because Kenshin came out of his daze and quickly got up and followed the two of them to the nurse's office. When they got there, the red-haired man walked towards the window and just stood there gazing outside at the sky silently. Sano laid Kaoru out on the bed.

"Don't do something stupid like that again, jou-chan," he berated her softly.

Kaoru nodded as she let her eyes close, she was extremely exhausted and lying down on the bed had made her feel sleepy. Pretty soon she fell into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Sanosuke watched her quietly as he sat down in the chair next to the bed.

She reminded him of someone.

Someone that had been very important to him.

His eyes glazed over as he looked at her.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door and the door clicked open.

"Excuse me, is Kamiya-san . . Sagara-san!"

"Huh? Soujiro?" Sanosuke looked behind him and saw that the boy who had called out to him had come inside. There was a smile on his face as he looked at him.

"Sagara-san, I didn't know you were coming to school today." Soujiro paused as he narrowed his eyes and looked at Sano's face more clearly. "Why are your lips bleeding?"

Sanosuke didn't answer and Soujiro looked over towards the window and saw Kenshin standing there. He instantly understood.

"I heard that Himura-san had stirred up quite a riot, but I didn't know that you were involved also," he said. Sano nodded and turned his head back towards the girl who was lying there peacefully. Soujiro walked over and looked at her.

"Ara? Kamiya-san got hurt, too?" he asked with concern and surprise in his eyes. He gently touched her chin where there was some dried blood from her lips. "How can she have gotten hurt like this?" He turned his head towards Kenshin and looked at him with piercing eyes. He didn't like the way Himura-san behaved so roughly towards the girl since the beginning, but he had no idea how he could make her end up like this. Kenshin only ignored his gaze and continued to stare out the window.

The room was very quiet and a tense atmosphere developed.

Soujiro looked over at his friend Sanosuke. He needed to break this tension somehow. "Aa . . Sagara-san, we haven't seen each other in a long time and you act like you don't even know me," the boy said with a light frown as he brought up a different topic.

Sano looked over. "I'm sorry, Soujiro. I didn't mean to do that."

Soujiro smiled. "It's all right. If you're sorry then buy me something to eat. Shishio-san, Yumi-san, and Anji-san are in the cafeteria. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you, too!"

The spiky-haired man sighed as he didn't move from his seat. "I'd like to, but what if jou-chan wakes up?" he asked.

"It's okay. She needs her rest," he said.

Sanosuke took one last look at her and got up from the chair. He looked over at Kenshin and did not say a word. He was still furious with him. "Let's go and leave the bastard alone here so he can think on what he just did," he spat out. Soujiro grabbed Sano and left the room.

Silence encircled the room again after the two left.

"Ugh," Kaoru quietly moaned as she moved around in the bed.

Kenshin turned around shocked. It seemed as if she could feel the pain even though she was asleep because her face twisted in agony. The man's eyes glazed over as he looked. You, he thought as he watched the girl, . . you're such a fool, Kamiya. This . . it's all your fault. Why did you jump in like that? I couldn't stop myself. . .why did you do that?

Kaoru slowly fluttered her eyes open and felt some pressure on the side of the bed. She looked over and saw that Sanosuke was asleep with his head and arms on the blanket next to her. His nose started itching and he quickly rubbed it. She couldn't help but smile at how peaceful he looked. As she sat up in bed, Sano seemed to awaken and rubbed his eyes.

"Eh? Jou-chan you're awake?" Sano asked still half-asleep.

Kaoru smiled as she looked at him. "Yes, sir." She then frowned when she saw that there were purplish and yellow marks that began to form around the man's cheek. "Are you okay, sir?" she asked worried.

Sano laughed. "Hah! Are you talking about this?" he said as he pointed to the bruise on his face. "This is nothing! I've had so much worse."

"Oh," she said as she looked down. Then remembering about the other young man who had been beaten up, she asked rapidly, "What about the other student? Is he okay?"

"He was sent to the hospital. Luckily, you stopped Kenshin before he could do any more damage," he said as he looked down. The woman had such a kind heart and the fact that she didn't seem to care about her own well-being upset him.

"Really . ." she said in a low thoughtful voice as she looked down at her hands.

"Jou-chan, I already said this before . . but you really have got to look out for yourself more. Don't do something like that again," he said seriously as he looked back up at her. Kaoru couldn't say anything to make him believe her in reply.

"I understand, sir. Thank you. I feel much better now," she said as she started to get out of the bed.

Sanosuke sighed as he saw her get up. Kaoru put on her shoes and walked out of the nurse's office. Feeling helpless as he shoved his hands in his pockets, he got up also and followed her out. He was so used to this tiresome routine by now. When Kaoru arrived at the classroom, school had already ended and there was no one in the room except for Kenshin. He was listening to the music coming out from his headphones with his eyes closed. The girl walked towards Kenshin and stood behind him, he didn't seem to notice her for he didn't even acknowledge her presence.

Sanosuke leaned on the door as he watched the two. As he studied them, he couldn't help but feel frustrated. Kenshin was acting like an asshole to Kaoru, but there was nothing that he could do to alleviate the problem. No matter what happened she always returned to his side. Why?, he questioned himself. After standing there for a couple of minutes, he turned around and left without a word.

For some reason, seeing the two of them together made him feel . . just a bit . . jealous.

As Kenshin sat there with his eyes closed, his thoughts were thrown in turmoil. Actually, he had noticed her come inside the room and stand behind him. He had heard her footsteps and light breathing. He had smelled that scent of jasmine. But he chose to ignore her.

I hurt her. She watched me when I had mercilessly beat up the other student. She had seen me at my worst, but . . shouldn't she be afraid of me? Shouldn't she hate me? Look at what I've done . . but yet she still comes back.

After awhile, Kenshin opened his eyes, stood up, and walked out of the classroom. Kaoru then gathered up his bag and followed him out. Her body was still in pain and she walked with a noticeable limp. As she continued down the empty hallway, she finally saw Kenshin ahead of her and tried to catch up, but to no avail.

The gap between them only seemed to grow.

And pretty soon she had lost sight of him.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Lol. I finished this chapter earlier than I thought. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and please review! Thanks!

Special Thanks to Azulene, AngelsAngel, Oni Tokage, tooQie, xia xue, flaming-amber, super, cyjj, Coodle, Piper, Ochanoko, Erica, Kaoru Gal, Ryoga, kik-ting, cutie-chan-XD3, stranger, anonymous, Reignashii, S3R3nity, Chibi Kiki, rain angst, kenshin's-angel, kkfan, Sugar-Crazy-Fox, Mz. Amber Eyes, kimi.the.water.spirit, nobody, Spike-Faye, Raeyn-chan, InuLimbo, chibi frog, and saotome for reviewing!