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

Random Note : If you haven't checked out "Samurai Champloo", you should! It's awesome (by the creator of "Cowboy Bebop". Fight scenes are great.

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 11 : Blue Sky

Soujiro sighed as he got out his AP European History textbook from his locker. As he shut it, he noticed Kenshin and Kaoru at the end of the hallway. He noticed that Kenshin had a stiff face and Kaoru was close behind him with her head down and partially covered by her hair. He narrowed his eyes and decided that he would wait by his locker for them to come towards him.

The red-haired man looked up and noticed the other blue-eyed boy standing there at the far end of the hall. Soujiro still looked upset from the incident the other day so Kenshin chose just to ignore him.

As he passed by him, the other man clenched his fists tightly.

"Himura-san," he called out as he turned around to face the other man. Kenshin stopped in his tracks as he turned around on the balls of his feet. The brown-haired boy purposefully strode towards him.

"It's not very polite to ignore your friends," he said in a steady, hard voice as he looked at Kenshin sternly.

The lavender-eyed man scoffed as he upturned his nose. "I know what kind of shit is going to come out your mouth, Soujiro. And personally, I don't want to hear it."

The blue-eyed boy glared at him as strength went into his fists.

With a quick thrust of his fist, he struck Kenshin exactly in the stomach.

"Ugh." Kenshin bent over with one of hands clutched over the area that Soujiro had punched him and the other hand bracing the ground. In shock, Kaoru quickly rushed over and tried to help him up.

"I'm disappointed in you, Himura-san. I thought that you and Sagara-san were good friends. But Sagara-san has been in a bad mood ever since he got here and instead of trying to make him feel better, you just make him angrier." He looked at the girl who was bent down on her knees and patting Kenshin's back to make sure he was okay. "And Kamiya-san, you should leave him alone. Himura-san deserves to get hit."

Soujiro continued to glare at Kenshin's form as he tried to dissuade the girl from helping him. He honestly did not understand why the girl was still bent on taking care of him when he had treated her so poorly. He understood it was for that main reason why Sagara-san was upset. He shook his head in disenchantment as he thought of how Himura had been acting the past couple of days.

"Himura-san, get up," Soujiro said quietly as he looked at him. After a while, Kenshin's form was still stooped down on the ground and there was no sign that he was going to get up soon. A look of worry suddenly crossed over the boy's eyes. Had I hit him too hard?, he thought.

"Himura . . . –san?" he repeated feeling a bit uneasy from the prolonged silence.

Soujiro walked towards Kenshin as the feeling of worry finally took over. At that moment, Kenshin rose from the floor and his strong fist flew into the other boy's gut.

"Ugh," Soujiro exclaimed. He held onto his stomach as he fell to the floor on his knees. He slowly raised his head and saw with his dark blue eyes that the other man was smiling with satisfaction. Kaoru, who was still on the ground, looked at the two with shock. She wasn't sure what was going to happen and she did not want to see either of them get hurt more than they have already been. The girl quickly pushed herself from off the floor and stood in between them.

"Sir," she started as she looked over at Kenshin.

He put his hand on her shoulder and briskly nudged her aside while he continued to let his eyes focus on the boy on the ground. A smirk appeared on his face. "So what about it, Soujiro? We're even now."

The boy furrowed his brows as he recovered from the force and shock of the blow. "Hi-mura-san . . how dare . . you deceive a friend." His words didn't flow very well due to the fact that he was trying to steady his breathing. But, Kaoru noticed, as he was saying this there was a big smile on his face.

The girl quickly turned around to look at Kenshin and found that he too was smiling.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that this was going in a good direction after all. She then walked towards Soujiro and reached out her hand to help him up. But at that exact moment, Kenshin had also stretched out his hand for the other boy to grasp onto. Kaoru realized this and was about to pull her hand back when Soujiro quickly grabbed it.

"Thank you, Kamiya-san," he said with a broad smile. Then he looked over at Kenshin and said, "If you don't mind, Himura-san. I would like to borrow Kamiya-san for a moment."

Before the other could reply, Soujiro took hold of Kaoru's hand and quickly started walking the other way. Kenshin watched as the girl was being pulled away from him and grimaced slightly before heading towards his classroom.

Kaoru looked back with worry at Kenshin's figure as he started to walk away.

"Kamiya-san, don't worry about him. I want to show you something," Soujiro said sincerely.

The young woman looked back at him with widened blue eyes and then lowered her eyelids as she nodded her understanding. Together they walked towards the back of school and she found herself being led up the stairs to the rooftop.

As Soujiro opened the door, a gust of fresh wind blew in and Kaoru took a deep breath. The other man let go of her hand as he walked towards the railing and leaned his back against it as he looked at the girl. "Whenever I feel troubled, I always come here. Maybe you can find some peace here, too."

Kaoru nodded as she walked towards him slowly. She stood next to him and placed her hands on the railing as she tilted her head towards the sky. The heavens were such a beautiful shade of blue and wisps of clouds seemed to dot it here and there. It was absolutely breathtaking. She took in a deep breath as she felt a cool breeze blow by. Her raven-black hair flew about and she let her eyelids gently flutter to a close.

It had been a long time since she had felt this comfortable.

She seemed to have forgotten that Soujiro was standing next to her and started falling into a world of her own. Memories of days once lost began to pass through her mind. The image of her mother who was looking at her with such vibrant eyes of warmth and love . . the image of her kind-hearted father who always worked hard for his family to have a good life . . the both of her parents whom she so dearly loved. All those blissful moments began to infiltrate her mind and soul.

Soujiro smiled as he looked at Kaoru. She looked different now than how she appeared whenever he saw her with Kenshin. Instead of an emotionless and somewhat tense visage, she now donned a comfortable and happy expression. He watched her for a moment longer before talking.

"Are you feeling better now, Kamiya-san?" he asked with warmth lacing his words.

Kaoru opened her eyes as if she had been brought out from a dream. "Ah . . yes, I'm okay now, sir." She quickly looked over and saw that his blue eyes were staring into hers. She felt her cheeks heat up and turned her eyes towards the ground.

"I'm not Himura-san. I'm just his friend and I would rather that you not call me by sir."

" . . ." Kaoru didn't lift her head for she felt at a loss for what to do.

"I guess there's not much you can do when you're with Himura-san, but when he's not here you should talk comfortably, Kamiya-san," he regarded.

The girl looked up at him and found him smiling at her softly.

"You don't need to talk so formally around me," Soujiro said. Kaoru found herself turning away from his gaze again as she wondered what to say in reply.

"No . .no sir . . I." The young man's smile faltered a little as he heard her call him 'sir' once again.

"I know we haven't known each other long, but I'm your friend. And friends should talk comfortably around one another, right?"

Kaoru stepped back and clasped her hands together as she nervously glanced at him, "I . . I'd better be going, sir. Himura-san may wonder where I am."

Soujiro furrowed his brows. "Kamiya-san, why do you do this to yourself? Do you honestly not care about how he treats you?"

Her eyes widened in shock as he heard what he said and she hastily turned away from him. The girl's heart clenched in pain as Soujiro seemed to vocalize the badgering thoughts in her mind. With a cautious look back at him she replied, "It .. it's in a contract. I . . I . . belong to him now." Kaoru had choked out the last few words before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I wanted to repay the debt that my father had . . and . . this was the only way. I can't back down from what I've agreed to with Seijuro-san." When she had told him her situation, it seemed as if the wounds of her heart had reopened. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she held them inside of her.

A long moment of silence passed by before the boy sadly nodded having fully understood what the girl had said to him.

"You know, Kamiya-san," as Soujiro turned around and leaned his arms on the railing of the rooftop and looked at the sky, "you remind me a lot of myself when I was young. I used to think that being strong was everything. That I couldn't cry. That I couldn't be thought of as weak. But," he said as he looked over at Kaoru. "But it's okay to be weak sometimes. It's okay to cry sometimes. After all . . you're only human." He smiled softly.

His words echoed in Kaoru's mind. Ever since her father had died, she had not let herself shed a tear over the death, not even at the funeral. She felt that she had to be strong and help her mother through it. She felt that the burden of repaying the debt was also on her shoulders so she went to Hiten Mitsurugi Incorporated to meet with Seijuro-san. A few hot tears began to trickle down from her eyes as she understood the full impact of the meaning behind his words.

She smiled and nodded her head. Soujiro looked at her relieved and with utmost gentleness wiped a few of the tears off of her cheek.

Kaoru watched Soujiro and her heart warmed. He seemed to know her so well even though they never really talked. Her smile grew broader at his care.

"My," Soujiro started in a pleasant tone, "you're so beautiful when you smile. I always thought you were pretty since I first met you and . ." The boy smiled embarrassed as he looked down on the ground and scratched the back of his head. A faint blush began to appear on the boy's cheeks. Kaoru chuckled at his expression. Soujiro looked at the girl with his eyes twinkling in excitement when he heard her voice. It was the first time he had heard her laugh.

"My, this is going to be a wonderful day since I got the chance to see you smile, Kaoru-san," he said.

Kaoru's cheeks brightened into a red hue as she heard him compliment her and she was pleasantly surprised to hear him address her as Kaoru instead of her surname.

"Himura-san has to see how beautiful you look when you smile . ." Soujiro started, but once he had mentioned the man's name Kaoru's face instantly stiffened. Being with the brown-haired young man had made her forget her situation for a brief moment, but when she heard Kenshin's name her mind came crashing back to reality.

"Himura-san . . Himura-san's a pretty good guy if you get to know him.," he said quietly as he examined Kaoru's facial expression.

"I . . I don't know why he's like that now, but it is not because he has a grudge against you, Kaoru-san. Actually . . actually he has some skeletons in the closet himself," Soujiro continued when she didn't say anything.

"Skeletons in the closet?" she asked a bit surprised by the new information.

Soujiro nodded. "Himura-san may be more like you than you know."

"What do you mean?" The girl's eyes widened in curiosity as she waited for his response.

Soujiro looked thoughtful before deciding that he would tell her. "Well, from what Sagara-san has told me . . . Himura-san's parents died a long time ago when he was a boy and Seijuro-san took him in."

Kaoru eye's widened in shock. She would never have guessed. Her eyes saddened as she thought of the boy. No wonder there was always an aura of sadness and loneliness around him. She turned away from Soujiro and leaned forward over the railing to look down at the school grounds to clear her mind. The freshly mowed green lawn, the oval-shaped school track, the pool, the tennis courts . .they were all very beautiful from above. But Kaoru found herself continuously having her thoughts drifting towards Kenshin.

She wondered about the scar on the left side of his face and knitted her brows in thought. How did he get it? Would that have to do with his past also?

Ring

The school bell had rung signaling that it was time to start the first class. Kaoru looked over her shoulder and to her surprise had found that Soujiro had already left. She turned around and opened the door leading back into the school. She then ran down the stairs.

"Oof!" Books clattered to the floor as the girl had run into another person.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. She bent down and picked up the books that were dropped onto the ground and handed them back to the owner.

"Well, well," the masculine voice drawled out slowly. "If it isn't our doll."

Kaoru looked up and widened her eyes. The person that she had bumped into was none other than Takeda Kanryuu.

"I hope she's not trying to ignore us," another said. The young woman recognized the voice as the girl that was always with Kanryuu, Kaede.

The girl's face whitened as she saw malicious intent flash in the both of their eyes. Kanryuu raised one of his arms and blocked the girl's way downstairs. Kaede also went next to the girl and blocked any other possible exit the girl would have. Kaoru took a step back, but Kanryuu grabbed her chin and raised her head roughly towards his own. Their faces only seemed to be inches part from one another.

His eyes bore into her own eyes menacingly as a small lop-sided smirk appeared on the side of his face. "I hope you didn't think that I would stop bothering you after what Kenshin said the last night. After all . . you're nothing to him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind that much if I were to borrow you for a moment."

Gathering up her courage, Kaoru looked at him defiantly with her piercing blue eyes. "I would appreciate it if you move your arm," she said while iterating each word harshly. Kanryuu loosened his grip on her chin in surprise at the sudden courage that seemed to spurt forth from the girl.

"What? What the hell did you say just now?" Kaede asked in anger.

After the initial setback of hearing her reaction, fury began to shoot up through Kanryuu's body. A small tic developed in his left eye as he grabbed the girl's chin even tighter.

"You bitch! I'm warning you . . it'll be best if you stick next to Kenshin when you go anywhere from now on. Because if you don't . . . if you don't," he repeated. "You don't know what I'll do to you." He roughly let go of her chin and her head was jerked to the side from the sheer force.

Before she had time to look up again, she heard Kanryuu whisper in her ear in a low, cold voice. "Keep that in mind, doll."

With those words said, he and Kaede left the girl alone. Kaoru stood there unmoving at the top of the stairs and even though they were out of her sight, Kanryuu's voice still rung in her ears.

Kenshin threw down his backpack the moment he stepped through the door of his house and walked upstairs to his bedroom. Kaoru glanced at him uneasily as she started to follow him. Once they reached the third floor and were standing in front of the young man's room he said, "I don't need your right now. Do something else." He didn't even glance back at her as he opened the door.

The girl took a step back and nodded. "Yes, sir."

After seeing him go inside, Kaoru walked over to her own room. That day of school seemed to go by like a blur to her. She steadily opened the door and walked over to her bed and sat down. Thoughts began to bombard her mind. Mainly thoughts about him.

Kenshin.

He hadn't shouted or gotten angry at her since that morning. Instead he seemed to be too busy thinking about something else to even care. As she lay down on her bed, she wondered what it was that possibly could have been going through his mind. Then she thought about what Soujiro had told her that morning on the rooftop.

Kenshin's biological parents are dead. He's adopted, she murmured to herself in incredulity. Has he . .

The girl shook her head. She didn't want to think about it anymore because when she did a little part of her seemed to . . seemed to feel sorry for him. But why should I? The way he treats people . . . the way he acts . . . but . .

She grimaced and finally sat up again in the bed. Her thoughts then wandered towards the event on the staircase and what Kanryuu had said to her. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she remembered his threat. The way that the man had stared at her . . . the way that his icy, wiry fingers had touched her . . she couldn't forget it. Kaoru closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing as she tried to drop the thought from her head.

After clearing her mind, the girl reached over and opened the drawer next to her bed. Kaoru delicately took out a silver frame. Within the frame was a picture of her family. Kaoru was in the center wearing her light blue shirt and khakis with her parents on either side of her. The three of them were smiling brightly as they were in the motion of waving towards the camera. Tears began to fill her eyes as she thought of those times.

A time in her life that she would never get back.

As Kaoru reminisced about her past, warm crystal-like tears began to flow from her blue eyes. This time she didn't try to stop them, but let them flow freely.

After all, she was human.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Please leave a review! Thanks so much! I had trouble with this chapter especially so I probably will go back and fix some stuff later on.

A note about Kaoru's character:

Unlike the anime, she has not lashed out physically with her bokken and/or threatened people with her cooking (hehe). Instead, she has a silent perpetual sense of strength. To be able to shoulder the burden of repaying the debt, she had to be strong. To be able to put up with those taunts and constant blows to her self-worth, she has to be strong. To have lost her father and to have only a shell of a mother and be able to continue on living and forgiving those people who have done her harm, she is strong.

And the reason why she is not acting like her tomboy-ish self and lashing back at people with either her fists or words is because she was the one that had asked to be taken in. She understands that.

She understood that ever since she had laid eyes on the building that day.

Forgive me for this long rant, but that's how I feel. I know it's painful to see Kaoru go through this, but it's angst. Hehe . . but it'll start getting better soon.

Special thanks to HitokiriSky, Eternal-Senshi-S, Oni Tokage, baka deshi, Vivi, Sano Luvs Me, kenshin's angel, De Lazy Lime, cyjj, Coodle, Piper, Ochanoko, super, Sugar-Crazy-Fox, cutie-chan-xd3, rkfan24, Lendra-chan, Reignashii, Misu no Yami, Mz. Amber Eyes, JouChan, Baby Kaoru-sama, Chibi Kiki, Silent Tears of Agony, S3R3nity, tooQie, Ryoga, stranger, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, Fuu, rain angst, Raeyn-chan, Spike-Faye, Katana Midori, Erica, bonessasan, nobody, MizzLee, kkfan, and Kiichi Dazai for reviewing! hugs everyone