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

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 21 : Confession

"Kamiya-san is back!"

"Are you okay now?"

"I was going to go visit you too, but . ."

As Kaoru stepped into the classroom, most of the students in the room started to gather around her. Kenshin walked past her without glancing at her and went to his seat in the back of the class. Kaoru couldn't help but look at him through the corner of her eyes.

Two hours later

"We'll take our break now class," the teacher announced as he closed the Calculus book.

Kenshin got out of his chair as soon as the class ended and walked out the door. Kaoru watched his back silently as he left.

"Kamiya-san, tell us what happened that day .."

As soon as Kenshin had left the room, students began to swarm around her like bees attracted to honey.

"Yes, what's going to happen to Takeda-san?" another student asked.

Kaoru grimaced as she felt the onslaught of informal interrogations by her peers. She didn't want to tell them what had happened. In fact, she wanted to forget it. Standing up, she looked at all of them and said in a serious tone, "I'd rather not talk about it. Excuse me, I'm going to get some fresh air."

Before allowing anyone else to speak, Kaoru turned on her heels and walked out the door. She found herself unconsciously making her way to the stairs leading to the rooftop of the school. She needed to get away from all those students and whatever rumors they had spread while she had been absent. They were beginning to suffocate her.

As she stepped out the door, the blue sky seemed welcoming to her. She took a deep breath as she calmed her nerves and walked towards the railing. The fresh air outside slowly started to relieve her feeling of suffocation.

It was then that she felt someone tap her shoulder. Kaoru quickly turned around and saw Sanosuke standing behind her.

"When . ."

"I came up just a second ago." He looked around with a smile on his face. "I always feel better after coming up here." He stretched his arms up in the air as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he looked over at Kaoru. "How's your arm doing, jou-chan?"

"It's much better, sir . ." she replied with a smile.

Sanosuke frowned. Kaoru saw it and she knit her brows in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You still haven't fixed it. I thought you said that you would stop calling us 'sir'. It's really uncomfortable."

Kaoru bit her bottom lip and felt flustered by his observation. She could talk comfortably to Ryuuzaburo, Shura, and Misao, but strangely she couldn't seem to do that in front of Sanosuke or Soujiro. "I . ."

Sanosuke shook his head. "It's all right, jou-chan. But you know, it'd be really nice if you could call me by name instead."

Kaoru smiled a bit and nodded her head. Sanosuke had been so nice to her during the time that she had been with Kenshin. She should try to change that habit of hers at least for him. "Okay. I'll try to do that."

Sano grinned as he heard her response and leaned his arms on the railing. He looked out into the sky. "It's nice, isn't it?"

Kaoru looked over at him and a soft smile appeared on her face. She nodded her head in agreement as she observed the broad horizon around her. "Yes, it's very nice."

The two of them stood together in quiet companionship similar to that morning when the both of them watched the sun rise. Sanosuke turned his head sideways so he could look at her and found himself drawn in to the picturesque scene before him which he selfishly thought was even more beautiful than the landscape itself. Kaoru's head was tilted upwards as she admired the sky. The blueness of her eyes seemed to rival even that of the sky. Her long black hair seemed to have a life of its own as it blew behind her in the wind. At that moment, a strong breeze passed by and a few strands of the young woman's hair came in front of her face. Before Kaoru's hand went to fix it, Sano reached out first and gently tucked it behind her ear.

The girl looked up a bit surprised at the gesture, but smiled anyway unsure of what to say.

As Sanosuke looked at her, tenderness could be seen his eyes. He cupped her cheek with his hand gently. He remembered that day at Kanryuu's house when Kaoru had gotten beaten up so badly, almost to the point of death. He was truly afraid at that time. He didn't want to see it happen to her again.

"Jou-chan . . . I don't want to see you get hurt anymore . ." he said softly as he looked into her blue eyes.

Her sapphire orbs softened as she heard his thoughtful and kind words. "Thank you for caring about me . . back then it was also partly my stupidity. I shouldn't have left Himura-san's side or this . . "

Sanosuke sighed as he shook his head and interrupted her. "Stop giving excuses like that. I don't want to hear them."

Kaoru stopped talking and furrowed her brows as she looked up at her tall companion. The expression of playful anger in his face was quite comical and she let out a small chuckle. "Okay." But the next moment she looked up at him, the playfulness in his visage was gone and was replaced with a look of sincerity.

"Jou-chan . . that day . . I was so worried about you," he said brokenly. Unable to hold back his feelings any longer, Sanosuke walked towards her and pulled her into a strong embrace. Kaoru stiffened in surprise at the sudden hug.

"Jou-chan . . I . ." He paused not knowing what to say, but he just enjoyed having her in his arms no matter how short a period of time it would last.

SLAM

Sanosuke moved away from Kaoru at the sudden sound of the door. The girl also turned around, her expression showing vivid shock at who stood in front of her.

"Ken . .Kenshin . . ."

Kenshin stood in front of the door with a stiff face and his eyes gradually getting colder.

Kenshin's lavender eyes were fixated upon the scene before him just a few seconds ago. Sanosuke quickly dropped his head as he felt his friend's piercing gaze on him.

"I've been witnessing this scene a lot lately." A low voice flowed out of Kenshin's mouth as he looked pointedly at his friend. Sano quickly lifted his head up when he heard what the other had said and his face became incredibly red when he realized that Kenshin was referring to that night after he brought Kaoru home from the club. However, Kaoru looked between the both of them, confused about what Kenshin meant.

The red-haired man then turned his head to look at the girl. Kaoru felt a chill go through her bones as she received his hard stare. "Kamiya. Come here." He gestured towards the young woman to come near him. She hesitated for awhile and then slowly walked towards him.

"Kiss me."

Kaoru's eyes widened in surprise when she heard his wish.

Because Kaoru made no move to do what he said, Kenshin narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you hear me? I told you to kiss me!" he said in an oppressive tone of voice.

"Ken-Kenshin! What the hell are you doing?!" Sanosuke shouted, disbelieving of what the other had wanted the girl to do.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru with a disapproving glance. "What? Is it that hard to kiss someone?" His lips curled up as he studied her reaction. Kaoru's body was stiff and with eyes closed tightly, she walked up to him and carefully placed her lips on his. Superiority spread in Kenshin's eyes as he looked at Sanosuke. Meanwhile, Sano who had been looking at the both of them, quickly jerked his head the other way. He couldn't watch the scene before him. His hands tightened into a fist and started trembling with frustration and anger.

Once Kaoru's lips touched Kenshin's lips, she quickly backed away. As she did so, her face came into the man's view. He saw that the once confused look on her face had faded away and was now replaced with an emotionless one. His heart cringed in pain as he saw it. He took a step forward and grasped the back of her neck to pull her towards him. Kaoru opened her eyes wide in fear and shock at his sudden action. Then he roughly brought his lips to hers. She was about to push him away with both hands, but stopped. There was a different sensation this time when he kissed her. It was not like the time at the club. Instead of a dominating type of kiss, there was a faint quivering that was sent through his hands when they were grasping her neck and back. When Kenshin had realized that Kaoru stopped moving, he blinked open his eyes and looked at her. A nagging feeling of guilt and regret began to fill his mind. He quickly turned away from her and looked at Sano.

Kaoru looked at him with anger welling up inside of her, however she was still too stunned to do anything. What was that expression in his eyes just a minute ago?

"Next time, make sure I don't catch you." An unexpectedly quiet voice flowed out of Kenshin's mouth after a moment of silence. Kenshin ignored Kaoru's gaze and walked back down towards the classroom. The young woman absent-mindedly watched him walk away. She was about to go back down when she heard Sano's voice.

"I'm . . I'm sorry . ." He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "But I . . I want you to know one thing." Kaoru turned around and looked at Sanosuke who had his head lowered. Then he looked back up with her with seriousness in his eyes that she had never seen before.

"Kaoru . ."

The girl's heartbeat quickened as she heard Sano call her by her first name. It was the first time he had done so. He was serious.

"Kaoru . . the reason I did that . ." He paused to take a breath. He clenched his hands together as he urged himself to go on. "The reason I held you like that . . it wasn't because I was curious and it wasn't a joke either. I . . I don't know when these feelings for you started to grow, but . . but . . I like you. I like you a . ."

At hearing Sanosuke's confession, Kaoru's blue eyes widened. She didn't know what to say because . . because she didn't know how to tell him that she didn't feel the same. She took a step back as she lowered her head. "I . . I . ."

Sanosuke saw her reaction and a surge of pain shot through his heart. He lowered his head unable to continue on with what he was going to say. In a heavy voice, still strong to mask the hurt behind them, he apologized. "I'm sorry . . I didn't want to give you a hard time."

". . ."

Seeing that Kaoru wouldn't respond, an ache began to develop inside of him. Would things now become different because he confessed those feelings to her? If it did, he wished that he could take back all the words that he had said. Every single one of them.

"I'm . . sorry . ."

Kaoru's saddened voice broke Sanosuke's thoughts. Hearing her rejection only seemed to reopen those fresh wounds. But then at the same time, he didn't want her to feel sorry for seeing him only as a friend. Gathering the last strings of his courage, he looked back up at her. A pained smile appeared on his face.

"Don't say sorry. I . . I was too forward about my feelings. Something had just come over me for awhile. Just forget . . just forget what I said today." He waved his hand nonchalantly as he turned around and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to face her right now, not when he was hurting this much. "I'll go back to class later . . why don't you go first . ."

". . ."

Sanosuke's hollow voice only seemed to give Kaoru more pain. She didn't want things to turn out like this, especially to someone who had always been by her side.

Sanosuke .. I'm sorry. She took one last look at his back and walked back down the stairs.

The door behind her slammed shut.

Why?, he berated himself. Sagara Sanosuke . . you should have held it in just a little more . . just a little more. His fingers tightened around the railing while he shut his eyes tightly. However, one lone tear seemed to escape from his eyes.

Kaoru walked down from the roof lost in her own thoughts about Sanosuke and Kenshin.

"You must be better now."

A feminine voice brought Kaoru out from her contemplating and she stopped in her steps only to find Kaede in front of her. Kaoru narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists together.

"Kamiya-san," Kaede started in a melancholy voice. Kaoru, surprised by her tone of voice, slowly loosened up her muscles. "Kamiya-san . . I'm here to apologize to you for everything that we've done. I'm . . I'm sorry."

The blue-eyed girl looked at the other woman and saw that she was serious. There was a grave expression on her face as she talked to her.

"Kanryuu . . he'll never bother you again. I promise." Kaede lowered her head and clutched her hands in front of her. "Himura-san . . even though we had hurt you so much . . didn't press charges again Kanryuu."

Kaoru watched her silently. She wasn't sure if she could forgive them, at least not that soon.

Kaede looked up at her with slight desperation in her brown eyes. "Kamiya-san . . I know . . I know the things that we've done are unforgivable . . . and there's not enough apologies that I can give to discredit what we've done to you. But I hope . . that maybe in the future even if we can't become friends . . we can at least see each other and not hold any hard feelings."

Kaoru looked at her pitifully. Maybe in the future, but not now. The wounds were still too fresh. "I . . I don't know."

The other young woman nodded her head sadly as she heard Kaoru's response. "I understand." She looked at her wristwatch and saw that class was about to begin. "I must get going then." She was about to turn around when she remembered something.

"Oh and about Himura . . he's never been an open person and is inexperienced with his feelings. In fact this is the first time I've seen him care so much about another girl." She gave Kaoru a small nod of the head as if to further state the fact of the matter. "Well, I've got to get going. Bye." With a wave of her hand, Kaede walked away.

Kaoru watched her blankly as she left. What was she talking about? Inexperienced with his feelings? Caring about another person? She shook her head not being able to understand what it was she was saying and walked to class.

"Psst. Kaoru."

"Huh?" Kaoru turned her head in surprise as she felt someone poke her in the arm. "What's wrong?"

Shura gave her a steady look mixed with curiosity and worry. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just wondering what you're thinking about. You keep on looking at Himura-san with a blank expression on your face. Did something happen?"

Kaoru was taken aback by what her friend had just said. Was she really gazing at Kenshin for that long? "I . . nothing . ."

Shura looked at her suspiciously, but let the further probing of questions pass. "Okay."

The blue-eyed girl sighed as she turned to face the front of the room again and take the rest of the notes on the board. But as she was doing so, her mind kept drifting to the look on Kenshin's face earlier. The look of regret and guilt that had been on his face after he kissed her. It bothered her and because she was thinking of it she felt herself unconsciously finding her gaze move towards him. Kaoru looked to her side and saw the red-haired man listening to the music coming out of his headphones, his lips firm and eyes closed. The sky outside the window in the background and Kenshin's image complemented each other rather nicely and suddenly she felt an urge to touch his face. Kaoru quickly took her gaze away from him, shocked at the thought.

What . .what am I thinking?

Her heartbeat quickened and the pounding of it against her chest almost seemed deafening. What was wrong with her? She shook her head roughly and tried to drop the foolish thought.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes:

This chapter came out much faster. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review at the end. I really, really want to thank all of you who have taken the time out to read this fanfic. It makes me glad that you guys like it. This is especially to those who have reviewed and expressed your thoughts and comments about the story. Thank you again! ::bear hugs to everyone::

As for this chapter, there wasn't exactly KK fluff, but they did kiss. =P

Kenshin/Battousai:

I've always felt that Kenshin/Battousai were one and the same, both of the same entity. That's why in the fics that I have written there is no distinguishing between the both of them. However, in this fic when his eyes turn amber, it's because he becomes extremely emotional/angered.

GO USA !!!!

Listening to "Horizon" from Rahxephon

Listening to "Fuhen" by Rin from ending of Samurai 7

Special thanks to Eternal-Senshi-S, Crazyperson, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, kaoru gal, misakililin, flaming-amber, psychotic-catster, Angela Himura, Kaoru4, Vejitagurl, Ryoga, Nakashima-Michiyo, Hiten, bonessasan, coodle, Ariel, Mz. Amber Eyes, Mademoiselle Anime, Chibi Kiki, S3R3nity, Shizuka3, Anonymous T, Brittanie Love, Himura-chan, Legolas-Estelstar, Angel of loneliness, InuLimbo, samuraiduck27, rain angst, kik-ting, Vic'chonn, kimi.the.water.spirit, Baby Kaoru-sama, rkfan246, saotome, Boomerang-chan, spike-faye, Mika, Oni Tokage, cyjj, tintin-chan, erica6060, CrystallineLily, Katana Midori-Fading Shadow, nobody, AmayaSaria, andy, chibi frog, Mallory, tiaravball15, ;) britty, and Peachie-chan for reviewing! ::passes out a used cigarette courtesy of Saitou::