Aoshi and Soujiro had just walked into Ultraviolet and were heading for the bar. Misao watched them coming closer, but it seemed they hadn't noticed her yet.

Okay Misao, just keep it together and play it cool. There's no reason why you should get nervous around him. Oh why couldn't he of come a few hours ago? At least then I wouldn't be so loose…

She kept her head low and watched them out of the corner of her eye while they ordered drinks.

"Two glasses of sake," said Aoshi to the new bartender.

Soujiro looked around the place. It looked modern in every sense, the room was dimly lit with purple fluorescent lights and some random J-pop song was playing as a band set up on the small stage. He quickly observed the club-goers and noticed something familiar about the girl sitting at the bar adjacent to them.

He leaned toward Aoshi, "Hey Aoshi, doesn't that girl-,"

"I know, its Makimachi Misao from kendo. She's been watching us since we got here," replied Aoshi as he watched the band start up.

Soujiro didn't know how Aoshi did it, but you could just never surprise a guy like him. "You going to talk to her?"

Aoshi turned back to his friend and sipped his sake, "I haven't decided."

"Its obvious she wants to talk with you. But I can't imagine why, its not like you're the world's greatest conversationalist."

Aoshi ignored him and put down the rest of his drink and walked over to Misao's direction. She kept her head down as he came closer…and closer…and closer.

He walked behind Misao and she felt her body tense until she heard the doors of the bathroom open and close and the footsteps of Aoshi fade, and relaxed.

She sighed and brought a glass to her lips, "Good, he hasn't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

Misao jumped and nearly lost her grip on the glass while choking down the liquid already past her lips.

"Shinomori!" she choked.

Aoshi had so expertly managed to inconspicuously take the seat beside Misao instead of going into the bathroom like she thought. "Scare you?"

Misao nodded her head while tapping her chest with her fist.

He smiled and turned to the bartender and ordered drinks for both of them. "I saw you watching me and Soujiro."

"Yeah…I wasn't sure it was you guys so I didn't say anything," said Misao quickly making up a lie that she knew Aoshi probably wouldn't buy.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, well Kaoru and me were supposed to go out but I had a feeling she and Himura were going to spend a little more time together than she thought. So I just wandered around town and I've been here a good few hours."

"You know they say drinking alone isn't good for you."

Misao laughed as she drank down another glass of sake Aoshi had ordered for them. "You going to drink with me Shinomori?"

Aoshi raised an eyebrow; she was showing all the telltale signs of having a little more alcohol then she should have. "No," he replied as he finished off his drink. "I'm going to take you back to the university."

Misao slammed down her empty glass, "For what?"

"Misao, if you haven't noticed you have a little more booze in you then their should be for this hour." Aoshi stood up and placed Misao's arm over his shoulder for support.

"I'm not that drunk Shinomori," lectured Misao after she brushed him away and made her own way to the door.

Aoshi followed beside her and Soujiro caught up with them in the parking lot.

"Is she smashed?" asked Soujiro once Misao was tucked safely in Aoshi's car.

"No, just a little loose." He got into the driver's seat and rolled down the window. "You coming?"

Soujiro gave him a look of disbelief. "Are you crazy and waste my Sunday looking after a drunk with you?"

Aoshi rolled up the window and drove off leaving Soujiro alone at Ultraviolet.

Not long afterwards Aoshi was trying to help Misao down the halls to her room, frankly the simple task was taking longer than he'd liked.

"Misao what room are you?" he asked impatiently.

She looked to him and blinked a few times, "Umm, 247."

"Do you have the key?"

Misao rummaged through her purse and held up a golden key. Aoshi took it from her and put it in his pocket and in one fluid motion snatched up Misao in his arms and carried her bridal style to her room and unlocked the door.

He dropped her onto the couch and headed for the kitchen. Misao massaged her forehead and temple.

"What are you doing?" she asked when she heard noises coming from the kitchen.

"I'm making you a drink that will help with the headache. Do you have any cake?"

Misao struggled to remember, "Cake? Yeah maybe, check the fridge."

Aoshi opened the fridge and behold there was a rather large piece of cake sitting there in a paper plate. He took it out and removed the clear plastic wrap and grabbed a fork from one of the drawers and handed it to Misao.

"Eat it," he ordered.

Misao sat up and stared at the unappetizing sweet. "As much as I love cake, Shinomori, I really don't think now's the greatest time for it."

"The cake will absorb the alcohol in your body and prevent it from going straight into your bloodstream."

Misao was genuinely surprised, even in her lightly intoxicated state. "How did you know that?"

Aoshi walked back into the kitchen and took out the blender, "When you have a friend like Sagara Sanosuke, then you tend to remember stuff like this."

She only assumed this Sagara was a heavy drinker and started consuming the cake. A few minutes later Aoshi brought back to her a tall glass with a slushy green tinted mixture inside.

"Drink it."

"Are you sure its supposed to make me feel better?" she asked as she took the concoction in hand.

Aoshi only raised a raised an eyebrow and had a scolding look on his face. Misao placed the glass under her nose, smelt like it had mint in it but the slushiness suggested otherwise.

She pinched her nose and raised the glass.

"Bottoms up."

"I hope you feel like dancing."

Kaoru looked over at Kenshin curiously as they pulled into a club. Even thought it was only 5:30, they'd lost one and a half hours because they decided to go check out the new sport store and kendo gear, the club was starting to fill up with those who wanted to end their weekend on a fulfilling note.

They walked into the club and it was dark and had Christmas lights hung across the ceiling. The bar took up most of the right wall and the generous dance floor took the left. Whatever room was left was filled with small tables and chairs and a few cushioned seats along the wall.

Kenshin led Kaoru in and sat them near the dance floor. The DJ station was unmanned but there was a mix CD playing.

Kaoru crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. "Another well kept university secret?"

Kenshin smiled, "Yeah."

She looked up at the string of lights above her and tapped on the table with her fingernails with the beat of the music. Kenshin read the pamphlet on the table that advertised this week's special drink and got two of them from the bar.

"Kenshin?" asked Kaoru as she stirred the pink drink with her straw.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Kenshin was only half surprised she's asked that question. "Well, why not?"

"Because we didn't exactly get off on the right foot and it was clear from the first time we met that you didn't like my idea of a girl's kendo team. But yet you have no trouble taking me out."

He smirked at her suspiciousness, "I'll admit I didn't like the whole girl's team and I offered to help you today at tryouts in hopes of annoying you out of it. But after seeing out fight like you did… I was impressed and you earned my respect as a fellow student of kendo."

Kaoru smiled and shook her head, "I highly doubt you take Aoshi or Soujiro out like this."

Kenshin got up, "Yeah but they don't look as good as you do in silk camisole." And with that he walked into where Kaoru assumed was the bathroom leaving her in a mix of giggles and nerves.

Was that just a compliment to say he likes me!

A/N: Okay another chapter down, hmm not sure it was my best work but I did have a headache when I wrote some of this. I can't write much now since my computer is going really slow at the moment so just remember proper manners and toodles!