CHAPTER FOUR
Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Kenshin and co. Oh well though, ne?
A/N: sorrys for the late update. Finals got totally in the way of my updating, plus I got writer's block (as usual). So, many sorrys! Well, I decided to change some things! I am not adding Tomoe and Enishi yet; I realized it was way too early in the story to add them in. I figured Kenshin and Kaoru should have more time getting to know each other way more still, so I decided not to add them yet, so I cut out the last scene of the last chapter. Plus, I realized my frickin' little dashes I made as to mark a change in scene in my story doesn't even work, so I fixed them so that they would work! Hehe. Okay, now for my babble of the day: did you guys know, I have no beta reader! Aha ha ha. Have I told you guys that? But, I think my friend will become my beta reader. He calls himself the Grammar Nazi (with me being the Spelling Nazi, though it's not my fault I have to change any and all misspellings I find!), so hopefully he'll catch any grammar mistakes I have (though I did get an A in English and did fairly well on all grammar assignments and such) Well, this chapter is for MoMo-ChAn wanting more detail on the smile that I ended up taking out of the last chapter (decided I'd just put that frickin' weekend into detail)!
The next morning, Kaoru rose to the sun dancing on her pale skin. She looked at the time, shocked that it was nearly noon. She quickly got up, getting ready for the day.
She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, finding out that Kenshin was there already. She wanted to sigh, but she did it only inwardly. He basically lived at her house or something. Yeah, he always talked about how he couldn't stand staying in the house with his hermit uncle, but still, he didn't have to stay at her house; he could stay at Misao's or Sanosuke's. Oh well though.
"Morning, Kaoru dear!" her aunt chirped. Her father looked up at her from behind his newspaper and gave her smile. She nodded her head at them both in greeting.
"Hey Kaoru! You finally decided to wake up!" Kenshin greeted, a grin on his face. She glowered at him a bit before walking to the refrigerator, opening it up to grab an apple.
She walked out of the kitchen with the fruit and went out to the back. She sat down on a chair in the patio, staring at the sun overhead. She heard a person approaching, but she ignored them, knowing who it most likely was.
Her guess was correct.
"Hey, you never acknowledged me!" Kenshin told her. She knew that he wouldn't stop bothering her until she did, so she looked him straight in the eye and nodded her head a bit at him, acknowledging him.
He grinned. He sat down on the chair next to her and stared at her. His gaze always nerved her. It was like he was trying to figure her out all the time.
"Do you want to do anything today? Wanna go out and eat some place? Let's go see a movie or something," he asked, listing any ideas he got for plans for the day. She barely addressed his presence any more, so she didn't reply to his ideas.
"Fine then, let's just do whatever," Kenshin decided. He grabbed her hand, dragging her back into the kitchen, past her aunt and father and out the front door. Kaoru tried pulling out of his grasp, but knew she couldn't. She decided to just go wherever he wanted. She sighed for real this time.
"Hey Kaoru! Glad you decided to join us today!" Misao greeted. Kenshin and Kaoru ended up at Misao's house, who was having a little get together with her friends.
"Yeah missy. I've never seen you anywhere else besides school. By the way, where were you and Kenshin yesterday? You guys couldn't have both been sick, huh?" Sanosuke asked, a smirk on his face.
"We skipped. Went to a park," Kenshin supplied. Sanosuke grinned at the redhead.
"Well, Kaoru. I don't think you know any of these people, let me introduce them! This is Takani Megumi, Sekihara Tae, Sanjou Tsubame, Honjou Kamatari, and my boyfriend, Shinomori Aoshi!" Misao introduced. The girls all greeted Kaoru with a smile, though Misao's boyfriend barely acknowledged her.
"Don't worry about Aoshi. He doesn't talk much!" Misao chirped.
"Sorta like you, missy. You're quieter by far, though. I don't think I've ever heard you talk," Sanosuke added.
Kaoru stared at the new faces with an impassive face. She nodded at them.
"What are you guys going to do today, anyways, Misao?" Kenshin asked.
"Planned on just watching movies all day! That's what Saturdays are reserved for," Misao answered. Kenshin nodded his head.
"What movies are we watching today, Misao?" Tae asked.
"Aha ha ha. Aoshi and I couldn't find good movies yesterday. We went kinda later than usual and all good movies were taken. We were planning on just going to the theater, if that's okay with you guys," Misao replied. There was a series of 'yes's and 'that's okay's.
As they all left Misao's house to leave, Kaoru realized something. She had no money on her. Kenshin stopped walking and looked back at Kaoru.
"It's okay with you, right?" he asked, smiling. She shook her head no.
"Why not? I dragged you the whole way here. Come on Kaoru! Please? You don't want me to carry you to the car, do you?" he asked, a sly grin appearing on his face. She remained nonchalant to his words, shaking her head no still.
"Hey, what's taking you guys so long?" Megumi asked, head popping out from the front door. She looked at the two and decided that they made a cute couple. She laughed inside.
"Oh, Kaoru, you want some quality time with Kenshin, don't you?" she joked. She saw one of Kaoru's eyebrow twitch just slightly. Megumi may have just met Kaoru, but she could tell that she would have fun making fun of this girl.
"But, I don't think Ken would want to be bothered with the likes of you. He would rather be with someone like me. Why don't you go with the others to see the movie, and Ken and I will have our time together. Right, Kenshin?" she asked, latching onto Kenshin's right arm. Kenshin looked at Megumi bewildered. He thought that she liked Sanosuke.
"Uh…." he replied, a nervous smile on his face. He couldn't decide how to respond to Megumi's suggestion. Kaoru however showed no emotion whatsoever. She simply walked past the pair, relieved that she wouldn't have to go now.
"Oh, getting jealous, Kaoru?" Megumi asked. She had thought that what she said would have provoked some sort of emotion out of the girl, but it hadn't.
"Uh, I should go after her, Megumi," Kenshin said. He took his arm out of hers slowly.
"Oh, okay. You know, that girl sure is strange. She's kinda cold, like Aoshi," Megumi told him.
"Yeah, she is a bit like Aoshi," he agreed. He walked out of the door with Megumi trailing him.
………………………
Kaoru was swinging on the swing at the park Kenshin took her to the other day. She didn't feel like going home yet. She looked at the families around her. She saw kids playing with parents, and she sighed.
Kaoru felt a presence behind her and she turned around, finding a disheveled Kenshin. She almost laughed at his funny appearance. He was red faced, sweating, and his hair was totally loose, almost out of the low ponytail he always had it in.
"Took pant forever pant to find pant you pant," he said. He was panting a lot.
"Thought you were at your house or something. I found out you weren't there, so I looked everywhere. Couldn't find you anywhere, then I remembered that I brought you here yesterday," he said (panting was involved a lot, but putting them in would just be distracting).
She looked at him again, a single emotion shown on her usually emotionless face: amusement (a/n: weren't expecting that, right? Aha ha ha). She smiled, a genuine smile, which lit her whole face with laughter.
Kenshin stopped panting for a few seconds, looking at her smiling face with awe. She really did look prettier with a smile on her face. Her face practically glowed.
Then he started panting again.
…………………………..
"You didn't have to laugh at my unkempt-ness. Sheesh. But you didn't really laugh. You didn't have to smile at it either then. Though, the sight of me must have been hilarious," Kenshin sighed, ten minutes later. He was now neat and not panting like a dog.
Kaoru and Kenshin were sitting at a picnic table eating ice cream.
"You should smile more too, Kaoru," he told her. She looked at him with impassiveness.
Kaoru couldn't believe that she'd smiled. She had not smiled in the longest time, yet Kenshin had her smiling just at the mere sight of his disheveledness.
"You know, I looked for you for a long time. How long were you here?" he asked.
She gave no response. She simply stared at him, eyes flat.
"Don't act like that, Kaoru, please?" he begged. He really hated that Kaoru hid behind this cold façade.
"How about that smile you showed awhile ago, what was that? You're not mad about what Megumi said, are you? She's only kidding, you know," he told her.
"Okay. Forget it then. Hmm…do you want to do something?" Kenshin asked. She shook her head no.
"A movie. Come on, we didn't even go with everyone else. Let's go see a movie," Kenshin suggested.
Kaoru stood up and walked away. Kenshin followed her, grabbing her wrist, pulling her backwards towards him.
She stared at him with her cold mask.
"Don't you trust me enough to do a small thing like going to see a movie?" he asked, exasperated.
"No, I don't," she told him without hesitation, voice cold enough to freeze the hottest summer day. Kenshin's grip loosened on her wrist and she pulled out of it, walking away from the wide-eyed red head.
A/N: hey! Hope you guys liked this chapter. You know, it's 3:07 a.m. I should be asleep. I have frickin' busy ass plans tomorrow. Woe on me though. Hope this chapter wasn't bad and all! Heh.
To my reviewers: Mori'quessir (from Chapter Two, but oh well!),Khmer Moon Blossoms, yukina, Aldailyn, ayani63645, czarina, star, Neko-Yuff16, KissKenshin7, Brittanie Love, Sou-Chans' gurl 4-ever, luna, Lynn-Minmay, MoMo-ChAn, serlgee, and erica6060
thanks a lot you guys! I love you all! Aha ha ha.
Sorry I didn't write individual responses. Too tired and too lazy to. I will next time!