CHEMISTRY?

CHAPTER 2

Kaoru had to run to keep up with Kenshin's long and quick stride. She chased after him all across campus, with other college students staring in shock, wondering why the much-talked about bookworm was suddenly chasing after a hooligan-looking boy.

Right about when she caught up to him, he suddenly stopped. She crashed into his back head on. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry."

He didn't even seem to flinch; instead, he turned around and crossed his arms. "Okay, we're here. You lead."

In her rush, she hadn't even realized they had reached the chemistry department building. "Right," she said, trying to mask her increasing nervousness. "Right this way…"

She led him to the third floor, right to Megumi Takani's room, hoping that she would be there to distract Kenshin and his sharp glare… but as luck would have it, she was greeted by a post-it on the door: "Left early, please email me to find me." Great.

Kaoru opened the door and ushered in a shuffling, sullen Kenshin. He took up a lab stool and sat on it, precariously tilting over as he balanced himself with his elbow. "Okay, Ms. Kaoru Kamiya, what next?"

Kaoru wanted to run out as fast as she could, back to her dormitory and read her books. She had expected a smart peer, who would eagerly discuss chemistry with her. Instead, she got a dull and angry idiot who seemed to be criticizing her at every step. Instead, she walked over to the bookshelf and looked for the familiar lab book. "Yes, well, I'll just… perform a lab…" She quickly turned to the index and searched for an interesting experiment.

Kenshin gave a cynical laugh. "Look, if its another one of those little flame test or gas test things you do, you can just skip it, I've seen it all. You know, I'd have expected more from the smartest chemist all the profs rave about."

Kaoru fumed. "No, don't worry, I have something a little better," she said, and flipped right to the back. "We're going to," she looked at the book, "make LSD."

"I'd like to see that happen," he smirked, "go on."

Make LSD! Kaoru's mind belittled her. Not only do you make a fool of yourself to a stranger, now you're promising to make an illegal drug in front of him? Great, just great. Why is this thing in the book anyways! She flipped to the next page, which gave procedures to create a crystal that liquefied at the slightest touch of body temperature. She was about to suggest that instead, but looked up and saw Kenshin's arrogant, mocking smirk.

Well, illegal drug it was.

She retrieved the apparatus as she talked. "Well, I'll be creating Delysid, which is d-lysergic acid and diethylamide tartrate. Since we have neither of those, we'll have to create it from lesser ingredients." She retrieved a few flasks, and a small bottle. "Well, here I have a bottle of, um, well, Ipomoema pur- pur, em…"

"Ipomoea purpurea."

Kaoru stared at Kenshin; almost nobody, not even her biology professor, knew that term.

"Otherwise known as the common Heavenly Blue variety of morning glory."

As Kaoru stared, Kenshin stood up and continue talking. "However, instead of using the extract of ipomoema purpurea," he said as he closed and threw aside the book, "and creating a weak, half-assed version, we can instead use…" he took out a few bottles from the cabinet. "ergine, isoergine, ergometrine, elymoclavine, and some lysergol."

He brought them over to a lab table, and struck up a match to a bunsen burner. "Wait 'till it gets to 140 degrees Celsius… now we put them together." In a flash, he poured out minute amounts of each substance into a graduated cylinder and put it in a florence flask."

"Now, it will synthesize, but only at a higher temperature." He dug out a chunk of magnesium from a bottle and placed it on the flame. Immediately the fire burst pure white, and Kenshin placed the flask on it. "Now it shall form together, with this catalyst of argon gas," as he turned on a tube of argon and faced it towards the flask."

"And now… we dry it out."

Kaoru could only watch in frozen shock as Kenshin splashed the flask's contents over the lab table. The molten white substane immediately turned into a semi-solidified chalk, and within five minutes became a powder.

Kenshin smirked. "Here you are, Miss Kamiya." He picked up a pinch. "LSD. This much here might give you a buzz."

"How… how…" Kaoru felt lightheaded. "How do you know how to… argon… ergometrine…"

"Tell that Takani woman that I don't need some fancy pants girl to teach me these things." He blew the white powder in his hand towards Kaoru, enveloping the room in a snowy-white dust. "Cheers, Kaoru." With that, he walked out of the lab, slamming the door behind him.

Kaoru stared at the closed door, and then ran out too. "Kenshin! Wait!"

She caught up to him right outside the building. He shot an annoyed look at her. "What now? I told you I don't want you to be so called tutoring me."

"It's not that! It's… it's…"

"What do you want."

"Kenshin," Kaoru said breathily, "let's get together some time and talk nuclear synthesis."

"…and I was so impressed, I just had to make sure to dig in there and get all that wasted intelligence!"

Misao raised an eyebrow. "That's very nice and all, Kaoru, but um… wasn't this kid some wacko arrogant loser? Or something?"

Kaoru laughed. "Yes, wacko indeed, arrogant too much, loser too, but such genius!" She looked at her watch. "Speaking of this, I should get to Kenshin's dorm now…"

Misao's mouth dropped open. "WHOAAA! You're going over to his DORM?"

Kaoru pettishly stuck out her tongue. "When have you known me to procrastinate? Chemistry can't wait!"

"Wait… how did that Kenshin person agree to this again? I thought he hated your guts. "

"…I promised not to tell anyone what complex substance he actually made."

Kaoru ran over to the men's dorms all the way across campus. "Why do they make them so far apart," she muttered, "if they wanted to separate the sexes they might as well have made electrical fences."

She soon found building 14, and climbed the stairs to the fourth, the top, floor. Briskly, she knocked on the door.

"Whaddyu waaant.," a sleepy voice drawled from inside.

Kaoru fumed. "Just because you can make LSD doesn't mean you have to smoke it! Get up! Right now!"

The door opened. Much to her surprise, it was a tall, rugged, and shirtless man who opened the door. He blinked a few times and stared at her with bleary eyes. "Who you," he asked, drawling out the you in a loud yawn while scratching his chest, "you beer."

Kaoru blushed. "Um, I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong room… go back to your beer and um… sleep… bye…"

"Kaoru Kamiya?" Kenshin's voice floated from behind her. "You're here already?"

Kaoru turned around to see a surprised Kenshin, hands full of grocery bags. He gave a short chuckle and shook his head in disbelief. "Okay, I know I said I'd keep going with you and comply with you with all this chemistry stuff… but, um… don't you think it's a little…"

"Too much?" Kaoru piped in smiling. "Yeah I know but, I just can't resist the temptation! We need to start right away! A minute passed is a minute wasted!"

Kenshin's jaw dropped.

"So, Kenshin," Kaoru continued on without missing a beat, "where's your dorm?"

"Yo Kenshin," the shirtless man drawled, "gotsa beeer?"

Kenshin rolled his eyes. "This is my roomie. His name is Sanosuke, or Sano when he's too drunk to say his full name. Which is all the time."

"No'm not," Sano said, "I can say it… Sanooos…. Sanoooosuuu…"

Kenshin tossed him a can of beer. "Have fun."

Like a mole, Sanosuke immediately retreated back inside, where the only sound to be heard were satisfied sighs after every gulp.

"He's like this all the time, been here five years already and still has less credits completed than most freshman." He nodded to the door. "Well, since you're here already, might as well."

Kaoru walked in. It was easy to tell which side of the room belonged to whom. While one side had a neatly made bed, crisply stacked textbooks, and neatly labeled drawers, the other was simply a mountain of socks, shirts, and underwear, as well as a drunken lump under grubby covers.

Kenshin swiftly took a chair from Sano's side of the room, shaking off a few pairs of used boxers with one motion. "Yeah, sit." He opened the windows widely, allowing a cool breeze to sweep through the room. "And don't mind the stench, it's just…"

"Yeah," Kaoru said, looking over her shoulder, "I know."

Kenshin plopped down in front of his computer, and logged on. As Kaoru got out her notes, he scanned through the news. "Japan has agreed to lend many ancient art pieces to go on tour in China."

"That's great," Kaoru said, "it's about time people get a real view of what those wood prints really look like."

"Energy shortage, massive blackouts throughout Japan."

"I wouldn't doubt it, we haven't much resources and yet the industries use more and more energy."

"And nob… never mind."

Kaoru looked up from her organizing. "What?"

When Kenshin remained silent, she leaned over and read. "Nobel Prize to Eduard Rivierez for his accomplishment in biological chemistry…" she trailed off and sat back.

An awkward moment of silence passed, before Kaoru cleared her throat to clear the air. "Um, let's start…"

Kenshin turned around, and gave her a look. "Kaoru… I want to know just this; why are you so fixated on me getting back into the subject of chemistry?"

Kaoru shifted uncomfortably under Kenshin's gaze. "You know you have the genius for this… you can definitely do well in this field… and… well…"

Kenshin sighed. "Let's get to this thing we have to do then." He looked over to her book. "creation of new elements…"

"Well, since you created Californium…"

Kenshin groaned. "Megumi Takani."

"Yes… she told me that. So… how did you create it?"

Kenshin groaned again. "You can't believe how many people have tried to solicit this information from me. So annoying…"

"Please?"

Kenshin glared silently at her.

"Remember what you made yesterday?"

He sighed. "Fine, fine, fine. Well, as you know, Californium is produced by bombarding electrons at – "

At that moment, the computer, clock, and computer screen all blacked out. What had been brightly lit just a second ago was now dark as death.

Kaoru cried out in surprise. Sano was heard falling out of bed and slurring, "Wheresa lights?"

A tiny light flickered on. It was Kenshin, holding a tiny flashlight. "CNN was right about these blackouts," he said, and spread the drapes apart more. "It's a good thing that tonight is a full moon."

Soon, their eyes all adjusted to the darkness. Kaoru gave a small laugh. "What luck, the night I come here the power goes out! So much for science." She got up and felt her way to the desk. "I guess I should leave now, get back."

"Kaoru, are the girls' dorms on the other side of the school?"

"Yes, but I know my way."

Kenshin scoffed. "No way are you getting across campus at an hour this late, especially when all the lights have been extinguished. Who knows what kind of prowlers might be out to take advantage of this blackout. I can't even walk you home, because this is the biggest source of light I have. You're going to stay for tonight."

"But Kenshin," Kaoru protested, "it's only about 9. I can manage it home." With that, she started to gather up her notebooks.

A firm hand stopped Kaoru, then quickly drew away. "Kaoru Kamiya, I may be impolite, crude, and have a drunken roommate, but even I will not allow a girl to walk across campus at night when it is completely dark. Don't argue," Kenshin said quickly, cutting off Kaoru's protests, "Unless the power goes on soon, which I doubt because the news said average blackout times were six hours, you are going to stay here until daylight comes."

"But…"

"I insist."

Kaoru sighed in defeat. "Fine." She set down her notebooks and sat down again after making a quick call to Misao on her cell phone telling her of the circumstances. "I never knew you cared so much about my safety, Sir Kenshin," she teased as Kenshin retrieved a futon from a corner.

"If you get kidnapped, the first suspect would be me, the surly, uncooperative delinquent. I'm trying to save my hide, not yours."

Kaoru laughed. "Sure, sure."

"No electricity at all," Kenshin said. "Might as well turn in early. If the power comes back on and you're still awake I'll walk you back."

"Okay…" Kaoru sat down on the futon and retied her hair. "Might as well, then."

Kenshin coughed politely. "Miss Kaoru, I think you're mistaken about where you're sitting down right now…"

Kaoru stood up suddenly. "I'm sorry… I didn't know I was doing something wrong… I thought… I'm sorry, I'll just doze on the chair."

A beam of light hit the bed on Kaoru's other side. "You take the bed. I'll bed on the futon tonight."

END CHAPTER

Yay end of chapter two. Once again… the way to make LSD is completely made up, although some ingredients are correct. Don't worry I don't make drugs, so I wouldn't know how. Sure feels nice to pretend to be knowledgeable though. XD