CHEMISTRY?
CHAPTER 3
Kaoru opened her eyes, then shut them again when struck by blinding sunlight. What day was it? Oh, today is Saturday, she could sleep in today. She turned around and cuddled her pillow. Something is not right; Misao must have used the scentless detergent again. Next time, I'll use the spring showers scent…
"No, please, please don't do it…"
Kaoru sat up straight in bed. Except it wasn't her bed. She looked around frantically, trying to figure out where she was. Suddenly, she spotted a little figure on the floor, curled up inside white sheets.
Oh yeah, Kenshin's dorm.
The electronic clock on the bedside table flashed 12:15 over and over, begging to be set to the correct time. Kaoru glanced at her watch: 9:37. It sure took a long time for the power to come back on.
Then, she turned over to Kenshin again and giggled. He slept in the strangest manner, sheet wound tightly around his curled body, and held the pillow tightly in a tight embrace.
She yawned, stretched, then leaned in closer to Kenshin. She hadn't noticed before, but Kenshin had really beautiful hair. It was a deep wine red, which glittered into shades of tangerine under the strong sun. She wanted to wind a finger around that beautiful mane, but her mind kicked in. Don't do it Kaoru.
Under a lump of dirty laundry came a loud "whysit light now," followed by a shuffling and snoring.
Why not. Kaoru leaned over and ran a lock of Kenshin's hair around her index finger. It was so smooth and beautiful… Kaoru put a mental note to ask Kenshin what brand of shampoo he used. What a beautiful shade too, it almost seems unreal… but Kenshin didn't seem to be the kind to dye his hair.
"NOOO!" Kenshin suddenly screamed, making Kaoru crash back into the bed, bruising her ribs on the wooden edge. "Kenshin I'm sorry…"
Kenshin suddenly started tossing violently, as if in a seizure. "Don't do that, PLEASE, NO!"
"I'm sorry, I just – "
"I'M SORRY, PLEASE DON'T DO IT, I'LL DO ANYTHING! NO NO PLEASE NOOO DON'T!" Kenshin continued to toss violently. "WHY WHY WHY WHY HOW DARE YOU DO THIS WHY WHY…"
A man wrapped his arms around Kenshin, stabilizing his movement. It was Sano, looking sober and extremely serious. Though Kenshin continued to shake, Sano hugged Kenshin tightly to his chest, and patted his back in a firm, steady motion. "Shhh… it's okay, it's all over… shhh…"
Eventually, Kenshin quieted. Sano gave a stern look to Kaoru, who was sitting speechless on the ground. "Go take the washcloth draped over the door and wet it with cold water."
Kaoru stared at the now limp Kenshin. "What happened…"
"JUST GO!"
Kaoru quickly scurried up and took the washcloth, slipping into the men's bathroom down the hall. Luckily, no one was in there; she rinsed it over with icy cold water, then hurried back to the room. When she entered, Sano tucked Kenshin into his bed. "Here's the cloth…"
Sano took it from Kaoru and wiped the sweat off of Kenshin's face. He then folded it and placed it on his forehead. "This should reduce the headache when he wakes up." He looked up at Kaoru and nodded to the door. "We'll talk in the hall."
As soon as Sano shut the door behind them, Kaoru started firing off questions in a loud whisper. "What happened? Is he okay? What was he dreaming about? What…"
"Whoa, whoa, one question at a time, jo-chan."
"Jo-chan?" Kaoru glared. "Now is not a time to give nicknames."
"Whatever, jo-chan." Sano silenced her with a sharp glare.
"Right, fine." Kaoru sighed. "But Kenshin, what about him…"
"Okay, look." Sano took a deep breath. "I don't know where to start. Well… I don't even know all that much about his condition. He won't tell me why he has these nightmares of something… I don't know, of something horrible that happened. I don't think he knows, because he never remembers having these nightmares after waking. All I know is how to calm him down." He peeked into the room. "Kenshin seems more at peace now, you should go."
Kaoru peeked into the room timidly. "Will he be… okay?"
Sano nodded. "He always is."
Kaoru tiptoed in and gathered her things quietly. She then slipped out and started to go towards the elevator.
"Hey jo-chan!"
Kaoru turned around. "What?"
Sano popped open another can of beer, and took a long drink. "Don't tell anyone about Kenshin."
It had been two weeks. Kaoru had wanted to call Kenshin and ask how he was doing… but refrained from doing so. Instead, she engrossed herself in her studies, pulling off several perfects on her examinations. Now that the finals were over, she began to fervently study for next semester.
But now… she slammed her book shut with a vengeance, kicking it in the path of bright afternoon sun. She just couldn't concentrate. Two weeks should be enough… right?
He picked up her cell phone and dialed in Kenshin's number. Then cancelled the call.
No. It's just too awkward to call. But…
Then in her hand, the phone started to vibrate and Edelweiss started to play in polyphonic tones. She looked at the phone. "…Kenshin?"
Did she accidentally press 'call' instead of cancel? Nervously, she pressed the receive button and held the phone up to her ear. "H – hello?"
"Hi, can I speak to Kaoru Kamiya?"
"This is she, it's my cell phone."
"Oh, hello Kaoru. This is Kenshin."
Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief that Kenshin was okay. "Oh, hi Kenshin, how are you doing?"
"Yeah, I was just wondering what happened to all that enthusiastic stalking that I've been missing. You didn't even say goodbye, shame on you."
Kaoru forced herself to laugh. "You wouldn't wake up, sleepyhead. And I've had killer finals these few days, I haven't even eaten."
"I thought so as well."
A long pause.
"So," Kenshin continued, "how's for continuing the whole science shebang."
"WHOA!" Kaoru almost fell backwards from her seat. "You're… you're…"
"Take it or leave it sister."
"… of course! What are you doing today?"
"Nothing."
"So…" Kaoru glanced at her clock. It was 4:36. "How about we meet in half an hour?"
"Sure. I'll see you then."
They arrived at the chemistry building at the same time. Kaoru sighed then put on a bright smile. "Nice to see you again."
"Same here." Kenshin smiled, this time a real one, and gestured towards the door. "Ladies first."
They walked up the empty stairs in silence until they arrived at Megumi Takani's lab. Kaoru pushed the door open. Orange rays of declining sunshine filtered through the half opened blinds, creating diagonals on all the lab tables.
Both Kaoru and Kenshin donned goggles and lab coats. Then they looked at each other. "So," Kenshin said, "What now."
Kaoru thought for a moment. "Well, since you didn't tell me how you made Californium… how about you show me?"
Kenshin gave her a hard look for one moment.
Kaoru narrowed her eyes. "Kenshin Himura, don't you back out now…"
Kenshin laughed. "Alright, alright!"
Like a possessed genius, Kenshin started to gather various apparatus. By the time he had finished retrieving flasks, tests tubes, and a burner, the light had almost dimmed. Kaoru went to switch on the lights. They wouldn't work.
"Hey Kenshin, the power's out again."
"No problem," he said, continuing to set up.
"You sure?"
"Uh huh, I can do it." He stuck a length of pipe into a rubber stopper, putting it into a flask. He ignited the Bunsen burner so that a long blue flame flared out, then lit a candle. He looked over his other materials on the table. "Oh shoot, I need some potassium chloride and sulfuric acid."
He started to walk over to the cabinet. Kaoru stood up from her stool. "I'll get the sulfuric acid."
She walked over to the tall shelf, and looked from the bottom up. "Common bases… weak bases… strong bases… common acids… weak acids… strong acids." She looked at the line of bottles arranged on the top shelf. The room was now so dark, it was hard to distinguish the words printed neatly on the bottle, especially not from the dark tint of her goggles.
"Why does it have to be so high up?" Kaoru groaned.
"Because you're very short," Kenshin said matter-of-factly from behind her.
"You're not much taller," Kaoru retorted. She stood on her tiptoes and moved the goggles up towards her forehead. She squinted to make out the words in the bad lighting. "HCl… HBr… H2SO4!" She turned around towards Kenshin. "How concentrated do you want it?"
"As concentrated as you have."
Kaoru found the 25 molar solution, the most concentrated one available to students. Victoriously, she reached the bottle.
Unfortunately, she lost her balance. Her hand, just short of grabbing the bottle firmly, swiped the bottle off. It all seemed to happen in slow motion – the bottle fell down, lower and lower, struck her on the head, and shattered. Liquid poured all over her head and face, wetting her completely.
I should really be taller.
And then, her face started to burn, her hands started to burn, her scalp started to burn, and her eyes started to burn. She tried desperately to claw it off. All her training was forgotten… all Kaoru wanted was the pain to stop, for her eyes to stop going through this intolerable pain. She collapsed to the floor, eyes clamped shut, hands still futilely trying to wipe it all off.
"Kaoru? What's… KAORU! Oh my god, Kaoru!"
She could feel Kenshin run to her, but besides that, she could feel nothing more.
END CHAPTERSorry for taking relatively long to update this chapter. So yes, a NEW TWIST! Haha… unless you are a Korean Drama enthusiast, in which case this entire story will resemble one angst filled drama or another.
Comments and criticism appreciated. :