D/C: We don't own Rurouni Kenshin…although we wish we did…

A/N: Hi there everyone, this is shimmering tear. I'm the one who's gonna write the note this time since Zen did it the last couple of times. Well, for a while I wasn't so sure if we should continue with the story because it just wasn't getting the attention worth the effort, but Zen kept bugging me to do it so I did. Can't say I didn't enjoy it. Well, without any further ado, I give you our fourth chapter. Enjoy…

CHAPTER 4:

Misao examined the box carefully, rotating it slowly so that she could examine it from every possible angle. She shrugged; it still didn't look right. She sighed and decided to open it and test it before she would give it to Kenshin. She had gotten him a 'shaving cream foamer' for his birthday. When the crook-nosed salesman sold it her she thought it was the perfect gift…now, she doubted if it'd even work. She felt stupid for buying it from the street.

She opened the box and held the device in her hand.

Yup, this is definitely an authentic piece of trash, she thought miserably as she walked towards the bathroom; her 'tank was full'.

She went inside, closed the door behind her and set the device on the counter of the sink. Her shorts were midway towards the floor when the idea striked her suddenly. She should test it. Curiosity taking over peeing, she pulled her shorts back on again and scanned the various bottles on the counter for Kenshin's shaving cream. The numerous various types of crèmes and lotions that belonged to Kaoru showed painfully her desperation to win him back. Misao felt a twinge of pain for her friend and sighed. Finally, she found what she was looking for. She clicked the top away and simply emptied its content into the gift. Satisfied with herself and overridden with the urge to pee, she placed it back on the counter and was starting to lower her shorts when the bathroom door was yanked open, revealing a hyperventilating and pale-faced Kaoru.

"Kaoru!" Misao shrieked, as she hurriedly hitched her shorts back on.

"You…me…down…garage," Kaoru rasped, grabbing Misao by the wrist and starting to drag her outside towards the bathroom's door. Misao tried to grab anything to pull herself back inside but only managed to get hold of the gift before she was already being rushed down the stairs.

"Kaoru, wait!" she squeaked.

Kaoru did neither reply nor at least slow down; it was as if she couldn't even hear Misao.

Looking around rather hysterically for anything to grab, Misao spotted Sano walking stealthily towards the stairs and grabbed him by the front of his shirt after moving the gift to her squeezed hand.

"Hey!" Sano protested, looking around feverishly to see if anyone else had spotted him there.

Kaoru still pulled on Misao who was now pulling on a surprised Sano. Sano grabbed the arms of the stairs in turn. When Kaoru realized that she wasn't making any progress she finally looked back.

"Will you please hold it for a second?" Misao said through gritted teeth, she was losing her grip on Sano and Kaoru was still pulling.

Surprisingly obediently, Kaoru let Misao's hand free and Misao bounced onto Sano who caught her in his open arms and fell back on his butt.

"What's going on here exactly?" Sano and Misao asked in unison.

"Trouble," was all what Kaoru managed to say.

"What sort of trouble?" Misao asked, getting off of Sano.

"That's what's freaking me out," Kaoru answered, her voice tight with worry.

Sano got up and started massaging his butt. "But everything's perfect," he said. "What could have possibly gone wrong now?"

Kaoru's frown deepened. "That's what Aoshi-san's supposed to tell me in the garage," she muttered.

"Aoshi is here?" Misao asked excitedly, clapping her hands together. Kaoru nodded grimly. "Then what are we waiting for?" She was almost shrieking with excitement.

Sano just cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Sano," Misao said in an extra sweet voice as she turned to him and thrust the gift forcefully into his hand. "Do me a favor and plug this some where, dear."

Sano looked at the device he was holding doubtfully. "What's that supposed to be exactly?" he asked, but Misao had already grabbed Kaoru's arm and was at the door.

"Plug it in and you'll see," she said, and then slammed the door behind her and Kaoru.

Sano looked at it again and couldn't make sense out of it. He shrugged and went into the guest's bathroom and plugged it in. Then he rushed upstairs to get the privacy he was eager for; he had some business to do.

-

Kaoru was worried she might lean forwards and throw up any second. As the elevator descended she could feel the knot in her stomach become tighter. She was sure something was wrong, terribly wrong. Aoshi's tone was horrifyingly raspy. Next to her Misao was hopping from one foot to another excitedly.

Finally, they reached P1, the first parking level, and they both rushed out. She knew Aoshi would be there because they had reserved most of this level for the party's guests. She looked around frantically, trying to spot the black Cadillac and its blue-eyed owner. She knew Misao had spotted him when she heard her yelp and rush forward. Kaoru found Aoshi standing nervously where Misao was running to. He was leaning against his car with his arms crossed in front of his chest and was slightly rocking back and fro.

Kaoru swallowed aloud; what could be so wrong and where the heck was Kenshin? Did something bad happen to him? Wasn't he alright?

She gasped aloud at the thought of that and clapped her hand to her mouth in horrified shock. She lifted the dress and ran in her expensive heels the rest of the way to the car, only stopping when she was slamming both fists on the front passenger seat.

"Kenshin, Kenshin?" she screamed, knocking on the window for him to look up at her, but his head continued to rest sideways at an odd angle.

She felt strong hands on her bare shoulders.

"Kaoru-dono," Aoshi said quietly.

However, Kaoru didn't pay him the slightest attention and kept slamming as hard as she could and screaming for Kenshin to wake up.

Misao approached the car slowly from the other side to Kaoru, her hands covering her mouth.

"What happened?" she asked Aoshi.

Aoshi sighed. "He fell asleep," he said and Kaoru's fists froze in mid air stiffly.

"He wha…?" Kaoru exclaimed and turned around sharply to face Aoshi.

"He fell asleep," Aoshi repeated, sounding tired and weary.

Kaoru took in a deep breath and crossed her arms against her chest. Aoshi began to explain.

-

"What?" Kaoru gasped, raising both hands to her mouth again.

Aoshi had told her everything in a nut shell along with a long decent apology. He looked away from her accusing glare guiltily and at his wife who was standing behind her. She was resolutely looking away from him and focusing at something else. His shame rose, even his wife was disappointed in him. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Is that my dress?" Misao suddenly asked, pointing at the silver protection bag in the backseat.

Aoshi nodded. Misao yelped in excitement and rushed to see it. Aoshi fought to control his face; she wasn't avoiding looking at his face, she was merely looking at the bag.

"Ehm," Kaoru cleared her throat loudly.

Aoshi looked back down at her.

"Help me wake him up," she said coldly and he nodded.

He opened the door for her and she bent inside, trying every mean possible, from slapping to screaming, to wake Kenshin up.

In the backseat, Misao was unzipping the bag with all the carefulness she could muster against her excitement.

Kaoru finally straightened up and sighed, defeat all over her pretty face.

"Get him out," she ordered Aoshi without even looking at him.

Aoshi once again obeyed her silently. He didn't like taking orders one bit, but he somehow totally understood Kaoru's situation. He threw Kenshin's left arm around his shoulders then yanked him out. Kaoru slid under the other arm.

"I'm going to get dressed," Misao announced. "No one look back."

"What?" Aoshi said incredulously.

"Don't worry, no one will see me here in the back seat," she assured him and he heard the door shut as she went in.

Aoshi didn't approve the idea of his wife getting dressed in the car at all, but he had too much on his plate right now to go and argue with her, especially as he knew how damn stubborn she can get sometimes. He contented himself with grunting aloud.

"May be if we hop around with him he'll wake up," Kaoru suggested.

Aoshi looked around at her incredulously, but like the situation with his wife, he chose the safe side and preferred not to argue.

"Alright," he forced him self to say.

He gripped Kenshin's arm firmly and prepared himself. Kaoru, on the other side, did the same.

"On the count of three," Kaoru said. "One, two, THREE!"

They both started hopping. Kenshin's head bobbed up and down almost lifelessly. Aoshi was praying with all his heart that no one would come and see him in a position like this.

They hopped a few meters and stopped. Kenshin was still asleep and Kaoru was on the verge of tears and was starting to panic.

"What kind of drug is this?" she asked in an unnaturally shrill voice.

"The kind that makes you sleep all through Misao-chan's kicking and talking at night," he answered a bit too sincerely.

Despite her situation, Kaoru smiled weakly and nodded in understanding.

"I'm done," Misao announced in a sing-song voice.

Aoshi struggled to look back and his jaw nearly hit the floor. The dress was even more awesome on Misao. It emphasized on her every single curve and showed the color of her eyes like nothing else.

"Wow," he heard Kaoru say, or rather moan.

Misao beamed satisfactorily and gave a whirl, making her self visible from every angle.

"Here, let me help," she said as she hurried towards them. "I'll do whatever it takes to get him up and about while you make him hop."

Kaoru nodded. "Again," she announced. "One, two, THREE"

She and Aoshi started hopping simultaneously while Misao-also hopping-pinched Kenshin's face over and over at several places. Kaoru swore he winced when Misao squeezed his nose.

"Misao," Kaoru said, panting with effort. "Pinch him again on the n-nose."

Misao nodded, but as she stretched her hand towards Kenshin's nose, Kenshin's feet landed on the tail of her dress and she was about to hop up again when she fell back with a sickening 'RIP'.

Kaoru stared at horror at Misao's thigh which came out through the huge rip in her dress. Misao whimpered as she traced the tear with trembling fingers.

The dress…her beautiful dress...it tore...

"I need to go home," she said, her voice shaking and indicating that she was on the verge of tears.

Aoshi looked from his heart broken wife to Kaoru, even she didn't dare speak.

"Okay," Kaoru said quietly, "But don't go alone, take some one with you to drive, you only recently got your driving license."

"I'll go" Aoshi said quickly.

Kaoru looked daggers at him. "No," she said flatly. "You'll stay here with me and try to fix this mess."

Meanwhile…

Sano closed the door to Kaoru and Kenshin's bedroom carefully and went to their bed. He perched himself on the king-sized bed and took out his cell phone and quickly punched in a number. He pinned the phone to his ear and listened to the rhythmic dial-up tone for a few moments before he finally heard the distinctive click of the phone being picked up.

Before the person he was calling was allowed to speak, Sano started talking.

"I've searched far and wide for your number, so please don't turn me down now," he said softly. "You won't believe how happy I was when I finally found your number…it was like a dream come true, I knew that I finally will be able to talk to you."

Sano had seen this really pretty girl at the pub the other day, and she had really attracted his attention. He had asked a couple of guys who regularly attended the bar about her and they gave him her number, although not her name…so he really didn't know what to call her. He had prepared a really beautiful speech and was determined to pour it out on her before she could start speaking…because if she did, he'd start to stutter and his speech would be forgotten.

"Your eyes simply captivated me, and the way your long hair fell back onto your back and brushed against your beautiful face kept me speechless," he went on. "I just kept staring at you the entire time, I wanted to head directly to you and tell you you're beautiful, but I knew you would never fall for that sort of act."

He heard a contented sigh on the other end of the line, and he grinned triumphantly.

"So I ask you now to please accept me and do not reject me, because that would really tear me apart," he said in an earnest tone. "By your side is the only place I really want to ever be."

"Oh, Sanosuke!" the woman exclaimed happily. "That was so sweet!"

"Yes, I…" Sano paused. "MEGUMI! What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what the hell am I doing here?" Megumi snapped. "You called me, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't!" Sano moaned.

"You didn't?" Megumi said incredulously.

"What? No, I mean, I did…yeah, I did…" he said quickly.

"Sanosuke Sagara! Where you calling some other woman? Was all that sweetness directed to another woman?" she demanded, fury noticeable in her voice.

"What? Of course not, don't be silly, Megumi…of course it wasn't…" he stammered.

"Sano, you make me so mad!" Megumi shouted angrily. "Where are you now? Where are you calling from?"

"W-why?" he said, his voice shaking.

"So I'd come and give you a kiss my own way, you jerk!" she snapped. "Where are you?"

Sano gulped and quickly ended the phone call. He had to get out of here; if Megumi laid eyes on him she'd shred him to pieces! Why the hell did he dial Megumi's number instead of the girl's number?

He hurried to the door, flung it open and headed for the staircase. He rushed down, and particularly ran to the door. He opened it, went outside and closed it the same moment he heard Megumi scream, "Sanosuke! Come back here!"

Sano ran for dear life. He hit the elevator button several times, and kept glancing frantically at the door. "Come on, come on," he muttered.

The door to the Himura apartment opened and Megumi stepped out, looking triumphant. "Gotcha now!" she said.

Sano whimpered. He felt like a chicken that had just been cornered by the extremely wicked fox. He hit the elevator button several more times.

"Where do you think you're running off to?" Megumi seethed, venom dripping from her voice.

There was a ringing chime and the elevator doors opened. Sano leapt inside and hit the CLOSE button repeatedly.
"You're not going anywhere before I'm through with you!" Megumi shouted, and he heard her thundering towards the elevator.

The doors finally closed, blocking out Megumi and her screams. Sano pressed the button which lead to P1, and slid down to the ground in relief.

The lift got to P1, and Sano stepped out. Almost immediately, someone grabbed his hand and for a moment he thought it was Megumi.

"Ack! No, let go of me!" he cried, before her got a good look at who grabbed him.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sano?" Misao snapped.

"What do you want?" he whimpered. "Did Megumi send you?"

"What? No!" Misao said, exasperated. "I just want you to go home with me so I can pick up a dress."

Sano looked at the seam in her dress and smirked. "Hey, you've got some pretty nice thighs, weasel girl," he hooted.

Misao whacked him around the head. "Why, you pervert!" she shrieked, raising her hand to hit him again.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried, shielding himself from her. "I was only kidding!"

Misao was still fuming, but she lowered her hand. "Okay, let's go now," she hissed.

When Sano saw that the other lift was heading to their level, he quickly grabbed Misao's hand and hurried her to his car.

"Wait! I want to go in my car!" she cried.

"Mine's nearer," he told her.

"But I want to drive!" she protested. "I didn't get my driving license for nothing, you know!"

"Alright, you'll drive!" he agreed.

"Yay!" Misao said happily.

They got to Sano's car. He tossed her the keys and they both climbed inside. Misao put the key into its place.

She frowned. "Hey, why isn't this thing working?" she asked.

"Misao, turn the key, dammit!" he cried. He was still keeping watch on the elevator. "Hurry!"

"Oh, yes, right," she said, smiling sheepishly. She turned the key, and started looking around. "Gear…gear…yes, here it is!"

"Who's the idiot who gave you your driving license?" Sano muttered.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"Nothing, I'm just telling you to hurry up," he said quickly.

"Okay," she agreed. She shifted into gear, revved the engine and pulled out of the parking space the same moment Megumi stepped out of the elevator. "Here we go!"

Sano sighed in relief. As Misao drove out of the parking lot, they passed by Kaoru, Kenshin and Aoshi. Sano stared at them.

"Er…Misao, why are they jumping around? What sort of trouble did Kaoru exactly mean?" he asked quietly.

"Long story, I'll tell you later," she said through gritted teeth. "I need to hurry."

"Relax, Misao, your dress isn't going to go anywhere," he told her.

"Not my dress, you idiot," she hissed. "I need to go to the toilet."

Sano stared at her. "Er…you what?" he asked uncertainly.

"I need to go to the toilet! That's what you do when your bladder is full, dammit!" Misao exploded.

Sano suddenly felt alarmed. "Why didn't you go before we left?" he demanded.

"You all were rushing me to do stuff, and I didn't get the chance to go to the toilet!" she cried.

"But you'll be able to hold it, won't you?" he said, the same uncertainty hanging in his voice.

"I don't know!" she wailed. "Now shuddup and lemme drive!"

As she screeched out of the parking lot and out onto the road, Sano found himself automatically reaching for his safety belt and buckling it tightly. He muttered a silent prayer under his breath; this didn't look too good a situation.

Misao kept speeding up, her hands grasping the stirring wheel so tightly her knuckles were becoming white. Sano glanced at the speedometer.

Eighty km per hour, ninety km per hour…hundred…hundred and one…hundred and twenty…

"Misao! Slow down!" he cried. "You're gonna get us into an accident!"

"Shut up! I know how to drive!" she shot back.

"Well, then, you're gonna get us a ticket!" he told her.

"Sano, just shut up, alright? My bladder is completely full and if you infuriate me anymore, I'll…" she said.

"No! No, absolutely not!" he cried.

Misao smirked. "Shut up then," she told him.

Minutes later…

"What the hell are you doing?" Sano shouted.

"I'm driving, you moron! What else?" she snapped.

"No, you just crossed in front of an 18-Wheeler!" he shot back. "You just don't cross in front of 18-Wheelers like that! You could've gotten us killed!"

"We're alive, aren't we?" she hissed, her face screwed up in the effort of holding her tank.

Sano slumped down in his chair. "I think I just peed in my pants," he murmured.

After another few close calls and another stream of swearing and honking on Misao's side to any driver who came in the way, Sano was surprised that they had actually made it safely to the Shinomori residence.

Misao hopped out of the car, but Sano remained seated, hands balled into fists and jaw clenched tightly.

"Aren't you coming?" Misao asked.

"No, I'll just sit here and…catch my breath," he murmured. "You go on and…do what you have to do."

Misao didn't need to be told twice. She hurried up the front lane and into the house. She rushed to the nearest bathroom.

"Aaaah," she said, feeling relieved.

Back at P1…

"Alright, that's it," Kaoru told Aoshi through gritted teeth as she wiped sweat off her forehead. "Time to move for another plan"

"Like what?" Aoshi asked, struggling with Kenshin single handedly.

"You'll see," Kaoru said dangerously.

A/N: Alright, people, how was that? We really worked so hard on this one so you better enjoy it. Just kidding, I hope you did. Please leave behind a review to tell us what you think; right now we'll take pretty much anything!