True to Your Heart

By: Misumi Kanegawa

Chapter 6

BAM!

"Huh? Kaoru-san?" Soujiro asked in surprise as Kaoru tossed an unconscious, swirly-eyed Kenshin, with big lumps on his head, on the floor.

"Stupid idiotic jerk!" Kaoru muttered as she stomped her way up to her room.

"Uh… what just happened?" Yahiko asked, poking the swirly-eyed Kenshin with his foot.

"Jou-chan's scary…" Sano mumbled as each one of them sweat dropped.

"Hmph! That guy is such a jerk- falling unconscious on the street, half-way from the dorm…" Kaoru muttered to herself as she threw her bag unto her bed, "And like- that was just my second punch on him! Jeeze! Is he a man or what!"

She dragged herself over to her closet as she chose a plain white shirt and gray jogging pants from it.

Suddenly…

"HEY JOU-CHAN! DINNER'S READY!"

"YEAH BUSU! DON'T KEEP THE FOOD WAITING!"

"YEAH! WHAT YAHIKO SAID!"

"SHUT UP ROOSTER-HEAD!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE SHRIMP!"

"Alright! I'm coming!" Kaoru hollered as she folded her uniform neatly.

'I can't believe those two are at it again…' Kaoru thought, hearing the pounding and the clashing and the breaking of things from downstairs.

She carefully laid her uniform on a small stack of clothes in a small blue bin.

'I better remember to do that tonight…' She thought as she headed out of her room.

"This food smells good! I never knew you can cook!" Sano exclaimed as he started eating the food off his plate, "Mmm… Oishii! It's a gazillion times better than Kaoru's cooking!"

"I HEARD THAT ROOSTER HEAD!"

Sano suddenly spat out the food he was chewing, spraying it all over the person sitting in front of him.

BLAG!

"I- REALLY wish you hadn't done that!" Aoshi muttered coldly as he left the knocked-out Sano for the washroom to rinse off the icky yucky stuff off his hair.

"Hey- who's cooking?" Kaoru asked, stepping into the dining room.

"OH! Kaoru-dono! Glad you could join us!" Kenshin said from the kitchen, "I made us dinner tonight, that I have- I hope you'd gladly come and join us, that I do…"

Kaoru stared at him blankly as she saw the food laid out on the table. She gazed at it quietly for a few seconds, before her eyebrows narrowed.

"Why the heck should I! I'm perfectly fine without a guy's company- thank you!" Kaoru snapped, glaring daggers at him.

Everyone watched her as Kaoru hastily grabbed some food from the table before heading back upstairs.

"I'm getting out of here- losers…" Kaoru grumbled as she left.

There was silence for a few seconds.

Suddenly, they heard Sano groaning from the floor.

"Ite- what the heck happened?" Sano grumbled, getting to his feet while massaging his aching head.

"Oh- nothing much- Aoshi knocked you out, Kaoru came. Kenshin asked her to eat with us. She dumped the idea. Then she grabbed some food and left…" Yahiko said shrugging as he continued to eat his chicken leg.

"Feh- Why do you even try to be nice to her Ken-san?" Sano asked, twitching slightly from the pain on his head, "Damn that Aoshi- That stung man!"

"Were you saying something?" A cold voice crept from behind him.

Sano froze like a rock. He sweat dropped.

"Ah! Ahahahaha… Um… Nothing! Nothing!" Sano exclaimed, slowly turning to face Aoshi's cold gaze, 'I hate the way he looks at me- what's with his eyes!'

Aoshi raised a brow at Sano's face before sitting back down next to Soujiro.

"Hmm… Really guys… I think Kaoru-san's a very lovely girl…" Soujiro mumbled while blushing slightly.

"Ah? So- it's true then! You really like my sister!" Yahiko, who was sitting right across him, cried in surprise.

Suddenly, Kenshin came bustling into the dining room with a big bowl of freshly cut watermelon.

"Hey guys! What're you talking about?" Kenshin asked curiously as he sat down next to Yahiko.

There was silence in the room… except Kenshin's munching of his rice crackers.

Then suddenly…

"I can't believe you like her-" Aoshi mumbled, drinking his cha.

"What did she do to you Sou-chan!" Sano asked, laughing hard, "In all my years of knowing her- What did she do to you! Did she smack you hard to make you like her! Or did she drug you- Oh wait! Maybe she bribed you!"

Soujiro blushed red as Kenshin looked at them with a blank expression.

"Oro? I really can't seem to understand what you guys are talking about, that I can't…" Kenshin mumbled as he started chewing some braised beef, "What are you-mmm…. talking about? Mmm…"

"Aw… Sou-chan has a widdle cwush on widdle Kaowu-chan…" Sano teased, pretending to hug and kiss an invisible person.

BLAG!

A bokken hit Sano on the face while he fell unconscious to the floor.

"Soujiro-san!" Yahiko gasped in surprise as Soujiro put on a fake smile on his face, "Y-You-You hit him! And-And with a bokken too!"

"Ah… well… you see…" Soujiro stammered slightly, glancing at both Aoshi and Kenshin's stern faces.

"Aw… don't cry for me lil' Yahiko…" Sano sang as Aoshi hit him on the head.

"You sing like a crow…" Aoshi grumbled in annoyance as he took a sip from his cha.

"Anyway- don't worry about it Yahiko-chan!" Sano said, patting Yahiko on the back, "Your smart, handsome, lovable best friend is still alive-"

BLAG!

"AND WHO SAID YOU WERE SMART- HANDSOME AND LOVABLE! 'YUCK!' AND I WASN'T CRYING YOU BAKA ROOSTER HEAD!" Yahiko exclaimed angrily as he began chasing Sano around the first floor.

"Ah… G-Gomen…" Soujiro said apologetically, sitting back down on his seat, "It's… um… just that..."

"I thought you weren't good in showing emotions?" Aoshi mumbled, peering at Soujiro coolly, "Himura-san… you did tell me that, didn't you?"

"Hai…"

"Then tell me why he just lost his temper…" Aoshi mumbled as Kenshin and he looked at Soujiro.

"Um… I…"

"I am sure we can talk about this some other time, that I am…" Kenshin said smiling as the three of them looked up to see both Sano and Yahiko entering the dining room, looking quite tired.

"I told you! I told you running on an empty stomach was a bad idea!" Yahiko said, sticking his tongue out at Sano.

"What are you talking about- I ate something you little shrimp- it's you're fault we both had to run!" Sano yelled at him as Yahiko made a face at him, "Why- I ought to-"

"Oro? I think it's best if you two will finish your food, that I do…" Kenshin said as Sano sat back down on his seat angrily.

Yahiko followed soon after and the two began eating once again.

"Mmm…Hey Soujiro!" Sano said, grabbing his second chicken leg, "You've got a snazzy move back there with that bokken of yours 'Even though I don't really know where that bokken came from…'"

"Gomen nasai Sano-san…" Soujiro said, sighing, "I didn't mean that to happen…"

"That's okay… I'm not dead anyway…" Sano said jokingly as the rest of them sweat dropped, "Uh… never mind… BUT! It's good you used the flat side of that bokken of yours… it really made it a little less painful that it ought to be… am I right?"

Soujiro sighed and slowly nodded.

"Oro? But you have a really red mark there…" Kenshin pointed out as Sano scoffed.

"HA! That's nothing! I've been in much more worse conditions that this- 'And every single one of them included Jou-chan…'" Sano laughed as all of them sweat dropped.

"Demo Sou-san… I didn't know you study kenjutsu!" Yahiko beamed in awe as Soujiro just smiled.

"Um… yeah… I guess you can say that…" Soujiro said, scratching his head in embarrassment, "I'm not really good at it though…"

"So- do you two study kenjutsu too?" Yahiko asked curiously as Kenshin froze and Aoshi just shrugged.

"Yeah… so?" Aoshi mumbled as Yahiko blinked at him in confusion.

He stared at Aoshi and then at Kenshin for a while as Sano started eating up the watermelons.

"WOW! This is good!" Sano commented as Kenshin smiled.

"Hey! Leave me some of those!" Yahiko complained, snatching the bowl of watermelons from Sano.

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK YOU BRAT!" Sano exclaimed, trying to grab the bowl back from Yahiko.

"Oro? Um… Just leave some for Kaoru-dono- she didn't have her share when she took off like that…" Kenshin said, eating some rice.

"Really Kenshin! Why do you insist on being nice to that Busu!" Yahiko asked as Soujiro protested, "She's a beautiful young woman! Why do you insist that she should not have anyone liking her!"

"Guys? Settle down will you!" Kenshin said, scratching his head in confusion, "I just merely think that we should all be friendly to each other, that I do…"

"By the way-" Yahiko said, drinking up some soup, "Tomorrow is laundry day! So- Who's it gonna be!"

"HUH?" Kenshin, Soujiro and Aoshi said at the same time.

All of a sudden, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hm? What're you all staring at?" Kaoru asked angrily as she marched into the kitchen with her empty plates, "You better finish up your food- or it'll be going to the flies-"

Sano then stood up from his seat, quickly heading to the kitchen. Everyone watched him as Sano took out a piece of bond paper off the refrigerator.

"You see guys- around here- we share chores- so we divide it between all of us equally…"

"Yeah right- equally yourself…" Kaoru said sarcastically as Sano sweat dropped.

"Ahahahaha…" Sano said with a sheepish grin on his face, "It's not my fault you're the only girl here Jou-chan…"

Kaoru rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Can we just get this over with?" Aoshi grumbled as Sano shrugged.

"Yeah Rooster head- you're so slow…" Yahiko asked, finishing the last watermelon.

"Hey! You ate all the watermelon!" Sano pouted, crumpling the paper he was holding into a ball and throwing it at Yahiko.

The others stared at him as Sano sweat dropped.

"Ahahahaha…" Sano said, scratching his head in embarrassment, noticing Kaoru's eyes twitch in anger, "Ahahahaha- I think I'll just go get another paper…"

To be continued…

(A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter!… hope you liked this! It's still a bit short for my liking though… oh well… Anyway, thanks to everyone who gave me a review! I really appreciate it! Thanks!)

Answering reviews again!

Kenjutsu Priestess – Hey! Thanks for another review! Aw… you poor thing… it does hurt if you get hit by a back pack- especially if it's filled with hard bound books… (Flinches at the memory a few moths ago…) well… anyway, I hope you liked this chapter!

Rain angst – Hey! Another review! Thanks! Lol! Glad I've got such a good reviewer! Lol! Well, glad you liked the last chapter! I agree that Kenshin and Kaoru are quite good for each other… they are the perfect match! Hehehe… but I think you'll hate me after this chappie (Runs away from things being thrown at her! –ooh… was that a cat she just threw!-) joke… hehehe… anyway, I hope you liked this chapter!

allin656 – hey! Thanks for those reviews! I'm so glad you answered my question! Hahaha… I was really beginning to wonder what those acronyms meant- I think I need to widen my vocabulary… -shrugs- Anyway… glad you liked my other chapters! Oh… and about how long this story's gonna be? Not sure really… in my original work- which I wrote down in one of my notebooks- I'm already writing my chapter 41 I think… but It's just short chapters, some are shorter than this one… so I'm thinking that I'm going to merge a lot of those chapters to make them longer… ehehehe… anyway, I hope you like this chapter as well!

NO NAME – Hey! Thanks for the review! Glad you liked my story so far! Hope you liked this chapter as well!

Mademoiselle Anime – HEY! Thanks for another review! Glad you liked the last chapter! And really… you don't have to thank me… I'm the one who's supposed to be thanking you guys… anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Reignashii – Hey! Thanks for another review! Lol! You're being such a good reviewer! Anyway, Hiko… hmm… dunno, lot's of people asking me that… But I'm not putting him in the next chapter just yet! I want it to be a surprise… wehehehehehe… anyway, here's an update! Hope you liked it!