(This is an edit of the original chapter 20. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer named Kamille, I realized I'd made some critical mistakes to the story which I had to revise.)
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Disclaimer – I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
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Silver Cross
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Chapter 20 – Gut Feeling
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Peanut, peanut butter, and jam!You're saying it wrong.
What?
It's peanut, peanut butter, and jelly!
No it's not.
Yeah, it is.
I've always heard it sung jam.
No. I know for a fact that it's jelly.
I think you're wrong.
You're the one who's wrong.
You're full of it.
You suck.
You suck more.
Why are you all up in my face?
What? You have a problem with that?
Yes. I do.
Then do something about it.
This is dumb.
What? You chickening out?
We're fighting about jam and jelly.
Oh yeah.
-
"A cow?"
"Yeah. What did you expect?"
"First of all, I didn't expect there to be any farms anywhere close to L.A. And I guess it just never occurred to me to wonder what exact animal you fed on. This certainly isn't rats like in 'Interview with the Vampire'. What did you think of that movie by the way?"
They're trespassing on a dairy farm under cover of darkness and Kaoru asks him what he thought of a movie. Life's like that sometimes.
Ken scanned the open ground in front of the barn he'd chosen before they broke from the cover of the forest. "Kaoru, this farm has guard dogs. Be quiet and watch where you're walking."
"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I haven't trespassed since I was in middle school and snuck into an old house on a dare," she confessed from behind him.
As far as he could tell, no one was around. No guard dogs, no humans, and he didn't sense any vampires. "What about the apartment you met me in that the hunters burned down?" Ken reminded her.
"That doesn't count. It was your fault."
"Doesn't the idea of security dogs scare you?"
"Not really," Kaoru whispered. "I have a dog. What are they going to do to me with you around anyway?"
She was incorrigible. "Stay here while I break into the barn. I want you undercover in case there's an alarm on it I can't disable."
Before Kaoru could process what he'd said, Ken had already vaulted over the fence and was running to the middle of the three barns. She half feared he wouldn't come back to her until after he finished feeding, even though he'd promised to let her witness it. Kaoru hoped he didn't think she had some sick fascination with blood and violence. It wasn't that she wanted to see him feed, more that she wanted to confirm in her mind that he truly was a vampire. She'd seen the signs. His skin was paler than usual under his tan, and not quite as warm as it had been before. His canine tooth had pierced her tongue the first time they'd kissed because it was so sharp; his speed exceeded that of any track star's, and she knew he trod harder than he normally did just so she could hear his footsteps. The list went on.
But she'd never seen him feed. Wasn't that what vampires were infamous for? They weren't known for their poise or for the knowledge they'd gained from the excess number of years they'd lived. They were known for dark suites, black capes, red lips, sharp fangs, and blood dripping down their chins. They were known for the feral look in their eyes, their lack of mercy, for inspiring terror, for treachery and manipulation.
Kaoru needed to see Ken feed, because even now, some foolish part of her thought they could be together. And she needed to crush it. Because all the other traits that made Ken who he was had gotten to her, the way his eye color shifted to fit his mood, the way he blamed himself for everything, how easily Saitou made him mad, the way he hugged her, the way he avoided hugging Kamatari, the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't paying attention, the way he looked at her when he knew she was paying attention.
He motioned for her to come. Kaoru wondered if Ken expected her to jump over the fence as easily as he had. She decided he probably did. What was with making her sweat before going to the symphony? Not acceptable. She would tell him that when she wasn't so terrified. Glad Kamatari had outfitted her with boots and glad that Ken had made her wear them, Kaoru shot from the brush cover and ran as fast as she could towards the fence. It wasn't until she was ten feet away from it that she took in its full height and realized there was no way she was jumping over a twelve foot chain link fence. At least no barbed wire curled at the top. Keeping that glad fact in mind, she set arms and legs to climbing, something she'd done before during her brief stint in military camp the summer before her senior year of high school.
Kaoru was relieved to find she didn't have too much trouble finding footholds. She'd worried that the toes of her boots might have been too large to fit between the woven links. She reached the top in record time, for a human anyway, and swung first her left leg over, then the right. Then she was climbing down the other side. Kaoru let herself drop the last four feet. It felt good to jump. She glanced around to make sure no one had seen her, although the farmhouse lay around a curve in the road behind her. She and Ken had cut through the woods and past the house to get to the barns. Knowing her night vision wasn't as keen as Ken's, but satisfied since he wasn't showing any signs of alarm from where he stood in the doorway, Kaoru ran across the open dirt that had once been a lawn and slipped through the door into the barn. Ken slid it shut behind her and drew the bolt across.
"That wasn't so bad," Kaoru breathed to the blackness in front of her. It was murky inside the windowless barn.
"Take the flashlight." Ken held it out to her.
Kaoru waved her hand around in his general direction. "I can't see at all."
"Sorry." Ken had forgotten she'd be totally blind. She was only human. He had to keep reminding himself of that fact. He took her hand and placed the flashlight in her palm, watching as her fingers closed around it. "Here's the switch to turn it on and off," Ken instructed her, drawing her index finger down to the button on the body of the long flashlight. "We'll wait until your eyes adjust so you don't have to use it."
Kaoru nodded. "Alright." Then Ken's too cold hand was gone and she was left gripping the light, waiting for her eyes to work again. "Are you going anywhere?"
"Just to check the place out, make sure there aren't any doggy doors or anything. Stay calm, so you don't make the cows uneasy."
Kaoru had almost forgotten about the cows, now their stench came rushing through her nostrils and she remembered why she'd never visited any of the Amish farms near her house. She clamped her hand to her mouth in disgust, to nauseous to breathe through her nose, but disgusted at the idea of breathing the scent through her mouth and tasting it on her tongue. No wonder Ken hated being a vampire if he had to go through this every few days. She knew his senses were more enhanced then hers. How did he take it?
Kaoru was so busy obsessing about the stench that she didn't notice her eyes had adjusted until she spotted movement, one of the cows shifting in its pen. Then her world grew larger and she cast the smell aside to take in the large objects looming around her. Milk machines, the cow pens, and various stalls lay in front of her, while directly to her right two work jumpers hung on pegs. Kaoru started, she'd almost mistaken them for humans.
A dark shape stalked towards her from the far left corner of the barn. Kaoru froze until she recognized Ken's walk. "I can see now," she called softly across the space between them.
"Alright, come here then. I've chosen a healthy cow. She won't miss the blood."
Kaoru followed him to a side of the pen where a huge cow lay, watching them warily. Before she could ask how this sort of thing was gone about, Ken climbed over the pen's fence and crouched down next to the cow. The animal started in surprise, but Ken murmured to her and stroked her back until she calmed. Even Kaoru, outside the fence and conscious of the fact that she was breaking who knew how many federal laws, had eased down to her normal plane of alertness when Ken bent suddenly and sunk his fangs into the cow's neck. Kaoru gasped and jumped, while the cow let out a low moo.
Perhaps because she'd seen so many Halloween flicks Kaoru could shake away the image of Ken crouched by the cow, his mouth on its fur, drinking. But, the sound got to her, a slight noise she could barely hear over the sound of the herd breathing and the stench, but present nonetheless. Reflexively, she dropped the flashlight to cover her ears with both thinly gloved hands. So this was life as a vampire. Feeding on humans was saved only for the glory days. This was reality, kneeling in the dirt, preying on a mindless creature. The life of a vampire wasn't any more glamorous then hers, really. Ken still had problems, low days, self-doubt. And although he possessed superhuman strength, senses, and abilities, he was also possessed by this, by the desire for blood. And that Kaoru knew she could live without.
So, all delusions of grandeur gone, and with Ken brought down from the high pillar he'd once stood upon in her mind, Kaoru dropped her hands from her ears and bent to pick up the flashlight. When she stood up he stood in front of her.
"Kenshin!" Kaoru couldn't help exclaiming in surprise. She couldn't help an involuntary step backwards either. Something flashed in his eyes, but he hadn't been gazing at her directly, so she missed her chance to interpret the emotion. "Are you done already?" she asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"Then let's get out of here. I'm starting to creep myself out." Kaoru said lightly, taking his hand with her free one. She was a little unnerved by the speed he must have used to be standing in front of her when she rose from picking up the flashlight. Kaoru glanced past him towards the cow. The animal had risen and made its way towards the rest of the herd. Kaoru didn't think it even showed signs of being faint. Just how much blood did Ken need and how much did cows have anyway?
"She's fine."
Kaoru strove to meet Ken's eyes, but the dark prevented her from gauging his expression. "Did you get enough?" she asked, noticing that while his hand was warm, by no means was it as warm as it had been the last time he'd come back from feeding.
"Yes. Let's go."
Kaoru wasn't too disturbed by the fact that Ken had failed to open up. He'd said that he couldn't trust himself around her directly after he fed. He was probably just holding back so he didn't do anything he regretted later. Sometimes Ken really was dumb. Kaoru didn't believe that he would ever hurt her, no matter how close to the edge he came. Still, she didn't think she'd come along with him again. She'd argued that it would save time, but both she and Ken would obviously need showers before they were fit to go to a store and buy outfits, let alone head to the symphony.
Ken paused at the barn door, glancing around the open space outside to be sure no attack dogs or angry farmers lurked anywhere near. He didn't want to have to deal with an outsider when he was having trouble dealing with Kaoru. She probably realized he couldn't handle conversation right now. He only wished she realized he didn't particularly feel as if he should touch her right now. At least she wore gloves so he couldn't directly feel her skin and could only sense her pulse faintly through the fabric.
"What do I do with the flashlight?" Kaoru whispered from behind him.
"Just leave it on the ground. They'll know we were here anyway." Ken made sure he heard the clink of the flashlight as it was reacquainted with the ground before pulling Kaoru forward and out the door. Too late he noticed the German Shepard sniffing around the fence. He stopped still, but Kaoru couldn't, bumping into him with a loud muffled cry that alerted the dog.
"Why'd you stop-"
Kaoru's question cut off when the first bark sounded loud in front of them.
"What's the plan, Ken?" Kaoru whispered. She was careful not to let any fear or uncertainty make it to her voice, especially when the barks of at least two other dogs reached her ears from other parts of the farm.
Ken turned and scooped her up. "Grab the fence when I throw you," Ken instructed as he started to run forward towards the dog and the fence.
"Throw me!" The words were barely out of her mouth when Kaoru found herself a little too close to the sharp canines of the Shepard in front of her. Before she found time to be dismayed at the latest development Ken's arms were no longer around her, she was airborne, and the fence was flying towards her at a most uncomfortable speed.
She couldn't say it didn't hurt when she hit, but she was happy to be able to say that there was no way in hell she wasn't going to grab onto the fence, not when another dog had joined the first and was snapping at her feet. She could hardly believe Ken had thrown her up to the top of the twelve foot fence, but he'd aimed perfectly so that her hands were only inches from the top of the fence and her feet were well above biting range. Ken certainly intended for her to start climbing over and not look back until she was safe on the other side, but Kaoru couldn't help but glance behind her as she got her footing in the chain links. The first dog was making a lunge for Ken's throat, which he promptly halted by punching the dog square in the nose and using it's still airborne body to vault himself onto the fence. He didn't get nearly as high up as she had, but he managed to kick the dog that was jumping for her ankles and begin climbing up.
"Move, Kaoru!" he yelled when he saw her staring down at him.
The whole thing had lasted a total of two seconds. Kaoru was definitely impressed. It was really too bad when she heard a gun shot and human shouts. It ruined the moment.
"Move, Kaoru!" Ken repeated.
And this time, Kaoru moved, swinging her body over the fence and then dropping down at the six foot level to avoid the jaws of the dogs who were now snarling at her through the fence.
Ken landed neatly next to her. "Come on. We can make it to the car."
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What's this?Eye shadow.
What about this?
Mascara.
This?
Foundation makeup.
I take it you've become a cross dresser then?
Just for Mardi Gras.
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"Where are we going?" Soujiro asked as he followed Tsubame down the hallway.
"The mall."
"The mall," Sou repeated incredulously. "What are we going there for?"
Tsubame didn't turn to face him. "We need to acquire the proper clothing for our meeting with the Battousai."
"Proper clothing?"
The tall vampire in front of Tsubame, one of the ones from last night, turned. "You'll find out soon enough, kid. Just relax."
"Why do I need proper clothing to meet him? The first time I saw him, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt." Soujiro muttered to himself.
"He's an influential vampire," Tsubame replied, startling Sou. "And please don't question the authority of the leader of the Juppongatana."
"He's the leader?" Soujiro exclaimed incredulously.
"Yeah, kid." The brown-eyed vampire with the spiky hair who had convinced Soujiro by his actions that vampires maybe weren't all that bad was the head of Los Angeles's largest vampire organization. Only vampire organization. And he'd protected Soujiro's life just last night, which was more than his uncle would have done.
"Now that my wife told you before I wanted you to know," an indecipherable look flashed between the couple, "I my as well introduce myself formally."
And he was the husband of Tsubame, who'd seemed so human in this mess. Sure Sou had known she wasn't. There was no way she could be human, but he'd kinda–sorta hoped to come in contact with another human in all this.
"Myojin Yahiko," the leader introduced himself the Nihon way, "head of the Juppongatana." He held out his hand. After a moment of hesitation, Soujiro took it. The man's grip was firm and his hand was warm. He appeared all too human. They let go.
"And this is my wife, Myojin Tsubame."
Tsubame nodded once to Sou.
"I've assigned her to protect you until you're returned to neutral territory. As second in command of the Juppongatana, Tsubame is skilled in all types of weaponry and is head of the security division. You'll be safe with her."
Sou looked down at petite Tsubame with a little awe. He didn't want to begin to imagine what this small woman was capable of, and still she seemed so meek. Sou figured he wasn't the first person to underestimate her.
"The man behind you is my first in command," Myojin continued.
Sou turned. He hadn't paid much attention to the vampire following along to behind him, assuming he was a simple guard there to keep him in line. It appeared there was more to the tall man with the wolfish countenance.
"Saitou Hajime. He and the Battousai are enemies, but I take pleasure in forcing them to work together."
Saitou didn't spare Sou so much as a glance, only let out a puff of smoke from his foul smelling cigarette. "Let's get going, Myojin. I'm anxious to witness the Battousai's reaction to what you have to tell him." Now he glanced down at Sou. "Come to think of it, the girl's reaction ought to be interesting as well, considering her temper."
Sou knew he was being baited, but he couldn't resist asking. "You met Kaoru?"
Saitou nodded. "I've had the pleasure, yes." He brushed past Sou. "Let's go, Myojin."
Great. Now Sou had another thing to wonder about. When and where had Saitou met Kaoru? He must have been around her for at least a few hours to have gotten a sample of her temper. Knowing Kaoru, this man in particular wouldn't have had a hard time setting her off. Saitou was starting to grate on Sou's nerves already. A tiny part of Sou declared the Battousai couldn't be so bad if he considered Saitou and enemy.
Sou wondered why Tsubame hadn't told him exactly who she was right away. True, if she had, there was no way he would have come to trust her, as he unfailingly did for some reason, but he still resented the deception. And in the meantime, he was heading to the mall with three vampires.
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Oh my God, Ken! I can't believe you told me to do that!What?
Remember how you said to compliment a contact to make them feel better?
Yeah. So?
Well I did! And it was horrible.
What did you say?
I just said the basics about her being pretty and that she looked like she'd lost weight.
Okay. So what's the matter?
What's the matter is she started shrieking at me about how she was so fat and half crying while she was shrieking at me, and I couldn't get her to stop! The girl's crazy! I finally just ran away when she started screaming about how big her bedonkey was. She actually used the word bedonkey! The girl has scarred me for life. I'm never talking to a woman about her weight again! I'm never taking your advice on women again! And I'm going to go out and get a shrink, again!
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"I love showers."
Kaoru had been saying the same thing for the last fifteen minutes. Ken suspected she didn't want to talk about what he wanted to talk about, which wasn't much of a surprise, since he didn't really want to talk about it either.
"I love lotion, I love clean clothes, and I love little dabs of perfume in the right places. I love flowers, I love soaps-"
"Were you really that scarred by the smell?" Ken remarked dryly. He felt a little angry that Kaoru had so effectively concentrated on the worst element of feeding on animals. She'd asked to come. He hadn't even wanted her to, so what right did she have to complain?
"No," Kaoru retorted as if he had just accused her of committing some gross atrocity. "I'm just happy that the car's all aired out and that I'm not a cow farmer. The cow smell isn't new to me. I live near Amish country, remember?"
He'd forgotten. But it wasn't like he should be expected to remember every little detail about Kaoru, so he decided silence was the best course of action.
"Anyway," Kaoru continued, "the only part I regret about going was being snapped at by guard dogs, and even that wasn't so much scary as exciting."
Ken took his eyes from the road to give her an incredulous glance.
"Oh come on, I knew you weren't going to let us get bitten by guard dogs and taken to the police station by a couple of farmers for trespassing when you have more important things to do."
"You have a point," Ken acknowledged, taking the mall exit from the freeway.
"Right. So I'm saying I'm glad I went along," Kaoru stated firmly, "I needed to come to terms with a few things."
Ken raised an eyebrow as he turned into the mall parking lots. "A few things? Why so mysterious, Kaoru?"
Kaoru fought back the urge to squirm. "Do you think I'm being mysterious?"
Ken was too busy searching for a parking spot to look at her expression. "Yeah, I do. Are you going to tell me why?"
"You don't need to know every single thing I'm thinking."
Jackpot. Ken spotted a car backing out of a parking spot that was actually near the building. "Fine." He could feel Kaoru narrowing her eyes at him and figured she had reason enough to do that. He would normally have tried to get it out of her, but he was getting a bad feeling about the mall. Not as if Kaoru or he was in danger, but he sensed something was going to happen and he wouldn't be very happy about it.
"Fine? That's it?" Kaoru asked as he backed in to the parking spot. "You don't care what I'm thinking?"
Ken shut off the car engine. "I didn't say that."
"Then why'd you say fine and just leave the issue wide open?"
"Because I don't feel like arguing with you right now," Ken answered, pocketing the keys and unbuckling his seat belt.
"So you think I would turn it into an argument."
Ken opened his door and turned to make eye contact. "Haven't you?"
Kaoru let out a frustrated breath as she watched him shut the door. Sometimes, she wouldn't mind grabbing him by the neck and shaking him until, well until he saw things her way. But no matter, she was at the mall after all, and to buy a whole outfit no less. That should be some consolation. And even though it wasn't, Kaoru un-strapped her seatbelt, grabbed her purse from where she'd dropped it on the floor between her legs, and exited the car with a fair amount of grace, considering the high heeled boots she wore.
For the sake of not arguing, Kaoru decided to put aside the conversation they'd just had and try to make things pleasant for both of them. Ken waited for her at the back of the car.
"So how much time to we have to shop?" Kaoru asked lightly as they started walking towards the mall entrance.
If Ken was surprised at her casual tone, he didn't let it show. "An hour."
Kaoru frowned. They only had an hour to buy a dress, shoes, jewelry, a matching purse, do her hair, and find Ken a suit and a nice pair of shoes. She was going to have to settle for whatever was available in the first department store they entered to be done on time. Hopefully Ken would start talking once they got inside the mall. She must have said something to set him off and into reserved mode again, because he'd been acting normally up until they started their drive to the mall. Wasn't the man in the relationship supposed to be the one who couldn't figure out the woman?
Kaoru sighed and thanked Ken for holding the door open for her. She gave up on casual conversation and headed straight for the mall directory.
"A department store would be best," Ken said from behind her.
"The closest one is only three doors down on the right. Is that okay?" Kaoru asked, turning to face him.
"Sure."
Ken wasn't really sure why he hadn't wanted to go to that particular department store. He just knew he didn't. But it was ridiculous, not wanting to go to a department store when they had to go to a department store or deal with a pissed off Juppongatana when they were late for the meeting. By now, Ken had learned to trust his gut feeling, and that second-guessing said gut feeling brought nothing but misery. So why was he second-guessing it now? Eh, probably because Kaoru was around.
"Excuse me, miss," Kaoru approached a young salesclerk, "My husband and I are both looking for outfits."
"What's the occasion ma'am?"
"The symphony in an hour."
The salesclerk smiled. "Alright. Just head to men's suits on your right and I'll send over our new clerk to outfit you both personally. He'll prefer to find you a suit first, sir, since that's sure to be easier. He'll be with you in a moment," the salesclerk informed the both before hurrying away.
Kaoru looked to Ken for confirmation. He shrugged, so she led the way to the suit department. It would be fun to pick out something for Ken to wear.
"A black suit, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, staring up at the various suits on display. "Black goes with everything, so it's sure to go with my dress."
How was he to say this? "I don't really care, Kaoru. Whatever is fine."
"But, Kenshin, I want some input!"
"Fine. Black. I'll try on whatever you pick," Ken gave in before heading over to a cluster of chairs to sit down wearily.
"Ken-nii!?! Is that you?!"
Now Ken knew why he'd been dreading this particular department store. His gut feeling had warned him again. Before he could protest he was dragged to his feet and hugged in powerful embrace.
"It is you! I can't believe we were destined to meet again so soon! How are you honey?"
"Let me go," Ken gritted out.
"Kao-nii-chan!"
Ken was promptly let go and only just stopped himself from falling.
"Kamatari! What are you doing here?" Kaoru asked as she returned the cross-dresser's hug.
"I was transferred here. Don't tell me you two are the married couple!" Kamatari dragged Kaoru over so she stood next to Ken. "Oh, this is too cute! I knew you'd find someone Ken-nii! Wow, Kao-nii-chan! You have to tell me how you did it?"
"Did what?"
"Got Ken-nii to fall for you!"
Ken was going to faint. Any second now, he was going to faint.
Kaoru blushed. "We're not really married. We're sort of undercover as a married couple."
Kamatari looked as if he was going to cry. "What?" His bottom lip trembled. "You mean you're not really married?"
Kaoru smiled. "No. Besides, I would have invited you to the wedding."
Kamatari's face brightened considerably. "I guess that's true." He sighed theatrically. "When you do get married, I'll design the wedding clothes for free."
Yup. Any second now.
Kaoru blushed and decided to avoid that topic. "Well, for now, we need a suit for Ken and a dress for me."
Kamatari waved his hand, "Of course, of course. The cute little salesclerk told me you're going to the symphony. How much time to I have?"
"A little less than an hour. I guess we need to walk out wearing the clothes too. There's no time to change in between."
Kamatari nodded. "Right. Right. Ordinarily, I would have you pick out a dress first so Ken's suit would match it, but since there's so little time we'll do the suit first, then the dress, the jewelry, the purse and shoes, and a dab of perfume and cologne to finish it off. You'll just have to wear your hair out, so I'm thinking of a dress with a low back." Kamatari broke off, deep in thought. "I can think of four possible dresses that could work for your body type, Kaoru, but let's do the suit first."
And so it was that Ken found himself being fussed over by Kaoru and Kamatari, whom he had honestly hoped never to see again. At times Kamatari said things so embarrassing that he came even closer to the edge of fainting, but somehow he managed to hold on until Kamatari finally clapped his hands in delight, declared the sixth suit perfect for their Ken-nii, and fluttered off to grab the four dresses he thought would be perfect for Kaoru.
"Wow, Kamatari certainly is a whiz. We still have a half hour left before we have to get going. That suit really does look good on you, Kenshin," Kaoru chattered, looking over it closely and walking around him once to survey the effect. "Don't you want to look at yourself in the mirror?"
He was a little curious, but Kaoru had clearly forgotten vampires weren't reflected in mirrors.
"I'd prefer not to."
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Humans can't see vampire reflections, remember? I don't want a scene if one of the other customers realizes I don't have a reflection."
"Oh yeah," Kaoru said. "That must drive Kamatari crazy," she giggled, "having to stay away from mirrors."
Ken had never considered that before. Knowing how vain the man was, it was probably true. He was grateful to Kaoru for making light of the issue.
"Ah well. You do look great though, Kenshin. And thanks for putting up with me and Kamatari. Isn't it weird that he's here too?"
"Damn straight it's weird. He must know something he's not telling me," Ken brooded somewhat sulkily.
"But Kamatari likes you-"
"Let's not talk about that," Ken interrupted.
"No. I mean, he really, genuinely, likes you as a friend," Kaoru stubbornly continued. "He's obviously not here by coincidence, but I know he's on our side. If he's not telling us something, it's for our own good. I'm sure he'll tell us before we leave. Just let him have his fun first. This is an excellent excuse for him to be around you and we my as well let him enjoy it."
"Let him enjoy it!" Ken spluttered out, shocked.
"Yes. It's obvious that you've been avoiding him for years now. Maybe if you saw him regularly he wouldn't put so much effort into trying to charm you."
Ken stared down at her. "Kaoru. I think he's gotten to you."
Kaoru rolled her eyes. It looked like the only two people in the world who could make Ken lose his cool, besides her of course, were Kamatari and Saitou. She wondered how he'd interacted with Sano.
"Kao-nii-chan! Ken-nii! Come to the women's fitting room, please," Kamatari's voice called over the loudspeaker.
Ken put his head in his hands and groaned.
Kaoru rolled her eyes again and grabbed his arm.
Ken had to admit that watching Kaoru try on dresses was a pleasant experience. If Kamatari hadn't been there to ruin it and she'd been trying on underwear he would have had an even more pleasant experience, but Kamatari was there and dresses weren't underwear.
"What do you think of this one, Ken?" Kaoru asked, emerging from the fitting room for the second time.
"I like this color better than the first one."
Things went okay when all he was required to do was remark on what he liked better. Ken knew that as long as he didn't say anything along the lines of, that last dress made you look thinner, or you shouldn't wear short dresses because your legs aren't long enough, he would be fine. Luckily, Kaoru's legs were long enough anyway.
She and Kamatari finally decided on a deep purple dress with a low back that showed enough curves and leg for Ken, so he was satisfied.
"Oh my gosh!" Kamatari squealed. "I know just where the right shoes and purse are for this dress! And I even remember your shoe size. Stay right here and I'll be right back!" And then Kamatari was off muttering something about a necklace to match Kaoru's silver cross earrings and how the shoes matched the dress too perfectly to be true.
Kaoru pulled the wrap snug around her shoulders. She was feeling the effects of the air-conditioning acutely in her light dress. She glanced down at her watch. Fifteen minutes left. Her eyes turned to Ken, who was leaning back in his chair, seemingly exhausted.
"Come on, is Kamatari really that bad?" Kaoru laughed, walking a few steps to stand in front of Ken.
"No. What makes you say that?"
Kaoru laughed some more. "You."
Ken glared at her.
"Come on, Kenshin, stand up. I want you to look at us in the mirror, to make sure we go together."
"Kaoru," Ken warned, glancing uneasily around, but no other shoppers were within view of the mirror, and none of the department cameras focused on the mirror as far as he could tell.
"Oh come on, just for a second," Kaoru wheedled.
And so Ken came to be standing in front of a full-length mirror for perhaps the first time in his life. He didn't know what Kaoru saw, but all he saw was her, holding the arm of an attractive man, if he didn't say so himself. She stood barefoot in a dress that amplified her breasts, he meant best, features.
"Well?" Kaoru asked.
"I'd say we go together," Ken replied. Maybe his gut feeling had been wrong just this one time.
It wasn't until Kamatari was walking with them through the parking lot, Kaoru in her finery and Ken in his suit, that Kamatari spoke of the coincidence of their meeting.
"I'm actually in L.A. on business. The Juppongatana informed me you'd probably be stopping at a mall, I simply chose that department store as a lucky guess. I've got some information to relay to you, Ken-nii," Kamatari began as he handed the bags with their old clothes to Ken, who placed them in the trunk of the car.
"What?" Ken asked intently, turning to the cross-dresser.
"Since you left New York the Sekihoutai and the Oniwaban have merged forces, thanks to Katsu. The Sekihoutai sent me to L.A. to check out the situation with the dark one. I've already reported back. Soon the two groups will officially ally with the Juppongatana. The Shinomoris will be here in three hours. You're expected to meet with them at Juppongatana headquarters. Misao has requested Kao-nii-chan be present as well. Just giving you a heads up. Myojin expects to surprise you with the news."
"Thanks."
"No problem, Ken-nii. Well, I'll be headed back to New York soon. A word of warning: I've been getting strange reports as far as Sanosuke Sagara is concerned. I know you two were close. Be cautious."
"Strange reports," Kaoru broke in. "Can't you be more specific?"
"Sorry Kao-nii-chan, I can't betray the Sekihoutai. Now you two have a good time at the symphony and I'll see you when you get back to the east coast, you hear? I've got to catch a flight I'm afraid."
Ken would have argued if at that moment, Kamatari hadn't thrown himself into his arms and hugged him. Again. "Be careful, Ken-nii. And take care of Kaoru." Then Kamatari did the unthinkable: he kissed Ken on the cheek, hugged Kaoru briefly and disappeared into the mall.
When Ken came out of the shock of being kissed by another man, he began rubbing furiously at the side of his face. Kaoru looked on, trying not to laugh in spite of the gravity of the unusual information they'd just heard.
"What's wrong with you, Kenshin?"
Ken blinked at her in disbelief. How could she not know what was wrong? "He just kissed me."
"Poor baby. Can you still drive?" Kaoru asked.
Ken glared at her again.
Kaoru was glad he wasn't glaring at her so much as he was using her to glare at Kamatari.
"You must not understand. I've just been kissed by a man. I'm never going to live this down. You're going to tell Saitou," Ken accused, stomping around to the driver's side of the car.
"I'm not going to tell Saitou anything," Kaoru retorted, stomping around to the front passenger door. It was locked. "You better let me in this car, Kenshin!" It was still locked. "Kenshin!" Still locked. "Misao's going to kill you if I'm not there tomorrow! And when you try to defend yourself from her, Aoshi will kill you too!" The door lock came up.
Kaoru opened the door, climbed in, and shut it, all the while glaring at Ken. "I can't believe you did that! You just left me standing outside of the car! What if some vampire came along who's working for the wrong people and…"
Ken tuned out her tirade. There was something about Kamatari that made him irrational. But there was no way he would have left Kaoru stranded in a mall parking lot. She had to realize that at least, making the reason she was yelling at him illegitimate, hence the reason why he wasn't listening to her.
Until she punched him.
"Why did you do that?" Ken asked as if it was all her fault and she was the one being totally irrational.
Kaoru was breathing hard and clearly frustrated. "Because you weren't listening to me! You haven't been listening to me all night! Not really! I don't understand how things can be perfectly fine yesterday, and then I wake up and they're muddled again!"
Ken sighed. How had Kaoru managed to get to the real problem already? He'd been hoping to put it off until the whole mess with the dark one was over. "You're the problem, Kaoru. I need to know what you think about me."
"What do you mean, what I think about you? Don't you already know?"
"I mean, about what I have to do to survive. Feeding. You've acted different ever since then."
Kaoru swallowed visibly. "Have I acted different?"
"You're tense, nervous, irritable. You don't want to talk about anything related to vampires, which is hard, considering what I am. You try to play me off and act like everything's light and happy. Well it isn't Kaoru. We're about to go meet with the Juppongatana, the vampires who would have killed you if I hadn't brought about Tomoe's death, and we'll be talking about the dark one, who wants to kill us all. So why are you acting so fake? You should be worried out of your mind right now."
Through out his speech, the frustration in her eyes had died a little, until only a small amount remained. Kaoru sighed, but didn't look away from him.
"You're right, Kenshin. I am nervous. I haven't been able to relax all day." She paused. "It was a big thing for me, seeing you feed. I don't think I believed you did until I saw it for myself." She shifted in her seat. "You know when you're young and you don't believe you can die? I mean, you know it in your head, but you don't actually believe it? Well that's how it was with you. I knew you were a vampire in my head, but I just couldn't believe it, because it's so unfair and it makes things so much harder."
Now she did look away from him to stare in front of her. "Before tonight, it was like a fairy tale story, one I'd been pulled into arbitrarily. You know, not really real. I hadn't even thought about vampires since I was a kid, except maybe on Halloween. Finding out the truth, that they do exist, it's made me reevaluate all those cheesy vampire stories I ever read to compare them with you and Saitou and Aoshi and all the other vampires I've met."
She turned back to face him. "I never, ever want to become a vampire, Kenshin. Never. I'd rather die. Then why do I feel like I need you so much? It's kind of funny, Kamatari talking about weddings."
So that was what was on her mind. She'd realized what she should have realized back in New York City. Kaoru was a puzzle. Ken had forgotten what it was to be young a long time ago.
Ken couldn't think of much to comfort her. "Things between us aren't muddled," he managed.
"But you haven't even kissed me all night," Kaoru insisted, hating herself for uttering a statement that sounded so pathetic, but needing to say it just the same.
Ken couldn't help but smile. "I'm sorry. Come here."
A kiss turned out to be what they both needed. Yes, being kissed by Kaoru was substantially better than being kissed by Kamatari, infinitely better in fact.
Then Ken's watch alarm beeped.
"Damn it," he swore. Always the watch alarm had to mess things up.
"Are we going to be late?"
"No, we can make it if we leave now."
"Okay." Kaoru smiled at him as she strapped in.
Ken smiled back. He probably looked like Dopey, the dumbest of the seven dwarfs. Then he remembered they had box seats, and that the Juppongatana party wasn't coming until an hour into the symphony, so he would be alone with Kaoru for an hour in total privacy. No one except the artists on the stage would be able to see them, and they'd be far too busy playing symphony music. Score for Kenshin Himura.
A/N – Hope you enjoyed. Once again, happy holidays and thanks for reading.
Aryanne
(Sorry
about the edit again. If you didn't notice, I made a mistake when
Ken talks to Kaoru about vampires and mirrors. Also, the
Shinomoris are due to arrive in LA in 3 hours, NOT 24, in an effort to
speed up the pace of the story. Sorry!)