Hey, hey you guys, guess what? I was walking down to Santa Monica (street) today, and this guy comes up to me and says, "hey, Happy Easter, here are the rights to Rurouni Kenshin!"
In reply, I say, "Wow! Oh my god! You just made my month!"
An unimpressed lawyer now shuts me up. "That's a very nice story, miss. Now, would you like to tell the real thing or do we have to resort to more extreme methods?"
Glancing warily at the malicious gleam in the lawyer's eyes, I break down. "Okay, fine I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. And I never will, either! And that guy was probably a hobo and not an executive of Shonen Jump, or Sony or VIZ!"
A/N: Um…not much to say, actually. Having all of the students' tactics complied like this is very amusing. It's like their just asking her, one after another, to date (or court, whatever) her. I mean, could you imagine Kaoru going out with some kenjutsu student kid? Apparently, Kaoru can! Or so she thinks…
Tanoshimu!
Chapter 4
Kaoru: Kyoto Bound
-
Kaoru sat on the porch next to Misao and the two of them munched on the onigiri that had been served for lunch. Kaoru was grinning surreptitiously as she overlooked the courtyard, which was swamped with teenaged boys from her kenjutsu class.
"Ah…it's so nice to be teaching a class again," Kaoru sighed happily.
Misao reached for another onigiri and hid a giggle. She knew that Kaoru was very happy with the state of things, but she got a similar suspicion to what Sano and Naruku already thought—that most of Kaoru's students were actually disguised suitors.
Naruku, just back from her own training, sat down on the porch next to Kaoru. "They're kind of distracting," Naruku said, referring to the students. There was no edge to her blatantly honest tone whatsoever.
"D-distracting?" Kaoru sat up quickly and her voice became high and probing. Misao shot a meaningful look at Naruku, who didn't catch it.
Instead she glanced up and saw Kaoru's distraught expression. "Well, I mean, it's great for you and everything, but I can't help feeling they don't like me very much."
"They hardly know you Naruku…how could they not like you?" Kaoru asked in a concerned tone of voice.
"What did you say to them?" Misao wanted to know. She could already tell something was up.
"Oh…well, you know." Obviously, neither of the other girls knew. "A couple of them were convinced I was trying to take your title as the kenjutsu princess, Kaoru…as if you were the only woman who practiced self-defense, really, don't you think Misao? And anyway, we got into a kind of argument," Naruku told her friends with a shrug.
"Well what did you say?" Misao said in a warning voice.
"Just that I wasn't trying to impugn on your honor or whatever, and that I was your friend, but they were very indignant. So I told them to come back and talk to me once they started learning kenjutsu and stop lusting after their teacher…well, that didn't make them too happy, so I told them that they didn't stand a chance with you, anyway, and that they should learn from you for the sake of learning kenjutsu and not to try and find a way to court you…that didn't go down too well," Naruku glanced up nonchalantly at Kaoru, and was surprising to see a shocked expression on her friend's face.
Kaoru was completely baffled, and extremely flushed. "N-naru! Why did you say that? You've probably scared them all away now! They don't have intentions like that, they're good students!"
"No doubt," Naruku replied, shoveling the last of her rice into her mouth. "I'm just thinking that they want more of the princess of kendo than the actual learning of it…"
Misao had to admit, she agreed with Naruku more than she sided with Kaoru, but she couldn't help feeling a little apologetic for Naruku's words.
Kaoru quickly shook it off, chuckling almost at Naruku and stood up. In front of her, the students were cleaning up their lunches and forming the straight line that they always did after lunch. She marched up to them, Yahiko jumping up and hurrying at her heels.
"All right everyone," Kaoru said loudly. "We'll continue today's lesson out here because it's such a nice day. I want to see everyone doing a straight, forward swing. Hands in correct positions and don't forget your right foot forward!"
She paced the row, which Yahiko had joined, grumbling lightly about the simplistic training. Kaoru gave him a sympathetic look before moving on.
She frowned when she spotted Reijiro, whose swing was faulted enough for her to point it out. Nobody in the class had a perfect forward swing, but she saw a definite flaw in Reijiro's.
"Reijiro," she said. "What's wrong with your swing?"
Reijiro looked up earnestly. "I don't know."
Kaoru took the shinai away from him, getting in the proper stance for a forward swing. She instructed him to stand behind her with his hands on the shinai. She moved his grip up and put her hands over his, guiding him in a fluid swinging motion.
Kaoru couldn't see, but behind her, Reijiro seemed a little more interested in the place where Kaoru's gi bared her shoulder. Kaoru had never quite grown back into all her clothes from when she had lost so much weight being in a coma for a nearly a week.
Reijiro's hand slid casually over the pale skin of Kaoru's shoulder. The raven-haired girl froze up, looking extremely unnerved. Behind her, Reijiro was getting slightly dizzy, and a little too cocky from the scent of her hair.
Yahiko looked away quickly, utterly disgusted. That sort of display, especially when unwelcome, was completely uncalled for. Had it happened to anyone other than Kaoru, Yahiko would have jumped in right then and there.
Fortunately, Kaoru was just as clever as Yahiko gave her credit for. She slipped away from Reijiro and grabbed her own bokken. She then cleared her throat. "Class, I'm going to demonstrate a left-side thrust." The students turned to her while she demonstrated the move on poor, unsuspecting Reijiro. While he felt the pain of Kaoru's bokken smashing into his skull, Yahiko couldn't help not feeling sorry for Reijiro. He wasn't going to try anything again too soon.
"Now, pair up and start doing drills," Kaoru ordered. The other boys, impressed with Kaoru's demonstration, did as they were told. Kaoru looked on in satisfaction, forgetting about the instance with Reijiro for the time being.
-
It was early in the morning and Kaoru was sitting on the porch steps, watching Misao out of the corner of her eye. It occurred to her that there was someone in Kyoto who would've liked to be informed of Misao's arrival at the dojo.
It was the same someone who had been occupying a spot in Kaoru's mind for quite some time. It was then that Kaoru realized Misao was the only person who didn't have some idea of what was going on between Kaoru and Aoshi. Even though she knew Misao loved Soujiro, Kaoru wondered if the young ninja would be jealous.
Not that anything really had been going on between Aoshi and Kaoru. After their small lip-lock at the train station in Kyoto, Kaoru and Aoshi had been exchanging letters as friends. She had received one the day before, and Aoshi had replied to her query from her previously sent letter. "Have you gotten any word from Misao?" Kaoru had written in her letter. This had been more than a week ago, before Misao had shown up at the dojo. Now, reading Aoshi's reply of "no," Kaoru felt a little bad that she hadn't thought to write him immediately.
"Oi! Kaoru!" Misao called from where she was hanging laundry.
Kaoru jumped at hearing her name. "What is it, Misao?"
"I think someone is coming up the path," was the reply.
Kaoru wiped her hands on the front of her kimono (she knew it was a bad habit)
and stepped off the porch. "Who's here?"
A second later, a young figure stepped into the courtyard. He looked sheepish and uncertain.
"Anzai-kun," Kaoru swept over to him. "You're early. Class doesn't start for another forty minutes."
He was not wearing his usual training hakama, so perhaps Anzai already knew that. He wore what might have been considered ridiculous, at least on him: a white collared shirt and a blue vest, a yellow tie around his neck in addition. In his hands was a bouquet of sweet-scented flowers. He was blushing red and fidgeting, quite obviously flustered.
"Uh—uhm…G-good morning K-kaoru…" he stuttered, failing to cover up the fact that he was completely unsure of himself. "These, um…are for you." He shyly handed her the flowers.
Kaoru's eyes were wide and she quickly exchanged frenzied glances with Misao, who was quietly beckoning Kenshin over.
Kaoru was polite enough to accept Anzai's flowers, which smelled rich and strong when pressed against her face. Kenshin arrived next to her, looking at Anzai in bafflement.
Anzai gulped and spun around to face Kenshin, who emitted a soft 'oro.' Anzai smashed his two hands together and went into a respectful bow. "P—please Himura-san, I beg of you to let me take fair Kaoru-san out tonight!" His eyes were slammed shut as he awaited the answer.
Kenshin pointed to himself. "Me?"
Kaoru nearly dropped the flowers, her face distorted into a flabbergasted expression. It was hard to tell, between the two of them, who was more astounded.
Kaoru considered. It wouldn't be so bad going out with this boy, letting him lead her around town as if she had never been there before. He was almost exactly her age. She tried to imagine their hands laced together, she behind him laughing while he treated her to dinner and a show of fireworks. She thought about going to a festival with him, her head resting on his shoulder when she got tired. She imagined kissing him, his arms hesitating, hovering around her face, and then reaching up to free her raven locks from the restricting ribbon. His glacier-like eyes would be closed as their lips touched and Kaoru's hands would brush along the contours of his cheeks…
Oops. Kaoru blinked and studied Anzai's muddy brown eyes, his unanswered question lingering in his expression.
"Dear god," she muttered before heaving her flowers into Kenshin's hands and spinning around. She flew past Naruku in the dojo hallway, stopping at her door.
She went inside to pack her bags.
-
Naruku sat on her heels, her chin propped up by her hands. "So…" she mused. "You really are leaving."
Folding up a plain purple kimono, Kaoru glanced across the room at her friend. "Yeah," she smiled wryly. "It's sort of sudden, but I just felt like I should go."
Naruku was silent, soaking in Kaoru's words. Her own soft voice emerged among her thoughts. "Do you love him?"
Kaoru didn't falter in her task. She slid the neatly folded kimono into her bag. Then she looked up at Naruku, her blue eyes clear. "I don't know."
Naruku nodded absently, bobbing her head to some unheard rhythm.
"But you know," Kaoru went on. "I'm going to see him so he'll know about Misao."
Naruku believed her. Personal reasons aside, Kaoru really did want Aoshi to know what had happened to Misao, and mostly that Misao was safe. Perhaps she could have sent a letter, but Naruku agreed that going to see him in person would discourage any sort of misunderstanding, especially regarding Soujiro.
But, Naruku knew that Kaoru also really, really wanted to see Aoshi.
"Want to know what I noticed this morning?" Naruku asked conversationally. "Sakura buds are forming. It's almost time for them to bloom!"
Kaoru considered this. "That means I'll be back in time for kaika-yosou," she mused. "If all goes well."
She closed her bags and gathered them on her back and in her hands.
"You're just lucky Misao didn't want to tag along," Naruku said.
"Misao isn't ready to go back to Kyoto yet. It's just like Kenshin told me, when Misao used to be looking for Aoshi," Kaoru replied. "Except this time it's Soujiro. Since there's a sign of him in Tokyo, Tokyo is where Misao will remain."
They walked outside and Misao stood up to greet them (but mostly Kaoru, Naruku noticed.)
"Good morning, Megumi-san!" Naruku brightened when she saw the lady doctor walking through the gate. She grinned even bigger upon seeing that Megumi was carrying a tray of food.
"Oh good, I've made it here in time," Megumi answered, regarding Kaoru. "Oh, I still can't believe it! Our tanuki-chan, going off on her own to Kyoto. And to see Shinomori, ohohoho…"
"Our tanuki?" Misao wondered, ignoring the implications about Aoshi completely.
Naruku grinned as Megumi did a very surprising thing. She encircled Kaoru with her arms and squeezed her in a quick embrace. "Don't do anything too rash."
"Relax Megumi, she's not Sanosuke," Naruku replied for Kaoru, whose face was rather blue, but smiling, from Megumi's hug.
"Someone say my name?" Sano asked, strolling in. He saw Kaoru with all her bags gathered in her hands and he walked toward her. He wrapped an arm around Kaoru's waist and planted a small kiss to her forehead. "Hey, good luck Jou-chan," he whispered into her hair.
Kenshin wiped his hands and strode toward the crowd of his friends, Yahiko right behind him. Kenshin stood patiently as Sano released Kaoru and the latter stepped forward into Kenshin's arms, give him a tight hug. They broke apart and Kaoru ruffled Yahiko's hair.
He responded by throwing his arms around her waist. Kaoru was very surprised but put her hands on his back.
"I'll be working real hard. And I promise to take care of the dojo while you're gone," he said, his voice muffled by her kimono. "Thanks for everything."
Kaoru smiled, realizing how prepared Yahiko was to take on responsibility.
She stepped away from her friends, a sad smile on her face. She looked at Naruku and was surprised when the girl had tears glistening in her eyes. The two of them hugged and Kaoru found herself with her own tears to wipe away.
Misao stepped forward and they hugged as well. "I'm sorry I couldn't come to help explain…" Misao whispered. "I'm sorry, and thank you."
"Oh! I'll miss you all so much!" She exclaimed, half-laughing out of sheer happiness and half-crying.
"It's all right, Kaoru-dono, it's not even two weeks," Kenshin reassured her.
Kaoru nodded, wiping her eyes. She sniffled. "Still. I love you guys. Be good while I'm gone!" With that she gathered her bags and turned around, walking out the dojo gate, her swinging ponytail disappearing as she walked away.
Her five friends watching as she left them behind, grinning through their tears. They remained there a moment longer, invisible glue binding them together, the common bond of Kaoru silently connecting them. Then she disappeared and they blinked tears away, the spell broken and replaced by the day's tasks.
-
Kaoru's heart had been pounding furiously since the second she had stepped off the boat in Kyoto. She had never been to the city alone, but that part was exciting, not nerve-racking. (The four-day boat ride she could have done without. Last time, at least, she had had Yahiko to sympathize with, but the boat trip she had just completed was agonizingly boring. She had nothing to do but imagine what everyone at the dojo was doing.)
Actually, Kaoru's rapid heartbeat may have had something to do with excitement. That, and anticipation. With her bags tossed carelessly over her shoulder, Kaoru set off in the direction of the Aoiya. She traveled a little bit off the main road, so she could get there quicker. Her time was not pending, but her patience most certainly was.
She stepped down a slope carefully, hiking up the brown bag on her shoulder as she slid to the bottom.
And that's when she spotted it. The tall lanterns that marked the entrance to the Aoiya. Instead of feeling unsure and meek, Kaoru stared at them with determination, striding quickly forward. She did not stop or hesitate until she reached the front door and had knocked resolutely.
It was then she allowed her heart to beat quickly and her hand to run through her hair nervously. The thirty seconds of waiting for the door to be answered were nerve-racking, and felt like they lasted thirty minutes.
It was Okina who answered. "Yees? What can Okina, owner of the Aoiya do to help such a pretty—" his stopped as he recognized her. "Kaoru-chan!"
Before he could pull her into a hug she shuffled away. By that time Okina was talking a mile a minute, asking questions about what was going on in Tokyo.
"Ano…I'm here to see Aoshi…it's kind of important," she added.
Okina silenced at once. He stepped away from the door and leaned back into the hallway. "Aoshi! It's for you!"
Kaoru winced at the loud bellow. It seemed to have done the trick, however, because seconds later, Aoshi stood in place of Okina.
"Good morning, Kamiya," he greeted.
Upon hearing his voice, Kaoru lost all sense of anything. Why was she in Kyoto? Did it matter? She opened her mouth, not even sure what words were going to spill out.
"I come all the way here from Tokyo and I get 'Kamiya-san?'"
A/N: So, there you have it. Kaoru has a reason to go to Kyoto. My, oh, my, is this fic becoming one of those…what do you call them? Stories with a plot? (I'm just kidding you, guys, this story is definitely going to be very plot-driven later on. It's just taking a while to set everything up!)
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the next few chapters. Please continue to send support and feedback, you don't know how happy I am when I see reviews in my inbox!
