Author's Notes: Bleh... Purple monkey dishwasher.

Oh yea, oddly enough...this kinda focuses on Tokio/Saitoh, this chapter anyway.

My life fucking sucks. Turns out I'll be at college ANOTHER TWO years cuz of ONE EFFING class I couldn't take this semester. I'm already a senior! ::infinite tears of sorrow::

::cough cough:: And I have a damn cough!!!!

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Chapter 3: First Day of My Life

It was an odd routine they had fallen into, not speaking at school and ignoring each other and then mildly getting along at work. Then when it was time for break they were making out in the back of store in a pleasurable fifteen minutes of silence.

That was what the past two weeks had been like and on Aoshi's part he was starting to wonder if his original inclination to seduce her was worth it. It wasn't that he hated her that much....he just slowly began to realize....they didn't have much in common either. And she talked a lot. A LOT.

Good thing they were having a fling.

A simple, easy fling.

A strange thought crossed his mind then. A simple, casual fling was how Tokio and Saitoh had started out and then it had gotten much deeper. Both were strong-willed and didn't think they'd come to need each other so much and then something changed. Now they were deeply involved.

He knew it was unlikely that something like that would occur with him and Misao...and the last thing he needed was getting attached to someone like her. It wasn't like he was going to fall in love with her, he was the ice man of Watsuki High School.

As he laid back on his black comforter covered bed in the dim light of his room, he closed his eyes and sighed. For all his seeming indifference, he was thinking about her more than he probably should.

"Maybe I'll just skip school tomorrow and sleep." he mumbled to himself.

Why he even went was a mystery, seeing as he had no parental supervision EVER. If people only knew...he wasn't as 'badass' as most thought.

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In a small room painted red and decorated in reds, violets, and golds at her desk was Tokio typing away at her laptop as she listened to Aucifer on her mp3 player. She wore a pair of black drawstring cotton track pants and a black tank top that had the kanji for fire in sparkly red on it as she typed out some lines of poetry as she secured her black hair that was currently streaked with deep red into a messy ponytail.

It was late, eleven pm, but she couldn't sleep. It was random insomnia that she sporadically got and she was just in the mood to write. About nothing. About everything. About the good, the bad, the ugly.

Everything beautiful and horrible in her life she expressed in prose.

She made sure to be quiet, as her parents always rode her hard about her staying-up-late habit, her grades, and everything under the sun. If they weren't pestering her they ignored her and she fervently wished that they'd just ignore her all together.

Her father worked in the Treasury Department and her mother was a successful jeweler. She supposed they were a rich family, or rather, financially secure. The only good thing about her parents was that they gave her a hefty allowance and she felt no guilt in taking their money. For all the stress they give her it was only fair.

What they DIDN'T know was that she only usually spent half of it and had been putting the other half into savings since she was thirteen so someday she could move out. Her parents wanted her to get into Toudai and take up a successful major.

She didn't know what the hell she wanted.

She felt a gentle pressure of hands on her shoulders and jumped slightly, but then smelled the re-assuring smoky scent suddenly in the air and removed her earphones as she turned to face her tall and intimidating looking boyfriend.

"Evening, love. Trouble sleeping?" she asked mockingly as she softly pressed a kiss to his lips and then turned off her computer and hopped throughout her room, shuffling clothes and various items all over before she sat down on her bed.

Saitoh followed, laying down next to where she sat. He watched as she stretched before grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into his arms as she made a soft 'oof' and landed on her stomach as she was laying half atop of him.

"I'm staying over tonight." he stated, and Tokio huffed and lifted herself up on her elbows and furrowed her brows.

"That's pretty cocky of you, Hajime. What makes you think I'll let you, hmmm?"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her soundly, making her purr as after a few breathless minutes later she gasped for air.

"Damn, you know how to bribe me well." she bemoaned and went back to happily mauling her boyfriend with nibbling bites and kisses.

When she first met Saitoh Hajime, she thought him to be an arrogant bastard who was far too blunt sometimes. He was friends with her cousin Aoshi and she had been forced to meet and associate with him during her summer before sophomore year.

He had said to her face that she was a stupid child, sometimes looked like a bedraggled kitten, naive...the list went on.

It took her five months to realize he said things like that to even his closest friends. He was always smoking, always wore his hair slicked back, and had these craggy features that many girls didn't seem to find attractive.

And yet Tokio sort of did. She had secretly always wondered what Saitoh's hair looked like without all the gel.

Thinking about it brought back memories from last summer and she smiled softly at them.

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A sixteen year old Tokio looked out of the window of her friend Sano's car as she felt boredom fill the air. They had been driving around for two hours and had yet to find something to do on the warm June night.

It was her, Sano, and Aoshi in the car which meant she had radio control since Aoshi was indifferent anyways and Sano was too busy driving horribly. Playing with the radio knob, she found a song she liked and sat back and hummed along with it.

Feel like I'm stoned

wanna be alone, just for a while, unknown

Weeks on the road a long way from home

just shut off the phone

And you say I'll heal you, I'll always be yours

and you say I'll kill you if I do something wrong yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah

Still feels like the first time

to stand here by your side

together regardless

we'll walk through the darkness

Still fells like the first day of my life

Remember the times

together we swore, never give up this life

still hanging on, still going strong

here I belong

And maybe I'm crazy

but I just can't slow down

And maybe I'm crazy

but at least I'm still around yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Still feels like the first time

to stand here by your side

together regardless we'll walk through the darkness

Still fells like the first day of my life

Feels like the first day of my life, (feels like the first day)

Still feels like the first day of my life

Still feels like the first time

to stand here by your side

together regardless

we'll walk through the darkness

Still feels like the first day of my

still feels like the first day of my still feels like the first day of my life

"Thanks for that little concert Tokio-chan. You two up for McD's? I need some chow pronto." Sano asked.

"Eh, sure."

"Aa."

Five minutes later they had pulled into the parking lot of MacDonald's where Sano grinned at seeing Saitoh and Kenshin seated by Saitoh's car eating fries. Screeching to a halt in the spot next to them, Sano gave them a thumbs up as he shut his car off and hopped out.

Tokio got out of the car shaking her head while Aoshi merely climbed out from the back and perched at the wall quietly, arms crossed.

"No wonder your car is such a piece of shit, ahou. Your driving is truly amazing." Saitoh muttered which caused Sano to attempt to punch Saitoh in the face only to have it dodged.

"Che, it's not worth it." Sano grumbled as he walked to go inside.

"Oi, get me a medium Coke!" Tokio called out as she fished change out of her camouflage print cargo pants and tossed it to him.

"Yea yea. Shinomori, want anything?"

Aoshi shook his head and Sano merely shrugged and walked in.

Sitting on the hood of Sanosuke's car, Tokio played with her nails before raking her hands through her violet and blue streaked jet black hair.

"I see the kitten keeps her claws sharp."

Tokio looked up and narrowed her amber eyes at Saitoh who wore his customary smirk on his face.

"I see you're still an asshole, Hajime."

She never called him 'Saitoh-senpai' or used his family name at all. She always spoke informally with him, giving him no respect whatsoever.

Suddenly, Sano ran outside, grabbing Aoshi as he ran and yelled 'get in!!!!' as he quickly revved up the engine and Aoshi had an almost annoyed expression as he got in quickly. Tokio yelped as she was quickly removed off the hood by Sano backing up fast and speeding out.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL!! SAGAAAAAAAAAARA!!!!!!" she yelled. She brusjed her pants off and made a growling noise as she glared daggers at road.

"Lost your ride, kitten?" Saitoh asked, lighting up a cigarette.

Glaring at him now, she stormed past him and bust inside to see what had happened. She saw a woman...or what at first had looked like a woman behind the counter screeching with a large cola stain on her/his/its shirt.

"Uh..what happed?" Tokio asked carefully.

"Ugh! Honey! This random Rooster Boy couldn't handle my beauty and like threw a cola at me! REALLY! I mean damn!!!"

"Uhhhhhhhh..." Tokio replied blinking, not sure whether to laugh or curse.

"I'll get Mr. Shishio on him!!! Mr. Shishio will make him pay!!!!"

"Uh...Mr. Shishio?"

"No one you need to know about. It's hush hush, hon. You gonna order?"

"Uh....no...."

Tokio quickly walked back outside and then lamented about her forgotten Coke.

"Damn Sano, damn lost Coke, damn drag queen..."

"Oh woe is you."

With an annoyed growl she turned and sucker punched him in the stomach. He barely dodged, but he didn't really feel too hurt. Just mildly surprised.

"Hajime, so not in the mood."

"So what did cause the ahou to speed out that way?"

"He...attacked a drag queen with soda."

"....Really."

"Yes. Really. He is a stupid bastard isn't he?" she murmured, taking the cigarette from his mouth and stealing a drag, then placing it back.

"Did I say you could do that?"

"Do I care?"

"Obviously not. And to answer your previous question, I've been saying Sagara's a stupid bastard for years."

"Yea he is! One day I'm going to do something to that piece of shit car and laugh. Laugh as he cries! Laugh!"

Flicking his cigarette to the street, he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards his car while she yelped.

"What are you doing?"

"I know JUST where that ahou is going. The mood you're in right now is quite a state of pissed off that I find amusing."

She got into his car and slammed the door shut as he started it and headed off. She was not surprised in the least that his car reeked of menthol cigarettes. Or that he was listening to old rock.

"So where are we going?"

"The playground."

"The what?"

"Playground. That ahou has a weird attachment to the playground. He ALWAYS goes there when he gets into trouble."

"What are you like some random genius who remembers the most trivial things?"

"Actually I thought that was you."

"Let's get one thing straight, you and I...not the same people. Ever. You...creepy nicotine freak. Me...pretty punk. You..wolfy...me...kitten. You.."

"You Jane. Me Tarzan."

She made a soft 'che' noise and crossed her arms and looked out the window. Through two rock songs that she couldn't stand, Tokio cringed. Finally she grabbed the knob to the radio and turned to find a better station. Setting on the visual kei radio station she liked, she was happy to hear them playing Buck Tick and began singing along with 'Candy'.

Saitoh was going to reach to change the station, but Tokio slapped his hand away.

"It wouldn't kill you to listen to some better music music, Hajime."

"Depends on your taste, To-ki-o." he said, mimicking her. She had a habit of saying his name a lot.

In anger. Annoyance. Growled out.

He wondered how many other ways she could exclaim his name. Oh sure, she was one of the gothic-punk-poetry types he somewhat despised. But she was pretty. And smart. And didn't mind cigarettes. And was one of the few females he could stand being around.

"Ready steady can't hold me back..." she sang out, singing to L'Arc En Ciel and Saitoh narrowed his eyes.

"You have such an inane obsession for these bands."

"Leather. Feathers. Good hair. Good voices. Not much mystery there. And really, I bet when no one's around you probably blast like Hamasaki Ayumi or something. You probably like worship Digi Charat and all things kawaii."

"You are delusional."

"I bet you do. Oh, speaking of Ayu-chan..." she said with a laugh as one of her songs came on, 'Endless Sorrow'.

"Will you please put my station back on?" Saitoh demanded as he pulled onto the street with the playground.

"Why? We're almost here."

Pulling up next to Sano's car, they got out and looked around. There was no sign of the three.

"They probably walked up the hill to the coffee shop. Right about now Aoshi will have demanded tea and Sano does need his caffeine." Tokio murmured, grabbing her house keys out of her pocket.

"What are you going to do, kitten?" he asked, leaning against Sano's car next to her.

She smiled...a devious smile.

"Quite simple. This is a key...this is a car. Key against car makes some very nice scratch marks."

And with that she went to work keying Sano's car and scratching out chickens and 'Baka', 'Gay', and 'I Love Trannys' all over the car.

It was mean yes. But it was called for.

"Let's go, kitten!" Saitoh said, and she laughed and jumped into his Cadillac, yes, Saitoh's Cadillac, and burned out of there as they headed for her house.

"You know, Hajime, you're not that bad of a chimney stack. I guess you really are human."

"And the kitten purrs."

She looked at him and smiled. She never thought she would ever have a good time with Saitoh Hajime.

As they pulled up to her house, he put his car in park and watched her unbuckle her seat belt and crack her knuckles.

"Don't worry about Sagara. He'll never figure out it was you."

"I'm not worried. That's what he gets for leaving me stranded."

"Like you're helpless, kitten."

"Don't you start! We've actually been civil and I actually had fun with you tonight."

"We drove across town from point A to B. Not like we painted the town."

"But it was still nice. You're not making this easy."

"Making what easy?" he asked, snapping his head to face her.

She smirked and leaned forward, raking her fingers through his hand and kissing him roughly, sweetly, desperately.

She pulled away and winked.

"Think on it for a while."

And with that she walked away.

For the rest of the summer they hung out at parties or just weekend hangouts, but behind closed doors what began as a simple, fun fling became something more. In was at the end of September, walking downtown, it was cold and windy and without asking Saitoh had given her his jacket.

It was then she said it.

She told him she loved him. She never expected a reply.

"I knew that already. Good thing for you I've developed a strong liking for felines. Particularly one...that I..adore."

She laughed.

"That you said it means a lot to me. That your expression was almost pained means that must've meant SOMETHING for you to admit it."

He didn't say anything, but that was okay.

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"Hajime, you know if my parents find out you were here they'd be so pissed."

"Since when do you care?" he asked, burying his face into the crook of her neck as they spooned.

"Hmm..good point. Hey, is there something going on between my cousin and that...girl with the braid. Uh, Misao?"

"Not that I know of. I think she works with him."

"Hmm..cause I could of sworn I saw them together alone a couple days ago coming out of the storage room."

"Oh?"

"She doesn't seem like the type he goes for...but then again the same goes for us."

"Whatever Shinomori is or isn't doing with her is his business."

"I guess. I've talked to her a couple times. For a popular girl she's pretty nice. I guess he could do worse."

"Kitten, I'm comfortably curled up with you...I don't want to talk about Shinomori, or Misao, or whatever."

"Oh? Then what do you want to talk about?"

He smiled.

"I don't want to talk at all."

He turned her lamp off, bathing them in darkness.

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La la, there people who whined for me to update!! COUGH COUGH!

It's bad, I've been coughing since Sunday.

Random- Anyone seen the Burger King Double Croissant Sandwhich commercial where the guy wakes up to the Burger King in his bed?

Disturbing and funny.