a/n: here it is... chapter 11 is in the making already and i'm hoping for some reviews!(i'd really like to break 100...) personally, this is my fav. chappie so far... hope u like it as much as i liked writing it!

disclaimer: oh, a wem a wamp a wem a wamp, in the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonite...

Chapter 10: Blind Date Part II (Hidden Camera; Tanuki's Turn)

Kaoru was having a field day. Last night had been full of surprises, especially the way they'd actually been able to talk civilly. She popped the tape back into the camera after having watched it four times. She picked up her cordless phone that was sitting on the couch beside her and called Misao to congratulate her on her brilliance; She'd managed to add a commentary to the footage she'd captured at the restaurant before the manager had kicked them out at eight-thirty.

"Misao? It's Kaoru, I just finished watching your tape."

"Wasn't it great! I personally thought the part where I was talking might have been a bit much-"

"No! That's what made the video amazing! Your camera work may leave much to be desired, but that was perfect. I mean, I know I took your camera and followed them to the coffee shop after you went to meet Aoshi, but…"

"I'm coming over so we can see it together, okay?"

"Sure!"

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Megumi rolled over in her bed and smiled. By the end of the night she'd successfully let Sano know that she was already sort of seeing someone and that Misao had forced her into the date. She'd managed to not to cheat on her 'friend' met through the internet, but be able to, somehow, make friends with him. Not to say it was perfect, because they had argued once they'd gotten to the coffee place. Over trivial things as usual.

She would have to thank Misao for letting her get to know him better. There was so much she hadn't known about him, and had simply jumped to judging him. She was ashamed of her childish behavior. She smiled. Her phone rang and she bolted up, reaching for it.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Sano greeted.

"You remember that guy I was telling you about? The one I said I did nothing but argue with?"

"Yeah." Sano liked the direction this was going in.

"I think I resolved things with him. You see I went out to dinner with him, actually my friend forced me on a blind date with him, but that doesn't matter," she started excitedly.

"Right."

"Well, when we saw each other he complimented me… and the whole evening just went wonderfully."

"That's good to hear," he said happily.

"But I told him that things won't really be official because I didn't want you to feel like I was cheating on you," she added quickly.

"No, it's fine… after all, we aren't going on a date until a later date," he reminded her.

"I know, but I still…"

"Don't worry about it."

"All right."

She smiled.

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"Misao, would you sit still!" Kaoru demanded, trying to rewind the tape, but having difficulties as Misao bounced around the room. "I'm beginning to wonder if you have ADD!"

"I think I used to… Is that even possible? To have ADD and then not have it?"

"Just sit down…" Misao did as she was told and Kaoru was able to put the video in.

"I'm going to skip through the dinner, because you've seen it already, okay?" Misao nodded enthusiastically.

Kaoru shook her head and pressed play when they got to the coffee shop. Misao hadn't gotten to commentate this section, so she thought it was best to add it this time.

"And here we see the inspiring couple walk into the café, each fighting about Sano's fashion sense." Misao heard Kaoru release a sigh and she snickered. "As you can see, Kaoru really does need help when it comes to picking men's clothing."

"Misao!"

"Sorry. And now, Sano is being the gentleman and ordering her latte along with his coffee."

"Misao, you can't even hear what they're saying to each other!"

"But this is more fun…"

"Shut up and listen!"

"Fine…"

They watched as Sano used Misao's Visa to buy their coffee and then walk carefully back to the table trying and failing to balance it as it spilled all over the floor. Kaoru had already seen it, but that didn't stop her from laughing out loud yet again along with her friend. Megumi started to yell at him for his stupidity.

"It was only two cups! How do you drop that!"

"It was hot!" he defended hotly.

"It had hand protectors!"

"But-"

"Just go get two more," she said exasperated.

Misao giggled as she started another commentary much to Kaoru's dismay. She sighed again as she began talking.

"And now Sano has returned to the counter and re-ordered their drinks. Yes, that is the same man, making fun of him and calling a janitor to clean up the spilt coffee. Here comes the janitor, oh, someone has a mouth on him! Maybe worse than Sano himself," Misao narrated. "Sano has now turned his fists towards the unruly janitor, setting the new coffee's down first, causing one Dr. Takani to stand up and yell at him."

"Misao… give it a rest? I'll let you have the tape again later so you can do this to the actual video, okay?"

"Fine, fine."

They turned their attention back to the TV as they watched Sano and Megumi finish their coffee and walk to his car. He opened the door for her like a real gentleman and she sat in the front seat. They heard Kaoru mutter under her breath, trying to shut the camera off as the car rolled away and she ran to her car in order to follow it.

The camera clicked and it cut to Megumi's door step. Sano had made a stupid pass, something along the lines of, 'What, don't I get a good night kiss?' and she'd smacked him and strode into her house. Kaoru watched him ring the doorbell and she answer it. She stared at him for a moment before he apologized for his stupidity and told her that he'd had a great time. She smiled and hugged him gently before closing the door again.

Sano walked away with a huge grin plastered on his face. There was some rustling and the camera cut away. Left on the tape was Kaoru's prom tape. Misao stole the clicker away as Kaoru tried to hit the stop button quickly. Obviously, her mother was the one with the camera because her hand was steady due to years of training and Kaoru was standing in the middle of a vast room, Megumi trying to finish setting her curls with a curling iron that was already stretching it's limits with the cord it was attached to.

"Give me that remote!" she ordered, tackling Misao to the floor.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"It's too funny!"

"Kaoru, hold still! I have to get your bangs!" Megumi's voice was heard from the video.

"Owww! That hurt!"

"It wouldn't have burned you if you'd have held still!"

Kaoru made her way over to the VCR and hit the stop button twice, causing the tape to pop out. She smiled triumphantly, absently rubbing the faded away burn mark on her forehead from when Megumi had been curling her hair. She turned towards Misao who was still rolling around on the floor, begging to see the rest of the tape.

Kaoru took away the remote, lest she find some other way to play the tape, even if she had it out. God knows her mother had made more than one copy of her prom video. Misao sat up, still weak with laughter.

"Why didn't you let me see the tape?" Kaoru didn't answer, not yet willing to admit that she'd gotten drunk at the prom and started kissing Kenshin without even remembering it, but having the whole incident recorded as evidence courtesy of Megumi's taping abilities.

"You can watch it when you do your commentary, at your house," she wearily promised.

"Whoo!" She grabbed the tape and flew out the door not giving her a good-bye.

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Kaoru's next move was to talk to Sano, make sure things were exactly as they had seemed on the 'movie.' The phone rang about five times before he finally picked up.

"Yeah?"

"Sano! How did it go last night?"

"You should know; you were there." His voice was perhaps the coldest she'd ever heard it.

"Youch… I guess I should have realized you would know. Well, it looked like it went good…"

"Well it did," he snapped.

"Sorry, sorry, but aren't you glad that we were there? I mean, you did forget your wallet…"

"Okay so it had benefits! So what? You were spying on me!"

"To make sure you didn't screw up! Like you did with the wallet!"

"One mistake! Once I had the money, there was no more need for you!"

Kaoru sighed, frustrated. "Look, there could have been more problems! This was purely precautionary!"

"……"

"Sano, come on… You know I wouldn't want this to be a bad experience; I wanted this to work out just as much as you did."

"Fine…"

"Then you accept my help for what it is?"

"Hai."

"Great! I'll see you sometime within the next week for a planning period," she informed him.

"See you then."

"Bye."

She hung up and danced out of her bedroom all the way into the living room. She was in mid dance-stride when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" she sang out, skipping to the door.

"Hi Kaoru."

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Megumi rolled her shoulders as she stepped into the shower, letting the hot water caress her overworked muscles. She sighed in contentment, happy that everything seemed to be going her way. She lathered the vanilla scented body wash on her body, erasing any sign of stress, replacing it with a relaxed vanilla air. She breathed deeply and the water washed away the soap.

She heard her phone ringing in the distance and she ignored it. She knew that it was probably just Kaoru or Misao, but she didn't care. They would just want to know how her date was because she knew that Misao would have told Kaoru everything and that she would demand details. Sighing she leaned against the blue tile wall of her shower and sank down onto her bottom just soaking. She closed her eyes and allowed the lingering vanilla surround her. Her phone rang again and she scowled. Why did everyone want to get a hold of her all of a sudden? She ignored it yet again, determined to enjoy one of her few moments of pure bliss and relaxation.

When the machine picked up, she faintly heard it click and then whoever was on the line hang up. She picked up her shampoo, a matching vanilla scent, and scrubbed it into her long dark hair until she was absolutely sure that she'd covered all of her hair. She stood under the shower head, rinsing her hair. She was getting annoyed when the phone rang for a third time and she finally threw the shower door open and picked up the cordless she'd brought into the bathroom with her. She jammed the 'talk' button and brought it to her wet ear.

"What do you want!"

"Sorry, Megumi… It's just I couldn't a hold of you and…"

"Misao, look, I was trying to take a shower, but you kept calling-"

"I just wanted to know how your date went," she defended.

"It was fine," she snapped.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your shower, goodness!"

"Well, you did."

"And I'm sorry. Can I have details…?" she was daring enough to ask.

"Can you wait until I get out of the shower?"

"I guess so. Just don't forget to call me back!"

"I won't. Good-bye."

"Bye."

Megumi turned the ringer off her phone before getting back in the shower.

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A half-hour later, Megumi picked up the phone again, turned the ringer on and called Misao back. Misao answered with her usual cheery voice, and shrieked in joy when she figured out that it was Megumi and demanded details from her perspective.

"It was… nice, considering our previous problems," she confessed softly. "He has the most gorgeous chocolate eyes."

"OOO! I'm glad you enjoyed your date. Any chance of a second?"

"Maybe. If things don't work out with that guy I've been chatting with so much…"

"Well, now you have two possible men lined up for a date!"

"I just can't wait until that date with him…"

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"Kenshin."

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Sure. What brings you here?"

"I heard about the date; I just wanted to know how it went," he explained to her.

"I had a tape, but Misao took it home to personalize it with a commentary for the last part. When she's done I'll let you see how it went. All in all, I think it was a success," Kaoru answered happily.

"That's good to hear. Sano didn't do anything remotely stupid, did he?"

"Except forgetting his wallet, I think he did pretty good by his standards."

"He forgot his wallet?" he repeated dumbly.

"We had him covered, no worries," she assured.

"That's a relief…"

"Well, how about I call Misao and see if she's done with that tape yet?"

"Sounds good."

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Twenty minutes later, Misao was settled comfortably in between Kenshin and Kaoru as they watched the tape. She died when they got to Kaoru's prom as she had taken the liberty to commentate that one as well.

"MISAO!"