Chapter 4 – Too Much
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"Hey, Mr Red?" Kaoru voiced out groggily.
"What?" Kenshin's answer was curt. He had been up for almost the whole morning, doing research on the Kamiya household and the people they associated with. There was one thing that had bothered him the night before…or rather the morning before he fell asleep but at this particular moment, at 5.54 in the morning, everything was a blur to him.
"Geez.. you're so cranky in the morning," Kaoru said with a smug smile on her face. She hated mornings but to win against the red head was something that did not happen often.
"Whatever. What do you want?"
"The time. Or are you to selfish to share it with me?"
"Shut up and sleep."
Their morning continued on with more arguing and name callings. Unfortunately for Kenshin, he never managed to get his wanted sleep. For one, Kaoru was wide awake and restless. Another thing that kept him away from dreamland was the fact that he had work to do.
Getting up, he stretched and walked out the door. Before his blue eyed charge could say a thing, he was back with a set of keys in his hands. He silently picked up his laptop, another set of key and headed towards her.
Kaoru watched him with surprised eyes. Her mind it seems was still half asleep although her physical being was not. All she did was stare at him until he reached her, never once wondering what he was doing.
Kenshin took one step at a time, with each step he grew more confused. Did she not understand that they were leaving? After all the pestering that she had done to get out of 'this dump of an office' and get into a real home, did she not want to leave?
He stopped directly in front of her and made no further movement for a few minutes, awaiting any reaction other than her blank face.
She stared as his black shirt, not knowing why he was standing there like a statue. Her mind finally woke up and she opened her mouth.
"What?"
Kenshin raised an eyebrow, puzzled but made no comment on her lack of attention. Instead, he motioned for her to follow him. It took her a moment to realize what he was asking her to do.
She yanked the blanket off of her and stretched, first her legs and then her hands before she finally stood up. Yawning, she walked up to him and asked, "Mr. Red, where on earth are we going?"
Kenshin froze for a second at his new and very much disliked nickname. He turned and glared at her.
Kaoru was freaked out at how intense his eyes were and mumbled a soft "..sorry..". Satisfied, he continued walking, ignoring all eyes that fell on them. Kaoru flushed and mentally berated herself for being so careless. She was still in public and everyone would judge her even more now that her family…. her family…. now that her family was gone..
She kept her head down and smoothed down the wrinkles that had formed when she slept in his office. Kenshin was surprised that she had not said anything else after they started walking. She was, in his opinion, the noisiest being alive when she was cooped up in his office.
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he dismissed the matter. Her keeping quiet was a pretty good thing since he wanted time to think about the discoveries he made the night before.
Kaoru was now transformed back into the prim and proper perfect Kamiya that everyone saw…. until she saw his car. Her eyes widened and shone. Her grim expression turned into one of pure admiration and joy. She had never been a big fan of cars but the car in front of her was positively delightful.
Kenshin sighed exasperatedly,"Stop gaping at my car and get in. Do you want to get to the apartment or not? And aren't you supposed to be like some kind of doll?"
Kaoru's expression immediately dropped its playfulness and she glared at him. She got into his car and slammed it shut.
The moment he got into his car, she asked in a tone that was the complete opposite of her previous display of anger
"What do you mean, I'm supposed to be like some kind of doll?"
"I thought you were supposed to be always calm and practically emotionless. That's all."
Calm was no longer a word in Kaoru's vocabulary as she retorted angrily," I'm not emotionless! I'm not you and what gave you the idea that I'm incapable of having feelings?"
Kenshin turned to face her and smirked," I never said you were incapable of having feelings. Why would I say that when you've just shown me what you're capable of?"
Kaoru stared at him, not knowing what to say and finally turned away so she could focus on the view outside and not him.
The ride lasted another 10 minutes before Kaoru broke the silence.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Himura Kenshin."
Kaoru waited impatiently for him to turn the key in the lock. The building that he had pulled into was definitely not a rundown building or cheap one. The paint on the walls looked like they were constantly repainted and the stiff and unfriendly doorman looked like he was well, expensive.
Kenshin opened the door and held it open for her and watched with hidden amusement the way she skipped into the apartment. He locked the door and set his things on the dining table.
He took in the apartment, sizing it up. The kitchen, dining area and entertaining space was connected as they usually were in apartments. The hallway led from the dining area to reveal 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Of all the words that could be used to describe the apartment, shabby was definitely not one of them. Kenshin was skeptical as he glanced at the television set and furniture. He knew that the department that hired him was no poor one but he didn't think they were this rich either.
Picking up his laptop once again, he walked into the room next to Kaoru's and headed to her room. He knocked softly and waited for a response.
Kaoru smiled softly at her new room. When she first stepped into the apartment she was overjoyed. Being the spoilt child in a wealthy family living in the city had carved her into a person who enjoyed and admired the beauty of modernization.
The apartment was beautiful… it was almost like a minimized version of her house. Or rather, her now blood stained house. The smile on her face vanished and she hid her face from Kenshin as he led her to her new room.
It was annoying how life could be so damned ironic sometimes. The view from her room was filled with buildings and advertisements… but the ad directly in front of her was for a local newspaper. Its front page ad? "Kamiya Household Massacre." Apparently, it was a new advertisement. One that was using the incident for recognition. After all, who wasn't interested in anything that had the word Kamiya on it.
She swiped hastily at the tears that were slowly sliding down her ivory cheeks. Crying was never something that she enjoyed. She sat down on the bed and tried to calm herself down. She jumped when she heard the knocking on the door. She knew it was Kenshin but said nothing. She didn't want him to see her like this.
Kenshin frowned when his knocks were ignored and decided to just go ahead and enter. Who knows what that hyper girl was up to now. The sight that greeted him was anything but what he had expected. He had thought that she would have been still jumping up and down over her new room or sleeping from the excitement but it never crossed his mind that she was crying.
Kaoru glanced up, surprised, when she heard the sound of the door opening. She wanted to scream at him and run out, away from the apartment, away from everything and everyone. But her maturity and pride would not let her. She swiped at her tears yet again and told him in a soft but firm voice," Please get out."
He ignored her request and told her, "No."
She looked up and glared at him. In return, he approached her. He glanced at the open window and saw what had probably upset her. Kaoru felt tears coming again and before she knew what she was doing, she had her arms around him, her tears dampening his shirt.
Kenshin was genuinely startled when she hugged him. Awkwardly, he tried to comfort her. He wasn't the type of person that people went to with their problems because anyone who knew him would know that he wouldn't listen.
His sharp hearing picked up words that she said like 'parents', 'death', 'home' and 'stupid advertisement'.
It was only then that he remembered how young she was and how unprepared she was to face such an event. Death was nothing to him but it seemed to be too much for her to handle. Yes, she was not the first person to lose a family at such a young age and she was definitely not the youngest. But she was someone who was watched very closely by the press and everyone else. And the fact that she was probably spoilt, a little at the very least, made it harder for her to cope.
Kaoru no longer had control over herself. For the first time in her life, she didn't stop to think whether or not what she was doing was right. All she knew was that she needed someone for comfort, at least just for a moment. She had no one else to turn to. Her aunts and uncles were only good for financial support and she had no friends. At that very moment, life to her felt meaningless.
Then again, maybe it already was from the beginning.
A.N. very sorry for the late update and I know it's not a very long chapter either. So, yea. Once again I apologise and please review!