nilnil: Thanks for the review and depending on my schedule, hopefully, you'll be able to read more soon.
Sorrow'sRaven: Thank you for the review and I'm very glad that you like my story. I'm working on the updating.
Shenyu: WOW! Thank you so much. I can't believe you reviewed every chapter. At first I really was going to have Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship one where they couldn't stand each other at all, but then the opportunity presented itself and I just nudged the story in a different direction. I am flattered that you would put my story on your favorites list. Thank you. I enjoy writing very much and it's so nice to have people reading it and actually enjoying what you've written.
Disclaimer: See, I remembered this time! Okay, on with the story! Opps, I'm supposed to say that : I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Now we can go on!
Warnings: Once again, some bad language. Um, what else? Kaoru with a wooden spoon and also her trying to cook.
Enemies Till The End
Chapter 4
"Kaoru, so do you know where Sano disappeared to?" Megumi asked her. She appeared to be worried, the complete opposite of how she normally acted towards Kaoru's rooster headed brother. It was the end of the school day and the two girls were waiting for their missing friend. "He wasn't in the last two classes we have together. I know that he doesn't normally cut classes because your dad threatened him about that, so I was just curious." She finished lamely, as she realized that her friend was giving her a knowing look.
"He was supposed to be in class. Oh well, you shouldn't worry about him. I know that you love him and all, but the idiot probably snuck away to gamble. Some gang set up something in the woods behind the school. We could walk through there though, if it would make you feel better." Kaoru answered her casually and glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Megumi's reaction to that statement.
"No, no. That's alright." Megumi said, almost absentmindedly as she glanced out a nearby window towards the woods. Her worried expression had materialize again. She finally processed the whole sentence and burst out, "I don't love that stupid idiot! How could you even think that? Anyway, I'm not really worried about him. He can do whatever he wants." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and out of her face in a careless gesture.
"Alright. Whatever you want." Kaoru said, then changed the subject. "Do you know where Misao is, or at least what would be taking her so long?"
"Let me take a wild guess. With Misao it's not that hard. She's probably pestering Aoshi again. She mentioned something about asking for help in English. Wouldn't you know, but the ice cube actually expresses himself very well through writing. He aces that class, then again he does well in every single class." Megumi answered Kaoru, scanning the hallway and glancing out the window towards the woods occasionally.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, a stoic Aoshi appeared with Misao chatting happily away on his heels. She spotted Kaoru and Megumi and bounced over.
"GUESS WHAT?" Misao said loudly.
"What?" Megumi said, in a bored tone of voice. She stood contro posto, a hand on her hip, her head tilted to one side. She gazed down the hallway instead of at their strange friend.
"Aoshi agreed to tutor me in English!" Came the excited answer. Misao didn't even notice Megumi's disinterest.
"Really?" Kaoru said. "Misao, do you even need a tutor in English? I thought that it was your best subject."
"It is, but even the best sometimes need help." Misao sniffed and looked away from Kaoru in a dramatic gesture. "It's also a way to see him once a week." She added with an impish smile.
"Umm, I'd be careful if I were you Misao, you wouldn't want Aoshi to hear you saying that, although it is fairly obvious to everyone you love him, but anyway, he's coming over here right now." Kaoru warned, laughter apparent in her voice. They both turned to face the boy coming in their direction.
"Have you two seen Sano. He was supposed to meet me and Kenshin, but neither of them are here." Aoshi asked them.
"Umm, Kenshin said something about talking to one of his teachers when I talked to him last period. I think he wanted to ask about extra credit or something. He'll probably show up soon." Kaoru told him. "Megumi was just asking me about Sano though. She hasn't seen him for the last two periods. Right, Megumi?" She looked over at her friend. "Whatever. We think that the idiot might have cut to go hang out in the woods where those guy set up some gambling thing in there. If you find him, send him home. Sorry I couldn't help you any more." Aoshi just nodded and walked away.
"BYE AOSHI! SEE YOU LATER!" Misao shouted down the hall after his retreating form. Kaoru and even Megumi winced at the volume of her yell which had gone unacknowledged by Aoshi.
"Okay, lets go. You two are coming over, right?" Kaoru said, taking her two friends by the arms and turning towards the doors.
"Yeah."
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The girls spent the afternoon at Kaoru's house. Her father phoned to say that he would be home late, so she could make whatever she wanted for dinner. Megumi and Misao cringed when Kaoru asked if they wanted to stay for dinner.
"Hey, Kaoru, why don't we help you make dinner?" Megumi said, glancing over at Misao.
"Yeah. As a matter of fact, we can do the cooking, you can just relax or something." Misao added, a bit of nervousness edging her voice.
"No, that's okay guys. I enjoy cooking. It's a relaxing thing for me to do." Kaoru said, oblivious to her friend's panicked states. Yahiko came in in time to hear the last exchange.
"You're cooking tonight?" He asked Kaoru, who nodded. "Okay, then I'm not eating here tonight." He stated.
"What are you implying you little twerp?" Kaoru asked brandishing a wooden spoon that was conveniently lying on the counter.
"I wasn't implying anything. Your cooking STINKS!" Yahiko said. "How are you ever going to get married? You can't cook and you're UGLY!"
"That does it!" Kaoru yelled. She ran after her little brother who made his escape through the door. Megumi and Misao just looked at each other and then headed towards the kitchen.
A few minutes later, a disgruntled looking Kaoru came into the kitchen with a broken wooden spoon and Yahiko. "That's just a warning. Don't insult me ever again." She went over to the freezer and pulled out the ice pack from the day before. She plunked it down rather hard onto the large bump on the crown of Yahiko's head and pushed him towards the living room. He went, grumbling under his breath.
"We just started this while you were busy Kaoru." Misao said as Kaoru came over to them.
"Oh, thanks guys. I don't cook that badly, do I?" She asked. There was a moment of oppressive silence. Then,
"Oh no."
"Of course not."
"You know little brothers. They're all the same."
"Yeah, they're all little idiots."
"You guys, you don't have any siblings." Another awkward silence.
"Hey, I think the water's boiling over!"
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Kaoru, Megumi, Misao and Yahiko were at the dining room table eating the noodles that had, fortunately, been cooked by Megumi. As they cleared away the dishes, the doorbell rang. Kaoru looked at the other two and then at her brother.
"You weren't expecting anybody, right?" As he shook his head in response, she said, "I wonder who that could be then." And made her way to the front door. She opened the door to find Aoshi and Kenshin. They were carrying a limp Sano between them.
"Oh no! What happened?" Kaoru gasped as she took in the sight. She opened the door wider to allow them to enter. "Here, just put him on the couch. Yahiko, go get whatever first aid stuff you can find in the closet."
"He got into a fight with those idiots in the woods. He did sneak off their. Apparently someone made a major bet that he couldn't not take." Kenshin explained. "He couldn't hold up his end of the bargain so he got the shit beat out of him instead. Me and Aoshi found him just as the jerks were finishing up, so we got him the hell out of there before anything else could happen."
"Thanks." Kaoru said sincerely as she looked over at him and directly into his eyes. She wanted him to see that she really was grateful. He smiled back at her.
"No problem." Yahiko came back, this time followed by Megumi and Misao. The latter headed straight for Aoshi and Megumi went over to where Sano was on the couch.
"This was all the stuff we had." Yahiko handed the bandages and a washcloth to Kaoru. Megumi took them from her.
"I'll do it. It's good practice for me anyway." Kaoru nodded and stood back, lending a hand when Megumi needed the help.
As she was finishing up, Sano began to wake up. Kaoru went to get water and aspirin for the headache she knew her twin must have, especially after Megumi smacked him in one of the more bruised areas of his head. When she came back, she could hear Megumi telling him off.
"You idiot! You overconfident chicken head! Do you have any COMMON SENSE? You should have know better! You could have been seriously injured! You got lucky that Kenshin and Aoshi were there to drag your butt out of trouble!" Kaoru quietly handed the glass to Sano and backed out of the way again. She motioned for the others to come into the kitchen with her and they all left Sano to Megumi's mercy, knowing that she would properly admonish him.
"Do you guys want any food?" Kaoru asked them.
"Did you make it?" Kenshin asked. Kaoru glared at him.
"What is it with everyone insulting my cooking today? Geez, it's not that bad." She huffed. "No. Megumi and Misao made most of it."
"Okay, well then sure." Kenshin said. He dodged out of the way of a bowl of noodles that had miraculously gained the power of flight.
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Okay, that's all for now. It's vacation time, so hopefully I'll be able to update soon. I have the next two chapters of this written and the next one is typed, so depending on the responses to this chapter, you'll get the next one sooner or later. I hope you liked the chapter. There wasn't much going on until the end there, but I'm not finished with that just yet. I added a little loving sibling interaction there between Kaoru and Yahiko too. There was a little bit about Megumi and Sano as well. Also Misao getting tutored by Aoshi. Now where could that lead to? I have so many ideas. Oh, the contro posto thing, with Megumi, was just me showing off. For anyone who doesn't know what that means it is just when a person stands and leans their wait to one side of their body. I have been wanting to put that into something ever since I learned what it meant. We were looking at art work from the Renaissance in my AP Euro class and my teacher told us what it meant. I think that you're supposed to apply it more to art, but whatever. This chapter was a little longer than the last one. So, enjoy! Oh, yeah and review too please 'cause I love getting responses from everyone.
Keta Himura