Mori'quessir: Thank you! I'll do my best with the updating!
Wheee: Thanks for reviewing. I checked out chapter 3 to see what was wrong, but as far as I could tell everything was in working order.
Irulan 24: Thanks! I'm kind of writing whatever comes to mind. There is a plot and stuff but everything in between is whatever I can think of. Some of the things in the story are based on some of my own experiences or my friend's experiences I'm working on the longer chapters and stuff.
Disclaimer: I'm such an idiot. I'm so proud of myself for remembering to put this here. Before I do forget, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
Warnings: None that I can think of.
Enemies Till The End
Chapter 5
"Well, hopefully you've learned your lesson, Sanosuke." Kaoru's father sighed. Sano sat on the couch before him. His bandages were all tightly and neatly wrapped thanks to Megumi.
"I have. I won't gamble with that crowd again." Sano mumbled. He had finished fending off Megumi and she and Misao left with Aoshi and Kenshin who said that they would walk the two girls because it was dark. Then his sister had yelled at him too, although he had to say that he thought Megumi had been more violent. Kaoru had finished just in time for his father to come home and take another swing at him. But his dad didn't yell. He only spoke in a disappointed tone that left Sano feeling more guilty than the two girls did.
"Well, I guess that's good. I was hoping to hear you say that you wouldn't ever gamble again, but maybe it's too soon to be expecting miracles. You should listen to your sister and that girl of yours. They know what they're talking about. I know that our family went through a lot last year and having to keep it from everyone is hard, but it was Kaoru who suffered the most and you don't need to hurt her more by turning to gambling." Koshijirou watched his son, who avoided eye contact. He sighed. "Just think about it, okay? I won't ask for promises, but you are grounded for the next two weeks."
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Kaoru was upset that her brother had gotten hurt over something as stupid as gambling. She wasn't too worried though because she knew that he could defend himself pretty well and Kenshin and Aoshi were usually there to bail him out.
Kenshin. Now he was another problem too. Not a bad one, just a challenging one. She couldn't help but think that something had changed between them. Something, but she didn't know when or how. Oh well.
But, what mostly occupied her thoughts, was that Sano's gambling was all her fault. After what happened last year, her family had changed. She wished that that had not been the root of his gambling problem, but it was and now she felt extremely guilty.
It wasn't just her fault though. 'It was that bastard's fault too.' That was the last thought that crossed her mind before she fell asleep.
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The next day at school everybody, especially the girls, were exclaiming over Sano's wounds. He waved them off like it was nothing but allowed them to coo and cluck over him. Then Megumi showed up.
Kaoru couldn't help but laugh at her brothers antics as he tried to apologize to Megumi. They weren't even dating, and yet they acted as though they were. They would both get so jealous if anyone else tried to steal the other. They enjoyed needling each other that way, but in the end it was quiet obvious to everyone that they were never serious. They both really liked each other.
"Hey Kaoru!" Misao's voice came from behind her.
"Hi Misao. What's up?" Kaoru responded, turning to find her friend. She was the picture of enthusiasm. "I didn't think that you would ever act so excited about going to school."
"I'm not. It's just that I talked to my guidance councilor and I told her that I wanted to take the creative writing class this year cause I have an extra period and she said that it would be easy to switch me into it!" Misao answered, a look of happiness on her face.
"Why would you do that?" Kaoru asked, confused. Then she said, "Wait, never mind. That was a stupid question."
"Yeah, it kind of was." Misao said in a thoughtful tone of voice, but continued before Kaoru could protest. "Aoshi suggested that if I wanted to expand myself in the Language Arts area it might be a good class to take. Also because I'm considering becoming an English teacher. So I decided to do it and the bonus is that there is only one Creative Writing class and Aoshi is in it!"
"Oh." Kaoru said. "So it was Aoshi's idea for you to switch in the middle of the year instead of waiting until next year to take the class?"
"Well, no. But I decided that I didn't want to wait. Anyway, he'll be graduating at the end of this year and this is my last chance to be in one of his classes!" Misao said, a sad look crossing her face.
"Okay. I guess I can see it from your point of view, but it seems that your infatuation with him borders on obsessive. What are you going to do all next year when he's in collage and you're still here?" Kaoru asked.
"If anyone ends up in the same collage as he does then I'll be visiting them quite a lot and I'll probably try my hardest to get into the same collage. Of course, it would be nice to be able to get him to confess that he loves me before the end of the school year so I won't need to have an excuse." Misao told her, once again the happy, bubbly girl she usually was.
"Oh. Okay." Kaoru said. "When do you have this class then? I'm interested to hear what Aoshi's reaction will be so let me know what happens, okay? Then again, it might be hard for you to describe since he never shows his emotions to anybody. The only people I can think that he would relax around would be Sano and Kenshin." She laughed and Misao made a face at her.
"Aoshi has shown emotion to me before. I can see it in his eyes even when he doesn't have a facial expression." Misao crossed her arms and defended Aoshi.
"Sure. Okay." Kaoru said and made it clear that she didn't believe Misao in the slightest. Misao just glared at her before they were interrupted by the bell. "I'll see you later. Have fun in Creative Writing class!" Kaoru added as she walked down the hallway to her first class.
"Bye!" Misao waved and excitedly ran off.
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"Hey Kamiya!" Kenshin said as soon as Kaoru had sat down at her desk in their art history class. Although she was grateful for what he and Aoshi had done yesterday, that was yesterday and it would be back to needling each other today. "You were almost late today. That's too bad. It would be a big mar on your almost perfect attendance record."
"Yeah, well you can't say that you've never been late to class before either. You can't even say that you haven't been late to at least one class every week. Anyway, it was all YOUR fault that I was late that one time, which was last year." Kaoru shot back.
"Quiet down class. We're watching a movie today on Impressionist artists." The teacher told the class and turned to push the movie into the VCR. The class settled down to either sleep, or do other schoolwork. They never needed to know anything about the movies. They were only a prelude to whatever unit they were covering.
"Like I was saying," Kaoru whispered. "It was your fault and you were acting so weird that day. You said you wanted to talk to me and then you just stood there and stuttered and then you finally said to forget it. I've never forgotten it though because you made me late to my favorite class and then the teacher…" She trailed off, unnoticed by Kenshin.
"Whatever." Kenshin said. He appeared disgruntled that the conversation had been turned on to him. "What class was your favorite back then?"
"It was that photography class." Kaoru's voice had taken on a peculiar tone that Kenshin couldn't identify and its softness was not due to the movie. "All the girls in that class, besides me, were only there because Mr. Yukishiro taught that class. He was so dreamy and he was really nice too, but I actually wanted to learn something along with whatever guys were in there. He left, though, during the middle of the year." Her eyes were glazed as she stared out of the window.
"Yeah. I remember him. What ever happened to him? Do you know why he left so suddenly?" Kenshin asked. Some kind of indiscernible emotion flitted across Kaoru's face.
"I don't know. My class was never told anything. We just got a new teacher, Mr. Ogai, halfway through the year." Kaoru responded. She turned her back to Kenshin and watched the movie for the rest of the period, dropping her head onto her arms when the dull voice of the narrator became too much. Kenshin wondered briefly about Kaoru's uncharacteristic behavior for a few minutes before turning to glance at the movie and then to his math homework.
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Megumi, Misao and Kaoru were all at their usual lunch table. They had been talking for a while before Kaoru remembered to ask Misao about her new class.
"So Misao, how was Creative Writing class?" She glanced at Megumi who had yet to hear the bit of news. "Misao signed up for the Creative Writing class on Aoshi's advice and guess who's in the class too?" Megumi raised an eyebrow and Kaoru nodded. They both turned to Misao.
"It was such a good idea! I absolutely love that class now!" She said happily.
"Is it the class you love, or is it because Aoshi is in it?" Megumi slipped her dry comment in. Misao glared at her and turned her nose up dramatically.
"Misao, I think that you should rethink what you want to do in life. I think that acting would suit you just fine." Kaoru quipped and both she and Megumi dissolved into giggles.
"Both of you are heartless. Not that I haven't considered acting, but I think I'll stay with teaching." Misao said. "ANYWAY. Back to the subject. AS I WAS SAYING BEFORE I WAS SO RUDELY INTERRUPTED, I love the class and like I told Kaoru before, Aoshi being in it is a bonus." Misao continued to glare at her friends. "And guess what Kaoru, Aoshi wasn't surprised to see me at all."
"Yeah, I know. I was thinking later, after I talked to you, that he wouldn't be because you make it so obvious that you love him, that even he knows. He was probably expecting it. I wonder why he would even mention it then?" Kaoru said. She and Megumi laughed some more at their friends expense and Megumi just had to comment as well.
"Maybe he's actually warming up to you a little. He might have even made that statement on purpose so that he could spend more time with you." Her statement elicited a big grin from Misao.
"Oh I hope that's why he mentioned it. It's probably too good to be true though. Anyway though, guess what." Kaoru and Megumi exchanged glances. "The teacher put me in the seat next to Aoshi!"
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Okay. There was some stuff about the past to pick up in this chapter. Everything else was just character interaction.
I know I said that this chapter was ready to go, but my mom was mad at me so whenever I asked to go online she said no and I couldn't go on when she wasn't home cause my sister uses that kind of thing as blackmail. My mom wants me to start practicing my violin more so it's nine hours a week at the least. Then there is sports and school and everything else on top of that. Sorry, you didn't need to hear about that. Anyway, I'm tired so this is a short note. I'll judge when you want the next chapter from the response that this one gets. You know what I'm going to say, review because I love them and I love knowing how people react to my story!
Keta Himura