Click to Enter - Chapter Seven
Kaoru was up with the morning light in an altogether unusual schedule for her. As her eyes opened to register the dim light filtering through filmy curtains, she began wondering if she had remembered to save last night's programming. She pushed herself up and attempted to squeak as the blanket falling away from her bare torso exposed her to a cold draft. Before she could force her stumbling mind to cover back up the door to her bedroom opened and she was faced with a lightening quick attack by an annoyed weasel.
"Kaoru..." Misao whined into the bed sheets. "Megumi won't let me take you anywhere this morning." She looked up and blinked. "Did you go up a bra size?"
Megumi was just in time to watch Misao go tumbling off the bed laughing all the while as Kaoru grandly finished her undefeatable death-by-pillow maneuver. "Well, you seem your normal self." She gingerly sat near Kaoru and studied her tired blue eyes as her friend turned to face her. "How do you feel?"
"Like I ... I can't think."
With a nod of her head, Megumi produced two small pills from a bottle in her pocket. "Take these, they're just Tylenol. We should give you the day to recover. I'd prefer if you'd stay in bed, but after you realize what exactly happened last night I'm sure you'll refuse."
"Yes," Kaoru agreed as her eyes widened and her brain registered. Bright flashes of the attack began running in front of her eyes. She swallowed her pills without water and opened serious eyes to her friends. "There is much to do." All three females in the room sighed in unison.
The hours passed and breakfast was consumed in varying quantities. Several coffeepots were demolished as Kaoru forced her grumbling mind to wake up properly. She hadn't peered into her computer room yet, leaving the traumatic experiences in the back of her head. Instead she had taken Misao's well bragged about route and had Megumi grab her a pen and paper. Her hands flew over the sheet as she set up a list of tasks that needed to be done.
"We can't stay here," she explained to her companions over a fresh croissant that Misao had brought especially for her. Megumi's eyes darted to the hallway opening and she nodded in agreement. "I have a safe house," Kaoru explained. "We'll stay there until this problem is fixed."
"Do we even know what 'this problem' is?" Megumi set down her coffee mug and sighed. "There are still lots of contracts to finish. The business is going to suffer if we're forced to take a vacation for much longer than a week."
Misao offered a safe house she knew of that had a full complement of Online equipment, but Kaoru just shook her head. "No, but thanks. We'll be staying at my little project. It'll be perfectly safe for both Megumi and me. We'll be there tonight if I'm able to get in touch with the right people." Kaoru paused in contemplation then peered at Misao. "I'll need to get Online to find some of my contacts. Will the JNSA be able to provide me with a secure line?"
Misao grinned. "If I have to sneak you in through the laundry chute, I will."
"Megumi, pack us some bags, I'll collect any information I can after backing up the computer room here. There's tons that need to be transferred to our new residence. I should be ready within two hours or so." Kaoru stood up and steeled her spine as she walked into her computer room and began to rummage through the mess that was left.
The trunk of Misao's tiny two-seater was full of as many clothes as Megumi had been able to stuff into bags of all shapes, sizes and ages. "Why didn't you just stuff it all into a trash bag," Misao had asked her early on in the packing stage. The glare she had been given pushed her to right into Kaoru's destroyed computer room where she barely missed tripping over a multitude of scattered electrical boards and wires. Her bright aqua eyes took some time to find Kaoru's legs sticking out of the ceiling.
"What are you doing?"
"Several key components to my network are housed in the ceiling here. I don't plan on leaving them for whoever will come and burn my house down later. Step back." Kaoru slid out of the crawl space and grinned at Misao. "You wanna guess what's in my hand," she gestured with her chin to her arm still hidden above.
"I'm more interested in why you have an Online wire sticking out of your head while you're still up and about." In one blink of Kaoru's eyes Misao was behind her and clucking softly. "This is very dangerous, don't you know. Are you really Online right now and still awake in norm time?"
Kaoru shrugged began pulling a long strand of wire down from the ceiling. "I've only recently been able to do it really. It feels... really odd."
"So, what's in your hand?"
"You're not going to pester me with a waterfall of questions about my Online status?" With a smile and a quick tug, coils of sparkling wiring began dropping from the hole in the ceiling. "Happy, happy networking cables."
"That's it?"
Kaoru shrugged. "Yeah. Maybe some dead bugs, but probably not."
"And here I thought you were going to show me something spectacular and rare. Aoshi has tons of that stuff. I'll let you go through it when we get to the office."
With a leveled gaze Kaoru glared at the smug looking girl. "I helped him buy most of that stuff, you know."
Misao shrugged once more and poked at an open packing box. "You're filling this one with disks? Aren't these old tech?"
"Just finish filling it, Misao," was the only reply.
After several hours of packing and eating and chatting and cleaning, the girls found themselves with a dilemma. Misao's two-seater was nicely full of clothes and necessaries, but it only had one extra seat. After much head shaking and a quick paper, rock, scissors tournament it was decided that Kaoru would drive her own car if she was able to successfully follow Misao. They would worry about sneaking the two of them and their stuff once they were there. Misao kept trying to Kaoru to take her up on a breakfast idea, but the definite no that kept falling finally shut her up. Without further ado they were on their way.
"Identification?" Misao sighed as she pulled out her badge and showed the living security guard, computerized models were so much easier to use, but also easier to break into. "The woman beside me is a witness that we're setting up a safe house for. She'll need a visitor's badge. The car behind me is another witness. Please pass one along to her also."
"Names?"
"That's not a requirement and you know it. I'm not about to break their cover to you, a glorified crossing guard. Now, pay attention to the class on that badge you're sweating all over and do as I say!" Misao tore both the pass and her badge out of the man's hand and gritted her teeth while being forced to slowly accelerate as Kaoru picked up her pass from the guard. "I hate little men," she grumbled while pulling into her reserved space on the third floor. She rolled down the window and waved Kaoru into an open space across from it.
"They won't tow all the way up here," Misao explained as they walked into the building. The supervisors know we computer geeks are always inviting weird people up. As long as that pass is in your window you're fine. Stick the other part on your shirt and we'll be fine."
Megumi hung back and whispered to Kaoru as Misao navigated them through the two more checkpoints and a variety of dull looking hallways. "You should have heard her dealing with that security guard; I'd almost think she was an adult." Kaoru chuckled and nodded. "She does manage to surprise me sometimes."
"Finally! They showed up, Sano and Kenshin are here. They still hadn't shown up when I left earlier." Misao grabbed wrists and pulled her friends down another hallway lined with doors. "Saito's office is at the end of the hall here, you can see his door is just slightly open which is why I'm whispering. Most of these offices are empty, not many people work in this area."
"These men are the ones who helped us last night?" Kaoru began to feel nervous as Misao stopped at a closed door with two names listed on it. She knew they'd seen her in a less than covered state and covered with goo. Not to mention that she hadn't yet had a chance to ask Megumi about a disturbing memory of strong, masculine hands running over her while in the shower.
"Shhh..." Misao carefully opened the door and poked her head in. After noticing that their friend wasn't moving, Kaoru and Megumi followed suit.
"He's adorable when he drools, isn't he," Megumi whispered as she pointed to the brunette Kaoru hadn't even glanced at. Her gaze was fastened on the messily tied back red hair scattered over a neatly arranged desk.
"He has red hair," Kaoru whispered. "I want to see his face."
Misao giggled under her breath and took a step forward. "How do we want to wake them? Noise, water, kisses?"
"Kisses?" Kaoru jumped back.
"Kisses it is then." Misao shooed them out of the office and silently closed the door behind her. "We need to take a quick trip and pick up one of the dogs from downstairs."
"Dogs?"
"Why Kaoru, you didn't want to kiss them yourself, did you?" Misao grinned evilly and opened the door again. "Joking, of course. Come now; let's see how long it takes for them to wake up if we just stare at them."
"Itachi-Musume, if you think I'm going to stand here and watch these men sleep you are very wrong." Megumi drew herself up to full height and looked up and down the hall. "I vote for water."
"I vote for me waking them up," a gravelly voice came from behind the three females. Kaoru's nose twitched at the scent of cigarette smoke as she turned to see an honestly scary man standing in the hallway. She smartly moved out the way and dragged Megumi with her. Misao was left with only a sheepish smile as her defense.
"Please don't hurt them; they were up late helping me."
Saito glanced at the little girl in front of him. "I read their report; I expect a better one from you."
She nodded and sidled off to the side but stayed where she could watch the goings on. Kaoru and Megumi joined her as the smoking man stepped into the office and stood there, waiting.
Kenshin's eyes opened slowly at the scent in the air, a familiar one he often associated with overwhelming feelings of annoyance and anger. A scent he only ever smelled outside his home and why was his bed so hard? Abrupt awakening had him jumping onto his chair and reaching for his sword just before the spindly legs were kicked out from under him. His resulting yelp woke Sano who immediately stood and banged his shin on a desk corner. Saitou waited for the cursing and yelping to stop before he pronounced punishment.
"There will be a mandatory meeting at 1:00 pm. This is regarding the budget. You two will be my representatives." With that said he turned on a heel and nodded in Kaoru's direction. "Kamiya."
She nodded in return and almost smiled. Misao's eyes were wide. "You know Saitou?"
"Uh, Misao... Aoshi?" Kaoru beaned her friend on the head with a fist and turned towards the interior of the silent office. "So, you're awake." She attempted to say more but blue met violet and the world began spinning in the opposite direction.
He was wearing modern clothes, a white shirt and grey pants, but his hair, his eyes, his features. She blinked in disbelief. Was it really this easy? She hadn't even had a chance to start up a good and sleep stealing obsession and yet here he was. "You held me in the bath last night, didn't you?"
Kenshin nodded, amazed at the woman before him. She was awake, dry, fully clothed and gorgeous. Her glossy black hair had been pulled up in a tail and tied with a ribbon that brushed the shoulders of a faded purple polo shirt. Her jeans fit to perfection and the sandals on her adorable feet showed just the tips of her painted toes. And her eyes...
Her eyes were running over his face, his eyes, his hair, committing everything to memory. Wide and deep blue, they locked onto his with an almost audible click. Kenshin took a step forward. "I'm glad to see you feeling better. You were rather quiet the last time we met. I hope it wasn't my conversation."
She blinked, processed his words versus her memories, thought about taking more Tylenol then began laughing as his teasing sank in. "Were you talking?"
"More like taking orders, Miss Megumi and Misao were very direct about what was to be done. They were worried you would slip and hurt yourself if they tried to wake you to stand in the shower last night."
"So it wasn't a dream," Kaoru mused to herself as her eyes finally left his and traveled to his companion. "You, I don't know."
"Sanosuke Sagara, at your service. I was running the officer gambit while you were refreshing yourself with." Sano thought a second and sniffed in Kenshin's direction. "Peach soap, as I recall." Misao laughed out loud as both Kenshin and Kaoru began to turn proper shades of red.
"Well, introductions are over, you two have a meeting, and Kaoru must be bundled off to her safe house. What's first on the list?"
"My safe house won't be available until this evening around eight or so, hopefully. I'm on your mercy until then, Misao." Kaoru began to seriously wonder whether or not Megumi had brought extra medicine.
"I have a report to write up, so I'm dumping you on Kenshin. He'll take you downstairs and you two can get to know each other properly. He needs more Online hours, do you want to take him around?"
Kaoru was shaking her head and missed the wink between Misao and Megumi, Sano caught it and grinned. "We should have Aoshi take him if he's available. There are still things to be set up, but an Online meeting would be perfect, should we schedule it for after the budget meeting?" She looked inquiringly at Kenshin who had successfully kept a pitiful look from emerging as she said no to showing him around. "Would two-thirty be good?"
He nodded. "We should be able to sneak out before that."
She smiled brightly at him and turned to Misao. "I need access soon. There're tons of things for me to do on startup, and I should refresh my security programs. I've even got a great idea for a new one based on this attack. I've also never fully used the entire safe house program all at once so some test runs will be required before I can successfully move in. Do you mind my borrowing you and your ninja skills for a bit later this evening?" She took several breaths then groaned. "Does anyone have some Tylenol?"
Kenshin glanced at Sanosuke who was already digging into his desk drawers. Out popped a small bottle and several pills. "Better than anything over the counter, the doctors gave me this the last time they thought I might have gotten a concussion. Lots of brain deadening power in there."
"I'm going to need my brain for the next hours, anything lighter?"
Kenshin held out his own small bottle. "Tylenol."
"Oooh… I love you." Kaoru took the bottle and sighed in pleasure at the sound of pills inside. Her eyes widened then as her words registered. She chuckled oddly then pivoted back into the hallway in search of the water cooler she'd seen earlier. "Misao," she called out behind her, "let's get going!"
After a hurried wave and a quick wink to Kenshin, the petite woman began dragging her friends down to her lair. "You're gonna love it here, Kaoru," she gushed on the elevator. "Maybe Aoshi will let you touch his precious things."
"His precious things," Megumi questioned.
"Yeah, he's been working on these things and he won't let me touch them."
"Aoshi won't let you touch his things?"
"Yeah, and they're real neat looking, all shiny and metallic."
Megumi couldn't resist and made sure Kaoru was between her and the Weasel girl before she made her final remark. "I always thought Aoshi's things would be rather soft and round, maybe with some hair unless he shaves." She looked at Kaoru who was doing her best not to laugh as Misao looked at Megumi in horror. "He really doesn't strike me as the type to shave, though."
"Well," Kaoru mused in a low voice as she joined in on the teasing. "They could be blue also, what with the lack of use, or would that just make them dusty. Maybe you should do some cleaning, Itachi-Musume."
"I can't believe you just told me that, seriously. The two of you just said…" Misao was silent as she attempted to compose a suitable comeback. After a minute of glaring she finally gave up and tossed her nose into the air as high as she could.
"Hmmph, perverts."
To Be Continued…
Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin, but if he shows up on Ebay I will most definitely be outbidded, I'm sure.
Author's Note: Hah! Tricked all of you! You thought I was gone and dead and never to be seen again, didn't you! Well, Hah! And Hah again… and I'm sorry and forgive me, I really don't deserve anything, but I have a kinda explanation/excuse that I took a really long time coming up with! And I'm sure you all want to hear it because now I have you all curious, right?
Well, as you'll no longer be able to know, my last update was 8-20-03 right around the time when my almost five year relationship started going kaputs. Then in Jan 04 it really did go kaputs and I was a torn mess of something that really should have been tossed out with the garbage and then my lined up next sweetie to be and me finally hit it off properly around Aug 04 and so I was happy and finding my niche again and then in Oct 04 I found out I was pregnant and then I got married in Feb. 05 and now I'm happily married, seven months pregnant with an adorable boy due June 29th and finally able to write again. So there.. proper excuse and all.
Wanna know something funny? The baby's name will be Kenneth Robert, but me being the Kenshin fan that I am knew it didn't have anything to do with the fact that Kenshin and Kenneth were so close together. Strangely enough it was my HUSBAND who accidentally called him Kenshin for the first time. I will claim the second one, but only the first syllable got out of my mouth. So there.