Disclaimer: RK isn't mine, I merely borrow the characters for my story.
A.N. Greetings! It is I, Sakura-san! I have returned from the depths of the internet with a new chapter! No, I did not forget about the story. No, I did not drop off the face of the Earth. Yes I will finish this fanfic, even if it's the last thing I do damnit!
Yes so I moved halfway across the country and now I'm in a new spot and a new job so it's been a bit stressful in my life lately. To say the very least. But that's okay. The new town I'm in is so exciting! They've got designer stores like... Wal-Mart...
Yeah, less than sophicated. But home nonetheless. So to make my transition up here easier on myself I wrote my fanfics. And wrote and wrote and wrote. This one is proving to be difficult to write but my other one is almost complete. But fear not! I strive on.
Anyways! Enough rambling.
R&R!
Enjoy!
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A Forgotten Night Chapter 15
The deer in headlights look was exceedingly cute on Kaoru. However that didn't ease the panic that was in Kenshin's chest. Why had he said that!
"Okay, now don't panic." Kenshin said calmly. Kaoru was slowly backing away from him as if he were a wild animal or something.
"Panic? Who's panicking? I'm not panicking?" Kaoru replied, a little faster and a little squeakier than normal.
'OmigodOmigodOmigod! He just said he loved me! What do I do?' Kaoru's brain screamed.
Kenshin remained rooted in his spot watching as Kaoru moved away from him.
"Okay, deep breaths" Kenshin said.
"I'm breathing. Why wouldn't I be breathing? Breathing is needed to live right? And if you want to continue to love me then I better continue breathing, right? You did just say that you loved me, didn't you? Of course you did, I wasn't hearing things. Look, that's nice but I think I need some air so if you'll excuse me." Kaoru babbled, all in one breath, and all very fast. Kenshin still hadn't fully comprehended it when he heard the door click shut.
Problem was that Kaoru had just shut herself into the bathroom.
Kenshin waited for a moment and then the door opened up again.
"That's not the exit, that's the bathroom, silly me. Silly Kaoru locking herself into the bathroom thinking it was the exit. Of course anyone would make that sort of mistake. All the doors look alike to me. We are in a suite after all, so all the doors are really fancy. In Misao's room, well my room to, where it's not so fancy, the bathroom door looks totally different then the exit door. Of course we don't have private bedroom and private sitting room and totally different exit either. We just have a plain room with beds and a shower and a TV. Well, you have a TV too, it's right over there and a mini-bar! We have a mini-bar too! Isn't that something, you just have extra walls, and extra fancy doors and that makes all the difference in the price of the rooms. Oh here's the exit. I'll see you later."
The entire speech took Kaoru the same amount of time that it took her to walk across the room and walk out the correct door. Which was approximately 15 seconds, maybe less, Kenshin wasn't sure. All he knew was that whatever she had said was a lot of information to process and his head was still reeling from when he had shoved his foot into his mouth.
Heaving a large sigh, Kenshin ran a hand over his face, only to have his nose connect with something hard. Pulling his hand away he looked down at his finger which still bore the wedding band Kaoru had put on his finger not an hour before hand.
Did he regret uttering those three words? In a way, yes, just because of the stress he had caused Kaoru. But they were the truth. He did love her very much. The warm feeling that spread through his entire being when he thought that Kaoru wore a ring that matched his own was proof enough of that.
Besides, wasn't a husband supposed to love his wife?
Yes, and he fully intended to, for the rest of his life.
Kaoru made it to the hallway without locking herself into another bathroom. Shutting the door behind her she took huge gulping breaths, trying to calm her racing heard and trying to clear her clouded head.
'He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.' Kaoru chanted in her mind over and over.
"I need Misao." Kaoru said out loud. Problem though, where was her best friend?
The sound of a closing door caused Kaoru to look down the hall. Just two doors down she saw Katsu exiting his room.
"YOU!" Kaoru yelled pointing down the hall and causing Katsu to jump. He whirled around to meet flashing blue eyes and black hair storming down the hall at him.
"Me?" Katsu asked timidly.
"I need Misao. Where's the tall guy?" Kaoru demanded. Not one to mess with a woman, Katsu replied immediately.
"Last I saw them they were starting to make nasty heading into their room." Katsu replied.
"Where's the room." It was more of an order, than a question.
"Downstairs? Where you used to be staying?" Katsu said hesitantly. It was only a couple of hours when they had been standing in the room that Aoshi and Misao were staying in. She forgot already?
Knowing full well that Katsu was a primary shit-disturber in the mess they were in, Kaoru held out her hand and gave one simple order.
"Key."
Katsu produced the key to Aoshi and Misao's room in an instant. Kaoru snatched the key out of his grasp and strode down the toward the elevator. The doors opened and Kaoru walked in, glared at the many floor numbers then stuck her head out again.
"Floor!" Kaoru ordered. Katsu stared at her in disbelief.
"What happened to you?"
"Floor!" Kaoru ordered again. Katsu jumped at her tone.
"14!" he replied.
Kaoru hit the button for the 14th floor and the doors slid shut. She was still reeling when the doors slid open and she stepped out of the elevator. There was a very long hallway stretching in both directions that had nothing but doors.
'He said he loved me.' Kaoru thought, still utterly shocked at the words that had come from Kenshin's mouth. Love was a very strong word. One that she knew Kenshin never said without first knowing if the feelings were there.
Unconsciously, Kaoru walked down the hallway and found herself standing in front of the door to her old hotel room. The 'Do Not Disturb' sign was on the knob again. Knowing full well what was going on in the room, Kaoru opted to stand outside the door and simply wail.
"MISAO! I need you!" Kaoru yelled. Her voice came out a little more stressed than usual, and the tone had the door flung open within seconds. Misao stood in the frame of the open door, wearing a man's dress shirt. Its sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and the tails were around her knees. Aoshi was a very big man when compared to little Misao.
Speaking of Aoshi, just past Misao, Kaoru could just barely see Aoshi sprawled spread eagle on the bed. He was covered by a single bed sheet and he looked dead.
"Kaoru! What's wrong?" Misao asked, rushing out of the room. Kaoru had momentarily forgotten why she was outside the room with her best friend, seeing the dead looking Aoshi had caused her some concern.
"Uh... Is he okay?" Kaoru asked, pointing over Misao's shoulder at Aoshi. The smaller woman looked back into the room. Her husband did indeed look dead. Misao grinned widely.
"He's... satisfied." Misao replied. And he certainly looked like it to Kaoru. "But he doesn't matter. What's wrong?"
"Misao this whole thing was a setup, all done by Megumi and Tae to get us married off or get us into some guys bed and we fell for it all and Sano keeps coming along interrupting us and everything seems to be falling apart and Kenshin said he loved me and I'm so confused and why would Megumi set us up like this oh and she's marrying Sano did you know that and I wish I knew why we were set up and I want you to help me!" Kaoru wailed, sinking to the floor.
"Wow. That was a lot of information." Misao said, dumbfounded and still trying to sort through what her friend had just said. She crouched down next to her friend and put a reassuring hand on Kaoru's shoulder.
"I don't know what you mean when you say this was a setup, but I don't think they'd do that. And so what if she's marrying Sano, it's just a coincidence really. And... WHAT? Kenshin said he loves you?" Misao cried, instantly interested.
"Kenshin said he loves you?"
"Kenshin said he loves you!"
"Kenshin said he loves you?"
Three separate voices, three separate men. Aoshi had shot up straight in bed, Katsu and Sano had just sauntered down the hall. Katsu had informed his friend that Kaoru had been a little rattled so they were investigating what had happened.
Kaoru and Misao found themselves surrounded by three men who were oddly enough, very interested in knowing exactly what they had to say. Go figure. Not one, not two, but THREE men were hanging off every word they said.
"Uh..." Misao started.
"Kenshin said he loves you?" Sano repeated.
Kaoru looked at the four pairs of eyes that bored into her. She felt stressed, confused, and elated all at once, and she wasn't entirely sure which emotion she should act on. She sent Misao a helpless look and her friend interpreted it immediately.
"OUT! Everyone out, right now!" Misao barked, grabbing Kaoru's arm and pulling her inside the room.
"But-" Aoshi started. Misao ignored him and grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door. Sano and Katsu still stood at the door so using Aoshi as a battering ram she shoved her husband, and his two friends out the door. "But-" Aoshi repeated before the door slammed right in his face.
The three men stood in silence, staring at the closed door.
Aoshi looked over his shoulder at Sano and pointed at the door.
"My clothes are in there." Aoshi said to Sano. Sano nodded in understanding. Aoshi was standing in the hall wearing only white bed sheet wrapped around his waist. His feet were bare, his chest was bare, and there were a couple of women in their mid 60s just down the hall staring at him with smiles on their faces.
One winked.
"Let's get you some clothes." Sano said, steering his friend towards the elevator. The woman who winked gave Aoshi a little wave. "Before the ladies form a mob." Sano punched the button and in seconds the doors opened to reveal another woman who stared in wide-eyed shock at the sheet-wearing man.
"Well, well, Mr. Shinomori. If I wasn't getting married I'd try to seduce you." One woman said.
"What the..." Aoshi said, shocked.
There on the elevator, stood Megumi Takani. Sanosuke Sagara's fiancée.
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"Let's recap. Kenshin said he loves you?" Misao asked as she made her way to the bed where Kaoru had sat herself. Kaoru nodded slightly looking very upset by the fact. "And... that's bad because..." she continued and motioned with her hands for Kaoru to move on.
"It's bad because it was a set up! It's bad because we've known each other for 4 hours! It's bad because... because..." Kaoru faltered. Misao sat next to her friend.
"Because... you love him too?" Misao asked tentatively.
Kaoru burst into tears. Misao nodded. She was right. Kaoru did love him.
"Okay. That's enough." Misao said. Kaoru immediately stopped crying. The tone in her friend's voice was enough to make anyone stop crying.
No one messed with Misao when she spoke like that.
"So. Let me get this straight." Misao started. "He loves you." Kaoru nodded. "You love him." Kaoru nodded. "You're married." Kaoru nodded. "You haven't had sex."
"Misao!" Kaoru exclaimed indignantly.
"What? It's true isn't it!" Misao cried.
"Well... yeah, but..."
"'Yeah'! What do you mean 'yeah'? That man is one fine specimen and you haven't jumped his bones yet!" Misao exclaimed.
"Misao!"
"What!"
"You sound like Tae." Kaoru replied. Misao opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself and thought for a moment.
"Oh... you're right." Misao said with an amazing tone. Kaoru arched an eyebrow at Misao.
On the other side of the door, Katsu knelt on the floor with his ear firmly pressed to the door in a vain attempt to hear some fragements of the conversation. He was getting some very odd looks from the two women who had been admiring Aoshi minutes before.
"I'm trying to listen in on the two women in here." He whispered to them in response to their questioning looks. "It's really hard because they're in bed together."
The looks rapidly changed to shock and the two women hurried away.
Katsu was watching the women retreating with a grin on his face when the door flew open and he found himself flat on his stomach, half in the room and half in the hallway. Next thing he knew, Misao had a firm grip on his ear and was hauling him to his feet.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Katsu exclaimed getting to his feet and walking in the direction Misao was pulling. She backed him into the corner and forced him into the chair next to the window. Kaoru sat on the bed in wide-eyed shock and Katsu knew his expression was a mirror image.
Kaoru had been questioning why they had been set up when Misao had suddenly stood up, marched over to the door and flung it open. The last thing Kaoru expected was to see someone fall into the room.
"The answers to all our questions rest in this man's head." Misao said as she stood over Katsu and crossed her arms. Katsu may have been sitting but he was still almost as tall as Misao was when she was standing next to him. "And you're going to tell us, aren't you Katsu?"
Misao may be short, but she scared Katsu.
She sort of reminded him of Tae.
That thought had him nodding his head vigorously.
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Aoshi was dumbfounded as he entered the elevator to join Sano and Megumi. When the doors had opened and Megumi made her comment, Sano made some sort of retort before entering the elevator and giving his fiancé a kiss. None of it was really registering with Aoshi since he was wearing a sheet and still a little shocked to see Megumi.
"Megumi, what are you doing here?" Aoshi asked.
"Admiring your pectorals, Shinomori." Megumi replied, smiling approvingly.
"Hey now, you're spoken for lady." Sano replied. Megumi silenced her future husband with a small kiss on the cheek. The doors of the elevator opened once more and Yahiko stood on the other side staring in at the half dressed Aoshi. All eyes fell on Yahiko who stared openly at Aoshi. There was silence for several seconds until Yahiko finally opened his mouth.
"Adults are weird."
"It's drafty in here. Lend me some clothes, Sagara." Aoshi said walking out of the elevator.
"Yes master." Sano replied sarcastically.
"Oro. Aoshi, what happened?" Kenshin asked as he was coming down the hallway. Sano's eyes widened at the sight of the red-head. He could NOT find out about Megumi. Seeing her would blow their cover wide open and Kenshin could figure out what happened the previous night. Luckily, Megumi heard his voice and stayed in the elevator, blocked from Kenshin's sight.
"Misao kicked me out without any clothes." Aoshi replied.
"Why would she do that?" Kenshin asked.
"Because your wife showed up all upset at our door."
The statement caused Kenshin to stop dead in his tracks.
"Kaoru's there? Give me the key I need to see her!" Kenshin exclaimed. Aoshi merely raised an eyebrow.
"Sure, let me just get that out of my pocket." Was Aoshi's sarcastic reply.
"Nevermind. Out of my way." Kenshin said and made a move for the elevator. Sano panicked at the movement and said the first thing that came to mind.
"You told Kaoru you loved her?" Sano asked. The moment it was out of his mouth he regretted it for one simple reason...
"You love Kaoru!" Megumi exclaimed, flying out of the elevator and coming to a dead stop in front of Kenshin. The second she was out, she realized her mistake.
Kenshin stared up at the taller woman before him in wide-eyed shock.
Megumi was a beautiful woman. Her long black hair was whip straight and hung halfway down her back. She wore a fitted black sweater and skirt set that accented her curves perfectly. Ever since she arrived in Vegas, men had been tripping over themselves to serve her or just get her to look their way. Her appearance was elegant, regal, and very ladylike.
"Megumi." Kenshin said, shocked at seeing her. Blinking, a new memory emerged from the grey cloud that was the previous night in Kenshin's mind. A memory of a tall black-haired woman pointing to a beautiful sapphire and diamond engagement ring. "The ring." He said softly.
"Aw crap." Megumi cursed in a very unladylike fashion.
A.N. So yeah, who here wants the recollection of the previous night as witnessed by others who were not totally plastered like K&K? That's what is in store for chapter 16! I shall post it asap.
Sakura
