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Chapter 2: Good Morning!
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She hummed softly as she sat outside, combing her short fiery red hair with a black lacquered comb. It didn't take her long, since her straight hair only reached her chin, and soon she had put away the comb and had taken to looking around the small dojo from where she sat.
It was a nice little place, not too fancy but not too run down either. It had a nice homey feel that made her feel comfortable.
With a regretful pang Shousei realized she was probably more comfortable here than in her own home.
"Yo," a voice said, gratefully taking her out of her reminiscence. She looked up to see Kyouri's old friend and reason they were staying here walking towards her. He sat down besides her and leaned back against a column with such ease that she figured he probably had done it millions of times before.
"Ohayo, Sanosuke," she smiled, bowing her head slightly as he gave her a funny look.
"You don't have to be so polite around here, you know," Sano grinned. "It's not as if I'm your innkeeper or anything."
"I suppose you're right," Shousei answered with a humble smile that looked so much like a certain rurouni's, "But old habits are hard to break, especially around people I don't know very well." He shrugged rather cheerfully as they sat in silence.
"Um, so, where's Kyouri?" Sano asked after a short minute of silence. Shousei smiled the more familiar foxy smile as she looked at Sanosuke, causing him to arch his eyebrow at her.
"Still sleeping," Shousei answered after a second.
"Sleeping? But it's almost ten," Sano said.
"Yeah, well, she's not much of an early bird," Shousei answered with a grin.
"Hm, she always woke up early when I knew her," Sano said thoughtfully.
"Only because I had to," Kyouri's voice said, interrupting their conversation. They both looked behind them to see her poking her head out of the shoji screen from her room. She indeed looked very disheveled with her brown bangs even messier than usual and seemed to have just woken up since she was rubbing her eyes. "I would sleep in till twelve every day if I c-c-could," she said as she yawned. Sano was about to say something before another voice cut into their conversation.
"Ahhh!" Sachi sighed as she walked towards them, stretching her arms out. "Nothing like a warm bath to start the day!" She sat down besides Shousei, who, without a word, handed her the comb she had put in her obi and Sachi began to comb her hair that was identical to her sister's.
"Warm bath?" Kyouri asked, perking up. "Me next!!"
"But Yamainu's already…" Sachi began, but Kyouri had already streaked out of her room down the walkway. "…going to go next," she finished lamely.
"Other way!!" yelled Shousei as Kyouri ran down a wrong hall.
"Thanks!" she yelled back as she turned back and flew down the other way.
"Bet you Yamainu lets her take a bath first," Sachi grinned to her sister.
"No bet," Shousei said as she shook her head. "As if I was stupid."
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Yamainu was walking down the hall at his leisure, clutching a small bucket filled with his bath utensils, when a red blur flew past him into the bathroom that was right in front of him. He stood dumbfounded for a second before reacting.
"Oi!!" he yelled as he pounded the door with his fist, "Get outta there! I'm next!" The door slid open, and there stood Kyouri, looking up at him.
"Aw, come on, Yami," Kyouri pouted. "Let me take a bath first." Yamainu narrowed his eyes at her.
"No," Yamainu replied simply.
"But I'm a girl and girls need baths, while boys, on the other hand, can wait," she said in a slightly whiny voice.
"No," Yamainu said with finality. "I called dibs after Sachi and you're gonna have to wait." Kyouri didn't answer however, and just stared up at him.
Gods, no, Yamainu thought, Not the eyes. Kyouri was looking up at him with wide green eyes that held the same power that a kitten had when it managed to look innocent while you were scolding it. Yamainu groaned inwardly as he managed a glare at her, but her look didn't falter.
"Fine," growled Yamainu as he looked away. "Just don't take long."
"Thank you!!" she sang, and with that she snapped the door closed and left him standing dumbly in the hall. He sauntered off after glaring at the door for a few more seconds, feeling that somehow he had been cheated of something…
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"…So then she starts pummeling the guy with random things and stuff from random stalls," Sachi was saying as she waved her hands animatedly, both Shousei and Sano watching eagerly with grins on their faces. "But he only begins to get nervous when she reaches a pile of watermelons…"
"And then," laughed Shousei as she cut in, "he starts trying to explain as he's dodging the shower of fruit that he wasn't trying to grab her chest but was only trying to get her wallet…"
"…And that he had only started pick-pocketing recently so he was still new and didn't have a 'technique' yet…" continued Sachi in between laughs.
"You can imagine how that went down with Kyouri…" giggled Shousei as Sano grinned so broadly that it looked as if it was going from ear to ear; it seemed that Kyouri was still as explosive as ever when it came to invasion of personal space and/or scaring the wits out of her.
"Then she decided that fruit wasn't enough, so she…" But Sachi was cut off since the subject of their story had walked in on their conversation, clearly frowning at the two girls.
"Just what are you guys talking about?" Kyouri said through gritted teeth, though she had a good idea what story they were reciting.
"Oh, hi Kyouri," Shousei said cheerfully, ignoring her question. "We're just having a little story time with Sanosuke."
"Ugh, not the one about the pickpocket that I threw into the river," Kyouri frowned.
"Really?" Sano asked, seemingly impressed. He glanced at her and look of surprise crossed his face, but she didn't notice.
"Aww, Kyouri!" exclaimed Sachi. "You gave the ending away!"
"Whatever, don't listen to what they say, Sano," she said as she sat down next to him. "They tend to over exaggerate things… Sano?" Sano didn't hear her, however, as he was too busy staring her, his eyes slightly wide. Now, without her traveling cloak on, he saw what she was wearing. She had on a white gi, a lot like the one he was wearing, it seemed, under a sleeveless red one, both of them tied together by a thick green obi, and under that she was wearing red shorts that went down mid thigh (a/n: kinda like Misao's except not so baggy and red with long white sleeves). It wasn't her clothes that got his attention, however, it was the long wave of light brown hair that swayed gently behind her, catching the light in ways that made it shimmer with touches of gold. It was longer than both Megumi's or Kaoru's, reaching past her waist and brushing the ground softly as she sat down.
"Umm, Sano?" she said as she waved her hand in front of his face. "What are you staring at?"
"Huh?" Sano said as he snapped out of his daze, seeing that she was giving him a quizzical look while the twins were looking at both of them with sly smiles. "Um, nothing, it's just…" He trailed off, looking away and trying to seem unconcerned, although his face felt a little hot.
"What?" she asked, smiling slightly.
"Your hair," he said simply, turning to look at her again. "It's really…. long." He mentally rolled his eyes at himself for a lack of creativity.
"Oh yeah, last time you saw me it was short, right?" she said, now smiling fully. "Well, my hair's grown a little during the last ten years."
"Yeah, yeah, I know that," Sano said impatiently, waving his hand as if brushing away her comment. "It's just that it seems so… girly." Her face fell slightly at this, and Sachi slapped her hand over her forehead.
She said nothing as she pulled a dark look at him.
"What's with that face?" Sano said, feeling slightly apprehensive but not showing it. Her eyes narrowed more as a dark shadow covered them.
"You make it sound like a bad thing," she said darkly. Yeah, Sano was feeling apprehensive now. Beads of sweat appeared on his face as he remained perfectly still.
"I didn't mean it like that," he said. Damn, he insulted her, didn't he? "It's just, er, surprising, okay?" She didn't answer, but her look lost some of its edge as she looked at him expectantly.
He grinned at her, kind of out of relief, surprising her slightly, "It looks good." She remained silent, but grinned back at him, the dark cloud suddenly lifting. "But what happened to the whole 'I want to be treated better' thing?" She shrugged, almost haughtily.
"I decided I don't give a crap about what others think," she said, smiling. "I'm gonna dress how I want and act how I want."
"Show so much leg and people are gonna think you're a prostitute," Sano pointed out good naturedly, although her face fell slightly.
"That already happened, remember Kyouri?" Sachi grinned. "That guy, when we were in Okinawa? It's a funny story; he asked…" But she trailed off as her face turned slightly blue from seeing the dark murderous look in Kyouri's eyes.
"And what about you Sano?" Sachi smiled, turning away from Kyouri's gaze. "Dressed how you are, people are gonna think you're a bad ass."
" 'Bad ass'?" Sano echoed, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Yep, very few people can pull it off," Shousei grinned.
"Those who can definitely get their share of the ladies, though, ne?" Sachi smirked.
"Someone like you has no problem with the look, seeing as how you're so well built."
"There isn't an ounce of fat under your neck, is there?"
"You must work out a lot."
"It obviously pays off, though."
"How long does it take you to wrap all those bandages?"
"Does your hair really stick up that much?" As they were bombarding him with questions, they kept leaning in closer and closer with eagerness, a mischievous gleam in their eyes, making Sano keep backing up until he was at the edge of the walkway.
"Will you guys stop it??" Kyouri growled, smiling angrily as a vein throbbed on her forehead. "You're embarrassing him!! And you're gonna push him off!" The two girls grinned at each other slyly as they backed off, and Sano gave Kyouri a grateful look. No one had ever put him on the spot about his appearance like that. Thank Kami that was over.
"She's just mad that we're so close to him," Sachi said with an extremely foxy grin. Kyouri's and Sanosuke's faces were by now burning from the anger (for Kyouri) and awkwardness (for both) they felt.
"Anyways, why would he be embarrassed about being in good shape?" Shousei asked innocently.
"Which you are, by the way," Sachi said, turning to Sanosuke. "Now I really do wonder who would win if you fought with Yamainu. Who knows, maybe you'd have a chance, even if you are just a…" But she stopped short when she caught Kyouri's warning glance.
"A what?" Sano asked, arching his eyebrow at her challengingly, the air around them tensing slightly.
"A kid," Shousei cut in, saving her sister. "You're just a kid compared to an old fart like Yamainu." With that the small amount of tension dissipated as the girls grinned at Kyouri, who was grinning widely.
"I heard that," Yamainu said as he walked towards the group, a towel still around his neck. "I'm only twenty one, and you know that." He frowned towards the twins as they giggled behind their hands, Shousei having finally let go of Sano's arm.
"Really?" asked Sachi with fake amazement. "With the way you act sometimes, I could've sworn you were around forty or something." The girls began laughing again, and Sano and Kyouri couldn't help grinning while Yamainu glared at all of them.
"Oh, come on, Yami," Kyouri grinned. "You know their just kidding."
"'Yami'?" Sano asked, arching his eyebrow and grinning mischievously at Yamainu.
"It's her pet name for him," Sachi said, her laughter having died down.
"The fact that he lets her call him that just shows how spoiled she is by him," Shousei grinned.
"Izzat so?" Sano smirked up at Yamainu. "Fuzz head?" The twins began giggling madly again at this as Kyouri tried, but failed, to suppress a snicker as she realized how well the name fit him.
"I am NOT fuzzy!!" he shouted, causing the three girls to burst out laughing and making Sano's grin grow even wider.
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"Hmm," Kaoru said from where she was watching the whole spectacle, a smile on her lips. "I've never seen Sano so at ease with a group of people before. They all look like they're old friends or something."
"I guess," Yahiko, who was standing besides her and Kenshin, shrugged.
"Perhaps it's good for Sano to be with people around his age every now and then," Kenshin smiled.
"Then whaddya call me and his other friends?" Kaoru frowned, clenching her fist dangerously.
"Um, this one means that maybe it's good for him to be with people who don't know about 'Zanza' or anything else about him," Kenshin said quickly, holding his laundry bucket in front of him just in case. "People that haven't built up assumptions but see him for what he is."
"Oh, is that why he rammed his fist into my head yesterday?" Yahiko asked sarcastically. "He didn't want them to think of him as the drinking, gambling, freeloading ex-street fighter he is?"
"This one guesses so," Kenshin said, "Although this one thinks there may be… other reasons too." He looked up at Kyouri, who was still laughing and now joking around with Sachi, playing off Yamainu.
"Aww," Kaoru said as she smiled happily at Kyouri then Sanosuke, clasping her hands by her shoulder, then she stopped abruptly as a thought crossed her mind. "Who would've thought Sano would actually fall for someone; he doesn't really seem like the boyfriend type, does he? Still, I guess he's just a guy in the end…"
"Whatever, I don't get it," Yahiko muttered, shrugging as he went off to do more practicing.
"Excuse this one for he has to finish emptying the bath, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said as he turned and left.
"Well, I guess that leaves me to make lunch," Kaoru mused to herself, and with that she turned and started walking towards the kitchen.
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-Note: Ah, Kaoru's making lunch, that won't end well…(heh heh heh…)
I haven't updated in a while, have I? I'm really not living up to my name… (kie devotion). Oh well, I'm updating now, and I'll have the next chapter up really soon! (as in, Wednesday maybe?). These chapters are gonna be a little hard for me, since I'm used to more tense stuff and not so much easy going-ness. But that'll end soon.
For those of you who are wondering why I changed the twin's names: I changed them 'cause WhiteRabbit5 made a very good point. There are too many people with names starting with a 'K'. Also, I've already planned for two other original characters that will appear in the distant future to have names starting with 'K', and I liked their names better than the twins. So, yeah…
Reviewer Responses:
WhiteRabbit5: Yeah, I didn't like the last chapter much either. I feel I didn't do justice to their reunion, which is kind of disappointing. I'm also nervous about these chapters… But I can't wait until I get to the later part of the story, where everything's already planned out in my head! Yeah, I really like Yamainu too! I don't know why, I guess it's 'cause he's easy to pick on (in a good way).
Rayne-chan: I started reading "The Hitokiri Crystal" a while ago, but I stopped mid chapter and have been so busy that I haven't gotten a chance to read more! (have I already left a review? I don't remember! -swirly eyed-). Gomen, but I love it so far and promise to read more as soon as I can!
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (it was kind of a pain to write, argh). It's late and there's school tomorrow (damnit), so, happy reading!!
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Ano, don't forget to review, please!
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