Chapter 11

The Worst Day

Kaoru sat in her bed that night pondering the day's events. She'd cried quietly while walking out of the park and away from Kenshin, but she wouldn't allow any more tears to fall. She was too strong to act so weakly.

When she arrived at home, her mother noticed something was wrong. Kaoru had complained that she wasn't feeling well and went straight into her room. The woman had asked her daughter for dinner, but the she declined and opted for some milk instead.

"Kaoru honey, is everything okay? What's wrong with you today?" she asked.

"Oh mom, yea…everything is okay. I just, I don't feel well. Might be a cold or something. I'm really tired, so I'm going to bed okay?"

"Alright, you should rest. I'll give your father and brother dinner before I leave for work."

With that she was left alone in her room for the remainder of the evening. She'd completed her assignments from school as soon as she'd gotten home. After that a nice hot shower was in order, and she relished the feeling of having all her tension and stress melt away under the hot stream of the water. She walked out feeling cleaner, but the nagging at her heart still didn't stop.

As she sat in bed, staring out the window, she reflected on her day. "I shouldn't have been so hard on Kenshin. He probably thinks I'm such a witch for everything I said to him. But…how could I just say 'yes' to him? I can't! I just can't! He's gonna' hate me from this point on. Kenshin…do you really hate me?"

She tried hard not cry. These days she was crying herself to sleep almost every night, and it was all thanks to her father. She grew angrier and more frustrated at every word she recalled telling Kenshin.

"But he didn't follow you either! He probably thinks I have way too much drama for him to deal with. Who would want to deal with this?" She chuckled bitterly at her own fate and struggled to hold back tears.

"No Kaoru, you are alone. You'll be alone because you can't share this crap with anyone else. No one deserves this. But, then why do we have to deal with it? What did we ever do to deserve this?"

Memories of her childhood flooded back and she was biting her quivering bottom lip, as a last ditch effort to not break down into tears.

She glanced at the timepiece through teary eyes and made out, 10 pm on the clock. "Damn, I've been sitting here for hours."

Deciding to check up on her younger brother, she quietly walked out her room. She needed to get her attention off of all the awful thoughts in her head. Softly she opened her room door and crept into the hallway. Yahiko's bedroom door was slightly ajar so some of the hallway light could flood in. He hated sleeping in the dark, unlike his older sister.

She opened his door a bit wider and glanced inside. He was slumbering soundly as under the sheets. After seeing his chest rise and fall a few times, Kaoru was contempt that he was okay, and left.

As she walked back towards her room, there was a slight grumbling in her stomach.

"Damn, that's what I get for skipping supper. I guess I'll get a snack from the kitchen".

She made her way down the stairs softly so as not to alert her father. The last thing she wanted was for a repeat of him asking her for money again. As she descended the stairs, she felt a cool draft come up from the front door.

When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she realized why the first floor was so cold. The front door was practically wide open, and a cool night breeze was blowing through.

After closing and locking the door securely, she quickly ran into the darkened living room, then the kitchen, then checked the first floor bathroom. There was no sign of him.

"Damnit, he left the house wide open…again."

After a few moments of anger towards the man, she realized the gravity of the situation. "Anyone could've just walked right in! He's so damn…fuck!"

"Why can't he just LOCK THE DAMN DOOR!" she shouted the top of her lungs. Her blood boiled with anger towards the man that didn't seem to care for the safety of his own children. He didn't care that a thieve, murder, or a rapist could've walked right into through the open door and done whatever with her and Yahiko.

At this point she had no appetite left for anything. Her lids were heavy from the long day she'd had. She trudged back up the stairs, not caring to look if he'd taken his house keys or not. "Fuck him!"

The room door closed behind her and she walked over to her bed. Her head was weary and she could not believe she would have to face Kenshin at school again tomorrow. "Damn, not even school is safe anymore. I can't go there, and I wouldn't want to even take the day off to stay HERE!"

She slept soundly not caring to stay awake to listen for her father. Usually she would hear him come back through the front door and shuffle through the house and back into the living room.

Tonight though, she had no desire to do so. All she wanted was to surrender to her weariness and find some peace in her sleep. She didn't know if he came back or not and honestly didn't care.

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The next morning came all too quickly. Kaoru arose to the annoying buzzing of her alarm clock and groggily prepared herself to get ready for school. She completed her morning rituals in a haze of sleepiness, but managed to get through them.

As usual, she fought with Yahiko to get up and start getting ready. The boy was as usual, just as stubborn to sleep in longer. Finally though, the time came for her to leave the house.

She walked down the stairs and back into the hallway by the front door. As she pulled on her shoes, she tried to listen for sound of her father from inside the darkened living room. When she heard no sounds, she decided to investigate further.

Under any other circumstance, she would've never ventured into the living room. The only other person besides her father that ever went in there was her mother. Yahiko constantly complained of the smells and his temper, much like his father, always flared when he would see the disarray of the living room. But this morning there was something different. Kaoru needed to see for herself if the man was in the living room.

She sensed an urgency to check on him like never before. Sure she would verify his existence by merely listening for his breathing, mumblings, moving about or even hiccupping. But this morning, she needed to see for herself that he was okay.

As she walked through the doorway of the dark room, she peeked through the heavy pale green curtains that hung from the ceiling. Her mother had decided to block the view of the room from the few visitors or guests that they would have. Instead, she would invite them to the small dining room or even the kitchen area. The living room always stunk of vomit and liquor.

She poked her head inside first and adjusted to the dim sunlight that barely managed to filter in through the drawn curtains of the windows. The room was large in size; it was the largest room in their modest home. Kaoru had been so proud to help decorate it when they first moved in. The walls were kept a neutral off-white color per her mother's requests. There was a once pristine light, Oriental rug on the floor, but it was now covered in spots. The spots were dried and then cleaned up vomit. They were dark in color and some were still a fresh red. "Red? He's throwing up blood again," she thought.

The man made no attempts to run towards the bathroom whenever he needed to throw up. He would just empty the contents of his stomach where ever he laid and the only person to clean it up would be his wife. Sometimes he'd lay in the filth all night until his wife checked on him the next morning after work. She'd scrub diligently at the stains and try her hardest to remove the discoloration, but to no avail. All she could do was clean it up and deodorize it so that smell wouldn't radiate through the house.

The couch they had was a simple one. They had found it at a bargain price, and it'd come with a coffee table and love seat as well. The fabric was light in color, which didn't help the fact that it too was covered in stains. Since there was no bed in the living room for him, the man had made a habit of sleeping on the floor. His wife had tried to make him as comfortable as possible by giving him a set of pillows, a blanket to sleep on top of, and a comforter for warmth. But those too were constantly being covered in vomit as well. The blankets were strewn about the floor carelessly.

Their precious ornaments: vases, lamps, candleholders, sceneries on the walls, and a small TV were all covered in dust. With no attention being given to them, they seemed to sit in misery at the original settings that Kaoru had arranged. Empty bottles and glasses were littered throughout the room as a cold dinner from the night before lay untouched atop the coffee table. Everything was in a state of darkness and stillness.

She looked around, sad for her belongings, sad at the memories of buying those objects with her mother, and sad at the fact that they couldn't even enjoy their precious room. Then she saw him lying on the couch. He was sprawled out on the couch, his legs and arms seemed as if they didn't belong to him. One arm was bent over his eyes, and so covered half his face from her sight. She saw his chest rise and fall under the dirty wife beater he had on, and decided everything was fine. The clothes he wore outside: the jacket, the cap, the shoes, and the shirt were thrown about the small love seat near her.

"Damn, I wonder if he went by mom again?"

Content at the sight of him, Kaoru could no longer stand to inhale the nauseating smells of the room and decided to leave. She knew her time at home was making her late, and Misao would be angry at having to wait for her.

Just as she was about to walk out of the living room, she heard him stir. He slowly began to sit up, but even that motion seemed painful for him as he gripped his chest with one hand. He's features were twisted in a frown as he winced at the pain from within his chest. She heard him hiccup several times as drool began to fall from the side of his lips.

"Argh, disgusting!" she thought. "This is the same man that I followed around as if he was the smartest, strongest, and best person in the world to me? Damnit, that was a completely different man!"

As if he sensed her thoughts, the man looked up while still grasping his chest. Father and daughter made eye contact and he began to speak.

"K-K-Kaoru…I…I don't feel right," he stammered out.

She stood there fixed to her spot and finally gathered the strength to reply, "What's wrong?"

He clutched his chest and shook his head from side to side as if vehemently disagreeing with someone. She shifted to the right and fumbled to find the light switch on the wall. Finally her fingers located it and flicked it on. Instantly the room lit up and so did the disarray. Suddenly her senses were assaulted with sights and smells she wanted to run away from.

She looked back over at her father and he was sitting upright on the couch. He slowly looked up at her with confusion and pain etched in his features. His light brown eyes were almost glazed over and the whites of his eyes were stained with red and yellow.

He looked so fragile and she was growing angry once more. How could he let himself get like this? Malnutritioned from not eating regularly, weak and almost feeble, and he'd withered to not even half the man that she remembered.

"Dad…" she whispered.

He looked up at her once more and soon everything else was a blur. She remembered him looking up towards and he started to shake. Not knowing what to make of the situation, she was glued in place. She dared not to make a move as the horrific scene unfolded before her.

His shaking got more and more violent as his limbs seemed to not be under his control any longer. His face was frozen in a terrified stare and his teeth were clenched tightly shut. The blood seemed to drain from his face, as he turned completely pale.

She was terrified, confused, and completely frozen. Not know what to do she cried out to him, "DAD, STOP IT!" Her voice cracked.

Was he doing this on purpose? No he couldn't be! The pain and horror across his features couldn't be made up. But what could she do? He was shaking so violently at this point: his arms, legs, even his head was violently being thrashed from side to side.

Then it went from bad to worse. She looked on in terror as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he fell from his perch from the couch. He sprawled out on the floor and continued to shake. Now there were noises, grunts and muffles coming from his clenched mouth.

"DAD! DAD!" she screamed.

Just then she heard the familiar jingling of her mother's keys at the front door.

"MOM! MOM! COME HERE! DAD…THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH DAD! MOM!" Kaoru screamed out of sheer fright.

Her mother flew inside the room in a matter of seconds as she quickly removed and threw her coat aside and was instantly at her husband's side. Kaoru could do nothing but look on at the scene in front of her.

The man was still shaking as he was lying on the ground and soon his gasps and grunts gave way to something that drove the two women to panic. A trickle of blood started to stream down the side of his mouth and across his cheek. His eyes were still rolled back into his head and his limbs were completely tensed and frozen as they continued to shake.

Her mother was screaming her husband's name and begging him to stay with her. She tried to cradle his head with her hands, but was afraid to hurt him, as he remained unresponsive to her screams. "Please NO, NO! Stay with me damnit! NO!" her mother screamed and cried.

She looked up at Kaoru who still stood frozen and crying, "CALL FOR HELP! CALL FOR AN AMBULENCE! KAORU, NOW!"

As if shook out of her trance, Kaoru snapped from her frozen state and ran out of the living room and into the kitchen for the phone on the wall. She punched in the emergency number and waited for an answer.

Almost immediately there was an answer and she began screaming at the operator to send help.

"It's my dad! It's my dad…he's, he's shaking a lot, and there's blood coming from his mouth…oh my God!" She could hear her mother's pleading still coming from the other room and she rushed into the room with the cordless phone still glued to her ear.

The woman on the other end asked what the address was and for a moment Kaoru struggled to remember. She quickly grabbed a bill off the table in the hallway and read off the strange characters to the woman. The operator stayed on the line and asked questions like "How old is he? What's his name? What's his height and weight?"

Kaoru was growing more and more impatient at her father's sight and just kept yelling, "I don't know! I don't know. Just please send help! PLEASE HURRY!"

The operator asked for the man's state and Kaoru described it to him through her tears. "He's shaking…his arms and legs are stiff…oh my God! There's…there's blood all over his face! Where the hell are you people?"

Finally after what seemed like an eternity the ambulance came roaring down the block. Kaoru could hear the sirens and immediately dashed to the front door. Her long forgotten school bag and books still lay on the tabletop as she rushed outside to direct the technicians to her father. The driver remained in the ambulance and two others emerged and rushed to Kaoru. She directed the men into the house and to her father side.

Her mother was still bent down over her husband and was crying profusely. By now even Yahiko had heard the commotion and was standing in the doorway of the living room looking on in horror. He stood much like Kaoru, scared, shocked and afraid to do or say anything.

Kaoru stood in the doorway of the living room next to Yahiko as she saw her mother speak to the EMT's. Tears still running down her face, she felt like she'd lost her hearing. She saw them all move their mouths and then start to work on her father, but she couldn't make anything out. The world around her blurred as she struggled to understand what was going on.

Just as soon as they had arrived, she found the EMT's had secured her unconscious father into a stretcher and began to wheel him out of the living room. He was unresponsive to anything that they were saying to him and she didn't even realize when they had strapped a mask over his nose and mouth. She just stood there dumbfounded.

To her surprise, her mother appeared before her and she wondered if this was all a dream.

"Kaoru, Kaoru! Listen to me. I have to go to the hospital with your dad okay? You…just get Yahiko to school for me okay? Please, can you do that?"

Kaoru nodded as she continued to stare at the figure of her father on the stretcher disappear out the front door. Her mother gathered her purse and coat and raced after them.

Soon the small ambulance was loaded with its cargo and roared down the streets once more.

Kaoru stood outside the front door as she stared down the empty street, she could still hear the sirens. Finally she snapped out of her stupor as she noticed the neighbors gapping at her. They stood outside their homes and gathered in small crowds on the front lawns. The sirens that caught their attention, and rather than race away from their homes, they'd discovered that the ambulance had come to the Kamiya's little house.

She quickly backtracked inside the house and shut and locked the door behind.

"Assholes have nothing better to do than stare at us" she mumbled to herself.

She looked up and saw Yahiko standing quietly in place inside the hallway.

"Yahiko…"

"What happened to him?" he asked.

"I…I don't know. I came downstairs and checked on him before I left, and he just started shaking."

Silence filled the air as the two children momentarily pondered the fate of their father. Would he live, would he die?

"I hope he's dead!" Yahiko blurted out before jetting up the stairs.

Kaoru didn't miss the pain and weakness in his voice. He didn't mean it, or did he?

She closed her eyes and pressed up against the front door. Taking in and letting out a deep breath she started to head up the stairs. Her mother had asked her to make sure and get Yahiko to school, and she would not fail her.

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Kenshin walked up to the school calm and collected as ever. He'd just parked up and began to walk through the crowd of people towards his usual meeting spot with Sano and the rest. But he looked forward to seeing only one person, Kaoru.

After leaving Misao and Aoshi at the café yesterday, Kenshin thought long and hard about himself and Kaoru. He thought about how easy it was for him at times to just forget his family troubles, but how she had to deal with it day in and day out. He had thought about his mother and her unwavering strength even until her last moments. And he even thought about his father…the man that had caused Kenshin's mother to suffer so much.

"But Kaoru you really don't know me do you? You think it's all cars and girls and partying for me huh? You don't know me, but I promise you I will change that!"

He moved quickly through the crowds and even chose to ignore some greetings from his regular 'fans'. There was nothing that was going to stop him from reaching his goal that morning.

The evening before after giving careful consideration to what he heard from Aoshi and Misao, Kenshin had come up with some way for Kaoru to trust him. "She's really not like any other girl otherwise this part wouldn't be so damn hard."

The last time he'd been so nervous to see a girl at school, who had rejected him just the day before was, in a word, never! "Damn Kenshin, you really got it bad!"

As he navigated through the last of the crowd before finally reaching the stairs, he frowned at the sight before him. Sano stood with the group of friends chatting and laughing away, but it was the absence of Kaoru that surprised him.

"She's not here yet?"

Sano looked up and noticed Kenshin, "Oi Kenshin! Over man!"

Kenshin rushed over to Sano and asked, "Sano, where is Kaoru and Misao?"

"I don't know. They haven't gotten here yet. Probably just taking their sweet time."

"That's not like them to be late" Kenshin thought, but decided to give it a few more minutes before he'd really start to worry.

He tried to engage himself in the group's conversation, but his gaze kept falling back on the entrance gates of the schoolyard. He kept searching for the blue-eyed, raven-haired temptress to walk in, but every time he looked, he was disappointed.

Finally the first bell chimed and the students began to file inside the front doors.

"Where are they?"

Just as he was about to turn around, he caught sight of Misao running towards the front gates. He looked in front and then behind the small girl but saw no trace of Kaoru. "Is she in trouble?"

Before another thought, Kenshin raced back through the yard and towards the front gates. He reached the gates in lightening speed and met Misao there. She panted for breath and he continued to look around for Kaoru.

"What's wrong Misao? Where's Kaoru?" he asked.

The small girl still struggled to catch her breath as she replied, "I…I don't know! Sh-She…She didn't show this morning." She gasped for more air and continued, "I waited for her…but…but she didn't show."

Sano gradually reached the two and looked puzzled and confused, as he saw no sign of the Misao's best friend.

"Hey where's Missy at? Don't tell me she's cutting?"

"No way Sano!" Misao replied, finally regaining her composure. "Kaoru wouldn't do that! Especially without me! And if she wanted to stay home today, she would've called me last night and told me so. She would never have me waiting up for her like this morning!"

There was urgency in Misao's voice that Kenshin felt, "Where is she?"

"Okay, Misao what's her number?" Kenshin flicked out his cell phone.

Misao recited the numbers as he punched them in and hit the call button. He waited after several rings and finally got the machine. He flicked the phone shut and dropped the unanswered call.

"Damn, no answer."

"That's not like her. If she's home, she'll definitely answer the phone. Or maybe her mom, I think she's usually home by now. But maybe she's running late at the restaurant?" Misao thought aloud.

"Okay listen up, Sano you stay here and see if she shows up. Call me as soon as she does! Misao, you come with me. We'll drive around her usual route to school and look for her. If nothing, we'll go by her house and see if everything is okay."

"Okay Kenshin. Call me and let me know if you find her" and with that Sano headed back towards the school.

Kenshin and Misao rushed to his car and quickly got in. They secured themselves just as Kenshin fired on the engine and sped out the parking spot. The car's tires squealed under his control as he ripped up and down the streets. Misao began to direct him down the route that Kaoru usually walked to meet her.

He didn't know what to think. Was she hurt? Was she in trouble? Was she involved in an accident? Every possibility rushed through his head, but he quickly stifled his fears by concentrating on the road ahead of him and on Misao's directions.

The small car barreled down the roads as Misao spat out, "left, right, turn" to him.

"Okay, okay, okay Kenshin. Slow down. This is the route she takes to meet up with me. See, that's the corner where I usually wait for her." Misao pointed out the meeting spot to Kenshin.

He looked anxiously out the window as he slowed the pace of the car. No sign of her.

"She's not here," he told Misao.

"Okay, go up this street. This is the way she usually walks to meet up with me" Misao directed.

They drove on like that for several minutes as both friends looked out the windows for the lost girl.

"SHIT!" Kenshin cursed. He flipped out his cell phone once more and pressed the call button to connect to the last number he'd dialed. Again there was no answer, and only the machine picked up.

"Fuck! No answer! Where is she?" he exclaimed.

Misao had continued to look out her passenger side window for her friend, but saw no trace of Kaoru. "Kenshin, just head towards her house" she finally decided.

Kenshin wasted no time in speeding through the familiar streets towards Kaoru's house. He's only been there about 2 times, but he seemed to know the road by heart.

The Z3 abruptly screeched to a halt in front of the Kamiya household. Misao unbuckled the seatbelt and quickly pulled herself out of the car. She shut the car door and turned around only to see Kenshin already walking just ahead of her. The two made their way to the front door of the house.

Kenshin's heartbeat faster and harder as he neared the door. "I wonder if her pop's is home?"

All fears left him as he remembered his reason for being there in the first place, for Kaoru's sake. But it also helped greatly that Misao was with him, "At least her being here isn't too suspicious."

Finally the two were at the front door and Kenshin stood there in silence. Misao reached out and rang the doorbell. Kenshin looked around in anticipation of who would answer the door.

Misao reached out and rang the bell again.

No answer.

She rang it again, and started to call for her friend, "KAORU! KAORU! ARE YOU HOME? IT'S MISAO AND KENSHIN!"

They stood there only met with more silence. The entire house was still and this only made Kenshin more nervous. Absentmindedly, he jiggled the door handle to check if the house was unlocked. Every horrible thought that one could imagine passed through his mind.

"What if she's in there and hurt? Should I break in? What the hell am I thinking?"

"Hey Kenshin, listen you stay here. I'm gonna' back track and walk down the same path she takes to meet up with me. Maybe we missed her from the car. You stay here in case she shows up okay and call me if she does?" And without another word she was off. She practically raced down the block and soon disappeared from sight.

Kenshin looked around and was met with more silence and stillness. The neighborhood was quaint and quite. Even though his father had settled them in the best part of town, Kenshin relished the sights and smells of real family homes. Not the mausoleum-like house that he was used to living in. These homes seemed warm and inviting. How he wished he could see inside the house that Kaoru lived in.

He sauntered back to the sidewalk and stood there, hands in his pockets, and looked around casually. A neighbor stepped out of the front door from the house right next to Kaoru's and caught Kenshin's attention. The woman walked to her car before noticing Kenshin and raised an eyebrow as she eyed him and his vehicle.

"Ah, if you're here looking for the Kamiya's they're not home!" she exclaimed.

"No shit" he thought before remembering to behave himself.

"Would you know where they are?" he asked in the most sincere tone.

She looked at him with distrust and he continued on to gain some trust, "well you see, I am from Kaoru Kamiya's school. She didn't come in today and we were worried about her sudden absence madam."

The woman looked at him a few more moments before replying, "Well the only thing I remember was waking to the most frightful sounds you could imagine. And there was an ambulance right outside their house. I saw them wheel out her father and carry him away. I believe Mrs. Kamiya went along…yes…yes, I remember. She climbed in after him and they drove off. The girl stood outside for a few moments just staring into space. I asked if she was all right, and she just ran back inside. I supposed she was scared, her father looked deathly ill. Anyhow that's the last I saw of her. Did you try the doorbell?"

"Yes…" he mumbled back as the woman's words sunk in. "Shit, her father no wonder she missed school."

The woman said a few more sympathetic words, but they fell on deaf ears. Kenshin was lost in his own thoughts and his heart went out to Kaoru. He didn't even notice the neighbor climb into her car and drive off.

"Where are you Kaoru? Where are you?"

He looked around and decided he would sit and wait for her. "I'll wait for as long as it takes."

Kenshin sank and rested on the hood of his car. His arms folded across his chest, he lowered his head and began to wait. He wasn't sure how much time had passed and looked up and about him.

A familiar figure appeared in the distance and was walking right towards him. He straightened up and looked in anticipation as he made out her features.

Long black hair swayed in the breeze behind her. She was still in her school uniform but held no bag or books. Her face looked solemn as she sauntered slowly down the street with her head looking towards the ground. She looked lost and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms.

His heart raced in his chest as she came closer and closer. He couldn't help but let a soft whisper escape his lips, "Kaoru…"

END CHAPTER 11

So, what do you think? I know, I know, I promised you guys something juicy and some silly plan for Kenshin to try and win Kaoru over. But this just sort of came to me in a burst of inspiration. And isn't that life? We plan and plan, but something always happens to completely disrupt those plans. And aren't you wondering what Kenshin had planned to win Kaoru over before his plans were disrupted?

Interesting! LOL…well stay tuned for the next installment! Hope you guys liked this chappy. And for those of you who are wondering what happened to her father, it was a seizure. It wasn't pretty I know that! And yes, it was an accurate view of what happens at least some of the times.

Please be sure to review and let me know what you think.

-Arrigato!