Chapter 27

A Different Type of Quarrel

AN: Okay, one correction from the last chapter. The part where she's looking out after him (after he gives her the promise ring in the car) it says: "…she thought dryly and took one last look towards the black Benz." Well correction on that because it should say black BMW. Sorry about that. I was so mad when I reread it and caught the mistake, but I didn't want to repost an entire chapter for one little typo! Hehe…

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Two weeks had passed since his last seizure and hospitalization. That night was the longest that Kaoru had ever experience in her short life. The doctors had repeatedly warned him and his family that more alcohol would completely destroy his liver as well as the lining of his stomach. He'd already managed to give himself an ulcer with the constant drinking and next to never eating and his body was giving out on him slowly.

Kaoru's mother looked deathly pale at the news and upon returning home from the hospital, dotted every free moment on helping her husband recover. Beyond the medications the doctors had given, she took upon herself to put him on a healthy diet, keep him mobile by taking walks together, and not giving him any mental stress.

The entire two weeks had passed as Kaoru greeted the man with virtual silence. She didn't know what she could say to him. How she could begin to talk to a man who didn't approve of her immediate decisions, and yet had his entire family at the brink of a mental breakdown on his accord.

She would quietly help out her mother and responded to him only when spoken to. There were no words that could describe the emotions she felt. The school year was also drawing to a close soon, as winter was finally giving way to the mild breezes of spring. Soon decisions would have to be made, and she cautiously considered her options.

Going to school away from home would mean a certain amount of freedom and being far from the daily stresses of her family life. It would also mean that her mother and brother would be left alone to deal with him should he digress back to his habits. Staying home would certainly mean that she would be bottling her own ambitions and sacrificing her dreams in the name of her family. Was that right? Kenshin wouldn't stand to go to school so far from her, and would certainly change his mind as well. That would mean not only her dreams would be thwarted but also those of the one she truly, deeply loved. Was that right?

Her head spun at those thoughts as she tried to push her mental anxiety from the forefront of her mind. Kenshin had dropped her home again on a mild and pleasant sunny afternoon and she absentmindedly grabbed some mail out of the post box. There was the typical clump of small envelopes containing bills and junk mail. But there was one envelope that caught her eyes, as it had her name printed neatly on the front.

She noticed the insignia on the front corner and her heart fluttered at what the contents could be. Tearing the envelope open, she quickly unfolded the single page inside and hurriedly read across several lines. Moments later she looked up from the letter, her eyes wide, a smile across her lips, and could barely contain her joy.

Quickly, dropping everything else, she ran upstairs in search of her mother or brother to share the good news with. She ran past her room, "MOM! YAHIKO!" Her excitement was clearly evident in the chirping tone in her voice.

"HEY GUYS, LOOK WHAT I GOT!" she ran into Yahiko's room and noticed he wasn't in there.

Not thinking anything of it, she ran towards her mother's room and sprung open the door. Instead of finding the peaceful slumbering figure of her mom on the bed, she was greeted with her father resting peacefully as he watched the television set.

His eyes were still distinctly sunken in and his skin was pale. Those light brown eyes slowly moved from the TV screen and rested on his daughter standing quietly in the doorway with a paper in hand.

"They've gone out to get some groceries and some more medicine. What's the matter?" he weakly asked.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. This was the moment she'd waited for, and now her happiness drained quickly from her. Suddenly the booming voice that'd called for her mother and brother was weakened and lost in her throat. "I...I got this letter…never mind."

She could say no more. Instead, she turned and left the room closing the door behind her. The harsh reality of it all struck her down once again. Returning to her room, she found her cell phone was ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kaoru!" came Misao's chirpy voice on the other end.

The raven-haired girl brightened for a moment at the sound of her friend's voice, "Hey Misao, what's wrong? Miss me already? I just saw you in school."

"Haha" the girl replied sarcastically, "I was calling to tell you that I got my acceptance letter in the mail! Guess what? I GOT IN!" she screamed.

Kaoru's smile broadened, "That's great Misao! I'm so happy for you. So you tell your parents yet?"

"No not yet. I got the letter and you're the first person I called!"

Kaoru chuckled, "I feel so special. Go and tell your parents, and what about Aoshi?"

"I'm going, I'm going! So you get any word yet on your status?"

Kaoru looked at the letter in her hands and wanted to cry out how happy she was, but again, reality hit her. "Ah, no not yet."

"Well there's still plenty of time, no worries right!"

"Yea" she halfheartedly chuckled.

"Alright well, I'll see you tomorrow morning again. I'm gonna go tell everyone I can! Bye!"

"Bye."

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Weeks after that incident Kaoru had still not decided to tell anyone about the letter she received. She didn't tell her parents, her friends, and not even Kenshin. The end of the school year was drawing closer and soon, she'd have to make the trip to personally register and sign up for classes at Aichi Med. Even Kenshin had delayed his admissions process in anticipation of Kaoru receiving word from her school. He'd gotten his acceptance letter a few days after her and they'd gone out to celebrate.

Everyone kept asking her about hers, and she kept lying. She walked in the morning to school with Misao bouncing alongside her.

"Hey you okay?" she asked.

Kaoru was too involved in her own thoughts to notice the question.

"Hello!" Misao chirped again.

"Huh?" Kaoru looked towards her friend.

"You're in la-la land girl. What's the matter?"

Kaoru thought about telling her friend the burden of her problems. Why not? Misao had always been there for her.

"I…I'm kind of in a tough spot" she started.

"What's up?" Misao asked out of concern.

Kaoru sighed heavily and collected her thoughts before continuing, "I got accepted to Aichi Medical School."

Misao stopped in her tracks, a huge smile plastered across her face as she began to jump up and down excitedly. "Oh my god! Really? Congratulations! When'd you find out? Why are you so moody about that?"

Kaoru had to fight back a few tears as she watched her friend grow ecstatic of her good news. If only she could join in on the celebration herself. "A few weeks ago and because I can't go."

"Wait what?" she glared at her, "You knew a few weeks ago and didn't tell anyone! How cruel! Why aren't you going?"

"Misao, what about mom and dad? You know what happened with the hospitals and this and that. How could I leave mom alone like that?"

"Kao! This is your future hun! What about that?" Misao asked sympathetically. "Have you even told Kenshin?" she added.

Kaoru remained quiet, dreading answering that question.

"You didn't even tell him?" she asked disbelievingly. "Kaoru!"

"I know, I know. It's not fair" Kaoru looked up at the clear sky, almost expecting an answer to come floating down to her, "I'll tell him today."

"But you're going right? To Aichi Med?"

"I don't know yet Misao. I just don't know anything. I can't look two days into my future and know what'll happen let alone where I'll end up for college."

"Hey it's not like that day is so far away, you've got to make your decision. Kaoru I know you're worried about your family, but you know full well that Kenshin will not leave you and go to school if you don't either. He'll stay here, you'll stay here, and you'll both wonder what if you'd gone to your schools of choice for the rest of your lives."

Another heavy sigh, "I know."

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"You WHAT?" Kenshin roared after she'd shown him the letter. His beautiful eyes lit up instantly as he scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around. A brilliant smile graced his ever-handsome features, and her melancholy mood was broken in an instant. She allowed him to spin her a few times, and kiss her in congratulations over the news.

She giggled back as he returned her back to solid ground. "Yea, I got in" she softly replied.

"K this news calls for celebration!" he announced happily. "Yo Sano, Misao we're going out to dinner tonight."

"Oh?" Sano walked over from the other side of the busy lunchroom. "What's the occasion and more importantly where are we eating?"

"K just got her acceptance letter to Aichi Med School!" Kenshin triumphantly announced.

Half the school cafeteria turned around at the news and stared at the handsome couple. Kaoru blushed feverously over the extra attention and she tried to quiet Kenshin down. "Um, Kenshin relax would ya? I don't think my parents would've made such a huge deal out of this!"

Kenshin returned his proud gaze back towards her, "No way! This is great news. I got into Aichi Law and you'll be in Aichi Med!" Just as quickly though, his smile faded and he gave her a confused look, "Wait, would've? You mean they don't even know you got in?"

He looked at the date of the acceptance letter, "K this letter is weeks old! You knew about this…" he looked up at her.

Kaoru's smile completely faded and she gulped down a lump in her throat. She was trying to avoid this conversation from the moment she'd shown him the letter. "I…ah…no, not yet. I didn't tell anyone because…"

Kenshin pulled her into his arms and held her fast, "You aren't serious about not going are you?"

Kaoru looked away from him, trying desperately to avoid those probing eyes. He stubbornly held her chin and made her face him. "Kaoru what's going on?"

She was held strongly in his arms and knew he wouldn't let go until his questions had been answered. "Kenshin…" she started out pitifully weak in her tone, "you know about my parents…"

He didn't let her finish, "No Kaoru! I don't want to know anything about that anymore! This is your life! This is your future, our future! Please K, don't do this to yourself." His tone had started out stubborn and angry but ended up being pleading.

Her mind was terrible whirlwind of thoughts now. "My happiness?" she thought. "Our future…" she looked back at the redhead still before her, "How can I tell you how much I love you Kenshin?"

"K?" he insisted.

"I know Kenshin. I know. I-I'll talk to them about it" she finally relented.

"When?" he asked almost irritably. She flinched slightly at this tone, and he continued, "Registration is days away and we're driving there together!"

She looked at him again with shock, "Huh?"

"Yes Kaoru, we're going to get registered and settled there so you'd better figure this out with your folks today! If you want, I'll come with you" he announced.

Her head snapped up towards him again, "No! I-Just let me do this. It'll be okay."

He looked at her hesitantly at first, not entirely believing that she'd go through with it. Finally though, he decided to keep some faith in her. "Alright" he brushed a kiss on her lips and added, "But if you don't, I'll come and do it myself!"

She nodded and knew full well how serious he could be. "I guess I'll have to tell them now."

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Kenshin had reminded her a half-a-dozen times about her promise to tell her parents about college as he pulled up in front of her house after school. She settled his nerves and gave him a kiss before exiting and walking up to her front door.

She walked into the house and heard signs of life coming from the living room area. Walking into the room, she found her mom and dad sitting peacefully and watching some programs on the television.

"Hello Kaoru, how was school?" her mother smiled.

"Hey kiddo" her father greeted.

Kaoru had to do a double take in order to process the calm and completely foreign scene in front of her. "Uh…good."

She stuck around for a few minutes, even after her mother offered lunch and she declined. Kenshin had asked her to keep her stomach empty for the dinner they'd be enjoying later on with everyone. The hard part would have to be confronted now. She set her backpack down and retrieved the folded up letter from the inside.

"I have something for you guys" she mumbled as she handed the letter to her mother.

Kaoru's heart raced with anticipation for the cruel long minutes her mother held the letter and read it. What would they possibly think? What would they say?

After scanning the letter for several minutes her mother looked up and handed it to her husband who was now curiously looking back at her. Kaoru's mom then got up from the couch and walked over to her daughter, "Congratulations honey, I'm so proud of you." She hugged her daughter tightly and placed a small kiss on her forehead.

Kaoru sighed a bit of relief as her attention went to the man now intensely scrutinizing the letter. Both women patiently waited for him to finish. He finally looked up and his weary features finally gave way to a smile, "Good."

She nearly had to ask him to repeat himself. "Good? Did he just say good? Oh my gosh that's all the response I get…" she squirmed in disappointment from the lackluster response.

"So I guess you'll have quite a bit of commute ahead of you? No problem though, your father traveled miles in all sorts of weather to go to college!" he announced as he neatly folded up the letter again.

"Commute?" she asked.

"Yes" he replied matter-of-factly, "You do realize this school is nearly two hours away and that's about 3 hours by bus or train."

Kaoru looked at her mom who looked equally confused. "But Dad, they're giving me a scholarship as well so…" she gulped as she tried to find the courage for the rest, "that means I can dorm there and afford it."

His brows instantly knitted as he looked up at her, "Dorm?" He looked over at his wife who kept her normal calm exterior. "No daughter of mine is going to be living on her own miles away from her family! You can commute just like the rest of the world."

Kaoru again shot her mom a pleading look, "Mom?"

"What mom?" he inquired growing more irritated by the moment. "What's said is said."

"Its three hours by train and bus!" she whined.

"And you can't make that sacrifice? If not, then find a school around here!" he shot back.

She grew more and more frustrated with his indignant attitude by the moment. Why was he being so stubborn? After all, it was her hard work that earned the grades to school and the scholarship. It's not like she was asking for a vacation to trek the world or a pricey new car. This was school after all. "The rest of my life" she recalled Misao's and Kenshin's words and they empowered her to take a stand.

"I've already made a sacrifice" she snapped back. "I worked hard, got into the school and even got a scholarship!" Father and daughter glared at each other for several moments.

"Kaoru relax honey. Your father is just concerned about you being on your own. We can discuss this once there's more information" her mother intervened.

"What's to discuss?" he interjected.

"Calm down honey" she soothed and looked back at her daughter. "I suspect you have dinner plans with your friends tonight then?"

Kaoru was a bit shocked at the statement, "What? Y-yea…how?"

The woman laughed, "Oh we've had spurt of customers celebrating their family and friends getting accepted into colleges for the past month or so at the restaurant. You know your father isn't really to big on going out and all, so at least you can celebrate with your friends."

"God mom, you are a mind reader" Kaoru thought astonishingly.

"Dinner?" the man asked, "with who?"

"Friends dear" the woman soothed, "she has friends you know."

She turned back towards Kaoru, "Why don't you go and get ready honey but remember not to be home too late!"

"Uh-okay mom, I promise!" Kaoru rushed out of the room full speed and headed upstairs to get ready.

"Away from home?" he spat still angry.

The woman turned to her husband and smiled, "If we don't let her get out and live her life how will she learn? Let her have some trust and that's the only way to gain hers. She's not a little girl anymore, but a young woman."

He mumbled something about dishonoring the family and relented to his wife.

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Dinner for the group of friends went pleasantly. Kaoru filled Kenshin and then all of them in on the discussion with her parents.

"Does that mean they'll let you dorm?" Misao asked.

"I don't know. It's still open for discussion" Kaoru replied. "But mom's really excited about it!"

Kenshin wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. There was something about her when she smiled and laughed that he just couldn't resist. "Someone like her should never pout" he thought.

"So I guess Kenshin will be driving you two back and forth 2 hours everyday" Sano joked.

They all laughed as Kaoru tried to hide her discomfort of that subject. "They still didn't say yes or no to the dorming thing. And what about when dad finds out that Kenshin will be close by?"

After dinner and a hearty round of desserts to celebrate, the group decided not to end the night's activities. They headed to a local arcade to burn off some of their dinner.

Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's hand and dragged him towards a photo booth where they had wallet-sized pictures taken of them. He had her sit on his lap as the intense hot flash of the light bulb went off and snapped a few different pictures. She giggled incessantly at the funny faces Kenshin made in each one, as she tucked on neatly into the ID holder of her wallet. He kept one in his wallet and the rest she put into her bag.

After a few more video games Kaoru looked at her wrist watch. "Kenshin it's getting late, we should head home."

He nodded and a few minutes later they bid the rest of the group good night as they walked out towards his car.

After he parked up a few feet away from her house, he turned and locked her into a long, passionate kiss. Finally breaking free she looked up at him, "What was that for?"

"For being brave enough to stand up for yourself" he replied while brushing a few stray bangs from her face.

"Just a small battle, I haven't won the war yet" she sighed.

"Don't worry we'll win it together" he graced her face with several small kisses before finally capturing her lips once again. She melted into his mouth and reluctantly pulled back after several seconds.

"I have to go" she whispered in between kisses.

"Why?" he breathed as his hands roamed her neck and then buried into her hair.

She mumbled something inaudible from inside his mouth. "Why? Why what?" she thought dreamily.

His hands dropped to her shoulders and pulled her closer towards him. She could feel the intensity of need in their kisses as she drowned in the taste of him. Finally, it was the uncomfortable center console where the emergency break was that created the barrier between them.

"Mmmh, Kenshin…" she tried to pull back and finally succeeded, "I have to go."

He let out a defeated sigh and pulled back, "When are you not going to have to go?"

She chuckled at his remark, gave him one final kiss and an 'I love you' before exiting the car and walking a few paces up to her house.

About a half an hour later, she found herself sitting in her bed and thanking whatever force was at work for her sudden streak of good fortune.

"I only hope this will last" she thought remembering the task still at hand. "There's no way I won't be dorming at Aichi!"

---------- ------A FEW DAYS LATER---- ----------------

Kaoru ran around her room in search of all the paperwork she needed for the big day. It was registration time at Aichi and Kenshin and she were going to make the two hour drive to get all their paperwork completed.

Graduation was only days away and she'd managed to get all the required documents to go see about her dorm room and schedule. She panicked every time she thought about whom she would be sharing her room with, but decided it was worth it.

"Mom I leaving" she ran downstairs in a blur as she grabbed her comfortable flip flops.

"Honey, shouldn't you dress a bit more appropriately?" her mom asked calmly as she came out of the kitchen.

"Huh?" Kaoru looked down at her boot cut dark wash jeans and simple pale yellow t-shirt.

"I mean you're off to college. Maybe a nice pair of dress pants and a blouse?" the woman offered.

Kaoru laughed as relief washed over her. "Mom I thought you meant something else. No this is just registration. Everyone will be casual today. And it's college, no need to dress up. I've heard of stories where people come in with their pajamas on!"

"Oh that awful!" the woman exclaimed.

Kaoru laughed as she grabbed her oversized purse and shoved some paperwork into it. She had to reorganize the bag several times, by emptying the contents and re-depositing them back into the bag. Finally everything fit and she able to close the zipper.

"So when will you two be back?" the woman inquired.

Kaoru looked up at her knowing full well who the other person she was referring to. She'd told her mother already that Kenshin would be taking her, but her father was still in the dark about the whole situation. That made both women a bit concerned and edgy. She looked at her mother and then shot a glance at the curtain concealing the living room.

"He's in the shower" she finally added.

"Oh, um…in a few hours. It depends on the rush and how fast we get our registration completed. Gotta' beat the lines though!" she chirped.

Her mother smiled and gave her a hug before she walked her daughter to the front door. "Don't be too long honey. We'll have to discuss matters with your father sooner or later. I can't stand doing anything behind his back."

"I know mom" Kaoru hugged back, "Call me on my cell if you need anything okay?"

Just then the black BMW pulled up in front of the house as her mother hurried her out. Happily she ran towards the car and got in quickly. Kenshin gave her mother a quick wave before he sped away.

"You look happy" he commented at the smiling beauty besides him.

She giggled and answered, "Yea, I'm so excited about this! I wonder what the dorms will be like. Although I am a bit nervous about living with other people you know?"

"Ah, excited about getting to check out all the college guys I see" he teased.

She laughed out loud, "And what about you? Won't you be looking at all the hot college babes?"

He grabbed her hand with his free one and brought it to his lips, "Nah, I've got one for keeps right here."

"And a bigger surprise waiting for you once we get there" he smirked to himself.

Kaoru blushed slightly at the comment and gave him another smile as they continued on their long commute.

END CHAPTER 27

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Special Thanks to Antica for being my beta reader for this chapter! I'm really grateful for it… hugs

Well…it's come down to it…the end draws nearer. I believe that everything will be wrapped up in the next two chapters, unless I absolutely can't wrap it up in the next one.


Please comment and let me know. Thanks for the support.