Hi everyone. I did say that I'd update as soon as I could. Thank you all for the reviews! Don't mind if this is a crappy chapter, but I have this stupid stomachache that I've had since yesterday. It bugged me all night, but thanks to my mom's yummy tea, I feel a bit better. Well, here's chapter 5:



Underneath it All- Chapter 5:



Disclaimer: it's so sad, but true. I don't own any Rurouni Kenshin.



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Kenshin slept peacefully that night. (He put Kaoru's tank top on his face the whole night. Hehe). He opened his eyes and took the shirt off his face. Staring at it for a couple of seconds, he pictured Kaoru in his head. A knock on his door disrupted his thought instantly.

"Enter" he said, quickly hiding Kaoru's shirt under his sheets. Sakura opened the door and greeted her son.

"Did you have a good sleep? You seem more relaxed than normal today." she said. Kenshin stepped out of bed, only wearing a pair of boxers.

"Ya" was all he said. He walked over to his closet and started picking out the things he'd wear for the day. Sakura continued to stare at him from the door. "What do you want?" Kenshin asked flatly. Sakura arched her eyebrow.

"You need to learn some manners Kenshin". Kenshin ignored her and grabbed his backpack. He was heading for the door when Sakura stopped him. "You need to return her clothes". Kenshin paused and headed to his desk, picking up Kaoru's clothes. He then headed for the door again. "ALL of them" smirked Sakura. Kenshin flushed as his eyes widened. 'How'd she know?' he asked himself. As if reading his mind, Sakura answered his question. "I know because that's what some men do when they're in love".

"I don't love her" he hissed as he snatched her tank top from under his sheets. Sakura just continued to smirk. He stormed out of the door and headed out to school, skipping breakfast. Sakura closed her eyes and thought 'you just keep thinking that'.



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School was going to be more tough than Kenshin thought. In every class he either sat behind or beside Kaoru and every time he had the urge to lean into her and smell her. Math class was the worst. The desks were all attached together and he had to sit next to her.



Lunch soon came. 'I'll give her back her clothes when everyone leaves' he thought.

"Oi! Kaoru" he said. Kaoru turned and looked at him.

"What?" she hissed. 'Man, she probably still hates me' he thought, although her feistiness was sort of was what he liked about her.

"I need to talk to you" he said as Kaoru walked up to him, Misao and Megumi following close behind her. "Alone" he finished, glaring at Misao and Megumi. They glared back at him and left. Kenshin looked all around the classroom to make sure that they were all alone. When all was clear, he took off his backpack, opened it, and took out Kaoru's clothes.

"My mom wanted to give these to you" he said handing them Kaoru. Kaoru stared at them like they were a foreign object for a second before she reached out her hands and touched them. Her hands brushed his gently as she retrieved them from him. Kenshin bowed his head slightly so that she couldn't see the pink blush forming on his face. When she was finished, she looked back up at him. Kenshin's blush faded as he looked back at her.

"Thank you, Kenshin" she said smiling. Kenshin smiled back, his purple orbs shimmering.

"No problem" he replied. Kaoru felt her cheeks grow hot. 'Oh my gosh! That was such a beautiful smile. And this time it was an actual smile! It wasn't a grin or a smirk' she thought. She quickly turned around and walked to the door. Kenshin watched her, 'I so saw her blush. She looks so cute when she does' he thought. Kaoru paused at the door making Kenshin give a look of curiosity.

"And Kenshin" she said.

"Hm?" he asked. Kaoru turned her head to look at him.

"You have a nice smile. You should smile more often" she said. Kenshin blushed and bowed his head, luckily Kaoru just left when he blushed.



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Lunch ended rather quickly. They only had two more periods left until school ended. English and Science. (We'll just skip how it went in English class. Nothing much happened and I'm too lazy to say how it went)



Professor Shishio, the science teacher, smacked his meter stick on his desk, instantly silencing the talkative students.

"Alright! Listen here ya little f***ers. Y'all got a big science project due for me in 2 weeks. 2 weeks ya hear! So make a good use of that time. If you don't get that project in on time, you'll be in every day rewrapping my bandages and clipping my toenails for the rest of the year!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" Shishio cackled as everyone stared at him, their mouths wide open with their eyes bulging out. Even Kenshin, Aoshi, and Sano were in shock. The bandages didn't sound that bad compared to toenails. Shishio's toenails were long and black, with dirt scattered everywhere and a stench of rotten eggs and carrots (kind of what my sister's farts smell like, eww). Lets just say that his feet weren't the type that you'd want prompt up on you're coffee table.

Being the first to recover from the shock, Soujiro asked the Professor a question, "Um, Shishio-san, just what is the project supposed to be about anyways?". Shishio stopped cackling and glared at Soujiro.

"Well, I feel sheepish" he said sarcastically. "The project is supposed to be about an animal. You have to describe it's anatomy, how it mates, where it is in the food chain, yada yada yada, you know, the basic things about an animal. You and your partner can pick any animal you want. Remember this is a group project so don't have only one person do everything". Everyone nodded their heads. "Now, GET TO WORK!!!!!!!" he yelled. Everyone jumped in their seats. They turned to Soujiro, mentally asking him to ask the professor what they were all wondering. Soujiro sighed in defeat.

"Shishio-san, We-"

"WHAT??!!!" yelled Shishio. Soujiro jumped again.

"W-w-we were wondering who our partners are" he stuttered. Shishio growled, eying the class.

"ARE YOU KIDS STUPID OR SOMETHING?!! YOUR PARTNER IS THE SAME PERSON THAT'S YOUR PARTNER IN ALL YOUR OTHER CLASSES!! COMMON SENSE PEOPLE!!!" he screamed again. "NOW GET STARTED!!!! THIS PROJECT MUST TAKE AT LEAST AN HOUR EACH NIGHT!!" he soon lowered his voice to calm down (I know, he's in a serious need for therapy), "I suggest going to one partners house each night to get more productivity".

Kenshin's eyes flashed a bright purple as he perked up. Now Kaoru could come to his house more often. Everyone moved together with their partners. Kenshin got up and sat next to Kaoru.

"So, which animal do you want to do?" he asked as he looked at her eyes. Kaoru turned her head away from him.

"I don't know, what do you wanna do?" she asked, crossing her arms and lifting her chin up, looking sophisticated. Kenshin smiled, she looked cute even when she was serious. Suddenly, Caleb, a creepy looking guy who happened to like Kaoru, came up to Kaoru asking if she had any white-out. She took out her pencil case and got her white-out. She handed it to him and turned back to Kenshin. Instead of leaving, Caleb sat down on the other side of Kaoru, tapped her shoulder, and started cracking cheesy, gay, jokes. Kaoru just nodded her head and turned back to Kenshin, but Caleb just kept tapping her and telling his stupid jokes. This made Kenshin's eyes turn amber, with anger. Caleb finished telling Kaoru another joke as she gave an uncomfortable laugh. He was about to start another when Kenshin interrupted him.

"Caleb, shut up" said Kenshin. Caleb glanced at Kenshin and was going to continue his joke when Kenshin punched him in the face. Caleb tumbled to the ground with blood running down his nose. Kenshin glared down at him. Kaoru turned her attention from the beat up Caleb to the steaming Kenshin. What first caught her attention was his burning amber eyes.

'Weren't they just purple a minute ago?' she asked herself. Suddenly a clapping sound was heard at the front of the room. Kenshin and everyone else, except Kaoru (she's still staring at Kenshin) turning to see that Professor Shishio was clapping.

"Well done Mr. Himura. We thank you for shutting up that playboy wannabe" said the professor smiling. Everyone shrugged and continued to do their work. Kenshin turned his attention back to Kaoru, but was shocked that she was staring at him wide eyed.

"Lion" she said. Kenshin raised an eyebrow.

"Wha?" he asked.

"A lion. Lets do a lion" she said again, still staring at his eyes, which were now purple with little tints of amber.

"A lion? Sure, if that's what you want to do" he said. He took out a sheet of paper and starting talking about who should do what, but Kaoru ignored him and continued to study his face. His eyes swirled of purple and amber, his red bangs were messy, yet looked soft and shiny, not to mention touchable. The scar on his cheek from the rat, it healed pretty quick, yet Kaoru couldn't help but feel angry at the stupid rat for slashing Kenshin's beautiful face. And then there was his lips, they were moving, but she couldn't hear anything. She snapped back to reality to avoid any embarrassment.

"So what do you think?" asked Kenshin. Kaoru hadn't heard a single thing he said up until now.

"Uh, ya, sure. That's a great idea" was all she could think of saying at the time.

"Ok, come with me" he said as the bell rang. Kenshin grabbed her hand and led her down the hall. 'Where is he taking me?' she asked herself.



We'll find out in the next chapter...

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I know, I'm evil. It's sort of a cliffy. You're all probably wondering where he's taking her. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out. I can't make any promises for the next time I'll be updating. Maybe if I get a reasonable amount of reviews then I'll update as soon as I can. Does 20-25 reviews for chapter 5 seem reasonable? My editor was saying that I should ask for 35-50, but I'm not that mean.



OMG!!! Last night I watched the end of the Seisouhen (something like that). IT'S SO SAD!!!! I STARTED CRYING SO MUCH!!!!! Those who have watched it know how I feel. ARGH!!! I hate it when a series ends!!!! THEY SUCK SO MUCH AT MAKING ENDINGS!!!! WHY??? WHY!??

Another anime movie I cried in was the Escaflowne movie: A Girl in Gaea. *Sniff* So sad. Why'd she leave him alone?? *Sniff* *sniff*. AND WHAT ABOUT COWBOY BEBOP?!! The 3rd last episode and the last episode were the saddest!! Poor Spike, and Ed!! I Love Ed! She's my hero.

AND EVANGELION!!! DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT ENDING!!!!! It's all messed up. In the ending where they're on the beach and it ends, I sat there staring at the screen for five minutes thinking 'WHAT THE HELL?'. Those who've watched it know what I mean. And furthermore-

Sano: Shut up! You're so emotional! You forgot to thank those out there who made fanfiction.net. Without all those stories to cover up those endings, you'd be in your bed crying your eyes out and whining about everyone being separated.

*Dev: True! Thank you fanfiction.net for always being there for me when I just finished watching a sad ending. And thank you to all those authors out there who make it possible. Until next time...



Ttyl, bibi

*Dev



DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!! AND REMEMBER: 20-25 MORE REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER 5!! LUV Y'ALL!!!