Underneath It All

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

Recap of the last chapter:

"Do you like someone?" grinned Misao. Kaoru's face dropped. 'You bitch! Misao, how could you?' After a couple seconds of silence Misao added on a "Hm?" bringing everyone to pay more attention. Kenshin looked up from his seat and gazed directly at Kaoru. It seems as though this was an interesting subject.

"No..." said Kaoru, slowly. Everyone, including Hiko, leaned in closer to see which bulb would light up. The seconds seemed to pass by ever so slowly as a light blinked from the bulb of the color...

~*~*~**~*

A bead of sweat tentatively ran down Kaoru's brow as she stared down at the lie detector with hawk eyes. The silence in the room was so quiet that everyone could hear the faint beating of Kaoru's nervous heartbeat.

One of the lights blinked brightly along with a low beep. Kaoru's eyes widened in shock as well as everyone else's. Kaoru stared at the evil depths of the red bulb as it continued to glow. 'Crap, now everyone is going to ask who it is! Damn, that bitch Misao!'

*Meanwhile*

Kenshin stared blankly at the red bulb. She had lied, lied about liking someone. Who is it? Could it be him? This, he was dying to know. He exchanged his stare to Kaoru who was continuing to stare at the bulb. As though she could feel his eyes on her, she glanced across the room and stared him straight in the eye. Shortly, she returned her eyes to the ground with a rosy blush upon her cheeks. A soft smile tugged at his lips when seeing this.

"So, Kaoru", interrupted Megumi. Kaoru shyly looked up at her. "Is this person a certain red-head?". All the feeling in Kaoru's face faded as she turned ghostly pale. Everyone at that instance, turned their attention to the back of the room where Kenshin sat. Kenshin stiffened to see what her answer was and if she was telling the truth. His gaze pierced into her like a thousand swords.

Kaoru turned back to her normal state after recovering from what her friends were doing to her. Opening her mouth, she let out a breath to speak.

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGG!!!

The bell set off.

'Saved by the bell' thought Kaoru. "Well, I guess that I don't have to answer that question anymore" said Kaoru as she dashed out of the room before anything else could happen.

The professor and the rest of the class just stared as she ran out of the room. "Anyways, I guess that's our class for today" said Hiko.

Kenshin slumped down into his seat. Damn, he was about to find out if she liked him back. Stupid bell. Since he was the only red-head in the whole school, he was certain that Megumi was referring to him. 'I wonder if she likes me. I sure hope she does'.

*Lunch*

Kaoru, Misao, and Megumi quietly ate their lunch in their usual eating place. The eerie chirping and brush of the wind was starting to get to Misao's head. 'Stupid birds, they're always happy. I hate them' thought Misao as she glared at a red-breasted robin chirping on a branch of a nearby tree.

"So..." started Megumi with her eyes closed as if she was in meditation. Kaoru and Misao avert their attention to the fox-like young woman. "Is it?". Kaoru and Misao look at one another in confusion. "Is it?" repeated Megumi, this time with a bit of irritation in her voice.

"Is it what Megumi?" said Kaoru. Megumi opened her eyes slowly.

"Are you stupid or something?" asked Megumi. Kaoru shot a glare at her.

"Just answer the question" hissed Kaoru through her teeth. Megumi rolled her eyes. Kaoru started to drink her Five Alive peach juice (yum) to calm herself.

"Is it a certain red-head?" asked Megumi. Kaoru's eyes shot open as she choked on her juice and exploded in a fit of coughs. Megumi grinned her special little evil grin. "I guess that answers my question".

After recovering from her coughing fit, Kaoru looked back at Megumi. "No it's not a 'certain red-head'!" said Kaoru as she wiped her chin.

"Oh come on Kaoru! It's written all over your actions. Whenever we say you like 'you know who', you go all defensive. That is one of the 10 signs that you like someone" said Megumi.

"Says who?" sneered Kaoru. Megumi dug in bag and pulled out a Cosmopolitan magazine.

"Says the people of Cosmopolitan magazine" said Megumi. She flipped the pages until she got to a page titled, "10 signs that you like someone". Megumi cleared her throat and began to read.

"Sign #1: You turn red and look at the floor when you do something embarrassing in front that certain someone" Megumi looked up at Kaoru, "like today, you turned red and you looked at the ground when the bulb turned red". Kaoru looked down at her hands. It was true. "Sign #2: You can't stop smiling when you make that person laugh, Sign #3: You become jealous when someone you hate goes near the one you like" Megumi paused to take a sip of her Diet Pepsi. "Sign #4: You feel happy when that person is happy, Sign #5: You feel sad when that person is sad, Sign #6: When receiving a compliment from that person, you hope to get that compliment all the time, Sign #7: Your physical appearance becomes more important to you, Sign #8: You begin to look at them straight in the eye more often, Sign #9: You look at their lips when they talk, and finally, Sign #10: you become defensive when accused of liking that person" Megumi shut the magazine with a quick slap. "Well, Kaoru. Do any of these signs sound familiar?"

Kaoru was lost in thought. Dear God! It is true! She does like him! More than half of those signs were true! Kaoru was so confused.

"Yo Kaoru?" said Misao as she snapped her fingers in front of Kaoru's face.

"Hmm?" asked Kaoru.

"Well? Do they sound familiar? Or not?" said Megumi. Kaoru dropped her head and looked down at her lap.

"Yes, they do" murmured Kaoru. "I... I don't know what's with me". Megumi and Misao gave her a sympathetic look. "I mean... I guess a part of me likes him, like, when he's nice and he's not being an ass. But, there's just this other side of him that I don't like. He's so... he has three main personalities. One is kind, funny, caring, and a little protective. Another one is the rude, egotistical, and cocky bastard that we see in our class. And the last one... cold, emotionless, and distant. I just become so confused when his personality changes. I mean... ugh, I don't know what to think"

Megumi turned serious. She was only joking when she said that Kaoru liked Kenshin. Oh well, now it's serious. "Don't worry Kaoru. You don't have to think about now"

"Ya Kaoru! We will help you out whenever we can" piped up Misao. Kaoru faced her friends and smiled.

"Thank you. And to think that you people weren't understanding friends" grinned Kaoru.

"Oh thanks" said Misao, sarcastically. "We were only joking when we said that you like him. But now that you actually do, we'll take it seriously"

"You were only joking!? There I was, spilling my thoughts out to you people and you guys were only joking?!"

"Calm down Kaoru. Think of it this way. Now that it's a serious matter, we don't have to joke about it anymore" said Megumi.

"Oh fine. Well, just as long as you guys promise not to say anything" said Kaoru. Megumi and Misao gave her a sincere smile.

"Don't worry, we promise. We'll just have to let him figure it out by himself" grinned Misao.

*Meanwhile*

Kenshin and his group sat in their normal seats in the cafeteria, with all the dumb ugly girls giggling around them.

Kenshin finished his lunch early and watched as Aoshi and Soujiro were struggling to take a bite of their food while the mass of girls were constantly grasping their arms. Turning his gaze to Sano, he saw that the tall gangster had a bored expression upon his face as the same old girls from yesterday were endlessly clinging onto him.

"Yo, Sano. Wanna walk around?" asked Kenshin. Sano's eyes immediately dashed to Kenshin.

"YES PLEASE!" gasped Sano. "I was wondering if you'd ever ask". Kenshin lazily got up since for some reason, the girls seemed to be mostly attracted to Soujiro, Sano, and Aoshi today. Sano, on the other hand, had to literally push the girls off him as he stood up. Unfortunately, the annoying wenches just jumped back on him. Over and over again, he tossed the girls only to have them spring back on him. Soon, after 15 times of no success, he slumped his shoulders in defeat.

"You know, Kenshin. A little help would nice, IF IT ISN'T TOO MUCH TROUBLE!" yelled Sano. Kenshin chuckled at his best friend's current condition.

"Alright, on the count of three. One... two...THREE" Kenshin grabbed Sano's hand as quickly as he could and dashed them both out of the cafeteria as a rainfall of girls flew off Sano's tall and lean body.

Running down the hall as fast as they could, they made their way to the rooftop. As soon as both of them were safely through the door, Kenshin slammed the door and locked it. Both stared at each other while they caught their breath. After their breathing levels were back to normal, a brief pause of silence rung between them. As if on cue, they burst out laughing.

"Did you see those girls fly?" laughed Kenshin, as he clutched his sides.

"They're so stupid! Even if you told them that, they'd still act as though you never said it!" laughed Sano.

The boys continued to laugh as they made cracks about the slutty whores.

5 minutes have passed by and they soon stopped laughing. Kenshin walked over to the wire railing that bordered the rooftop. Looking down, he saw Kaoru, Misao, and Megumi giggling and talking. He couldn't hear what they were saying so he just continued to stare at Kaoru. Sano walked up next to him and leaned on the railing. After noticing that Kenshin seemed to be concentrating on something, he followed Kenshin's gaze to Kaoru.

"Do you like her?" asked Sano, bluntly. Kenshin's face paled as he moved his stare to Sano.

"No" said Kenshin, with an irritated vibe to it. After that, he walked to the middle of the rooftop and lied down, soaking up the sun through his tanned skin.

"It's alright to like her. I don't really care" said Sano while he looked up into the sky.

"I don't like her. She's a loser. A person of lower class and popularity. A person of no importance to this society." hissed Kenshin. Ever word he just said was not true, but he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Sano, closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

"Man, I don't get you. Does it really matter if a person has many friends or how much money they have?"

"Of course it matters. If that person doesn't have a high reputation, they aren't worthy of my presence" said Kenshin, as he continued to relax in the warmth of the sun.

"Kenshin, popularity and reputation are two very different things. I mean, a person could have a high reputation of being the nicest person in the world, but could only have one friend. A person could have a million friends, but a reputation of being an asshole" said Sano.

"Sano, not now" sneered Kenshin.

"Kenshin, when will you get over this whole thing about 'loser people'. It's so stupid. I mean, we're popular right? But that doesn't mean that we're better than everyone else. Everyone is popular in their own way. They don't need to have a million friends or be pretty. So when will you get it straight that everyone is equal?"

"You sound like my mother" mumbled Kenshin.

"But I'm right aren't I?" grinned Sano.

"Sano, in this society, the motto is 'to have better world, the strong must lead the weak'. If I am weak, than I'll be pushed around by the strong, if I am strong, I will push around the weak."

"You say that you don't want to become like your brother, yet everyday, you become more like him" said Sano, as he turned to face Kenshin. Kenshin's eyes shot open as he bolted directly at Sano and caught his throat. Sano stared dumbfounded at the burning tiger eyes of his best friend.

"Don't ever compare me to Katsura! I've told you many times before and I'll tell you again, I will never desert my family or my loved ones for power. So don't you dare EVER compare me to that bastard!" growled Kenshin. Sano's eyes turned cold as he flung Kenshin's hand off his throat and backed away from him.

"How can I not compare you two. You don't trust your mother, you don't trust Soujiro, you don't trust Aoshi, you don't even trust me" declared Sano. "Your brother didn't trust anyone either, so why the fuck do you expect me to not compare you to him?"

"He is not my brother. I don't need to trust anyone if I don't want to. When I gave my trust to people, they broke it. From then on, I choose not to trust anyone" hissed Kenshin.

Sano narrowed his eyes."The only person who ever broke your trust was Tomoe."

"Don't you dare bring Tomoe into this" snapped Kenshin.

"Why the hell do you still defend her? She broke your heart with that Akira guy! She only went out with you to become popular! Why?! Why do you defend her? She is just a slut that wanted to gain a reputation!" yelled Sano. Kenshin narrowed his eyes and shot at Sano with his fist. Sano stumbled backward a few steps, clutching his bloody jaw.

"I told you not to bring Tomoe into this!" growled Kenshin. Sano removed his hand from his face and looked at the blood smeared on his palm.

The two best friends eyed each other with hatred. Circling each other like two lions ready to tear each other apart, they clenched and unclenched their fists. Finally pausing, they gave one other one last death glare before rushing at each other.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kaoru and her friends sat down in their home room seats while the room began to flood with the other students. The last bell rung as Professor Hiko began doing the attendance. Kaoru looked around the room to find that Sano and Kenshin weren't there. As Hiko was reading off the last of the names, the door flew open with Principal Yumi pinching Kenshin and Sano's ears. Kaoru's eyes widened when she ran her eyes over their appearances. Kenshin had a black eye on his left socket, his black shirt was missing a sleeve, one half of it was completely torn along the right side of his tanned chest, his right cheek was bruised black, there was a deep red line across his neck, his knuckles were all bruised and bleeding, blood was running from his nose, forehead, and mouth, and most of all his left elbow looked dislocated. Sano's appearance was no different to Kenshin's, except instead of a dislocated elbow, his whole left arm was dislocated.

"I found these two fighting in the courtyard. Apparently, they both fell from the rooftop, where they dislocated their arms" sneered Yumi. "Since the nurse isn't here today, I'll need Megumi to repair these rats".

Hiko sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It seems that my stupid students are becoming more stupid each year."

"Tell me about it" sighed Yumi. Megumi raised her hand.

"Yes Megumi?" said Hiko without even looking up.

"Um, I was wondering if Kaoru may help me out. I mean, there are two boys and only one of me" asked Megumi, while she fiddled with a lock of her long, ebony hair.

"Very well. Let's go" shrugged Yumi. She yanked the boys with her down the hall to the nurses room with Kaoru and Megumi following close behind.

Putting Kenshin on the far end of the room and Sano on the complete opposite of the room, Yumi left the girls to cure the boys. Megumi grabbed the first aid kit from the shelf in the middle of the room and gave Kaoru brief instructions on what to do.

"Ok, you're gonna have to pop his elbow back into place, now what you do is grab his forearm and upper arm, holding it at a 90* angle, then you just snap it into place, ok?" said Megumi. Kaoru just nodded her head. Turning towards Kenshin with all the medical supplies, she strolled over to him. He was sitting in the comfy red chair next to the window. Placing the supplies on the table nearby, she sat down in the seat next to him.

"Um, this might hurt" she said timidly. Gently grasping his arm she held it at a 90* angle like Megumi said. 'Just snap it into place' repeated in Kaoru's mind. "Ready?". Kenshin just continued to stare out the window as though he never heard her question. 'Fine, be that way' thought Kaoru with anger. Unfortunately, her thoughts took over her body as she roughly snapped his arm into place. Kenshin let out a scream of pain.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" yelled Kenshin. Kaoru glared back at him.

"Fixing your arm, you ungrateful bastard!" hissed Kaoru. 'Crap, I'm yelling at him, I better do something quick before he yells back at me'. Before Kenshin could open his mouth, Kaoru was dabbing his lips and chin from the dried out blood with a warm cloth. Settling down, Kenshin just stared at Kaoru as she concentrated on cleaning the caked on blood without applying too much pressure. After she was done with his mouth she started on his nose.

"So..." started Kaoru. Kenshin continued to watch her. "What happened?"

Kenshin's eyes glared at her, "None of your business" he growled. Kaoru let out a sigh. 'If he doesn't want to tell me, he doesn't have to'.

"Alright then" said Kaoru as she washed the cloth and gentle dabbed his forehead. "You don't have to tell me". Kenshin stared boggled at Kaoru. Kaoru moved her gaze to look him straight in the eye. "I'm here listen when you need me to".

"Hey guys, I'm gonna turn on the radio alright?" said Megumi from the other side of the room.

"Kay" said Kaoru, never once leaving her gaze from Kenshin's eyes.

"I was so high,

I did not recognize,

The fire burning in her eyes,

The chaos that controlled my mind,

Whispered goodbye,

She got on a plane,

Never to return again,

But always in my heart...

This love has taken it's toll on me,

She said goodbye, too many times before,

Her heart is breaking in front of me,

And I have no choice, 'cause I won't say goodbye anymore,

Oh, Oh, Oh,

Oh, Oh, Oh,

Oh, Oh, Oh...

Song: "This Love" by: Maroon 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the song above.

AND THAT'S CHAPTER...UM, I THINK 9? So, what did you think? Do you love it? Hate it? I hope that it was long enough. I'm so sorry for the near 3 months update. I've been so busy with school and music videos, oh, and writer's block. THANK GOD MY WRITER'S BLOCK IS GONE!! Now, I'm in the mood to write, write, WRITE!!!

I'm planning on starting a pirate fic for Rurouni Kenshin. I'm probably gonna start writing it on maybe, say Thursday. Please review it as soon as I post it up!!

And here are the Review Responses for chapter 8:

Oblivion's Hatred: Next time I'll try to make the chapter longer. I hope that this was long enough. I'm sorry for the late update. Thanks for reviewing!

Mori'quessir: Thanks for finding the last chapter hilarious.

Dark-elmo: I think that you miss understood the part about her answering the questions in the last chapter. Whenever she said "No" to a question and the bulb said "True", it means that she was telling the truth to the question. So when she said that her boobs were real, it meant that she was telling the truth.

MizzLee: I'll try to make it longer next time.

LeaD: Sorry for the late update.

Galandria the Vampire Queen: Thanks for reviewing.

Shura-shan27: lol. Thanks for the review.

Kaname-chan: Sorry for the late update. But thanks for reviewing.

Randomxthoughts: Thanks for the review!

Laurika: lol. Sorry for the late update.

Kitsune KeNsHiN: thanks I've made a couple music videos: Here Without You for Inuyasha, Touched for Inuyasha, and Gravity of Love for Evangelion.

Thank you all for reviewing and I am sincerely sorry the super late update. If there were some weird parts in this chapter, please excuse them. My sister is kicking me off the computer, so I guess that it's goodbye for now...

Until next time.. Oh wait, I'm not sure when I'll be updating so don't tell me to rush ok? Ok!

Ttyl, bibi

*Dev