Well, as pego so embarrassingly pointed out I did make a slight faux pas with the profiles. You see, I made the profiles ahead of time when I planned to make everyone in college but I changed my mind while I finished the profiles and never really checked it over. Wow, I'm embarrassed. It's sad, I go to a prep school and take honors geometry and I still can't count. Tear Tear!
Anyways if any of y'all are wondering, my team finished 3rd out of like fifty teams at our last tourney and I can hardly wait till our next one!
Since everyone was so nice and reviewed I decided to type up my other chapter until Inuyasha starts in half and hour, so I better hurry!
Chapter 4
Torque of Hatred
Kaoru panted. She had been running for over an hour trying to clear her mind. It was at least her fourth time circling the park and unbeknownst to her, she had beaten her mile time by at least five seconds. Sweat gleamed on the side of her face as she pushed herself harder.
"What's with that asshole Saitoh anyway?" she grumbled running past the streetlamps that lit up the now dark sky. It was a relatively chilly night, but Kaoru didn't notice, too engulfed in her heated rage.
"It's not like it was my fault anyway, it was that stupid Himura's fault." She grumbled. "If he hadn't tried to get back at us, I wouldn't have lost my temper." She had to stop; her lungs were on fire and she couldn't breath. She slowed down and placed her hands above her head to help her breath.
Meanwhile
The basketball teams practice had just finished after a particularly hard day of drills and suicides, for Sano's grumbling and comments. Though they were exhausted they were still as rowdy and rambunctious as ever.
Kaoru grabbed her bags from the park bench after a five-minuet cool down and briskly began to walk in the direction of her apartment. Her little brother would be worried anyway. She lived a few blocks away and because she was so tired she decided to take the bus home.
Kenshin said his goodbyes to his friends and headed toward the bus stop. He had finished all his homework in study hall and was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening soaking in a tub.
The bus came shortly and being the time that everyone wants to return home it was quite crowded. Looking for a place to sit he found the only available seat next to a girl engulfed in her Physics book.
He took the seat next to her not really caring considering it was nighttime and he really needed to rest his feet.
At first, the girl took no notice of him except that she felt something wet hit her arm. She looked to find that it was her seat partners sweat. "Gross, Do you mind?" She exclaimed, her Physics text temporarily forgotten. It was then that realization hit her. "You!"
The teen in question faced the girl to his right to find an enraged volleyball captain glaring daggers at him. "Are you some kind of sick, stalker freak?" she blurted. "You can't just make my life hell at school, you have to do it afterwards too?"
Kenshin was tired and not in the mood to argue today. "It's not like I want to sit next to you; there's no more seats left."
"I'm getting off." She replied and pushed the stop button and grabbed her book bag.
"It's not safe to walk by yourself at night." He said wisely. "I'll walk you home."
Kaoru stared at him the same way one would stare at a person if their hair were on fire. "Why do you think I'm getting off the bus in the first place? The whole point is so I can be far away from you!" She yelled and stood up, squeezing past Kenshin, who got a lovely view of her behind and gulped.
He quickly walked up the isle behind her and got off as well. "All the same, I would prefer to know that you are safe."
"Why you don't even know me!" She stalked off in the direction of her apartment, which was still three and a half blocks away. Kenshin calmly strolled behind her humming to himself.
Kaoru still stormed on and it was then that she failed to realize the sudden drop off the sidewalk. "Ah shit" she twisted her ankle slightly and dropped to one knee. "This day keeps getting better and better!"
She attempted to stand but shocks ran up her calf, and she gave up and sat on the curb. Kenshin had caught up to her at this point and kneeled down to her eyelevel. "Let me see your ankle." He commanded gently.
"No, it's fine." She snapped and turned her head away.
Mumbling something about stubborn women, Kenshin grabbed her ankle and placed it on his lap. "Do you know what the meaning of 'NO' is?" Kenshin ignored her biting remarks and started massaging the sprain.
Kaoru didn't know what to say. At first, she thought he was a sardonic playboy, and then she thought he was a coldhearted bastard, and now he was being gentle? "Did anyone ever tell you, you have more mood swings than a girl on PMS?"
He chuckled lightly. "Never that bluntly, no"
Kaoru couldn't figure this guy out at all. She thought he would have told her off for that comment.
"
There try walking on it now." He stated turning her ankle loose. Kaoru slowly stood up. The shock was still there, but it was less severe. "Thanks" she murmured, hobbling down the street. Even with her limping, keeping most of her weight off her ankle, it was still quite painful.
She gasped when her legs were swept up from underneath her and she was facing Kenshin's collarbone. "Put me down, it's not that bad!" She grumbled as she tried squirming her way out of his hold.
Kenshin was trying his best not to drop her and bit out "Yes it is, now you won't be able to play all season if you keep walking on it." This calmed Kaoru's wild movements but not her mind or mouth.
"If anyone catches us like this, I swear I'll kill you." She mumbled. She put one arm around his neck and shoulders to hold part of her own weight herself.
After a few moments of trudging onward through the deserted street, Kenshin asked a question he had been meaning to ask for a while. "Why does Saitoh-san rag on you all the time?"
Kaoru did not expect this out of the blue question and glanced up at him. "I don't know really, it's probably because he chose me as the captain and if I don't push myself it won't motivate the rest of the team." She answered truthfully, even though she didn't quite know the reasoning herself. "Either that or he just doesn't like me."
"Are you sure that's why?" he asked not believing that Saitoh would ever push someone that hard for those reasons alone. He knew Saitoh since he was a child and never were his reasoning so easy to figure out.
"It's not like many guys do, for very long that is." She replied gloomily, recalling her newly ceased relationship with Masashi. "I probably should just give up on finding a boyfriend at this school. It's like Enishi said I am an obsessive bitch. Oh, I didn't mean to tell you all that either." She mumbled the last part, looking away in embarrassment from babbling on and on about her problems.
Kenshin also surprised at the amount of information given stuttered in response. "I…I'm sure it's just the guy."
"Ugh that's definitely not it." She replied knowingly. "Can we talk about something else?" she tried to divert the conversation but failed as Kenshin asked "Why?"
"Um let's see, there was Ryoga, from the martial arts club, Kouga from track, Syusuke and Eiji from tennis, Vash from paintball, and Kiba from that weird cult group. There's more but you get the drift."
"Wow," he murmured. He definitely learned a lot tonight.
"Well anyways you can put me down, I must weigh a ton, and my apartments right there." She said in a lethargic tone.
Kenshin took the time to look around as he set her down, missing the warmth in his arms. The area was too shady for his taste; it was not in the cleanest of nicest part of town. 'She lives here?' he thought.
"Thanks again, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She limped to one of the doors on the first floor with Kenshin's help. She buzzed the doorbell and banged once. "Yahiko, come open the door, I left my keys!"
Grumbling was heard on the other side of the door as the sound of a dead bolt being pulled back was heard. A boy around the age of eleven poked his head out yawning. His brown eyes showed curiosity as he took in the sight of his sister leaning on some redhead after locking herself in her room after her boyfriend dumped her the day before.
"Hey kiddo, did you finish your homework before you went to sleep?" She ruffled his hair playfully.
"Maybe, now, who's this guy?" He asked opening the door so his sister could come in.
"He goes to my school, He plays basketball like you shorty." She said as she lowered herself to the couch. Kenshin nodded in greeting, while Yahiko made some comment about ugly sisters and not being called short.
Her apartment wasn't the nicest place but it felt cozy and warm. "Would you like something to drink?" His thoughts were interrupted as he found the girl he had just previously told to rest her ankle up and about by the fridge.
"You really are impossible, go lie down!" he reprimanded seriously.
"I'm getting ice ok." She went over by the cabinet and pulled out a plastic bag and a bottle of Advil. She popped two in her mouth and put the ice in the bag. She wrapped it in a towel and went back to the couch.
"You should keep off that ankle for a week or so, you know." Kenshin stated. Yahiko looked from his sister to Kenshin. 'Really, who is this guy to Kaoru?' he thought.
"It'll be fine by tomorrow, besides I've got strength training and agility, I can't miss it."
"No, you will not do either!" he countered.
"You can't boss me around, it's a free country and I can do what I want." She exclaimed back. Yahiko was now even more confused.
"You can severely injure yourself! Don't you care what happens to you?" he was yelling now. 'What is wrong with this girl?' he wondered.
"I'm telling you it's fine! I've been through worse!" she lied.
"If I had to carry you all the way here, you are NOT fine!" he replied. Yahiko looked up. 'Carried?' Was his sister hurt that badly? "Where are your parents maybe they can knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours."
"THEY"RE DEAD! Ok!" She screamed.
Kenshin was taken aback. He had not been expecting this at all. "I…I didn't mean to bring up anything." He managed to get out.
"It was a long time ago, maybe you should leave." She sighed.
"Yeah, I'll see you then." He replied feeling slightly guilty about the whole ordeal. If he hadn't sat next to her she probable wouldn't need to be icing.
He left into the warm night back to the bus stop. Never did he imagine that there was so much to the Kamiya-buchou. Little did he know, there was much, much more.
"Hey busu," Yahiko asked.
"Don't call me that and what?"
"Do you like that guy?" he asked gravely.
"Nah, I think I'm through with them all." She answered and ruffled his hair again.
"Oh" He replied. 'Hmm, I think he'd be good for Kaoru; it's about time someone told her what to do. She wouldn't even listen to what people told her to do, even if it was for her benefit.' He had to admit, some of her previous boyfriends dumped her for reasons other than Kaoru being a busy body, but he wasn't about to tell Kaoru that he did it.
He sighed and watched his sister ice her ankle putting on a fake smile just for him. 'That ankle looks pretty bad' he thought. 'Guess that means I'll have to get that Kenshin guy around here more often'
Tsuzuku
Well, I'm going to end it there because I don't want to go into the next chapter. So this had a little fluff in it. Soujiro's entrance in the next chapter, I'm pretty happy about that. Hope you liked it; Kaoru's not as bitchy, yet at the same time more so. You'll see why she wont take a day off soon.
You may have noticed Ryoga, Kouga, Vash, Kiba, Syusuke, and Eiji are not from Rurouni Kenshin. Whoever can get where each of the characters are from gets a virtual cookie! A hint is what each guy is in what club! Have fun! By the way i dont own Rurouni Kenshin or these guys!
I love reviews, if you review then I will be guilted into giving you guys another chapter until then I say adieu. -Leiko
