Chapter 2 Mind's Eye

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and neither does External Darkness! We are however working up a deal with Nobuhiro Watsuki to get it! Any of you got a problem with that? Bite us!

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Tokio scanned the classroom with her sharp eyes. Everyone was sitting at their desks. Some of them were studying her curiously, some paid no attention to her whatsoever and instead were busy passing notes. Others were either reading or minding their own business. As their teacher blabbed on about how the rest of the class was suppose to treat her nicely, Tokio found herself looking into the eyes of those who were staring at her.

Three of them were girls and about two were boys. Among them Tokio found herself to be interested in the girls more rather than the boys because the girls had had on a most peculiar sort of expression on their intelligent faces. A sort of curiosity mixed with fascination.

One of them, a tall pale girl with long black hair seemed to have a mischievous little plot hatching in her mind as she gave Tokio a smirk. Tokio simply ignored the smirk and found her gaze traveling to another girl sitting beside the tall one. This one had long black hair as well but she had tied hers into a high ponytail.

This girl wasn't as bold as the first one because the minute Tokio stared at her she blushed furiously into her text book on her desk.

Before Tokio could go on to study the third girl, the teacher turned to her and said "There's a seat back there behind Shigure-san, Tokio! Why don't you sit there, dear?"

She gave a warm smile at Tokio as she said it. Tokio returned the smile and without another word she went to her seat.

Once Tokio was seated, the boy in front of her turned and smiled cockily.

"You know, you're too pretty a girl to get stuck in a shit hole like this! Why don't you let old Gure show you a good time, eh?" he grinned at her.

Before Tokio could come up with a smart reply-

"That's such a lame ass pickup line, Gure-chan!" cried the tall girl, who had smirked at Tokio earlier.

"I'm simply trying to be friendly to our new friend here, Me-gu-mi-chan!", Shigure said innocently.

Megumi snorted and said "Give me a break! Gure, why don't you just get yourself a couple of Britney Spears posters and use your lame ass pickup lines on those instead, eh?"

The second girl with the high ponytail joined in then.

"Megumi's right, Gure-chan! Leave the poor girl alone!" she cried.

Shigure didn't look the slightest bit fazed by their comments and smiled handsomely at the high pony-tailed girl.

"You know Kaoru-chan, I wouldn't mind showing you a good time as well!"

Kaoru blushed at this but Megumi rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Get a life!" then she turned and looked at Tokio.

"Why don't you come sit with us, dearie? We've got an extra seat?" she pointed at an empty chair behind Kaoru's seat as she said this.

Tokio didn't hesitated and nodded gratefully at Megumi.

"Thank you!" She cried.

At this, Shigure couldn't help but tease Megumi again.

"Aawww! Why'd you go and make her leave, Me-gu-mi-chan?" he whined sadly.

"It's for your own good!" snapped Kaoru.

Shigure just laughed heartily as he watched Tokio move away to the next seat.

As soon as Tokio sat comfortably, Megumi immediately apologized for Gure's behavior.

"Don't mind him, Tokio, He's just teasing with you. Everybody knows he's not for real!"

Kaoru nodded in agreement then she smacked her forehead as she remembered something.

"By the way, Tokio, this is our final member of the group: Misao!" she introduced to a short girl in a very long black pigtail.

Misao smiled at Tokio and Tokio returned the smile.

"Misao here" said Megumi "has a MAJOR crush on that hottie over there." She jabbed her finger in a direction of a tall, dark haired boy sitting on one of the desks at the far corner of the class.
As Tokio studied the boy, she had to agree that the boy's looks trully was hottie material. Tall and lean, smooth black hair, cold unreadable eyes and a long slim nose. Perfect male hottie.

"But she's too frikin' shy to go and tell him her feelings." Megumi continued "Though they spend a lot of time together! Why neither of them has made a move on the other beats me!"

"Megumi!" Misao cried out, blushing furiously.

"What? It's true!" Megumi said, snorting in annoyance.

"You just have to tell her that didn't you?" Misao pressed on. "On a first meet too!"

Megumi simply tossed her hair back and sang calmly, "Hush! Hush now, little weasel don't you cry! Aoshi won't do a thing if you dare try!"

Tokio and Kaoru giggled at this and Misao couldn't help but join in too.

"That crush she has on, his name is Aoshi...He's her childhood friend. They've been together since they were born!" Megumi said, eyeing the boy once more.

"And this idiot!" Megumi, nudge Kaoru "She has her crush on the totally wrong guy! He's the-"

Kaoru glared at Megumi angrily. Megumi subsided, smiling a little awkward crooked smile.

"Well..ah...,let's leave that for Kaoru to reveal it herself...Ehem!" Megumi cleared her throat uneasily.

Kaoru turned her attention back to Tokio and gave her a sweet smile.

"It's not our business, but do you have a crush on anyone?" Kaoru asked.

"I don't mean someone from our school or anything since you're new here and all...Just wanted to know if you ever had a crush on anyone before?" Kaoru prodded.

Tokio blushed slightly at the question. She bent her head down as her face grew warm and pink.

"N-no...Not that I can think of..." she said, blushing.

"Well, now that we know a little something about each other's love life..." Megumi drawled out lazily.

"THAT hottie over there... He's MINE! So longs none of you go near him, I'll be happy as a baby!"

Tokio followed her gaze and found that Megumi was looking at a tall boy with spiky black hair. He had a dark blue bandana with black printings on it tied round his forehead. He saw Megumi looking at him and gave her a cute boyish grin. Megumi grinned back and blew him a kiss. She did it so sexily that Tokio found herself gaping at the girl's flirting.

The boy caught her kiss and stared seductively at Megumi. Then both of them broke out laughing quietly.

This boy didn't look like the beautiful ice king Misao had had a crush on. This boy was cute but slightly goofy. He had a sharp nose and chocolate brown eyes. His school uniform was creased and hung on him messily. His tall frame showed that he had a rather muscular figure.

'Kind of like Saito's...' Tokio thought. 'Wait a minute! Where the heck did that come from?' Shaking her head, Tokio foucused her attention on her friends again.

"Sanosuke Sagara...WHAT a babe...!" Megumi sighed. She looked at the girls and they looked at each other. The three of them burst into a fit of giggles at the same time!

Tokio could sense the beginnings of their friendship...

Author's note: I apologize for not writing this earlier...I went through bad stuff before I finished it. Sorry yo! And don't blame poor External Darkness ok? She had nothing to do with it!