Colorant
He hated laundry nights.
Usually it would take a lot more to ruffle the feathers of Shinomori Aoshi, but when that time of the week came it always got under his skin and he would be irritable the entire day.
First of all you basically had to fight to get a scheduled time in the laundry room and as if that wasn't enough then there was always the fact that when you had finally managed to get your pile of dirty clothes down from the east wing's third floor to the bottom landing, you then had to sort through it all; mentally swearing over the fact that you didn't have a separate laundry basket for every damn color. And because you were a poor college student on a budget, you basically spent the rest of the night washing the small amount of garments you actually owned.
He really couldn't imagine what it was that had Himura practically jumping for joy over this particular house chore.
Fortunately tonight he wasn't left alone to suffer with a cheerful Kenshin contently humming to himself. After Megumi had complained about him wearing the same t-shirt for three days, Sano had been forced to drag himself down to the laundry room with the two other males.
"Oi, Shinomori, can I put my darker pile together with yours?" Sano called across the room, waving a black sock in the air.
"Forget it Sagara. Those socks aren't touching my things," Aoshi answered brusquely, shoving his own carefully sorted load into one of the unoccupied washing machines.
"What's the big deal? Your stuff is dirty too right?" the other man argued.
Aoshi didn't batt an eye. "Compared to yours, my clothes are decontaminated. I feel sorry for Megumi."
"Tch, fine." Sano scoffed and turned to their companion instead. "Kenshin?"
The redhead shook his head, his lips twitching slightly at the corners. "Sorry Sano, but I've already done my dark pile. Besides, I'll have to agree with Aoshi on this one."
"Don't any of you care for the environment? Do you understand how much energy will go to waste, slowly killing our planet? Is that really something you want on your conscience?" The brunette gestured dramatically; sock still in a tight grip.
Kenshin eyed him dryly. "We're not stupid Sano. We all know that you'll just dump sorting duty on whoever took pity on you."
"You," Sano glared, pointing his finger accusingly from one to the other, "suck!"
That was basically how the following hour was spent, until Sano eventually gave up and grumbling shoved his laundry into the nearest apparatus.
If Aoshi had been anything for showing emotions he would have cried in delight and danced across the room when his last round of washing was done. But the elation was short-lived. From the contents of the washing machine he drew what had previously been white sheets that now sported the color light pink. With a sense of dread filling him; Aoishi hastily withdrew the rest of the load. Dumping it into the plastic basked he began rummaging through the damp textiles. The two other males watched as he two minutes later located and extracted the culprit.
"Whoo, Ice Man!" Sano whistled slyly. "Didn't know you had a thing for cross-dressing." He then broke down, howling with laughter. Aoshi closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. When he opened them again he stared deadpan at the pair of bright red laced thongs pinched between his thumb and forefinger. Warily he recalled taking off the very same garment from his girlfriend a few days ago. Misao would be thrilled that he had managed to find her missing underwear.
"Now that is what I call karma," Sano grinned, wiping the beginning of tears from the corner of his dark brown eyes. Kenshin wisely kept his mouth shut, sliding glances between the two of them.
"Oh wait till I tell Kamatari," the spiky haired man snickered, only to seconds later burst into another laughing fit.
That did it. He was going to strangle the damn rooster; and he was going to do it with his newly dyed sheets.
Author's notes: This little piece of work is dedicated to my only reviewer (I wish it had been signed so I could reply); you made my day.
To those who have taken their time to read my stuff; thank you as well.
I suppose some of you might think Kenshin was a bit OC, then again this is an AU story and therefore he doesn't have a hundred something lives to repent for. Not to say that I don't like the original Kenshin, I'm just afraid he'll appear like a real wimp if I try to make him appear like he does in the manga without all the fights to toughen him up.
/Tranquil Forest