Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Warnings: Rated M for language and some lime/lemon/whatever.

Italics- thoughts

Bold Italics - flashbacks

Aitou

Chapter 2

Aoshi...

Shock.

That was her initial reaction. She couldn't move, she couldn't think straight, and she couldn't breathe. All she could do was stare at him through her dark bangs, silently and hoping desperately that he would not notice her. Slowly yet cautiously, her sapphire eyes took in his sharp appearance, his proud, precise movements, and his mouth...

She could feel his warm lips trail kisses on her face, then slowly moving lower to her delicate neck… lower to her collarbone…lower…and lower…

Kaoru's eyes widened and her head bowed quickly to stare at her desk.

Oh God...don't let me think about that! Not now…

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Throwing a quick glance toward her friend on her side, Kaoru mentally sighed in relief that Misao didn't seem to notice her unusual reaction. In fact, Misao was sporting a glazed look on her face as she was staring at their handsome teacher. She and the rest of the ladies in the class…which Kaoru could understand why. Shinomori Aoshi bore an intense aura within him. With just a glance, one would indeed find him disciplined and strong-spirited. And not to forget, he was gorgeous too. When she dared to look at him again, she couldn't help but notice the way his hair fell over his beautiful eyes. Those eyes that were currently scanning a piece of paper he held casually with his strong hands...

His hands ghosted over her skin as if to tease her. She would have groaned in protest had he not reassured her as he encircled her waist with his arms and pulled her to his chest.

Argh! Stop! Stop it Kaoru! And stop gawking at him for the love of...

Instantly, Kaoru closed her eyes shut. Yes. That was it. If she can't see him, she'd stop herself from remembering all the things that happened that one night. Right?

Wrong. How very wrong she was.

The moment she closed her eyes, his rich, deep voice assaulted her ears.

"Kirei…" he whispered softly as he nibbled on her ear. "Kaoru…"

A nudge to her elbow was what it took to pull her out of her daze. Misao was eyeing her curiously. Rather curiously. The girl was staring at her intently, and Kaoru could only feel conscious of herself. She hoped that her expression did not betray anything as she struggled to compose herself. No one, not even her best friend, knew of her...'acquaintance'...with Aoshi. And she was not ready to reveal the information to anyone at all.

I don't think I will ever be ready...

"Kao...why are your ears all red?" the girl whispered.

Flabbergasted, Kaoru's automatically moved her hands to cover her ears. "W-what? What do you mean?"

Misao glanced back to their teacher and then back to her friend. Realization seemed to hit her and she raised her brow. For a moment Kaoru swore she saw her friend's eyes glint mischievously. And that, for obvious reasons, was not a good sign. That look was bad news. Especially to her.

"You're blushing!" Misao exclaimed happily.

"Nani?! No I'm not! And keep your voice down!" Kaoru whispered back.

"You can't fool me, my dear. Now what were the dirty thoughts were you thinking of when you look at Shinomori-sensei?" Misao cocked her head to the side slightly and gave the blushing girl a toothy grin.

How the heck did she know? And how could she think that I'm having dirty thoughts just 'coz of a blush? I am 100 I don't have drool hanging by the side of my mouth…unlike some of these girls in the class! Yuck!

Kaoru paused for a second before she shot Misao a deadly glare. "I wasn't blushing! And I was certainly NOT having dirty thoughts of-"

"Yes you were...and you still are. I mean, look at you. Your eyes are practically eating him up." A smug reply.

"No I am not!" she hissed back quietly.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No! Stop it already! You're gonna-"

She paused suddenly when her friend's eyes moved to stare sheepishly at something behind her. Or rather...someone. How she hadn't sensed his presence near her, she couldn't figure. But that didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was that at the moment, he was standing where Kaoru didn't want him to be standing. Anywhere near her.

Lord, please...no. Please please please...no...

"Is there a problem here?"

The coldness of his voice startled her. She dared not look back, keeping her head down. How was she going to get out of this? The one thing that she was desperately hoping wouldn't happen, well...it was going to happen. Kaoru didn't want him to see her. She didn't want him to recognize her. Because when he does, she will see.

Regret.

She was afraid she would see it in his eyes. And she didn't want to deal with something like that again. No...she couldn't. She would hurt again.

A moment later, she heard Misao speak. "Ah...gomennasai Shinomori-sensei! We didn't mean to...I mean...it was my fault! I started it...not Kaoru!"

No, Misao!

"Is this true?" she heard him finally ask.

Kaoru assumed the question was directed at her. But as much as she wished it wasn't, her assumptions were confirmed when Misao eyed her expectantly and nudged her by the knee. The gods were against her today. She silently wondered what she has done to deserve this. Having no other choice, she mustered up all the courage she had and opened her mouth to speak, still with her head bowed and her back facing him.

"Ie."

She cringed inwardly. The response came out as a high-pitched squeak. She could've hit herself with her hand for that. So much for her so-called courage.

Misao nudged her again and whispered frantically so that only she could hear. "Face him! He'll think you've got no respect and...crap...he's freakin' intimidating! Just..."

Do it.

Kaoru stood up slowly. It was inevitable. It made no sense to delay it.

You can't escape it.

Turning around, she gave him a deep respectful bow.

"Gomen, Shinomori-sensei, for disrupting your class. Misao and I are both at fault. It will not happen again."

And then she stood up straight to look directly into his eyes.

He stood there quietly, looking down on her. His face held no expression at all. Kaoru searched his eyes for something, anything. Recognition, surprise, even regret. But when all she received was an apathetic cold gaze, she forced her eyes to painfully look away.

"Very well. Sit down."

Kaoru sat quickly, and as he walked away, all she could manage to do was to stare at his retreating back sadly.

He didn't even...

Sighing deeply, she stared down at her hands, folded neatly on her lap.

There was nothing...

She bit her lip softly and swallowed a lump that was building up in her throat.

It hurts.

"Kaoru, honey, stop playing with your food!"

Kaoru looked up at her friend Megumi, a senior student, in surprise and scowled. "Yes…mother."

Another one of her friends, Sanosuke, nudged her side with his elbow and grinned. "Oi…Jou-chan! Ya gonna eat that? If ya ain't I'll be happy to-"

She shoved her plate towards Sano sullenly. His eyes twinkled gleefully. "Yea! You're the best, Jou-chan!"

Megumi gave her boyfriend a look of contempt. She then proceeded to scold Kaoru just like a mother hen would. "You shouldn't have done that! You'll only encourage him!"

"Hey! Don't talk about me as if I'm some kind of dog!" the brown-haired man howled in protest.

Megumi ignored him. "Kaoru…you've been doing nothing but shove your food around your plate for the past 10 minutes. And, you haven't said a word…which is highly unusual for a tanuki like yourself!"

When Kaoru didn't retaliate with Megumi's usual 'kitsune' nickname, the older girl knew there was something wrong.

"Are you ok?" she asked softly, not wanting to catch the rest of the group's attention. She knew Kaoru didn't want her friends fussing over her.

Unfortunately, Misao had heard Megumi. She had noticed her best friend's mood and instantly knew how to pull her out of it. She grinned. "Oh! Didn't you know? Kaoru's crushing on Shinomori-sensei…and she's bummed that she got scolded by him on the first day. Right Kao?"

The taunt apparently got to Kaoru as she immediately glared daggers at the shorter girl. "Mou! Maybe you mean YOU! Yeah…don't deny it! I saw you ogling him!"

"Pft! So what if I was?"

Soujiro sat up straight at his girlfriend's declaration. "Nani!?!"

Misao turned to Soujiro and waved her hands hastily. "Matte matte! I haven't finished. I'm not gonna deny that Shinomori-sensei is one hot piece of…"

A low growl from her boyfriend stopped her midsentence and Misao smiled sheepishly. "…I mean…that he's good-looking. But he seemed like a cold uncaring bastard anyway. He's too strict, very intimidating…and worst of all…he's no fun at all! That's definitely a turn-off for me!"

"Hmm...it sounds as if he's like Kuchiki Byakuya." Soujiro commented while rubbing his chin with his hand.

Sano eyed him, confused. "Eh? Who's that?"

"You know…the 6th division captain from Bleach."

The only reaction Soujiro received were blank stares. He sweat-dropped.

"It's a manga/anime! Oh come on…don't tell me you guys haven't heard of it! Mi-chan…you watched one episode with me last night!"

Misao raised her index finger in the air and exclaimed happily. "Oh yeah…I remember! It involved fighting, swords, and…watcha call it?...ah…shinigami?"

"Yes! That's it!"

"Oh Sou-chan! You watch too much anime! Especially those that involve fighting and swordplay!" Misao teased.

"Well, you watch too much soaps! Too much drama is sickening!" He replied, scrunching up his face in disgust.

Misao pouted. "Sickening? Look buddy, you promised to watch my favorite soap with me tonight after you bugged me to watch your anime. And you won't get out of it!"

"Nani?! I did not!"

As the two continued to bicker, Kaoru's mind wandered off to him again. All she could focus to think about was the look of cold indifference on his face as he regarded her that morning. She admitted to herself that it hurt when he did not recognize her. If he did, then he certainly did not acknowledge it. The thought of seeing him everyday was depressing. And there was only one thing she could do.

Kaoru stood up abruptly and briskly walked out of the cafeteria, mind set on her goal.

Megumi was startled at her sudden departure. "Kaoru! Where are you off to? Tanuki!"

Well, that didn't work.

"Kamiya-san, since you cannot provide us with a reasonable excuse for you to transfer to Yamada-sensei's Physics class, there is no reason for me to make the transfer."

"B-but…"

The Dean held up his hand. "Now, I assure you that Shinomori-sensei is more than competent to teach the subject. If that is what you are concerned about. You may go. Thank you, Kamiya-san."

Tired from her after school job as a waitress in the Akabeko, she sighed miserably and opened the door to her apartment. For once, Kaoru was glad that she lived alone because she certainly was not in the mood to speak with anyone. Surely she did not take her friends for granted, for they were all she had left in this world. They were her family. But there were times that she needed to be alone. Like now.

It had surprised her that seeing Aoshi again had affected her so much. It had been almost a year since that night and she had not expected him to show up in her life again. Much less become one of her teachers. Kaoru never thought he would be the type to teach. College Physics at that. But then, she didn't really know much about him at all. One day. It was for only one day that she knew him. And he had managed to make her throw away her inhibitions and break all the rules she had set herself to follow. For goodness sake! Sleeping with a man she only met for a day was not a thing she thought she would ever do! And that was her first (and only) stime too! Kissing on the first date was even prohibited. She hadn't even kissed a guy until she knew him very well. She cursed herself for her weakness.

She dragged herself towards her bedroom, not even bothering to turn the lights on. All Kaoru wanted to do was throw herself on bed and go to sleep. Dropping her bag on the floor and kicking off her shoes, she felt for the edge of her bed and immediately jumped in. She didn't care that she hadn't changed into her pajamas. Sighing in mild content, she hugged her pillow and prayed silently that her dreams would be free of him before waiting for sleep to come.

"Kaoru."

She froze for a second.

His voice. Am I asleep and dreaming already?

Then she groaned.

"Kami-sama! I asked you not let me dream of Aoshi tonight…" she muttered softly.

"Kaoru." It was his voice again.

She grunted and covered her head with one of her pillows.

Just ignore it and think of something else!

Ha! As if you can ignore dreams!

"Kaoru." She heard him repeat. But this time, she felt something shaking her shoulder lightly. Alarmed, Kaoru jerked back and opened her eyes. She couldn't see clearly in the dark, but she could make out a figure looming over her. She did what any alarmed girl would do. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand came over her mouth to stop her. The instinct to lash out at the intruder came instantly, but she stilled as the room filled with dim light from her bedside lamp.

A pair of cold blue eyes gazed at her.

Aoshi!

"You wonder why I am here."

He spoke suddenly. Kaoru looked up from her seat on the living room couch. Aoshi was standing, calmly peering out of the window. She did wonder why he was here. In fact, she was so surprised, that she hadn't spoken a word to him yet. Who could blame her? The whole day she was thinking that he had not remembered her, and now he was standing inside her apartment. Apparently, he did remember her, but he still bore the cold persona he showed her in class that morning. How he knew where she lived and how he got in was a mystery, but Kaoru could not put herself up to ask him that yet. For the moment, her heart was pounding hard enough for her to conclude that she couldn't trust her voice to sound calm enough.

"I came here to clear things up." He wasn't looking at her. Kaoru kept silent still, waiting for him to continue.

"I want you to forget the past."

She snapped her head to his direction as he looked intently into her eyes. "What?'

"Forget that we ever met before."

Kaoru couldn't take it. She stood up and turned her back on him. It felt like he was stabbing a dagger through her heart. Even though she had spent only a day with him, she knew in her heart that he was special. When she first met him, she felt a connection between them. He was kind and supportive. They had talked about everything under the sun. She had liked talking to him and when she was with him, she felt safe for some reason. Yes, he was special. But right now, he was different. And Kaoru was desperately willing herself to keep herself from crying after hearing the words he had just spoken.

"You came here just to tell me that?" She tried to keep her voice leveled and calm.

"Aa."

She took a deep breath and clenched her fist. "Well you didn't have to."

She turned and looked at him hard. "You could've just continued to ignore me and pretend that I don't exist just like you did this morning."

"I wanted to make sure that you haven't told anyone about me."

Why are you doing this?

"And aside from Physics class, there will be nothing between us after this. You never knew me and I never knew you. I will just be your teacher, and you one of my students."

Is that it? Is it because I'm now your student? Is it because you're ashamed of me? Did you regret that night? Was I the only one who felt that we belonged together?

Kaoru looked at him with sad eyes. "If you weren't my teacher…and if I wasn't your student…would you still ask me to forget about you?"

He gave no response.

But she saw it. The same look in his eyes the morning after that night.

Regret.

She turned away from him and gave out a humorless chuckle. "Of course you would. After all, you disappeared on me and haven't tried to contact me…"

Kaoru trailed off and waited for him to say something. Anything that would prove her assumptions wrong.

But still he kept silent.

And to her, his silence spoke louder than any words ever could.

Yes, he would still ask her to forget about him. Because he did not feel the same way.

The thing that she had come to deny for such a long time was confirmed to be true to her eyes. Kaoru chuckled once again and gave Aoshi a smile that did not reach her downcast eyes. "I will honor your request, Shinomori-sensei." She spoke in a cheerful voice. "You should not worry anymore."

She walked towards her front door and opened it wide for him with a smirk. "Thank you for the visit. It was very…enlightening."

Aoshi stood still for a while before walking out. "Goodbye, Kamiya-san."

Closing her door shut, Kaoru's cheerful façade broke down and tears came pouring down. She placed her clenched fists to the door's surface as she tried to stop the tears.

"You played me." she whispered.

"You played me well."

She wiped the wetness from her face with her hands and walked away from the door to her bedroom.

Outside, Aoshi looked down to see the light passing through the small cleft beneath her door die down into darkness.

I'm sorry…Kaoru.

End of Chapter 2

Author's Note:

Thanks guys for reading, especially thank you for those who reviewed! WolfJade (thank you!) mentioned that "Aitou" specifically means condolence, but "Kuyamu" which is when you feel sorry about something (which is what I was aiming for). She said Aitou sound better though. Anywho, I won't change the title for now, but I hope you guys can tell me which you prefer.

Sorry for the Bleach insert. Haha. Peace.

Again, please REVIEW!