Alrighty then! Hello all you wonderful people! Can you tell I'm in a good mood? Yep. Also, I've discovered, okay maybe not discovered, but have learned of the word 'brouhaha'. And since it makes me giggle like a three-year-old, I've made it the word of the chapter. You will find it spread out through the selected…um…selection.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
All In The Name of Cement Shoes: Say Your Prayers…BROUHAHA!
The Home of One Santino Barazzi (the scary Italian man)
"I want you to find out whatever you can on that mousy looking girl. If she's any threat, any threat at all to my baby girl's wedding, I want it taken care of. Capisce?" (pronounced ka-peesh) The baneful man quickly lit a cigar while tossing a pair of keys at the green eyed form standing in front of him. His apple eyes lit up with curiosity.
"But boss…Hannya said that she was just helping out Aoshi – nothing more. You can't honestly think that shrimp could seduce Aoshi, do you?" Santino Barazzi sat in his leather chair for a moment, pondering his right hand man's question and relaxing within the mesmerizing smoke his cigar created. He quietly folded his arms over his broad chest and grinned impishly at Joey.
"Perhaps, but we're both men, Joey. We both can't doubt that the doll was indeed attractive." No, they wouldn't doubt the good looks of an innocent woman. But they couldn't ignore that fact either. If they were able to see her beauty, then there was no doubt that a man who hadn't been in a physical relationship for five years would be able to as well. Joey sighed at his loss. He had hoped for a night off so that he might ask a certain female doctor he met out on a date. She had evaded his advances for the past week and a half and it boiled his blood to know that she didn't feel the same way he did.
"Fine. I'll get right on that." His boss flashed him a bright smile before adding on to his workload.
"And Joey? Try getting a lead on that Sanosuke. We still have to have a little meeting set up with him. Try to find any living relatives that we might be able to…convince him with." Joey nodded and set forth to do his boss' bidding.
Shinomori Estates
A cool wind swept over the gash that had formed when Misao's skull collided with the damned tree branch. But inside, she was anything but cool. It was Aoshi's lush mouth that was sending the cool breath to dry the antiseptic he had spread over her skin. She was managing to steady her breath but it was the only thing steady in her body. Her hands would squirm and twist into freakish shapes when his fingers brushed her skin. Her eyes would become blurry when he lightly pulled her bangs away from her face. And her cheeks would become inflamed with embarrassment when her blew on her scrape. But a stinging sensation was somehow felt in the midst of all the blowing and touching, and Misao let her pain be heard.
"Ow!" Aoshi swiftly drew back and scanned over his doctoring skills.
"Sorry about that. I don't think you'll need any stitches but I'd feel a whole lot better if you saw a doctor." She flashed a smile before waving away his worry over something so minimal.
"Oh, it's nothing. Seriously. I'm going to be just fine." Her reassurance was proven false as she tried to walk away, swaying ever so gently in the wrong direction. She was just about to make impact with the floor when she suddenly found two arms wrapping around her torso and lifting her back up on the table.
"Yes. You WILL be just fine – after you see a doctor. Someday, you will trust me enough to tell me when you're in pain." At this, Misao quirked an inquisitive eyebrow.
"You're a fine one to be talking, Aoshi." She had caught him there. She watched his gray-blue eyes widen for a moment and then lower in shame. Maybe she had caught him just a little too sharply. She was just about to change the subject when Aoshi's deep octaves hit her ears.
"Her name was Lorraine. We had met at some social gathering and exchanged numbers. One thing led to another and I found myself quite smitten with her. I was different back then, of course. She quickly became my entire life. Those closest to me, however, found her vindictive and mean, among other things. They also found her to be cheating. But, I didn't believe it. I was even thinking about giving her partnership in my company. That was when Kenshin had the final straw. He threatened to leave the company and begin one of his own. And Kenshin is a genius in his field. I couldn't allow such competition. I tried talking him out of it, but he left anyway. In blind fury, I sought him out. It was raining that night. Hannya insisted that he drive instead of me, but I was too angry to notice. So, he just came along for the ride. I don't remember how we crashed, but we did. I was thrown out into a field, suffering a concussion. Hannya was stuck inside the passenger side of the car while it slowly began to burn. That's why he wears the mask. His burns were so horrible on his face, he thought it natural to hide them. And it was my fault. Two months later, while I was in physical therapy for a broken leg, I received a 'dear John' letter from Lorraine."
Misao was physically restraining the tears that were threatening to fall from oceanic orbs. She would have never believed that such horrible things could happen to so many people. Now she understood the burden he carried. And Hannya…he stayed loyal to his friend even though…even though…
"I'm so sorry!" Without realizing what she had done, Misao sprang into Aoshi's arms. Tears were now falling freely down her reddened cheeks and slowly moistening Aoshi's shirt. However, Aoshi's arms remained limp at his sides. No attempt was made to console the sobbing mess in front of him. He was too deep in shock to make her feel better. She had apologized? What on earth did she need to apologize for? Muffled sniffles ruined his pace of thought. "I have a headache. It hurts really bad and makes me dizzy. And my knee is throbbing." Aoshi stared at the woman in front of him before tugging her into a tight embrace.
St. Peter's Hospital
Megumi Takani had just finished checking on her last patient of the evening when the young man crashed into her office carrying a nervous woman in his arms. Still being fresh from medical school, Megumi still wasn't able to handle the odd situations and medical cases that flowed through the hospital. And it wasn't that the couple seemed all that odd. It was the fact that the woman had entered the building kicking, screaming, and begging to be released. Usually patients were kicking and screaming for help, but not so much with these two. When the man had finally calmed her down enough to relax, Megumi noticed her embarrassment and chose that particular moment to ask the man to leave.
"What the hell for?Is there something serious with her, doc?" Megumi blinked in disbelief before calmly placing her clipboard down. Placing a serious expression on her face, the doctor set forth to creating a barrier of privacy for the two women.
"I'll call you in when we're through." She watched his chocolate eyes widen in shock before turning into thin slits of rebellion.
"You have two minutes, Doc." Megumi returned his demanding glare and wrapped a few thin fingers around the glossy doorknob.
"I will tell you when we're done. End of discussion." With that said, a large wooden door was slammed into the flabbergasted expression of Sanosuke Makimachi.
Dr. Megumi Takani sighed out loud before turning to the agitated patient. The nerve of some people! But the woman was courteous and smiled slightly at the doctor's disheveled appearance. To think that Sanosuke could rile up someone so much and in turn, be able to stand her ground. Most women just slapped him and got it out of their system. Not this one, though.
"Okay…Miss…" Megumi frantically flipped though the paperwork in search of a name.
"Kaoru. I don't like the proper title thing…makes me feel old." She smirked at the medical woman and positioned herself in a more lady like manner on the stretcher Sano had so humbly stolen for her.
In her opinion, Kaoru thought she was perfectly fine. After the hoodlum had taken off down the street, Kaoru sprinted to her apartment and sifted through the millions of numbers of people who might let her stay with them for awhile. After tearing her closet and desk upside-down, Kaoru dialed Sano's cell in hopes that he would know someone. It was sometime between when she was explaining that her aunt was out of town and her grandfather was in Hawaii that Kaoru had heard the screeching halt of tires. She had let that little bit of information out of her mouth and Sano was screaming at the top of his lungs for her to drop to the floor. It didn't take long to realize why – numerous gunshots filled her living room and quickly began to destroy her apartment one bullet at a time.
During the rampant gunfire, a few shards of glass had somehow grazed Kaoru's right cheek and left shoulder. She remained curled up in tight ball until Sano burst in through the shattered door. In a hurried panic, he lifted her up and dashed towards the hospital a block away from Kaoru's apartment complex – St. Peter's Hospital, to be exact. And thus, how she ended up in the hospital.
Megumi simply stared at the woman before laughing. Soon more laughter followed and both women had to wipe tears from their eyes. The doctor was the first to calm down and proceeded to patch the tiny wounds that had been inflicted upon the poor wedding planner.
"I didn't mean to laugh, Kaoru, but the way he brought you in here – one would think you were breathing your last breath!" A few more giggles erupted from the two adults until Megumi noticed that the tears falling from Kaoru's moistened eyes were not from laughter.
"I…I almost died tonight!" A few more sniffles and Megumi suddenly found herself trying to hold up a limp Kaoru. The poor girl had fainted.
"Okay, Doc, give me the news. I can handle it. She's dead isn't she?" Megumi cleared her throat and blinked at the absurdity of the question just asked.
"Kaoru…fainted." A loud whelp flooded out of Sano's mouth as he ran a hand through his thick locks.
"Dammit! Damn it to hell! Why her! Why couldn't you save her? WHY!" The doctor simply quirked a perfectly trimmed eyebrow before trying to calm the lunatic down. She raised her voice to a violent hiss as she spoke.
"Would you quiet it down? She's not dead you imbecile, she just fainted. The realization of what had happened hit her all at once. So calm down."
"Oh Go- what? That's it?" Megumi nodded and began the tedious task of filling out the proper paperwork so that she could clock out from her shift. She had just begun the last sheet of information when she suddenly heard the booming voice of Joey. She hastily finished up the last of signatures and dashed off to find a secure hiding spot.
Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Joey had met her at a coffee shop and tried to get her number. She had refused but the man didn't give up so easily. He had followed her to work three days later and in desperation, agreed to have lunch with him at the hospital's cafeteria. She talked for hours and had hoped that she could at least find out where he was from. But all she got was the name Joey. No area of work, no hobbies, no nothing. And Megumi refused to date a man that had no past. So she had tried to lose him as quickly as possible. But alas, he had caught up with her just as she reached Sanosuke. In a final attempt to get rid of the annoying man, she latched onto Sano's arm and snuggled deeply.
"Sorry it took so long, sweetie. Oh! Joey! I didn't expect to see you here tonight! I'd like you to meet my fiancé, Sanosuke." Sano immediately mentally slapped himself. Of all the people Megumi had to use – it was he. And of all the people she was trying to lose- it was Joey. The one man who could and probably would have killed him had it not been for the female doctor glued to his side.
"Fiancé? Him? Sanosuke? You've got to be kidding me!" Sano slyly leaned towards Megumi's ear and whispered that the foxy lady had probably just signed a death note for him. Megumi chuckled nervously and tugged on Sano's leather jacket a bit. She had to play this down to the last detail.
"Um, yeah. We met a week ago – a week after I met you to be exact – and it was love at first sight." Joey recounted the past days in his head. So it HAD been two weeks! He bowed his head in defeat. Sano had won this battle but the war was far from over.
"Megumi – get your eyes checked. And Sano – watch your back." The former delinquent stood up straight and sucked in a huge gulp of air.
"Is that a threat, Joey?" The gangster closed the gap between them and sneered at the man who had a deathwish.
"You'll know when I'm threatening you." Sano watched as Joey headed through the sliding doors that connected the outside to the hospital.
"Well, was THAT a threat?"
"Megumi! You have another one!" Dr. Takani sighed aloud at both the idiocy of the man beside her and at the fact that she was never going to get home at this rate. She pleaded with the receptionist as she walked towards the examination room to let another doctor take over but soon learned that the patient had asked for her specifically. Only one person asked for her name – Aoshi Shinomori.
And sure enough, there he was, sitting next to a petite woman with a bad gash on her head. She looked like she was in no pain but Aoshi was a nervous wreck although the naked eye of a stranger could never pick up on it. It took years of friendship to pick up on the twitching foot and the biting of the lip to realize the thick emotion in the room. Only a few women ever got to witness this nervous habit, one is being Megumi, the other being Lorraine. This girl must be something special. She hastily walked over to her new patient and scanner her over. After a half-hour of examination, Megumi prescribed a painkiller and reassured Aoshi that the mousy creature would be just fine. She then proceeded to walk the new couple to their car and pull out the keys to her own vehicle. She almost let out a scream at the sight of Joey standing beside her red Mercedes.
"Takani, who was that?"
"I don't know,"she sneered while pushing the key into the ignition. She hated being cold and autumn nights didn't sit well with her. "I'm guessing the obvious – his new woman. Geez, you ask a lot of questions Joey." The hit man helped her with her door and stared after the doctor as she sped off. Aoshi's new woman, huh?