Hello everyone! Gah, you're so lucky I even got this up tonight I'm so busy! So while you're enjoying this, I'm going to be desperately pounding out three different essays and finishing my Creative Writing portfolio…
Anyway, I do hope you enjoy it, and as a side not that I forgot to add last time: If anyone knows where I got Kaoru's car in chapter 1, I'll love you forever!
Also, apparently the chapter break things I put in didn't show up last time, so I'll try something different. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused.
Beta'd by the lovely enchantedsleeper.
I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
------------------------------------------------
Kaoru awoke to glass-shattering music screaming down at her from the floor above. She groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, hoping to block out the noise, but to no avail. Stupid upstairs apartment… She knew who it was; a man by the name of Sagara Sanosuke, who liked to have parties into all hours of the night, blast music at all hours (any music seemed fine, as long as the bass would hurt her fillings), and do just about anything else in the world to deprive poor Kaoru of sleep.
Kaoru grabbed her pillow and threw it angrily at the ceiling, knowing it wouldn't even be registered on the other side, but feeling the need to express her rage nonetheless.
Getting up, she glowered at the ceiling while she opened up the refrigerator door. She had a container of old yogurt, a squishy looking orange and some old Chinese food that she hadn't bothered to throw away. She sighed. She wasn't really hungry anyway; in fact she would much rather to go back to bed, but the infernal music coming down from over head was preventing that.
Walking back into her bedroom, she saw a tattered receipt sitting on her nightstand. "Oh, right," she breathed. The car. The asshole. The number.
She walked to kitchen, where she picked up her phone and punched in the number. The phone rang a total of seven times before going to the machine. "Hey, leave a message," a man's voice said lazily.
"Hi, my name is Kamiya Kaoru, and you ran into my car last night. Since you don't seem to be available," she sighed exasperatedly, "why don't you call me back when you are? My number is 536-2678. Thanks." She hung up and pressed her hands to her eyes. "Oh my god..." she moaned.
Kaoru sat down on the couch, curling her knees to her chest. She knew she should be looking for a job, but she couldn't bring herself to go out looking or read the classifieds. She knew she should take a shower, clean the house up, or get groceries, but she just didn't have the energy.
Suddenly, the phone rang, breaking her trance. She sighed and dragged herself to the counter to answer, hoping for the car attacker. "Hello?"
"Hey, Kao, it's me." Misao piped. "Look, I was just getting my mail, and Mrs. Sakurai - you know, the old lady who works in the office? - told me to let you know that there's a box for you. I think it might be… you know." Misao's voice dropped.
"Oh." Kaoru sighed, not really wanting to retrieve the box. "Misao, you live one floor down from me. Why couldn't you just walk up here and tell me yourself?"
"Oh. Um, I don't know!" She could practically hear Misao smiling. "But do you want me to come with you?"
"No, it's just a box. I mean, it could technically be anything."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. OK, well call me if you want to do something later!" Kaoru grunted in reply and heard a soft click on the other end. That had been Misao's goodbye for the past several weeks, but Kaoru had never taken her up on the offer. She supposed one day her cousin might just stop asking.
Kaoru found herself silently praying for that day.
Rubbing her eyes, she put on a jacket to disguise the fact that she had been too lazy to wear a bra and headed downstairs to the first floor.
When she reached the lobby, Mrs. Sakurai spotted her, the old woman's face crinkling like newspaper as she smiled. "Kaoru-chan, there's a box here for you. I asked Misao to tell you, but you never know with that girl." She made a series of rather dry noises, noises that Kaoru still hadn't confirmed as being either a laugh or a cough.
Kaoru thanked her as she was handed the package, a small box that was slightly larger than a tin of sardines. She sighed as she looked at the return address. There was no mistaking what it was.
When she had returned to her apartment, she made straight for her bed and ripped open the box. A small note inside expressed apologies for taking so long in returning the items enclosed to her and remorse about the fire, but that there was no news regarding how it had started.
Kaoru crumpled the note and peered inside the box. Feeling tears spring to her eyes, tears she thought should have dried up long ago, she took out her father's watch, gently running her hand over the cracked face. It ticked morosely, a simple reminder that though life ended with death, time marched solemnly on.
Next she unfolded his handkerchief, slightly burned at the edges. After that came his wallet. The photo on his driver's license looked so much younger...
Her tears fell on the small photographs of her holding her first bokken, her parents wedding, her mother pushing her on a swing in the park.
Lastly, she took out the thick gold ring she knew had been his wedding band. She studied it for a moment, remembering how he always wore it, long after her mother had forsaken hers. He had always loved her mother despite everything.
Carefully, she took each of her father's effects and put them in her jewelry box. As soon as the lid clicked shut, she began to sob uncontrollably. Curling up in her bed, trying to hide from the world and its horrors, she didn't notice the loud bass pulsing above her, voices below her on the street, or the flashing light on her answering machine.
---
Kaoru awoke several hours later to the ringing of her phone. She tried desperately to ignore it, until Megumi's disembodied voice came floating through her apartment. "Kaoru, pick up your goddamn phone. I know you're sitting in bed right now, listening to this message, and if you do not pick up the phone right now, so help me, I will call you until you do pick up. I'm giving you to the count of five." There was a pause. "One…two…Five!" There was a click, and seconds later Kaoru's phone began to ring again. Kaoru moaned and stuck her head under her pillow.
"I don't want to get up right now!" she cried.
As if hearing her, Megumi's answering machine voice said, "I don't care if you don't want to get up, you need to get up. I have something very important to tell you. Now, pick. Up. The. Phone."
"No." Kaoru knew she sounded like a two year old, and to complete the effect, she stuck her tongue out at the machine.
"Kaoru…" Megumi's voice came as a warning. "Ok, fine then. Just remember you're bringing this on yourself." There was a click, and the phone began to ring again.
It took a grand total of six more calls and five more messages before Kaoru pulled herself out of bed and answered the phone, collapsing in a heap on her sofa. "I hate you."
"OH! Kaoru!" she drawled. "What have you been doing?"
"Shut up. What do you want?" She was rather irked at her friend. Why couldn't the older woman just let her wallow in self-pity?
"OK, listen up. You have a job interview tomorrow morning at 11:30. And don't you dare say you can't make it. We both know your plans for tomorrow are nonexistent."
"Look, I appreciate it, but-"
"No, if you appreciated it, you would be on your hands and knees thanking me for being such a good friend. If you appreciated it, you would go."
"Look, it's just that I'm capable of taking care of myself."
"Here's the thing though, Kao. You're not." Megumi sounded very tired. "Misao and I were talking last night after you left, and, well, to be honest, we're both really worried about you. Last night was the first time since you moved here you've been out of your apartment, neither of us is sure when the last time you ate was, and you need a source of income."
Kaoru sighed. "Megumi…"
"Kaoru, I want you to listen to me, and listen good. 11:30, tomorrow. I have a friend who just opened up a coffee shop a few blocks away from your apartment, and he was asking me if I knew anyone who needs a job. Turns out I do."
"Megumi, I'm not in high school. I need a real job, like one with-"
"Like one with benefits, vacation time, health coverage, decent pay? What makes you think you don't get that there? Plus, you get tips."
Megumi sighed. "Besides, it would just be temporary, until you found a better one."
"Look Megumi, I just don't know. Just give me some time to think about it, please?"
Megumi huffed. "Damn it Kao, you aren't doing anything to help yourself out of this mess, and when someone else tries to help you, you push them away! I'm sorry to chew you out like this, but if you aren't there at 11:30 on the dot, I am going to march over to your apartment, drag your skinny butt out of bed and-and-and-" Sputtering and spewing, she finally said, "I don't know what I'll do, but there will be lots of pain, understand?"
Kaoru nodded meekly, oblivious to the fact that Megumi couldn't actually see her. "Ok, just give me the address. I'll go."
"Good girl!" She could almost hear Megumi smirking as she rattled off the address. "You can't miss it. It's a nice place, so don't worry. Just make sure you take a shower in the morning and wear something decent. I gotta run, but I'll talk to you later! Bye!"
Kaoru hung up the phone and rolled Megumi's words over in her mind. Make sure you take a shower, she had said. Kaoru grimaced; she and her shower were on bad terms. To say that they were the apartment equivalent of Israel and Palestine was an understatement.
The damn thing simply did not know how to function. She had to turn the knob all the way for luke-warm water, which was frequented by random blasts of icy or scalding water. She avoided her shower at all costs.
Even the ones that made her smelly.
---
It was still mid afternoon, but Kaoru felt like going to bed. She had been curled up on her sofa all day watching old movies and drinking generic cola. Her mouth had a funky flavor, and she was sure her body did as well, but she didn't have the energy to fight with the shower right now, so she stayed, picking at the loose threads of her blanket.
Halfway through the The Perfect Storm, she heard a very prominent knock at the door. "Who's there?" she called, too tired to get up to see who it was.
"It is I, your lovely cousin Misao, and I come bearing gifts!"
"What kind of gifts? I'm not getting off my butt unless they're really good!" She yelled.
"Oh, you know. Only your favorite foods. Tangerines, mac and cheese, a full tub of Cherry Garcia ice cream-" Kaoru flung open the door, ready to tackle the younger woman. "Oh, good! I thought that might get your attention."
"Ice cream…" Kaoru drooled.
Misao wagged her finger at Kaoru and shifted her grocery bags. "No Cherry Garcia goodness unless you agree to watch some movies with me."
"Misao, I've been watching movies all day. It's not my fault you weren't here," she whined.
"And unless I'm mistaken, you've been watching crappy-sappy movies all day, which won't do you any good in your situation. Nope, I've got just the thing." And from out of one of her bags, she pulled a huge stack of movies. "No chick flicks or dramas tonight, baby! What you see here is some of the best comedy you will ever find. Now, go get some spoons, and I'll plug one of these in."
Kaoru searched the kitchen for two clean spoons as Misao pondered over what to watch. "Let's see, we've got Zoolander, Dodgeball, Blades of Glory…But if you want something older, I brought Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Blazing Saddles, and Some Like it Hot. Oh, I have Farris Bueller's Day Off downstairs, if you want me to go get that."
Kaoru flopped on to the sofa. "I haven't seen Some Like it Hot in forever!"
"Ok, that sounds good to me!" Misao popped in the old VHS and fast-forwarded through the previews while Kaoru tore open the ice cream carton.
Hours later, the two lay on the floor in a nest of blankets and pillows, ice cream long gone. They peeled tangerines a popped the slices whole, throwing the peels to the side. "I am so sleepy…" Kaoru moaned as she spread herself out like a cat.
"Seriously Kao? 'Cause it's only two a.m." Kaoru groaned and pulled a blanket around herself as Misao tossed a tangerine peel at her face. "You suck."
"Whatever. You can keep watching movies if you like, I'm gonna crash," the older girl mumbled. She crawled up onto the sofa and closed her eyes, vaguely registering something about hamsters and elderberries before she drifted off.
------------------------------------------------
Some Like It Hot happens to be one of my favorite movies ever, so I must insist that, no matter what, you must find some way to watch it.
Please let me know what you think! I love to get feedback of any kind, since reviews are all the payment I get for this!
Koh