So, I decided to right this story when the idea poked into my head. This chapter is kind of long, but that's the best way to start a story right? So without further nonsense from me I bring you…

A disclaimer…

I don't own Rurouni Kenshin nor any of its characters.

Really quickly I would like to add that I fixed all the errors on Kaoru's name. Thats what I get for using place holders ne'?

Her Fake Smiles

It's Automatic

She awoke to the sounds of harsh winds beating against her window pane. It brought promises of a chill in the atmosphere that would only continue to get worse as the day continued. Sapphire eyes blinked against the harsh rays of the sun, willing them to open. The young women gently stirred and sat up, reluctant to leave her cocoon of warm blankets and face her chilled room.

Kaoru Kamiya gently stretched lazily and pushed the rest of the covers aside and to the foot of her bed. Not at all too happy with the shrill cry of her alarm clock that pulled her from sleep.

Her dreams where the only place she could escape him…

She pushed that thought aside for the moment, not wishing to dwell on it, and instead rose to leave her room and cross the expanse of her hallway. Her feet padded softly against the hard wood until they reached the tile of her bathroom. Closing the door, her movements were automatic as she reached for the shower and twisted the taps to her desired warmth. She let her hands pull off the tank top and faded sweat pants that looked like they had seen better days and allowed them to pool at her feet.

Without even testing the temperature, Kaoru stepped into the steaming shower. She smiled as the water pounded against her back, washing away any traces of sleep and momentary discomfort. Her showers were always quick, mostly because she tended to over sleep most mornings and even if she wasn't, she was just more used to them. She lathered her dark hair with her favorite jasmine scented shampoo and immediately scrubbed her body afterwards; the whole shower lasted only ten minutes.

She shut off the taps and wrapped her body in a short, fluffy, sky blue towel and stepped out to brush her teeth and hair. The brush slid effortlessly through her back length tresses, making them appear to look like a river of still wet ink.

She let out a sigh when she finished and looked into her reflections eyes, searching for something she couldn't see. She tried not to dwell on it, easier said than done. She opened the door and let the steam curl out and into the cool air of her house.

The sun had risen slightly higher and bathed her bed room in warm, yellow light. The walls, a rich, cream color, held posters of bands she loved and art work she was enamored by and where nicely spaced apart from each other. Unlike the hallway and most of her house, her room had dark grey carpeting that complimented the color of the walls perfectly. A bed, pushed against one of the walls, sat currently unmade and with bright and colorful bed sheets. A light green comforter with multicolored polka –a – dots completed one of the brightest pieces of furniture in her house. Her dresser, a large, beautifully crafted piece of light colored wood, sat against the opposite wall across from her bed and held a large mirror above it. A night stand of the same wood rested next to her bed, the bane of her existence sat atop it, looking meticulously placed and undisturbed even as the numbers on the digital face changed every minute. A desk rested on the same wall as her bed, opposite the closet and held a decent computer and the clutter of papers, new and old.

Kaoru let the towel slip from her body as she crossed to the dresser, beginning to pull out different articles of clothing to prepare for her day. She didn't put much thought into her wardrobe and settled on a pair of dark, slightly baggy jeans and a plain, black, long sleeved shirt. She grabbed her hair brush and began to tie her long, raven hair back with a simple elastic band, her indigo eyes never straying from her reflections.

Satisfied, she turned away and put on her socks before grabbing one of two grey converse high tops. She laced them both when they were on her feet and stood to turn off her light, and walk out of her room.

She took the stairs at her leisure and continued her walk to the kitchen where she found her green messenger bag sitting on one of the chairs around the table. She ignored it for the time being and instead walked to the refrigerator where a note caught her eye.

Kaoru-

Will come by later to check on you and Yahiko.

Gensai-

Kaoru smiled gently at her suedo uncle's neat script against the stark, white paper and the memory of her rambunctious younger brother who had left for school an hour earlier. She settled on making a few pieces of slightly burnt toast and a bottle of water that she pulled from the refrigerator. Finished, she cleaned her mess, placed the water in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She headed to the front hall closet to grab her long black coat. She buttoned it up all the while checking to make sure all the lights were off and after once again placing her bag across one shoulder, left her house, locking the door behind her.

The walk to school was somewhat short but the chilled autumn air made it seem all the longer. Kouru sighed, not at all anticipating the upcoming winter.

It was around this time, wasn't it? Kouru thought while glancing at the falling leaves around her. Trees dotted the path she was on, all in varying stages of shedding their leaves. Realizing the path her thoughts were taking, Kaoru immediately thought of something else, anything to keep her mind from straying back to that.

Just as she was entertaining the idea of making Yahiko rake leaves later, she was interrupted at the little spit fire of energy that was calling her name and running towards her at full speed.

"Kaoru!"

Kaoru smiled as she watched her best friend run towards her. Makimachi Misao was a short and petite girl that seemed to always be bursting with energy, her sapphire eyes were always shining and brimming with enthusiasm. She wore a long sleeved white shirt with a red t-shirt over it, layering the two so she would be warmer without her light jacket. The skirt she wore was also red and ended above her knees which were donned in long white socks. A pair of black boots completed the outfit along with her dark hair in its signature braid.

She loved Misao as if she was her own sister and god knows she had proved to be one.

"Kaoru!" Misao panted lightly upon reaching her. "Please, please, please, tell me you did the homework for math last night?" She pleaded.

"Why didn't you do it?" Kouru asked as she went through her bag to find the piece of lined notebook paper. "You left my house pretty early last night… Where's your coat by the way? It's cold."

Misao smiled in gratitude as she accepted the paper and together the two girls headed into the building. "I had to finish two science chapters and a history paper. Geeze, I swear teachers do that on purpose! And I didn't bring one today!" Misao chirped happily waving off Kouru's concerns.

Kaoru smiled at the shorter girl and laughed. "Weren't you assigned that paper two weeks ago?"

Misao just laughed. "That's not the point!"

The bell rang just moments the two girls walked into their first hour class, signaling their conversation would have to wait until later. At opposite ends of the room, Kaoru took out her literature book and flipped it open to the chapter the class had left off at. She personally had finished it last night however she doubted the rest of the class read more than they should have had to.

Not like I had anything better to do last night… she thought as she doodled in the margin of her notebook.

The teacher started to begin his lecture however; he was immediately interrupted when the door flew open to reveal the missing students from his class.

Every pair of eyes turned to watch the two men gracefully walk in. The teacher sighed in annoyance.

"Are we going to make this an everyday occurrence Himura? Sagara?"

The two men in question laughed sheepishly, not really caring what their teacher thought or did but none the less acting the part.

"Sorry sir, practice was early today and we tried to get here on time." Sagara Sanosuke replied easily while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Liars. Kaoru thought in annoyance. There is no practice today.

The two boys were referring to kendo practice, a team that Kaoru was the only woman on. She practiced diligently every day and was proud to say she was one of the best.

Next to him of course… she thought as she unconsciously pressed the tip of her pen harder into her notebook.

Himura Kenshin, one of the schools most popular and good looking men who got away with everything. Good at everything he did, academics, sports, having a trophy girl friend…

Even if she is a bitch. Kaoru's thoughts continued onto the path of anger towards her red headed team mate, even when the man in question turned to take his seat next to her.

"Good morning Kamiya-san."

Kaoru raised her sapphire eyes to the amethyst ones next to her. He wore that same disarming smile that had worked wonders on women and teachers alike.

She hated him.

She fixed a beautiful smile on her face and offered it to him. "Good morning Himura-san." She didn't hold it in place for very long. As soon as his eyes returned to the front of the board she let it drop.

She was good at that, faking smiles, faking happiness… it worked. The only person who probably ever saw her real smiles were her family and Misao.

…there was another person…

She immediately dispelled the thought. No, not today damnit.

The class dragged on until it finally ended, the shrill bell reverberated through the silent class room. Instantly filled with chatter, Kaoru packed her things and started to make her way into the hall, seeing Misao waiting for her outside the door.

"Kamiya-san?"

Recognizing the alluring voice, she turned to see Kenshin walking towards her. He truly was a gorgeous guy… even if it is odd to refer to men that way. A face lined with high cheekbones held the most beautiful pair of amethyst orbs surrounded by dark lashes. Atop his head was a mane of fiery red hair, usually in either a low or high ponytail depending on the activity. A strong, masculine mouth, usually which sported an easy smile, was currently aimed at her as he stopped in front of her.

"Thanks for not saying anything to sensei." His voice was deep and incredibly attractive.

Kaoru just nodded, another smile fixed in its proper place. "Sure." She responded, turning on her heel and effectively ending the conversation. She walked to Misao and together the two girls continued down the hall.

"What did Himura want?" Misao asked cautiously.

"Nothing." Kouru responded. Neither girl was aware of the pair of eyes on their retreating forms.

Morning classes came and went and before she knew it, it was time for lunch. The school's cafeteria was always crowded, but that never stopped the two friends from usually having an entire table to themselves.

"So you should come over later and help me with my cooking. I don't think Yahiko can stomach another failed spaghetti incident." Kaoru said with a laugh as she picked at an apple. Her bottle of water sat next to her, seemingly undisturbed.

Misao laughed at the thought of her best friends terrible cooking. "No problem" she said happily as she took a bite of rice. She eyed Kaoru's food choice in disdain. "That's all your eating?"

Kaoru let out a sigh. "I had a big breakfast. Dr. Gensai was there earlier." The lie was effortless, even if she did feel bad about lying to Misao.

The petite girl let out a sigh of her own. "Kaoru, we have been through this."

"I know." Kaoru interrupted. She scanned the cafeteria briefly until her eyes landed on a certain table in the middle of the room. Kenshin's fiery mane of hair could be seen miles away.

The table he sat at was heavily populated by of course, all the popular people. Sanosuke Sagara, easily the tallest of the bunch with brown, spiked up, hair and warm brown eyes, sat with his girlfriend, Takani Megumi. A beautiful woman with raven black hair and pale skin. Dark eyes stood out against her skin tone and made her the envy of many women in that school. Kaoru personally never had too much of an issue with her, in fact on some occasions they were known to even have conversations.

Her eyes traveled along until she heard Misao squeal in excitement over the object of her affection. A tall, stoic man sat amongst them with dark hair and ice blue eyes. Another member of the kendo team, Kaoru knew him as Shinomori Aoshi, a fierce combatant that she had lost to on many sparring matches.

"I honestly don't know what you see in him." Kaoru teased at the blushing Misao.

"Aoshi-san is so amazing." Misao crooned. Her blues eyes shone with the light only love puts in a person.

Her eyes shone just like that once…

Kaoru shook her head to dispel the thoughts. HE was definitely not worth her thoughts any longer.

Kaoru let her eyes wander to the woman sitting on Kenshin's lap. Yukishiro Tomoe was probably the most beautiful, and most annoying, according to Kaoru, woman in the entire school. Long, black hair framed a beautiful face with dark eyes and full lips. By the looks of things, she seemed to have Kenshin wrapped tightly around her perfectly manicured fingers.

Pathetic.

Kaoru did her best to turn away and concentrate on something else entirely, like Misao's tirade of how great her Aoshi-sama was.

"You should ask him out." Kaoru said absentmindedly.

Misao just starred at her as if she grew another head. "Your kidding right?" she asked flabbergasted. "Why would he ever want to go out with someone plain like me?"

"Your not plain at all. Your fun and sweet and beautiful." Kaoru said to the smaller girl.

Any slight pain of depression quickly dispelled from Misao's face. "Maybe one day!" Misao chirped happily.

The rest of the school day had gone by without any problem. Homework was turned in, lectures were written down, and tests were taken. Before she knew it, the final bell had rung and she and Misao were walking back to her house.

I never noticed how lonely this place looks. Kaoru thought as she stared into her empty house. She sighed as she flipped the lights on, trying to bring some life into the place.

The first floor was compromised of all hard wood floors and held the kitchen, living room, front hall and stair case leading up stairs to the three bedrooms and bathroom. The back was where her father's dojo was located, the one thing Kouru strived to keep in the best condition possible. He had taught her well and years of practice and dedication had honed her body to take on the difficult stances.

Maybe Yahiko and I can get some practice in tonight.

With that thought in mind, she and Misao sat at the kitchen table and did what little homework they had. All the while chatting in between about aspects of life, they were only interrupted when the front door opened and was slammed shut again.

Kaoru looked up just in time to see her younger brother walking in. As always, his dark hair was disheveled and spiked in random directions while his dark eyes took notice of the two girls in the kitchen.

"Hey Kaoru, Misao."

"Yahiko-chan" Misao greeted with a laugh, knowing full well how much the younger boy disliked the endearment.

Yahiko just glared as he strode past the two girls to grab a snack from the kitchen. "What kind of take out are we having tonight busu?"

Annoyance had Kaoru nearly breaking her pencil in half before she quelled it and turned to smile sweetly at her brother…. Too sweetly if you ask him.

"Actually Yahiko-chan," she began, "I am going to cook for us tonight."

She had the momentary pleasure of watching all the color in his face drain and a look of horror take over his features. "Why?" he exclaimed, "Going to finish off what your spaghetti didn't?"

"Why you!" Kaoru leaped from her chair, knocking it to the floor with a crash and proceeded to chase the younger boy around the kitchen.

Misao just laughed at the whole scene, not at all uncommon to see when it came to the two hot headed siblings.

Eventually things wound down and Kaoru pestered Yahiko to do his homework and eventually rake the leaves like she had planned to earlier. He grumbled when asked to do both, but none the less complied after a stern look from his sister. With him outside, the two girls took their places in front of the stove and Misao gave Kaoru yet again, another cooking lesson. Helping when she needed to and offering words of encouragement when her culinary- challenged friend fallowed the recipe right.

"Honestly, who would have thought stir fry would be so difficult." Kaoru muttered with her brow furrowed in concentration. "You cut vegetables, throw them in, and they fry."

Misao laughed as she stirred the simmering vegetables and rice. "You have to make sure you constantly stir them though or they will burn. Same thing with the oil if the flame is too high."

Kaoru nodded, storing the information away for a later day. "The rice should be done momentarily, it's just sitting now."

At that moment, the front door was heard being opened and closed again as a rosy- cheeked Yahiko came in. "Leaves are done" he replied while shrugging out of his coat and tossing it over a chair.

Kaoru smiled at him gratefully. Sure they got under each other's skin but when it came down to it, he helped her out a lot.

"I'm going to watch TV." he said walking out and into the living room, not waiting for Kaoru to give an answer.

"Dinner will be ready soon." She called after his retreating back.

Another knock at the door had Kaoru nearly dropping the stack of plates she got out to set the table with. Luckily she steadied them at the last minute just as Misao was bouncing off to answer the door.

Kaoru let a sigh escape her lips as she placed three settings at the table, only to raise her eyes and smile at the guest Misao brought with her.

"Gensai!" Kaoru said happily as she walked around to give him a hug. "I'm glad you stopped by tonight."

The elder man laughed as he embraced the girl that he regarded as one of his own. "I told you I would dear."

Always happy for company, Kaoru pulled back to turn towards the stove again and turn off the gas. "Will you be joining us for dinner?"

Gensai smiled as Yahiko bound in to give him a quick hug and plop down at one of the chairs. "No not tonight Kaoru, I have babysitting detail tonight."

Kaoru smiled at the memory of his two adorable granddaughters. They had been over once or twice recently and Kaoru just adored the girls.

"I would like to speak to you though, if I may Kaoru." Gensai said motioning towards the living room.

Worry creased her brow as she caught Misao's quizzical look, none the less, she followed him out of the kitchen and into the living room where they sat on the grey couch. Yahiko, in his haste for food, had left the TV on and a program about ninjas dominated the screen.

"Is there a problem?" Kaoru asked almost fearfully.

Gensai sighed at his suedo niece. "Your almost eighteen Kaoru, and as you know, the deed to the house and dojo will be turned to you in that instance."

Kaoru nodded briskly, not too sure on where the conversation was heading.

"I am not sure what your plans are for after high school, but if you plan to go to university, or sell the dojo, or move somewhere else, I would like you to know that I would help you in any way." Gensai said placing his hand on her shoulder. Thinking silently to himself that she was too thin and needed to take better care of herself.

Kaoru let his words sink in before replying. "I don't quite know either right now, but I assure you I will tell you as soon I do."

Gensai nodded before standing. "Well, that is all then Kaoru." He walked out and headed to the front door, passing through the kitchen to wish the other two people a good night. Seeing him to the door, Kaoru hugged him one last time before saying her own good byes. With a soft click of the door, she walked into the kitchen and sat down in front of a steaming plate of stir fry. Taking notice of the way Yahiko was already on his second helping; she laughed and asked him if that means she did a good job for once.

He eyed her warily. "It is good, but who knows if it won't kill me when it gets digested."

Kaoru just shot him a look as she watched him inhale the last portions of his plate and race to throw the dirty dish in the empty sink.

"In a rush yahiko-chan?" she asked as she watched him take off up the stairs and into his room.

"Yeah! Hurry up busu so we can train!" he yelled down the stairs.

Kaoru just rolled her eyes, though secretly pleased he was just as interested in learning their fathers sword skill as she was. None the less, she took her time eating what she deemed, her best cooked meal to date.

"What did he want to talk about Kaoru?" Misao asked gently.

Kaoru pushed her food around before answering her friend. "He was telling me that the deed to the dojo will be mine soon."

Misao nodded, knowing how much stress was going to be on her best friend's shoulders soon. "What do you wish to do with it?"

"Keep it of course." The answer required not a single moment of thought. "Maybe I will teach, you know, try to open the school again."

Misao let a smile take over her features. "I think that's a great idea. You will make a great teacher."

"Hopefully." Kaoru said smiling at her friend.

That's not going to be easy.

The hours had passed and before she knew it, she was saying good night to her brother and getting herself into bed. After she had finished eating, she cleaned the dishes and bid her good nights to Misao, thanking her for stopping by like she usually did. Afterwards, she had changed into her training clothes and met Yahiko out back in the dojo where they trained rigorously for hours. Working each other with fervor until they both collapsed from exhaustion.

Together they had walked back in, arguing over who got the last point in their sparring match which was unmistakably, Kaoru's. She nagged him about showering, and brushing his face and teeth and getting to bed at a decent hour. In turn, this garnered her insults and grumbling from the younger boy, but at the end of the night, he came to her room to give her a warm hug and a sleepy good night.

Kaoru smiled as she double checked to make sure the door was locked and shut off the lights before she made her way upstairs and into her bed.

Sleep would not come to her tonight though. For reasons the tired girl could not give, the anxiety in her heart swelled to take over her mind. For hours she laid awake until at long last, at half past one, her tired eyes could no longer stay open. Her last conscious thought before sleep took over her body was:

Why do I get the feeling something bad is going to happen soon?

So, that's the first chapter for you. Let me know what you guys think of it and if I should continue or not.

Thank you!