A/N: I know this chapter isn't the best but I needed a transition. I promise, if you stay with me the next chapter will defiantly be good (and long). also the reason why i updated now (u shouldn't get mad since i only made u wait two or three days)

Chapter 12
Snapped

I stirred slightly then opened my eyes as the sunlight streamed into the hospital room through the blinds. I tried to lift my hands up to rub my eyes when I realized that someone was holding on to my left hand.

Craning my neck a little, I saw Soujiro's sleeping form, his head on my bed while the rest of him was seated on a chair, which looked pretty uncomfortable to me. With his angelic face and tousled hair, he looked like an adorable ten-year-old boy. Carefully, so as not to wake him, I wrenched my hand from his grasp and just as soon as I had freed my fingers, he awoke with a start. Oops.

"Morning, Soujiro!" I say, ruffling his hair.

"Morning," he mumbled while rubbing his face.

"How long was I in here?"

"Just the night. I'm all kinked up!" he complained.

I gave a little laugh. As he stood up and stretched, I realized that neither Aoshi nor Akira was present.

"Where's my brother and Akira?"

He stopped stretching slowly, then, carefully avoiding my gaze, he bent down to straighten my blankets.

"What are you not telling me?" I asked, my heart beating faster with each second.

"They don't know you're here." I raised my eyebrows at him, as he continued. "They're in Korea now. You see, they had this really wonderful opportunity of expanding the business there and I didn't feel like telling them what happened to you. You know how they are. Once they hear about what happened, they'll drop every single thing and come back just to see you. Chances like these don't come by every other day and I just didn't want them to miss this one. I know it's pretty selfish of me to do what I did. I'm sorry."

He looked so dejected with his head hung low.

"Soujiro," I say, putting my hand over his and giving him a bright smile. "I'm glad you didn't tell them. Really."

I could see him breaking into a smile too. "So, what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Don't you have to go to work? It's already 9.30."

"I could always enter the office a little later. Don't worry."

"Really? Let's get me checked out and then we'll have breakfast, okay?"

"No way, no how. You're staying here for another night."

"Why?" I whined. "I don't want to stay here for another night!"

"Sorry, girl. No can do. I'm not taking any chances. You're staying here until you're perfectly fine again."

I pouted and muttered under my breath. "Look," he says, "I'll stay the night with you, okay? I'll sleep on that ratty, old, dirty, smelly, uncomfortable couch over there." He pointed to a brown scratched up couch that looks centuries old.

"Promise?" I ask, extending my pinky to him.

"Promise," he replies, laughing as he linked his pinky with mine.

After having our breakfast, we decided to sit out in the garden, which was located at the back of the hospital. The place was filled with joyous laughter, which came from the mouths of little children playing together, garbed in the hospital's gown. There were also a few elderly people who just sat around, reading books to pass the time.

"Hi, neesan, hi, ani(older brother)," says the little girl who just trotted in, smiling up at the both of us, her long hair tied messily into a ponytail.

I smiled down at her. "Hello. What's your name?"

"Miyoko!" (I ran out of names)

"And how old are you?"

"Six," she replies, scrambling up the bench to sit between me and Soujiro.

"So, what are you doing in here?" asks Soujiro, patting her head affectionately.

"I broke my leg the other day while I was playing hide and seek," she says, showing us her bandaged leg.

"But it's alright now. Anyway, neesan, can you help me tie my hair? Please?"

"Sure thing," I say, turning her so that she sat with her back facing me. "Why don't you play with this ani while I tie your hair, okay?"

She nodded her head in reply as Soujiro engaged her in a game of rock, scissors and paper. I carefully raked my fingers through her hair to straighten them, then proceeded to braid them, as best as I could so that she would be happy. I secured the little pink rubber band tightly then said, "Alright. It's done!"

She turned back to face me and grinned widely, touching her hair. "Thanks, neesan!"

Then, as though catching sight of my sparkly hair clips for the first time, she got up on her knees to get a closer look at it.

"Oooooooooh," she gushed. "They're so pretty!"

Self consciously, I raised my hand to touch them.

"Really? Do you like them?" I ask, as she nodded her head furiously, still admiring them.

Without thinking twice, I unfastened both the clips from my hair, and pinned them onto her hair as she giggled in utter delight.

"When must I return them, neesan?" she asks, clapping her tiny hands together.

"You don't have to return them to me. It's for you. Just treat it as a present from me," I say, pinching her cheeks softly.

"Okie! Thanks neesan! I'm going to show the others what I got!" she says, scrambling down from the bench and running across the garden to where a group of children sat. As I stared at her retreating back, I heard Soujiro mumble a few incoherent sentences under his breath.

"Now what?" I ask, turning to face him.

"Why, of all the clips that you could have given to her, you choose to give the ones that I had bought for you? Why couldn't you have given away the ones that Aoshi or Akira bought for you?" he whined.

"Don't be stupid, Sou-chan. Those were the only clips I had on me. The others are back at home! Don't be so sensitive!" I replied, whacking him on the head.

"I'm not sensitive!" he said indignantly.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Am too!"

"Am not!"

"Am too!"

"Am no—what are you doing here?" he suddenly says, his voice cold and icy and his brooding gaze fixed a few feet behind me.

I whirled around to see who had caused the sudden change of mood in him, only to find Kenshin standing there, holding a big bouquet of red roses.

"What's he doing here?" I hissed to Soujiro.

"No doubt he's come to see you," he replies, still glaring at Kenshin.

"How does he know I'm here in the first place?"

"Oh…um…well…he was the one who sent you here."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't mention it earlier. I thought you knew," he says, turning to me with a surprised look.

"How was I supposed to know? I was completely out from my high temperature. Remember?"

"Good morning Seta-san, Kamiya-dono," says Kenshin formally, bowing slightly.

I jumped up from my seat and bowed back politely whereas Soujiro stood up slowly and continued glaring at him. Kenshin tried to hand me the flowers but Soujiro slapped his arm away.

"What are you doing here?" he asked sharply. I stepped as hard as I could on his feet, trying to tell him without words, not to be so rude.

"I'm here to visit Kaoru-dono," Kenshin replies, a little amused.

"Right. She doesn't need you to visit her. Didn't I tell you to stay away from her the other time?" says Soujiro in suppressed anger, moving towards Kenshin threateningly. The ironic thing anyone from far away would then they were good friends. He advanced onto Kenshin with a small smile barely hanging onto his face.

"Sou-chan," I said softly, putting my hand on his arm. "Don't."

Soujiro turned to gaze at me for a few moments, searching my face. Then, he nodded his head slightly and moved away from Kenshin. He came to stand next to me, embraced me in a warm hug and said in a low voice.

"Call me if anything happens."

I nodded and gave him a smile, indicating that I would be fine and watched him walk across the garden, until he was out of sight. Then, taking a deep breath, I turned to face Kenshin.

"Thanks," I say, as I accepted the roses that he lifted up to me again. "So…" I trailed off as we both took a seat on the bench.

"How're you doing?"

"Recovering. If it weren't for you, I don't know what would have become of me. Thanks again," I say, giving him a small smile.

He smiled back at me, then tilted his head up to look at the clear blue sky. We were silent for a few moments, until he spoke.

"Are you unhappy at work?" he asked me.

"Huh?" I looked up into his concerning purple eyes, shocked from my mind. Since when did he have such wonderous colored eyes?

"Are you unhappy at work?" he repeated.

"N—no." still entranced by his eyes.

"Are you lying to me?" he asks sharply.

"No." I repeated firmly. Sure, Tomoe can be a bit-- sometimes but I do feel happy working there. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

"Oh."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Anyway, have you found out who wrecked my car?" I ask tentatively.

"No," he replied, unconvincingly.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing."

I turned to glare at him furiously. "You know who did it. And I have a right to know."

He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his thighs and his fingers clasped together. "Yes, that's true. But first, what do you plan to do the person who did it?"

"Report him to the police," I answered immediately.

"Is there any chance that you would forgive this person and let him go?"

"No."

"Even if the person does come and apologize to you, face to face?"

I turned to look at him in surprise and followed his gaze. My blood froze and anger consumed me as I saw who was walking towards us.

"You," I say furiously, my body trembling slightly. Kenshin had stood up to stand next to Tomoe protectively as she lowered her head. "Why did you do it?"

"I'm sorry, Kaoru. I just wasn't thinking at that time," she says, her voice wavering and her eye brimming with tears.

"What do you mean you weren't thinking?" I lashed out.

"I—I'm sorry."

"Don't think that just because you came to apologize, I'm not going to take any action. I'm still going through with my plans. And you know what? It serves you right. You deserve everything bad that comes your way."

She sniffled and Kenshin put his arm around her shoulders. "That's not very nice, is it?" he snapped.

"What she did wasn't very nice either, was it?" I retorted, meeting his gaze head on.

He glared at me, his face a mask of suppressed anger, I just glared at him back. How dare he take her side. O right, then I remembered, I'm no one to him while Tomoe's his girlfriend. What was I thinking? That he liked me or something?

"She came all the way just to apologize to you and you don't even appreciate it. It takes a lot of guts to come right out and admit that you are wrong. Besides, it was only a stupid car. You could replace it with another one any day."

Something in me snapped at his words.

"Look, it wasn't only a stupid car as you put it. That car means a lot to me. It's easy for you to say that I could replace it because you have rich parents who are willing to buy anything and everything for you. I don't, okay? I don't have any parents anymore. They died when I was young. The only family I have left is my brother and he works his ass off day and night just to ensure that I'm living comfortably. Sometimes he's so busy that I hardly even get to see him in a whole month. The money that he earned from all his hard work went into buying me that car for my birthday. Although my cousin and Sou-chan chipped in together, the amount that each one of them had to pay still wasn't little. You of all people should know. You drive a sports car. Things don't get handed to us on a silver platter. We work hard for them. So just lay off, okay?"

I abruptly turned on my heel and walked away from them, letting the tears fall, leaving behind a stunned Kenshin and a sniffling yet smirking Tomoe.

A/N: I've decided that once in a while I'll make them shorter and update often and sometimes longer and update them less often because then it'll be fair because I got request of both, hope you all don't mind. this chapter I found so boring and that big drama i warned you about i meant for next chapter but still. wreck car is pretty big right? i have my reasons for doing all this. btw that car was a forshadow to something down the road. i promise to reply to ur reviews next chapter.

Next Chapter: Pretty much a turn for Kaoru and Kenshin relationship. It will be longer, and Kenshin finally has a chance to be with Kaoru alone (aka, without Tomoe) on a business trip. Well the beginning of the trip at least. Will Kenshin even try to lighten up and warm up to Kaoru? btw do u guys like the previous? i mean they kinda give things away.