A/N: i didn't want to reply to reviews cuz that would take me a while and also i'm in a rush, hope you don't mind. any questions i'll answer next time.

Chapter 15
Humor Innocence

"Kaoru!" yelled Akira, jumping over chairs, pillows and Soujiro, who was lying flat on his stomach, flipping through some papers, in his rush to reach me.

"Akira, Aoshi! I missed you guys so much!" I say, as he gave me a big hug and ruffled my hair. "Sou-chan, get up off the floor," I say, nudging him in the sides gently with my foot as I walked past him to take a seat on the couch.

"No 'SOUJIRO!" from you? Aww." Soujiro complained,bouncing up and down on the couch. "Any presents?"

"Is that all you can think about?" I ask, irritably. "I don't see you for two whole weeks and the only thing you can ask me after I come home is whether I bought you any presents?"

He blinked at me.

"Yup!" he says after a momentary pause, ducking almost immediately, as a pillow went flying in his direction followed by some pots and cans and anything I could get my hands on.

"So?" asks Aoshi, looking at me.

"So, what?"

"How was it?"

"Oh, it was so tiring! I don't how you guys keep doing stuff like this so often. Working from day to night. Waking up extra early just to have meetings. Staying up all night trying to complete assignments. Bleeeeeeeh!" I say, sticking my tongue out.

"Awwww, you poor, poor girl," says Akira, putting an arm around me. "Hungry?"

"Yeah!" I say, rubbing my hands gleefully.

"What would you like to eat then?"

"Ummmm…" I say, alternately closing my right eye, then my left eye. "I know!" I shouted suddenly, causing all three of them to jump a foot in the air. "Ooops, sorry," I say, giggling a little. "Anyway, let's all go eat at the Tokyo Joe's nearby!"

"M'am! A bottle of sake, please!" yelled Soujiro, waving his hand in the air, putting it down only after the waitress nodded in his direction.

"Soujiro! You do know you shouldn't drink so much right? It'll damage your kidneys and then you'll have trou—"

"Yea, yea. You're back, and that means celebrate, which means shake!" he says, pushing my head back.

"Mou! Sou-chan" I say, pinching him on the arm.

"Oy! Kaoru-chan!"

I looked up to find Sano, standing a few feet away from our table, grinning happily.

"Sano!" I say, jumping out of my seat and running over to him.

"Hug?" he says, extending his arms as I neared him. I shook my head a little, laughing at his childishness, as I stepped into his embrace.

"Where have you been these past few days?" he asks, after releasing me.

"New York. Business trip," I say, grimacing a little. Just then, I noticed his friend, looking at our exchange with an amused expression.

"Umm, Sano," I say, jerking my head in his friend's direction.

"Oh!" he says, slapping his forehead. "Kamatari! This is Kamiya Kaoru. And Kaoru, this is Honjou Kamatari. he's a guy, believe it or not."

"Hi!" I say, smiling brightly at Kamatari, confused at this pretty girl who actually was a guy. Wow, and Ithought Sano looked like a girl.

"It's great to finally meet you, Kaoru. I've heard a lot of things about you," he says, smiling warmly at me.

"Oh really?" I say, turning to look at Sano suspiciously.

"I didn't call you a raccon, if that's what you're thinking!" he says, lifting both his hands up to protect himself from whatever form of bodily harm that I may decide to inflict on him.

"Yes, you did!" says Kamatari, laughing.

"Sano!" I yell, smacking him on the back of his head.

"Owww! Kamatari, you traitor! Anyway, I thought it was cute!"

"Raccon? Cute? Mou, you're such a weirdo! Anyway, were you guys planning to have supper or something?" I ask, looking up at the both of them.

"Duh! Use your head, Kaoru. What else would we be doing here?" says Sano, pushing my head to the side.

My jaw dropped open and I stared at Sano. Blowing my hair out of my face, I linked arms with Kamatari and led him away from Sano, towards our table.

"Honjou-san," I say loudly, so that Sano would be able to hear me. "You're welcomed to join us for supper. And you, Sano," I say, turning to look at him. "You can sit and rot somewhere else," I say, sticking my tongue out at him.

Kamatari decided to rub salt in his wounds, like any other good friend would, played along. "I'd be honored to join you for supper, Kaoru. Have fun eating by yourself, Sanosuske!" he says.

"OI! That means I have to pay my own tabs this time!"

The next morning, I arrive at work with exactly one aim. To try to avoid Kenshin. It should be easy enough. I mean, the Mitsurugi Ryu Corporations isn't exactly small. It is a big, big building with a very huge expanse of marble floors and potted plants. Besides, he'll be really busy with the amount of work that he has that he won't have any time to take little walks around all the other departments. Just keep thinking that and you'll be fine. Even so, as I approach the big glass doors, my pace slows down and I could feel panic begin to rise inside me.

"All right there, Miss Kamiya?" asks the security guard, coming to open the door for me with a concerned look. "You look lost."

"No! I'm fine, thanks!" I say, giving him a small, nervous, laugh, my eyes darting about the foyer.

Okay, no sight of Kenshin. This is great , I thought to myself. Things are definitely looking up. Now, if only I could get to my department without bumping into him.

"Himura!" I suddenly hear Misao's chirpy voice as I'm halfway across the lobby. "Here's the statistics that you requested the other day."

"Really? Thanks."

Oh. My. God.
I spotted him a few feet away, talking to Misao. I bit my bottom lip in panic and hurriedly looked left and right, searching for the perfect hiding place. Out of the corners of my eye, I finally found it. Immediately, before either of them could catch sight of me, I lunged behind the huge potted plant and crouched down silently, hoping the gigantic leaves would be able to hide me. I mean…I'm not that fat!

"Kaoru?" Enishi asked, looking quizzically down at me.

Okay…so maybe I am.

"H-hey!" I say, straightening my hair consciously. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking you that. Why are you squatting down on the floor?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Oh…um…I was looking…for…the…um…squirrel! Yeah, the squirrel!" I say, grinning broadly up at him. "You do know what a squirrel is, right? It's like this small, usually brown and furry animal that darts about really fast and ea—"

"I know what a squirrel is, Kaoru," he says, chuckling a little. "But why in the world would a squirrel be in here?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," I say getting up and avoiding his gaze. "Maybe it got lost and decided to come in here," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "Anyway, don't you have work to do? Why are you here?"

"Oh, this?" he asks, looking at the file in his hand. "I just have to send it to the Sales Department. It's a small trade between the Yukishiro's company and this."

"Right. Why don't you go ahead and do whatever you need to do? You don't have to worry about me and the little squirrel," I say, giving him a slight push.

"Okay, Kaoru. Whatever you say," he says, giving me a small wave before walking away.

Not spotting Kenshin anywhere in sight, I could feel myself relax. I begin to head once more across the lobby to where the elevators were before I stopped short abruptly and turned on my heel, when I spotted him walking towards me. I slapped my forehead with my hand and trying to look as casual as possible, I ducked behind the only other thing in sight…the reception counter.

"Don't you think it would be a better idea…" says Kenshin as he walked past.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Yes! He's gone! As I did a little victory cheer behind the counter in my crouched position, a voice behind me made my blood freeze.

"Kaoru? What are you doing?"

I grimaced slightly before turning to look up at the person. "Oh, hey, Yahiko! I was just…um…looking for my earring," I say, patting the ground beside me in an attempt to convince her.

"Earring?" she asks, frowning a little as he too, got down on his knees and began to pat the ground beside him. "What does it look like?"

"You know what…you don't have to look for it," I say, giving an uneasy laugh. "It wasn't expensive or anything. Besides, it's going to be pretty hard to look for it. Thanks anyway, Yahiko-chan. I'll catch up with you later, all right?" I say, backing away from him while hearing a grunt along the lines of 'don't call me chan!'

I made my way over to some of the couches situated nearby in the corner. Once seated, I began to hit my forehead continuously. Baka! Baka! After what seemed like five whole minutes of doing just that, I stood up, smoothed down my skirt and turned around. Before I could even take a step, I sat back down, sinking lower, and lower in the chair when I spotted HIM talking to Yahiko.

This is totally absurd.

As I stared at the magazines stacked neatly in front of me, a fabulous idea began to form inside my head. Grabbing the first one of the pile, I flipped it open to a random page. Standing up once again, I lifted the magazine so that it fully covered my face, and proceeded to walk across the lobby, for the third and hopefully the last time.

"Ow!" I say, as I accidentally bump into someone. I lower my magazine to see Kenshin staring at me, an amused expression on his face.

"Gomen," I mumbled, my face turning red.

"It's all right. Do you always walk without looking where you're headed?"

"No! Of course not! I only did it because I wanted to av—" I caught myself just in time. "Forget it. It's nothing."

We stood facing each other, an awkward silence enveloping us.

"So, would you like to have lunch with me?" asks Kenshin.

I raised my head in surprise. "Lunch?" I echoed, just to be sure.

"Yeah," he says, giving me a small smile.

"Oh…" I say, a little taken aback at his invitation. I didn't expect him to be so nice even after we were back in Japan. I always assumed that after we left New York, he would turn back to the cold Kenshin again. But it seems, that I was wrong, not that I mind.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Oh, umm…sure," I say, smiling warmly in return.

"Kenshin?" I say, knocking on his door. When it remained quiet inside, I knocked a couple of times more before pushing the door open slowly, only to find it empty. Okay, so maybe he left for lunch already. I mean, I am 30 minutes late. I gave a little sigh, then turned around and let myself out of his room. And I was really looking forward to have lunch with him too.

I stepped out of the building, looked left, then right, and gave a little gasp, clutching at my heart. Kenshin stood a few feet away, his gaze fixed on the ground in front of him. He was leaning against the marble wall, one leg propped up behind him, smoking a cigarette. I walked up to him, pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and dumped it into a dustbin nearby. He looked up at me, surprise etched all over his face.

"You shouldn't smoke, Kenshin. It's bad for your health. Anyway, what are you still doing here? Weren't you out for lunch or something?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Oh...sorry to have kept you waiting. You see, I had to finish this little piece of work before lunch and I guess I got carried away…" I say, grimacing a little.

"It's all right. At least you're here now," he says, smiling warmly down at me. "So, where would you like to eat?"

"Ummm…why don't you choose? I can't really think right now. Hunger causes my brain to die."

"Right," he says laughing. "What about Japanese food? If I'm not mistaken, you love Japanese food."

"Hey! You remembered!" I say gleefully.

"I remember everything you say," he says softly, gazing intently at me.

I looked down at my feet as my face flushed a bright red. Why is it that I always get caught up in awkward situations where I don't know what to say or do? Why? Why? Why?

"Come on," he says, pulling me by my hand. "Let's go eat."

Good thing that he knows how to stir a conversation.

"Eat this," says Kenshin, putting a piece of sushi on my plate.

"But Kenshin! I already ate so much!" I say, trying to put the sushi back on his plate.

"Eat!" he says, putting it back onto my plate.

"Okay! Okay! I'll eat it!"

Suddenly, he claps a hand on his pocket.

"My mobile," he says. "Would you mind if I took this?"

"Of course not," I say. "Go ahead."

When he's gone, I immediately picked up the sushi from my plate and put it back onto his plate. I leaned back in my chair and peered around the little restaurant to see whether I could recognize anyone.

"Guess who," says an unfamiliar voice, putting his hands over my eyes from behind me.

"Umm…uh…give me a hint?" I ask.

"My name starts with a H."

"Hannya? Houji Satojima? Hyotokko?"

"No, no and no."

"I give up! Ow!" I yelped as he bonked me on the head.

"The one and only, Honjou Kamatari," he says. "Forgotten about me so fast, huh? By the way, who's Hannya and Houji and Hyottokko? Ex-boyfriends? I know I'm like a girl but man those names are pretty lame."

"Honjou-san! Don't be silly," I say, "Hey, we ate dinner that night!"

"A little slow aren't you today?" he said, grinning, and sitting down in Kenshin's seat. "Who're you here with?"

"Kenshin. And don't get any ideas," I warned as he raised an eyebrow at me. "We're just friends. What about you? Who are you with?"

He turned in his seat and pointed to the right corner of the restaurant. I craned my neck to look at where he pointed and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Who's that girl sitting there? You're eating with your girlfriend?" I ask, looking at the back of the girl's head, hoping that she would turn around. Her shoulder length hair prevented me from catching glimpses of her face.

"A girl?" he asks, surprised. "Are you looking at the right table?"

"Isn't it the one near the window?" I ask, sitting upright so that I could get a better look.

"Yeah, that's the one. But why on earth is a girl sitting there?" he asks, turning to look once more. Just then, he burst out laughing hysterically.

"What? What's so funny?" I ask, slapping him on the arm.

"Hold on. Let me…catch my breath…back," he says, clutching at his sides, an occasional giggle escaping from his mouth. When he had finally sobered up, he stood up, turned around so that he was facing the other table, and yelled, "Sano!"

My eyes widened in shock and my jaw dropped open when Sano turned around to look at us. Automatically, my hand flew up to cover my mouth. "Oh my God," I say, as Sano walked over to us. Kamatari burst into another fit of hysterical laughter when he approached our table.

"What's so funny?" asks Sano.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" I say, plastering a smile onto my face.

"Sano kid! You…gotta listen…to this. She said…you look…" he trailed off, unable to complete his sentence as he started laughing again.

"Look like what?" says Sano, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at me.

"Wait, wait," says Kamatari, lifting a hand up while he took a sip of my water to calm himself down. He took a deep breath, then began again. "You see, she asked me who I was eating with so I pointed to our table. And do you know what she said? She said, who's that…OW!" yelled Kamatari, holding his ankle, where I had kicked him.

"What did she say, Kamatari?" asks Sano, tapping his foot impatiently.

"She said…OW! Stop her from kicking me, Sano!" he whines.

"If you don't talk, I'll kick you too."

" Ok, ok, she asked me who was that girl sitting over there and whether I was eating with my girlfriend," says Kamatari in one breath, jumping out of Kenshin's seat as fast as he could before I could kick him again.

"You WHAT?" asks Sano, turning round to throttle me.

"Mou! It…wasn't…my…fault! You…do…look…like…a…girl…from…the…back! I Told you to cut your hair! Even a roster hair is better than that, it looks like Megumi's hair style."

"Say that again! I LOOK LIKE A GIRL. Take a good look at Kamatari, now that's a girl." he says, pinching my cheeks turning my head so that I was facing Kamatari.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Sano! I'm sorry," I say, pouting and rubbing my cheeks. "Honestly, Honjou-san, you're so stubborn."

"Hey you know Megumi?" Sano seemed to catch on just five seconds behind.

"Ya, why?" I was surprised at his voice that just went up about an octive.

His face turned slightly red as he mumbled, "She's mad at me."

"Huh? Why?"

"She tried to cut my hair and I resisted and… well…"

"Spit it out"

"I kind of took the scissior and cut her hair."

"Mou! You did WHAT?" My eyes opened in surprise.

So that's why she wasn't in office this morning when I tried to find her. I took the closest thing and started to wack him on the head over and over. Men these days, how could he!

"Did I miss anything?" asks Kenshin from behind us, causing all of us to whirl around and look at him.

Next Chappie: Kenshin being, no so warm… Tomoe will make her first entry, small one, since the trip. Actually I don't know yet completely. Sorry.