Who Was That Skateboarding Fool?!
By Altia
Disclaimer: I can't think of anything original to say here… so I'll just say I don't own it!
A/N: Well, I'm trying to do a fast update even though I have an essay on Hamlet due Monday that I barely started today… ((sighs)) I'll survive… somehow…
Chapter 23: The Day of the Date! The Night of the Event.
Kenshin awoke bright and early Tuesday morning, really too excited to sleep because of his date with Kaoru. He quickly got dressed and started to skate to school before he realized something: it was 5am!
'Wonderful… I'm a whole 3 hours early for school. I doubt Kaoru's even awake yet. Might as well go back home and watch some TV,' Kenshin reasoned, as he turned around and went back home.
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However, unknown to Kenshin, Kaoru was also up early that morning… though, it was for a completely different reason.
'I can't believe I forgot math homework!!' Kaoru mentally shouted at herself. She scribbled and struggled through the 80 problems she had for her Calculus class. (A/N: I don't know if I said a math class for her before… if I did change it to Calculus.)
She sighed, this never happened to her before. She was always the kind of student who finished her homework in class, no matter how many problems. However, ever since a certain skater came into her life, all of that changed.
Granted, she was still a good student, just… not as focused as she used to be. 'Dang that Kenshin! I'm gonna sock him when I get to school!'
Kaoru had 3 hours to complete her homework, and to get ready for school. She knew she could make it if only she could stop thinking about her date later that day…
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"Ahh! News, news and more news!" Kenshin cried out, frustrated because of lack of good things to watch. "Where are all the cartoons?! Like… Digimon… or something else like that…"
As Kenshin scrolled through the channels, he came across an over-reran episode of "The Fairly Oddparents."
'Oh well… better then nothing.'
Kenshin sat and watched the TV, still bored. He glanced at the clock. 'Hm… 7:15… guess I could start going to school now… I'll just skate slowly.'
With that thought, Kenshin turned the TV off, and grabbed his board, ready for a slow coast to school.
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"Holy crap! It's 7:15!!" Kaoru cried as she realized she was only ¾ of the way done with her homework.
'Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man!' Kaoru was seriously stressed out. 'I've gotta start getting ready. I guess this will have to be enough for the teacher.'
Kaoru put her homework away and got ready for school.
After eating breakfast, she walked to school, somewhat slowly. She dreaded what her math teacher was going to say to her.
'Probably say something like "Miss Kamiya, I would have expected a little more then this from my best student!" Ha… I can just see his face now…'
When Kaoru reached the school, she was surprised to see Kenshin there, waiting for her.
Said skater walked over to her with a smile on his face. "Hey, you excited for tonight?" he said, ever smiling.
"Um, yea… I guess…" was the quiet reply.
Kenshin turned his head sideways, almost like a puppy does when it is confused. "Something wrong?"
"Well, I didn't exactly finish my math problems. I have about 20 more to do, and not nearly enough time to do them…"
"Hmm, let me see them."
Kaoru gave him a strange look, but nevertheless took out her math book and homework.
Kenshin looked at the problems, then sat on the steps to the school. "You gotta pencil?"
Kaoru nodded and handed the pencil to him. Within a matter of 15 minutes, Kenshin had finished the rest of the problems. Not only that, he went back and corrected some of Kaoru's mistakes in her rush to finish.
"Here you go!" Kenshin said, grinning.
Kaoru's mouth seemed to have lost the ability to close. "How did you…?"
"How did I finish so fast? Let's just say that skateboarding isn't my only hobby," Kenshin replied, still smiling.
Kaoru hugged him tight. "Thank you so much! I would have been toast if it wasn't for your awesome math skills."
"Ahh, don't worry about it. It was my pleasure," Kenshin said as he hugged her back.
The bell rang not much longer after their hug, and another day of class began…
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After school, Kenshin decided to skip his practice in order to get ready for his date. He wondered where to go, and for this information, he went to the only source he could trust: Megumi.
He found her in her usual place, talking to her friends.
"Um, Megumi, can I talk to you for a bit?" Kenshin asked.
Megumi nodded, and told her friends that she would be right back. "What's up, Kenshin?"
"Well," he began, "I'm taking Kaoru out to dinner tonight and… I don't know exactly where a good place is."
"Hmm, well it depends," Megumi responded.
"On what?"
"On whether you want it to be formal, semi-formal, or just causal."
"Well, I think for the first dinner-date, it should be casual. Plus, I didn't tell Kaoru to dress formal or anything."
"Well then, that narrows the field. Hmm, let me think a moment," Megumi grew silent as she thought about where Kenshin could take Kaoru. "I've got it! You can take her to this nice little restaurant right down the street from here. It's called "Café Matte." It has a very casual and relaxed atmosphere."
"Thanks a lot, Megumi! You're a life saver!" Kenshin cried as he shook Megumi's hand and ran off.
'Alright then! Café Matte it is!' Kenshin then realized he shouldn't go to pick Kaoru up empty handed. 'Hmm… flowers are ok I guess. Well, it's a first official date, what do you expect?'
Kenshin decided he would stop at the florist near his home right before picking Kaoru up, to ensure the flowers don't die until after Kaoru gets them.
Kenshin skated home, excited and nervous about what the night was going to bring.
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Kaoru sat at her desk, determined to finish most, if not all, of her homework before the date. She was not willing to replay this mornings little fiasco.
Kaoru wondered briefly where Kenshin was going to take her, and what is intentions were… 'No, I've already proved to myself he's not like those other skaters… haven't I?'
Kaoru shook her head, 'Have to focus on homework!' With that, she went back to diligently working on the horrible creation called homework.
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Kenshin was dressed very nicely for the evening, even though they were going to a casual restaurant. He wore a dark blue button-up, collared shirt with black jeans that didn't look like jeans, and nice dress shoes. His hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, leaving only his bangs to flow free.
Kenshin sighed, 'Well, this is it…' He walked out to the car, making sure he had all the money he would need for the evening. He drove to the florist down the street and bought a nice bouquet of red roses with some baby's breath and carnations sprinkled throughout.
When he arrived at Kaoru's house, he hesitated. 'What if something horrible happens tonight? No! Don't think of that! It's gonna be a great evening!'
With renewed confidence, Kenshin got out of his car, flowers in hand, and walked up to the door. He sighed again before knocking on the door.
He waited as he heard someone walking to the door. Kenshin feared it might be Kaoru's father. However, and to Kenshin's relief, it wasn't.
Kaoru opened the door, and Kenshin's eyes widened. 'My gosh, she's beautiful…'
Kaoru's attire for the evening consisted of a light blue, slightly snug fitting sweater, and a very nice pair of blue jeans that weren't too tight or too lose. Her hair was done simply in a high ponytail with tendrils hanging by her ears. And of course her bangs were where they were supposed to be.
Kaoru also had her share of eye widening when she saw Kenshin. She then saw the roses. "Kenshin, are those for me?"
"Who else would they be for?" Kenshin asked, with a slight smirk.
Kaoru took them with a smile and quickly found a vase for them. When she returned to the door, she called out, "I'm leaving, dad! I'll be back later tonight!"
Kenshin heard her father respond, however couldn't make out what was said. Kaoru closed the front door and took Kenshin's arm.
"Well, shall we be off?" Kaoru asked.
Kenshin nodded and walked her out to the car, arm in arm.
Kenshin helped Kaoru into his car, being the true gentleman he is, then got into the driver's seat. "I hope you like where we are going. It was recommended to me by a good friend of mine."
"Oh no. Sano told you about this place?"
Kenshin laughed as he began driving to the restaurant, 'No, no, no! Megumi told me about this place. Supposed to be really good for a casual date such as this."
Kaoru sighed in relief, "Oh good. At first I thought we were going to go to some fast food place."
"No way. I'd never take you there on a date unless you asked to go there."
Kaoru smiled, and they sat in comfortable silence with the radio playing softly as background noise.
Kenshin found the place easy enough, and found a parking place. He quickly jumped out and helped Kaoru out of his car.
Kaoru grinned, "You know, you don't have to do that every time."
"Yes I do," was the response, "because I am a gentleman."
Once again, arm in arm, they entered the restaurant. The waiter asked how many in the party and Kenshin responded with 2. They were quickly escorted to a table for 2 towards the back of the restaurant.
"Order anything you want, Kaoru, I'll deal with the bill," Kenshin said with a smile.
Kaoru was about to argue with him, however realized it would be pointless.
They then ordered, Kenshin getting the 24 oz. steak with a baked potato and green beans. Kaoru got the chicken breast with mashed potatoes and corn.
They made small talk before the meal got there. Once it did arrive, a comfortable silence reigned as the food was ate.
Once finished, Kaoru said, "That was really good."
"I agree. I'll have to thank Megumi again tomorrow."
Kenshin left a tip for the waiter and walked up to the counter to pay the bill, not letting Kaoru see how much it was.
"Kenshin! I wanna just see it! I'm not gonna pay it!"
"I'll tell you later…" Kenshin said as he paid for the meal.
Kenshin then took Kaoru's arm and walked out to the car.
"So?" Kaoru asked.
"So, what?"
"How much was the bill?"
Kenshin sighed, "You won't give up on that, will you?"
"Nope! So, how much, how much?"
Kenshin helped her into the car, "$47.98."
Kaoru gasped, "Kenshin! That's so much!"
Kenshin sat in the driver's seat, "Don't worry about it. Really. Hm… it's only 9… You wanna go somewhere else?"
"Like where?" Kaoru asked.
"Um, how about the park? We'll take a stroll through the park."
"Sounds good to me!" Kaoru responded as Kenshin started the car and drove to the local park.
Kenshin parked in a nice, lighted area of the park, and once again helped Kaoru out of the car. Hand in hand they walked through the park until they reached the center of it where a beautiful fountain was.
Kenshin guided Kaoru over to a bench and sat down to watch the fountain. Kaoru sat next to him, also watching the fountain.
'Alright, Kenshin, you got her here… now what are you gonna do?' Kenshin carefully put his arm around Kaoru's shoulders. He felt the blush crawl onto his face.
Kaoru's face was also tinged a shade of pink at Kenshin's somewhat bold actions.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Kaoru didn't even think to say anything, it just came out to break the silence.
Kenshin nodded, "Yeah… except it doesn't hold a candle to you…"
Kaoru's face took on a new shade of red at Kenshin's compliment.
Kenshin turned to face Kaoru, and she turned to face him. Both faces had a shade of red to them. They slowly leaned in and shared a gentle kiss. They pulled away, only to kiss again, longer, and a little less innocent.
After their second kiss of the evening, they blushed more.
Kenshin cleared his throat and looked at his watch, "It's 10:30… better get you home, eh?"
"Yeah…" was Kaoru's reply.
Kenshin stood, and took Kaoru's arm. They walked back to Kenshin's car, and drove back to Kaoru's house in silence.
Kenshin walked Kaoru to her door, with 10 minutes to spare before her curfew.
"Well, I had a great time, Kenshin," Kaoru said with a smile.
"Me, too," Kenshin replied, also smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow then…" Kenshin leaned in for a quick kiss before turning to walk away.
"Bye, Kenshin," Kaoru called.
"Bye!" Kenshin called back as he ran to his car. He jumped into his car and drove off. When he got home he didn't notice the red flashing light on the answering machine. He went to his room and fell onto his bed, and into a peaceful nights sleep.
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Kaoru walked into her house, and was met by her dad sitting on the couch.
"Did you have a good time," he asked.
"Yeah, and he got me home before 11."
"I noticed. Good night, Kaoru."
"Good night, dad," Kaoru said as she climbed the stairs and went into her room. She changed into her pajamas and went to sleep, smiling.
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A/N: Wow, fast update. I'm expecting a lot of reviews. Be like these people:
midnite cherry blossomz: Thanks. Is this soon enough?
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snowfallenangel: Wow… so many reviews. That's awesome. Wish I could see it. Thanks a lot. Here's the update. Yea I think it kinda would hurt. Well I'm sure you'll get more reviews. I know I screwed up, I'll fix it later. ((calls off lawyers)) Happy New Year to you too. And um, I guess it's nice to meet all your friends… Um, email me directly and I'll tell you… or give me your AIM SN if you have one. Wow… people are shooting fireworks here… even though it's kind of illegal… Thanks a lot. "Oro" is Japanese for "huh" and WAFF stands for "warm and fuzzy feelings."
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