Who was that Skateboarding Fool!

By Altia

Disclaimer: Opps… I forgot last chapter, but I still don't own it, so don't sue me!

A/N: I'm so, so sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I've just been so busy with my classes and I just never had the free time to work on it. I promise I'll work hard to update more regularly.

Chapter 29: School Days and Afternoon Traumas

Kaoru arrived at school around 20 minutes before classes were to start. For some reason today, she seemed very well rested, and almost refreshed. 'Maybe it's because I told Kenshin about my past. But I can tell he has a story to tell also,' she thought as she walked over to her friends.

Misao and Megumi sent a playful glare at Kaoru, still somewhat upset about what she did to their food the day before.

Kaoru grinned sheepishly, waving at her friends. She jogged over and stood next to them, however their expressions didn't change. "What are you guys so angry about?" she asked, trying to sound completely innocent.

Misao rolled her eyes at her best friend, putting a hand on Kaoru's shoulder. "You should know. Don't think you're going to get away with what you did to us, Kaoru," she said, an evil smirk on her face.

Kaoru gulped, suddenly feeling very nervous around the two of them. Luckily for her, Kenshin soon skated up and grabbed his board to walk over to the three girls.

"Hey, you two," he said, greeting the two, still angry, girls. Looking over at Kaoru, he smiled a bit. "Hey, beautiful."

Kaoru couldn't help the blush that went across her face at Kenshin's statement. "Don't flatter me like that, Kenshin," she said, lightly swatting him on the arm.

Kenshin smiled over at Kaoru, shaking his head a bit. "Who said I was trying to flatter you? I was telling the truth," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

Misao and Megumi let out a simultaneous "Aww!" at the couple. "I think we'll leave you two alone for a bit," Megumi said, tugging at Misao's arm to pull her away.

"Aww! But I wanna see what happens!" Misao whined, but was quickly shushed by Megumi and dragged away.

Kaoru sighed a bit, looking over at Kenshin. She smiled gently and put a hand on his broken arm. "How's this doing?" she asked.

Kenshin shrugged a bit, starting to walk with her towards the school. "Well, it's not hurting, if that's what you're wondering. It's doing fine, really. How about you? How are you doing?" he asked gently, giving her shoulders a light squeeze.

"I'm doing ok, Kenshin. Actually, I've never felt better. Thanks for listening to me whine and complain about my past and for comforting me when I cried," she said, smiling at Kenshin.

Rolling his eyes, Kenshin smiled down at her and kissed her head gently. "What are perfect boyfriends for?" he asked, teasing her a bit.

Kaoru blinked, looking up at Kenshin with her eyebrow raised. "And since when did you become the perfect boyfriend?" she asked, wanting to hear his answer.

"When I found the perfect girl," he said, staring down at her with intense violet eyes.

Blushing brightly, Kaoru was about to say something to that when the bell rang. "W-well, I guess we should head to class. I'll see you at lunch, ok?" she said, smiling up at him, the blush still covering her face.

Kenshin nodded, kissing her cheek gently before turning to walk to class. "See you at lunch, then," he said, waving a bit before disappearing in the mass of students.

Kaoru nodded slowly, turning and making her way to her class.

:OoO:OoO:OoO:OoO:

Lunch time finally rolled around and the student body was much relieved because of it.

'I'm so glad its Friday,' Kaoru thought, sighing a bit as she got her food and went to eat with her friends. Much to her surprise, Kenshin and Sano were already there and chatting away with Misao and Megumi.

"Are you sure you can't introduce me to Aoshi!" Misao asked loudly, wanting nothing more then to just say hello to the tall, silent skater.

Kenshin made a face, scowling a bit. "I already told you I can't. For once thing, I don't know where he lives and I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since the contest. Go to the next skating competition, I'm sure he'll be there," he said, sighing slightly.

Misao's eyes lit up as she tugged on Megumi's arm. "We have to go!" she said excitedly.

Kaoru made her way over to the table, smiling slightly as she sat down on one side of Kenshin. Sano was sitting on his other side, and the two girls were sitting across the table from them. "Hey, you guys. What's the fuss about?" she asked, though instantly regretted it as she was bombarded by the whole story told by an extremely hyperactive Misao.

Kenshin chuckled slightly, shaking his head slowly and smiling over at Kaoru. "You asked for it," he said, ducking his head as Kaoru swatted at him.

Kaoru rolled her eyes as Misao finished her tale. "Anyway, what are your plans for the weekend?" she asked, looking around at her friends.

"Nothing really, just studying for midterms coming up," Misao said, Megumi nodding her head in agreement.

Sano shrugged slightly, not worrying too much about the midterms. Study or not, he wasn't going to do well. At least, that's what he figured. "I'll probably be at the skate park mostly."

"What about you, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, looking over at him.

Kenshin blinked, wondering that himself. "Well, I really don't have that much planned. Though, I'll probably be dealing with things for my parents' funeral and such."

Everyone looked down at their lunches, remembering that Kenshin had just went though something horrible like that.

"Way to bring down the conversation, Kenshin," Sano mumbled, glancing at the red-headed skater.

Megumi sent a pointed glare at Sano, knowing that wasn't something to be made fun of.

Kaoru could feel the tension in the air and needed to get rid of it and fast. "Well, I'm probably just going to do nothing. We should all do something tomorrow. Go out somewhere and eat, or something like that," she said, smiling up at her friends.

Misao shook her head, knowing that she needed to study for her midterms. "Sorry, Kaoru, but it's a no go for me. I really do need to study. My grade hinges on this test."

"Same here," Megumi said.

"Nah, I'd rather be at the skate park. Thanks, though," replied Sano, stuffing his lunch into his face.

Kenshin blinked, looking over at Kaoru, then looking around slowly to see all eyes on him. "Well… I guess I won't be too busy to go out for a bit," he said slowly.

Kaoru smiled wide, but then realized something. 'Maybe they all just said that to guilt Kenshin into getting out of that empty house of his for a bit.' She looked around, not seeing anything like that from Sano, though at the moment the tall skater was still stuffing his face. A look at Misao and Megumi, though, told Kaoru the whole story. "Well, then I guess we can work out the details later," she said, taking Kenshin's hand in her's.

Kenshin nodded his head slowly, a small smile on his face. "Sounds good to me," he said softly.

The group of friends continued their conversation throughout the rest of the lunch hour, though most of it was just small talk. They all groaned as the bell rang, signaling them to return to their classes, all of them praying the last few classes would pass quickly and painlessly.

:OoO:OoO:OoO:OoO:

Luckily for the whole student body, the last class hour was cut short by a fire drill. Everyone had evacuated so quickly and gathered in the appropriate place that the faculty allowed them to leave once everyone was accounted for.

Kaoru smiled wide as she met up with Misao and Megumi, who were in a different class. They made small talk for a while before everyone was excused.

"That was a lucky break, wasn't it?" Misao asked, about twice as hyper as normal.

"For you, it might have been. I was on the brink of thinking up my essay topic when the fire alarm went off," Megumi complained, pouting at the fact she'd lost her train of thought.

Kaoru laughed slightly, shaking her head at her two friends.

Reaching the front of the school, they split off in their opposite directions and Kaoru walked home. She was all smiles as she walked past the skate park, looking in out of pure curiosity.

Though, you know what they always say. Curiosity killed the cat.

Kaoru's breathe caught in her chest at what she saw. There, in the middle of the skate park, was the group of skaters that had nearly raped her before. She wanted to run, she knew she had to run, but her legs had turned to jelly and refused to listen to her mind.

Unfortunately for her, one of the skaters turned his head towards the entrance and caught sight of her.

"'Ey, dun' dat girl look familiar?" the one asked, getting his friend's attention and pointing at Kaoru.

Most of them looked over at Kaoru, staring at her for a long time. "Yeah… she does look real familiar."

'Run, Kaoru… Move your legs and run!' her mind shouted, though her body still refused to listen. By the time she did get her body to respond, she was surrounded. 'Not again… dear God, not again.'

The leader of the group stepped forward, looking down at Kaoru with scrutinizing eyes. "Hey… I remember this one… She's the one that got us separated!" he yelled, looking over at his friends.

They all stared at her a bit more before realization hit them. "'Bout time we found her! Now she'll get what she's had coming to her for four years!" one shouted.

Kaoru didn't want to look at them, didn't want to keep her eyes open. She knew she had to though, or else they could do something without her knowing at all. 'Someone, anyone… help me!' she silently begged.

Just as the group was about to advance on her, a grunt was heard from one of them. "I… tried…" he said before falling face first into the ground. Standing behind him was a very angry Kenshin, his now amber eyes flashing with anger. Next to him stood Sano, looking equally livid.

"Didn't you scum learn your lesson! Looks like you have to learn the hard way," Kenshin growled out, launching himself at the leader, his fists swinging. Right now, his cast was more of a weapon then a hindrance.

Sanosuke followed in suit, attacking the skaters as they charged him. Soon, there was an all out war between Kenshin and Sano and the gang of skaters. Of course, the skaters stood no chance again the two, and were soon in a bloody heap on the ground.

Most of the skaters had their noses broken and their teeth chipped from being punched so hard.

"It's people like you that make skaters look bad. If you come near here, or near Kaoru ever again, I'll make sure you'll never walk again," Kenshin threatened, his voice dead serious.

Stepping over, and sometimes onto, the bodies of the mostly unconscious skaters, Kenshin made his way to a slightly sobbing Kaoru, wrapping his arms securely around her. "Shh, it's ok, Kaoru. I'm here," he said softly.

Sano made sure none of the skaters could stand up before they got away.

Gently holding Kaoru close against him, Kenshin led her away from the scene and towards his house. "I'm taking Kaoru to my house, Sano. We'll have to hang out some other time," he said.

Sano nodded his head, glaring at the boys still on the ground. "No problem, Kenshin. I'll make sure the police get here before they wake up."

Kenshin smiled his thanks as he walked towards his house, holding Kaoru close against his side. She had yet to speak a word since the incident, and he worried for her mental health.

Reaching his house not much longer, he brought her inside and sat her on the couch.

Kaoru turned her eyes towards Kenshin as he sat down next to her. Staring at him a few moments, she wrapped her arms tightly around him and cried into his chest.

Kenshin held her close, rocking her back and forth and whispered comforting words into her ear. He felt such extreme anger towards those skaters that just didn't seem to learn their lesson. 'If I wouldn't go to jail, they wouldn't be breathing right now.'

After around 30 minutes of sobbing, Kaoru finally calmed down to slight sniffles and hiccups. Kenshin had held her close this whole time and gave her the strength to calm down.

"Kenshin… how did you…?" she asked, looking up at him with tear-stained cheeks.

"I was on my way to the skate park when I saw that group. I just had a feeling of what was happening, and it boiled my blood," he said, staring down at her with his once again violet eyes.

'I could have sworn his eyes were amber earlier,' Kaoru thought, but mentally shook her head. 'No, it was just the shock of what had happened.' "Thank you… so much, Kenshin," she said softly, hugging him again.

"It's no problem. If you want, I can drive you home," he said softly, kissing the top of her head gently.

Kaoru nodded her head. "In a little bit… I just want to be held just a bit longer," she said, not moving from her spot.

Kenshin smiled a bit, holding her close and fulfilling her wish.

:OoO:OoO:OoO:OoO

A/N: Whew. What an update. Some more drama for you drama fanatics. Again, so sorry for the late update. But hopefully this quarter I can update more often. I hope to update every two weeks on Saturday. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I could really use a beta reader for this fic. Looking back at my other chapters, I see a lot of errors that could have been avoided. So, if you are interested, email me from my bio page. And, please, leave a review. Be like these awesome people!

enchantedsleeper: Yeah, it's a good thing Misao's granddad was there. Sorry about the slow update.

blahblah2: Thanks. Sorry for the slow update.

The Mystic Firefly: Yeah, that's my first time writing things like that since this is my first "serious" fic. All my others are mostly humor. Thanks a lot for your nice comments, it really does motivate me.

ImmortalSlayers: Thanks. Sorry for this slow update.

Universal Fighter: Thanks a lot. Well, you know what happens in this chapter at least.

midnite cherry blossomz: Well, Kenshin sure kicked their butts this chapter. Go Kenshin! Here's the next chapter.

Chooky: Well, I would appreciate it if you left a more helpful review instead of just saying my story was wrong in every way. If you are going to downgrade my story, please leave valid reasons and don't flame me for my hard work.

kasumi997: Thanks.

Anime Girl: Thanks a lot. No, it's not over. For some reason, it was set to completed… I changed it though.

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