Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
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Grocery Store
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Chapter 2 - She Laughed, He Laughed
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"You really saved me, you know?" Kaoru acknowledged. They stood in the middle of the apartment lobby. She lived on the right side. Kenshin lived on the left.
"I still don't think Larry would've been that bad, but since you think he would've, just remember you owe me and we'll leave it at that."
"Excuse me, but I paid for your dinner."
"Yeah, but I had tickets to the Washington Wizards game tonight, floor seats, and I was a no-show just to do you a favor."
"Liar."
He grinned and shrugged. "You caught me."
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "I believed you until you said you had floor seats."
"You're right. That was a little too farfetched. But you still owe me if we should happen to run into each other again."
"If you ever need a date who's not really your date, I'll help you out. Fair enough?"
"Fair enough," he repeated. "And on this hypothetical future non-date, do you promise to put as much effort into your appearance as I did for your non-date?"
Kaoru surveyed his clothing. He looked presentable enough to bring home to her parents, but she'd never seen him look unpresentable, not even in the laundry room. And when people got around to going to the laundry room, they usually wore the last clean clothing they had. In Kaoru's case, this clothing never exactly matched. "Exactly how much effort did you put into your appearance?"
He tilted his head slightly and made a show of thinking. "Seventy-four point six percent, I'd say. I can look much better than this."
"Did your mother tell you that?"
He laughed. "She did, actually. But she was only one of many, Kaoru, one of many."
She liked his laugh, and the sound of her name when he said it. It was really too bad he wasn't over his last girlfriend yet.
"Whatever you say, Kenshin."
"That's what I like to hear from a woman." He paused just long enough for her to think he meant it before continuing, "Seriously though, I didn't have a horrible time." He held out a hand. "Good night then, Miss Kamiya."
She accepted it. "Good night, Mr. Himura." She smiled, released his hand, and turned away. It wouldn't do her any good to get involved with him romantically, but if they ever did meet again, she thought she'd like being his friend. Kaoru smiled to herself as she walked away.
"The hypothetical future non-date isn't actually all that hypothetical," he called after her.
Kaoru shook her head and kept walking.
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Three weeks later he tapped her on the shoulder. She was in the lobby of the apartment building, waiting on Megumi to pick her up so they could go shopping, and she thought it would be the little old lady who worked in the office, but it was Kenshin.
"We meet again," he observed with a smile as she turned around. "How've you been?"
Kaoru grinned. "Larry-less and great. What about you?"
He shrugged. "I go to work, I come home. You get the picture."
"Don't you have any friends?"
"I may have kinda sorta ditched them while I was going out with my ex-girlfriend, so they were forced to get lives. Consequently, I don't spend as much time around them as I used to." He shrugged. "It'll be fine once I get a life."
"So you're still recovering."
He grinned. "I love hard, baby."
Kaoru burst into a fit of laughter. He watched her with a bemused smile. Kaoru appreciated his sense of humor. He said the most ridiculous things. "No really," she said when she could manage it, "What's the real reason?"
"Eh, I got promoted at work-"
"Congratulations!"
"So I've had to work extra hours to prove I'm worthy. I bet I'll get a great Christmas bonus though."
"Where do you work?"
"I've been at--------for a few years now. I'm a financial consultant for small business owners. What about you?"
"I'm an undergraduate admissions counselor at the university."
"Deciding the fate of today's youth, huh?"
"Something like that." She tilted her head towards the door. "So where are you off to?"
"Just the corner store to pick up some eggs. You?"
"I'm waiting for Megumi to pick me up. She's late."
"Well tell her I said hi."
"Sure thing."
He paused with his hand on the door. "Would you mind if I asked you for your phone number, just so I can collect on that future non-date?"
"Ask away."
He stared at her for a second. "You're really going to make me ask again?"
"You only asked if you could ask."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll remember never to phrase a question like that again."
She grinned at him.
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He called her two weeks later. She was sitting in front of the television watching the style network and eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream. A stack of early decision applications sat on the cushion next to her, waiting for her to read them.
"Hey Kaoru, it's Kenshin."
"Hey. What took you so long to call?"
He laughed. "I didn't want to seem too eager to talk to you again, but I am, so that's a total lie."
"So your pride got in the way, huh? Watch out. That's one of the seven deadly sins."
"I know. I saw the Brad Pitt movie. It didn't end too well."
"He should've listened to Morgan Freeman."
"True," Kenshin agreed, "You really couldn't blame him there at the end though."
"No. I guess not."
"So not to be forward or anything, but are you free the Saturday after Thanksgiving? One of my so-called friends got Wizard tickets, but his girlfriend's making him take her, so he wants to double. I think you're supposed to keep her distracted so he can watch the game."
"He didn't actually say that, did he?"
"No, but I've known him for five years now. That's definitely the reason. So will you go? All expenses paid."
Kaoru thought about it for a few seconds. She knew she was free that day, she liked basketball, and she liked Kenshin, but would she like his friends? Well, he'd given hers a chance. "What kind of seats do you have?"
"Tenth row, center court."
And those were good seats, fabulous seats. "If I have a horrible time, I blame you."
"So it's a non-date then?"
"Yeah."
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"You cut your hair."
"Hello to you too," Kaoru said, tugging her hat on.
He whisked it off her head. "Wait, I have to see." His eyes ran over her new pixie hair cut, and he walked a full circle around her. She'd been getting a lot of that since she cut her hair after Black Friday.
"So what's the verdict?" Kaoru asked when he'd walked his circle and stopped in front of her.
"Professional, yet sexy."
Kaoru snorted. "Give me my hat back. What kind of verdict is that?"
"The right verdict." He gave her the hat back. "I bet you donated it to Locks of Love."
She nodded, jamming the hat back on her head. "I think look like a skinny teenage boy with this hat on. It covers up all my hair."
Kenshin opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Don't say anything. I wasn't fishing for a compliment. Now how are we getting there?"
"We're taking my car, so let's go to the garage. You don't mind sitting in the back with the girlfriend, do you?"
Kaoru shook her head and followed Kenshin as he started the walk to the apartment's parking garage. "Does she have a name?"
He looked sideways at her and grinned. "Well it would've been hard for her to make it this far in life without one."
"You're paying me back for the phone number thing aren't you?"
"I'm thrilled Kaoru, you remembered."
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Kaoru yawned and opened her eyes. She was greeted with the sight of the front of Kenshin's car, and out the windshield there was the apartment's parking garage.
He turned off the car and pulled the key from the ignition. "We dropped them off ten minutes ago, and you've been asleep for eight of those minutes. How do you do it?"
She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess the trip wore me out. I had a good time."
"I know. Did you really have to start screaming at Gilbert Arenas just because he fouled Lebron James?"
"I like Lebron James."
"Yeah, but he's not on the Wizards. If you were a guy, the man in front of us would have jumped you. He would've jumped me if I hadn't acted like I didn't know you."
"I'd have liked to see him try," Kaoru said primly, glancing around for her hat. "Did you know I'm a black belt?"
"In what?"
"Does it really matter? I'm a lethal weapon." Kaoru found her hat under her leg. "So you don't ever have to worry about being jumped around me, Kenshin. I'll protect you."
"That's comforting."
"I thought it would be." Kaoru put her hat on and got out of the car. Opposite her, Kenshin did the same.
"So I guess now we're even," he said, locking his car door and slamming it shut.
"Oh, you mean about the non-date thing."
"Yeah."
"It might be cool to hang out sometimes though," Kaoru said as they walked towards the entrance to the apartment.
"Sometimes," he agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
They walked in comfortable silence for a moment.
"So why didn't you want it to be a real date?" he asked.
"What?"
"The first non-date, when you asked me, you said you didn't want it to be a real date. I've been wondering."
She smiled and didn't look at him. "A couple reasons. First off, I didn't even know you. You might've turned out to be a conceited jerk," she reflected, "or boring."
"That's understandable."
"And you aren't over your ex-girlfriend yet."
He held the door open for her. She got a faint whiff of his scent as she walked past him.
"That's another good reason. I didn't know you were so practical."
"It's not that hard," Kaoru answered. She was a little disappointed that he'd just admitted he wasn't over his girlfriend yet, but she thought she could live with that. It kept things between them simple. There was no use waiting on him. "Christmas is in two weeks. Do anything for the holidays?"
"I'm flying home for a few weeks. I'm from Missouri. You?"
"I'm going home too, driving down to Virginia. Oh, you don't have to walk me back, I'll take the stairs."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Good night, Kenshin. And thanks again." Kaoru opened the door to the stairwell.
"No, thank you, pixie woman. I still say it's sexy, even with the hat on."
Kaoru laughed. "Good night, Kenshin."
"Good night," she heard him say as the door shut behind her. She wondered how his ex-girlfriend could have given him up. They'd broken up over ten months ago, probably closer to eleven, and he still hadn't completely gotten over her. Now that was loyalty.
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He called her a week into January.
"Hi, Kenshin."
"Hey, Kaoru. You're back in town, right?"
"Since two days after Christmas. We don't get much time off at work."
"That sucks. I just got back last night. Can I come over and make you dinner?"
Dinner. She'd been planning on ramen. "What's the catch?"
"Nothing," he said seriously. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I decided you're the first person I want to cook for this year. I treat all my friends. Are you up for it?"
"I'm always up for free food. I'm in 243."
"Great."
He knocked on her door ten minutes later. She opened it and he walked in, arms laden with two giant grocery bags. "Hey, Kaoru. Your hair grew."
"Yeah. Just sit the bags on the counter," she said, locking the door behind him.
"Miss me since I've been gone?" he asked. "I bet you were despondent without me."
"I got on just fine," Kaoru replied as he hugged her. "Work is taking over my life."
"Now that the Christmas rush is over, I've got a lot of free time."
"Way to rub it in."
"I knew you'd appreciate it. Listen, I know you're reading applications, so just go back into the living room and read them while I cook. I'll have it ready for you in forty-five minutes."
As always when something was too good to be true, she felt the need to stop it from happening. Darn conscience. "You don't really have to do this, Kenshin. Ramen's just fine for me."
"Well I have standards. Maybe someday I'll rub off on you."
"God, I hope not."
He laughed. "I missed talking to you, Kaoru."