Chapter 5
Girls' Night Out
Kenshin let out a little cry, letting himself fall backwards over the side of the sofa and hit the floor with a loud thump. Kaoru turned her head away from the strange site framed in the window, and was by his side without a second thought. She had barely had a glimpse of the strange... creature.
"Oh, Kenshin, are you okay?" She touched his shoulder, kneeling beside him, one of his legs was still cocked over the sofa and when he opened his eyes he looked a bit dazed and he seemed to be watching the room spinning. "I am so sorry! Can you move? Can you get up? Let me get Megumi!" She had started to jump to her feet but his hand grabbed her forearm and he pulled her back down again.
"I think I will be okay. Will you help me sit up?"
With a surprising amount of strength and grace, Kaoru helped him sit up, and then helped him to his feet. He allowed a little bit of help from her, and she handled the weight well. After a minute he declared himself able to walk back without assistance.
She turned back to the window at his words, then frowned. "It's gone! Did you see what it was?" She asked, turning to him as he shrugged nonchalantly.
"I'm afraid I just saw flailing blue sleeves and then a ceiling." He hoped she would take the bait, but she was now pressed up fully against the window, trying to look out at either side of the house. Finally she gave it up as a lost cause and huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
"We should probably returned. I promised Megumi I would not wear you out, and you seem a bit flushed. I am sure I will get a scolding now." He offered her his arm, which Kaoru took and she allowed herself to be led back downstairs.
"Kaoru, do you dance?" She blinked at the unexpected question, and he seemed almost surprised at himself for asking.
"I've never had the chance, so I don't know. Why do you ask?"
"When you helped me up, you were very strong and graceful, like a dancer."
"Ah, probably come from martial arts training." She said laughing. "I was told that if I was good at reading body movement and language, I would be able to dance, but I've never had a reason to test that theory."
"What form of martial art did you do?" Kenshin walked slowly, she was looking tired, and he liked the extra time talking with her. As long as no one was asking about her old bond mate, she enjoyed talking. But he could understand. He still could not quite think the name of his. It still hurt.
Kaoru smiled a bit sadly here, sighing. "I was supposed to be the heir to my father's legacy, the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Unfortunately he died before I could learn more than the basics of his style of swordsmanship. I tried to learn other styles, but it has been hard. Our basic belief was that all life was sacred, and it was our duty to use our knowledge to protect ourselves, those we care for, and do our best to help those who wish to do us harm. The style was supposed to be a way to revitalize the spirit and to help protect the people who need it most."
"Unfortunately the sword is a tool used for killing in most styles." Kenshin observed.
"Yes. I've done my best to catalog what I remember of his style, but as for my own training, I've had to learn a different, empty hand technique. There are moves that counter swords, but very few moves and kata are taught using them. I've had to learn and build my father's legacy from scratch. Aside from the basic tenet of non violence, I believe the style I am working on is very different than the one he developed."
"So that is what you do, learn and teach swordsmanship?" He asked the question innocently enough but something about it made her frown. He couldn't understand her change in mood, but before he could ask or apologize, Misao raced around the corner, nearly straight into them. For one painful second, Kaoru was quite sure they were all going to end up on the floor, but Misao skidded to a stop and both her and Kenshin were able to grab her arms to keep her from falling over.
"Oy, Kenshin!" she said, hardly pausing for breath and seemingly unconcerned for her near death experience. "I was looking for you!"
"I noticed." Something about the way he answered didn't make sense to Kaoru. She expected him to laugh at the near collision, but he seemed perturbed. "I am sorry it took awhile to find me. We were upstairs having a look at the view."
Misao seemed to turn a bit pale, then smiled. "Ah! Well, I wish you would have told me." She said, placing an emphasis on the last two words as she still continued to smile brightly. "I would have found you sooner."
Kaoru noticed Kenshin looked a bit sheepish, and for some reason she thought there was more to this exchange than just the words. Their reactions just didn't make sense. To break the tension, Kaoru blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.
"Misao! I saw the weirdest thing! This large... thing... just came down through the trees. It surprised me so much I knocked Kenshin straight over a couch! By the time I made sure he was okay, it was gone."
Misao opened her mouth as if she had just realized something and Kenshin looked at her funny. There was a small blush on Kenshin's cheeks.
"That's... strange." Misao managed, looking like she really wanted to laugh or comment on something but didn't quite dare.
"Misao, I am about to go see Aoshi after I drop Kaoru off. Would you be willing to talk with me then?"
Trying to hold back her laughter and failing miserably, Misao nodded and sprinted off to go find her mate.
As Kenshin and Kaoru continued their walk back, Kaoru asked about Misao.
"Ah, well, it's not often that I am so clumsy." He said, "I am sure she's going to tease me about it, that I am."
Kaoru turned to apologize, but she could see a smile forming on Kenshin's mouth as if he found everything amusing as well.
-
Misao snickered a bit as she made her way to Aoshi, and quickly.
When she walked into the room, he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly as she was still somewhat laughing as she jumped up to sit on the empty side of his desk.
"Kaoru saw me." She said, "No, don't look at me like that. Kenshin had presence of mind enough to cause a distraction, by falling over a couch." Here she had to grab her sides as a fresh gale of giggles engulfed her. "I would have given anything to see that. I'm not sure she saw much. But I think I found our mystery dragon. Or, I've at least narrowed it down to three territorial areas she has been in very close contact with. If I can get her to confirm, I can start getting research done for Megumi, and... have you seen Sano?" She asked.
Aoshi shrugged. Sano was not known for punctuality. He was sure that the dragon would turn up eventually.
"Anyway, I think they have a chance, and I've got a plan that I hope will make it work. At least she doesn't seem to be pining over anyone. Unless she's hiding it. There's always that possibility. But Megumi has been trying to figure out the emotional extent of the broken bond. I figure we can work on that together. The physical was fairly deep, and she has a pretty decent sized scar according to Megumi. It doesn't seem to be bothering her."
"That is good to hear," Kenshin said, walking into the room and hearing the part about Kaoru's scar, "I would hate for it to be bothering her. Did you find more about a possible mate?"
"Kenshin!" Misao squeaked, then calmed herself. "Well, mate, no. But geographically I've narrowed it down to three places. I doubt you will like any of them, but it will narrow down our search. I thought the wedding information would narrow things down, but it seems like every single one of her friends got married with in the last six months."
"All of them?"
"No," Misao "said, but honestly, it was a lot. I've double checked everything with the places she went on her tour and I've narrowed it down to Karachi, Islamabad, or Indore. She has several friends from each of these places, at least one from each group has gotten married and returned and I've checked with Aoshi, she has been to those areas. 'Jaan' is an acceptable form of endearment, and she was up until fairly recently in pretty close contact with her friends from these areas. The only problem is, I haven't found any information about anyone who has died... so I can't pin down one group that's more likely than the rest. Plus, I'm not sure about the magic. I have to talk with Megumi, and see if it matters whether the magic originates from a family in Karachi or Islamabad, but with the small family groups, perhaps I'll have to look at individual families in each city. That and I don't have a good estimation on the number of dragons in the area!" Here she threw up her hands and finally paused for breath. Before Kenshin could answer, or even just recover from the normal shock of one of her deluges of information, she started again. "And tonight I have a plan!"
-
"I refuse to watch that movie again!"
"But Megumi! It's Kaoru's favorite..."
"Pick something less sappy."
"But it's a girls' night out," Misao was arguing, "It's a tradition to watch sappy movies!"
"I do not have enough alcohol in me for that."
"But you don't have any alcohol..."
The girls were not in their usual place in Megumi and Kaoru's room, but in a room in the top floors. Not the first above ground floor that Kenshin had shown Kaoru earlier, but an upper area that seemed to be some sort of storage area, but so much neater and cleaner than just an attic. They had walked up several flights of stairs and Kaoru had exclaimed about the size, and Megumi had fretted about Kaoru getting tired. There were several soft, large sofas and one bed in the room, along with tons of boxes, trunks, and various brick a brack left around. Kaoru had been amazed.
"Where did it all come from?"
"Kenshin's Uncle. He knew his wife loved old, beautiful things, so whenever he would go away, which was all the time, he'd send her something, or bring her something. He just couldn't help himself because he always wanted to make her smile."
Kaoru smiled at the thought, a little bit sadly. "It would be lovely to have someone think about you that way sometimes..."
Misao had seen her expression turned inward and she pounced on Kaoru, "No! No thinking sad thoughts. It is only about us girls tonight. I used to sneak up here and try on clothes." She grinned mischievously. "I got into so much trouble wearing this huge Victorian lace wedding veil as a cape and trying to fly out the window!"
"You were a hellion" Megumi agreed as she pulled a table over to set their computer on.
"Is that a phonograph?" Kaoru motioned toward a large piece in the corner. "Does it play?"
"I think we'll have to dig it out a bit, no, Misao and I, you've done too much today, just go look in that box over there, and find some things to wear."
"Don't forget those trunks behind that chest. Oh, don't forget the chest too. I seem to remember good stuff being in there."
Kaoru looked where they were pointing and it seemed like the whole area was nothing but a huge collection of clothing. There were laces and muslins and brocades and velvets and things that Kaoru was unsure if she even knew a name for them.
"Oh! Look! Kimono!"
And so to slightly static music, the three gossiped about clothes and hair and styles. Kenshin brought up food, but when it looked like he might try and stay to chat, the girls pelted him with pillows, rolled socks and potpourri packets they had found mixed in with the clothes and he beat a hasty retreat.
Soon they found themselves on the bed arguing over movies.
Megumi really had no desire to watch a chick flick, especially one that Kaoru had already watched downstairs several times.
"But Ever After is good!" And Megumi rolled her eyes.
"I would rather watch a musical than..."
"I know a good musical!"
"No!"
Soon they were flipping through movies online.
"Ooh, look, Aladdin! I haven't seen that in forever. Does that count as a musical?" Misao looked over slyly at Megumi, then her and Kaoru burst out singing, off key and at the top of their lungs.
"A Whole New... WORLD!"
Megumi wailed piteously, clutching her ears with her delicate hands as the two continued through most of the song. Soon she decided that wasn't enough, and both Kaoru and Misao were trying to sing off key as loudly as possible and duck the blows from two large feather pillows at the same time. Soon the shrieks from the high notes were indistinguishable from shrieks from direct hits from the white missiles.
Finally they stopped, Kaoru flopping down to look up at the ceiling from her place on the bed and telling them just to start something.
"Well I come from a land from a far away place... hey, where do you think it takes place."
"Iraq? The city of Agrabah, based on midlevel Baghdad I thought." Kaoru said, not moving from looking up at the ceiling.
"Is it really? I always thought it took place somewhere in India..." Misao said, clicking a random movie and waiting for it to load.
"Really? No one in the film looks remotely Indian at all."
"And the sultan keeps making references to Allah." Megumi added.
Kaoru sat up, "But there are Muslims all over India. There were probably rulers at the time who were."
"Really? How do you know so much about it?"
"I used to love that movie," Kaoru said, grinning. "I always wanted to be Jasmine. She had a tiger and a magic carpet. So I learned a lot about the movie. And a lot of my friends are from a lot of different places. I don't like insulting anyone, and I've had to keep a lot of information straight in my head to keep from doing that."
"What about..."
"Shh!" Misao said, turning to the screen, "It's starting."
Megumi was a little put off, but she knew Misao had a plan. And Kaoru had been dodging any specifics about her own life with a skill that must have been studied. She never knew someone who could talk so much about so little, and say a lot!
The movie was something Megumi had never heard of, and to Misao it looked somewhat familiar. But Kaoru shot up, "Ooh! I love Second Hand Lions! How did you know?"
Misao shrugged, "It was being suggested I didn't think you had seen it, we can change it..."
"No! If you haven't seen it, you have to. It's so romantic!" She stared off into space, and wrinkled her nose, "Well, it sort of is. Part of it is. No, just watch!" And she promptly positioned herself better to watch.
"I'm not seeing romance here, a lion, yes but..." Megumi said after a while, not that she was complaining.
"Shhh," Kaoru said harshly, "They're only just about to start the story."
"Story...?"
"Shh!" Both her and Misao put their fingers to their lips, keeping their eyes glued on screen.
It took Megumi a bit longer to fall into the story, but it wasn't long before her confused comments about where this was going turned to frustration with the characters. At this point all three started throwing out suggestions.
"No! Don't turn your brother in for money!"
"It's just gold!"
"Look out behind you!"
"No, the trapdoor full of money is /right there!/ What are you doing?"
"Watch out for the Lion!"
By the time the lion scene was over, Kaoru was in tears. It didn't take Misao long to follow suit, and though Megumi never did actually cry, when the young boy asked about Jasmine, even she was looking misty eyed. Kaoru and Misao were hugging each other, crying huge tears at that scene.
"But... but! They had true love!"
When the movie was over, Misao snapped the computer shut.
"Oh my goodness, that was actually quite good. I can see what you meant about romantic, though I would have expected true love to conquer all or something."
"But that's what makes it so good! It's realistic and fantastic all at the same time. You aren't sure who to believe, and what is real at first, just like the boy, but you don't believe something based on if it's real or not. If you want to believe in something, you just believe in it!" Kaoru sighed happily, with a bittersweet longing.
"Misao sighed, "I think I would die without Aoshi, actually, I'm sure of it. Did I ever tell you how we met?" She included Megumi as well as Kaoru with that question. Megumi went to snap that she'd heard it all a thousand times, but shut her mouth at a quick look from Misao.
"You were probably doing something stupid to get his attention." Megumi said. Kaoru perked up, wanting to hear her friend's story.
"You're part right Megumi. The first time I met him was the time I was wearing the lace veil as a superhero cape. I climbed my way out of the window, ran my way across the roof, and straight off the side of the house. Aoshi caught me." A dreamy look came over her face as she remembered. "He had been leaving, and I just fell right into his arms. He looked so shocked, and then we were covered in this lacy fabric as it quickly followed me down..." Misao was blushing. Kaoru was laughing.
"I bet he didn't know what to do!"
"It was great, he took the giant veil, wrapped me up in it, and handed me off to Okina after he answered the door. That's my grandfather, He was so mad! Aoshi treated it like he was delivering the paper. Now, it was the second time I did something stupid!"
"Oh?" Both Megumi and Kaoru prompted.
"I tried it again! Of course he had already left, and the second time I got hung in the tree. Ruining the poor defenseless veil." She smiled and Kaoru began laughing harder. Even Megumi was laughing. "I was actually stuck there for a while until they found me! I don't think I went near a window for awhile."
"I told you she was a hellion!"
"But it seemed to work, She has Aoshi now. Ne?"
Misao smiled, "It took years after that for me to even get him to look at me. He was older and I'm sure it embarrassed him to have a sneaky, slightly insane, and very much infatuated young little hellion popping out of nowhere and trying to land on him." The image of this sent all of them into fits of giggles.
"It's hard going after clueless guys," Misao added in a long suffering voice.
Kaoru nodded. "Chasing after my Jaan was like that. He told me it would never work, but I took it as a personal challenge." Here Kaoru grinned a bit. "It was awful, I tried everything, and nothing would work! He was just not interested."
"Did you ever really get him?"
"What did you do?"
"Well, when it started we were both friends. We decided to 'date' fairly early on but he was very up front at the beginning that it wouldn't work out. His family would have none of it, all the basic reasons, so of course I did what any normal, rational young lady would do..."
"What?"
"Try harder! I had to be incredibly subtle about it. Figure out what made him happy, what came off as too much, and slowly try and figure him out. At first, I wasn't even sure why we were dating. The most daring thing we ever did with each other was sit close enough to read the same book, despite both of us developing an impish streak as long as a cornfield in Iowa. I was starting to think he really was gay, but I finally made a breakthrough, I think. I'm not sure."
Megumi and Misao were listening intently. It was the most she had spoke of her romance and bonding.
"Well, what happened?" Misao asked.
"What did you finally do? Did he give in?"
"No, nothing like that. He broke up with me."
Misao quirked and eyebrow and scratched her ear as if to clean out some wax. "I'm sorry, I thought you said, 'breakthrough'" and Megumi nodded.
"Well, that was the night I kissed him!" Kaoru said, grin widening. "After he said he couldn't do this anymore, I said, 'Okay, but since we're in America, let's do the goodbye the American way.' And he stood there looking confused, and then finally he just nodded and I jumped in his arms, and gave him the biggest kiss ever. And I didn't let go until he kissed me back! Of course I didn't see him again for almost a week, and I wasn't planning on seeing him again. I had just wanted the one goodbye kiss, and wasn't expecting him to just show up after that. It was strange, because we never got back together. He just always seemed to be where I was a lot of the time. Much more protective. I was just thrilled he was paying me attention, and wasn't mentioning how it wouldn't work out anymore, though we both still knew it wouldn't. Not exactly a riveting love story, I'm afraid."
"No, no! It's..." Misao began.
"Fascinating!" Megumi said, nodding.
"I didn't realize how much I would miss him until I got on the plane after the wedding. I guess I got extremely heartsick sometime right after that. I don't remember much after the plane ride."
"A lot of times, people aren't sure what relationships will have the biggest effect on their lives." Megumi intoned sagely.
"It's weird, because I feel mentally I've always accepted the fact we couldn't be together, but sometimes, I feel his absence so acutely, that I can barely breath. I just feel this pain." And she placed a hand over her new scar."Sometimes I wonder if I had my heart removed because it hurts so much right here. I don't even remember doing something to get this scar."
"I am sure all wounds heal with time, right Megumi?"
Megumi nodded.
And Kaoru smiled.
Finally, to change the subject, Kaoru turned to Megumi, "What about you?"
And Megumi frowned a bit while Misao started giggling.
Megumi shot her a look, and then sighed, "Speaking of falling for clueless guys..." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, he can't help it if you are never nice to him!" Misao countered, looking stern.
"Who isn't Megumi nice to? Kenshin?"
"Kenshin? No! Sano!" Misao said laughing. "Remember that day he was here, and these two woke you up arguing before he had to leave to work on something for Kenshin? Him!"
Kaoru looked thoughtful, "I was still pretty groggy then. I vaguely remember yelling. And Kenshin was there too, right?"
"Well, he wasn't yelling but he was definitely angry at them for waking you up," Misao said smiling. "Though speaking of which, you look about ready to fall over now. Lights Out?"
A/N - I've been feeling bad and I've been writing a lot instead of doing things that give me much more acute headaches. But as it is, I've been putting off some work that I need to really get done, so I may have to change to a once a week schedule. Not that I've been on much of a schedule, but at least I've been writing. I promise if I get done with my work early I'll post some happy RuroKen goodness. Next chapter will have more Kenshin, I promise, I prefer writing more with him, though you wouldn't know it from what I have so far. This chapter was actually pretty fun to write, despite it being mostly dialog which I always have a difficult time with. I seriously need to find a beta. Used to have one that lived in a bowl, but he was pretty useless for writing purposes.
So, more Kenshin next chapter, and then the chapter after comes Sano with a surprise, then some secrets are revealed, then... Well, hopefully it will go in the direction I want.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or favorited or even just read my little story. I hope everyone is enjoying it! Let me know what you think!