I do not own Sengoku Basara – Capcom does (they do, right?)

Heya guys! I've been busy with my un-life but here I am now, and I'm glad that I managed to complete another chapter for this fic.

Enjoy reading!

The shrill sound of the alarm clock woke Kasuga from her sleep. She glanced at the digital clock, then turned the alarm off. It was only 6:00,a pretty early waking time for the weekends, but she had no problem willing her body out of the bed.

She motioned outside her room, yawning as she lingered in the doorway. It was so cold that even the wooden floor felt marble-cold against her bare feet, but she didn't mind searching for her slippers – they were always missing whenever she needed them, anyway.

A soft purr broke the early-morning silence, and Kasuga automatically flipped the nearest light switch on. Just outside the window to her right, she saw a white cat perched on the fence, its beautiful blue-and-green eyes shining in the dark. She'd seen the feline numerous times outside the house and always wanted to keep it as a pet, if only it didn't scurry away every time she approached it.

She walked over to the window and pushed open the glass panes, but as soon as the first blow of wind brushed her skin, the cat was already half walking/half skipping away from sight – the first time she'd seen the cat, she thought it had a funny way of walking, but when she discovered that it was missing one of its hind legs, she almost wanted to hit herself for even thinking of laughing at the poor cat's disability of walking properly.

Tad disappointed, she went to the bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, her recent wardrobe malfunction filling her thoughts. She wanted that day to be a myth: her first day at work, the mysterious self-ripping skirt, Akechi Mitsuhide's stripping-off-your-clothes stare, and everything in between.

She shook her head deliberately, as if the action could make her line of thought go somewhere else. Now that she thought about it, the past week's incidents filled her mind most of the time. No, make that all the time. It was a wonder she could still concentrate on everything she needed to do.

She took off her pajamas and placed them in a neat stack on the basin – maybe she'll use them again later at night. As much as she wanted to sleep in nothing but her underwear, like she usually does, the unusually cold weather demanded more than just a few yards of cotton and/or lace.

Maybe it's time to go shopping, she told herself mentally, and decided she should do the deed as soon as possible. Today seemed as good a day as any – she had nothing planned, no tests to prepare for, not even home works or projects to finish. Besides, it'd been a long time since she'd been to the mall, it was only right to give herself some sort of reward for all the hard work she'd always done.

Blinking sleepiness away, she stepped under the shower, letting the hot water awaken every single cell in her body. She always took her time in bathing, but this time she'd barely been inside the shower cubicle for ten minutes when she finished.

Clad in her running attire composed of a well-worn jacket, a tank top that was revealing a good portion of her chest, and shorts that barely covered her perfectly toned thighs, Kasuga ran through the sport complex's 400-meter running track.

"Five", she thought out loud as she passed by the white number markings on the surface of the track. After finishing her fifth round, she started to realize how much she missed running – she took a break from rigorous training a few months ago to give way to her studies, and she was most grateful for the reduced physical and mental exhaustion on her part. It was like not eating breakfast though – not being able to train at all during the first month of her break. After that first month though, she opted to train at least twice a week because she thought she couldn't function really well without it.

Bypassing a certain group of guys that had just started playing basketball, Kasuga heard several annoying wolf whistles coming from their direction. She easily ignored the guys, letting comments like 'Miss, can I have your name?' or 'Do you want to hang out later?' pass. She had better things to do than start flirting with guys – besides, she already had a few troublesome guys in her life, she wouldn't want another one to contribute to her demise.

Her next few rounds were peaceful – the guys seemed to have accepted defeat and haven't done anything attention-grabbing, other than flaunt their well-muscled torsos. When she passed by the sweaty bunch for the tenth time though, something happened.

"That hurt!" one of the guys complained, looking at the soccer players running about on the field – a soccer ball had just come from nowhere and hit him solid in the head, and from the way one of his hands ran back and forth through the tied portion of his topknot, it looked like he wasn't more hurt than concerned about keeping his hair in its original shape.

Kasuga watched as the ball rolled to a stop beside her feet, then she banana-kicked it towards the direction of the nearby goal. Shortly after, without admiring her handiwork, she continued jogging.

"Hey miss!"

Kasuga didn't turn around – there were lots of girls on sight, and she didn't want to embarrass herself by making that mistake. But the guy was persistent and called out even louder, and she felt the voice approaching still closer until its source was right beside her. She looked at the guy from the corner of her eyes and noticed him grinning like an idiot.

"Do you play soccer? I mean, that was one sweet goal you made there."

"No, I don't."

"But you kicked the ball like a pro, which was really amazing."

"Thank you, but I really don't play."

"Then I guess you do tae kwon do?"

"Not either."

"I guess I'll have to keep guessing until you look at me, then."

"Go ahead." Kasuga broke into a run, not because she wanted to escape from a conversation, but because she felt a sudden surge of energy that needed to be burned up. She didn't care that the guy was now several feet behind her – she didn't think socializing was really necessary at the moment.

"Wait up, miss!" The guy sped up his pace and soon enough, probably a hundred meters later, he was right beside Kasuga, who had fallen into a slower pace again.

Although breathing heavily, the guy did a good job of keeping up with Kasuga's pace. "Don't tell me you're not a runner?"

"Not."

"Really? You're very athletic, huh?"

"Not really."

"You remind me of my friend."

"I'm sorry but–"

"I mean, you're beautiful and pretty good at sports too, just like him."

"Him?" Kasuga's brows slightly furrowed, puzzled about the beautiful part of what the guy just said.

"Yes. He's only into iaijutsu, though. His speed, however, remains unparalleled by any other athlete I know of. The guy's an up-close-and-personal lightning."

"Is that so? Then he must be very dedicated to his training."

"Yeah. No one beats Kenshin in sword-handling…and girls."

Kasuga, upon hearing Kenshin's name, suddenly stopped and nearly bumped into a guy who was chasing a soccer ball. She muttered her apology to the guy, and with the weird way he looked at her, she knew that her face was flushed bright red and he must have mistaken the reaction for something else.

"Miss!" the ponytail guy called out as he doubled back towards Kasuga, who tried her best to look unflustered despite the obvious flush on her cheeks. "Are you okay? Do you maybe need to take a break?"

"Uh, no. I just…I think I know someone with the same name."

"You mean Kenshin?"

Hearing the name again, Kasuga averted her eyes away from the guy in front of her as if to prevent the blood rush from further coloring her whole face red. She then looked at her watch just for the purpose of doing something other than blushing in front of a complete stranger.

"Your face is all red. Are you sure everything's okay?"

"I'm sure." Checking her watch again, Kasuga noticed that it was almost 9 o'clock. She remembered her plans of shopping and going to the salon, and knew she had to go home now and prepare if she still wanted to get that discount on her monthly hair treatment.

"Have to go somewhere?"

"Yes – and I can't afford to be late."

"Oh, before you go - I know it's really rude of me to do this only now," The ponytail guy extended one of his large hands towards Kasuga's direction. "Keiji. Maeda Keiji."

Kasuga stared at Keiji's hand for a few second, somewhat dumbfounded, then shook it and mentioned her name as well. It was an odd feeling, but somehow, she felt sort of glad about this new acquaintance of hers. It's not that she liked him, but it's not that she hated him either, even though he was a bit pushy. Maybe it's because of the possibility of his friend Kenshin being the same Kenshin she had an ultimate crush on.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around, Kasuga-chan. It was nice meeting you." Keiji waved goodbye with a stupidly sweet smile on his face, then jogged back to his basketball buddies.

Reviews, anyone? Thanks :D

BTW, I was also wondering if you have some cookies for me? 'Cause I'm really hungry xD