Suenagaku na Aki
Chapter 8
Kaoru evaded the swinging bokken aimed at her shoulder from her student. 'Baka! I told you not to make the swinging attack that soon. Now I'm going to deal the pain to you so that the lesson will stick in your mind' She smiled mischievously as she grabbed his hands.
Yahiko could almost see in his mind what would happen to him. A sudden chop to a precise spot on his left hand that was holding the end of the bokken's hilt would cause it to open, destabilizing his grip on the bamboo sword. Then she would certainly shift to his left side, hitting his shoulder slightly before grabbing it. Even knowing what she would do in advance didn't help him, as another attack stunned him, giving her a precious one second to redirect his exerted strength to smash him to the hard dojo floor. The crunching sound that would echo throughout the dojo as his body made contact with it was ringing in his mind. However, the pain he would feel and the 500 practice swings he would have to do as punishment would never exceed with the beating his ego would receive as she would certainly point out the mistake he had accidentally repeated. "Hell! I might as well close my eyes and hope it won't be as painful as the last time"
The chop to his hand did come. And so was the moving air signifying that she had shifted to his left and tapped his shoulder before grasping it. But when the throw didn't come he opened his eyes, spying a distracted Kaoru. 'This is it! Busu can't blame me for taking advantage', he thought as he began to grab one of her hand. But a backhand to his face stopped him.
"Shh"
"Nanda…" The hand that had slapped him closed his mouth.
"Mmfffmfff"
"Wait!", Kaoru hushed.
"MMmmmfmFMMFM!"
"No! I could have wiped the dojo floor with you just now"
"Mmmfmfmm?"
"Just keep quiet!"
Yahiko kept his mouth shut, wondering what was wrong. He waited for a few seconds in suspense. 'Is there something wrong?' he wondered as his teacher's face looked serious. Then he felt the hand covering his mouth withdrew. Yahiko looked at her. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO THAT FOR?" he demanded.
"Oh. Sorry. I em...was thinking about something just now", Kaoru answered while looking at her the hand that had covered his mouth earlier. It was wet with his saliva. Disgusted, she wiped it dry using his gi.
"Hey!" Yahiko protested. Then he remembered what he set out do. He quickly grabbed her hand and shoulder, turned and positioned his body so that he could easily execute the move. 'Today, you're going to fly, "sensei"' He pulled her hand. But then he noticed that something was wrong. She was not flying as he predicted. Then he realized the hand on the back of his neck. Kaoru has prevented the throw by using her free hand to push him forward as he tried to execute it, nullifying his thrust. Yahiko sighed. That was a very good attempt. He turned reluctantly, expecting a severe reprimand. Instead, he came face to face with a smiling Kaoru. "Good try, kid. Only 200 practice swings today"
"Ah… ah… That…"
"Okay, maybe we can delay the punishment until tomorrow, when you do another stupid mistake, and I can punish you with 1000 swings"
Yahiko blinked.
Kaoru put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair. Normally, this would get an angry reaction from him, but he was still confused about what she has just said. She smiled again. Yahiko became more confused. Kaoru had long resigned herself to the fact that she considered Yahiko like the younger brother she never had; she never admitted it openly for the sheer embarrassment it will bring to her and him it would bring both of them.
"Let's wrap this up and clean the dojo. Then you can run off to the Akabeko. AFTER you clean up, that is"
"H… Hai, bus…sensei"
They put away their equipment and began to clean the dojo. Kaoru watched her student diligently sweeping the floor as she wiped the dust from the sword rack using a cloth. She had considered punishing him severely for not taking his lessons more seriously. But then, if he had, he would have the ability to sense ki, and maybe he would have felt the weak ki from the compound of the dojo. Kaoru wouldn't have wanted him to worry. As she saw a blur jumping over the wall, she made the decision to go to the Akabeko with him. Kaoru really hoped she was just imaging things.
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At the Akabeko,
The sight of the newly built restaurant always amazed Kaoru. It was no more than two months since one of Enishi's men leveled the restaurant to the ground using a canon, and Tae had rebuilt it once more. Rebuilt was not the correct word; the new restaurant was bigger and more beautiful than the previous one. It was plain that the reconstruction of the restaurant reflected Tae's way of thinking; if you fail, you try again, and you try to do it better. Kaoru was proud of her friend's determination for her business.
Kaoru had just begun to walk toward the door when a hand on her shoulder sent shivers down her spine.
"Kaoru-dono?" The voice behind her was concerned. Kaoru turned around.
"Mou, Kenshin! You shouldn't sneak up on people like that"
"Demo... Kaoru-dono didn't seem to see sessha waving from far away. You seemed to be preoccupied with something"
A hand to each one of their backs pushed them into the shop. "Feh! It's obvious that Jo-chan was thinking about you. End of story"
"Ano... Sano...", Kaoru began, blushing but deciding to shut her mouth when she saw Yahiko sitting at a table.
"Hello, Kaoru. Having lunch here?" Tae, the ever energetic proprietress of the Akabeko scooted to them. "Come, I have a new dish for you to try" She pulled the younger woman's hand toward the table where Yahiko sat. Kenshin and Sano followed suit. Suddenly Sano put his mouth near Kenshin's ear.
"Psstt.. Kenshin" Sano whispered.
"What is it?" Kenshin asked.
"Did she burn the kitchen down again?"
"Ie. Sessha was buying tofu for lunch and then spotted her here"
"Oh...Okay. So, let's eat" Sano dragged Kenshin who was trying to balance the tofu he bought to join the others. Meanwhile, after seating Kaoru, Tae went for to look for a piece of paper and her pencil.
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Tae looked at the group seated around the table. When she turned toward the Sano. she gasped.
"Che. Megumi said she wanted to puke every time she sees [saw] my face, and now you?"
"Ano... Sano... The police here will find you" Tae looked around her. "Don't worry, you can escape using the back exit. Come", a she pulled him away by the hand
"Ara?! Hey! What are you doing? You reported my debt to the police? I thought you said my tab here had been erased" Sano whined.
Kaoru put her hand on Tae. "Don't worry about him. He's been cleared, and the police aren't looking for him anymore"
Tae stopped pulling on Sano's hand.
"He is?"
"Sano has been pardoned, that he has" Kenshin added.
"OK, but you have to tell me about it later. Now, before Sano interrupted me, where was I?"
Sano stared at her in protest, but kept his mouth shut.
"So, what would you like to drink?" People usually went to Akabeko to eat beef pot as it was the best beef pot restaurant in Tokyo. Anyway, Kaoru and the others were her friends, so it she knew that they would not hesitate to ask her themselves if they want to order something else.
"O-cha" Kenshin said
"Right. Green tea" Tae wrote his order on a piece of paper
"Coffee" Kaoru quipped.
"Same here", Sano said while crossing his arms.
"Sake"
"Yahiko-CHAN?" Tae gave a hard look at the boy who often worked at her restaurant.
"I was kidding" 'Why are they always treating me like a kid?' "O-cha, Gonkuro variety" 'Well, if I have to drink tea, I might as well have the most expensive one'
"No one asks for my order?" a female voice behind Tae asked. "I feel so uninvited"
"Megumi!" Tae exclaimed.
"The Fox is here on a visit" Sano informed her.
Megumi laughed. "Tae knows about me visiting Ken-san, rooster-head. Anyway, Tae, I would like a nice warm cup of chrysanthemum tea"
"Okay. Let me reconfirm. Your "usual", plus two cups of coffee, one cup of o-cha, one cup of gonkuro-cha and a cup of chrysanthemum tea. And yes, the new dishes I want all of you to try" Tae walked to the kitchen.
Megumi watched her leave before turning toward her friends.
They looked at her.
She continued looking at them.
They continued looking at her.
"Well?" She questioned.
"Well, what?" Yahiko asked back.
"Yahiko, has anyone told you that you seem like a fine young man?"
'Finally' Yahiko shook his head happily.
"Good. I don't think you behave like one. Now scoot over and make room for me" Yahiko looked at her and wanted to suggest to her to move to Sanosuke's side. But, at that moment, Sano decided that he needed more space to stretch his weary feet. Defeated, he nudged Kenshin who moved closer to Kaoru. Megumi sat down. "Thank you, Yahiko-kun"
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Kenshin could sense Kaoru's ki rising while a slight shade of red colored her face as he sat nearer to her. However, he didn't have time to think about it; he was busy trying to suppress his own ki which was flaring. He felt tingling sensations all over his body, as if it was expecting something. He took a deep breath.
The rurouni was not the only one who noticed the reaction in Kaoru. Megumi had also noticed. Unlike Kenshin, however, Megumi didn't need any technique such as ki sensing. Instead, she utilized another effective method. It was called 'keen observation', a skill she got through her vast experience treating people as a doctor. She smiled inwardly as she noticed Kenshin and Kaoru breathing at a same pace unconsciously.
Meanwhile, Kaoru was experiencing something that she could not put her finger on. Anticipation, longing and other emotions were raging inside her heart. She risked a look at the redhead beside her under the pretext of adjusting of her hair. She had a brief view of his scar and her eyes softened as her head turned to look straight ahead. The young woman tried to remember something important about the dojo, but she found it difficult to do so as she found herself being intoxicated by a faint, yet familiar scent. She knew what the scent was. There was no way she could not know that scent.
Then a feeling of melancholy swept over her and she lowered her head to hide it. There was a very strong reason why she couldn't forgot that scent even if she wanted to, and that reason took place at a certain night, when she had felt utterly devastated and helpless, watching as the man she really cared about slowly walked away. Walking away to help put a stop to a mad man's intent on taking over Japan. 'But that was in the past' 'But it could happen in the future, ne?'
"Daijouka, Kaoru-dono?"
Kaoru brought her head up, smiling. "Em" She yawned. "I'm a bit tired"
"Why you should be tired, Busu? You're not pregnant or something"
"Oro" 'That's what we're supposed to do to her, Rurouni. Think of the nights we can spend together with her in the process!' A voice inside Kenshin suddenly quipped, surprising him. 'Damn you!' "Yahiko, you shouldn't be..." He was interrupted by a loud thud.
A not so calm Megumi took of her hand off the boy's head. "Next time, BOY, before you want to speak, THINK!"
"Yosh! Fox, I never thought you have such a temper"
Megumi ignored Sanosuke as she realized that it was wrong for her to take out her anger on Yahiko, despite the extremely 'thoughtful' comment he made. It was just that she became very frustrated when she found out that even now Kaoru was hiding her feelings behind a mask. But her anger began to subside when she heard Kaoru began to giggle. The giggle was genuine.
"Yahiko, are you going to remain in that state? Oh, hello Tsubame"
Instantly Yahiko perked up. "Uh.. Hi Tsubame... Ara? Where..." Yahiko looked around before settling his eyes at her, angry. "You tricked me!"
"Pretending to be sleeping is not exactly an honest thing to do, Yahiko"
After a few minutes Tae came with their orders. Pandemonium broke loose as usual as Sano and Yahiko competed for the food on the table, much to the distress of Megumi and Kaoru. Unknown to them, their antics were watched quietly by two pairs of eyes nearby.
After a while, one of them turned toward his companion, a woman with a smug look. But the woman ignored his look while continuing to look at the Kenshingumi. After a while, she looked at the man in front of him. "Asuka, although you're older than the short kid over there, if you think that just because they didn't react as if they know we were there, then it's obvious that your level of thinking is at the same level with him"
"But you can see that they're having a good time now... wait... cross that one. They're having a messy time now"
"See? That's why..."
A drunken voice interrupted her. "Hello there, pretty lady" Two drunkards were looking at her with lust in their eyes. The one who has just spoken grinned mischievously.
"What is it?" she asked with respect. Looking past the two of them, she noticed that the Kenshingumi has stopped eating and were paying attention to them.
Then the other one spoke. Why don't we leave your angelic and innocent brother and go somewhere else?"
"Great. Two lowlife in the middle of the afternoon. This really make my day", Asuka said sarcastically.
"ASUKA!" her 'sister' admonished. Her eyes warned him. Turning toward the two men, she could see that Sanosuke was rising slowly from his seat. She had to take care of the two idiots in front of her quickly. Smiling seductively, she leaned herself toward one of them. "Will you pay for our meal?"
"Sure!" A roll of money was slammed on the table. "Here kid, this should be more enough to cover the tab. Your sister will be following us"
"Ne, Asuka. Don't wait up" the woman said.
Asuka looked at the money. "O.... Okay" He took the money.
He looked up to see her 'sister' tugging the drunkard away. "Let's go! Hayaku! Hayaku!"
The drunkard laughed and turned at his buddy. "See, Houjo? She's even urging us to go. Who are we to refuse?"
"Yeah" his buddy agreed.
A half an hour later, at the outskirt of Tokyo, the woman emerged from a bush, checking for any sign of their blood on her kimono.
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Author's notes (9 January 2004)
1. First and foremost, as my first update after new year, I would like to express my appreciation to this people
ØFujifunmum (my beta reader)
ØRanma1517730291
ØThe Fic Critic
ØKeiko()
ØJDog
ØAnabella5
All of you are like sunshine to me. You keep me going when the skies are grey
2. As you can see, beginning this chapter I'm going to put date on this story. This is for my reference. Maybe one day, when I'm a parent (or grandparent) and Fanfiction.net is still around, I can show to my children and say, "Look! This is my first fanfiction before I become stinking rich writing novel (a wishful thinking)"
3. There are people who know about green tea than I am, but I would like to share my limited knowledge on green tea. There are many types of green tea such as
Macha-iri - consumed during tea ceremony and used to make ice cream
Sencha - your run of the mill green tea
Genma - green tea with roasted rice
Gonkuro - BMW of green tea. 50g costs at least 20$ at my hometown