Chapter 5. Reenactment

A/N: Sometimes the Muses love you and other times (read as: most of the time lol), you are on your own kid.

Standard disclaimers apply.

Kaoru muttered under her breath as she craned her neck all the way back, eyeing the absurd height of the tree.

"This can't possibly be a good idea."

"You're not chickening out, are you?" A teasing voice called from above.

She glared up at the figure perched effortlessly on a thick branch, an effortless grin on his face, as though climbing trees at 1am as a university student was the most normal thing in the world.

"Soujirou," she hissed, "I called you to talk, not to scale the tallest tree on campus. What are you? A squirrel?" She added, remembering how nimbly he scaled up the tree trunk.

"I can't hear you," he sang, laughing as he gave the branch beneath him a light bounce to test its strength. "C'mon, this one's perfect!"

Kaoru sighed, trying to recall the last time she'd climbed a tree. Nope. Not a single memory.

"Well, there's a first for everything," she mumbled, grabbing the trunk and hesitantly placing her foot against the bark.

"That's the spirit!" Soujirou cheered, watching with far too much enthusiasm as she carefully pulled herself up.

To her credit, she was surprisingly good. For someone who has never scaled a tree, her body seemed to know what it was doing and how to coordinate her movements. In addition to these realizations, Kaoru also found out that 1). this was one tall tree and 2). it has been a while since she did any form of exercise.

By the time she reached his branch, her arms were burning, her heart was pounding, and Soujirou was grinning ear to ear. He patted the space beside him. "See? That wasn't so bad, right?"

Kaoru swung her legs over the branch gingerly, glaring at him. "If I fall, you'll be paying all my medical bills."

"You won't," he said easily.

Kaoru scoffed. "Oh, sure. Are you a flying squirrel?"

Soujirou tilted his head, considering the idea. "And catch you midair with my awesome wings? That would be pretty cool."

"It's called patagium, you idiot." She rolled her eyes, surprised that he caught onto her train of thoughts so quickly. Even after spending so much time together, neither Misao or Megumi fully understood some of her comments.

"And we'll glide off to infinity and beyond on my patagium!" Soujirou laughed.

She rolled her eyes and scooted a little closer to the trunk, peering down at the ground below.

Yep, definitely high enough to smash my skull. Fantastic.

"I really would catch you," Soujirou said, softer this time.

Something in his voice made her look up. The full moon hung high behind them, the light softening the usual playful glint in Soujirou's eyes to something that made Kaoru's breath catch.

For the moment, it felt like the two of them were the only people who existed in this world.

Then Soujirou broke the moment with a teasing grin, "Kaoru, not trying to scare you, but if you keep leaning like that, you might actually fall."

She yelped, instinctively grabbing onto the closest thing for support—which happened to be his arm.

Soujirou laughed, steadying her with ease. "See? I got you."

Kaoru groaned, burying her face against his shoulder. "I hate you."

"You know you don't," he teased.

She huffed, trying to ignore the way her heart was fluttering.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Soujirou prompted.

Kaoru sighed, letting herself lean against him. "I'm just tired…it's been a long day. First, there was that weird déjà vu thing, and then Misao and Megumi both started acting strange."

"Oh yeah?" Soujirou adjusted slightly, making sure she was comfortable, though his face remained carefully neutral.

Kaoru continued, her voice muffled slightly against his sleeve. "Megumi's pulling an all-nighter in the library, but she forgot her laptop charger. When I offered to take it to her, Misao panicked. Like, full-on panic. I'm pretty sure if I insisted on heading to the library, she would have cried. Then Megumi called me, as if she knew what was happening, and told me to just drop it. She was so annoyed with me and I don't know what I did wrong. I was only trying to help."

Soujirou remained silent.

Kaoru frowned, "And then, out of nowhere, I was like what if Megumi's not actually at the library? But that's stupid, right? Why wouldn't she be there? And if she wasn't, why would Misao cover for her?"

Soujirou nodded, "It does sound a bit suspicious…have they ever been like that before?"

Kaoru thought about it for a moment before her eyes widened slightly, "Wait…yes."

She sat up, shifting so she could face him properly. "Last summer, Misao won a lottery cruise to Alaska and I really wanted to go with her, but she said it was only for one person. I told her I would just pay for my own ticket because we never travel together, and then her lottery turned out to be a scam! It was so crazy and I wanted to report it to the police, but both Megumi and Misao told me to leave it alone. I mean, for Misao, I could see how it's too much trouble for her to go through the process, but Megumi was angry for no reason. It didn't even concern her! And the whole thing felt like it was my fault somehow!"

"So how did you spend your summer instead?"

"Summer school," she groaned, "My program changed halfway through the semester and we have so many extra classes to take now. And none of them is relevant to my major."

Soujirou was quiet for a moment, and then he asked carefully, "Kaoru, have you ever been off campus?"

Kaoru blinked. "Huh?"

"Like, outside of school and in the real world."

Kaoru stared at the lights of the library in the distance, an unsettling sensation creeping into her chest, "Now that you mention it…maybe three times."

"Seriously?" He asked.

Kaoru nodded, "We are the only all-in-one schools in Ohio, so it's everything from kindergarten to university. Once I started here, I was basically set for life. And my parents worked for the university, so we lived on campus too. And you saw how we have a shopping mall in the center of campus. Plus, nothing good happens when I leave campus."

"What do you mean?"

Kaoru smiled bitterly. "I almost got kidnapped twice, and the third time…" Her voice faltered, the old pain resurfacing. "I was on a field trip I really wanted to go on. It was after the kidnapping, and my parents didn't want me to go anywhere. I prayed to the field trip gods, and somehow, they agreed to let me go. It was amazing, but when I came back… my mom had died from a heart attack while I was gone." She closed her eyes, her voice barely above a whisper. "I feel like I paid for that field trip with her life."

Soujirou's expression tightened. Without a word, he reached out, his hand gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "And you never got to say goodbye."

Kaoru nodded. This was the additional layer of grief that usually slips by unnoticed by her friends.

"Oh Kaoru." He whispered.

"What?" Kaoru laughed nervously, feeling oddly warm under his gaze.

"Would you like to leave campus with me?" He asked quietly.

"To do what?" She asked, feeling breathless for some reason.

"To be free." Soujirou leaned in just slightly, his forehead brushing hers.

Kaoru's heart stumbled over itself.

She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, an unmistakably angry voice screeched from below.

"KAMIYA KAORU!"

Kaoru jolted, nearly losing her balance. "Misaso!?"

Sure enough, her roommate stood at the base of the tree, hands on her hips, looking murderous. Beside her, the tall Aoshi observed the scene in silence.

"Reinforcement's here." Soujirou smiled at the pair below.

"What?" Kaoru looked at Soujirou quizzically, but her attention was quickly drawn back to the petite woman below.

"GET DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY!" Misao hollered.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Kaoru called down, casting Soujirou an apologetic look, "Sorry."

He only shook his head, watching as Kaoru made her way down the tree carefully.

The second her feet touched the ground, Misao grabbed her by the wrist. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! I got out of the shower, thinking about sharing that cheesecake with you, and you just disappeared? Without a note?!"

Kaoru barely had time to respond before she was being pulled away, Misao ranting beside her.

Soujirou, still sitting in the tree, watched them leave with a thoughtful expression.

"Come down." The quiet command made him glance down.

"Aoshi."

Instead of responding, the tall figure just pointed to the ground.

Soujirou sighed and scaled down the tree.

Aoshi studied him for a moment, and then said, "Sano already warned you. You don't have much time left."

Soujirou only smiled. "I know."

After finishing her Global Plant Diversity exam, Kaoru walked over to the hallway window, her mind buzzing with terms like sporophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. She stretched, feeling the warmth of the afternoon sun on her skin. The only joy she has gotten out of her class was its location. The Global Plant Diversity class was on the top floor of the building, meaning she had a bird's eye view to the campus. Not that she could see much since this building faced the front school gate where nothing ever seemed to happen.

I wonder what's beyond the gate?

She hasn't thought about the outside world for a very long time, but since her conversation with Soujirou last night, an old curiosity had begun to stir within her. She was terrified of the thought of leaving her Ohio bubble, and resented the idea of Megumi leaving for Havard and Misao to UCSD, but now she wondered what it would be like to leave as well. To go somewhere else and see different things.

Not to mention gliding away on a patagium.

Kaoru giggled as she remembered the flying squirrel remark Soujirou made.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice broke through her haze.

"How was your test?" Kenshin appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his tone casual.

"Oh hi," Kaoru stared at him, unsure whether to smile or scowl. She hadn't been prepared for him to just show up out of the blue like this.

"What are you staring at?" Kenshin chuckled, his lips curling into that irritating, carefree smile she knew so well. "Is there something on my face?"

"No no," She took a deep breath and blurted out before she could stop herself, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

Kaoru waved her hand around, "All of this. Why are you talking to me? I thought you wanted to break up. It was so awkward last night and I thought you were just in one of your weird moods. But what is this? And where's Tomoe?"

Kenshin's expression shifted, something darker flickering in his eyes. He ran a hand through his red hair and exhaled slowly. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have left you. I thought Tomoe was the one, but Kaoru…it's always been you. Always."

Kaoru bit her lip, unsure of what to say. If Kenshin said these words to her a few weeks ago, she would have danced with joy, but now…a pair of twinkling blue eyes flashed through her mind.

"You don't have to say anything. I know this is very sudden, but please," Kenshin hesitated. "At least let me stay by your side as a friend?"

"Uh sure yeah." She muttered. What was happening? Was this really Kenshin-the same person that broke her hear without a second thought?

"Great!" He beamed.

Avoiding his gaze, Kaoru fixed her eyes to the school gate. She heard the engine before spotting the vehicle. A car flying down the street, and heading straight towards a boy by the school gate. Just before the car hit him, a second figure managed to pull the boy out of the car's way.

The car sped away without stopping.

"That was so dangerous!" Kenshin exclaimed.

Kaoru gasped, her hands instinctively flying to her ears as a loud, buzzing ring filled her head. She could barely hear Kenshin's frantic voice calling to her. She was stuck in a loop, watching the scene replay over and over again in her mind. The images, indistinct and vague at first, slowly took on more concrete forms.

The fuzzy image of the car gradually crystalized to a slick olive green two-door sedan, rushing down the street on a hot summer day.

The small figure that was blurry at first revealed to be the black-hair boy that was in her déjà vu moment, Yahiko. He had tripped over something and fell on the ground, directly in the path of the car.

But the second figure. Her frustration grew as she tried to make out who it was. It was someone very familiar. Someone she should know.

Kaoru stared vacantly down the school hallway, ignoring Kenshin and repeating to herself, "The car and the boy…the car and the boy…"

Finally, she saw the second person, someone with black hair clipped short and panicking blue eyes.

"The car and the boy…and me."

She promptly crumpled to the floor.

A/N: Trying to not be dramatic, but they're so cute together! Okay I'm done lol.

Updated 3/6/2025 10:42pm EST