Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven In Your Arms ❯ A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 6: A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing

Kenshin…plus leather…equalled a very happy Sano. Kenshin…plus every pair of eyes around him staring at him…equalled a very pissed of Sano. Kenshin…plus Kamatari's drunken arms around him…equalled an extremely pissed of Sano getting yelled at by Tae to pay attention to the customers orders instead of shouting at every person who looked at Kenshin to “Get a life and find your own date!”

It had been one and half hours since Kenshin had walked into Heaven, and because of the stupid amount of students demanding drinks every second, Sanosuke hadn't had a chance to say one word to him (or even apologise for the stupid spluttering of how gorgeous he was when he'd walked up to the bar). His date wasn't exactly going as planned, and as Tae had shoved him up the other end of the bar to keep him away from Kenshin, he couldn't even ward people away from him now, and every time he'd look over at him he'd find Kamatari, obviously pretending to be more drunk than he actually was, giving every chance to fling his arms around Kenshin and get as close as possible. And Kenshin wasn't even trying to push him away! Either he was too dense to release what Kamatari was doing, or he was just too polite to ask him to stop.

…..Or maybe he didn't want him to stop?

Sano nearly dropped another glass.

Stop it! He told himself sternly, he was freaking himself out by thinking such thoughts.

“Can't you concentrate for two little minutes?” Tae asked, spotting as he nearly dropped that glass, “What is it with you this evenin'?”

Sano looked around the bar to find the students gradually fading off onto the dance floor. The insane few hours of people arriving and ordering their first drinks had died down, and it looked like it was heading back to normal. Hmm…maybe if he asked…

“Can I ask you a favour?” he said, checking out the door to see the line of people outside had dropped quite a lot.

“What?”

“Can I have the rest of the night off?”

“WHAT!”

Sano turned to look at her, “Oh come on! Isn't this new girl you hired supposed to be arriving any time now anyway? It's just one night?”

“You only work part time here anyway!”

“Just tonight? Please? I'll make up the time.” Sano pleaded.

Tae glared at him, “Why do ya want the night off?”

Sano's eyes flicked automatically to Kenshin, then immediately back to Tae, “Err…because…I've just got someone that—HEY!” Tae had put her hand to her mouth and had started laughing, “What's so funny?”

Tae giggled to herself for a moment before looking back up at him, “You actually arranged a date on a night when you were working didn't you?”

Sano blinked, “How did you…?”

Tae's giggles faded, “Ah saw you look over at that young man over there, you've been hangin' around him all evening, that's why ah put you up this end of the bar. At least ah know why you've been so distracted, that was no ordinary customer.”

Sano bit his bottom lip, “So err…does that mean I can have the night off?”

“No.” she said bluntly.

“WHAT!”

Tae put one hand on her hip while pointing with the other at Sano's chest, “You don't work enough to have an evenin' off.” She said seriously, before smiling, “But ah'll let you work back over by him so you can at least talk to him, alright? It's the best offer you're gonna get.”

Sano thought about glaring at her for a minute, but considering that was what he had hoped was going to be his date in the first place before all the students arrived, he agreed.

“Yea alright, thanks a lot.” He said, with no thanks in his voice at all. He didn't want her to think he was too grateful; she'd only give him more work to do. Still, he didn't see the smile on her face as he hurried back down the bar to Kenshin.

It's nice to see him with someone, Tae thought to herself, before she smiled sadly, …poor Kamatari…

Megumi had been round her brothers house since after work to help him redecorate his living room. They'd been doing this consecutively for a few weeks now, and now at 11.30pm, it was time to leave.

“Well, it's getting there, it should be finished soon.” Megumi was saying, getting her coat and stifling a yawn.

“Thank you again for your help.” Aoshi said, passing her little black bag to her, but Megumi picked up on a certain tone in his voice. He sounded…distracted.

“What is it Aoshi?” she asked, concern evident, “You seem different.”

Aoshi looked at the floor for a moment, as if mulling over something in his mind. “Megumi…” he looked up to her eyes, “I'm worried about Kenshin.”

Megumi smiled. Her seemingly heartless half brother had a soul hidden somewhere there, “Why are you worried?”

“Because I believe Kenshin really does love this student. I'm just worried that…” he looked back down to the floor, “You remember what happened when he told Soujirou about his past? What Kenshin was like?”

Megumi's head drooped slightly. Yes, she remembered. Her happy little brother…she had never seen him so…so…hm, it was almost like he was a different person. That night, that night had been only the second time since she had met Kenshin that she had truly wanted to know what he had done, why they had found him the way they did that day.

The first time was after he had come back from the hospital, her parents saying they would adopt him, and Kenshin coming to live in their house. She felt no fear or anger towards him, but she just wanted to know. She was four years older than him, but still felt an overwhelming sense of protection over him. She knew nothing about him, but he seemed so lost and depressed those first few months, she just wanted to make him smile. When he did smile though, she had never seen a more beautiful one than that. Every time he smiled, she treasured it, because she never knew when he wouldn't smile again. As the years went by though, that smile remained, and Kenshin had become as dear to her as her own brother.

Then came that night when Soujirou had left, that she found out Kenshin had told him about his past. That smile that she had worked so hard to bring forth, disappeared once again. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't bear to watch him. Such raw emotion…it felt like she was witnessing something that was for no one to see. She'd wanted to help, but how could you console someone, that you knew nothing about? How could you tell them that everything would be okay, when you knew not the reason they were crying? That's the only reason she had ever wanted to know about Kenshin's past, so that if that did ever happen again, if the past he kept hidden so well was to return, she'd be able to help him.

“I do not want to see Kenshin have to go through that again.” Aoshi continued, looking back up at his sister, “I believe we should just be there to help them along, because if Kenshin does ever tell him…we need make sure Sanosuke loves him enough to accept it, whatever it might be.”

Megumi looked at her brother thoughtfully and nodded. It didn't matter what Kenshin may have done in the past, what ever it was, it had tortured him enough, and now he deserved every bit of happiness they could send his way.

“-fectly justified.” Kenshin was saying, as Sano finally walked up to his date and the annoying limpet hanging off him.

“You think so?” came Kamatari's voice, who strangely enough sounded like he'd been crying, “But he ended up in hospital for a week…”

Kenshin, who had Kamatari wrapped in his arms leaning over from his own barstool, sweat dropped nervously, “Ah…well I…guess you just have a pretty hard right, that you do.”

“Alright what the hells going on here?” Sano asked, placing his hands on the bar in front of him fixing the two of them with a suspicious glare.

Kenshin smiled over at him, “Miss Kamatari was just telling me how she got revenge when her boyfriend dumped her.”

Miss? Sano chortled to himself.

Kamatari suddenly looked up from burying his head on Kenshin's chest and glared at Sano. “Exactly! And this was what I was trying to tell you earlier but you wouldn't listen to me! Why don't you ever listen to me! I like you Sany and all you ever do is ignore me! Why can't I find someone like Kenshin! Kenshin listens to me!”

Sano noticed the shot glasses Kamatari had been playing around with earlier had the remnants of drink left in them. Perhaps he was more drunk than he'd thought?

Kamartari turned back to Kenshin and leant on his shoulder, wiping away the tears that had collected on his lower eyelids, “You're mean Sany…and I want another drink!” he suddenly yelled, picking up one of the shot glasses and shoving it almost directly in Sano's face.

Sano glared lightly at him and took the shot glass, “Alright, but on one condition.”

“You'll let me take Kenshin home!” Kamatari said hopefully, eyes wide.

Sano really did glare at him now, as Kenshin laughed cutely, “No.” he said blunted, and Kamatari pouted, “That you'll leave us alone.” he said, trying to get the hint across.

“Not gonna happen!” Kamatari said matter-of-factly, completly missing the hint and grabbing onto Kenshin's left arm, “If I can't have you…” his sentence was interrupted by a hic cup, “Then I'll have to settle with your boyfriend.”

Sano started at him, while Kenshin's eyes went wide.

“Wait a minute, back up there…waddya mean “If you can't have me?””

Kamatari leant forward and fixed him with a drunken frown, “Because I'm so stupid that I waited all this time to tell you I'm in love with you once you'd actually found a boyfriend and when I'm drunk! You do realise this is all your fault don't you?” he said, waving a finger in front of his face.

Sano couldn't believe what he was hearing! Was this why he'd hung around him so much…because he `liked' him? And now he was seeking revenge by taking Kenshin away from him…Oh boy. It was a good thing he was drunk, with any luck pass out in a minute, and….

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”

Kamatari had turned to Kenshin and had started shaking him from side to side, a string of “Orororororooo's” escaping Kenshin as his eyes went a twirl, Kamatari drunkenly demanding to know how he could take his Sany away from him when he didn't even have him in the first place, and to make it up to him wanting to know where the bathroom was because….

…he was so going to throw up.

“Hey hey hey! Not here! Over there!” Sano demanded, as he quickly ran round the other side of the bar and grabbed Kamatari before he fell off the bar stool, half walking, half dragging him over to the toilets, his new found confession starting to slur,

“If I dyed my hair red would you go out with me?”

“No!”

It was 20 minutes until Sano open the bathroom door, now carrying the passed out cross-dresser in his arms, hoping that Tae was coping alright on her own for a while. Steadily making his way through the crowd of dancers and drinkers, he walked through the adjourning door between the blue room and the much quieter red room, and laid Kamatari down on one of the leather bench seats nearer the bar. Asking Tsubami to call a cab for him when he woke up, Sano walked back into the Blue Room, deciding this had to be the worst date he'd ever tried to arrange. First he couldn't spend the first one and half hours with Kenshin, then he got a love confession right in front of him and had to spend the next half and hour or so making sure the guy didn't die!

Sighing, hating to think what a crappy time Kenshin was having, not that he'd ever admit it, Sano walked back towards the bar when he stopped. Looking across at Kenshin, he found three, rather muscularly looking men, all wearing white tank tops, standing either side of him at the bar, and one behind him. They swivelled the bar stool round so Kenshin was facing the one behind, and the stern look on Kenshin's face made it clear it was company he did not wish to keep. The man now standing in front of Kenshin put his hand on his chin, lifting his head up to look at him, Kenshin's glare staying put.

Sano clenched his fists. What the heck did they think they were doing!

Swiftly making his way over to them, preparing his polite but “get the hell away from him” voice, Sano had had no violence in mind until the man slid his hand round to Kenshin's leather-clad behind, Kenshin jumping in surprise as the other two men suddenly dipped their hands in Kenshin's half open shirt, and before Sano could think about the consequences, rushed fuming towards them and punched one of them squarely on the nose, sending him flying backwards knocking some glasses off the bar and sending them smashing to the ground.

The other two stood up swiftly, ready to fight back, but Kenshin leapt in front of the enraged Sano and wrapped his arms around him, “Stop it Sanosuke!” he yelled, but his smaller size against Sano's wasn't much of a match, and he found himself stumbling backwards trying to hold him still, Sano ignoring his protests and trying to lurch forward towards them, “Stop it!” Kenshin yelled again, “Just leave them!”

“SANOSUKE SAGARA!”

The fury in Sano's eyes vanished and he stopped struggling forward. Turning towards the bar, Kenshin still holding him closely, a furious looking Tae was standing behind the bar glaring dangerously at him.

“You were right.” she said angrily, “ Ah should have given you the night off because I wouldn't be telling you to go home now!”

Sano's eye's went wide, wait a minute!…“What? You're firing me!”

“No.” she said, quickly putting a cloth down on the split drinks on the bar, “But this is your one, only and final warning! Sort out that anger of yours! Don't think I don't know that you nearly got inta trouble the other night as well, the bouncers told me, so don't come back until you can control that anger! Got that!”

Sano stared at her unbelievingly. But…didn't she see what they were doing to Kenshin? She was standing right behind the bar, she could have said something! Sano's eyes narrowed in anger. What the hell did she expect him to do?

“Fine.” He said sternly, and as Kenshin let go of him, he turned around and stormed towards the doors, leaving Tae to apologise to the man Sano had punched, and a sad looking Kenshin to watch him go.

As Sano walked angrily past the bouncers and outside, he found, rather ironically, torrential rain to great him outside. It must have be the final out come of those grey clouds that had been floating around yesterday. They always say that the weather matches your mood, well, this was really matching his mood! Pouring down with rain, Sano stormed out into the street and swore under his breath. He was only helping Kenshin! What was he supposed to do, walk up to them and say, “Excuse me, but do you realise that what you're doing is something that I can and will kill you for!”

Sano growled in fury to try and let some of that anger escape, and swiftly turned around to glare at the club as if that would help, when he found his glare met by a pair of concerned eyes, as Kenshin stood by the entrance.

There was an awkward silence that filled the air, the only sound being the heavy rain that painted the ground and everything else it landed on. It was true after all, Kenshin really did have the uncanny ability to make people feel guilty just with one, small look, and Sano found himself staring at the ground, unable to look into those eyes anymore.

He heard Kenshin's footsteps as he walked down the steps of the club, walking towards him on the wet pavement, both of them now standing in a small stream of water that ran down the grey concrete.

“Sano.”

Sano blinked, looking up at him in surprise, “…that's the first time you've called me that.” He said, the rain running down his face, “It's always been Sanosuke.” He smiled lightly, thinking it was nice to hear him call him by his shortened name. Kenshin had the ability to make you feel guilty, but he also had the ability to make you completely forget any anger inside you aswel.

Kenshin lips stayed normal, but his eyes seemed to smile at him, and he took a step forward, taking one of his hands in his own. “It's too late to go anywhere else now, that it is. Why don't I take you home? I most definitely couldn't have you walking in this.” He said, raising his other arm a little, the rainwater collecting in his hand.

It was then that Sano realised just how amazingly gorgeous Kenshin looked right then. Walking into the bar earlier, Sano honestly thought his knees were going to give out when he'd seen Kenshin…but now…

He must have been staring at him because Kenshin was looking at him quizzically. “What is it?”

The rain had made Kenshin's thick hair heavy, and it lay plastered to his shirt, strands coming down in front of his eyes, small droplets dripping off the ends. The silken shirt itself was sticking to his skin, the rain making it seem almost see-through. The cold water slowly sliding down the pale skin on his chest disappearing downwards to the unseen, more droplets running smoothing down Kenshin's skin tight leather's………oh my god…

Surely this had to be illegal!

Did Kenshin have any idea what-so-ever of what he was doing to him right now! And all he was doing was standing there! It was an outfit for complete seduction, but the wide innocent eyes staring curiously up at him wondering exactly why Sano looked as though he was about to faint, turned Kenshin not into a seductive little devil with evil and naughty intentions in mind, but a pure and naïve little angel in a devil's disguise, un aware of the attraction he radiated.

It couldn't be possible for someone to be this beautiful, Kenshin had to know how gorgeous he was, surely! Most people who would wear something like that were ones people would presume were out looking for `fun', one night stands with whatever street corner guy they could find, but Kenshin…with those violet innocent eyes, that sweet curious look… he must be the only person on the whole planet to be able to wear tight leather and an open necked silk shirt like that and be able to look ravishing and adorable all at the same time. What was that saying? A wolf in sheeps clothing? For Kenshin, it was more like a sheep in wolf's clothing.

“Are you alright?”

Suddenly Sano was snapped out of his daydream of the dream in front of him, as Kenshin had raised his hand to his forehead, frowning slightly in worry.

“E..err…yeah..I-I'm okay.” Sano replied, gulping nervously as his heart rate shot up once again as Kenshin had leant up against him to look closer, his face barely inches from his own.

“But your face is flushed.” He said, far too naively, making Sano wonder if maybe he did know what he was doing to him. He was certainly finding it hard to breath that was for sure! “Maybe it's the rain, we really shouldn't be standing here, that we shouldn't.” Kenshin continued, stepping back, still holding Sano's hand, “My car's just round the corner.” He said smiling, starting to pull a stumbling Sano along behind him, who was finding his legs as well as his lungs not wanting to work.

Spotting the little red civic usually parked in its usual spot back at the college, Kenshin ran round the drivers side, the rain coming down harder now, and unlocked the doors (where the heck he had been keeping the keys was something Sano would be sure to think about later). Laughing slightly as Sano nearly slipped up on the wet road trying to open his door, the two of them finally managed to get inside and shut the doors, the heavy continued rumble of the rain falling on the roof of the car and windows filling the air.

Smiling and chuckling lightly at Sano as he looked in the side mirror realising what a state his once spiked up hair was, Kenshin put his keys in the ignition and put the windscreen wipers on full, reversing out onto the street.

“Argh…” Sano said, lifting one arm watching the water drip off it like he'd taken a bath let alone a rain shower, “When we get back to my place I'm not letting you go home until you've at least borrowed a towel to dry off a bit.” Sano said, thinking that Kenshin looked the most drenched out the two of them…probably only because his shirt had gone almost transparent though, but still, he didn't want him getting ill.

“Thank you.” Kenshin smiled at him, before heading out back to Sano's apartment.

Sano suddenly paused in his ringing out of his own shirt though, as he realised Kenshin had practically just agreed to coming up to his apartment when they got there.

Alone…soaking wet…middle of the night…

Once again, Oh My!

A secret happy little smile appeared on Sano's face as they drove away, which was more than Saito had, watching from the shadows, stubbing out his cigarette angrily on the side of his car and throwing it out the open window.

He had made himself clear to that boy, stay away from Kenshin… because he didn't give second chances.

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok, I was hoping to get it in this chapter but…it's not…but I can promise you there's gonna be some Sano/Kenshin action in the next chapter!…and err…remember that `tragedy' I mention a few chapters back?……………..Saito wasn't too happy seeing Kenshin and Sano drive off together you see and…….well…… :) I'll leave you to find out in the next chapter:) Aren't I nice?