Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Honeysuckles and Moonlight Shreds ❯ Breaking Monotony and Scarlet Silk ( Chapter 3 )

Author's note: First of all, I want to say that I'm sorry for taking this long. I was overloaded with college projects and barely had time for myself. That is not speaking about babysitting and my new 'maid' job at my uncle's apartment that eats most of my energy… along with my creativity. However, I've been thinking about this chapter and it took me only half of a day to squish it out of my brain. Now for the usual babbling. Have you ever heard of the 'Keyboard Conspiracy"? When you make a typo mistake while writing on your computer, that's when you know your keyboard is involved in it. It's a big world wide and intergalactic plot to take over our planet Earth (hearing the theme song of 'Pinky and the Brain'). The Aliens made some sort of alliance with our keyboards along with a well known terrorist whose new base in now on the moon to (Brain's voice) 'Try and take over the world!' (maniacal laughing and the theme song starts again). The Aliens, using their technology, brainwashed the big heads of the CIA, GRC (Canada's police) and KGB and using their respective spy satellites, they are gaining control of most of your keyboards making them believe they will be the one to control the humans in the end. They recently acquired the help of a certain dictator who had taken shelter on the Moon base but he is planning on overthrowing the Aliens so he can rule the world on his own. It's crazy what two very tired girls can come up with at 3:00 am while chatting and wondering why so many typos got in the way…  ^-^() On another subject, I got Rurouni Kenshin volume 28 manga two weeks ago and still have not read it. Wonder why? I wanted to finish this chapter before reading it. Now that it's done, I'm off for some pleasant reading! Way!

Special Thanks: To merlock12 who did, as usual, a wonderful job at editing this fanfiction. I dare you to find the usual obvious mistakes! (jk) Hehe.. You know merlock… You should pay more attention in the bus, Sleepyhead.

Disclaimers: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki-sama. I'm merely borrowing the characters for my own entertainment.

Warning: Some craziness (Sae is there), vomiting toilets and a tiny bit of fluffiness.

Honeysuckles and Moonlight Shreds

By Evil Karyta

Chapter 3: Breaking Monotony and Scarlet Silk

  Yahiko was never a morning person. When he would wake up with the annoying and strident buzz of the robot-like alarm clock that rested so innocently on his bed table, he would groan rashly, his throat having dried through the night, and try to annihilate the futuristic clock. Then, lids still heavy with sleep, he would stare at the round eyes of the figurine where the hour glowed in neon red, curse as colorfully as his young mind could, yank the covers away with irritation and push his feet to the floor. That little ritual done with, the boy would stomp his way loudly to the small kitchen of the equally small apartment he shared with Sanosuke and fix himself the same breakfast he would always eat.

  This morning was no exception, and he stood glaring daggers at the toaster, waiting none too patiently for his roasted bread to be ungracefully ejected from the machine. Knife in hand, a pot of peanut butter on the counter next to the old metallic toaster, Yahiko waited and waited. But the darn thing would not give him his bread this morning. Resisting the impulse to just throw the thing out the window, or at least down the trash bin, the spiky haired kid gave it the middle finger, sticking his tongue out but only getting his own reflection on the shining silver of the toaster as his answer.

  Behind him, stifled sneakers made him turn an exasperated face, still too warped in sleep and his usual morning bad mood, he just stared angrily at Sano. The tall man who, so it seemed, had never matured enough to be designated as an adult, at least to the child's point of view, laughed openly at the frustrated youth before walking past him and opening a cupboard so his large hand could retrieve the pot of morning elixir -- namely coffee. Plugging the electric kettle so the water he had previously poured in would boil, he reached for a wire that, it seemed, has appeared out of nowhere.

"This would work much better if the toaster was plugged," he simply stated to his nephew.

  A growl was all the recognition Sanosuke would get from Yahiko this morning -- or any other morning for it was also part of the frustrating bad morning ritual. Sighing, the giant of a man shrugged, knowing perfectly well that his young companion would never thank him for such things. Maybe if he did it without making it sound as if he were mocking the kid, but it was too much fun to do it any other way.

"You're up earlier than usual. Any good reason?"

  Yahiko only 'humped', ignoring the teasing sound of the older one's tone of voice. Truth be told, Sanosuke could say anything he wished in the morning without fearing a heated reply from the younger one. Yahiko would not utter a word until a full thirty minutes had past from the moment he got out of bed.  As if agreeing with that thought, the toaster spit out the bread, the two pieces getting scattered on the counter from the force of the spring. Maybe he should fix that thing he thought, he remembered quite painfully a morning when he had made that same meal and got his forehead burnt after the old machine had ejected its hot load at him with quite some force. It was the only morning he could remember of when Yahiko had started talking after only five minutes, the event having risen his spirit enough for such display. If Sano remembered right, that whole day had not been a very good one either.

  Munching on his roasted piece of peanut butter bread, Yahiko gave his guardian an icy glare, showing his teeth as an angry dog would, telling him to back off of his food when Sano had moved to steal one from him. The boy walked out of the kitchen, the sound of his footsteps vaguely resembling that of an elephant and the door of the bathroom was slammed shut.

"You don't need to wake the whole building you know!" cried a partly amused, partly exasperated Sanosuke.

"Shut up!" was the child's crude reply.

  How he loved those little morning rituals when they would show each other how much they appreciated each other's company in such early hours of the day. The kettle started its annoying whistling, high pitch sound that proclaimed loud and clear that the water within its large container was boiling. Seizing an old mug, which colors could have once been white though it was hard to tell now, Sano poured a certain amount of the hot liquid. It took a rich dark brown color, turning into coffee promptly. He was about to add some sugar to his mix when a loud shout made him jump in surprise, the jar of sugar slipping from his hand and hitting the hard yellow tiling, shattering in many shards of broken glass all over the kitchen floor. The sugar particles spread on the tills like a fine layer of snow.

"Damn it all! What's the problem, BRAT!!!" Sanosuke was furious.

  Seconds after, said boy came running to him. Shirtless, boxers hastily pulled up and breathing hard, so his anger was grand. Brown eyes blazing fire at the older one while the other would just stare dumbfounded at the display.

"The stupid toilet butchered again! There's water everywhere in the bathroom!"

"Oh no!"

  Realization sank in with less than a fraction of second and the tall man ran to the said room, a mask of affliction covering his usually easygoing expression. Sure enough, when Sanosuke opened the door, he saw the disaster. Soiled water slipping down the pan, slips of what was once hygienic paper swirling in the basin of brow water that also covered the ground.

"Find the mop kid and bring it here, NOW," instructed Sano, chocolate eyes glued to the catastrophe. "What a wonderful way to wake up…"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Himura Kenshin's morning was always the same. His antique alarm rang its bells loudly assuring a rapid wake. Beside him, Tomoe would just open her eyes, stare at the ceiling and wait for the noise to stop before turning her back to him and returning to the land of dreams. Then, Kenshin would get up, his feet blindly looking for his blue slippers, put on a shirt and exit the bedroom as silently as he could. It would change a bit, depending if Tomoe was here or not or if it was the weekend, but usually, he would always be the first one to get up.

  He was no coffee drinker, preferring the taste of sweet tea to the bitter taste of coffee beads. The old burnt kettle on the oven's heat, he would fix himself a light breakfast consisting of rice cookies and yogurt. Later this morning, he would eat some random fruit he would have taken out of the refrigerator and a muffin bought on his way to school. His first meal done with, Kenshin got to the bathroom and took his usual morning shower, the semi cold water washing away the last of sleep that would linger in his muscles.

  This morning, however, brought something a bit different from any other mornings. As he got out of the tub, dripping water, one towel around his waist, vigorously shaking his long bright mane free of the excess water with another, the phone started ringing demanding a swift answer. Sighing, the high school teacher got out of the room, mumbling some 'wait' and 'just a minute' to the machine. He took hold of the receiver to be welcomed by an exasperate Sanosuke.

"Kenshin! Man, I need a hand here. The toilet broke again and I must stay here so the stupid plumber won't be left alone here to rob me of my money! Yahiko will be late to school if someone don't drive him there…"

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thank you! I owe you one."

"More than one actually…" said the redhead before ending the conversation.

  As he turned to get his old leather briefcase, he saw Tomoe's head pop out of the bedroom door, her cold black eyes demanding, in a very bored way, what was all the racket about. Smiling softly, red head dripping on the floor and tightening the knot of the towel that preserved his dignity, Kenshin explained.

"Their toilet is pulling pranks on them again…" And that was all there was needed to be said.

  The door was closed and a wishful sigh escaped his lips against his resolve not to let it slip. He walked back to the bathroom, slid his clothes on, giving his hair one last shake before brushing them and tying them back at his nape in his usual hair style. It took less the 5 minutes -- which was a record time -- and he was out,  keys tinkling in his hands, his old briefcase in the other, shoved the whole into the back seat of his old car -- why was everything so old? -- started the engine and he was gone as he would usually be, only with one more task to accomplish than any other week day. The drive to Sanosuke's apartment building was swift not to say the least.

  The building in which Sanosuke and Yahiko had called their home was dirty, the red bricks broken at the bottom, some of them still in the process of cracking in two pieces. The roof was just as badly damaged, a few tiles -- if not half of them -- had flown away with the fierce wind of too many storms. The lock of the glass door of the building was broken for a long time, so long that Kenshin wondered if it ever worked. The 'buzz' as so many would call that doorbell device at the entrance had most of its buttons torn off and the tiles of the would-be-mosaic of some abstract design was damaged to the point of no repair.

 Inside, the corridor's walls, which could have once been white, were a sick yellow washed at some places by the water that had dripped through the crevice time had wormed in the ceiling. On the floor lay a dusty grey rag, common to most apartment buildings, with cigarettes burns here and there which were making so many black craters that the surface of the moon would have been jealous. As he passed a door, he heard a man shouting, the sound of glass being shattered, the cries of a child. It reeked of misery and pain everywhere. How much he wished he could make the difference. Why is it that some people had everything and so many got only the leftovers? Why was money flowing in the hand of those who had it since birth and were still craving for more whilst the rest of their contemporaries worked so hard so they could have a somewhat decent life?  Must everything be gained on the detriment of others?

  Kenshin shook his head; such ominous thinking was not healthy so early in the morning. He reached number 18, the wooden door's varnish flaking, peeling slowly off the wood, becoming nude at some points, and heard the tantrum inside. From his position, the teacher could discern Yahiko's voice, the boyish intonation and colorful expression of his generation, shouting about an unknown object that was the cause of many misdeeds. Not bothering to knock, he turned the greasy knob -- which golden color had tarnished to a dull bronze -- and was met by a very red face, and just as angry expression, of the youth in question who was fighting with his shoes that would had fit him if only his feet had not outgrown them so suddenly.

"Stupid things! Piece of trash!"

 The rest of his violent vocal outburst was lost when Sanosuke, a mop in hand, appeared in the living room. The tall man had a somewhat red, angry aura around him that, if such a thing were possible, would have burnt anything that would be insane enough to come close to him at the moment. His grip on the wooden stick of the cleaning instrument was so tight, it was a wonder it was still in one long piece. It seemed as if all of his blood had rushed to his face so vivid was the color. Sano was still sporting his sleepwear, a pair of white slacks, dripping brownish liquid at the bottom.

"What's the problem again?" he yelled.

"Shoes don't fit," hissed the boy. "I need new ones! I told you, like, three weeks ago and still nothing! Are you sure you're brain still works the right way?"

"Don't talk to me that way! I don't have the time, patience or money to give you everything you want!"

"But they are too small!" argued Yahiko, still fighting with the footwear.

"Damn it! Broken toilet and now shoes. Has some unknown force decided to rob me of all the money I have!" sighed Sano, his grip getting tighter, knuckles turning white.

"Err…" Kenshin muttered, feeling very uncomfortable with this awkward turn of events. "Maybe I could…" and then he fell silent, two sets of eyes turned his way, both blazing in anger.

  The short man took a step backwards, feeling very much as a mouse would be when cornered by two hungry stray cats. Never one to be at ease in such situations, the poor luckless teacher found himself pondering if it had been such a good idea to agree to drive the kid to school today.

"It's not my fault if you can't keep a job for more than a week!" yelled the kid, his attention back on Sanosuke.

  Jumping on his feet and then howling in pain. "That's it! I'm not going to school until I have new shoes!" he declared sitting cross-legged in front of the door taking the shoes of the devil off and throwing them at Sano.

  Kenshin could see Sanosuke's eyebrow twitch menacingly which was a definite sign that, soon, the fragile barrier holding his rage back would break. And just as the redhead thought it, Sano's face grew red, a vein on his forehead pulsing dangerously, and with a roar of anger, pounced on Yahiko.

"Brat! You'll get to school whether you want to or not!"

  The bigger grabbed the smaller, a thousand times stronger, and became a heap of arms and legs lost in the figurative cloud of battle. There was a shout, Yahiko's head appearing out of nowhere, his teeth in a death grip with Sano's hand. Yelling out in agony, the tall man jumped to his feet, trying to shake the kid off his hand, as one would do to try to get a scotch tape off their fingertips. However, his hold was strong, Sanosuke's struggle became in vain, and the fight transformed into a glaring contest. It made a rather amusing picture to see them in such position, Yahiko hanging by his teeth on his caretaker's hand, glaring fire at him, Sano glaring back, holding his hand leveled with his eyes. Suddenly, he smiled in victory, ignoring the ache of his palm, pointing at the kid's feet, an evil grin playing on his tight lips.

"Seems you have your shoes on!" he declared victoriously in a strange and very painful way.

"What!?" exclaimed Yahiko, opening his mouth and falling hard on the ground. "Not fair!" he shouted rubbing his abused rear.

"Um… I speak now?" asked Kenshin in a very subdued, very small voice.

"Sorry Kenshin. You can take that brat now," said Sanosuke wrapping his hand in bandages that had appeared out of nowhere. "Get your bag and get out!" he shouted at the boy.

  Growling -- and also wincing each time his feet connected with the ground -- Yahiko went to his room, passing the bathroom with a disgusted frown on his young face. He returned, backpack balanced on his right shoulder and, not giving a glance at Sanosuke, vanished into the corridor. Kenshin gave his friend a sorry smile and followed, closing the door in the process. Behind it, he could hear the crude vocabulary of his long time friend, something about tiny spawns of evil and possessed toilets.

  The teacher found Yahiko already sitting in the car, the seatbelt fastened, his fingers drumming in the dashboard. Starting the engine, he turned a smiling face to his younger passenger who just ignored him. Never one to give up this easily, Kenshin started to move the car in the opposite direction of the kid's school. Turning his spiky head, a confused expression all over his face, brown eyes with question marks, he pointed toward the school route.

"It's not the right way!"

"I know, that I do. But I was thinking that since you needed new footwear and that I had no class to teach this morning, we could use this spare time to find you some nice, fitting, shoes."

  Grinning wildly, Yahiko made no objection. Finally, this morning could get much more enjoyable then it had first seemed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Sleeping was so comfortable, a blessing from the gods. Comfortably wrapped in the warm comforter and blankets, head resting on fluffy pillow, nothing could be wrong, right? But, of course, for Kaoru who lived with her wacky aunts, wishing to get a comfortable sleep and get up as late as possible was but a dream. Truth be told, since the first day, she had known not to count on getting the chance to be lazy in the house. This morning was no exception as Sae entered the small bedroom.

  Her niece was sleeping peacefully, lips parted, a hand resting above her head on the pillow, the other hugging one of her anime stuffed doll, the big eyes of the toy staring soullessly at the ceiling. The cheerful woman was almost guilty of waking her so early, but it was a necessary evil today. Carefully, she started shaking the slumbering girl gently, pulled her hand away as if frightened she may burn or bite. Kaoru muttered something incomprehensible and turned her back, drifting off again. Puffing her cheeks, Sae shook her once more, this time more vigor. Same result. The girl just did not want to wake up.

  Growing impatient, the usually smiling aunt gripped the heavy comforter and yanked it off the bed. This did the trick and Kaoru sprang to a sitting position glaring daggers at the idiot who dared to wake her up. She met Sae's smiling face still holding the edge of the blanket in the hand she was using to wave at her. Kaoru's blue gaze traveled from her aunt's pleasing facial expression to the alarm clock on the bed table just beside her and blinked once, the twice, and once again. It displayed in neon orange, and very clearly, 4:30 am. Giving a quick look at her window, she saw only the purple hue of early morning when the waking sun would tint almost imperceptibly the sky in violet and red give the atmosphere that unique mysterious aura she enjoyed… but not when she had been woken up against her will.

"What's the big deal!" she cried.

"I need you at the restaurant this morning," said Sae in a mater-of-fact-way-with-a-finger-in-the-air way that she only knew the secret of making it looking painfully annoying.

"I help you the weekend! Not in the middle of the week!" she whined waving her arms around so her words would take more power. It did not seem to work at all.

"Tae is sick. She's got a fever and can't be working today. Don't worry, you won't be in the kitchen. I don't want to lose the few costumers we have left."

  Kaoru growled and bit her tongue. It was no secret to the family that Kaoru had the worst cooking skills, but they didn't have to bring it up every time the conversation seemed to fit with the remark. Snatching her comforter from Sae's hand, Kaoru clumsily put it back on the bed muttering, cursing about her luck, fate and crazy aunts.

"Don't you go back to sleep!" shout the woman.

"I've got school today, I can't help you!" argued Kaoru.

"I'll call the principle and tell him you will only attend to the afternoon classes today. The restaurant is more important than school."

"Weren't you the one who told me that studying was the most import thing in life?" asked the girl arching an eyebrow.

"Beside the restaurant. I can't run it alone! You're getting up and helping me and that's final!"

  With that, Sae left a very moody Kaoru, sitting on her bed. She knew she had lost the argument before it even started. Sighing in defeat, the young woman reluctantly pushed her sleep warmed feet to the cold wood, wincing as they touched it, a shiver running up her body from her toes to the root of her long, breaded hair.

"Hurry up, we've got to be there at 5am sharp!" came Sae's voice from down the hall.

"A minute!"

  Grabbing her school uniform along with the restaurant's pink dress and white apron, she got out of her room, thinking about taking a good warm shower. However, as she was about to open the bathroom door, Sae popped out from apparently nowhere.

"No time for that. Get dressed and grab something to eat. We only have 15 minutes left to get there."

  Groaning, the younger turned around and returned to her room. The sun was barely showing in the horizon now, the sky no longer the purplish indigo but a reddish blue.  She sat at the foot of her bad, grabbing her brush and staring at her reflection on the large mirror, untangling her ink-like hair while trying to undress out of her sleepwear and dress in the hatful pink uniform. She had managed to pull her hair up and straighten her clothing when Sae's voice told her to get to the kitchen, grab the toast she had made her, and rush to the car; her aunt would be waiting there.

  Shoving her school clothes in the mouth of her black and yellow backpack, Kaoru ran down the hall to the kitchen, picked the cold roasted bread from its plate and ran to the door, toast in mouth, key in hand and school bag hanging somewhat precariously balance on her left shoulder. The door was shut quite audibly, the sound of it rebounding on the walls of the empty stairway. When she had been a child, she used to talk softly in those hallways, thinking that, because it echoed just as it did in a church, she had to be silent and respectful. Now she did not care, her mood too foul to care anyway. There went her typical morning. When will there be some sort of normality in her life?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  A pair of red and white sport running shoes waved in the air under the table. Above it, the table was covered up, almost overloaded with food. One would have been lucky if they could have seen the dull beige of the linoleums that covered its surface. A mouth full of the delicious meal, Yahiko beamed at Kenshin, forever thankful. The man chuckled as the boy shout at a waitress to get him more milk. He had not seen the child this happy since him and Sanosuke went to the amusement park.

"Hey! Ugly, I want milk!" he shouted as a girl passed him by.

  She stopped dead in her tracks, shoulders becoming rigid, her body trembling in the wave of anger that swamped her. The red headed high school teacher was about to reprimand him when she turned around, blue eyes turning devilish red, black hair flying about like so many whips. The tray she had been holding left her hand and came crashing, rather hard, on the boy's face.

"Hey! What's the..."

"Who did you call 'Ugly'!" said the girl, taking a fistful of Yahiko's shirt.

  Kenshin blinked. He knew that voice. His gaze traveled from the worn out brown shoes and slack white socks to the pink waitress uniform dress and the fluffy white apron, up to the pretty -- although very angry -- face, blue eyes and high ponytail of the girl.

"Miss Kaoru?"

  It was her time to blink. Her hold on the brat's uniform t-shirt collar, her head shot in the direction from which she had heard her name. Face red in embarrassment, she let go of Yahiko, the kid coughing and trying to loosen the collar of his shirt so the air could return to his lungs, and jumped back in surprise.

"Mr. Himura! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same, that I could," he said very politely. "Are you not supposed to be at school?"

"I.. uh… Well. It's aunt Tae. She woke up with a fever this morning and, being a very busy afternoon today, they needed a hand so I took the morning off," she explained with a smile.

"Kaoru! Honey, you know you must not talk with the… Why hello Mr. Himura," Sae appeared out of nowhere, her ever present smile bright on her face. "Oh, is this your son?"

  For some strange reason, Kaoru's face grew red, but whether it was out of annoyance or something else, she honestly could not tell. Deciding that the former was much safer than the elusive later, she turned a pleading face toward her aunt. The girl was about to retort when Kenshin, a bit red on the cheeks, smiled brightly at the two women.

"No, he is not mine. He's under the charge of a very good friend. Besides, he's 10 years old, it's rather impossible for him to be my son," he explained.

"As if Tomoe would let him anyway…" mumbled the youth.

  None of the girls had heard him, however, Kenshin did and shot him a glance that said -- very clearly -- not to finish that thought. The truth be told, to Sanosuke and Yahiko, the catastrophe of Kenshin's marriage was no secret. Yahiko could clearly recall the many times his 'uncle' complained about the ice-cold woman. Whenever the subject was brought up, he would rant about how many times he had warned the fool -- namely Kenshin -- not to marry that girl, that they were not meant to be together, that it would be a mistake. But the redhead had not listened, saying that it was the right thing to do. As Sanosuke told his young pupil, it did not last long. A wall was erected between the couple. Yahiko could not recall ever seeing them together, or if they were, it was as if there was a closed window between them.

  Sae, taking Kaoru by the wrist, dragged her niece away from the pair, saying that they had customers to take care of, and as soon as Kaoru was gone, Kenshin grew silent, and his smile left his handsome features. Worried, Yahiko stared at him, but he did not seem to notice, lost in the whirlwind of chaotic musing, his usually bright lavender eyes growing dark and then disappearing under the a veil of crimson silk.

  He had known since the beginning, doomed from the very time he uttered his vow. Tomoe, she had no joy in her eyes when he asked her to marry him, did not smile at him, stayed cold and stoic in front of him. He had not been blind; he knew the reason of such marriage. But he had hoped that, somehow, they would be happy, someday. Call it optimism; Sano said he was a fool. Now that Kenshin thought about it, he had been quite right. If only the circumstance had been different, he would not be in such a mess, swallowed in the darkness of his wife, slowly drowning in the black hole of her nothingness.

  Tomoe, for as long as he could remember, had always been the quiet, rarely smiling woman she was. But, back then, when they were all together, when the sky still shown blue and the stars smiled upon the future, she was not so cold, so emotionless. But everything changed that fateful night, when the moon had been full, veiled by the warmth of the early summer day, an ominous halo circling its roundness. To this day, he still wondered if the scythe of fate could have been avoided, if he could have prevented it from happening.

  There had been so much blood, as far as he could recall it. It was spilling over the concrete like a scarlet river, pooling around them as they watched, powerless, life escaping one that they held dear. She had been crying, for the first and last time, she had shown them some vivid emotion. In the sky, the clouds had gathered around the moon, the milky disk of night had seemed to be broken and only a few pieces remained in the heavens. Sanosuke, his sister Uki and him, circling Tomoe as she wept silently, the sound of the siren echoed like a sickening music of helplessness. Rage boiling inside, adrenalin rushing in their veins.

"Kenshin? Are you alright?" a soft voice asked, coaxing him gently out of the bloody memory.

"Yes…" he uttered, eyes still hidden.

"You seem a bit pale… do you want some water?"

  Yahiko stared at Kaoru who had spotted them. They had stood silent for quite some time, which was very uncharacteristic of Yahiko from what she had witnessed earlier. Worry was all over her delicate face, emotion showing in her deep blue eyes, the young boy had never seen someone so open before. Casting a glance at Kenshin, he saw him look up, amethyst locking with sapphire, and she smiled soothingly.

"I've been thinking about your proposition and, if it is to make you feel better, I'll be glad to give it a try."

  The teacher's lips curved upward to Yahiko's confusion. For as long as he knew Kenshin, nothing could give him his smile back this fast after he had gone into the depth of his horrid reminiscence of the past.

"That's good," said Kenshin. "We'll be starting as soon as possible."

  The boy grew confused, and very curious. What was this 'proposition' about? It had sound… very strange to him. The way Kenshin's smile had returned, lighting up his darkened face, the soft expression that lit Kaoru's face. Was something going on between them? Shaking his head, Yahiko batted the thought away. No way Kenshin would do something like that, would he?

"I have some free time after school today. Meet me in class and we'll go over the procedures of the contest."

  Yeah, Kenshin was not the kind of person to do something like that. Yahiko almost laughed out loud. How could he have been thinking such things about the redhead? This was ridiculous.

"I'll meet you after school then."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

To be continued… … …

a/n: This is getting out of control! Chapter's getting longer, a plot's starting to get into what should have been only romance… It seems that this story is also starting to write itself… and it's getting longer, and longer! Each chapter ends up with a different title than I planed, although the plotline is still somehow going the right way. But I fear I won't be able to finish it in twelve chapters as I had planed it. Oh well. I don't really mind. Have you realized that this story is very different from the other I've been writing? There's a lot more humor in it ^-^ (well, what I think is humor…) Can somebody tell me if they laughed reading it? I'm so unsure of my comical side. I wrote too much angst… Sigh. I hope you liked it, I had fun writing about the toilet part. (it's a bit autobiographic in a way… hehe…). Tell me what you think!

KARYTA'S PERSONNAL THANKING TO HER LOVELY REVIEWERS

Blanca: I'm glad somebody agrees. The real interaction between Kenshin and Kaoru is about to start. Be patient! Good stuff's about to happen real soon!

Aya the White Dragon: You laughed! You actually laughed! I'm so happy! I wasn't sure my humor was good. I'm happy to hear that you like it. Thank you for cheering me up about school. It's not THAT hard, really. Just a lot of after school work. I never thought I would someday need a brake from drawing.. Go figure. Good luck for your new year of school too! About the typos… see the author's note! ^-^

Keismoon: I'm always happy to see a review from you! Another one to agree with me! Wow, maybe I got something there. ^-^ But, of course, since this is AU… it may not turn out the exact same way it did in the manga. But I'm trying to keep around the same lines that would explain why they are together. Seems this story is getting a bigger plot than I originally intended.. Oh well. More fun for me and more reading for you!

Kaye: You know, I would too. I bet living with Sae must be very difficult at some moments… Wonder how much crazier she can get… hum….

Nanakilover/Brukaoru: Thank you. I can't wait to write more… but I have so much work!

emsdesire: It seems that I'm very good with 'useless' details. But they not as 'useless' as they may seem. ^-^

Hells-angel8: You know.. that nickname reminds me of a biker gang that used to terrorize my province… Not I hold some kind of grudge against you for it… Anyway. Thank you very much for reviewing. I keep every words in my heart (this sounds so corny… )

Clemen: Really? Wow! I feel so special now! Here, have a piece of my favorite cheese cake! As a matter of fact.. Take the whole cake! It's a gift ^-^

bitterSWEET-love: Yes it's a Kenshin/Kaoru fanfiction. I'm sorry if keeping Tomoe alive confuses you. I guess it will be a big problem, yeah… hehe. Thank you. I try to do my best as I write so you can see it pretty much the way I imagine it.

That's all for today. Expect the next chapter to come out in around a months or so. I can't promise anything, with all the work I have, but I'll do my best as usual. I hope you guys had fun reading this. I sure had a lot of fun writing it. It's pretty strange having to sets of glowing eyes (my cats) watching you strangely as you burst out laughing about something you had in mind or just wrote.. Oh well. They better get used to it! ^-^

See you around!