Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Internal Affairs ❯ A pregnant woman's advice ( Chapter 7 )

Twish's Note: Back from the grave! But no lemon in this chapter, I need to link my story together... anyway, some coming up in the next, i think. I needed to give Kaoru a part after i rudely ignored her at the other chapter.

I still am so thankful for all the reviews and the high votes *blushes deeply* My readers rock!

Thanks again to all reviewers and the readers patience!!!!! I have been out for so long... anyway, had been really busy that I just crash when i get home, and finally Adult fanfiction is connecting! *relieved sigh*

Anyway, enough of a note... keep on reading! *blows a flying kiss to all*
Suggestions are very welcome!!! :)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all characters are never to be mine, just on loan... i solemnly promise not to use them for greedy means except possibly furthering writing skills. *wide, gap-toothed grin*

Internal Affairs

Chapter 7 - A Pregnant Woman's Advice

"Makimachis never cry."

Jiya, you were right. I was a cowardly fool. And cowardly fools don't have the privilege of crying.

Misao ran the thought around and around her head, while waiting for the cab around the corner after she ran out of Aoshi's house. Stupid. She was stupid. She thought she could hide what was between her and Aoshi, but it only served to make everything worse. And now she was here, at the corner, tapping her foot with her overnight bag on the sidewalk, waiting for a cursed cab to arrive so she could bawl her eyes out in the comfort of her own home. It didn't help that HE didn't run out after her. Who was she kidding? It was the Ice Block, after all.

A dark blue Lexus stopped right where she was, making her jump back in alarm. Who the hell?! As she readied herself to give the driver that was interrupting her self-humiliation a shouting of a lifetime, the passenger window rolled down, stopping her dead in her tracks.

It was Himura's wife. Open-mouthed in shock, Misao goggled at the unexpectedness of it all.

"Damn, but you can run! It's not healthy to make a pregnant woman run that hard, you know? Bad for the baby…" The pretty woman smiled at her from the driver's seat, and opened the door locks.

Pregnant?! Is she demented? There's no telling bulge anywhere and her curves are all in the right places!!! Mental…

Misao was still frozen.

"What are you waiting for? Kenshin to reach us here? He's not at all going to be happy, you know…"

That last statement made Misao unlock her feet and get in the car. She was still rendered speechless by the insanity and the strangeness and the… feeling tears fill her eyes again, she screwed them shut and thought that if they found her body drifting in the river next morning, she deserved it. What the hell was she thinking getting into a pseudo-pregnant strange lady's car? Or better yet, in the car of the wife of Aoshi's enraged partner who could be possibly touched in the head?

"Are you alright? I'm Kaoru Kamiya-Himura by the way, and you are?"

Misao opened her eyes again. In a quavering voice that she hated the minute she heard it come out of her own mouth, she muttered, "Misao Makimachi." Then she yelled, because it WAS difficult to stay silent when nearly missing a ten-wheeler by an inch.

"HEY!!! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US---"

Kaoru laughed prettily, "Oh get used to it, I always drive like this, PMS or not… I'm still alive though, that should count for something!" She said with an impish wink to a now thoroughly scared witless Misao. She pulled into parallel parking with the finesse of a charging rhino and scraped the mags of the wheels on the curb. The sound made Misao wince, which made Kaoru laugh all the more harder.

Good God, did I just give my life over to a psycho?!

"Come on, I'll get you a cup of tea. Then you have to promise to answer me truthfully, alright? I may be able to help you." Compassionate blue eyes looked at the stiff passenger beside her. Who are you?

"Why are you doing this?" Misao asked, not moving from her seat. Why are you torturing me???

"Because women do not generally race out of Aoshi's home with a traveling bag and eyes bright with tears. They don't even reach the front step, come to that." She said with startling frankness.

Misao just looked at her with disbelieving eyes. "Oh come on, Mrs. Himura. That's just bullshit, pardon my French."

Kaoru's temper rose. "It's Kaoru." She snapped. "And I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part. Now get out of the car or I'll regret ever trying to help you out in the first place!" She whipped her head around and marched out of the car.

Misao got out too, but more slowly. "But why?" She asked again, maybe a little too desperately since Kaoru now had a vise-like grip on her arm and was nearly dragging her to the door of the small tea parlor that looked strangely familiar.

Kaoru turned and looked at the girl she was trying to convince and broke into a bright smile. Dr. Gensai was right, mood swings do get the best of me when I'm pregnant! "Hmm… I already told you. But if you're looking for a better reason, try this. Aoshi Shinomori is my cousin."

-o-

Misao, shell shocked for the third time that day, studied the pretty woman across her who not just happened to be the wife of the big boss in their company, she also was the relative of the guy she was banging.

You're in deep shit, Misao-girl, not only did you piss off one of the scariest men in your company, his wife also happens to be a self-proclaimed suicidal driver who has delusional fantasies about being pregnant, and just for kicks, happens to want you to experience the pleasure of her company so she could have a friendly chat with you. Not to mention, she's your lover's cousin! You've now entered the ninth region of hell… And come to think, while you look at your absolute worst, she comes across like she just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad…

Startled once again, and this time by her own vanity, Misao trained her aqua eyes to the blue concerned ones across the table giving her time to gather her scattered thoughts.

"Relax, will you? I'm not leading you to the stake, for heaven's sake, you've barely said two words! And what have you got to lose? I'm assuming virginity is a moot point now…" Kaoru let her statement trace off delicately, trying to see if her lost-cause-of-the-moment would rise to the bait.

"Listen, you…" Misao growled, clenching her fists on the table cloth.

"GOOD! I was beginning to think I was mistaken for a minute here… I mean, you're sooo different from all those icy bitches that my dear silent cousin used to date." Kaoru emphasized her statement with a loud bang on their table with her hand and a stomp of her foot, causing many of the tea shop's patrons to look their way in surprise.

Misao jumped back in reflex, a million thoughts going haywire in her already overdosed emotional complex. "I- ah… Icy bitches?"

"Yup, that's what I said… Ice bitches for the Ice block. You don't know much about Aoshi, do you?"

"N-nuh-No…"

"Figures. We were the closest back then, but even so when we were kids, he was always the strong silent type… But I owe him one, you know? He introduced me to the love of my life!" Kaoru added a hugely bright smile to her statement which reinforced Misao's thought of her being totally whacko.

"Uh…"

Kaoru sighed dramatically and raised her hand so they would be served. "You don't even know that, huh? But let's hear your side of the story first cause I'm pretty sure my lovelife wouldn't matter a single bit to you right now, would it?"

Strangely, Misao started warming up to the strange, noisy woman across her. Her affection and compassion seemed genuine, for all that she looked like a GAP model for casual Sundays. So slowly, word per word, the whole story started trickling out.

-o-

Three hours, 2 packs of tissues, 3 pastries and 5 cups of black tea later, Kaoru was laughing her head off. It was so obvious to her that her cousin finally found his match--- albeit a little strangely.

Misao, incensed, huffed her displeasure. "What the hell are you laughing at?!"

"You, my cousin, and the rest of the world being blind." Came the sarcastic quip.

Misao, ready to fight, snapped the china cup in her fingers.

"Calm down! You should really go to anger management or something… I thought I was bad but evidently--- not! Oof, that hurt… are you ok, baby no. 4?" Kaoru's mood changed from all out laughter to cooing over her 'pregnancy'.

Misao, never known much for tact, blurted out loud "You're really pregnant???"

"Of course, what do you think, this is all an act? Besides, after having gone through the hell and heaven of it three times, I know! I don't need a doctor to tell me that--- although my husband did!" Kaoru's mood rose again to hysterically giggly.

"YOU HAVE THREE KIDS ALREADY?!" Misao couldn't believe it. How could she ever retain her figure?

"Yup, I do." Kaoru said simply with a sweet smile.

"How do you… How old are you?"

"Twenty six."

"How do you keep your figure?" Misao asked enviously, after seeing Kaoru's shapely body.

"Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Old bokken martial art style perfected in my family."

"And how old were you the first time you got pregnant?"

"Nineteen. I also got married before then, before you ask."

"Isn't that kinda young? I know Mr. Himura is edging close to forty, I read it in the company profile, even if he doesn't look it."

"Really? You think his age doesn't show? I do too!!! But that's not the point. The point is, aren't you also kinda young for Aoshi?" Kaoru decided to toss the ball back to Misao's court.

Misao fell quiet and started rolling the ends of their tablecloth between her fingertips.

"Out of words, dearie?" Kaoru asked a little too saccharinely, causing Misao to flare up again.

"Shut up."

Kaoru, already in tune with Misao, just rolled her eyes. "Oh real witty. That's going to be a classic, I bet. So what are you going to do about it?"

-o-

Kaoru dropped Misao off at her apartment, where she went directly to her computer and started typing. Just how Aoshi will react to this on Monday, well, it will tell her for sure what he really feels. Otherwise, she might as well have performed the relationship suicide of the year. Whatever. Her Jiya always told her, matters of the heart are above anything else.

There were no messages on her answering machine.

Whoever said that affairs were simple were just plain stupid.

At that thought, Misao gave in and bawled her already red eyes out on her desk.