Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Bet ❯ Deals ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Rurouni Kenshin. I never have and I never will.

Note: I know you all have been waiting for this update. I basically wrote this whole chapter out while I was gone so that when I came home I could type it all up. Well, I'll shut up now so you can all read the next chapter.

Preview of last Chapter:

Kaoru looked at him awkwardly.

"What would that proposal be?" Kaoru asked him.

"I will protect you from the people, that the guy mentioned, that are after you," Kenshin started.

"If?" Kaoru asked.

"If, in return, you'll go out with me," he said.

The Bet Redone

Chapter 8

Deals

Kaoru just stared at him for a minute.

'This seems sort of familiar,' Kaoru thought to herself.

Kaoru looked at him closely to see if he was only playing, but there was no sign that he was kidding at all.

Kenshin watched her. He knew that she would probably question him. Especially since he had already asked her out once and she had declined saying that she thought it was a joke and that she wasn't going to waste her time with him.

"No," Kaoru stated, "I can protect myself."

With that she turned to leave. Before she was able to turn the corner Kenshin had grabbed her wrist. She stopped and looked back at him a little annoyed.

"Yeah, just like you protected yourself against that guy," Kenshin stated.

Kaoru opened her mouth to say a comeback, but she couldn't think of one so she shut her mouth. He was right.

"If I hadn't been there you would have been killed," Kenshin stated.

Kaoru looked down at the ground and a long silence began between them. Kenshin watched Kaoru and Kaoru kept her head down. Kaoru quietly broke the silence.

"I'll be fine," Kaoru said quietly as she kept her head down.

"Then prove it to me," Kenshin stated.

Kaoru's head snapped up to look him in the eye. Kaoru was surprised to see that he was completely serious.

"How can I do that?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin looked her straight in the eye and said, "Meet me in the gym after school, I'll explain everything there."

"Okay, I have to go. I'm really late for class," Kaoru said as she looked down to her hand, "Um, could you let go of my wrist?"

Kenshin looked down to where his hand still had a good hold on her wrist. He quickly pulled his hand away.

"Sorry," Kenshin said as he turned his head to the side.

"It's ok," Kaoru stated as she turned to head back to class.

"Remember after school in the gym," Kenshin said as he saw her turn to leave.

She looked back to him and nodded her head. She then turned and proceeded down the hallway. Once she was out of sight he shook his head.

"What did I just do?" Kenshin asked himself as he turned and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction that Kaoru had just walked down, "I'm acting weird. Well, at least I have her almost caught. Just a bit longer and then she's mine. Then I'll have my $300."

With that thought he headed to class, with no pass.

: Elsewhere :

Kaoru walked down the hall and stopped right outside of her classroom door. She had to think about what had just happened.

'I can't believe I agreed to that,' Kaoru thought to herself as she stood outside of the classroom, 'I'll just have to show him that I'm not as weak as I look.'

With that thought she opened the door and walked into class. The whole class looked over to her as she entered the classroom, handed the teacher her pass, and then took her seat. Then the teacher returned to the lesson that she had been teaching. The rest of the day flew by for Kaoru. She wasn't able to meet her friends for lunch because she had to make up part of the Geometry lesson she had missed earlier that day. As the bell rang Kaoru walked out of her last class of the day. When she got to her locker and her friends met up with her she told them she had to do something before she could go home. They hesitantly said okay before saying good-bye to Kaoru and heading home. Something was different, but they couldn't quite place it. Once Tae and Misao were out of sight Kaoru let out a sigh. She hated lying to her friends, but it seemed like she had been doing it a lot lately. She turned and began to head toward the gym. She reached the gym in less than three minutes. She stood outside of the gym for a second. She took in a big breath and let it out slowly. Then she opened the door and walked in. Kenshin stood in the middle of the gym. Kaoru slowly walked over to him. He was facing the opposite direction. However, when the door that Kaoru had entered the gym though shut he turned around till he was facing her direction. He gave her a small smile and Kaoru could almost see hints of a smirk on his face. In no time she was right in front of him.

"So explain," Kaoru stated.

Kenshin walked over to the storage room. He pulled out a key and opened the door. Kaoru guessed he probably stole the key from the gym office. He walked out carrying two wooden swords. When he got close enough he tossed one of the swords to Kaoru. Kaoru easily caught it.

"You live at a dojo so I'm pretty sure that your family taught swordsmanship. I'm sure you have some skill in it, am I right?" he asked as he walked up to her.

"Yeah," Kaoru answered.

"Okay then listen up. If you win I'll leave you alone to defend yourself," Kenshin said.

"And if you win?" Kaoru asked.

"Then you have to go out with me and I'll protect you," Kenshin stated.

"Okay deal," Kaoru started as she moved to take her spot across from him, "but I won't go easy on you."

Kenshin just shrugged his head as he got into position to fight. Both of them stood in position, neither moving as if waiting for the other to come at them. Kaoru made the first move. She charged forward and swung at him. Kenshin just barely managed to get out of the way in time.

'She's not too bad,' Kenshin thought to himself.

'He's pretty fast,' Kaoru thought to herself.

Kenshin quickly came back at her. He attacked her and she barely managed to duck in time to get out of the way. She quickly attacked him knowing that his defenses were down right after that attack. She managed to get him in the stomach. Kenshin backed up a bit. He was a little shocked from the sudden, out of nowhere attack. He quickly regained his fighting position after he felt her hit him in the side. Kaoru kept coming at Kenshin so he wasn't able to go onto the offensive. Finally he saw an open spot. He quickly managed to get around to behind when her defenses were down. Before Kaoru had the chance to take in one breath of air, Kenshin was right behind her with the wooden sword right at her throat. Kaoru took in a quick breath. She realized she was beaten so she lowered her arm that held the wooden sword up as if ready to attack again. When the tip of her sword reached the ground Kenshin spoke.

"Looks like I won," he whispered in her ear before he brought the sword down from her neck and back away from her.

Kaoru turned around to face him. She couldn't believe that she had lost. She had trained for so long. Kenshin extended his hand to her. She hesitantly took his hand in hers. They shook hands.

"That was a great fight. I thought you were going to win," Kenshin stated as kindly as he could, "You are pretty good when it comes to handling a sword."

"Thanks, you're pretty good yourself. Do you take lessons?" Kaoru asked.

"Actually I do, but you won't believe me if I told you who," Kenshin said as he took the wooden sword from her hand.

Kenshin walked over to the storage room and put the swords away. When he was done he locked the door and returned the key to where he had found it. He then walked back over to Kaoru.

"Oh really. Who teaches you?" Kaoru asked with a bit of sarcasm.

"Seijuurou-sensei," Kenshin stated calmly.

Kaoru was shocked.

"No way! You kidding right?" Kaoru asked with pure disbelief written all over her face.

"I'm not kidding," Kenshin stated, "but I'm his only pupil."

"So that's why you don't get in major trouble for being late so much," Kaoru stated.

Kenshin laughed sarcastically.

"No I get in trouble," Kenshin started, "but he punishes me at practice that way he can be harder on me."

"Oh," Kaoru said as she giggled slightly.

"So I guess we're going out now since I won and all," Kenshin stated.

Kaoru stopped giggling and looked at him. She was a little weird about actually dating him.

"Don't worry I won't do anything bad. I promise," Kenshin stated with a smirk on his face.

At that comment Kaoru blushed slightly. Kenshin placed his arm around her shoulder.

"I'll walk you home," he stated kindly.

Kaoru nodded. Kenshin led her out of the school and through the streets. Kaoru was really nervous and embarrassed. As they walked down the street Kaoru saw people looking at them. She also managed to catch people saying, "Oh what a cute couple" and "Don't they look so cute together." These comments caused Kaoru to blush more. Kenshin wasn't fazed by the comments. He could hardly hold in his laughter at the way Kaoru reacted to the comments that they were receiving. By the time they reached Kaoru's house the sun had set and the half moon had risen. Kenshin walked Kaoru up to her front door. Only then did he remove his arm from around her shoulder. Kaoru slightly backed away from him.

"Thanks for walking m home," she stated.

"No problem. How about later I'll teach you some defensive and offensive moves. That way if you ever get caught alone you'll have a bit more knowledge than the last time," Kenshin stated kindly.

Kaoru's blushed darker a little more, but it was so dark so you could see it. Kaoru was thankful for that. She was about to tell him good-bye when a person ran out of the house yelling.

"Kaoru!!!" the person yelled.

Kaoru's eyes widened. She completely forgot that she was supposed to go to the market to buy food for dinner that night. She turned slightly to come face to face with a very angry Megumi.

"Kaoru where have you been? I was so worried! You knew that you were supposed to buy some food for dinner! Where have you been?" Megumi yelled at the younger girl.

"I'm sorry Megumi. I completely forgot," Kaoru stated slowly.

Megumi was about to yell at her more when she noticed the wide-eyed Kenshin that was standing next to Kaoru. Megumi turned to face him.

"And who might you be?" Megumi asked curiously.

"I'm Kenshin Himura it's nice to meet you," Kenshin stated.

"I'm Megumi Takani. It's nice to meet you Ken-san," Megumi said as she bowed and then smiled an odd smile.

"Ken-san?" Kenshin stated.

Megumi pretended not to hear him.

"So what are you doing with Kaoru, Ken-san.? Surely.." Megumi was about to say more, but Kaoru interrupted her.

"Megumi please go inside. I will be inside shortly and I will explain everything to you," Kaoru said calmly, but she was hiding her angry about Megumi being so rude, "so if you would please leave."

Megumi could tell Kaoru wasn't too happy so she nodded.

"It was nice to meet you Ken-san. I hope we'll have the chance to meet again and if you're ever in the." Megumi said, but Kaoru interrupted her again.

"Megumi," Kaoru said on the verge of strangling the older woman.

Megumi took the hint and quickly went back into the house, but not before saying good-bye. When Megumi had finally closed the door and Kaoru knew that she was away from the door she spoke.

"I'm really sorry about that. She can be a bit eccentric," Kaoru stated.

"It's okay, she's.." Kenshin started.

"My roommate," Kaoru stated with no enthusiasm, "she's a doctor in training."

"Oh," was all that Kenshin said.

They stood in silence.

"Well, I have to go. She'll be at me for hours and I would like to sleep tonight," Kaoru stated.

Kenshin smiled.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

The next thing Kaoru knew, his lips lightly brushed against her forehead. As quickly as they had come, they left. Kaoru looked up with shock. Kenshin turned and walked toward the gate that was the entrance to her property. Before he turned the corner he looked back at her.

"Good-bye," he said before he rounded the corner and was out of sight.

As he walked down the street and headed home he thought, 'She's hooked now all I have to do is keep her and then dump her at the formal. That $300 is in the bag.'

: Meanwhile :

Kaoru continued to stare at where he had just stood, even after he was long out of sight. She quickly began to blush. It was the first time had kissed her. Even though it wasn't on the lips she was still shocked and even a bit embarrassed. She shook her head and turned around. She walked up to the door and opened it. She took her shoes off and walked into the living. She hadn't even been in the living room doorway two seconds before Megumi began throwing millions of questions at her.

"Who is Ken-san? How do you know him? Why were you so late? What relation do you have to Ken-san? Where have you been? How could you have forgotten to go to the store to buy food?" Megumi kept going on and on.

Finally Kaoru couldn't take it anymore.

"Megumi!!!" Kaoru yelled and Megumi quickly became quiet, "One question at a time please. You're giving me a headache."

Megumi nodded.

"So who's Ken-san?" Megumi started.

"He's a boy that goes to my school," Kaoru answered.

"Why was he with you?" Megumi asked next.

"He walked me home," Kaoru answered calmly.

"Why?" Megumi asked.

"Because there are men after my life and Kenshin said he would protect me because I can't protect myself. I was almost killed yesterday and he saved me. So now by some weird twist of fate we are going out and he is my protector," Kaoru answered.

Megumi's face immediately became serious when Kaoru mention men being after her life and when Kaoru said she had almost been killed.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Megumi asked calmly, but with a very serious and concerned face.

"I didn't want anyone to get scared or worried," Kaoru answered, "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm hungry and I'm tired."

With that Kaoru left the room.

'I'll have to talk to Dr. Gensai about this,' Megumi thought to herself.

Kaoru quickly ate some leftovers of what Megumi and Yahiko must have had for dinner. After she finished she went to look for Yahiko. She found him in the dojo practicing. He was good, but he still had a lot to learn. Kaoru saw him make a mistake that caused him to lose his balance. She giggled to herself quietly and then walked over to him, grabbing a wooden sword on the way. When she reached him she held out her hand to him. He looked up in surprise. He didn't know that she had been watching him. He took hold of her hand and she helped him up. When he was standing she began to teach him.

"It's like this Yahiko," Kaoru said as she explained how to correct the mistake he had made.

He watched her carefully and then tried it himself. He managed to copy for exact movement. When he performed the move and didn't trip he looked satisfied.

"Thanks sis," Yahiko said.

"No problem," Kaoru said as she placed the wooden sword she held back where she had found it, "Now to bed with you. It's late and you have school tomorrow!"

Yahiko groaned a complaint.

"No complaining. Come on," Kaoru said as she ushered the complaining boy out of the dojo and back to the house, but not before putting away Yahiko's wooden sword.

Once she had gotten Yahiko to go to bed. She went to bed herself. She was extremely tired.

'I should fall asleep in no time,' Kaoru thought to herself as she lay down in her bed.

However, Kaoru hardly slept all night. Nightmares about what had happened the previous night plagued her mind and her dreams. So the next morning she was extremely tired. She got out of bed and took a cold shower hoping it would wake her up since she hadn't slept at all and really needed to be awake for school. When she walked into the kitchen to get some breakfast she found that Megumi was already up.

"Ohayo," Kaoru said tiredly.

"Ohayo," Megumi answered as she turned around to greet her, "Kaoru you have bags under your eyes."

"Do I? It's probably because I could sleep last night," Kaoru said as she sat down and began to eat the toast and fruit that was on the table.

"Well, I have to go. Dr. Gensai wants me to come in early today to prepare for an early appointment," Megumi said as she finished packing her lunch, "I'm getting off work early today so I'll go to the market to buy food since you forgot to yesterday."

With that she left the room. Soon after Kaoru heard her say good-bye and then the front door was shut. Kaoru slowly finished her breakfast and then finished getting ready for school. By the time she left Yahiko was up and had started eating breakfast. Kaoru walked into the kitchen.

"I'm leaving," she told her brother, who yawned good-bye to her.

She walked over to the door and out her shoes on.

"Bye!" Kaoru yelled out as she opened the door and exited the building. She walked up to the gate in front of her house. She yawned as she turned the corner. When her yawn finished she looked ahead and was surprised to find Kenshin standing there, leaning with his back against the wall.

"What took you so long?" he asked as he stood up completely and turned to face her.

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru asked as he walked up to her.

"I came to walk to school with you. Do you have a problem with that?" Kenshin stated.

Kaoru shook her head no.

"Okay then come on let's go or we're going to be late," he stated.

Kaoru nodded and then they proceeded to walk to school. Neither of them spoke the whole time. When they were about a block from the school Kaoru stopped. When Kenshin noticed that she was no longer beside him, he stopped and turned around to face her.

"What's wrong?" he asked kindly.

Kaoru blushed slightly before she spoke, "It's just that.could we split up here. You see I haven't told my friends yet and they would be mad if you know if they found out that we were.dating and I hadn't told them."

Kaoru stuttered slightly while speaking. Kenshin smiled at her.

"Okay, but tell them today okay?" Kenshin said.

Kaoru nodded. With that Kenshin turned down a street so that they would be coming from different directions, but not before giving her a hug. Once Kenshin was out of sight Kaoru let out a huge breath of air and blushed. She hadn't gotten use to the fact that they were dating yet. Dating, that was a weird word. She never thought she would be dating Kenshin Himura, the school's rumored playboy. She had liked him, but now everything seemed different. Kaoru had told Kenshin the thing about her friends so that she could try and keep it from everyone that she was dating him. What she had said was part true, her friends would be mad at her if they found out she was dating Kenshin from someone else rather then from Kaoru. The other thing was that Kaoru was worried about the reaction she would get from the entire student body if she said she was going out with him. Most the guys could care less, but the girls would be a different story since most of them had a thing for Kenshin. Kaoru sighed as she walked down the street toward the school. It was going to be a long day. She hadn't slept, she had to tell Tae and Misao about her going out with Kenshin, she had to clean the art room after school today, deal with dating Kenshin, and worry about the guys that could be after her. By the time she got to her locker her blush was completely gone. Tae and Misao walked up to her and they began to talk normally as they walked to their first our. Of course the only thing Misao would talk about was Aoshi. Kaoru smiled. When she was with her friends all her worries seemed to leave her, at least for the time being. The morning went by slow for Kaoru, but only because of her lack of sleep. Finally lunch started. She walked over to the usual table. Misao and Tae were already there.

"Hey guys come on follow me," Kaoru said as she turned and left.

Misao and Tae looked at each other, but quickly got up and followed Kaoru.

Kenshin watched as the three girls walked into the school. He walked over to where Sano was sitting.

"So Kenshin, how's it going?" Sano asked with a smirk.

Kenshin smiled, "She's caught. You better be ready to hand it over Sano."

"We'll see," Sano answered.

Aoshi just looked at the two. He knew what they were talking about, but he didn't say a word. He just looked from his two friends over to the door and Misao and her two friends, Tae and Kaoru had walked through.

: Elsewhere :

Kaoru managed to find an empty classroom. She ushered her friends into the room and shut the door closed behind them.

"Kaoru what's all this about," Tae asked, "and why do you look so tired?"

Both Tae and Misao stared at Kaoru.

"I have a couple of things I need to tell you guys," Kaoru stated.

"Yeah, like what?" Misao asked.

"First off is," Kaoru paused before finishing, "I'm going out with Kenshin Himura."

Misao and Tae looked shocked.

"What! When did this happen?" Tae asked.

So Kaoru told them the whole story about him asking her out and then the guy attacking her and Kenshin saving her. Also about how they had had a sword fight and Kenshin had won so then she had to go out with him and he was protecting her.

"Okay, but why do you look so tired?" Misao asked.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep last night," Kaoru answered, "Now you guys have to promise me that you guys won't say a word about anything I just said, please."

"Okay, we promise Kaoru," Tae and Misao said.

"Thanks a lot you guys," Kaoru said as she gave them both a hug.

"But next time something happens tell us sooner so we don't worry so much about you," Tae said.

"Okay," Kaoru agreed.

With that all three girls exited the room and returned top their table to quickly eat their lunches.

The rest of the day went faster for Kaoru. She was happy about that too. Soon the bell rang dismissing the kids form school for the weekend. Kaoru said good-bye to Tae and Misao and headed down to the art room. Thankfully it didn't take long to clean because no one had used the room that day. As she walked out of the front of the school she noticed that the sun was just beginning to set. She walked down the stairs in front of the school and was about to turn and walk home when something caught her eye. Kenshin was in front of the school sitting on a motorcycle(A/N: it's turned off). He held an extra helmet in his hand. Kaoru ran over to him. He handed her the extra helmet. Kaoru looked at it quizzically.

"Are you hungry?" Kenshin asked.

Kaoru nodded.

"Then climb on. I'll get us some dinner then I want to show you something," Kenshin stated.

Kaoru quickly put the helmet on and then, with help from Kenshin, got onto the motorcycle. When he was sure that she was ready he started the machine and took off. They stopped off and got burgers to go. They quickly ate and then they were on the road again. The sun had dipped further to the horizon by now. Kaoru noticed that seemed to be driving on an incline. Soon they stopped and Kenshin quickly ushered her off. They took off their helmets and set them on the motorcycle. Kenshin then grabbed her hand and hurried forward.

"Kenshin where are you taking." Kaoru stopped as she saw the sight before her.

They were standing on a cliff. From here they could see the sun setting with the entire city in front of the sun. Kaoru just stood there in awe as she watched the sun sink below the horizon and it became a bit darker.

"It's beautiful," Kaoru stated in awe.

"I'm glad you like it," Kenshin stated as he came up to her side and took her hand in his.

Kaoru tensed and blushed slightly, but soon relaxed and watched as the sun set and the lights from the city looked like Christmas lights in December. It was then that Kaoru got the familiar feeling. She took her hand out of Kenshin's and turned to go into the woods. Kenshin turned around and looked at her confused.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

Kaoru looked back at him slightly embarrassed.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said shyly.

Kenshin gave a slight blush before saying anything else, "Okay, just be careful and don't take too long."

Kaoru nodded and then took off into the woods. Kenshin turned his sight back to the view before him.

Kaoru quickly did her business and began to head back to where Kenshin was. She was about half way back when she suddenly felt a rush of wind in front of her. She looked to her side to see two knives now jammed into the trunk of the tree right beside her. She turned to run, but her path was now blocked by a hooded figure holding four very sharp knives between his fingers.

"And just where do you think you're going Kamiya?" the figure asked with a male voice.

: Elsewhere :

Kenshin was starting to get worried. What was taking Kaoru so long? His question was soon answered when a loud scream emitted from the woods that Kaoru had walked into. He quickly turned and ran through the forest to the place where the scream had come from.

'Kaoru.'

::::::::

Author's Note: Aren't all you people lucky. I managed to be home for one day and luckily for you I wrote this whole chapter today. It's a whole lot longer then any chapter that I've ever written(13 pages in MS Word) so you get a special treat. Well, it's late (1:30 in the morning) and I have to get up early tomorrow. Now, I really will be gone till July 20 so I'll probably update again on the 21st or 22nd, it depends on the response for this chapter. So, I'm going to go to bed now. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! THANK YOU!!

Coolgurl