Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Bet ❯ The Dance ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Rurouni Kenshin

Note: I am EXTREMEMLY SORRY!!!! I never meant to not update for almost 2 months. My life has been hectic with stuff for school. Anyway, enough for my excuses.

Review of last chapter:

For the next couple of days Kenshin and Kaoru never talked. Kaoru had noticed that Kenshin had been avoiding her. Of course she wasn't sure that she blamed him. After all, Soujiro had been becoming kind of close to her. They had become good friends, but the night that they had gotten dress Soujiro surprised her. He had confessed to her and had even kissed her. She had explained to him that she already had a boyfriend. He had smiled and said something like "looks like someone beat me to you." Kaoru was slightly happy about the confession since had been her first one since Kenshin hadn't done it yet. Although she hoped that he would soon. Soujiro had been understanding and said he would try to keep his distantness so that he wouldn't impose. Kaoru had thanked him. However, ever since that day it seemed as though Kenshin and her's relationship was weakening. The dance was tomorrow so she would find out the reason then.

Little did she know that she would find out more tomorrow than she would ever want to know.

The Bet ReDone Chapter 15 The Dance

The day had finally arrived. The night of the big dance had finally arrived. Kaoru drowsily rose out of bed. Her hair was disarrayed and her eyes slightly red from lack of sleep. For some reason she had been unable to sleep comfortably during the night. She wasn't sure if it was nerves or if she was scared. After all, this would be her first time to a dance with a boy and Kenshin had been acting distant of her since Soujiro had become her friend. Kaoru lifted her hands to her eyes and tried to rub the tiredness from them.

"I wish I could have gotten more sleep," Kaoru said to herself as she looked at her clock, "It's already 10:30."

She let out a big yawn and then left her room. She slowly trudged down the hallway and into the brightly lit kitchen. She used her arm to shield her eyes from the blinding light. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she pulled her arm away from her face, and a voice rang in Kaoru's ears.

"Morning Kaoru. How'd you sleep last night?" Megumi asked as she placed Kaoru's breakfast on the table.

"Horribly," Kaoru answered sullenly as she sat down at the table in front of her plate.

"Really, are we feeling a bit of anxiety?" Megumi asked sarcastically as she sat down at the table across from Kaoru.

"I don't know," Kaoru answered as she picked up her fork and began eating her scrambled eggs.

Megumi just watched her silently for a minute and then picked up the newspaper that had been sitting on the table and began reading it. Two minutes later Yahiko trudged into the room.

"Ohayo Yahiko-chan," Megumi stated without taking her eyes off of her newspaper.

"Ohayo," Yahiko answered groggily.

He took a seat at the table diagonal from Kaoru as he let out a big, loud yawn.

"Could you try to be less loud when you yawn?" Kaoru asked as she placed her fork down on the table and looked up to meet her brother's eyes.

Kaoru was awake by now and the lack of sleep had caused her to easily get irritated. Yahiko snapped awake at Kaoru's comment.

"What do you know ugly? I bet your yawns are louder than mine!" Yahiko exclaimed as he stood up.

"Yeah right. Only you could yawn loud enough to wake everyone in the neighborhood!" Kaoru yelled back as she stood up.

They locked eyes and growled at each other. Soon the only thing they were looking at was a newspaper.

"You two really need to quit doing that. It's thoroughly annoying," Megumi said before she pulled the paper back to her.

Before anyone had the chance to comment again, the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Megumi exclaimed.

She walked into the hallway had picked the phone up.

"Moshi, Moshi. Megumi speaking," Megumi spoke into the phone.

"Is Kaoru there?" the person on the other side asked plainly.

"Hai, is this Ken-san?" Megumi asked slightly curious.

"Hai," Kenshin answered abruptly.

"Hang on let me get her for you," Megumi answered before she placed her hand over the mouthpiece and said, "Kaoru-chan, telephone."

Kaoru walked into the room and looked at her quizzically and asked, "Who is it?"

"Why don't you answer the phone and find out," Megumi answered as she pushed the phone toward Kaoru.

Kaoru took the phone and placed it to her ear.

"Moshi, Moshi. This is Kaoru," Kaoru spoke calmly into the phone.

"Kaoru, it's Kenshin," Kenshin answered bluntly.

"Oh Ohayo Kenshin. What's up?" Kaoru asked enthusiastically, she was glad that Kenshin was talking to her.

"What time do you want me to pick you up tonight. The dance begins at seven o'clock," Kenshin answered with more of his normal tone.

"Well, how about at 6:30?" Kaoru answered partly excited.

"Okay then. I'll be there at 6:30. I'm sure you'll be beautiful by then," Kenshin answered with his normal tone of voice.

Kaoru blushed lightly before answering, "Okay, I'll see you later."

"Yep. See you later. Sayonara," Kenshin responded.

"Sayonara," Kaoru managed to stutter before she hung the phone up.

Kaoru placed her hands over her cheeks. She still hadn't gotten use to Kenshin sweet-talking her. At that moment Megumi poked her head into the room.

"So what did Ken-san want?" Megumi asked inquisitively.

"Oh just when to pick me up," Kaoru answered as she threw her hands down and turned away so she wasn't facing Megumi, "I'm going to take a bath now."

"Okay," Megumi said as she walked back into the kitchen.

Kaoru walked back to her room and grabbed a set of clothes that she could wear before she had to get ready for the dance. Then, she quickly walked to the bathhouse and warmed up a bath. She climbed into the tub and sighed. The water felt good against her tired body. She closed her eyes and relished the feeling. She opened her eyes and stared toward the ceiling.

`Geez, I don't think I'll ever getting use to him calling me beautiful,' Kaoru thought to herself, `There's one thing that I'm curious about. Here called here and talked to me as if we had been talking normally all along. I wonder what that's all about.'

Kaoru took a deep breath before going below the water's surface. Thirty seconds later she surfaced and took a big breathe of air.

`Maybe that's just a side of him that I don't know about. Come to think of it, I don't know much about him at all,' Kaoru thought to herself as she rose out of the bathtub and grabbed the towel that she had brought with her. Her wrapped the towel around her and then took the other one and wrapped her hair up in it. After drying off a little she put on her spare, gray sweat pants and hooded sweat jacket. Then she left the bathhouse. She walked into her room and tossed her unclean clothes into her dirty clothes hamper. She pulled her dress and shoes out of her closet and placed them in an easy access place. She then took the towel off her head and threw it into the hamper with the rest of her filthy clothes. She then grabbed her hairbrush and hair dryer. She brushed the tangles out of her matted and tangled hair. Then she plugged her hairdryer in and began dryer her hair. Ten minutes her hair was dry and she turned the blow dryer off. She then ran the brush through her hair again. Once done with that, she put her brush down and collapsed onto her bed. She read the clock that claimed it was noon and then rolled over closing her eyes in the processing.

"So tired. So tired," Kaoru murmured as she faded off into the world of sleep.

"Kaoru. Kaoru-chan. Kaoru."

A voice spoke into Kaoru's ear as she slowly returned from the land of dreams. Her eyes gradually opened.

"Hm, what is it?" Kaoru asked groggily.

"Kaoru you need to get up. It's six o'clock already and your dance begins at seven," Megumi irately said as she shook Kaoru's shoulder.

Kaoru's eyes snapped open at Megumi's words.

"What!" Kaoru yelled as she looked over at the clock. As Megumi had said it was already six o'clock and Kenshin was due at her house in a half an hour to pick her up.

"Shit!" Kaoru exclaimed as she flew out of bed.

Megumi left Kaoru to her rushed errands. Kaoru quickly put her dress on. Her grabbed her brush and got the new tangles out of her hair before she threw her hair up into a bun. She left two small pieces out, one in front of each ear. She quickly applied her make-up, which consisted of a little blue eye shadow, light pink blush and lipstick, and more. As she was putting her shoes on, Kaoru heard Megumi yelling to her.

"Kaoru-chan, Ken-san is here," Megumi yelled out.

Kaoru quickly checked her appearance in the mirror and then walked out to meet Kenshin at the door. As Kaoru came into view, Megumi excused herself and left the room. Kaoru looked at Kenshin. He was wearing a metallic, navy blue dress shirt with black dress pants.

"Gorgeous," Kenshin said as he laid eyes on the girl in front of him.

Kaoru blushed. Her dress was a floor length, one-strapped, silver dress. On the top hem there was three layers of navy blue chiffon. At the bottom of the dress was a layer of silver chiffon with a few rhinestones on it. On the bottom, right side there was a slight that went up to Kaoru's mid-thigh. Around her neck hung the diamond pendent that Kenshin had given her from Christmas. Kaoru smiled as heat began to rise to her cheeks again. Kenshin gently took hold of her hand and pulled out a navy blue wrist flower (A/N: Can anyone tell me how to spell the proper name for this?). He placed the flower around her wrist and then pulled her hand to his lips. He softly gave her hand a chaste kiss. He let her hand go and held his arm out for her to take.

"Shall we be off?" Kenshin asked with a pure smile on his face.

`She really does look stunning, however,' Kenshin thought as Kaoru hooked her arm with his.

Kenshin closed his hand around hers and intertwined their fingers. Kaoru yelled out her goodbye to Megumi and Yahiko and then they walked out the door. Kaoru was surprised to find a limo sitting out in front of her house.

"Oh my god, Kenshin!" Kaoru exclaimed in pure shock.

"Did I surprise you?" Kenshin asked as he released her arm and held the limo's door open for her.

Kaoru carefully got into the limo and Kenshin followed soon after her. The ride to the school was quiet. Kaoru was too nervous to speak and Kenshin decided to bask in the silence. After fifteen minutes the chafer pulled in front of the school. Once the limo had come to a stop, Kenshin opened the door and stepped out. As soon as he was out, he turned around and held out his hand for Kaoru. Kaoru took hold of his hand and he carefully helped her out of the limo. Once the door was closed, the limo quietly drove away.

"Thank you bringing me Kenshin," Kaoru said nervously.

"Don't worry too much about it," Kenshin said, "it may be a one time affair."

"What did you say?" Kaoru asked because she hadn't heard him clearly due to the noise of the other people around them.

They walked into the school and headed straight to the auditorium. Upon entering they were greeted with the pounding of music. They walked in and found hundreds of other people dancing and socializing everywhere.

"Would you like some punch?" Kenshin leaned into Kaoru's ear and asked.

Kaoru just nodded and Kenshin slipped away into the crowd. Kaoru stood still, not really sure what to do.

"Kaoru!"

Kaoru turned around at the sound of her name. She grinned at the sight before her. Misao walked up to her with Aoshi hooked around her arm. Misao was wearing a simple lilac dress with rhinestones covering the entire thing. Her hair was curled and up in a ponytail. Aoshi was wearing black dress pants and metallic, silver dress shirt.

"So are you guys together now?" Kaoru asked sarcastically.

Both of them just blushed and Kaoru couldn't help, but laugh.

"Where's Kenshin?" Aoshi asked.

"Getting us some punch," Kaoru answered.

"Okay, well, we're going to go dance. See you later Kaoru!" Misao yelled as Aoshi and her disappeared into the crowd.

Kaoru smiled as she watched them mingle into the crowd. She turned back around only to come face to face with Soujiro.

"Oh my god Soujiro! You scared the crap out of me!" Kaoru yelled at him.

Soujiro smiled and replied, "Sorry Kaoru-san. You look stunning tonight."

Kaoru just smiled and answered, "Thank you Soujiro. You look great as well."

Soujiro was wearing a suit.

"Thank you," Soujiro replied as he took Kaoru's hand and gave it a quick kiss.

Kenshin returned to the scene of Soujiro kissing Kaoru's hand. Kenshin fumed at the sight. He strolled over to Kaoru and Soujiro and took Kaoru's arm in his.

"Oh Kenshin," Kaoru said slightly shocked at his sudden arrival.

"Come on Kaoru. Let's go dance," Kenshin stated as he pulled Kaoru out onto the dance floor.

Once out on the floor Kenshin pulled Kaoru to him and begin to slow dance with her. Kaoru soon followed in step with him. Kaoru was about to ask him what that whole scene was about, but the look on his face told that she best not. So they danced slightly until the end of the song. Sanosuke walked up onto the stage and up to the microphone.

"Hey, what's up?" Sanosuke spoke to the crowd.

Various replies filed the auditorium.

"Yeah, well, I guess I was nominated to be the speaker person so yeah. Have fun," Sanosuke said before he walked off stage. A faster song began and everyone began dancing. Kenshin started dancing, but Kaoru just stood there. She had never danced like everyone else was. Kenshin stopped when he noticed Kaoru's hesitation.

"What's wrong Kaoru?" Kenshin asked as he walked closer to her.

"It's nothing," Kaoru responded nervously.

Kenshin looked at her quizzically, but then realized what was wrong, "Do you not know how to dance this way?"

The shocked look on Kaoru face confirmed his question.

"Just follow me," Kenshin stated.

He placed his hands on her hips and began moving to the music. Slowly Kaoru began to pick up on the movements. Soon they were dancing just like everyone else. Kenshin looked up and saw Sanosuke watching them. Kenshin smirked at Sanosuke's stunned expression. Sanosuke's expression turned from one of shock to one of anger. He walked toward the stage as the next song began. The song was a slow one again. Kaoru and Kenshin began dancing slow again, but about halfway through Kenshin let go of Kaoru saying he'd be back. Kaoru just watched him go. She was shocked when she heard his voice come through the speaker.

"Hey everyone. How's the party?" Kenshin asked.

People yelled out and whistled.

(A/N: Note that the things that Kenshin is about to say are mean and I highly doubt that he would ever actually say them to Kaoru on the show or in the book. In plain terms there's a bit of OOC here.)

"That's great," Kenshin started, "Hey, you all know Kaoru , right? The girl I've been going out with for a while now. Well, the truth is I don't even like her. I felt bad for her. I mean look at her. She's pretty pathetic. She doesn't even know how to dance! Did you also know that she's a cheater. That's right. She even cheated on me. So just to let you know Kaoru, we're through! It was all a bet. I never liked you to begin with."

Kaoru just stood there. She could tell what was happening. As he spoke, she felt her heart slowly begin to crack until it shattered. Tears were pouring down her face by the time he finished. Kaoru brought a hand up to her mouth as she felt her entire world collapsing right in front of her. Everyone around her was snickering or making harsh comments about what Kenshin had said. With every last ounce of her strength, she turned and ran from the auditorium. As she did Kenshin jumped down from the stage and slowly made his way to Sanosuke.

"Where's the cash?" Kenshin asked.

Sanosuke furiously shoved the money toward him.

"Here's your fucking cash," Sano replied.

Kenshin smirked as he took the money and walked toward the door. As soon as he reached the doorway he heard a gunshot followed by a loud, high- pitch scream.

"What the hell?" Kenshin said to himself as he ran outside.

(Same time, but with Kaoru)

Kaoru ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her tears refusing to stop.

`I loved you and I thought you cared about me. I guess it was all a joke to you wasn't it!' Kaoru thought to herself as she tripped over her foot 50 meters from the school doors.

Kaoru just sat there, trying to regain her composure. However, she failed miserably. The horrible pain was still like a fresh cut and her tears like a never-ending river.

"Ah is the poor Kamiya girl crying," a voice from behind the trees said.

"Who....who's there?" Kaoru stuttered.

The man stepped out of the shadows.

"I don't tell my name to the people that I'm planning on killing," he said with an evil smirk.

Kaoru stared at him in horror.

`Oh no! Kens...,' Kaoru thought, `he won't come.'

At this though Kaoru became more depressed that she didn't realize that the man was aiming his gun straight at her. She came back to her senses when she heard someone yell her out her name.

"Kaoru-san!!!"

Kaoru turned to see Soujiro running toward. That was when she heard the gunshot. She whipped around just in time to feel the impact of the shot in her arm. She let out a blood-curdling scream from the pain. She soon felt herself becoming sleepy and finally she fell unconscious.

"Kaoru!" Soujiro yelled in shock.

The man walked over to Kaoru, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.

"Don't' worry. She's not dead," he said, "yet."

With that said he jumped up into a tree and dashed off. Soujiro just stood there feeling shocked and useless. He turned around when he heard Kenshin's voice.

"Hey Soujiro what was that noise," Kenshin asked as he ran up to the boy.

When he reached Soujiro he noticed the look of horror etched across his face.

"Hey Soujiro," Kenshin asked as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Soujiro."

"Kaoru," Soujiro started.

Kenshin froze for a second.

"What about Kaoru?"

"A man came and shot her with what looked like a tranquilizer and then he picked her up and dashed off," Soujiro stated.

Kenshin completely froze.

"Are you worried because you guys are an item?" Kenshin asked slightly annoyed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Soujiro exclaimed.

"You guys were seeing each other behind my back. That's why I dumped her," Kenshin responded.

Soujiro looked at him angrily, "First off, what you did to her was absolutely horrid. Do you know how long it's going to take her to recover from that if she doesn't get killed first. Second, we are not together. It's true that I like her, but when I confessed to her she turned me down saying that she couldn't return my feelings because she was already in love with you. Now because of your stupid, selfish act she could every possible be dead by tomorrow morning!" Soujiro cried out.

Kenshin just stood there in shock.

`She loved me and I just shattered her heart with that stupid show,' Kenshin thought to himself, `and now she could very well be killed by the guys that I was suppose to protect her from. I hurt her.'

That finally thought killed him. He hadn't been thinking. The thought of Kaoru being gone forever caused his heart to become extremely heavy. The truth was that he loved Kaoru and because he had jumped to conclusions he had hurt her again. This time he was sure that he had used his last lifeline in keeping her.

"What direction did he go?" Kenshin asked with determination in his eyes.

"Why do you care?" Soujiro asked angrily, "You obviously don't care too much for her since you were able to turn on her so easily."

With that Kenshin grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground.

"Listen here. I care for Kaoru. I made a mistake and even if she hates me for the rest of her life I will continue to protect her!" Kenshin furiously stated.

Soujiro just stared at him in shock and then smiled.

"I can see why Kaoru cared for you so much," Soujiro stated as he pointed toward the trees where the man disappeared to, "he went that way."

Kenshin released him and dashed back into the school, but not before thanking Soujiro. He ran into Seijuurou-sensei's classroom. It was a good thing that he taught swordsmanship. Kenshin grabbed the spare reverse blade sword from its hiding place. With that in his hand he dashed out of the school and in the direction that Soujiro had indicted.

`Kaoru just hold on! I'm coming to save you!' Kenshin yelled to himself in his head.

Author's Note: YEAH!!!!! CHAPTER 15 IS DONE!!!!!!! Okay anyway, there's only going to be 2 more chapters and WARNING I'm not the best at endings. - -; Again, I'M SORRY!!! GOMEN!!!! I'll start working on the next chapter now, but its already midnight now so I'll try and finish it by Sunday (NOT GUARENTEEING ANYTHING

Translations

Hai=Yes

Moshi, Moshi=(how they answer the phone)

Gomen=Sorry

Sayonara=Goodbye

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! THANK YOU

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