Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ What Went Before ❯ That's What I Get ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer-

Neko Oni: I'm to cool for school, so I don't own RuoKen, because I'm to cool for--

Yahiko: Yeah. Right. *Rolls eyes*

Neko Oni: Hey!

Does anyone remember that song? Or is it just me, and I'm making an idiot out of myself…

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*Waves Hello* Yay, your gonna read chapter two! All right, so now that we got the what, when, where and whos out of the way, maybe I'll get a story kicken' in this chapter. Oh yeah, some Kenshin action too!

Chapter's content- Dream conversation, some Skater dude sleeping on a couch, and Burger King French fries.

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What Went Before

Chapter II- That's What I Get

Dreams can be a funny thing sometimes, its just one of the oddities in life. Some believe they are a precursor to things not so far of in the future. If you dream of destruction then it will come. Others dream in twisted Scenario's that are made of no logics at all. People pull out the dream guidebook, and try to decipher the darn thing, only to twist their thoughts more with the conclusion. How could running from an eight foot tall fox while drinking a slurpee make sense in the first place? The rest of the dreamscape is usually a window into the past, unwanted old memories. Years of trying to suppress them turned futile, when all they had to do was fall asleep for them to come rushing back again.

But the lucky dream of black, a peaceful sleep is all they endured for a clean pallet in the morning.

Kaoru usually dreamt of monotone colours, but the morning after her trip back was different. Fuzzy images of mixed parents, living happily with their daughter. Martial art classes being taught by the father while the child sat and watched. Spying on mom while she cooked for half the day, never fully understanding what was going on with the boiling water and miso. Only in the end to be left alone, parents fading out of vision and only then, did everything turn back to black.

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Waking up with cold chills and tangled in covers had never been a pleasant feeling in the morning. To top it all off, not having a shower in two days made it worse. Kaoru wiped her brow, and slowly rolled to the side looking at the alarm clock, only to have the neon red light blaring five thirty two A.M. right back at her. She groaned, she didn't have to wake up until at least noon, there was a week left of vacation after all. Going to sleep at eight forty five the previous night messed with the routine schedule, but she dropped almost the minute her head hit the pillow, so it was unavoidable. Jet lag was never fun.

Dry mouth syndrome was another thing that was not the greatest experience in the world. The urge to drink a two-liter of orange pop drove Kaoru out of bed. Fumbling with the covers, and untying herself, she put two feet on the ground, and sat staring out the window. It was still dark, another half an hour or so and it would be a new day.

She stood up, and almost slid on the pillow she threw to the ground the night before --the one that smelt like Sanosuke's girlfriend. Everything that happened last night came flooding back into her mind. It was not going to be a good day, she would have to talk to Sanosuke, and apologize for being rude, but he would have to apologize first.

Before pulling open the door to her room, she stopped and looked in the mirror, wondering why last night's sleep had been uncomfortable, but her question was answered when she saw she was fully dressed. `Man, I was really out of it last night.' The black, stretchy dress had been comfortable because it fit like glue to her skin, and she had not even realized it was there half the time. With the dress pulled down to a respectable length, she clamored into her apartment, heading to the refrigerator for the sweet orange stuff. A glance in the dark proved a figure to be laying on her couch with covers pulled over them selves. Sanosuke no doubt.

"Ohayo, Sano."

She only managed to pull a groan from under the sheets as fingers pulled the cover up over his head further. If she pushed to wake him up, it would probably ensue in another screaming match, and she still had not gotten over the last one. Attention turned back to the fridge, she grabbed some orange pop --Sunkist-- and drank half the bottle in a minute flat.

Yes, it was good to be home.

Reminding herself of an urgent hot shower, she returned to her room, and grabbed fresh clothes to wear. A knee length jean skirt and a stretchy black T-shirt top. The top reminded her of the dress, but this time she would not get looks from pervert guys, well, as much anyway.

A good fifteen-minute soak revitalized her, and she got out of the shower, and brushed her hair, towel drying it. Blow drying only caused split ends, and it always took too long because of the thickness of her hair. Florida's rays did the rest of the drying for her once she got outside, anyway. Satisfied with her lazy appearance, she stepped back into her apartment. The lights were on, and Sanosuke was coming in between their adjoined doors. They both eyed each other before looking the other way and she quickly returned to her room to finish putting on some light makeup.

She was not ready to say sorry yet.

She was stubborn, and she had never met anyone that could best her in that game.

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Twenty minutes later of decidedly unnecessary pouting, she braved it back to the main section of her apartment. Sanosuke had his back turned to her, sitting at the bar, digging through the Dunkin Donut's box. Nonetheless, he tried to speak, a little irked, or not.

"Jou-chan I--"

"Don't worry about it, Sano. I'm over it, just don't let it happen again." She knew what he was going to say --it was enough for her, the attempted apology. Sano was the person she cared most for in her life, and their pride needed to be shoved away. Sometimes.

Sounds of the shower running flew in her ears; it was probably Sano's girlfriend getting ready to make a run for it in the daylight. Sano slept on the couch, she must have been really mad at him and made him sleep elsewhere, Kaoru thought.

`Serves him right.'

"Anyway, you're up early."

"What do you mean up? I just got home." Sano turned around in his seat to give her a you-should know-better look.

"Huh? Then who was that on the couch?"

"That was--"

"Ugh!" For the second time that day, Sano was cut off when the phone rang; she gave him an angry stare for leaving the girl in the house while he was out partying, before quickly answering the phone. "Hello?"

Grumbling, Sano returned to his previous position to listen to the one-sided conversation as he ate the strawberry frosted doughnuts, two bites at a time.

"Oh, hi, Jason"

He rose an eyebrow. "Che, your still dating that two bit loser? The nerve to call so early." Kaoru pivoted to Sano's direction to give him a death glare. Their relationship was not going well, and leaving for two months did not help it any, but Sano did not have to rub it in.

"Yeah, I missed you too."

A pause.

"What am I doing today? Umm . . ." Kaoru looked at her watch unconsciously, she realized she did not have to make up an excuse because she had already forgotten about the one planned. "SHIT!"

Sano turned in his seat again to see why she was cussing. Her using profanities was a rare thing. Kaoru was doing the panic dance.

"What, Jou-chan?"

"Jason, I got to go. I forgot about class registration. I'll call you later, bye!" The phone was slammed back onto the cradle, and she ran back to her room. Sano was baffled.

"What!?"

"Sano! Find my keys!"

Kaoru returned to her room, shuffled on her black flip flops, dug through the room for her purse, and ran back into the kitchen for her car keys. When she sprinted out side her door, a person was emerging from the bathroom wearing something that suspiciously looked like Sano's huge bathrobe, and a towel covering up their hair. Sano's girlfriend had used her shower too, now she had proof. He was going to have to wash her bathroom now as payment. He always hated cleaning the bathrooms. "Who's that?"

"Huh?" Sano peaked over the fridge door to look at Kaoru, then looked at what she was talking about. "Oh, that's--"

"Never mind, I found my keys. I've got to be there at seven --I'll be back late." She snatched her keys up that were on the table next to the door, and open it up to go outside. "Make sure there are no girls here when I get back!"

The door was slammed in their faces. Again.

"Huh?"

Sano looked over his shoulder, looking rather amused. "Looks like my robe is a little too big for you."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me borrow it. But what about her?"

Sano smirked. "Feh, don't worry, roomy. She'll figure it out when she gets home."

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Kaoru's morning was filled with running around the campus, and other school related tasks. She had registered for classes before she left, but had to make sure she got them. To prove her fact, her desperately needed art class was missing from the list, replaced with a Home Economics crash course. The thought spilled across her mind that she probably needed to take the class, but art was fun, and so much easier. She enjoyed hanging around the art students; they had something different, and refreshing to talk about. The students in her P.E. classes were just there to hang, and catch a credit, and she did not even want to get into it about the kids in her math classes. If college was going to be anything like high school, she wanted to make sure everything was set up straight, and to her liking.

The rest of the day consisted of a goose chase in finding the right utensils for the classes. Everything had to be done so she could relax rest of the week. After that, it was an hundred and eighty days of non-stop school action. She attempted to go see her less than average boyfriend but he was not home, and did not answer the phone the remainder of the day. In the back of her mind, she knew they were going to break up, and felt bad for neglecting him too much over summer, but he had done the same. She would probably hear about him with other girls at clubs and such from Sano, but that could wait till later. At least an attempt was made to see him.

Everything was finished around five when she pulled into the apartment complex. It had been another long day, but the rest of the week was hers, and after she got back on Sano's good side again, it was time to go out and have fun. He always knew how to take her to the right places, and show her a good time. She often played with the idea that they probably should have been dating long ago, but he liked women, which meant a lot of different women. She was the type to be jealous if a girl even looked at her guy, so nothing would work out in the end between the two of them. They would kill each other first.

When she reached the top of the steps --thank the people above-- that was only half a flight, there was a note on the door that resembled someone's familiar chicken scratch.

K-chan,

I'll be out for a bit.

My new roommate is inside.

I'll explain why later, so don't

go scarin' anybody again like

you did last night.

Your man,

Sano

Kaoru giggled to herself, the poor girl last night was probably frightened senseless. `He'll probably have one less girlfriend to worry about after that incident.' Pulling the note off of it, she opened the apartment door, once inside glancing around for signs of a roommate. Immediately noticing a patch of hair sticking out from over the sofa. Walking into the kitchen area, she eyed the person on the couch, and noticed their eyes were shut, and were not making any movements to open them anytime soon.

"Sleeping?"

Thinking it was best not to wake the stranger, she returned to her room briefly to put the stuff away she bought earlier. Two bags full of school supplies and a sac of Burger King French fries for a snack. Returning with the fries in hand, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and sat down on a stool at the bar. Letting curiosity get the better of her, she let her eyes settle on the new object in the room, which was Sano's sleeping roommate, and it was a guy.

She started at the feet while tearing the fries in half, and eating one end at a time. Adding the new purple ketchup to the mix was pure heaven --almost, she was missing her orange pop. He was resting on the arm of the sofa, facing her with one knee bent, and foot on top of it. She would have to tell him when he woke up not to put his feet on her couch while wearing shoes, that aggravated her to no end. The other foot was resting on top of a skateboard off to the side of the couch --it was the reason she started her observation from the feet, catching her interest immediately. The board looked old, he probably used it a lot. He was sleeping with it after all.

Feet clad in black Etnies that looked almost new accept for tell tale wear of a skateboarder owning them. His socks were low on the ankle, black in themselves, too. Cargo shorts were a military green that hung low on his hips, boxers sticking out on one side that had cute little MoJo Jo Jos printed on it from the Power Puff Girls show. Kaoru cracked a smile at that --it was incredibly adorable. Double metal chains were slung on the side of his waist probably attached to a wallet. The black shirt he wore was a little more restrictive than the rest of clothing he wore; it had an Etnies symbol in simple white on the front of it. Besides looking like a typical Punker, his appearance was crisp and clean looking, not crumbly and full of holes like the rest of them usually were.

When she traveled past his clothing, the hair caught her attention. She noticed it first thing when she came in the door, but it was very striking at second glance. A bright red, maybe it was the way the setting sun was hitting it at the time, but it seemed a very unnatural colour. The guy looked like a person who would dye his hair though, she would have to ask him that question too when he woke up. He had a weird haircut, hair reaching down to his jaw line; at least he didn't spike it like everyone else did.

`Like Sano's . . .'

She almost choked on her fries when she got a better look at his face. It was the same face from that morning. Kaoru felt like an idiot, not only did she mistake the guy for Sano's girlfriend early, she yelled at him too. He probably already hated her. Great. It was his fault for having such girly, delicate looking features, but then again, that was being harsh. She wanted to die. `Kind of good looking though, can't complain living next to two cute guys.' Sigh. `I hope he'll forgive me.'

The guy shifted in his sleep, and Kaoru focused back over to him. Before he was lying with his head bowed, chin resting on his chest, but he moved onto his side, letting a little more of his boxers stick out. A slight, reflect of silver danced in her sight --a silver chain had fallen out of his shirt. It was a cross, but it was upside down. Kaoru strained her mind to remember where she had seen such a thing before; the guy just kept getting odder by the moment. Then it hit her; he was the same guy at the airport she saw yesterday.

Now she had a mountain of questions to ask him.

Shoving the last of the fries in her mouth, she noticed the odd cross had writing scrolled on it. After minutes of squeezing her eyes trying to make out the writing, she wiped of her hands with a napkin to get the grease, she then stood up to walk closer. The writing was really small, so she braved her self, squatting down by him, putting one foot on the skateboard to get close enough.

Leaning forward, she heard material rustle, saw his eyes snap open as he shifted forward. Kaoru's breath stifled, she panicked, and tried to sit up. She registered her leg sliding forward when she tried too --she had forgotten about the board, and mentally cursed herself for the folly. Everything set in motion, and it was too late, she started falling backwards, feet kicking out in front. Bracing herself for the inevitable, she grabbed onto the closest thing to her, shutting her eyes.

The ground never came, though. After a split second, Kaoru found herself being squeezed by a warm pressure, and something tickling the side of her face, instead of the hard ground cushioning her fall.

Releasing cool, shallow breaths, Kaoru allowed her eyes to open slowly, and they picked up the colour red. The man's hair was feathered on the side of her face, she realized then, his hair was a lot longer, longer than hers, and it was in a ponytail that shifted forward while he grabbed her. Glancing around her --in the tight hold of the man-- she realized they were parallel to the couch's cushions, it had been a very close call. Every so slowly, the man brought them back up right, keeping his hold on to her firmly in place. She heard him bring in a long in-drawn breath, and release it. His quiet, low toned voice finally broke the silence that seemed like it had taken too long.

"Jasmine."

"Wha . . .?" It was the faintest of whispers she could muster, to dazed from the sudden shock to even comprehend full sentences, let alone a single word.

The man above her released his hold, drew back, sliding hands from her back and returning them to his side. Both of his feet steadied the board beneath so another trip would not be triggered. "You smell like jasmine."

"I'm home!" Both turned their heads when they heard keys jangling at the door's lock, moments later, Sanosuke walked through the door holding bags of take out food. Dinner was going to be a calorie spectacular. "Ahhh . . . I see you met my new roommate . . .?"

Kaoru blinked a couple of times before her mind allowed her to think. Breathing returned to a normal state, and she turned her head to finally look at the other man's face. That is when she also noticed a bandage covering his left cheek, she thought to be a little off. His expression was one of a quizzical state, voice a little hesitant, "Umm . . .Miss, you're a little heavy."

Kaoru gave him a questioning stare, then it turned angry. She barley knew the guy, and he was already calling her fat. Women's minds tend to turn the smallest statement into the biggest insult.

"Umm . . . could you let go?" She carefully looked down to see what he was referring to. Her feet were on top of his and her hands still fisted in a death grip on his shirt where she had grabbed him while falling.

"Oh! Sorry!" Quickly letting go of the poor guy, she mumbled a few more apologies while backtracking to her previous seat. Sanosuke snickered in the background as he brought the food over to the bar's tabletop. His roommate kicked up the board and caught it in his hand as he walked over to the brown, spiky haired man.

"Ken, this is Kaoru. Kaoru, this is Ken." Kaoru politely said `hello', while he just nodded as a gesture of acknowledgment. Continuing on, Sano rummaged through the bag, dropping the contents onto the table. "I got us somethin' lil' to eat, people are coming over later, so you can pig out then."

Kaoru's head shot up. She knew what that meant, "Sano, no parties tonight!"

"Che, like I would take no for an answer. It's your `welcome home' and my `welcome new roommate' party."

"But--"

Sano snorted. "It's to late, they'll be here at ten. That's what you get for not listening to me this morning, or last night."

"But--"

"I'm not inviting the whole neighborhood like last time, so don't worry, just close buddies. It's not really a `party', just buds comin' over." An innocent smile followed the statement. Kaoru groaned.

"Fine." She sighed. It was what she had coming for falsely accusing him of having a girl stay over. "Anyway, why are you guys in my apartment?"

Gagging sounds came from Sano as he struggled with his burger. "Um, yeah, that."

"That . . .?"

"Well, I uh, paid your electric bill, but not, uh, mine . . . I guess." Kaoru glanced at Sano. That idiot.

"Lose it on a bet?"

Sano shrugged angelically. "How'd ya' guess?"

Kaoru shook her head, how could she not of known? At least he paid her bills like she asked while on vacation, so she left it at that. She turned her head to look at the newly named `Ken' --he was scratching at the bandage completely lost in another world. "Do you skateboard a lot?"

He didn't look up while he was unwrapping his hamburger to answer her question. "Not really."

She could tell he was going to be a real talker. "Oh. You just seemed like you did . . ."

"Balance."

"Hmm . . .?" Kaoru looked up at him as he quietly ate his food, wondering if he had even said anything.

After a minute of chewing, he finally decided to elaborate. "I just do it to practice balancing, among other things."

"Oh."

Being around the guy had her starting to talk in short sentences. He did not seem negative, but he was not an overly friendly guy either. Moving from Japan, she found out guys were a lot friendlier in the States then they were back at home. Not saying the boys at home were mean, it was just a lot more casual in the States most of the time, and the majority of her friends were guys. Were as back at home, they were mostly girls, but this guy did just not seem motivated.

Her thoughts were caught short when the phone rang. The insistent phone calls were starting to get on her nerves. Sano swallowed his food, and reached over to grab the phone.

"'Lo?"

Kaoru quietly hoped it was not Jason. A party with no worries was starting to sound better by the moment, compared to an evening with a boyfriend who was just going to break up with her.

"Himura Kenshin? There ain't no Kenshin here."

"That's me." Sano and Kaoru turned their heads toward Ken, a little surprised. He held out his hand to take the phone.

"Oh. Hold on." Sano dropped the phone from his ear to hand it to him, "Here."

"Domo." Ken took the phone, and walked to the other side of the apartment out of earshot. Kaoru and Sanosuke both shot each other puzzled looks.

"He just told me his name was Ken." Sano shrugged it off, returning to his Big Mac.

Kaoru glanced over to their new roommate, he did not look Japanese, but that was definitely a Japanese name. Plus, even if it was one little word, he spoke a little of the language too. But it all made sense if he got off the same flight as her that came from Japan. She already had many questions in mind for him when he got off the phone, and they were still coming.

Ken, was her new topic of interest.

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To Be Continued

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Next Chapter- Questions for Kenshin and an eventful party for Kaoru. Jack Daniels' included!

Author's Notes- First off, I don't know what the relationship is like between boys and girls in Japan, I just added that bit for the story's benefit. So don't take it seriously in real life circumstances. Anyway, she met Kenny, well, she already has before, but she just thought he was a girl. *Snicker* Poor Ken. The Kenshin in this story is going to be a cross between `rurouni' and `Battousai' personas. I don't believe that bit were people treat him like two different people, and when they have them talking amongst each other, I just wanna rip my hair out. Your making him sound like a psycho. Sorry if I offended anyone. But, yeah, he'll be more on the quiet side, not letting to many secrets go, but he won't be a total bastard. You'll see what I mean in the next few chapters.

*Chapter one and two's names are NIN track titles, so I don't own them. So there.

Let me know what you think so far, anything missing?

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My Reviewers get half a cookie and I'll tell you why-

FF.net Review People-

Queen of Shadows- You're half-right, but I'm pleased you paid attention to the prologue and the beginning of the chapter. So as you can see he is both "Sano's girlfriend" and the guy with the cross. Thanx for the review! *Hands you half a cookie*

Mr. Blank- Half right too, Kaoru was mean and dumb and thought he was a girl, poor Kenshin. Thank you for my first review! *Hands you other half of cookie*

MM.org Person-

Flame amber- Half right. *Gives you half a cookie* Glad you like it!

I'm happy I actually got some reviews for the first chapter, I thought it sucked. That's what I get for writing it in the early morning hours, never again . . .

Thanx!