A groan of sheer exasperation could be heard from the corner booth in Grants’ Coffee Central, the popular hang-out for the students of IUJ, or better known as the International University of Japan. Annoyance filled the azure of Kamiya Kaoru’s eyes as she leafed through the large, hardbound book she had bought only a few days ago in hope of completing her mythology chart early. At least, she would have some free time on her hands if she completed the chart now.
“Hey, Cubby Cub, what’re you doing sitting here all alone?” A familiar voice questioned from Kaoru’s right, causing Kaoru’s azure eyes to stray towards that of her roommate, Tukywa Karen. She had met Karen during the summer of her senior high school year, after her graduation, and it seemed that ever since then, the two had become friends, growing closer with each passing day.
Karen loomed over Kaoru with a mug of Hot Cocoa in her hands, studying the chart Kaoru had been working on for an hour. “Ah, the chart; I should start that soon, ne?” Laughing good-naturedly, Karen took the seat opposite Kaoru while she carefully sipped her Hot Cocoa. “Have you heard of the new knife-throwing, swordplay lessons the Gym instructor is giving to the students wanting to learn how to use them?”
“I have, and quite frankly, I think it’s ridiculous. Why would someone with half a brain hand over knives and swords to careless students and allow them to throw them at pretend targets when you know good and well that they would prefer to throw them at each other?” With a roll of her eyes, Kaoru returned to observing the chart she had only just begun despite of her hard work in looking for the descriptions of some of those listed, hard-to-find, mythical gods. “Please, tell me again why I signed up for this class,” she sighed in frustration as she flipped to the back of the book, hoping to find some clues as to where these certain gods were located. Searching frantically through the jumbled words was beginning to give her a headache.
Karen shook her head and took another sip of her Hot Cocoa before she set the cup down on the table. “Because you thought it would be an easy A, that’s why. Kao, we aren’t in high school, just so you know, so I don’t think being taught defensive lessons is really all that bad. You do know that’s what the lessons are for, right? Why don’t we sign up? Who knows; it might be fun.”
Kaoru snorted but tried unsuccessfully to hide it behind a simple cough. Karen merely raised a brown eyebrow in her direction, shrugging her shoulders in a gesture of carelessness. “I think it’ll be fun. Don’t you?”
“And your definition of fun is? Oh, never mind,” Kaoru quickly added when Karen opened her mouth as though she planned to answer the question and inform Kaoru of what having fun meant to her. “If you really want to join the group, then, who am I to stop you?” If Karen truly wanted to take the supposed defense lessons, then, it was no concern of Kaoru’s. She didn’t see the point in even creating lessons that could easily be self-taught. Even if the students learned how to throw a knife and wield a sword, that wouldn’t truly help them in self-defense. Sure, Mr. Sawagejou would show them the most effective ways to use the weapons, but wouldn’t guns be more sufficient in this case?
“You already know how to defend yourself, if I do so recall correctly. That is, against any unwanted suitors. Remember Hoishi?”
Karen’s lips curved into a smile of pure, satisfactorily wickedness, the familiar name striking a cord of recognition within her body. Tsubasa Hoishi had had the nerve to throw himself at Karen last year while she and Kaoru had been studying in the large, public library when she had already made it clear to him and to everyone else who asked that she wasn’t romantically interested in him. In fact, she wasn’t interested at all. ‘No’ had been a word that Hoishi wasn’t accustomed to hearing. It was now, though; Karen had seen to that.
“Oh, him; I haven’t thought about him in ages, but now that you bring the little tyke up, I did show him what the word ‘No’ meant, eh?”
“You certainly did.” Kaoru locked amused gazes with Karen as both women fought back the laughter that was threatening to pour from their systems. Finally, when they could not hold it in any longer, laughter rang throughout the small coffee shop. The few customers who both women recognized as college students didn’t seem to mind. In fact, they were encouraging the mirth by laughing among themselves as well. The giggles hitched in Kaoru’s throat, though, when her gleefully bright, sparkling eyes returned to the mythology chart. “All joking aside, I should really get back to working on this lousy chart.”
“Kao, you’re pushing yourself slowly over the edge. You do realize that, right?”
“What’re you talking about?”
Kaoru knew exactly what Karen was hinting at. The women were so very different, yet, they couldn’t be apart from the other for too long. Karen was more or so of the easy-going, laidback type while Kaoru, on the other hand, worried over her academic schedule, homework, and important term papers that were always due a few weeks later. It had always been like that for her. Kaoru wasn’t known as the partying type, but there was an excellent reason for that.
Kaoru couldn’t hold her liquor well no matter how small a sip she drank of it. She would rather curl up on the futon in her and Karen’s dormitory and watch a drama film or write a short story rather than spend her free time visiting the neighborhood bars and parties people she barely knew gave.
“You know what I mean. Get out more, Cubby Cub. Find a boyfriend.”
“And what exactly would I do with a boyfriend, Karen?” Kaoru questioned with mock curiosity, knowing full well that the very last thing she would do anytime soon would be to go searching for a boyfriend no matter how many times Nosy Karen begged her to. Kaoru supposed she just wasn’t ready for a committed relationship. The last relationship she had been in, during the summer of her senior year after she had met Karen, hadn’t ended well. “Forget it, Kay. I refuse to become romantically involved with anyone right now.”
“How long has it been since your last relationship? Around two years, Kao! Hey, look at those guys over there. One of them might change your mind.”
“I doubt it,” Kaoru muttered under her breath, but decided to humor Karen by following her friend’s head gestures to where two men, possibly seniors, sat opposite one another, enjoying two cups of coffee, in a booth near them. Kaoru recognized the taller of the two men, with his spiked hair the color of russet, from the crowded hallways of the Science Building, Number Three. Not only had he been skipping the class Kaoru shared with him, but he had been hanging all over two older women, giving her the impression of an experienced player.
The man sitting across from his tall friend, however, took on the air of a completely different person.
He wore the long strands of his unique, claret hair tied back at the nape of his neck, and when he addressed his friend with repartee, his intense, lilac eyes sparkled contentedly, as though he was the happiest man alive.
At least, someone was enjoying his life.
Completely unaware of the fact that Karen interestedly watched her as she studied him, the red head, Kaoru’s azure eyes fastened on her nosy friend. When she glimpsed the knowing gleam flashing behind Karen’s toffee-brown eyes, Kaoru’s cheeks reddened with guilty embarrassment.
She hadn’t meant to stare at the shorter man with so much interest, especially with Nosy Karen sitting across from her, listening to her every word and watching her every movement; but, there was something different about him, something unique, something she couldn’t quite place her finger on. Kaoru was an excellent judge of character, and she knew a fascinating person when she saw one.
“Someone catch your eye, Kao? Perhaps the tall, dark, mysteriously handsome fellow; or, maybe, the shorter man with the odd coloring is more to your liking?” Karen, her lips twitching at their corners, pointedly regarded Kaoru with a knowing satisfaction that deeply irked Kaoru into glaring across the table at her. Though her quiet friend, Kaoru, might believe that she wasn’t ready to commit herself to anyone, there had been no mistaking the interest that sparked to life within the depths of her deep blue eyes when she had looked at the red-haired man.
Her cheeks flushed, giving away the truth to Karen’s words, Kaoru abruptly slid from the booth and hurriedly gathered her belongings that included a heavy book and a chart into her arms before she started towards the exit of the coffee shop while calling over her shoulder, “I just remembered an errand I have to run! I’ll see you later tonight in the dorm!”
Karen stared after Kaoru’s retreating form, shaking her head in silent laughter. So, she was going to deny her interest in one of those two men by simply running away, now was she? That was just like her to make up some lame excuse to escape having to admit—Karen never finished her thought, however, because when her eyes strayed towards that of the spilt coffee near the booth Kaoru was just now passing, she called out, “Hey, Kaoru watch out for the coffee!”
Too late.
Kaoru lost her footing the moment she stepped into the puddle of cold coffee and gasped in surprise when she felt her feet leave the sticky floor. At the last minute, she caught herself by gripping the edge of an occupied table, but if it hadn’t been for the supportive arm that had brushed her back when she had tried to save herself from embarrassment, Kaoru knew that she would have fallen.
Her book, along with her chart, didn’t make it, though. They tumbled from her grasp as soon as she slipped on the coffee. “Arigatou!” She panted heavily while she stooped down to collect her things, but as she moved to right herself once more, her head connected with that of another head.
A head full of red hair.
“Gomen nasai,” Kaoru murmured apologetically as she pressed her book to her bosom before she turned to thank the person who had saved her from humiliation properly.
Her apologetic, azure eyes locked gazes with the unique lilac of a man’s eyes. Not just any man, but the one she had been studying in wonder. “Oh, I—I’m sorry. I, well, thank you.” Cursing herself for stuttering over such simple words, Kaoru straightened as she rubbed the tender area on her head which had connected with his.
“You’re welcome.” The man smiled into her eyes, showing her the true, distinctive color of his eyes. Not only were they a mauve, but a tinge of gold circled their pupils.
Shaking her head, as if she meant to clear her mind, Kaoru bowed her head in a show of gratitude. “Thank you again.” Wordlessly, Kaoru departed from the coffee shop, leaving the man, his oddly colored eyes narrowed rigorously on her retreating back, to stare after her.
Kenshin remained standing in the middle of the cold puddle of coffee until Sanosuke called him back to the world of the living. “Spacing out again, Kenshin? What was that about? That girl was in some hurry, wasn’t she? If you hadn’t been sitting there, looking like the sweet-natured, relaxed guy every girl wants to get to know you pretend to be, then, she would have fallen on her ass.” A smirk curving his lips wickedly, Sagara Sanosuke’s voice lowered to a whisper. “And what an ass it is.”
“Sano,” Kenshin sighed as he shook his head at the taller man. Sanosuke never did cease to amaze him. “That’s all you seem to notice lately.” He had to silently agree with Sanosuke, though, and even if he would never admit his thoughts aloud, the woman did have a nice figure. Unlike Sano, however, that was not all Kenshin looked for in a woman.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice it, Kenshin. The little missy was sweet on the eyes too, wasn’t she?” Sanosuke arched a shaggy, brown eyebrow suggestively in Kenshin’s direction, having noticed the way Kenshin had been quick to help the woman before she made a total fool of herself. Kenshin didn’t do that for every woman who happened by; Sanosuke knew so from experience. “So, anyway, what about that swordplay you’ll be participating in?”
It was amazing how Sanosuke could jump from one subject to the next without taking a breather. A warm, friendly smile curving his lips, Kenshin sank back down into the booth as he folded his arms across his broad chest and settled comfortably against the back of his seat. “Mr. Sawagejou asked me to assist him in the lessons he plans to give. He told me that he liked my skills. I didn’t even know I had skills.”
“Oh, come off it. Everyone knows how accurate you throw a knife or how gracefully you wield a sword. It just comes natural to you, and I’m jealous, but I must say that I’m more of a fist-fighter.” As if on cue, Sanosuke cracked his knuckles while a teasing smile grazed his lips. Sanosuke would pick the fights if he could, but seeing how he had gotten in trouble once already with the law about putting a man in the hospital, he couldn’t afford anymore trouble. Of course, the men he considered his enemies weren’t aware of that.
“Yes, the whole damn college knows about your legendary fists. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoyed inflicting pain onto others, Sano.” There was a hint of amusement in his tone, but no one could mistake the seriousness in which Kenshin spoke. The only fault he could place in Sanosuke’s Box of Flaws would be his love of a good fight. Any fight would do as long as Sanosuke could be a part of it.
“Well, what can I say?”
“Absolutely nothing at all.” Chortling, Kenshin’s smiling, lilac eyes fastened on the silver watch he always wore around his right wrist, the face reading the time to be a quarter past four. He was due to be at work in less than an hour. Cursing under his breath, Kenshin’s smile faltered. “I have to run, Sano. I need to be at work in half an hour or so, and I don’t want to be late…again.” With a simple nod of his head, he slid out of the booth, exiting the coffee shop before Sanosuke even knew that his small friend had deposited the amount of cash he owed on the table.
Staring across the table at the empty space Kenshin had occupied only moments ago, Sanosuke scratched the back of his head in confused wonder. The speed in which his friend entered and exited rooms surprised him. If he didn’t know any better, he would think that Kenshin was running from the cops, knowing exactly where to go and how to tread silently through rooms and buildings. That was absurd, of course, but it didn’t stop Sanosuke from dwelling on the topic.
“Kenshin, running from the cops; never saw that one coming.” Glancing over at the table where the two women had sat, the one whom Kenshin had helped and her friend, Sanosuke soon found himself to be staring into twin pools of smirking, toffee-brown orbs. He flashed her a relaxed smile before he slid out of the booth and followed Kenshin’s suit, leaving the coffee shop at a dawdling pace.
Kenshin, running from the cops; He never saw that one coming.
“Please, Kaoru, he really, really wants that C.D, and I’m too busy to go buy it myself.” Makimachi Misao, her dark hair pulled back in a braid at the nape of her neck, clutched the front of Kaoru’s garnet-red blouse while she stared into Kaoru’s confused, azure eyes pleadingly. “Please, pretty please, Kaoru. I’d love you forever.”
Kaoru stared at Misao silently as she tried unsuccessfully to free her blouse from Misao’s death grip. It was nearing seven in the evening, and Kaoru needed to complete that mythology chart. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t feel like leaving the school grounds just to buy Misao’s obsession a C.D. “Misao—“
“Do I ever ask you for anything? Huh? Huh? I’m only asking you to do this one thing for me! Do you honestly have something more important to do with your time?”
Misao arched a delicate, dark eyebrow inquiringly at Kaoru, boring holes into the blue of her taller friend’s narrowed gaze. When Kaoru merely glared at her, Misao pursed her lips in hope of stilling the broad smile from splaying across her lips. “So, will you do it, for me, for a friend?”
Sighing in exasperation, Kaoru threw her hands up in defeat. Misao could be so annoying when she wanted things her way. Kaoru had met Misao her freshman year in college, just last year, and though the two women had avoided each other on account of stubborn annoyance, they were always there for each other in a time of crisis.
Quite frankly, Kaoru didn’t see this as a crisis.
“Sure; why not? I don’t have anything else going on because I don’t have a life. So, I’ll be only too happy to buy that oddball a C.D.”
“I knew you’d understand! Oh, thanks, Kaoru. I owe you big time!”
“Yes, and you best remember that. You’ll be paying for the C.D, right?” She had better be paying for the C.D. Kaoru wasn’t about to go waste her money on an oddball she knew nothing about, excluding the few times she had caught him in the hallways and exchanged a few words with him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Misao dismissed Kaoru’s worry with a wave of her hand as she dug through her jean purse, searching for her wallet. Finally, after rummaging through most of her purse’s contents, Misao found the wallet. “Here, take it. Just don’t lose it.”
Kaoru hesitantly gazed down at the wallet Misao held out to her, nibbling on her lower lip in thought. “You’re giving me your wallet? Wouldn’t it be easier just to hand me the money you need for the C.D. instead of your wallet?” Watching as Misao placed the wallet in her hand quite forcibly, Kaoru frowned. She didn’t like the idea of carrying Misao’s wallet with her. What if she lost it? What if someone decided to steal it from her? So many things could happen to her friend’s wallet, and Kaoru didn’t want to be responsible for another person’s money.
“You’ll take good care of it. I trust you, Kaoru. When you get back to school, come on over to my dorm. I’ll be there.” Wordlessly, Misao whirled on her heels and proceeded towards the fourth section of the dormitories, where Misao and her roommate, Shinkijou Taryn, lived.
“Wait, Misao,” Kaoru’s call went unheeded as Misao’s petite form slipped out of sight. She blew out a breath of frustration as she started towards the Section Eight parking lot straight ahead. If she wanted to be home before ten, then, she would have to get going. Why she chose to run this errand for Misao she didn’t know. It was Misao who was obsessed over the oddball, not her. Reaching her parked, dark gray Kia Sophia at a swift pace, Kaoru hurriedly unlocked her door, on the driver’s side, and quickly settled onto the seat.
The sun had set about half an hour ago, painting the sky a beautiful ginger.
Kaoru had decided to search the most popular, C.D. shop in town, the Remiske Goods, for the C.D. Misao’s ice man had asked for. Pulling into the shop’s small parking lot only fifteen minutes later, Kaoru parked the car in the closest parking space. “I don’t understand why Misao couldn’t have done this tomorrow or another day. It isn’t like the man needs it now,” she grumbled petulantly as she entered the dimly lit shop.
Right to the Hard Rock section she went.
It wasn’t hard to find. In fact, seeing how the album had recently been released, the C.D. was stacked on the shelf labeled Newbies. Snatching the first copy she was able to reach from off the shelf, Kaoru smiled. Well, it hadn’t been as hard as she thought it would be. At least, she found the C.D, and Misao did owe her for this. Some good would come from her running this errand after all.
And the waiting line wasn’t long at all. Humming softly to herself, Kaoru waited patiently behind an older man in his late fifties with graying brown hair. When he thanked the employee behind the counter with enthusiasm and moved away, heading towards the exit of the shop, Kaoru gratefully stepped up to the counter.
“Would this be all, Ma’am? I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding everything you looked for.”
That voice; so familiar.
Kaoru’s azure eyes swiveled towards that of the man who stood behind the counter, his flashing mauve eyes focused primarily on her face. His unique, claret hair was as she had last seen it earlier in the coffee shop, tied back at the nape of his neck.
Kaoru was at a loss for words.
“Miss? Hey, are you all right?” Concern filled the beautiful glowing lilac of his eyes as he leaned across the counter, studying her attentively. As if she was snapping out of a daze, Kaoru blinked her eyes several times in confusion before she locked gazes with the college senior. “You work here? I’ve never seen you in here before.” She didn’t mean to sound so blunt or rude, but she was curious. Surely, she would have remembered a face like his, especially with that red hair of his.
Kenshin’s lips tilted up at their corners. That was the last question he had expected her to ask. “Hai, I’ve been working here for three months now, but I’m usually the stocker, not the man behind the counter. This would have to be my sixth time, to be exact, working behind the counter. I’ve never seen you in here before. Well, truthfully, I haven’t seen you at all, not even at school.”
“It’s a pretty big school,” Kaoru shrugged her shoulders in a casual gesture, her heart thumping harshly against her chest as she gazed at the red-haired man leaning against the counter. He didn’t seem at all bothered by their unexpected meeting, at least not in the way that she was affected.
Kenshin stared openly at her, watching with interest as she averted her fascinating, blue orbs to the counter. “What’s your name?” He asked all of a sudden while he absently rang up the C.D, its price popping up onto the screen. He didn’t need to inform her of the price for she was already handing him the money by the time he placed the C.D. in a bag.
Tentatively, Kaoru reached for the white, plastic bag the moment he slid it towards her without looking at him. She didn’t know if she wanted this man to know who she was. She didn’t know anything about him. Come to think of it, she didn’t even know his name. “My name,” she repeated numbly as she held the bag to her bosom tightly. It was at that moment she made a decision. It couldn’t hurt to give him her name. He couldn’t do anything with the information. Besides the obvious, it might give her the opportunity to get to know him as well. “It’s Kaoru, Kamiya Kaoru.”
“Nice to meet you, Kamiya Kaoru,” Kenshin murmured softly as he extended his hand. It took her a full minute to place her smaller, soft hand in his. Kenshin didn’t understand her uncertainty, but he could understand her timidity. “I’m Kenshin, Himura Kenshin.” His smile a kind one, he gently shook her hand; and then he allowed her to quickly pull her hand from his grasp once their greeting was complete.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kenshin.” Answering his greeting with a bob of her head, Kaoru offered Kenshin the best imitation of a welcoming smile she was able to muster. She didn’t know what it was about Kenshin that affected her so, but whatever it was, it was definitely new to her. “Well, I suppose I’ll see you in school sometime.” Backing away from the counter, her azure eyes still trained on Kenshin, Kaoru’s forced smile faltered. She was behaving like some little kid. She shouldn’t be acting so afraid or embarrassed. Himura Kenshin was just another body in the sea of bodies claiming the hallways of IUJ.
Sighing, she turned on her heels…
...And walked right into the hefty man standing behind her.
It startled her so much that she dropped the bag with the C.D. in it. She hadn’t even been aware of anyone standing behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she mumbled in embarrassment as she stooped down to retrieve the bag. When she righted herself, Kaoru’s apologetic eyes rose to meet the intimidating shadows enveloping the man’s face. The only thing she was able to detect through those shadows was a pair of ominous, narrowed, dark eyes.
Eyes that sent chills coursing down her spine.
Unconsciously withdrawing from his large, intimidating form, Kaoru backed up into the counter. The man didn’t pursue her or anything; he merely watched her.
Kaoru’s breathing grew labored as she and this man continued to watch each other, studying the other with so much interest. However, when she felt strong, warm hands cup her slightly trembling shoulders, squeezing gently in reassurance, Kaoru peered over her shoulder at Kenshin. For such a sweet-tempered man, he knew how to change that face around completely. Not only was he regarding the other man with attentive caution, but his lilac eyes had darkened with his serious façade. And flashing copper danced within his intense gaze, painting his eyes a captivating gold.
“What the hell do you want?”
His voice had changed too; it was deeper, even accusing. It seemed Kaoru didn’t know this man at all, at least not this side to his personality.
Who was this other man? Why did he put Kenshin on edge? Kaoru didn’t know the answers to these questions, and quite frankly, she didn’t care to know. When she focused her wide, surprise-filled eyes on the large man, his features hardened considerably. It was apparent that he and Kenshin were already well acquainted with each other.
“We desire the ruby pendant, Himura, as always.” And then, “The Makoto Clan watches you.”