“I’d think I’ll have a sip...“ Kaoru’s hand went towards the fresh bottle of sake that sat on the floor in front of her. Suddenly, it disappeared just before her fingers could reach it. A look of surprise and annoyance ran across her face. “What’s the big idea?”
Kenshin had his polite smile on, fully aware that he was treading on icy waters. “Eto… Kaoru-dono, maybe you shouldn’t have any de gozaru.” the redhead samurai rapidly sputtering his words. Once he had punctuated the sentence, he sat back with relief, still cradling the bottle of sake.
Kaoru’s expression did not change. Her eyes circled around the dojo. There were many other bottles, but she had wanted -that- bottle. Somehow it seemed like Megumi and Sanosuke were guarding the rest of the sake away from her. She got up from her spot next to Kenshin and protested anxiously, “What’s wrong? We’re all celebrating, aren’t we? Why can’t I…?”
It was Sanosuke turn now. “Because…” he started to say. The tall spiky-haired ex-gangster crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, trying to relax, but Kaoru’s glare shook him at every blink. “… we all know how you get when you get drunk, Jou-chan.”
She seemed confused by his response. She had thought he would say something like; ‘you’re too young’ or ‘you’re not mature enough’. She wanted further answers. “What do you mean by that? How do I get when I get drunk?” Kenshin, Sanosuke and Megumi exchanged glances, both filled with amusement, then fright.
Megumi decided it was her turn now. She got up from her spot and stood adjacent from Kaoru. “Listen, Kaoru-chan, you become even worse than you are right now if you have just one sip of that sake. All of the things that make you the ‘Tanuki-girl’ are magnified three times than if you were sober. For Ken-san’s health, I prefer you not to have any today or ever.”
Kaoru felt a bit hurt by her words, and turned towards Kenshin for comfort. “Honto, Kenshin?” she sniffed. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot between the girls and tried to keep a smile. But there wasn’t anything to smile about. It looked like Kaoru might cry or kill someone. “Nee???” she asked again.
“Hai, de gozaru.”
Kaoru’s face fell. “Datte… datte!” she cried, and pointed over towards Yahiko, “You let Yahiko drink! He’s seven years younger than me and look at him!” The poor kid was already wasted after a single bottle and looked extremely sick. His blue gi and hakama were soaked with sake and his face was a faint green.
Sanosuke shrugged. “Yeah, but all he does is pass out, throw up, and say funny things every now and then. With you…” He stopped short. Tearful vengeance reflected in her eyes and he knew that any further and he would be a headless Tori Atama.
Megumi patted her on the head as if she was just a child, fox ears symbolically popping out of her head. “Maybe you should just go to bed, Kaoru-chan. You don’t have to celebrate with us.”
“But it’s my dojo!” Kaoru was now aware that they didn’t really want her there, but didn’t want to leave. She turned again to Kenshin, but he sat silent as a statue, his smile unchanging. “Sou desu ka…” she whimpered, her emotions on edge, “MOU! I won’t get in your way! Good night!” she yelled, storming out of the dojo. They heard a couple of things crash outside, then total silence.
Kenshin’s smile faded and crumpled onto the floor. “Did we really have to do that? It was so cruel.”
Sanosuke pointed at him. “Wasn’t it you who vowed last time no matter what happens, you would not let Jou-chan drink at all!”
Kenshin blinked his eyes. The memory of their last party flashed in his mind. Kaoru had become like a madwoman, throwing herself indecently at every male in sight, including himself, Sanosuke, and even Dr. Genzai. But, as her ‘affections’ weren’t returned, she turned as violent as some wild animal, leaving everything and everyone in shambles. In the morning, she couldn’t remember anything, but still…
“I’ll never forget that night…” Megumi uttered, shivering at the thought, “When Ken-san turns Battousai, that’s scary. But when Kaoru-chan gets drunk…”
Sanosuke murmured under his breath, “I still have nightmares about that time…” He covered his eyes in shame and sniffed, “Jou-chan… she took advantage of me…”
Kenshin looked at his friend with disapproval. “Mah, mah…that’s not from what I remember. You were actually encouraging her, Sano.”
Sanosuke opened his eyes just in time to see Megumi sending over a slap to his face. “Yamero, you demon Fox!!” he snarled at her, rubbing his sore cheek. Kenshin smiled at them. Although they fought most of the time, deep down, he knew they had feelings for each other. Now if only they would admit it.
Megumi suddenly turned towards him. “Ken-san, now that Kaoru-chan is gone there’s a lot more sake to go around. I wonder what we should do.”
“We are suppose to celebrate your new promotion, Megumi-dono, so…” Kenshin held up the bottle, which he had been cradling in his arms this whole time. “KANPEI de gozaru!!”
* * *
Kaoru tossed in her futon. Somehow she was conscious that the others were still up, celebrating without her. What hurt her more was that they didn’t want her there with them. Even worse, Kenshin didn’t want her there.
‘It seems like something he would do. So polite, but so cold,’ she thought, ‘You’d think after all we went through together… first Jin E, then Saitou, that whole Kyoto thing, and lastly Enishi & his Jinchuu… you’d think that after all that…’
Kaoru found that her active mind not making her drowsy, but more wide awake. She sat up and held her head in her hands. “MOU!!” she pouted, unable to sleep.
She was tired of just lying there so she got up and pulled open her door. It was a cool evening, spring had merely just begun. However purple clouds covered the sky and it looked like it might rain at any moment. Kaoru sat at her door, wearing her yukata looser than usual, since no one was around. Her eyes moved towards the dojo, where lights were still visible. She tossed her braid over her shoulder and got up, tightening her yukata as she walked towards the dojo.
‘It’s time the party ended and everyone went home.’ she thought, going up to the door. She was shocked as she looked inside. There were empty bottles everywhere and Yahiko throwing up in the shrine section. “Minna, what happened!” she cried, racing inside and catching the boy before he collapsed on the floor. She turned towards the others, “Sanosuke? Megumi-san? Kenshin!!”
“Oro…” Kenshin murmured, completely out of it. He was leaning against the wall, his sakabatou at his side, his gi untucked. He looked in worse shape than a rurouni…
Sanosuke and Megumi were both pretty smashed. Megumi was in a flirty mood and Sanosuke didn’t seem to mind. The two were laughing and poking at each other. "Sanosuke, you want a physical check up??"
"Sure, Fox-doctor. Could you look at my hand again. Hee hee."
Kaoru watched with embarrassment. “Nee, you two… go do that somewhere else. Really!” she lectured, pulling them up on their feet and handing them their possessions, “Megumi-san, will you make sure Sanosuke gets home safely?”
“No problem. Leave it to me, Kaoru-chan.” Megumi giggled, leading Sanosuke out of the dojo by the arm. Somehow this didn’t reassure Kaoru at all. She regretted letting them go in that condition. She wanted to stop them, but they had already left.
She turned back to the mess in the dojo. ‘I’ll handle this in the morning,’ she told herself. She then looked over at her two boarders. Shaking her head, she picked up Yahiko on her back, carrying him out. ‘I’ll come back for Kenshin in just a bit,’ she decided as she brought Yahiko to his room. She set up his futon and tucked him in. The poor boy reeked with sake. ‘Should I change his clothes?’ she wondered. Yahiko would be greatly embarrassed if she did, so she decided he would just have to deal with smelling bad. Sighing, she returned to the dojo to get Kenshin.
“Kenshin?” she uttered, seeing that he had left his spot. Only his sakabatou and a trail of broken glass remained in the moonlit dojo. ‘Where did he go?’ she wondered as she frantically searched for her rurouni. She checked outside and saw that a downfall had started. “Eh? Why all of a sudden?” she cried, grabbing an umbrella and opening it. She finally spotted Kenshin, drunkenly trying to walk towards the house by himself. “Kenshin! Matte!”
“Oro… damn you, Sano.” he muttered drowsily. It was Sanosuke’s idea to split Kaoru’s share of sake so the two of them were drunker than usual. Kaoru rushed to his side and supported him as he struggled to stand. “Kaoru…dono…?”
“Eh, it’s me. Let’s go inside, nee?” she said, taking hold of his arm. Kenshin just responded by passing out. She was able to catch him before he fell and then put him on her back as she did Yahiko. But Kenshin was much heavier than Yahiko was. Kaoru slowly made her way to his room, exhausted as ever. “Kenshin…we're here!”
There was no response. Kaoru couldn’t handle the weight anymore and gently put him down against the wall. She then started to set up his futon, hoping he would wake up by the time she was done. But he didn’t. ‘Oh… he’s all wet. He needs to change out of those clothes…’ She got up and fetched him his blue yukata.
“Kenshin, wake up.” she called, pinching his shoulder. He twitched for a second, and then nodded back to sleep. “Kenshin!!” she cried, going to slap him. But she stopped at the last moment. There was something about how his face was so innocent as he was sleeping; she couldn’t bear to do it. Sighing, Kaoru sat back still clutching the yukata.
‘It’s no use. He won’t wake up. You’re just going to have to…’ Kaoru’s face tinted red. ‘Demo! You can’t do that! It’s wrong!’ She looked at him again, her mind in a constant struggle, ‘Demo! He’ll catch cold! Kenshin no baka! This is all your fault!’
Feeling she had no choice, Kaoru pulled at his gi, which instantly came off. She blushed as she stared at her shirtless rurouni. After a pause, she slapped herself in the face to regain perspective of what her true purpose was. ‘Get him out of these wet clothes, into dry ones…’ she kept telling herself, ‘Don’t look, don’t look…it’s wrong…it’s wrong…’ Next, she undid the knot of his hakama. Taking a deep breath she pulled at the pant legs, leaving her poor Kenshin in nothing but his loincloth.
“He’s really skinny compared to…” she muttered, remembering the time Sanosuke was gallivanting shirtless around the dojo (just about every other day). "He's kind of muscular too...er..." She threw the damp clothes aside and held up his yukata. “How is this going to work now? Hm…” Kaoru got up, pulling the sleeping rurouni with her. She was able to balance him on his own feet. Timing correctly, she let go and threw the yukata on him, tying it close as fast as she can, then catching him as he fell. “There…” she uttered, catching her breath, “All finished!”
All of a sudden, Kenshin’s arms encircled around her. “Eeeh??” Kaoru blinked, very surprised by the sudden movement. It was a very tight hold for someone who was asleep. She struggled to break free, but only found that the hold was getting tighter. Tears were coming out of his closed eyes and his teeth were clenched. “Ken…shin…?” Kaoru uttered, looking a bit concerned.
‘He must be having a nightmare.’ she thought, ‘Kenshin…!’ Just then, she lost her balance and tripped backwards onto the futon, Kenshin going down with her, his grip ever so strong. Kaoru stared at the ceiling, unable to get up. ‘This is bad…’