Disclaimer: No, Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. The redhead is Sony's and Watsuki-sama's.
Author's Notes: So this is my new story. I picked up the idea from a television series but I am not really planning on following the whole train of idea. This story would be a bit short, just like The Catch. I haven't been updating my other stories for a while but I promise to spend a little more time completing some chapters. I might actually have more time now because the semester's about to end. Anyway, please do read and review and thanks a lot.
One: lucky streak
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Maybe today wasn't just her day. Kaoru took a swig from the bottle she was holding. She wasn't the drinking type, but due to all the unexpected circumstances she has met today, she was drinking. Hard. And she doesn't like the feeling. She knew that by morning she would be having a headache and would be throwing up, and would be smelling bad.
She was crying. No not crying, wailing. She was wailing and she was receiving much attention from the drinking couple at the table beside hers. She stood up, her knees weak and her sight blurred. Maybe that was the alcohol taking effect. She took the unfinished battle of sake in her arm and laid down few pieces of crisp bills on the table. She decided to have a walk.
She sniffed; she was already catching a cold. Maybe it wasn't good to be drinking at this time of the year. She wailed even harder.
Kaoru looked around and realized she doesn't have a car. She doesn't even have enough money to get herself a cab. She wailed even harder. How worse could this day get?
---
"Megumi, has she called?" Kenshin opened the door and beckoned to his secretary.
"Not yet Kenshin. She might still be out. No one answers at your house."
Kenshin nodded and closed the door. Remembering something he suddenly opened it again and said to the rather in-a-hurry Megumi, "Call her cell phone."
"Alright."
Kenshin closed the door again and slumped back on his seat. Maybe she was with Kaoru. And whenever she is with Kaoru bad things happen. He picked up his cell phone from the glass table and dialed Kaoru's number. It rang.
---
Kaoru sniffed hard, took a long drink and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. She couldn't tell the difference between the smell of the alcohol and her smell.
Maybe she just wasn't lucky today. Maybe tomorrow she'd get lucky. Maybe after today things would turn out okay.
She had asked Enishi to meet her earlier at the Shinjuku station. She was flushed when she got there, having stayed at her office's powder room for twenty minutes rehearsing the lines she wanted to tell Enishi.
Enishi was early as usual, a polite smile on his face. He escorted her to a restaurant and the rest, to say, is history. Well, not really the eureka kind of history, but something like a downgraded version of it. Extremely downgraded. Enishi, in other words, and in words much simpler than eureka, had dumped her. Not really dumped her because in the first place they aren't on a relationship.
Kaoru had harbored feelings for him ever since she could remember, and because she received news of him finally breaking up with his current girlfriend, Kaoru took the chance of telling him how she feels. But maybe it just wasn't the perfect timing, or maybe he just wasn't that ready yet, he said no to her.
Kaoru was devastated. But looking at it now from a retrograde perspective, it wasn't as bad as what happened when she came back to her office.
She knew she was faring miserably in her work. It wasn't the type of work she imagined she'd be doing after finishing a degree in college. It wasn't the type of work which would really put a spice in her life. But it was the type of work that provides her with the cash to pay her monthly rent, to pay her water and electric bills, and to buy her usually camping type of foods, which mind you consisted mostly of instant ramen and no cook curry.
It was a disaster. She had considered quitting the life of an insurance agent a long time ago but the fear of not quickly finding a replacement kept her going. But then she wasn't good at it and all she could do was endure the humiliation and the screeching voice of her boss. In other words she was fired that same day.
And that wasn't the end of the story. She had gathered all her useless stuff in a box, stuff which consisted mostly of photo frames, with pictures of her and Enishi and had gone down the elevator to drive herself out of that stupid building.
She went to where she parked her car. Hers was an old car. But it was reliable. But that moment it wasn't. It started smoking and all she could do was stare at it as it continued coughing black smoke. She had a tow deliver it to the nearest car repair shop. She couldn't believe she had spent a fortune paying for its repair. Maybe she should've bought a new one instead. She couldn't imagine commuting every morning just to go to her work.
But then again she was fired.
So she was wailing harder now, sitting at the sidewalk, her handbag in one hand and a box full of litter office stuff at her foot. She has no money to get home, and soon she knew she'd have no home to go to and she'd have no food to keep her alive. She knew today was the day the heavens had forsaken her.
---
He dialed again. Maybe Kaoru was really with his younger sister. Kaoru is really a hard nut to crack, she does what she wants and he is afraid that Misao would be following her rather clumsy and non-directional footsteps.
He frowned as the ringing kept on. He knew Kaoru ever since they were kids, growing up in the same area, their parents on a friendly basis. She was a year younger than he is, and five years older than Misao. Kenshin was about to end the call when it suddenly stopped ringing and Kaoru's drawling voice came through the receiver.
"Kaoru," he said, frowning. Now what is she doing?
"Who'ssss this?"
"Kenshin. Is Misao with you?"
There was a hiccup. And then another. And then there were some sniffs. And then there were sobs. Her voice sounded like it's going to break when she said, "No…"
Kenshin tried to listen more. She sounded like she was crying. "Where are you? Are you alright?"
She sobbed. "I don't…I dunno…"
"Kaoru—" the door suddenly opened and Megumi came in.
Kenshin turned to her and saw her holding a phone.
"Misao's already home." Megumi handed him the cordless phone.
He waved his hand for her to put it away. "Tell her I am on my way."
"Alright," Megumi turned around and disappeared through the open door. She closed it with a soft thud.
"Kaoru," he went back to the phone.
"Are you drunk?" he asked frowning again. He started walking around the carpeted floor when he realized he felt worried.
"K-Kenshin…" she started crying. She was hiccupping and was saying some incomprehensible words.
He hushed her and said, "Listen, Kaoru listen," he placed a hand on his hip when Kaoru still continued saying incoherent words, "Kaoru listen to me." He heaved out a sigh as she stopped, "Where are you?"
"I…I don't k-know…"
"Look for any sign," he said again. Kaoru easily gets in trouble and he had taken as his responsibility to always make sure that she doesn't get in any sticky situation. She really could be so helpless, "Are you drunk? Have you been drinking?"
And then she started saying incomprehensible words again.
"Kaoru, Kaoru. Now, tell me where are you? Look for any road sign or any street ad…just anything."
Kaoru was silent, but she was still hiccupping. Finally she started saying things.
He caught her say "train station" and he quickly told her to stop talking, "Are you near the train station?"
Kaoru started sobbing again.
"I'm coming over," Kenshin calmed her down, told her to just stay where she is. "Don't go anywhere. I'm coming over." He might just have an idea where she is.
---
Kaoru was sobbing uncontrollably, her bottle almost empty. She took another drink, emptying the contents in her mouth. She was feeling dizzy, feeling sleepy and feeling like throwing up. All she wanted now was to sleep, but even sleep wouldn't calm her down.
She doesn't really know who called her. It sounded like someone she knew. She doesn't really care who it was so she remained sitting on the sidewalk, wailing. She doesn't really care who it was as long as someone would come and fetch her.
She wailed again. Her world breaking apart.
---
Kenshin drove around. He soon found the train station near her work place, and finally a drinking tent near the station. He drove for over five kilometers when he finally found Kaoru's drunk form sitting unceremoniously on the sidewalk.
He quickly parked the car, got out and hurriedly ran towards her. He stopped as soon as she tilted her head to see who it was.
Kaoru was crying. Just as what he mused over the phone. She was holding a bottle on one hand.
"What happened?" he asked, sitting on the sidewalk beside her. He tried to get the bottle from her hand and was at first unsuccessful. He tried again and luck was on his side. He went over to a litter bin and dumped it hurriedly.
"What are…youuuu doing?" she asked, her eyes drowsy for sleep.
"Kaoru," he said, "What happened to you?"
She tried sitting up straight but ended up losing her balance and falling over her. "Enishi, you've…you've come for meeee?"
Kenshin frowned, "I am not Enishi. Who's Enishi?"
"Enishi…Enishiiii…" she started wailing, her hands clutching his shirt.
"Kaoru, Kaoru," he forced her to sit up, "Who's Enishi? Did he hurt you? Tell me where he is and I'd make him pay."
She cried again, words spilling from her mouth. Her words were uncontrollable, incomprehensible and incoherent.
"What happened tell me?" his eyes darted from her to the box beside her, "Why do you have your things with you?"
"I'm…I'm…" and then she wailed.
He wrapped his arms around her and tapped her back, "I'd get you home. We could talk about it tomorrow when you are feeling better." He suddenly felt her jerking and when Kenshin freed her from his arm hold she started throwing up. Kenshin frowned.
A wave of nausea claimed her and soon she was throwing up even more.
---
Misao rang his brother's phone. Megumi said he was on his way home but it was already eleven in the evening yet he was still nowhere in sight. Had something happened?
Even Kaoru's phone was just ringing. But Misao doubted that Kaoru and his brother would be together at this time of the night.
She rang his brother's phone again.
---
Kenshin carried Kaoru to his car. He was reluctant to do so, she smelled of vomit and her clothes were all dirty. Even his. But he could do nothing about it now and he has to take Kaoru home. He hauled her to the back seat where she continued sobbing and saying unintelligible words.
He looked for his phone, wanting to call Misao, wanting to tell her that something happened to her careless sister. But try as hard as he might, he couldn't find his phone and that's when realization struck him: he had left it, together with his wallet, in the office in his hurry to find Kaoru.
Kenshin shook his head and decided to take her home instead. But even still he doesn't want Misao to see Kaoru in such a state, after all, Misao thinks too highly of her, considering her an older sister.
He went to the back seat and grabbed her bag. "Where are your house keys?"
"I know…It wasn't my…I couldn't…How could he…they…how?" she continued sobbing. Her eyes were red and swollen now.
Kenshin shook his head and started spilling the contents of her bag. No, the keys weren't there. He started for the box and again he still couldn't find the keys. He stopped and stared at her. "Kaoru, what am I going to do with you?"
Kaoru started saying something, and slowly approached him, placing her hands on his chest. She started crying again.
"Oh, alright…" he thought for a while.
He shook his head as the only option hit him. He went back to the driver's seat and started the engine and maybe Kaoru's luck was starting to affect him as well, the engine wouldn't even start. It ran out of gas.
He looked around and the place seemed deserted. So now the only option is to hail a cab and take her to a hotel, or a motel. Wherever cheaper. He has no phone, no gas and no money. He looked at the backseat and find Kaoru still sobbing.
---
Ten minutes later he got them a cab and instructed the driver to bring them to a motel. After a fifteen minute drive they entered a love hotel whose signs were blinking in the night. He doesn't even know that a love hotel exists at the juncture between the highway and the train station. Maybe the cab driver had brought a lot of people there.
He paid the fare and wrapped an arm around Kaoru's sobbing form. He paid for a room and where escorted to the second floor. It was a simple hotel, the walls painted in light pink. He couldn't believe that such a place existed.
---
"Now Kaoru," Kenshin consigned her on the bed. He looked around, "So this is what a love hotel looks from the inside."
He sat on the bed. It was a water bed; he faced her.
Kaoru started speaking, her words a bit lucid this time. She brought her hand on her chest, "I-I…I can't believe it…I am…I am…" and then she cried again, "Enishi…he said he didn't want me…"
That was the longest graspable sentence she had made that night. Kenshin sat in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. When he released her he said, "You are crying because of a guy?"
"Enishi…Enishi, why can't you?" she placed a hand on his face.
"Kaoru, if this Enishi guy caused you all this pain I promise I'm going to hunt him down and make him pay," he said. "Just please stop crying."
"No…no…I am not crying because of…of…"
Kenshin frowned, "Then why?"
"I was…I was fired…" and Kaoru started crying again, tears spilling anew.
Kenshin looked quizzically at her, "You were fired? And that Enishi guy?"
"Enishi…You said you don't feel the same way…" she wailed louder.
"Then why are you really crying?"
"My car…my car…I have no money!" and she wailed much louder. She was clutching the box in her arms even as she cries.
"Kaoru, I don't really understand you now."
"W-what am I doing to myself?" Kaoru said tapping her chest, "I am…I am so useless! Even my car doesn't want me anymore!"
"Kaoru, there must be—" Kenshin held her still. "What's in the box?"
Kaoru sobbed and held the box tight.
"Let me see," he pulled the box and rummaged through it. He had foraged through it earlier but wasn't able to look more closely at the heap of picture frames.
"No…no Enishi…you must not…" but her arms gave way and allowed Kenshin to keep the box to himself.
He frowned. These were all pictures of Kaoru and a guy. "Is this Enishi? You are crying because of this guy?" He frowned yet again. "I can't see any reason why you should cry over this guy. For one he isn't that good looking like me."
Kaoru placed a both hands on either of his cheeks, "Enishi…I…I like you a lot…"
Kenshin put the box away, "I actually do not know why you are crying. But Kaoru please stop calling me Enishi because I am not Enishi."
"No, no…I know," she murmured, inching closer to him.
"Kaoru?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, y-yes—" she suddenly closed the distance between them, her lips suddenly colliding with his in the most urgent of kisses.
It was brief, yet the effect was there. Kenshin was stunned as Kaoru pulled back, her eyes in a daze. "I know…I know you are Kenshin…Kenshin Himura…"
Kenshin was about to open his mouth to say something when Kaoru suddenly threw herself on him that caused both of them to lose their balance. She ended up on top of Kenshin.
"Kaoru," he said, disoriented. He tried to get up but Kaoru was too heavy for him to handle.
"Y-yes," she said, her mouth suddenly on his. Her hands on his chest, forcing him down on the bed, keeping him at the bottom.
He tried to stop her but the kiss was unexpectedly, not to say, addictively, heated that he couldn't find it in his will to stop her. To make the long story short, he succumbed to her lack of sobriety, returning the feral kiss in a sudden twist of sheets, leaving her underneath him.
---
Kaoru woke up with a pounding feeling in her head. This is what she doesn't like about drinking. She should remind herself not to go on a drinking spree ever again. She blinked her eyes, adjusting them to the warm light peering through the heavily draped windows. She rubbed her temples and sat up.
---
Kenshin bit his lower lip as he saw Kaoru finally awake. He timidly took a seat beside her on the bed, adjusting the quilt covering her. He wouldn't want her to find out now. He knew her temper, and he had been subject to it once in high school when he lost her diary. He looked down on his lap and slowly turned to her.
"I'm thirsty," she suddenly said, her voice hoarse from crying too much last night.
He quickly went to the small fridge and got a bottle of water. He nervously opened the cap and handed it to her. He prayed hard.
---
Kaoru took the bottle and took a long drink. She felt so exhausted, so drained. She couldn't remember ever drinking too much alcohol in her whole life. For the second time she reminded herself to not drink too much ever again.
She took a deep breath as she recapped the bottle, and slowly turning to the owner of the hand which gave her the bottle, she smiled. "Kenshin?"
Kenshin smiled back nervously.
"Why are you here?" she asked, rather baffled to see him early in the morning. She shifted to more comfortable position.
Kenshin quickly adjusted the comforter so as to keep her unexposed.
Kaoru suddenly frowned, taking a quick scan of where she is. She turned back to Kenshin, "Where are we?"
"K-Kaoru…Give me time to e-explain…"
She looked at him baffled. She took another drink and started yawning. As soon as she yawned the blanket fell off her shoulders. She looked down and staring at her bare chest, her eyes widened.
Kenshin quickly pulled the quilt up to cover her. "Kaoru…Kaoru…I-I can explain—"
"What did you do?!" Kaoru suddenly shouted in a fit, her eyes glaring hard at him.
Kenshin defensively posed, readying himself lest Kaoru started attacking.
"What did you do?!" she asked again, "What did you do to me?!" she pulled the quilt with one hand and with the other hand holding a bottle she started slamming the bottle on Kenshin.
"Wait, wait…Let me—" he was taken off balance as Kaoru hit him with the water bottle, and to try to save himself he held on tight to the quilt and Kaoru came tumbling down the floor with him.
Kaoru screamed and pushed him off her. "Get off! Why did you do this to me?!"
"Kaoru…" he looked at her apologetically, nervously, in fact he couldn't even look at her.
"I'm going to kill you," she said, glaring hard at him.
Kenshin could only swallow hard. Now what did he really do? He is just a man. And a weak man at that.
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A/n: So how was it? The takeoff point's not much but I hope you all liked it. Please do tell me what you feel about. Please do read and review. Thanks a lot!