Who Said I Would?
by obsequious101
Chapter 2
Kaoru was fuming.
How dare he mock her like that?
'You won't miss me for long' What did he think, that she was some obsessed adolescent who would put her life on hold until he came back? That she'd spend the holidays waiting for his return, dreaming every night that he'd…
She frowned.
Was she really that pathetic?
Did he really think she was that pathetic?
She hated thinking about Kenshin. He never failed to conjure up a mass contradiction of feelings within her.
"Bastard," she muttered, pulling her notebook out of her jeans pocket.
"You're not talking about me are you?" an amused voice said softly, breaking through her haze of anger.
She blushed in mortification as she met the eyes of a young man sitting right in front of her.
"No! I'm just…I…uh…" she noticed him beaming and relaxed slightly, "Sorry. Just talking about…a friend of mine…"
He nodded in understanding, "The red headed woman?"
Kaoru burst into laughter, gaining a few surprised looks from the other customers.
It was funny partially by the dead pan way the young man said it, and because she knew that no one in their right mind could ever mistake Kenshin Himura for a woman.
Beautiful, yes. Womanly, hell no.
The man grinned, "Sorry, low blow, I'm sure many guys have long hair now days. I'm Soujiro."
She smiled warmly, "Kaoru. What would you like today, Soujiro?"
"Good question actually. I would like to kiss you," he said casually, still grinning at her.
Kaoru quirked an eyebrow at him, "Uh huh I'm sure, now really…"
He gently grasped her hand and pulled her down to eye level, "No really."
And all of a sudden, his lips were pressed against hers.
She vaguely registered that he had really soft lips, before realizing that seeing she was kissing someone she'd met only seconds ago, the appropriate thing to do would be to pull away.
Before she could was able to bring her hand up to slap him, a strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind and yanked her away.
She was promptly clutched to someone's chest.
Someone's broad, muscular chest…
"Kenshin?" she gaped, looking up at him.
All thoughts of having her first kiss stolen by a stranger disappeared as she noticed just how angry Kenshin looked.
No, not just angry, furious.
And he was glaring at Soujiro as though he wanted to dismember him.
Kaoru blinked.
Was he feeling protective of her?
Unfortunately the idea was too outrageous to even consider seriously.
"Do you two know each other?" he bit out, anger evident in his voice.
Kaoru tried, unsuccessfully, to pry his arm from around her waist, "Kenshin…"
"Kaoru and I are very, very good friends," Soujiro said calmly, smiling widely at Kenshin.
"No we're not," Kaoru said in surprise.
Kenshin didn't seem to hear her as he gritted his teeth together, "Stay away from her."
"She's not your woman."
Kaoru nearly laughed, "Are you serious?"
Once again she was ignored, "I said stay away from her or I'll make you."
The dangerous tone of Kenshin's voice made Kaoru glance at him. He was being serious.
Soujiro smiled, "Make me then."
There was an explosion of movement and Kaoru felt herself being pushed to the side as the two men launched at each other.
Kenshin did a flawless roundhouse kick, sending Soujiro flying out the back door of the diner and into the staff car park. Ignoring the cries of surprise by various customers, he followed after him.
"Oh this is ridiculous!" Kaoru cried throwing her notebook at Kenshin's back, "It was only a random kiss, why are you being so over...?"
He halted and turned to face her.
It was then she noticed the strange colour of his eyes.
"No other man is allowed to touch you like that," he growled before disappearing through the doorway in which he'd thrown Soujiro.
Woah.
Did she just hear what she thought she did?
But as she watched Kenshin storm towards Soujiro, who was lying on the ground, she remembered Sano saying something about Kenshin being an expert when it came to martial arts.
Immediately she realized the danger Soujiro was in, whether or not he deserved it.
She ran outside just in time to see Soujiro land a powerful side kick directly into Kenshin's chest.
Obviously the man could hold his own.
Despite the obvious power Soujiro had behind his kick, Kenshin barely took a step back before driving forward and punching him in the stomach.
Soujiro didn't flinch but dropped his guard for a split second.
Kenshin saw it and fell back onto his left leg, delivering a front snap with his right leg, his heel connecting with Soujiro's chin.
Blood splattered.
Kenshin straightened, watching as Soujiro spat blood onto the ground.
"I've broken your jaw, you'll need to go to doctor."
Soujiro looked up at him, grinning lopsidedly and when he spoke, his voice was strained, "Seems so. I didn't last long this time but I'm sure we'll meet again Kenshin Himura."
Kaoru watched as Soujiro walked off.
That guy was a strange one.
"Uh Kenshin," she said in a hard voice, her hand on her hip, "What was that?"
"What was what?" he asked innocently, coming towards her.
She blushed at how close he was and tried to look angry, "Beating someone up just because…"
He kissed her.
His arm curled around her waist, pulling her flush against him. His right hand came up to cup her face as he deepened the kiss, his warm lips opening against hers…
And then he stopped.
Resting his forehead against hers, he caught her eyes, his expression as serious as she had ever seen it, "I love you."
Kaoru felt her eyes widen and her cheeks flush an even deeper red, "Huh?"
He frowned, "I think you're meant to say you love me too."
"Well yeah but you already knew that…" she said avoiding eye contact, trying to make it sound matter of fact.
He gently stroked her cheek, "Actually I didn't, but it makes me happy to know you do…"
She nodded slowly and raised her head to meet his lips again.
She could get used to this.
---
"How did you get Soujiro to agree to something so stupid as getting Kenshin angry," Sano asked his girlfriend thoughtfully.
Megumi rolled her eyes and grabbed a chip, "Kenshin's famous for his martial arts skills. Soujiro wanted to fight him, suss him out and since Kenshin's not doing that anymore…"
"…the only way to fight him was to get him angry," Sano finished, grinning, "Makes sense."
"No it doesn't, its stupid macho crap. But if it gets those two morons together…" Megumi said trailing off as she noticed that the sounds outside ceased.
Sano raised his eyebrow at her, "Seems it's finished already."
Megumi shrugged, "Soujiro's not at his best yet but trust me, that boys going to give Kenshin a run for his money one day."
Sano looked towards the door thoughtfully, "Wonder what they're doing now."
Megumi smiled wickedly, "Kenshin's probably ensuring that Kaoru never looks at another guy ever again."
Sano groaned, "Bloody hell."
---
"I can't believe how over the top you were. He could have been a friend," Kaoru said disbelievingly as they walked back into the diner.
"A friend doesn't kiss another friend on the mouth like that," Kenshin said glancing at her sideways.
"Yeah but what if he had been a very, very good friend of mine?" Kaoru said teasingly, prodding him in the ribs.
Kenshin grinned kissing her softly on the lips, "Then I wouldn't have let him live."
She gaped and watched as he walked back through the door, trying to ignore the tingles running through her body at his possessive kiss.
Maybe being with Kenshin was going to be a little more trouble than she thought.
"You're the one with the fan clubs," she muttered following him.
She didn't notice him stop and turn until she ran into him.
He grinned and cupped her chin, bending to kiss her, "Feel free to fight with them over me if you must."
"I don't think so!" she said trying to sound tough and as though his close proximity didn't affect her.
He shrugged, "You know there's no need to."
She blushed and he kissed her softly again.
"You're coming with me to Italy," he breathed, grinning, "that way I can keep an eye one you all holidays and you won't spend sleepless nights wondering what I'm up to."
Kaoru smiled, knowing he was teasing her and gently tugged his long red hair, "Who said I would?"
The End
Thank you very much to those that reviewed my story, they made me very happy! :)