! MATURE WARNINGS: This story CONTAINS COARSE LANGUAGE, and HINTS ON SEXUAL SITUATIONS. The dialogue can be rough at times so please don't complain to me about the swearing. That's why I'm writing this here for your convenience before you start reading further. !

A/N: As of August 8th 2005, I've been working mainly on editing this story completely from top to bottom. That means better changes throughout. I've looked back to certain things and cringed horribly. I hope you can take the time out to re-read this all and let me know what you think. Thanks.

Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Kenshin.

CHAPTER 1

The University of Tokyo was packed. Both the faculty and students were bustling around the hallways, and all throughout the exterior campus grounds. Everywhere you looked you could see old friends uniting, catching up after what they claimed to be a much too short summer break. Amongst them, however, there was one girl in particular that was missing from the vibrant, lively scene.

"Damn it, I'm late!" Kaoru shouted to herself as she quickly slipped her shoes on. One last look in the mirror showed her how flushed her already pale skin looked. Following every jerky movement, her ponytail swung out from behind her, wildly. She paused only for a moment to close an eyelid. Ok, not smudged, she inspected before slamming the door shut, and running down the hall.

"Come onnnn!" Anxiously she pushed at the elevator button several times before it finally came up.

"God, I'm so nervous," she muttered under her breathe and closed her eyes, trying to bring up the visual map in her mind where her first class was. She was in the middle of sorting through her bag when the elevator doors opened.

One hand in her bag and the other outstretched towards the 'open' button, she stumbled and missed it by an inch.

"Darn it!" she cried when the doors mutely closed and the whole thing started to slowly head back up again. This painfully delayed her several more minutes.

When she finally did make it back down and out, she broke into a sprint in the underground parking area. Kaoru tried to keep her sanity at a moderate level when she started to cut off many of the drivers on the road.

Can you seriously go any slower? God, I'm going to make such a fool of myself! I can't believe I'm late for the first day. What's wrong with me? she angrily thought as she swung the wheel to the left and right like a madwoman.

And now parking is yet another whole different issue, she fumed as she surveyed the permit holder's area. Every single spot was pretty much taken. And now I'm going to have to park at the back, like a loser, and make my way up the campus, which is where again? I'm so damn far out. I don't even know where I am now!

Thankfully with the parking job accomplished somewhat legibly, Kaoru followed the green signs that were directed towards the university's main building. I guess that's legal, Kaoru smirked as she turned over her shoulder to glimpse back at her obvious lack of parking skills. It's between the lines… sorta but that's all that matters. Rounding the corner to come face to face with the towering entrance, Kaoru felt like an itty bitty ant. Butterflies nervously twinged inside her, each delicate movement making her feel ultimately sick.

It's been awhile since I've seen everyone, she frowned visibly.

For the past two years she had been hiding from the few people that she could classify as friends. And even then, they weren't exactly close in a 'best friends' sort of way. It was all because two years ago Kaoru's parents had died in a plane crash. They were headed on one of their normal business trips, like they conducted every couple of months, to the United States, when their plane plummeted, and crashed, instantly killing everyone on board. She could still re-call that day along with the last birthday that she celebrated with them. Painful memories like that would never fade away no matter how hard you tried to forget. And she had tried her best.

What pained her the most was that they had really tried to convince her to come along. Usually she would say no and the subject would be dropped, but this time, ironically, they had had their heart set on bringing their only child along with them. Otou-san told me that morning that the U.S. was a lovely country. Oka-san promised that I'd make some friends that I could email and send letters to. But I told them no, it was ok, because I wanted to have the house to myself for awhile. And now I'll forever be alone. The look on their faces reflected their disappointment but it soon ebbed away. None of them held their anger for very long except Kaoru. That's why her father was proud to have a daughter than a son.

"You're stubborn and hardheaded. You never give up, you know that?"

She had stuck out her tongue childishly but he continued in a more serious, powerful tone.

"And that's what'll someday make you the Master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. I'm so proud of you Kaoru, never change for anything or anyone in this world."

The young teen with widened blue eyes stared up at her father curiously. He smiled down at her and she instantly beamed and nodded her head enthusiastically.

But that had been a lie.

Instead of living up to, and honoring her father's greatest wish, she ended up living on sedatives after they had both passed on out of this world. Many nights and days were spent tracing invisible lines across the living room ceiling as she lay down on the floor, completely out of it, with a smile on her face and a single tear sliding down her cheek.

Even now she still suffered, and whenever anyone mentioned it, the freshly bandaged wounds threatened to rip open again. That's why she had so carefully avoided the world for two full years.

Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Kendo School was the very profitable, wealthy company that her parents had founded and ran. Katsujin-Ken was their strong motto and it meant 'swords that give life'. It was her father who had worked hard to develop a system that used wooden swords instead of the real thing to protect others instead of placing them in harm's way. That was his mission in life, and Kaoru knew very well that it was part of hers too. Shamefully, she didn't want to have anything to do with it after her father's death. It was just too hard.

Footsteps echoed off the newly waxed floors, and Kaoru was barely aware that it was hers. One thought led to another and then another, and soon her memories floated over another hard bump in her life. Medication. Originally meant to soothe the nerves and bring dreamless sleep, she very quickly found how hard it was to stop taking them. Being numb felt good. But when the doctors told her that it was time to slowly stop, that felt like hell. The natural healing process took even longer to occur after. Ever since then, Kaoru swore to herself that she would never swallow another of those godforsaken pills ever again.

Now, as she headed down the East block, she overheard voices. Gossipy ones. Conniving ones, telling stories that were twisted without truth. And then again the familiar memories jumped to another time in her past where she could fully relate to it. Unfortunately then, Kaoru had been on the receiving end.

Back in high school she had always been a loner.

I liked it that way, she stubbornly snapped back at herself while whipping her hair aside. Fine, so she hadn't been into make up, and boys and cool slutty clothes that revealed ninety percent of her body. Rather, she chose to finish up her Biology homework than make out with some hormone crazed boy. And of course by the next morning that popular couple had broken up and the so called 'love of each other's lives' were out making out with other people by the final lunch bell. High school politics. Kaoru would only scoff.

One innocent slip of the tongue, a mere outburst at a person she considered to be a mutual friend changed her life in high school forever.

Of all the boys in her grade that she would almost always ignore, there was one that she would actually bother to look at. A very handsome face, fair, with an unmistakable air of alluring mystery that followed him about. If, only if she had to desperately choose a young man, she would have chosen him. It was highly doubtful that he'd consider her back. Compared to his girlfriend, Kaoru was just a thin, ugly duckling with little acne, but her pimples chose the most inconvenient spots to harvest upon. If she truly cared enough to listen to the crap that people muttered about her, maybe then she would have considered putting on a little make up and getting rid of her fashionable glasses. As for her body, it was just an uncomfortable age where everything was mismatched. And padded bra's didn't appeal to her one bit.

The nightmare began when she exploded at Nanashi in Math class one morning. By the end of the day, everyone, including that popular boy's girlfriend, heard a story that consisted of Kaoru admitting her unrequited love for Mr. Mysterious. Words got twisted as the days whizzed by and soon enough the latest copy of the story floating verbally turned into one of Kaoru being horribly jealous and crying out in Math class that Asahi didn't deserve her boyfriend.

Asahi threatened to beat her up and Kaoru told her to bring it on, forgetting the very sake of what Kamiya Kasshin Ryu stood for.

"Freaking cross-dressing weirdo. Plays with swords cause she thinks she's hardcore like that," Asahi taunted her, humiliating her in front of dozens of other students including her boyfriend and his goons that followed him around like toilet paper stuck in the ass.

"If your parents are that rich, why can't they buy you a new look, bitch? I heard the cost of implants are relatively cheaper nowadays."

Kaoru raised her bushy, un-plucked brows and smartly said back, "Yeah, a flat bitch like you would know huh? Done your research and all."

Asahi's face turned red and Kaoru shook her head before rushing off away from the huge scene that was making her feel more and more uncomfortable by each passing second.

Ignoring that annoying bitch and her friends was ok, but the jokes that hurt her the most were the ones that came from Asahi's super cool boyfriend.

Wiling herself not to cry and to keep her head up firmly, she failed miserably on the last day of grade ten. As her light, tear filled eyes caught his, he smirked malevolently and nudged his friends. They followed her to her locker and harassed her viciously like a pack of wolves eyeing a rabbit.

That was how her high school life got messed up. Unfortunately even after summer holidays that year, they did not forget and they didn't let her either. Suffering in silence for the two years that followed after, Kaoru did her best but never told her parents. Knowing it would hurt them, they would also feel the need to take action and Kaoru didn't believe that would make anything better. In fact, it would only damage the situation further.

In the end, throughout most of her life, Kaoru realized she was alone. No one called when her parents died. It was all over the papers though. Undoubtedly everyone knew about it.

During the time she was recuperating through the drugs, magically and quite surprisingly, her body began to bloom on its own. All minor acne scars cleared away, leaving a layer of glowing fresh, healthy skin. Suck it up, was her motto for every morning when she put in the unfamiliar contact lenses that burned her eyes. A shopping spree was soon at hand and Kaoru went along with one of the high executives working at the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu head office. Yamoichi Kumi was a lovely woman who adored Kaoru like a daughter she never had. Both did a 'shop till you drop' and Kumi even had to call one of her private assistants to carry their bags around.

When Kaoru came home to her apartment, the one that the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu company fully paid for, she came home with many surprises and realizations. Sitting in her living room, surrounded by tons of bags, Kaoru went through them all, and had an epiphany.

I'm a size three instead of a one. My butt actually looks good in these jeans. And oh my god, I'm not an A-cup anymore? Nani!

Sprawled onto the carpet, she laughed out loud to herself.

Life was getting better…

College was the next big step and Kumi walked her through it all. They went in and got her registered, took a tour, spoke to some of the faculty members who were just absolutely delighted that Ms. Kamiya Kaoru would be joining their academic team. A fake smile on her lips, and pinching Kumi with her free hand, both the women managed to keep their laughter inside at how silly the staff had reacted.

Life was getting better…

Or so I thought, Kaoru moaned to herself as she snuck a peak at her watch. Seven minutes late on the first day. Better find this stupid English class.

To her surprise, the room was only half full and the professor hadn't even begun giving his boring intro speech yet. She avoided all eyes and picked a seat at the back of the auditorium. Drawing her textbook out of her bag, Kaoru gave a quick glance about the room before sitting absolutely straight again.

The teacher finally began a few minutes later, and to Kaoru's dismay he had a monotone voice that sounded deathly boring. Oh man, this is going to be a long day, Kaoru thought as she sighed deeply.