Underneath It All
Chapter 17: Underneath it All
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin
Recap of the last chapter:
"She's a what?" breathed Kaoru.
"A lesbian, Kaoru, a lesbian. Tomoe is a lesbian," repeated Kenshin. Kaoru stared at him in disbelief with eyes as big as saucers.
"No way..."
"It's true. You see, that's why she broke my heart the way she did. She didn't want to hurt my pride by telling everyone that she realized she was a lesbian while she dated me. She found that she liked my feminine characteristics more appealing than my masculine ones..." explained Kenshin. Kaoru stared at him with those sapphire eyes in shock.
As she connected the dots, she found herself becoming amused with what Kenshin just told her. She had to admit it was pretty funny.
Kenshin groaned internally as he watched Kaoru's expression turn from shock to amusement. He closed his eyes while letting out a sigh and Kaoru burst out giggling.
He waited patiently for her giggles to subside for the next minute. Once they died down, Kaoru took him by surprise and embraced him tightly.
"Oh... Kenshin. Take me home," sighed Kaoru with a hint of laughter.
Kenshin gave a weird expression; Kaoru never ceased to confuse him.
---
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Random eyes darted anxiously back and forth. More than half the owners of these eyes were paying attention to the authoritative figure lecturing at the front of the room.
Lord, the time was going by so slow.
Every now and then, someone would fidget in his seat, causing the chair to squeak against the flat tiles on the ground. A cough from another person would follow from across the room. One person at the back of the room would then start rapping her pen on the desk top out of impatience.
Although the figure lecturing at the front of the room witnessed all of these disturbances, he chose to remain impassive and continue his lecture. He wouldn't torture them now; that was what his summer homework would do.
An evil cackle echoed in his head. Those poor bastards.
"Professor Shishio?" A voice caught him off guard.
He directed his gaze to the owner of the voice. "What do you want Seta?"
Soujiro smiled his usual smile. However, his slightly quirked eyebrow showed his uneasiness.
"We were just wondering why you started cackling. It was rather… disturbing," Soujiro answered. He thought about how he should have been used to questioning his scary sensei on behalf of his fellow classmates since he had been the messenger for the whole year, yet he was still timid whenever he had to do the troublesome task.
Shishio, on the other hand, thought about something else; how he had accidentally blurted out what was going on in his head without realizing it. He mentally punched himself.
Instead of replying back to the class with an exuberant, rude remark, he stared at them before grabbing a pile of papers from behind his filing cabinet and placing the pile next to him.
The class just gaped.
The pile was taller than the professor himself.
Shishio beamed with satisfaction as he began ordering the students one-by-one to pick up their homework packages.
However, before the first student could stand up from his desk, the most beautiful sound in the world at that moment was heard.
The dismissal bell.
Before Shishio could order the students to sit back down, every single chair was empty. His eyebrow twitched.
He swore that next year he would break that damn bell.
---
The sound of a familiar laugh caught Kaoru's ear. She turned and smiled at the scene.
Misao was giggling at one of Soujiro's jokes as she latched onto Aoshi's arm as he walked indifferently next to her. Misao's laugh was choppy, due to the short amount of breath she was getting. It was a hilarious sound to Kaoru. Misao was breathing hard since she was walking quickly to keep up with Aoshi's stride, which happened to equal three of hers.
Kaoru guessed that Aoshi noticed Misao's condition because he slowed his pace so that she could catch enough air. That action made Kaoru smile. Although Aoshi always came off as being an impassive person, he always showed at least some sort of affection toward the little lady walking next to him. A stranger probably would not have noticed the difference, but Kaoru sure did. Subtle or not, the way Aoshi acted whenever he was around Misao did not faze Kaoru from seeing how much he really cared for her petite friend.
Kaoru let out a small giggle before turning back to the front of her. Megumi and Sano were bickering, again, and Kaoru let out a smirk. From the corner of her eye she could she the small twitch coming from Kenshin's mouth. Both he and she found the other couple's way of expressing their love absolutely amusing.
Throughout each of their arguments they would be holding hands. Whenever Sano would say something that Megumi couldn't find the answer to she would slap the back of his occupied hand with her unlatched hand. That action would be followed by the "Baka Rooster-head" scold. Sano would then try to slap the back of her hand, but would be unsuccessful because she would grab him by the ear and give a sharp tug. That would leave him with nothing else to do but admit defeat and rub his ear. After that they would walk in silent for a couple steps before repeating the whole cycle again.
Big, sapphire eyes twinkled. This year was definitely a year she would never forget. From what first appeared to be the worst year of her life, turned out to be a year of memories that she would treasure for the rest of time.
Kenshin caught Kaoru's serene expression from the corner of his eye. He then focused the rest of his attention on her.
She really was the most exquisite thing to have ever come into his life. When he first met her he would have never have thought of her the way he did now. Back then he was based on stereotypes and superficial judgments. It all went into a dramatic turning point when he met her. He no longer cared about being popular, having a popular girlfriend, or caring about what people thought of him.
She had helped him see that there was so much more to it than that.
Kaoru felt Kenshin's stare and turned to look at him. She paused all movements and gave him her full attention. Misao, Aoshi, and Soujiro walked past them as though they didn't even notice their sudden halt. Misao's quirky laugher was the last thing to echo down the street.
"What is it Kenshin?" Kaoru asked as she tilted her head and creased her eyebrows in concern. He was staring so intently at her.
Kaoru let out a little startled breath as he held her chin and planted a soft, gentle, yet tender kiss on her lips. Kaoru closed her eyes at the warmth of his lips on hers. Kenshin ended the kiss a short while after and backed away. He had a very affectionate expression in his eyes. Kaoru was astonished at the intensity of his gaze.
"Kaoru…"
He moved into a warm, tender embrace. Kaoru blinked a couple times, a little confused about why he was acting this way.
He inhaled a long, deep breath of her jasmine scent.
Kenshin held her tighter. He took in the feel of her hair and the creamy smoothness of her skin. He took in the fit of her body with his and the cozy heat radiating from her surface.
Closing his eyes he thought about the sound of her laughter, the small hiss at the back of her throat when she was mad, and tenderness in her voice when she would say his name. The tilt of her head to the side when she was confused or concerned, the jut of her jaw when she would get defensive, and the relaxed muscles of her face when she was asleep. The shine of those sapphire orbs when she would be happy, the cloudiness in them when she would be sad, and the sparks shooting out when she would be angry.
All those thoughts brought a content smile to his lips.
She showed him that there was more to it than just the surface; the surface of life, the surface of people, the surface everything.
There was so much more underneath it all.
"Thank you."
He exhaled.
Oh my gosh… I… I'm done…!
I can't believe it! I finally finished it! Hahaha! I'm finished! It so damn long, but I'm finished!
Oh gosh, please review. The wait may have been long, but please tell me if this ending was worth it. It's the first ending I've really ever written and I need to know if it was decent enough.
Thank you all for enduring this story with me. There may have been rough times, but I'm so happy that I made it through. Thank you all for your support!
Don't forget to review and check out my other stories as well.
Love,
Dev