Torn
Chapter One: At First Sight
"SANO, YOU BASTARD!!!"
Kamiya Kaoru sighed as she retrieved two glasses and one mug from the cabinet. She tried to hum to herself as she filled the glasses with orange juice and the other with rich, dark coffee.
"LET-ME-IN!!!" Her ten-year-old cousin pounded his fists against the bathroom door as she placed the beverages and silverware onto the table. She got out three empty plates and a skillet to prepare breakfast.
"You snooze, you lose, brat!" The cocky, jovial voice of her older brother shouted from the other side. Kaoru continued to hum to herself as she cracked two eggs into the frying pan to cook.
'Sunny-side up for Sano...' she thought to herself as she removed the eggs automatically from the pan with her spatula and placed them onto the plate.
"C'MON, I'M GONNA BE LATE!!!"
'Scrambled for Yahiko and me...' Kaoru plopped the freshly cooked eggs onto Yahiko's plate and hers. She then began to fry some bacon in her pan to add to the meals.
"OPEN THE FREAKIN' DOOR!!!"
"Would it kill you to wait another damn minute?!"
"YES!!!"
Kaoru hummed louder while she complemented each person's plate with sizzling bacon and two pieces of dry toast. She set them out with the silverware and also got out a jar of strawberry jam and a small container of butter. Keeping her younger cousin in mind, she also placed a bottle half-filled with tomato ketchup on the table. She knew that Yahiko loved to smother his scrambled eggs with it.
"For the last time, Rooster-head..." Yahiko seethed through gritted teeth. "OPEN—THE—DOOR!!!"
"All right, all right!" The door finally opened and Sanosuke stepped out with a towel hanging around his strong neck and a smirk on his face. As much as he would have loved to kick him, Yahiko held back the urge and sped into the bathroom, slamming the door as he did.
Kaoru gave her brother a disapproving look with her sapphire blue eyes while smearing her toast with jam. "You really shouldn't give the poor kid a hard time, Sano. You know how riled up he can get."
"Hmph," Sano scoffed between bites of his toast and egg. "I'd like to see that little punk try to take me on."
She rolled her eyes and swept her long bangs away from her face with one dainty hand. "That's not what I meant!"
"Whatever, Jou-chan," her brother retorted as he devoured his plate. Kaoru let out another helpless sigh. It was pointless to try and get through to her older sibling: he was too hungry to try and talk to.
After a few minutes, they were joined by their cousin. Yahiko rushed to his seat and immediately started consuming his meal. At the fast pace that the eggs, bacon, and toast were disappearing, Kaoru thought that he practically inhaled his breakfast.
"Slow down," she chided. "You're going to choke."
Yahiko ignored her, downing his glass of juice. "It's hard NOT to choke! The food is really bad."
"Then don't eat it!" She shouted at him, her cheeks flustered. Kaoru hated it when she had to endure Yahiko and Sano's insults about her cooking. She will admit that she wasn't the greatest chef in the universe, but she believed that after so many years of cooking meals for her family, she was decent at the least.
"Oh, can you pick me up after baseball practice?"
She crossed her arms. "You tease me about my cooking and expect me to act like your own personal chauffeur?"
The boy ate another forkful of ketchup-covered scrambled eggs. "Well, Sano's gonna work late tonight—"
"You mean he'll be gambling with those criminals he calls 'friends'," Kaoru shot a dirty look at her brother who was doing his best to look innocent.
"You're the only one that can pick me up..." A hopeful grin spread across Yahiko's face, spanning ear-to-ear. "Unless you'll let me drive—"
"FORGET IT!!!" Kaoru screeched at her cousin. "Yahiko, I said that you wouldn't have access to any automobile for at least eight years, and I mean it!!!"
The boy pouted, his auburn eyes pleading pathetically to the young woman. "But Sano would let me..."
"Don't you drag me into this, brat," Sano muttered in between sips of his strong coffee.
Yahiko gave up his plea act and threw up his arms. "Aw, c'mon! I'd be a great driver!"
Kaoru put up her hand to silence him. "You're ten years old for crying out loud! You're not old enough to drive, and you won't be for a very long time. So get used to it!"
The boy sat back in his seat and continued to sulk. However, Kaoru pretended as if she didn't notice.
"Now put your empty plate in the sink and get your things so I can drop you off at school."
"I don't wanna..." Yahiko answered, his disappointment apparent in his features.
Kaoru took a deep breath, feeling the last sliver of patience slipping out of her hands. "Yahiko, it's almost time to leave. Please get ready."
The boy was adamant in his defiance. "You can't make me!"
Seeing how this was going to get ugly, Sano hid behind the shelter of the morning newspaper.
"Yahiko...get up now..."
"No!"
"I'm not kidding around. Get...up...now."
"I'm staying home!"
"An education isn't a good thing to waste, Yahiko. Please don't throw it away..."
Sano was amused with the black and white print as he mentally began to count to himself. 'Five...'
"I don't want an education!"
'...four...'
"You're not going to pass middle school if you can't get through elementary..."
'...three...'
"I don't care if I don't pass!"
'...two...'
"Yahiko...I'm warning you..."
'...one...'
"You can't tell me what to do!!!"
'...zero...'
"DO AS I SAY!!!" Kaoru exploded, her seemingly innocent demeanor completely thrown off by her present appearance. Her hair sprawled wildly around her as she immediately rose from her seat, her usually calm blue eyes throwing daggers into her younger cousin. "WE TOOK YOU INTO THIS HOUSE SO YOU WILL LISTEN TO US! NOW GO AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL!!!"
Knowing that it wouldn't be wise to do anything else that would provoke his cousin to attack him since her temper had reached its peak, Yahiko hurriedly placed his empty plate into the sink and ran out of the kitchen to gather his schoolbooks. Kaoru exhaled deeply, sinking back into her chair. She buried her face in the palms of her hands as she collected herself.
"You really should learn how to control your temper, Jou-chan," Sano remarked, his thumb turning to the next page of the newspaper.
Kaoru peeked at him through her fingers. "You're one to talk," she answered sarcastically. "And I don't know what else to do, Sano. He just seems to get worse everyday," The irritation in her eyes subsided, a look of concern taking its place. "He's snapping at us more and he's throwing more of these tantrums every time that he doesn't get his way."
"Unless I heard wrong, I think you were the one who just threw the tantrum," her brother commented, half-absorbed by the newspaper.
Kaoru glared at him in annoyance. "Don't you have a job to go to?"
As if he snapped out of a trance, Sano looked at his watch and immediately left his place at the table and sprinted. Kaoru took his plate to the sink, her ears picking up the failed initial attempts of Sano trying to get his car started. After a fourth try, she heard the engine roaring to life and pulling out of the driveway. Turning on the faucet, she quickly scrubbed the crumbs and grease away from the plates and glasses with a sponge laden with suds, thoroughly rinsing them under the running water afterwards. She was putting the last fork away on the drying rack when she heard the shuffle of feet behind her. Kaoru dried her hands with a nearby rag and the sight of Yahiko greeted her sapphire eyes. He was dressed in baggy denim jeans and a plain, dark blue hooded sweater, his schoolbag draped over one shoulder and a duffel bag hanging on the other. His trusty baseball bat was clenched in his right hand. Kaoru couldn't imagine how her cousin was able to carry all those things without his knees giving out from the weight.
"Are you ready?" She asked and was answered by a curt nod. She grabbed her bookbag and obtained her car keys, her unenthusiastic cousin following her. They went out the front door, which Kaoru made certain she locked, and entered the second car that the Kamiya family owned. It used to belong to her father a long time ago, and its age was showing. The tires were worn out and specks of rust began to eat away at the white paint that was once glossy and spotless. Kaoru, however, didn't care. She never was really picky about automobiles because unlike Yahiko, she didn't have an interest in them. As long as the car was able to take her from one place to the other, she was satisfied.
Yahiko threw his things in the back next to Kaoru's and went into the passenger seat. He crossed his arms as his older cousin got into the driver's seat and adjusted her rear view mirror.
"Yahiko."
His auburn eyes glared angrily at her. "What?"
A bit hurt by his rudeness, Kaoru didn't allow herself to show it. "Your seatbelt."
He muttered something under his breath and pulled the belt over his chest and fastened it. Her fears put to rest, Kaoru started the car and was fortunate enough to get it up and running in one try, unlike Sano who wasn't as lucky. She pulled out of the driveway and drove onto the road that would bring her to the metropolis of Tokyo.
* * * *
His turquoise eyes concentrated on the bustling streets of the city. He watched the people that passed by as if they were completely different creatures that existed on another plane as he sped past them.
'They're all just cattle,' he ranted in his thoughts.
Just cattle...organisms that acted on impulse and desire rather than logic or good will. To him, humans were just vessels that were biding their time on this earth until they inevitably pass away. They eat when they hunger, take when they want, indulge in carnal pleasures when the feeling arises. They do this for thirty or forty some years until they pass into their old age when they live their lives as feeble and weak-minded as they were when they were first brought into this world. Humans hated being depressed, so they create a distortion of reality that they saw fit. They find something that could make them forget about how ugly and horrible the world really is. He should know: he had unwittingly done the same thing when he was a child.
'Nee-san...' the thought of his wise and beautiful sister glimmered in the darkness of his tortured mind. 'As real as you were, you were my distortion. You gave me such happiness that I failed to see what reality truly was like...'
His BMW convertible hugged the curve of the road as he sharply turned. The wind zipped through the wild, feathery strands of his white hair, his dark shades partially shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. His foot slowly pressed down on the brake pedal, and he came to a complete stop at the traffic light before him.
He didn't want that pain again, the pain of losing something that he held dearest to him. What was the use of feeling joy when it would one day escape from your grasp just as soon as you had it? Happiness was a living thing with a mind and intentions of its own. He had learned that it was an entity that chose to roam where it wanted, and it also had the will to leave when it felt like it.
He had learned to hate happiness. In fact, he learned to despise it as if it were the most terrible atrocity that had ever existed...
"YAHIKO!!!"
An angered cry suddenly shattered his thoughts, and he immediately turned his head toward the commotion. However, the piercing glower in his turquoise eyes gradually softened into an engrossed stare when he saw the owner of the voice.
* * * *
Her delicate hands gripping on the handle of the door and her right foot propped up against the car as she leaned back on the other one, Kaoru pulled with all of her strength.
"YAHIKO!!!" She screamed her cousin's name, ignoring the stares of the other children and their parents in the schoolyard. "You get out this instant!"
The boy only crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her, enraging Kaoru to the extent that she wanted to tear him apart with her own hands.
"I don't have time for this!" She tried to reason, still pulling on the handle. "I need to get to class!"
Yahiko's eyes stared straight ahead of him, pretending like he couldn't hear his cousin's screams. Infuriated, Kaoru released the handle and began to pound on the window with her fists.
"Stop this nonsense right now!"
He replied by turning on the radio, and guitar rifts and the crashing of cymbals blared within the car.
"Unlock the doors!!!" She screamed, pounding harder on the surface of the window.
Yahiko's fingers turned the knob to increase the volume of the music in hopes of drowning Kaoru's voice.
She let out a frustrated shriek, and with renewed vigor, continued to slam her fists against the window. "Yahiko, don't do this!!!"
He increased the volume as far as he could go. Seeing how attacking the car was no way to get her cousin out, Kaoru sighed. Her hands were motionless, planted on the glass surface as she leaned her forehead against the window. Startled by how suddenly quiet she had gotten, Yahiko glanced at her, the deafening music still blasting through the car.
"...Yahiko..." she spoke, her bangs obscuring the sapphire blue of her eyes. "I know you can hear me."
Always the defiant one, he looked away from her and pretended to be engrossed into the music.
"Please stop doing this," she continued, her voice solemn and more piercing than the rock music was. "This isn't the way to handle your problems. You know that."
Yahiko's stern glare faltered, but he hid it from his cousin.
"Yahiko...your parents wouldn't have wanted you to act like this."
His auburn eyes suddenly widened at the mention of the people who had raised him. His fingers automatically turned the dial and lowered the music from an ear-shattering roar to a dull murmur.
"Your mom and dad wanted you to do your best in school," she spoke to him through the window. "They would always go on about how you were such a smart kid, and they were right. But the way you're acting now...what do you think they would say?"
He bit his lip, refusing to let his cousin get to him. But to his misfortune, she already had.
"Your parents wouldn't want you to do this. You should know that better than anyone else."
He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to say that it was no business of hers that he wanted to miss school. From Yahiko's perspective, it was Kaoru's fault that he was in such a horrible mood in the first place. But in reality, he couldn't blame her. The fact of the matter was that she was right.
"Yahiko...please get out. You'll be late."
A few tense minutes passed, and as if she had spoken a magic incantation, the doors automatically unlocked. Yahiko turned off the stereo before stepping out of the car. Kaoru backed away as he did, smiling a bit at her stubborn little cousin.
Yahiko said nothing as he gathered his schoolbag and baseball uniform and equipment. But before he could get to class, Kaoru stood in his way.
"What now?" he snapped irritably.
His older cousin did not respond with her voice. Instead, she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him in a small embrace. Yahiko immediately felt the rush of blood to his face and the heat that emanated off of his ears.
However, he did nothing to push her away. He couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Behave today, all right?" she softly chided him. Her blue eyes were glistened softly. "If I have to hear another complaint from one of your teachers, you'll be in for it."
Yahiko was dumbstruck by how Kaoru was acting. One moment she was a snarling monster attempting to assault him by damaging her own car, and the next she was acting like a mother by the way she was hugging him and scolding at the same time.
He smiled. Stupid, unpredictable Kaoru.
"Fine, whatever," he replied, converting to his old bratty self. "Just let me go already!"
Kaoru kept herself from grinning and released Yahiko. She stood upright and smiled warmly.
"I'll pick you up after baseball practice. Stay at the stadium until I do."
"I get it already! Stop treating me like a baby!"
Kaoru knew that he didn't mean to sound so harsh. She assured him of this with another compassionate smile that Yahiko couldn't help but be happy to receive.
Of course, being the little brat he was, he didn't show it. He just bounded toward the entrance of the school, his older cousin watching his retreating form as he went.
* * * *
He was bewildered by what he had just witnessed. He was too enthralled with the facial expressions and passionate gestures that the girl displayed to do anything else. It was amazing...seeing her alter from such a furious, agitated state to a soothing calm. He found it almost hard to believe that she actually pleaded the boy to come out of the vehicle by talking to him through the window. He was certain that she would tear off the door and drag him out of there.
'...she's too young to be his mother...' he thought to himself as he watched her embrace the boy with the tenderness that only a woman could possess.
As he was watching, he observed her with great interest. Turquoise eyes concentrated on the slim, lithe figure and examined the flowing, raven hair that fell down past her back in a high ponytail. He observed the pair of clear, sapphire eyes that seemed to come alive with emotion from a lovely, unblemished face that he could only describe as angelic.
In the midst of his thoughts, the red light had altered to green without him being aware of it. An abrupt honk that sounded from behind shattered his thinking, and he threw a fatal glare at his oppressor. The driver behind him must've been too frightened by the intimidating turquoise eyes to do much else.
His eyes left the other driver and traveled back to the girl. To his surprise, the sapphire eyes were staring in astonishment in his direction. He quickly came to the realization that she had spotted him.
Everything came to a stop, the whole world slipping into oblivion. She was the only thing in his line of vision, her long bangs swaying above her soulful eyes from an unseen wind.
He was unaware of where he was at that moment. He only knew that she was standing there gazing at him with a look of confusion that he somehow found to be adorable. He felt the warm blood pulsing throughout his veins as his heart suddenly began to beat at an irregular pace. A cold sweat was forming on his brow, his throat dry and parched as if he had been wandering aimlessly in an arid wasteland. She was a stranger to him...yet she seemed so achingly familiar...
Not wasting anytime, his foot slammed on the accelerator and he sped off. He abandoned the traffic that he was causing, the schoolyard full of students, but most importantly he abandoned her. He had to leave; he feared what would've happened if he had stayed any longer as that girl kept staring at him with the depths of those crystal blue eyes...
He raced down the city streets, her image still fresh in his mind. The sun-drenched buildings of Tokyo returned as he drove, but everything was a blur to him. His heart had failed to return beating at a regular pace, and there was a fluttering sensation in his stomach. Knowing that, his foot pressed harder on the accelerator, increasing his speed dramatically. Of all the people in the world, Yukishiro Enishi couldn't believe that he was running away from a girl that he didn't even know.
Life is just so utterly ironic.
* * * *
My first AU Rurouni Kenshin fanfic. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring, but it will get better. Promise!
I might be changing a few people's ages in the future, so sorry if I confuse you. I really hope that you liked my story ^_^
Cherry Whisper
Chapter One: At First Sight
"SANO, YOU BASTARD!!!"
Kamiya Kaoru sighed as she retrieved two glasses and one mug from the cabinet. She tried to hum to herself as she filled the glasses with orange juice and the other with rich, dark coffee.
"LET-ME-IN!!!" Her ten-year-old cousin pounded his fists against the bathroom door as she placed the beverages and silverware onto the table. She got out three empty plates and a skillet to prepare breakfast.
"You snooze, you lose, brat!" The cocky, jovial voice of her older brother shouted from the other side. Kaoru continued to hum to herself as she cracked two eggs into the frying pan to cook.
'Sunny-side up for Sano...' she thought to herself as she removed the eggs automatically from the pan with her spatula and placed them onto the plate.
"C'MON, I'M GONNA BE LATE!!!"
'Scrambled for Yahiko and me...' Kaoru plopped the freshly cooked eggs onto Yahiko's plate and hers. She then began to fry some bacon in her pan to add to the meals.
"OPEN THE FREAKIN' DOOR!!!"
"Would it kill you to wait another damn minute?!"
"YES!!!"
Kaoru hummed louder while she complemented each person's plate with sizzling bacon and two pieces of dry toast. She set them out with the silverware and also got out a jar of strawberry jam and a small container of butter. Keeping her younger cousin in mind, she also placed a bottle half-filled with tomato ketchup on the table. She knew that Yahiko loved to smother his scrambled eggs with it.
"For the last time, Rooster-head..." Yahiko seethed through gritted teeth. "OPEN—THE—DOOR!!!"
"All right, all right!" The door finally opened and Sanosuke stepped out with a towel hanging around his strong neck and a smirk on his face. As much as he would have loved to kick him, Yahiko held back the urge and sped into the bathroom, slamming the door as he did.
Kaoru gave her brother a disapproving look with her sapphire blue eyes while smearing her toast with jam. "You really shouldn't give the poor kid a hard time, Sano. You know how riled up he can get."
"Hmph," Sano scoffed between bites of his toast and egg. "I'd like to see that little punk try to take me on."
She rolled her eyes and swept her long bangs away from her face with one dainty hand. "That's not what I meant!"
"Whatever, Jou-chan," her brother retorted as he devoured his plate. Kaoru let out another helpless sigh. It was pointless to try and get through to her older sibling: he was too hungry to try and talk to.
After a few minutes, they were joined by their cousin. Yahiko rushed to his seat and immediately started consuming his meal. At the fast pace that the eggs, bacon, and toast were disappearing, Kaoru thought that he practically inhaled his breakfast.
"Slow down," she chided. "You're going to choke."
Yahiko ignored her, downing his glass of juice. "It's hard NOT to choke! The food is really bad."
"Then don't eat it!" She shouted at him, her cheeks flustered. Kaoru hated it when she had to endure Yahiko and Sano's insults about her cooking. She will admit that she wasn't the greatest chef in the universe, but she believed that after so many years of cooking meals for her family, she was decent at the least.
"Oh, can you pick me up after baseball practice?"
She crossed her arms. "You tease me about my cooking and expect me to act like your own personal chauffeur?"
The boy ate another forkful of ketchup-covered scrambled eggs. "Well, Sano's gonna work late tonight—"
"You mean he'll be gambling with those criminals he calls 'friends'," Kaoru shot a dirty look at her brother who was doing his best to look innocent.
"You're the only one that can pick me up..." A hopeful grin spread across Yahiko's face, spanning ear-to-ear. "Unless you'll let me drive—"
"FORGET IT!!!" Kaoru screeched at her cousin. "Yahiko, I said that you wouldn't have access to any automobile for at least eight years, and I mean it!!!"
The boy pouted, his auburn eyes pleading pathetically to the young woman. "But Sano would let me..."
"Don't you drag me into this, brat," Sano muttered in between sips of his strong coffee.
Yahiko gave up his plea act and threw up his arms. "Aw, c'mon! I'd be a great driver!"
Kaoru put up her hand to silence him. "You're ten years old for crying out loud! You're not old enough to drive, and you won't be for a very long time. So get used to it!"
The boy sat back in his seat and continued to sulk. However, Kaoru pretended as if she didn't notice.
"Now put your empty plate in the sink and get your things so I can drop you off at school."
"I don't wanna..." Yahiko answered, his disappointment apparent in his features.
Kaoru took a deep breath, feeling the last sliver of patience slipping out of her hands. "Yahiko, it's almost time to leave. Please get ready."
The boy was adamant in his defiance. "You can't make me!"
Seeing how this was going to get ugly, Sano hid behind the shelter of the morning newspaper.
"Yahiko...get up now..."
"No!"
"I'm not kidding around. Get...up...now."
"I'm staying home!"
"An education isn't a good thing to waste, Yahiko. Please don't throw it away..."
Sano was amused with the black and white print as he mentally began to count to himself. 'Five...'
"I don't want an education!"
'...four...'
"You're not going to pass middle school if you can't get through elementary..."
'...three...'
"I don't care if I don't pass!"
'...two...'
"Yahiko...I'm warning you..."
'...one...'
"You can't tell me what to do!!!"
'...zero...'
"DO AS I SAY!!!" Kaoru exploded, her seemingly innocent demeanor completely thrown off by her present appearance. Her hair sprawled wildly around her as she immediately rose from her seat, her usually calm blue eyes throwing daggers into her younger cousin. "WE TOOK YOU INTO THIS HOUSE SO YOU WILL LISTEN TO US! NOW GO AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL!!!"
Knowing that it wouldn't be wise to do anything else that would provoke his cousin to attack him since her temper had reached its peak, Yahiko hurriedly placed his empty plate into the sink and ran out of the kitchen to gather his schoolbooks. Kaoru exhaled deeply, sinking back into her chair. She buried her face in the palms of her hands as she collected herself.
"You really should learn how to control your temper, Jou-chan," Sano remarked, his thumb turning to the next page of the newspaper.
Kaoru peeked at him through her fingers. "You're one to talk," she answered sarcastically. "And I don't know what else to do, Sano. He just seems to get worse everyday," The irritation in her eyes subsided, a look of concern taking its place. "He's snapping at us more and he's throwing more of these tantrums every time that he doesn't get his way."
"Unless I heard wrong, I think you were the one who just threw the tantrum," her brother commented, half-absorbed by the newspaper.
Kaoru glared at him in annoyance. "Don't you have a job to go to?"
As if he snapped out of a trance, Sano looked at his watch and immediately left his place at the table and sprinted. Kaoru took his plate to the sink, her ears picking up the failed initial attempts of Sano trying to get his car started. After a fourth try, she heard the engine roaring to life and pulling out of the driveway. Turning on the faucet, she quickly scrubbed the crumbs and grease away from the plates and glasses with a sponge laden with suds, thoroughly rinsing them under the running water afterwards. She was putting the last fork away on the drying rack when she heard the shuffle of feet behind her. Kaoru dried her hands with a nearby rag and the sight of Yahiko greeted her sapphire eyes. He was dressed in baggy denim jeans and a plain, dark blue hooded sweater, his schoolbag draped over one shoulder and a duffel bag hanging on the other. His trusty baseball bat was clenched in his right hand. Kaoru couldn't imagine how her cousin was able to carry all those things without his knees giving out from the weight.
"Are you ready?" She asked and was answered by a curt nod. She grabbed her bookbag and obtained her car keys, her unenthusiastic cousin following her. They went out the front door, which Kaoru made certain she locked, and entered the second car that the Kamiya family owned. It used to belong to her father a long time ago, and its age was showing. The tires were worn out and specks of rust began to eat away at the white paint that was once glossy and spotless. Kaoru, however, didn't care. She never was really picky about automobiles because unlike Yahiko, she didn't have an interest in them. As long as the car was able to take her from one place to the other, she was satisfied.
Yahiko threw his things in the back next to Kaoru's and went into the passenger seat. He crossed his arms as his older cousin got into the driver's seat and adjusted her rear view mirror.
"Yahiko."
His auburn eyes glared angrily at her. "What?"
A bit hurt by his rudeness, Kaoru didn't allow herself to show it. "Your seatbelt."
He muttered something under his breath and pulled the belt over his chest and fastened it. Her fears put to rest, Kaoru started the car and was fortunate enough to get it up and running in one try, unlike Sano who wasn't as lucky. She pulled out of the driveway and drove onto the road that would bring her to the metropolis of Tokyo.
* * * *
His turquoise eyes concentrated on the bustling streets of the city. He watched the people that passed by as if they were completely different creatures that existed on another plane as he sped past them.
'They're all just cattle,' he ranted in his thoughts.
Just cattle...organisms that acted on impulse and desire rather than logic or good will. To him, humans were just vessels that were biding their time on this earth until they inevitably pass away. They eat when they hunger, take when they want, indulge in carnal pleasures when the feeling arises. They do this for thirty or forty some years until they pass into their old age when they live their lives as feeble and weak-minded as they were when they were first brought into this world. Humans hated being depressed, so they create a distortion of reality that they saw fit. They find something that could make them forget about how ugly and horrible the world really is. He should know: he had unwittingly done the same thing when he was a child.
'Nee-san...' the thought of his wise and beautiful sister glimmered in the darkness of his tortured mind. 'As real as you were, you were my distortion. You gave me such happiness that I failed to see what reality truly was like...'
His BMW convertible hugged the curve of the road as he sharply turned. The wind zipped through the wild, feathery strands of his white hair, his dark shades partially shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. His foot slowly pressed down on the brake pedal, and he came to a complete stop at the traffic light before him.
He didn't want that pain again, the pain of losing something that he held dearest to him. What was the use of feeling joy when it would one day escape from your grasp just as soon as you had it? Happiness was a living thing with a mind and intentions of its own. He had learned that it was an entity that chose to roam where it wanted, and it also had the will to leave when it felt like it.
He had learned to hate happiness. In fact, he learned to despise it as if it were the most terrible atrocity that had ever existed...
"YAHIKO!!!"
An angered cry suddenly shattered his thoughts, and he immediately turned his head toward the commotion. However, the piercing glower in his turquoise eyes gradually softened into an engrossed stare when he saw the owner of the voice.
* * * *
Her delicate hands gripping on the handle of the door and her right foot propped up against the car as she leaned back on the other one, Kaoru pulled with all of her strength.
"YAHIKO!!!" She screamed her cousin's name, ignoring the stares of the other children and their parents in the schoolyard. "You get out this instant!"
The boy only crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her, enraging Kaoru to the extent that she wanted to tear him apart with her own hands.
"I don't have time for this!" She tried to reason, still pulling on the handle. "I need to get to class!"
Yahiko's eyes stared straight ahead of him, pretending like he couldn't hear his cousin's screams. Infuriated, Kaoru released the handle and began to pound on the window with her fists.
"Stop this nonsense right now!"
He replied by turning on the radio, and guitar rifts and the crashing of cymbals blared within the car.
"Unlock the doors!!!" She screamed, pounding harder on the surface of the window.
Yahiko's fingers turned the knob to increase the volume of the music in hopes of drowning Kaoru's voice.
She let out a frustrated shriek, and with renewed vigor, continued to slam her fists against the window. "Yahiko, don't do this!!!"
He increased the volume as far as he could go. Seeing how attacking the car was no way to get her cousin out, Kaoru sighed. Her hands were motionless, planted on the glass surface as she leaned her forehead against the window. Startled by how suddenly quiet she had gotten, Yahiko glanced at her, the deafening music still blasting through the car.
"...Yahiko..." she spoke, her bangs obscuring the sapphire blue of her eyes. "I know you can hear me."
Always the defiant one, he looked away from her and pretended to be engrossed into the music.
"Please stop doing this," she continued, her voice solemn and more piercing than the rock music was. "This isn't the way to handle your problems. You know that."
Yahiko's stern glare faltered, but he hid it from his cousin.
"Yahiko...your parents wouldn't have wanted you to act like this."
His auburn eyes suddenly widened at the mention of the people who had raised him. His fingers automatically turned the dial and lowered the music from an ear-shattering roar to a dull murmur.
"Your mom and dad wanted you to do your best in school," she spoke to him through the window. "They would always go on about how you were such a smart kid, and they were right. But the way you're acting now...what do you think they would say?"
He bit his lip, refusing to let his cousin get to him. But to his misfortune, she already had.
"Your parents wouldn't want you to do this. You should know that better than anyone else."
He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to say that it was no business of hers that he wanted to miss school. From Yahiko's perspective, it was Kaoru's fault that he was in such a horrible mood in the first place. But in reality, he couldn't blame her. The fact of the matter was that she was right.
"Yahiko...please get out. You'll be late."
A few tense minutes passed, and as if she had spoken a magic incantation, the doors automatically unlocked. Yahiko turned off the stereo before stepping out of the car. Kaoru backed away as he did, smiling a bit at her stubborn little cousin.
Yahiko said nothing as he gathered his schoolbag and baseball uniform and equipment. But before he could get to class, Kaoru stood in his way.
"What now?" he snapped irritably.
His older cousin did not respond with her voice. Instead, she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him in a small embrace. Yahiko immediately felt the rush of blood to his face and the heat that emanated off of his ears.
However, he did nothing to push her away. He couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Behave today, all right?" she softly chided him. Her blue eyes were glistened softly. "If I have to hear another complaint from one of your teachers, you'll be in for it."
Yahiko was dumbstruck by how Kaoru was acting. One moment she was a snarling monster attempting to assault him by damaging her own car, and the next she was acting like a mother by the way she was hugging him and scolding at the same time.
He smiled. Stupid, unpredictable Kaoru.
"Fine, whatever," he replied, converting to his old bratty self. "Just let me go already!"
Kaoru kept herself from grinning and released Yahiko. She stood upright and smiled warmly.
"I'll pick you up after baseball practice. Stay at the stadium until I do."
"I get it already! Stop treating me like a baby!"
Kaoru knew that he didn't mean to sound so harsh. She assured him of this with another compassionate smile that Yahiko couldn't help but be happy to receive.
Of course, being the little brat he was, he didn't show it. He just bounded toward the entrance of the school, his older cousin watching his retreating form as he went.
* * * *
He was bewildered by what he had just witnessed. He was too enthralled with the facial expressions and passionate gestures that the girl displayed to do anything else. It was amazing...seeing her alter from such a furious, agitated state to a soothing calm. He found it almost hard to believe that she actually pleaded the boy to come out of the vehicle by talking to him through the window. He was certain that she would tear off the door and drag him out of there.
'...she's too young to be his mother...' he thought to himself as he watched her embrace the boy with the tenderness that only a woman could possess.
As he was watching, he observed her with great interest. Turquoise eyes concentrated on the slim, lithe figure and examined the flowing, raven hair that fell down past her back in a high ponytail. He observed the pair of clear, sapphire eyes that seemed to come alive with emotion from a lovely, unblemished face that he could only describe as angelic.
In the midst of his thoughts, the red light had altered to green without him being aware of it. An abrupt honk that sounded from behind shattered his thinking, and he threw a fatal glare at his oppressor. The driver behind him must've been too frightened by the intimidating turquoise eyes to do much else.
His eyes left the other driver and traveled back to the girl. To his surprise, the sapphire eyes were staring in astonishment in his direction. He quickly came to the realization that she had spotted him.
Everything came to a stop, the whole world slipping into oblivion. She was the only thing in his line of vision, her long bangs swaying above her soulful eyes from an unseen wind.
He was unaware of where he was at that moment. He only knew that she was standing there gazing at him with a look of confusion that he somehow found to be adorable. He felt the warm blood pulsing throughout his veins as his heart suddenly began to beat at an irregular pace. A cold sweat was forming on his brow, his throat dry and parched as if he had been wandering aimlessly in an arid wasteland. She was a stranger to him...yet she seemed so achingly familiar...
Not wasting anytime, his foot slammed on the accelerator and he sped off. He abandoned the traffic that he was causing, the schoolyard full of students, but most importantly he abandoned her. He had to leave; he feared what would've happened if he had stayed any longer as that girl kept staring at him with the depths of those crystal blue eyes...
He raced down the city streets, her image still fresh in his mind. The sun-drenched buildings of Tokyo returned as he drove, but everything was a blur to him. His heart had failed to return beating at a regular pace, and there was a fluttering sensation in his stomach. Knowing that, his foot pressed harder on the accelerator, increasing his speed dramatically. Of all the people in the world, Yukishiro Enishi couldn't believe that he was running away from a girl that he didn't even know.
Life is just so utterly ironic.
* * * *
My first AU Rurouni Kenshin fanfic. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring, but it will get better. Promise!
I might be changing a few people's ages in the future, so sorry if I confuse you. I really hope that you liked my story ^_^
Cherry Whisper