Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin characters are all owned by someone else.

Notes: Okay, so here’s what promises to be a rude-sounding, unoriginal announcement, as I have had more than one… Anyway…

I don’t do requests. If I am not inspired to write it, it just turns out bad. This does not mean it will never happen. Feel free to keep offering suggestions. In fact, I love to see them because every now and then they will inspire me, and I will write something based on them.

Warnings: Brief first person POV of an original character who never made an appearance in My Life.

Onward!

Moments in Time:  Chapter 5 - Bonds of Best Friends

by Fitz

            There was a drought that summer, the sun hot and unrelenting. Stormy days, as rare as they were as of late, were a welcome relief. There had not been any rain in well over two weeks, and it was starting to show. The surrounding field was a sad mix of green, brown, and yellow, the grass crunching beneath careless shoes. A sudden breeze kicked up the dust, sending it swirling into the eyes of hapless passersby.

            Kenshin shook his head to clear his hair of the loose grit that had settled in it. His sunglasses wobbled on the bridge of his nose, and he shoved them up to a more comfortable position. Wrinkling his nose, he glared at the sand trap that had provided him with another reason to dive straight for the showers when he returned home.

            “Think a five iron ought to do it?”

            “Maybe a seven.”

            Sighing quietly, he stared over the soft grass of the fairway, wondering at how the golf course got the privilege of being offered such plentiful water when the rest of it was left to die. The golfers barely appreciated it, walking across it without a second thought, occasionally cursing when their ball was caught in the wind and whipped into a patch of bushes and trees. Why they cursed was beyond him. After all, it was the caddie who had the joy of searching for said lost golf ball.

            Kenshin decided he would never golf. It was a tedious, wearisome sport that was difficult in wind, dreary in spitting rain, and downright miserable under the noon sun.

            “At least it’s a dry heat!” One man joked, swiping at his sweaty brow with a handkerchief he carried in his pocket. “Boy, bring me my chipper.”

            Chipper... chipper... Kenshin stared at the clubs in the bag he was carrying for a few seconds before looking back to his employer-of-the-day. The problem with being thirteen, he discovered, was that he could only do little jobs such as caddying, baby-sitting, and mowing lawns. With the lack of rain as of late, those lawns were not growing, and the children he sometimes watched were in Disney World with their parents. Being a golf caddie had not been his idea, actually, but the clever notion of his uncle, who happened to have some business associates who needed some assistance on their annual eighteen-hole tournament.

            “Which one is the chipper?” he asked blankly.

            “Ohhhh, Seijirou said this kid was sharp as a tack,” a pale-skinned man in a plaid, short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts chuckled. “Doesn’t seem too bright to me.”

            Kenshin rolled his eyes and held back several defensive responses, recalling his uncle’s warnings (threats) about behaving respectfully toward the businessmen. Just because he did not know anything about golf did not mean he was stupid--nor did it mean he was deaf. And at the back of his mind, there was a tiny, almost unnoticed thought.

            Sharp as a tack? Uncle Hiko said that?

            “The smallest one by the putter, boy,” the businessman who was his temporary employer said.

            Kenshin glanced at it, pulled it from the bag, and handed it over. Glancing at the next starting point, he noted with no small amount of dismay that it read seven. Seven! Out of eighteen holes. This was going to be a very long afternoon.

            He winced as the wind kicked up more sand, peppering them with the tiny granules. Yes... a very long afternoon.

^_^

            Sitting at the end of the bar, Kenshin waited patiently as the businessmen shared a drink and congratulated each other on being successful people. The man he caddied for had gotten a hole in one, not to mention the best score of the three, and he was obligated to buy the group two drinks--one for the miraculous shot and the other for his obscenely good score.

            A tall, dark-haired young man walked into the club, glancing around and quickly spotting the boy. Kenshin glanced up at the wave, smiled, and waved back. He took a final, hurried swallow of his pop.

            “Hey,” the man greeted, smiling faintly as Kenshin wiped his nose. The ice that had been stuck at the bottom of the glass had relented to gravity on Kenshin’s last drink, dumping over his face, one cube managing to escape the glass. Kenshin pretended not to notice the ice cube that bounced under the bar.

            “Hi, Mr. Katsura,” he said hurriedly. “You finish playing?”

            “I didn’t play today,” Katsura countered. “Your uncle had a meeting, and he asked me to drop you off at home. He said you have a key to the place.”

            “Oh,” Kenshin glanced across the bar at the men who were laughing and cajoling one another, attempting to get more free drinks. “I should see if it’s okay to go.”

            “He pay you?” Katsura asked as Kenshin hopped off the barstool. The boy glanced at him curiously.

            “Yeah.”

            “Then you can leave.”

            “Oh,” Kenshin blinked, then smiled. “Thank god. Let’s go.”

            Katsura laughed and clapped his hand against the boy’s shoulder good-naturedly.

            “Not much for this, are you?”

            “It was really boring,” Kenshin admitted quietly as he followed his uncle’s associate out into the dying sunlight. “I just followed them around... The one guy said I was stupid.”

            “Who?” Katsura glanced at the boy sharply.

            “I don’t know... the tall blonde guy,” Kenshin frowned, concentrating then shrugging helplessly. “I don’t remember his name.”

            “Sounds like Curtis,” Katsura smiled slightly. “Well, he’s an egocentric fool, so don’t worry too much about what he says.”

            Kenshin grinned and climbed into the passenger seat of Katsura’s Jaguar. He loved riding in that thing. The thought that he was riding in such a high-class car was enough to send a thrill through him.

            “Glad school’s out?” Katsura asked casually.

            “Yeah,” Kenshin wrinkled his nose in distaste. “There’s a girl in the eighth grade--I guess ninth now... anyway, she’s always following me around. Sandy said I should ask her out.”

            “Sounds like good advice,” Katsura smiled knowingly.

            “Mr. Katsura!” Kenshin looked at the man in shock. “I can’t stand her! I’m glad she’s going to the high school. I won’t have to see her anymore.”

            “Not often girls go for younger guys,” Katsura nodded solemnly, even as he struggled to contain his smile. “Too immature, you know.”

            “I’m not immature.”

            “Of course not, Kenshin.”

            “I’m not!”

            “Didn’t I just agree with you?”

            “You’re acting like you don’t mean it.”

            Katsura laughed and shifted into a higher gear.

^_^

            “Hey, Kenshin! Wait up!”

            He’s so different. It’s even different from when he first came back last month, hurt and looking like he would start crying in class. Now he looks so tired all the time, the anger and sadness gone. Just... indifference.

            “Hey!”

            He barely reacts when I grab his arm, looking at me like he doesn’t remember who I am. How is it I could be his best friend for so long, and he looks at me now like we’re strangers?

            “Where are you going?”

            A shrug, a jerk of his arm, and he’s gone again. I’m getting fed up with this. I remember Tim’s mom dying when we were all in middle school, but he was never so cold afterwards.

            The hell with him. I don’t need a friend like that, and people are starting to talk.

            “Hey, Sandy?”

            Speaking of talking... That’s Nancy. I’m looking to make her my girlfriend.

            “Yeah?” I grin at her.

            “Kenshin coming along?”

            We’re all going to the movie tonight. Jake just got his license.

            “No,” I shake my head, scowling at the thought of bringing that abandoning jerk with us. “He’s through with us, I think.”

            “I’m sorry.”

            “Forget it.” Whatever. He’s not worth my time anymore. “Let’s go.”

            Without him dragging me down, maybe I can convince Nancy to go on a date with me.

^_^

 

End Notes: Not much to say, but… anyone notice how very odd it is to say ‘Mr. Katsura’? It just was not meant to be said that way, but to put Katsura-san in the story would just be inappropriate, so many apologies.

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