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My Life: Chapter 15 - I Start Again

by Fitz

“Sweetheart!”

Kamatari greeted me with a big smile and open arms when I walked into the social lounge that Sunday afternoon. My arms were full with my belongings, and I was panting a bit since I could not take any deep breaths. On top of that, I had less than three seconds to avoid what was certain to be a painful reunion.

“K-Kamatari!” I set down one of my bags and took a step back. “Just a min--”

In the end, I was not quick enough. He had his arms around me and was... picking me up. I was a little thrown off. It never even occurred to me to protest, I was so shocked.

“I hear you’ve got some injuries,” Kamatari said with a sweet smile. “And here you are, carrying around all those heavy bags by yourself.”

“It’s not that--” I started.

“Chou! Get his bags!”

“Why do I have to carry his bags?” Chou grumbled while he picked up the two bags I had dropped.

“Do you want to trade?” Kamatari offered, turning to face him. Still a bit stunned, I just looked at Chou, then back at Kamatari.

“Nah, you can carry him,” Chou grinned.

“How kind of you,” Kamatari smirked. “Come along, sweetheart. We’ve got so much to catch up on!”

“I can walk,” I said, but I did not bother trying to fight him. He had proven himself capable of restraining me when I was perfectly fit. In my current state, I didn’t stand a chance.

“And deny me this grand opportunity?” Kamatari countered. “Got your key?”

“It’s in my pocket.” Which I could not reach while I was caught up in his arms.

“Chou! Get his key!”

“HEY!” Dear god! What did he take me for?! I wasn’t going to let Chou go digging through my pants pockets--while I was still wearing them! “Chou, keep your hands to yourself. I’ll...” If I squirmed a bit (or if Kamatari would just put me down) I could almost... “Get it!”

I relented the key at that point to Chou, who unlocked the door and shouldered his way in. Kamatari followed, finally depositing me on my bed. I sighed and felt my face warm a bit when Chou tossed the stuffed gorilla across the room to me. The toy immediately went into the corner above my pillow. It was almost hidden there.

“How did you know about that anyway?” I wondered. Not that I was complaining... well, being carried to my room was not what I would have preferred, but it could have been worse. One of Kamatari’s bone-crushing hugs would have made me light-headed.

“I have my sources,” Kamatari said, sitting on the bed next to me while Chou claimed the futon. He sat up a little straighter, flinging out a hand. His fingernails were painted blue. “Kamatari sees all and knows all!”

“Sano tell you?”

He blinked, then leaned back against the wall with a little grin.

“Yeah.”

Good. Sano and Kaoru both had agreed not to tell anyone else what I had told them. Through Sano, I assumed that Megumi would learn of my desire to keep the matter private. While I had to admit it was nice that someone other than Uncle Hiko knew, I really did not want every acquaintance to know. Granted, Kamatari was a bit more than just an ‘acquaintance.’ Close friend? Well... I wasn’t sure.

“Ready to begin a new semester, Kenshin?” Chou asked, getting up to fiddle with dials on my radio. He was obsessed with that thing. “I could have used another month.”

I had been ready to start school the week before, but I didn’t say that. I just shook my head and shifted a bit uncomfortably.

“But I’ve only got one class on Fridays this semester,” I smirked when Chou looked at me enviously. “Ten o’clock class, and I’m done for the weekend.”

“Damn! That’s nice!” Chou shook his head and finally let the radio play on the only station it picked up. Bon Jovi filled the little room, and I motioned for him to turn it down. Thankfully, he did so.

“I don’t have any classes on Friday!” Kamatari said, grinning broadly. Well, that ruined my fun. Chou and I looked at him. I didn’t know about Chou, but I was very jealous.

“How’d you pull that off?” I demanded.

“Stacked up the classes on Tuesday and Thursday,” Kamatari shrugged and smiled. “A night class on Monday, lab and a two-hour history class on Wednesday, and I’ve got my Fridays free.”

“Knock, knock!” Sano’s voice just barely preceded his entrance, and he grinned at us. “It’s about time you got here. Bet you were just having so much fun hanging out with your uncle that you couldn’t stand the thought of coming back here.”

“I wouldn’t take it that far,” I shook my head. “Lunch time?”

Sano grinned.

“You just can’t beat the mass-produced food of the U,” he declared. “Let’s go.”

I glanced at Kamatari.

“You guys coming?”

Kamatari grinned, and Chou shrugged. The four of us went down to lunch.

^_^

January seventeenth snuck up on me faster than ever that year. Maybe it was because it did not weigh on my mind like it usually did. Perhaps that talk with Kaoru and Sano had helped lessen the pain enough that I did not dread it so much. Or maybe it was because all my professors piled on the homework on the first day of class, and I spent so much time in my books that I could not spare any time for it.

The reason was not important. What mattered was that it was Thursday, the sixteenth, and I was without a ride.

“You WHAT?!” I could not believe my ears. Uncle Hiko would not do this to me.

“I’m sorry, kid,” he muttered. “This meeting is important.”

“You knew this was coming!” I was almost shouting. I couldn’t help it--I was furious. “How could you set up a meeting on that day?!”

“In the morning--”

“I’ve got class!”

“Do you have time tonight?”

I sighed. He was trying. He really was. That made it difficult to be reasonably hostile.

“It’s not the same, Uncle Hiko,” I replied softly. I leaned back against the partition separating my closet from the room and slid down to sit on the floor. The phone cord stretched up to my side, but it was not too bad. “I have to go tomorrow.”

“Look, Kenshin,” he said bluntly. “You know I feel terrible about this, but I can’t do anything for you.”

“I know,” I let my head thunk back against the wall. “I’ll see... maybe someone will give me a ride... or I can find the right bus to take.”

“You’ll have to walk a bit from any bus stop,” Uncle Hiko pointed out.

“I know.” God, did I know. I’d done it once before. “It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”

“You okay, kid?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I grumbled. Moody, but not about to take anyone’s head off. “I’ll talk to you later, Uncle Hiko.”

“Go eat some dinner,” was his response, then a dial tone. So much for good-byes. He never did like those much. Then again, neither did I. You never knew when a good-bye might be forever. It was better just to leave it, expecting to speak with the person again.

Groaning in protest, I ran my hand up into my hair.

“Think...” I mumbled. Who could I ask? Sano... but he had been talking about his date with Megumi all week--Friday afternoon. That could last until Sunday, knowing those two. Kaoru? No. She’d said she had a chemistry lab Friday afternoons that spanned over three hours. Which left... Misao? No, no, and no again.

“What’s with all the hollering in here, sweetheart?”

Kamatari? I looked up at the man. He was dressed for comfort that evening, in a pair of cotton drawstring pants and a bulky University sweatshirt. The cosmetics were to a minimum, but his hair was still fluffed out like usual. Good thing, or I might not have recognized him.

“Sweetheart, you’re staring.”

I blinked. So I was--staring, that is. It was an idea, though. He had a license and, I thought, a car.

“Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?” I asked.

He looked startled. It made sense. I had never gone out of my way to do anything with him other than the spontaneous. While we were kind-of buddies in the dorm, we really did not have much in common.

“Uh... no,” he was frowning. Oh, bad sign. He was going to reject me before I could ask. I glanced down at the phone, beeping away in my hand. Standing carefully, I hung it up.

“I’ve got to go somewhere tomorrow,” I said when he did not speak up. “But my ride cancelled on me. Would you mind... I mean--” how to make this so I wasn’t sounding like I was just using his friendship for his mode of transportation? “I’ll pay you for gas--”

“Where are you going?” he asked quietly.

I looked up in surprise. Was he offering...? He wasn’t smiling yet. Odd man. He always smiled. I hoped I had not offended him.

“Oh, ah...” Oh, just spit it out, idiot! Gah. I was insulting myself in true Uncle Hiko style! “A cemetery in West St. Paul.”

His eyes widened a bit, and then he did smile.

“Sure, sweetheart,” he agreed. “When do you want to go?”

I smiled gratefully and replied that as long as it didn’t interfere with my morning class, anything was fine. After that, he invited me to go to dinner with him and Chou. I accepted, pausing to grab my ID and keys, and we were out the door.

^_^

Kamatari was very laid back about the entire thing. I found him in the library, just where he told me he would be, and we went to his car. It was a small Toyota, and an older model at that, but it could get us to where we were going, so I could not complain.

It was not a nice day. It was bitterly cold and windy, the powerful gusts of air threatening to sweep Kamatari’s little car into the next lane. But it really was not that far to the cemetery, and we got there safely.

Kamatari surprised me again by producing a small bouquet of flowers when we arrived. After parking on the street, he reached into the back seat and picked them up, then turning to hand them to me. I had not noticed them before.

“What’s this?” I took the flowers uncertainly. They were not roses or tulips, like some people might have thought to give--Kaoru might have gone with roses if she thought to bring flowers. It was just one of those cheap flower bundles a person could get in a grocery store or even a gas station. That he had gone out of his way to get them, though...

“It seemed like a good idea when I saw them,” Kamatari smiled lightly. “To put on the grave. Of course, if you don’t want to do that, you’re free to keep them.”

The last time anyone had given Tomoe flowers was the day we put her in the ground. Uncle Hiko had always thought it was too cold to leave them in the winter, and I never went any other time.

I smiled at Kamatari.

“Thanks.”

He nodded and climbed out of the car. He walked with me down the path, both of us hunching against the wind. When I stepped off the path, into the snow, Kamatari went back a short distance to stand against the wall of the visitor’s house in the middle of the cemetery, where it was protected from the bitter wind. I trudged through the snow until I reached the headstone.

It was a family plot. My parents were buried right beside her, and there was an empty place next to Tomoe. With any luck, that would remain empty for another fifty or sixty years. But I did not come to visit my parents. I was only four when they died. I barely remembered them.

For awhile, I stared down at the plot, at those carefully carved letters, lined with snow. Reaching down, I wiped away the white until the words were clear.

Tomoe Himura (September 14, 1979 to January 17, 1999)

The wind kicked up the loose snow around me, and I shuddered, hugging the flower bundle closer to me. Normally, that would have sent me running to the nearest shelter, but for Tomoe, I would not be a wimp. Instead, I sat down in the snow, leaning back against the blank spot on that wide headstone, next to Tomoe’s name. It helped to block some of the wind, even though I was getting wet.

“I have some flowers for you,” I whispered, pushing the plastic-wrapped bouquet down into the snow, burying it a little so it would not blow away. “It’s from Kamatari, actually. You know Uncle Hiko. He’s too practical. Never thought the flowers would last a day in the cold.”

I sighed and closed my eyes, just sitting there. I never said anything more to her. It was a silly concept to me--speaking to the dead. A few words were all I could ever manage. Surely, she was disappointed in me. There was no need to try to justify myself. I could only hope my way of life was improving enough that she would forgive my shortcomings.

After my hands started going numb, I decided it was time to leave. I got to my feet, brushing the snow from my pants as well as I could, and resigned myself to damp clothing. Glancing down at the trampled snow of Tomoe’s grave site, I smiled a bit.

“I love you, Tommie,” I murmured, then jogged away, back to Kamatari who looked like he would kill for a space heater. He smiled through blue lips at me.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, sweetheart,” he flung his arm around my shoulders and walked up the path with me. “But we’re stopping at McDonald’s for something hot.”

“Sounds good to me,” I agreed readily.

^_^

It started with a trip to the cemetery. I never would have thought something like that could spark a friendship. Then again, I have repeatedly proven myself to be perfectly clueless when it came to such matters. I would be better off never assuming anything.

The following Friday, Kamatari countered the favor with a request for one for himself. He showed up in my room around noon.

A knock on the door made me look up from my psychology book. The door was open, so Kamatari walked right in after having knocked. I marked my page.

“Hi,” I greeted. “What’s up?”

“You owe me a favor,” he announced with a grin.

That made me frown. After all, what kind of person demands additional recompense after taking a friend to a cemetery?

Kamatari seemed to know what I was thinking.

“Don’t look at me like that, sweetheart,” he giggled. “I won’t force you into anything.”

“What do you want?” I countered.

“Go shopping with me?” he asked, smiling brightly.

Shopping? Of all things. It could have been a movie or studying at the library. But shopping? I hated shopping.

“What do you say?” he pressed, leaning forward and batting his eyelashes at me. “Keep me company? Chou won’t go with me.”

Go figure. Although, I had to give Chou credit. He had gone shopping with Kamatari several times prior to that. And with Kamatari giving me those big doe eyes, his girly little pout... I couldn’t say no.

“Okay,” I sighed, closing my book. “Let me change--” (I was wearing pajama bottoms and a flannel shirt.) “And we can go.”

His eyes lit up, and he cheered happily, skipping out of my room. Groaning softly, I pulled out a pair of jeans.

^_^

We went to the Rosedale mall. My favorite thing about that place was the Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookies. I made Kamatari stop there first, so I could carry it around with me while he shopped. Of course, the cookie lasted a total of maybe five minutes... maybe. Probably less.

The one thing Kamatari had going for him was that, with his cosmetics, he looked so feminine that the casual passerby immediately mistook him for a woman. To figure it out, a person had to know where to look--like at the Adam’s apple or the hands. But how many people actually searched for those things? And it made things easier when he wanted to try on the clothing.

My problem with the entire situation was that I looked feminine enough without the make-up that all the sales people took us for a pair of girls. When we walked into Marshall Fields, some woman even asked me if I wanted to try the latest fragrance. Kamatari sniffed at it, then shook his head and led me down to the junior’s department.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he grinned, holding up a pair of jeans that looked much too tight to be comfortable. “You’ve got to tell me how these look.”

“I can’t go in there,” I protested. Outside of the fitting room there was a three-way mirror. There were several high-school girls there, prancing around in prom dresses. Kamatari was eyeing them curiously, and I immediately objected. “Tell me you’re not trying any of those on!”

“I don’t have the figure,” Kamatari said with a sly grin. “But I can admire, can’t I?”

I scowled at him, then walked over to stand next to another guy who looked as bored as could be. He glanced at me, then over at Kamatari, walking into the fitting room with his clothes.

“Not as into the shopping as your friend?” he asked. I looked at him, and he smirked. “My girlfriend made me come with her to go prom dress shopping.”

“Hn...” I glanced back to the girls. A cute little thing with curly brown hair and brown eyes turned her smile over to the guy next to me. Her smile faltered a bit when she saw me, but then she smiled again, confident as could be. “Your girlfriend?”

“Yup.”

“She’s pretty,” I observed. “You date her long?”

“Almost a year,” he nodded.

Kamatari came out then, wearing those jeans. He had put on a rather bulky sweatshirt that came down almost to his thighs. It was a good thing, too. Those pants he had on were so tight that if he had not worn that shirt, it would have been obvious as to his gender. He stopped in front of us, spinning lightly.

“What do you think? Give me a true guy’s opinion,” he demanded.

I sighed.

“It looks fine,” I shrugged. Painful, yes. But not bad. Granted, I would not have recommended any other guy try the same thing. Kamatari could do it if he wanted, but wearing girl’s clothing really was not a practice I wanted to promote.

“Fine?” his smile faded a bit. “Maybe I should have gone with the low-rise.”

“No one can tell with that shirt anyway,” I frowned. “What’s the difference?”

He rolled his eyes, announcing, “You’re no help at all!” and walked back into the fitting room.

The guy next to me looked at me with wide eyes.

“That your girlfriend?” he asked, sounding amazed.

“Not even close,” I smirked at him.

“What school do you go to?” he asked.

“University of Minnesota.”

“You’re a college student?” he seemed surprised. Apparently, not only did I look like a girl, but I looked really young.

“A sophomore.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” I looked at him. God, but he looked like a naive child. Did I ever look like that? Probably. A long time ago.

“Sweetheart!”

I looked up to see Kamatari swinging out in something else.

“Those pants look more comfortable,” was all I had to say about it.

“But do they look good?” he demanded.

“Sure,” I shrugged helplessly. Like I was supposed to know. I would not have known how they were supposed to look on a girl, let alone Kamatari. “Fine.”

That earned another exasperated look and a turned back. He went into the fitting room again, thank goodness. I groaned and rubbed my forehead to ease some of the tension there.

“How did I get sucked into this?” I complained to no one in particular.

“Derek! Who’s this?”

I had not even noticed the guy’s girlfriend coming up to us. She had hold of ‘Derek’s hands and was looking down her nose at me like I was some sort of filth that the cat dragged in.

“Uh...” the guy looked at me helplessly. “This is...”

“Kenshin,” I offered curtly.

“Odd name,” she commented, smiling blandly. “My first thought was ‘Rebecca.’ I’ll bet you get that a lot.”

“No... that’s the first anyone has called me that.” That much, at least, was true. What a little brat.

“Huh,” she laughed, nice and false. I was beginning to regret ever having stood next to this guy. “Isn’t that funny, though.”

“Sweetheart! I’m ready to go!” Kamatari waved at me as he walked toward the checkout counter.

“Have fun at prom,” I said to the pair, as nicely as I could manage when I wanted snap at that girl. I walked away, irritated and somewhat amused. I felt sorry for that guy. A hostile, jealous girl was not my idea of the ideal girlfriend.

“Having a nice male-bonding session over there?” Kamatari wondered as I met him at the cashier.

“The guy’s girlfriend mistook me for a girl,” I shook my head. “And treated me like the competition that needed to be eliminated.”

“Poor baby,” Kamatari giggled and dropped his bag into my hands. “You know, if you wore tighter shirts, you wouldn’t have so many mistakes.”

“It’s a twenty-below wind-chill outside, Kamatari,” I shook my head. “I’m not giving up my sweatshirts.”

“Then don’t be so vain,” he tapped my nose lightly and walked away. Shaking my head, I followed him. We still had more shopping to do, apparently.

^_^

It became a regular thing. Friday afternoons, if I was in a mood, I would stop by Kamatari’s room after class to see if he was there. Usually, he was. If he was not, then he was soon knocking on my door, claiming boredom and asking to do something.

We did not always go out. Sometimes we borrowed a movie from the stash in the dorms and watched it in his room. Other times we would go study together in the library, later to meet Kaoru, Chou, and Sano for dinner. He dragged me shopping more than once, but it was infrequent enough that I could tolerate it. Besides, he was always interesting enough that I did not remain bored for long.

“You know, Kenshin,” Kaoru announced one Wednesday afternoon while we sat in the corridor of the English building, waiting for the earlier class to let out. “I’m jealous sometimes.”

“Really?” I glanced at her. Kaoru never struck me as the type to get jealous over anything.

“You get to spend all this time with Kamatari,” she said. “I miss all the times we hung out last semester. It was fun.”

“Yeah?” I grinned at her. That was a nice thing to know. Someone thought it was fun to spend time with me. A year ago, even Sano would have been hard pressed to call our time spent together ‘fun.’

“I think we should make more of an effort,” she continued. “You know... like... like a certain time Sunday morning. We could go for coffee or something.”

“Don’t you go to church Sunday?” I shook my head. It was a good idea, though. Of the people I knew, Kaoru was one of the few I would hate to lose as a friend. Kaoru and Sano. Something came to mind, and I looked at her. “You know... you never took me to your dojo.”

She blinked at me.

“Dad took--”

“Yeah, but you were the one who promised to take me,” I interrupted, smirking at her. She looked about as confused as I had ever seen her. It was funny, and I chuckled. “You can make it up to me, though.”

“Oh?” she lifted her eyebrows in challenge. “How is that?”

“I used to spar every now and then with Aoshi in the gym.” I glanced up as students started filtering out of the classroom. “He’s been spending a lot of his free time with his girlfriend lately,” And guess who that was. Misao. I didn’t know how he could handle it. I would go insane with that girl bouncing around me. “And I’m out of shape now.”

“You mean... your karate against my ju jitsu?” Kaoru asked blankly. She grinned when I nodded. “You want me to be your sparring partner?” I nodded again, and she laughed aloud. “Ooooh! This will be so much fun. Kenshin, I am going to kick your butt.”

I almost winced at that thought. If she was anywhere near the level of her father, then she probably would. But they say you never got stronger if you only faced challengers weaker than yourself.

“Saturdays before lunch?” I offered as a time.

“You’re on! Ten o’clock at the gym,” she confirmed.

“Sounds good.”

She grinned and shoved me off the bench. I laughed and stumbled away, catching my balance as I walked into the room.

^_^

That Friday, Kamatari walked into my room, his hair pulled half back and make-up applied lighter than usual. I knew something was up, and I looked at him suspiciously. He smiled.

“Let’s go skating,” he suggested.

“I can’t skate,” I replied, recalling the last time I had tried it. I spent more time on my butt than skating around.

“Everyone can skate,” Kamatari retorted. “It’ll be fun. I know of this great place in Woodbury.”

“That’s about forty minutes away from here!”

“It’ll be fun!” Kamatari said again. “They’ve got the best cinnamon groovers around. And music.”

“Can’t we just study or something?” I groaned, but he would hear nothing of it. He went so far as to hand me my jacket and shoes and push me to my feet.

“Because it’s so much more exciting to write an interpretive essay on a Friday afternoon,” he snorted. “Come on.”

“I like writing interpretive essays!” Sort of. Not really. But it was preferable to humiliating myself in a skating rink. I grumbled the entire time while Kamatari pulled me out of my room and to the elevator.

^_^

Fun, my sore little ass. At least it was not on the ice. For some reason, smooth concrete did not seem to hurt quite as much. Unlike the ice-skating rink, this place had music playing almost the entire time we were there. It was a lot of famous oldies, such as The Locomotion, some of the more upbeat Beatles songs--so help me--the YMCA song, and the likes. There were some songs that were a bit more recent, but not as much. People circled the large floor in roller blades, although a few still wore the traditional roller skates.

Kamatari would not let me sit on the sidelines much. He did not like skating alone, apparently. To my embarrassment and some amusement, he took a little time trying to teach me to skate. The skating floor was rectangular to some extent, and no one really went into the far corners, so that was where we worked. He skated backwards, pulling me around by my hands.

“Don’t stare at the floor. Look up. Look at me,” he scolded. I promptly fell over. I scowled up at him. He shook his head at me, laughing openly.

“Well? I’m looking at you now!” I shouted over the music.

“Come on! Try it again,” he laughed, hauling me back to my feet. “Don’t be so afraid to fall, sweetheart.”

“I’m not afraid to fall,” I retorted. I had a death grip on his forearms and huddled closer to the ground as he pulled me around. “I have already resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to.”

He just laughed and told me to stop making him do all the work.

I got a little better. I was even able to follow Kamatari around the edges of the circle of skaters without toppling every few feet. Of course, that was when they decided to light up the disco ball. The little white blobs of light circling around us made me dizzy, and I had to close my eyes against the disorientation. Kamatari rescued me from the floor. He pulled me to the side and suggested we get something to eat.

“You know, sweetheart,” Kamatari said around his hot dog. We were sitting at one of the picnic tables that lined the wall. Both of us had ordered a hot dog and one of those ‘cinnamon groovers’ Kamatari had said were so good. “You never fail to surprise me.”

“How’s that?” I wondered, eyeing the ketchup that looked close to dripping off his hot dog. I pointed at it, and Kamatari quickly held it over his plate, saving his pants from a red stain.

“You’ve lightened up a lot since I met you,” he explained. “You used to be so touchy, but now...” he laughed. “Well, you’re still touchy, but not so much.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. He grinned.

“I’m serious!” he insisted. “Think about it. Last fall, would you have even considered coming here with me? With anyone?”

I opened my mouth to contradict him, but I had to stop. He had a point. I frowned, considering it.

While I thought on that, a couple guys walked up to our table and greeted us. Kamatari and I looked up curiously.

They were about our age, maybe a little younger. They both carried an air of confidence that came with youth and being popular. I labeled them cocky. They grinned at us.

“We noticed you were having some trouble on the floor,” one of them--with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes--said. “Want some extra help?”

Oh, for god’s sake! I opened my mouth to reject the offer, but Kamatari beat me to it.

“That sounds like fun!”

I looked at him incredulously. Was he insane?! He smiled at me and stood. No way. Not a chance in hell.

“My name’s Jeremy,” the brown-haired guy said. He gestured to his friend, a blue-eyed blond. “This is Kyle.”

“Kamatari,” was the response of my deranged companion. “And this is Kenshin.”

“Kenshin?” Kyle held out his hand. “We’re going to show you how it’s done.”

This was a bad idea, in my opinion. The only reason any guys would offer to help someone else like this was if they expected to get something out of it. Like a girl’s phone number or, better yet, a date. In the dim lighting of Wooddale Recreation Center, it was easy to mistake Kamatari for female. As much as I hated to admit it... it was probably the same for me.

So those two boys--Kyle and Jeremy--dragged me around the rink, Kamatari whipping along right beside us, laughing all the while. I was horrified, of course. First of all, we were going awfully fast. And second, what the hell were we doing? Deceits like this always ended badly. Didn’t anyone ever watch movies? Read books?!

“You’re doing great, sweetheart!” Kamatari called out.

“You just wait until I get my hands on you!” I shouted back, then yelped as the guys holding onto my arms decided to flip around and go backwards. I closed my eyes, feeling a bit sick to my stomach. Oh yes. When I got the wheels off my feet, I was going to throttle Kamatari. He was a dead man walking... skating.

^_^

The afternoon ended. It was not a good ending, but it was not bad either. Those boys walked away disappointed when Kamatari smiled sweetly and turned down their offer of dinner. I was not happy with the way Kamatari had messed with them like that, but I was glad they had never discovered they were hitting on a couple of guys. The embarrassment was not something I cared to have.

We went back to the dorms, exhausted and in fairly good spirits. Sano and Chou joined us, and we headed down to the cafeteria for some dinner.

^_^

Kaoru kept her promise to beat me up. Our Saturday morning sparring session went rather well in spite of that. I was a little sore from skating the previous afternoon and slower because of it. It was somewhat useful, as I could use that as an excuse for why Kaoru was so thoroughly beating me.

We took a break after about a half hour. Well, Kaoru was ready to continue. I was flat on my back, trying to catch my breath, so she sat down next to me while I recovered.

“You know, Kenshin,” Kaoru commented, wiping some of the sweat from her brow. “Spring break is coming up soon.”

“Yeah,” I gasped. I barely heard her, though. More of my concentration was on the stitch in my side.

“What’s your plan?”

“Uh...” I opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling, metal beams far above us. I tried to bring up what I was supposed to be doing over the spring break and momentarily drew a blank. Plan, plan, plan... what was the--the tickets! Ahhhhh... I had no idea. “Not sure yet.”

“Silly boy,” she swatted the top of my head lightly. “You should decide soon.”

“I know...” I sighed, then rolled over and pushed myself to my hands and knees. “Ready to start again?”

“You’re not going to beat me.”

“That’s what you think.”

She was right. I couldn’t beat her. I spent that morning getting thrown around yet again. Why did I let people do this to me?

^_^

Whoever said that Sundays were a day of rest never had to write a ten-page research paper. I woke up Sunday morning, aching from my weekend of falling--on the skating rink and on the gym mats--my mind on the paper that was due in just over a week. Breakfast was a hurried thing, eaten alone because no one else in his right mind got up at seven-thirty on a weekend.

It was not as if I had not done some preliminary work. I had. In fact, most of the paper was written, but for my conclusion. But it was a very rough draft and twelve pages long. The professor did not want a paper that long, and rumor had it he would stop reading at page ten, whether or not it was finished. Thus, I would be docked points for not having a conclusion--which I would have, but he did not read it--and various other things. It was irritating.

My attention was momentarily drawn from my homework when I walked past Kamatari and Chou’s room. The door was open, which was odd because Chou never did the early morning thing. Someone probably got up to use the bathroom, but that did not explain the strange sounds I heard inside. Far too noisy for two sleepy or sleeping guys--not counting those who snored.

Curious, I knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open slowly. Chou looked up, scowling at the intruder. He was sitting next to Kamatari on the latter’s bed, a tissue box in his hands. Next to him, Kamatari blew his nose noisily and rubbed his sleeve over his eyes.

Kamatari was crying.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked uneasily. “Kamatari?”

Never had I thought I’d see Kamatari, of all people, like that. He was making a valiant effort to compose himself, but his face was still flushed, his eyes watery and bloodshot. Then, Chou was up and walking toward me, blocking Kamatari from my line of sight. I frowned at him.

“Chou? What happened? What’s wrong?” I demanded.

He looked funny, too. Not like he was going to burst into tears or anything, but troubled.

“This isn’t a good time, kid,” he said soberly.

Chou kept walking toward me, bullying me out of the room with his greater size. I stumbled back, confused and worried about Kamatari. The man had not said a thing against Chou’s actions, so he must not have wanted me in there. Not that I was so vain to expect he would request I stay, but to force me out? And, I guess, Chou had known him longer.

“Sorry,” Chou muttered, then shut the door in my face. I stared at the door, at the stupid-looking name tags the CA had posted on it, wondering what the hell had just happened. My mind was plenty active, offering possibilities. Someone had died, someone got hurt, someone hurt Kamatari--that one made me tense up in anger--he was stressed out over school... the possibilities were endless. I half expected him to come out and say, “Sweetheart, I’m dying.”

But Kamatari did not come out of the room. That door remained sealed shut, showing no signs of opening soon. There was not much else to do, and I could not stand in the hall, staring at the door all day like an idiot, so I went back to my room.

I made very little progress on my paper that afternoon.

^_^

It was quite some time before I ever found out what was wrong with Kamatari that Sunday morning. He never volunteered the information, and I did not want to ask. He went around like usual, smiling and laughing just the same as always. One afternoon that week, when I glanced in his room to see him tapping away on his computer, he even waved me in.

“How’s life, sweetheart?” he asked, clicking a few times and turning off his computer monitor. I glanced at the dark monitor curiously, then smiled nervously at him.

“Not much,” I sat on his bed, watching him turn in his chair and kick up his feet to prop them on the corner of his desk. “You?”

“Just sent off an email to the folks,” he tilted his head to look at me. “I’m going to West Virginia over spring break.” He rolled his eyes. “A heck of a time for a family reunion, but that’s when we’ve always done it.”

“Your relatives live near the capital?” I asked.

“The capital of West Virginia?” he asked, teasing me. I frowned at him.

“Nooooo,” I shook my head. “Washington, D.C.”

“Oooohhhhhh,” he feigned comprehension. “Not really. Other side of the state.”

I nodded, then sighed and leaned back against the wall.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing yet,” I admitted.

“Going home?” he offered with a knowing smile.

“Ah hah. I don’t know,” I wrinkled my nose in distaste. Even if I had made up with my uncle, we still were not overly close. It was not like I wanted to take up a hobby with him or anything. “Actually, I’ve got a couple of plane tickets that I’m supposed to use, but I don’t really know... it’s awfully expensive.”

“I can understand that,” he nodded solemnly. “I’m in something of the same boat, myself.”

“Really?” I looked at him expectantly. What was this? Something involving last Sunday? “What’s that?”

He smiled, but it was not so happy as usual.

“I was on a waiting list for Harvard... its law school,” he explained, absently studying his nails, then picking up a nail file from his desk and going to work on his thumb. “If I want, I can transfer there next fall.”

My mind was temporarily blank. That was one of the most prestigious schools in the country. I knew Kamatari was pretty smart, but it never occurred to me that he was that smart.

“Whoa,” I blurted finally. “Really? I mean... that’s great!”

He would be leaving, though. Going far away, and those of us at the U would likely not see him again--or at least for a very long time. But such an opportunity was not something a person should ignore. I knew that as well as anyone.

“You think so?” he looked at me with that funny little smile again. “I’m supposed to send in my acceptance soon, or they’ll call the next person on the list.”

Was this what he had been so upset about? I was not sure. In a way, I kind of hoped it was. At least that meant no one had died.

“I think it’s something to be proud of,” I said frankly. “Not everyone can go to places like that. Look at me. I was barely accepted by the state university. Even Aoshi missed getting into that place.”

“I didn’t know Aoshi had applied to Harvard,” Kamatari smirked.

I smiled confidently, not admitting that I did not know either. Kamatari did not need to know that. It was a fairly safe assumption, I thought. Of course... Aoshi might not have gotten the kind of study grants from Harvard that he could get from the U of M.

I glanced at the clock and sighed.

“I’ve got to go.”

“Class?” he asked sympathetically.

“Psych,” I nodded. “It’s a lot of reading.”

“Let me know if you want a tutor,” he smirked. “I aced that class.”

“I’ll come prepared with my books and dunce cap,” I replied, shooting him a glare as I walked out of the room. Cocky bastard. Kamatari just laughed and waved as I left. Oh well. Some people were just better at some things than others.

^_^