Rent
Over the Moon
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A Note
schedule is even worse than my school schedule.
I will be holding down two jobs and taking a summer school course.
graduate next spring. WOOT!
you be patient with me. I will try to
update as frequently as possible. I love
you guys, and I want to keep you happy!
-- Thank you
for reading! You’re always so
supportive!
Hellhound
it! I hope you like the next
-- Thanks!
Engel Star 13 –
Thanks for the nice review. I will
definitely check out your stories.
Rent:
Chapter Five
Over the Moon
Kaoru reached for Kenshin’s arm,
but he shied away, offering her an apologetic almost-smile.
expression, but failed miserably. Sano
noted the exchange and draped a large, heavy arm over Kaoru’s shoulders.
“Don’t be put off.
He’s just weird about this kind of thing.
head solemnly.
Sano ruffled her hair, “Don’t worry, Jo-chan.
‘bout this.”
Kenshin watched the exchange with
a jealous eye. Why did Sano get along
better with everyone than he did? What
was it about him that made people open up to him.
like that.
It’s because he has
come to terms with his disease, a reasonable voice answered
It is really as simple as that, you know.
earlier. You don’t go out.
effort with. Perhaps you should just—
Perhaps you should just shut the fuck up, you annoying
That is quite
enough! You trash mouthed hooligan!
I will kill you.
Kenshin pushed the voices out of
his mind. His two drastically different
personalities tended to battle it out for dominance.
personality just beat the shit out of the weaker and that was that.
tried not to listen to either of them.
The pacifist had a point, though.
that he was dying in the slowest and perhaps most emotionally painful way
possible. Kenshin
couldn’t figure the man out. He was
going to these group therapy meetings that “helped him deal with his
disease.” Kenshin
had only scoffed when Sano had invited him along.
give him hope. His hope had been ripped
away from when Tomoe chose to take herself out of the world rather than staying
with him so they could help each other through it.
Kenshin turned away from the
smiling pair of kindred souls. “We
better get going or they’ll be pissed,” he muttered.
Kaoru frowned. She
ran ahead of Sanosuke to wrap her arms around
shot her a belligerent look.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, intently studying her purple
polished nails.
“’S ok.”
for a while. “I’m just not used to being
touched, and it kinda weirds
me out.”
“Oh! You should have
said so! I’m sorry.
comfortable with it.” She offered him an
awkward smile. They walked in silence
for a moment, “So…who are we going to see?”
“Misao.
closing of her lot.”
“Her ‘lot’?”
“I told you we were going to see a show at the lot on B and
10th, right? Well, she
considers it her lot.
ours has decided that he’s going to shut down the lot.
protest for any cause as long as it will get her some notice.”
Kaoru smiled, “Well…Thanks for inviting me.
Kenshin gave her a measuring look,
“We’ll see. My friends are…different.”
Kaoru just smiled, shaking her head, “You know where I work,
right?”
Kenshin laughed out loud at that,
“Yeah. Ok.
Kaoru stopped, and Kenshin turned
around to see what was wrong. “What?”
She smiled, “You should laugh more often.
Kenshin blushed.
Sano watched them from a few paces back.
had laughed in over a year. Kaoru was
going to heal the broody musician’s soul, and Sano was looking forward to being
around to see it.
The trio walked the short distance to the lot, and Sano and
with his blasted video camera.
there with a pretty hot chick, which surprised them both, because Jake was the
gayest of the gay. Aoshi
and Misao were there, or coarse and Megumi, a
nurse-friend of Aoshi’s.
Cherokee was a familiar white-haired cretin.
As they approached the group, Kenshin
elbowed Soujiro, “What’s that asshole doing
here? I’ll fuckin’
gut him.”
Soujiro totally ignored his
roommate’s comment, “Whoa! Who’s the
girl! She’s cute!”
Kenshin, in turn, brushed off
here?”
“With you?!
Kaoru watched the exchange between the two men.
the third person, she held out her hand, “Since Kenshin
seems incapable of introducing me, I suppose I’ll have to introduce myself,”
she smiled that bedazzling smile of hers, “I’m Kaoru Kamiya.”
“You look familiar.
Have I seen you somewhere before?”
She laughed out loud, “Everyone asks me that…”
“Heeeeeeeeey Kenshin!
date? Is >Is she your giiiirlfriend?”
“Ah, Misao, this is Kaoru
Kaoru eyed the enthusiastic creature with more than a little
worry.
She leaned over to Kenshin, “Is
what she has contagious?”
“I don’t think so. If
it were, Sou and I would have caught it already…and as
you can see…” He made a grand gesture to include himself and
“I see your point,” she giggled, “class=GramE>Misao, it is nice to meet
you.”
“Don’t let these two sour pusses tell you lies
about me! They’re just jealous because
they aren’t as cute as I am.”
Kaoru laughed.
Soujiro
Misao is a brighed, ed, beautiful,
special young woman with a desire to perform and to be known.
She shines on those around her.
All she has to do is give you one coy glance, and you are gone.
flirt? *sigh*
She was mine once. I adored
her. I worshipped the ground she walked
on; but in the end, I suppose we weren’t compatible enough to make it.
anything that moved? You must pardon me.
I have become ridiculously jealous. I
would never admit this to anyone, mind you.
I try to play it off as indifferent, but I think Kenshin
knows. Hell, I think everyone
knows…except Misao.
She always was a little clueless.
Ok, she was always really
clueless and pretty flighty. She seems
to be different with Aoshi, though.
hell. Why couldn’t she have looked at me
like that? What did I do wrong?
Anyway.
on Christmas Eve? Yeah. So, we were all
going to watch Misao’s protest of the closing of her
favorite performance lot.
looked oddly familiar. I had to have
seen her somewhere before. As I shook
her hand, it hit me: The Sex
Kitten! Yup.
She danced at the Sex Kitten. We
had all gone there for Enishi’s bachelor party.
wacky and scary. Not
that he wasn’t always wacky and scary.
Enishi was always just a little bit off.
brother and that had to give him a few redeeming qualities.
bring a stripper to see Misao’s protest show?
happened. Kenshin
could have smiled.
Everyone was watching Kenshin and
the new girl with keen interest. This
was a most interesting development to say the least.
behaving in a most un-Kenshin-like manner.
thankful I had brought my trusty camcorder.
I got snippets of the stomach turning cuteness, so that when
sickening behavior. Don’t get me
wrong. It was refreshing to see
any man do anything he could to keep her smiling like that.
People Skills was going to do something to fuck it up by the end of the
night. Kenshin
was so fucking bi-polar. *sigh*
Misao’s show was…interesting to
say the least. It was a thinly veiled,
selfish attempt to get Enishi to change his mind about
shutting down “her lot.” Of course,
convinced herself that this was a protest against the mistreatment of the poor
and homeless. I, for one was amused when
she decided to do Maureen’s performance piece from “Rent”.
protests. I just sat back and watched as
Enishi chuckled to himself.
never got along. It could be because he
was a broody, crazy s.o.b and because
her. Hell, she got on my nerves most of
the time, too.
General:
After the protest, the gang went to the Akebeko
to hang out and bum free food from Tae and Tsubame.
shying away from Kaoru in an attempt to make it clear to everyone that they
weren’t an item. Soujiro
noted the disappointment on Kaoru’s delicate features and cursed
treatment of Kaoru and asked her to dance.
She accepted the invitation with a grateful smile and
got freaky on the dance floor with Kenshin’s date.
“You have absolutely no right to sit there and sulk, you
sorry asshole,” Soujiro quipped.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, nice comeback,” Sou said
sarcastically.
Kenshin pushed away from the table
and went out the side door of the restaurant.
He couldn’t stand to watch people have fun.
and to have brought Kaoru with him. So
full of life…He shuddered and closed his eyes against a fresh wave of
pain. He wanted her to reach out to him
and hold him, but he couldn’t let it happen.
He just couldn’t stand to look at her sometimes, the way she shone so
with warmth and light.
Not long after Kenshin left,
and Misao had had a battle of wits, and
displeased Aoshi along behind her.
Sano and Kaoru came back from the dance floor and Kaoru cast
a look around for Kenshin, her shoulders drooping in
defeat.
Enishi caught sight of her and
sauntered over. By the way she
acknowledged him, the collected group could tell that there was a history and
that she disliked the man immensely. He
asked her if they could go somewhere and talk.
She nodded in acquiescence and followed him outside.
“What do you want, Enishi?
leave me alone. Didn’t I make it
abundantly clear that I didn’t want to see you again?”
“Hey, cool it, babe.
I saw at the protest and thought I would just come and say hi.
“There is when it’s you, you fuckin’
freak.”
Enishi grabbed Kaoru by the throat
and slammed her into the brick wall of the building.
whore,” he spat.
“Fuck you!” She
through her skull.
Enishi didn’t notice the petite
man lurking in the shadows.
“What the fuck?!”
staggering up off the pavement. When his
eyes finally focused on Kenshin, Enishi’s
lips curled into an ugly sneer.
her. “How sweet of you
to come to the defense of a worthless whore.
Kenshin ignored the barb.
“Never lay a hand on a woman in anger, you sick bastard.
will not tolerate you now.”
“Don’t you dare speak her name!”
killed.”
Kenshin reared back and punched
the man as hard as he could. “Get the
fuck out of here, you crazy fuck,” he panted.
The emotion was threatening to overwhelm him.
him, into the building.
“Thank you, Kenshin.”
She tried again, “I wondered where you ran off to.
started.
“Don’t speak to me right now.”
Kaoru’s eyes narrowed, “Fine.”
went off somewhere in her bag.
“Shit.” She cursed silently and began
to dig in her very large messenger bag.
“Where is it?!” She began to dig
frantically.
Kenshin’s curiosity got the better
of him, “What are you doing?” he asked in guarded tones.
Kaoru’s head shot up and she glared icy daggers at him, “I’m
looking for my AZT. Do you have a
problem with that?”
Kenshin’s eyes widened, “You…you
have…?”
“Yes, Kenshin,” she snapped, “I
have AIDS.”
Kenshin’s gaze softened.
I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, well, I hide it well.”
“But you—“
“I’m a stripper, Kenshin.
life.”
“I didn’t mean—“
“You never do. You
seem to have a problem speaking before you think.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I really don’t care, Kenshin.
“Umm…Kenshin dug in one of the
lower pockets of his plaid pants, “I could loan you one of mine…” he offered.
Kaoru looked up at him, tears springing to her eyes, “You?”
He nodded, not meeting her gaze.
forcing his gaze to meet hers. “Listen
to me. There is nothing to be ashamed
of. It’s just something that
happens. Gods, I knew there was
something wrong with you. You’re so
angry.” She caressed his face with
gentle fingertips, and he pulled away from her.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t pull away, Kenshin.”
“There are places you can go.
There are classes and support groups…”
“I don’t need any of that self-help shit.
“You’re not fine, you stubborn asshole!”
even help yourself!”
“I am dying,
Kaoru! You’re dying. Sano’s
dying. We’re all dying, and there’s not
a fucking thing we can do about it.”
She studied him for a moment.
Kenshin. You
just have to have the desire. You have
to live while you can.”
Kenshin was quiet for a long
time. Suddenly, very softly, without
making eye contact “When did you get sick?”
Kaoru answered as a young woman who had accepted her
impending death, “I was diagnosed last spring.”
She laughed bitterly, “My boyfriend at the time knew and infected me
anyway.”
“Fuck!”
How could someone knowingly infect someone like that?!
and full of life. It enraged
him. He looked around the alley,
clenching an unclenching his fists, trying desperately to get himself under
control.
“Look at me, Kenshin,” she
commanded, softly.” He did.
it. It’s that, or let the anger and fear
eat me up inside. I choose not to live
in fear, Kenshin.
I choose to live. And I’m ok with
that.”
He gazed at her and forced himself to calm down.
and...just like that!” He snapped his fingers.
Kaoru drew herself up to her full height, affronted.
“What about you? When did you find out?”
I don’t mind.” There was another
awkward silence, “So…How old are you?”
She shifted uncomfortably.
Kenshin looked sideways at her, “Old.”
She laughed and he smiled, “You can’t be
“You’re nineteen, right?”
She nodded, “I’m a decade older than you.”
She blinked and studied him for a long moment, “I’ll buy
that. You look younger, but your eyes
give you away.” She reached up with her delicate
hands to cup his face. “So much hurt.”
sad.”
Kenshin wanted so badly to lean
into her touch like a great big feline, but he forced himself to be still.
“Why don’t you like to be touched?” She asked softly.
“Why are you touchy-feely?” He snapped back at her.
She sighed and took her hands away from his face.
the loss of her touch, cried out for her delicate, caressing fingertips.
“Look, I think coming here with you was a bad idea,
going to go home.” She turned away from
and began to walk away.
No!
If you
kick your sorry, disease-ridden ass,
threatened in a deadly growl.
Kenshin battled with himself for a
moment before leaping into action. He
literally leaped after her, grabbing her wrist and wrenching her around.
his lips against hers. He was vaguely
surprised when her hands found their way into his hair, tugging roughly, but
kissed her all the more frantically.
Neither Kenshin
or Kaoru heard the side door of the Akabeko
open, nor did they see Soujiro and Sano poke their
heads out. The two unsuspecting
observers were surprised to find their best friend had pinned the stripper
against the brick side of the building and thrust one of his knees between her
legs so that she was riding him. Sano
whistled lowly and Soujiro just stared in rapt
fascination. Soujiro
nudged Sano and the two young men went back into the restaurant, letting the
door close with a barely audible “click”.
Soujirou
“Man, Megumi’ll be pissed!”
“Why do you care.
started going to the clinic.”
“Shutup!”
“You know it’s true—OW!
Dammit
“Shit, man! I didn’t
mean to hit you that hard. Guess I don’t
know my own strength,” the thug drawled.
Author’s Note:
about that.
I thought I would have. Just be patient
with me. I’m doing my best
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