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Rent	By : ShaeyaSedjet Category: Rurouni Kenshin > General Views: 3665 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
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A Note From Sedjet: Many of you seemed to think that my last post
was an ultimatum: Review or I quit. NO! I
am not one of those authors who demands reviews before she will post another
chapter. After reading my note from the
last chapter, I see how it could be taken that way. I am very sorry that it came across sounding
like it did. I was concerned that it
wasn�t doing well because of the whole idea of Kenshin
having AIDS. I thought that, perhaps, I
had offended people. Thinking about that
now, I am sure I would have known if I had offended anyone. People are never reluctant to tell you what
they don�t like.

I�m not looking for praise.
No, no, no! I want to know what people
like. I want to know what people
dislike. Constructive criticism is the
main thing. I write fanfiction
to help develop my skills for the bigger stuff.
Just so ya know. I�m not review hungry�I feed on
feedback. Anyhoo,
I wanted to clear that up.

Thanks you�s:

Knives� Rent is my favorite
musical�EVER!!!! Oh,yeah! *high-five!*

Kaoru-chan�
Hehe.
I will keep writing chapters just for you!

Peppercorn (x2)� As you have seen, Kenshin is not stigmatized by his friends. We�ll get to reasons later. There are lots of givens that haven�t been
revealed yet.

Synapse� I�m sorry that I
came across like a review hound. I�m
really not. In any case, I am glad that
you like the story.

Jenice� Yeah. NYC on AFF.net. J It gets worse.

MZ.AMbER EYES� Ok.
No. Kaoru is a stripper, not a
whore. s'> She doesn�t have sex for cash or
any other form of payment. And I never
said that she LOOKED like Tomoe. I only
said that she reminded Kenshin of Tomoe. Have you ever met someone who just remin you you of another person�not physically. Maybe it is in their expression, a look in
their eyes, their smile or their compassion for other people. Know what I mean? That is along the lines of what I meant. Anyhoo, I�ll have
to go back and revise that if people are getting the wrong impression. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!

JIVARA� Misao
is not a lesbian. *grin* I have fudged with
it a bit. How fair would it be to
totally rip off our dear Mr. Larson. Yeah.
I have taken some liberties with it.
I hope you don�t hate it. But
yeah, you guessed my Mimi and RogerJ

Isis� haha! Yeah, I have had to listen to the soundtrack
on repeat since I started writing this.
*sigh* I
am hopeless.

Ariel Himura� I hope you are enjoying the rest of
�Rent.� Am I that predictable?

Koishii Sweet� I�m glad you like it!

Raine� Thanks! I�m glad you�re diggin�
itJ Stay tuned.

Xxna5xX� Danke!

BabyKaoru-Sama� Thank you, thank you!

Roku-chan� I thought that perhaps that was one of my
problems. My summary sucked ass. Heh heh. I�m glad I changed it. I also thought it might be due to my wimpy
ass first chapter! Hehe. Thanks for being so enthusiastic!

EnjeruJoshin
(Isis)� I
like you. You make me giggle. I�m glad you�re diggin�
it. Don�t worry. I�m going to finish. My problem is that I have written a huge part
of the middle, and I don�t know how to get there from here! *sigh*

Also, I�m not familiar with NYC at all. Of course, I know Broadway and 42^nd. However, I don�t know where the bad parts of
the city are. If someone could direct me
to a map that I wouldn�t have to buy, I would appreciate it. If anyone knows how the city is set up (as in
where the poor sections are and where the strip joints would be) please e-mail
me: shaeya_sedjet@yahoo.com

Now, on with the show!

Rent

Chapter Four:

It�s Hard to Say �I�m
sorry�

Safteafter her altercation with the gorgeous but oh-so-bastardass redhead, Kaoru stopped by her apartment to grab
her spiffy, fluffy, fuzzy winter jacket (She always felt better when she put on
her spiffy, fluffy, fuzzy winter jacket).
She left her apartment and headed toward the Sex Kitten with a specific
purpose in mind. Her dealer lurked
around there the vast majority of the time.
After her earlier confrontation, she needed a good fix to steady her
nerves. She was getting antsy and the
slightest bit paranoid.

It didn�t take her long at all to find Marco. She didn�t even have to e Ave Avenue B. Luck had it that he was lurking near Tompkins
Square Park.

�Marco!�n stn style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She called,
waving vigorously.

The Italian drug-dealer glanced up at one of his favorite
customers and smiled. �Kitty!�

It was Kaoru�s dancing name.
There was no way in hell she would let a man like Marco know her real
name. He was a nice enough guy�outside
of the drug-dealing getting kids hooked on narcotics thing, but she smart
enough to realize that a young girl should never let her drug-dealer know who
she is or where she lives. Bad things
happened if you couldn�t pay, or if you started going to someone else for your narcs.

Marco sauntered over to her, grinning from ear to ear, �Hey,
Kitty Kat. I though you�d forgotten all
about lil� ol� me.�

She smiled her most charming smile, �How could I forget
about you, Marco? I�ve just been broke
lately. But, I finally got enough to get
a couple grams.�

Marco liked Kitty.
She was a sweet kid and she was a total junkie. She hid it better than most. The gaunt model look worked for her. She had been a customer of his since she was
sixteen, and she had been very loyal to him.
He always cut her a deal, because she had stayed with him so long.

�A coupla grams? You must
have come into some good money.� Marco
noticed a strange looking chick with long, red hair checking them out. �Kitty, you know that chick and the guy over
there?�

Kaoru looked in the direction he was looking. It wasn�t a chick. It was the asshole from the top floor of the
warehouse and his friend that had come in just in time to save his ass from a
horrible fucking death. �Shit!� she
muttered.

***

Kenshin and Sano were headed to
the empty lot at Avenue B and 10^th, where Misao
was going to be doing a performance art piece in protest of the lot that was
being shut down. It would shut down the
existing �tent city�, but the real reason Misao was
so pissed was that it was her stage. She
performed hundreds of shows in protest of hundreds of things that she
considered �unjust�: the treatment of
women in Afghanistan,
AIDS, the oppression of artists, the plight of the homeless in NYC. In all actuality, she was a drama queen that
wanted to get noticed for being �out there�.
The best way to do that was to protest�everything.

For tonight�s protest, she had prepared an interpretive
dance/narrative piece. It was sure to be
highly dramatic and very amusing. Soujiro would be there filming it as always. Misao and Soujiro had dated once.
Kenshin highly suspected that Sou was still in love with the tiny ball of angst and fire,
because any time she needed a favor, the dumbass was
always there to assist her in any way he could.
The relationship had ended badly when Misao
began to neglect him for her �art�. It
didn�t help that she was an incorrigible flirt. Soujiro had been
heart-broken and took to hiding behind his camera. He preferred to observe life rather than
participate in it. In this way, he was
much like Kenshin.
Sou�s case was worse, however, because he
couldn�t admit that he had a problem. Kenshin fully acknowledged his disdain for life and
embrace�made love to it on a daily basis, even.
Sou, however, was deluded into thinking that
he wanted to observe the way people interacted and behaved. Bullshit.

Sano noticed that Kenshin
was�well�characteristically stoic, �Oi! Stop being broody and talk to me, dammit!�

Kenshin pretended not to have
heard him, �Huh? Did you say something?�

Sano rolled his eyes, �Jackass.� Something caught his eye, and his inner
ferret took over. �Hey, isn�t that the
girl you called a whore?�

�Yeah, that�s her, and I didn�t call her a whore.�

�You might as well have.
I think your exact words were �You sell your body for a living.� That�s perilously close to calling her a
whore, dude.�

�Did you learn a new word, Sano?� Kenshin said with a
blank face and laughed when Sano glared at him.

�Dude. You just laughed. I think this chick really got to you.�

�Shut up,� Kenshin muttered. After a moment, �Should I go over there.�

�What are you going to do?
Just stare at her? If you open
your mouth, you will probably insult her, and I wouldn�t put it past that one
to kick your ass if you did. She doesn�t
seem like the kind that puts up with that shit.
She put you in your place earlier.
Do you want to mess with that?�

Kenshin studied the figure in the
fuzzy red and purple jacket. He was
suddenly nervous. Now was his chance to
apologize. But could he bring himself to
do it? He didn�t want to come off as a
jackass�again. She was incurably cute
bundled in fluff from mid-thigh up. She
called to a deeply buried part of him that still wanted to participate in the
world of the living. Something was
breaking inside of him. He was feeling
emotions that he hadn�t felt in a little over a year, and he made his decision. He looked at Sano, �Yeah, I think I do.�

&nb/o:p/o:p>

Sano raised his eyebrow and pulled out his cellphone, �I have 911 on my one-touch program. I�ll be ready if you need it,� he
chuckled. �Good luck, man, �cause you are gonna need it after
all the shitty things you said to her.�

Kenshin shot the spiky-haired man
a death glare and made his way over to the mystery girl in the fuzzy red and
purple jacket.

***

�What�s wrong? You fuckin� her guy, or something?� he chuckled at his own
humor.

Kaoru rolled her eyes, �That�s a guy, Marco. We live in the same building.� She sighed, �Shit, shit, shit!�

�Well, they�re talking about you. The red-head looks interested��

�Well, I�m not,� she bit out.

�Oo, touchy. What�d this guy do to get on your bad
side? I thought my lil�
kitten liked everyone.� He grinned at
her, and she rolled her eyes.

�There are just some people you can�t like no matter how you
try, Marco.�

�Looks like you got a fan, Kitty,� Marco grinned.

�Great,� she moaned as she turned to see Kenshin
approaching them.

you your money away, kitten. Find me later,� Marco said in low tones.

�Marco�� she practically whined, �I need my��

�Um, hi.� The red-head mumbled.

Kaoru quickly tucked her money into her pocket and turned a
wary stare on the man in front of her.
�Hi.� She said shortly.

�I couldn�t decide if that was you or not, but I�m glad it
was.�

Kaoru studied him, with a guarded expression. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling
very uncomfortable in her current situation.
She didn�t want to have it out with this guy in the middle of the street
in case his socially inept qualities kicked it at full blast again. As she studied him, Kaoru realized
something: This didn�t seem like the
same guy from earlier. This guy seemed
embarrassed, unsure, bashful even. His posture told her that he wasn�t used to
this kind of interaction. He was making
himself very small. It made her want to
reach out and pet him, but she knew that could have dire consequences. His current disposition was rather
endearing. So, she decided to hear him
out. She vaguely wondered if he had been
on a bad trip earlier.

�Um, listen, I wanted to apologize for being such an asshole
earlier. I didn�t mean to attack your
character like that. I just�you�� he sighed, and Kaoru tried to hid her smile of amusement,
�IpanickedandfreakedoutandI�msorry,� he said in a
rush.

Kaoru laughed out loud at that, and felt horrible when he
looked dejected and wounded. �No! I accept your apology. It�s just that you were so cute.� She smiled shyly. �I�m sorry if I hurt your feelings just now,
really I am. I didn�t mean to laugh at
you.�

Kenshin smiled a little and said,
�It�s ok. I
would have deserved it if you had just laughed at me.�

Kaoru shrugged, �Bygones,� and smiled.

The smile was so genuine that Kenshin
thought his heart would stop beating. It
was beautiful. It was a contagious kind
of smile that had him grinning like an idiot.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, �Hey, umm, can I take you to dinner
to make up for being such a bastard? One
of my friends is performing in the lot at B and 10^th, and we are all
going to dinner afterwards.�

Kaoru considered this for a minute. On the down side, it
could turn out to be a horribly miserable event. On the other hand, it could be very nice�and
it would be a free meal. If it was too tble,ble,
she never had to see him again unless it was in passing. She made her decision, �Sure. I would love to go.�

Kenshin smiled shyly. �Umm�Well�Ok. Let�s go, then. We�d better hurry. Misao will flay us
alive if we are late.� He led the way over
to Sanosuke and would have made introductions, but
realized he didn�t even know her name.
He looked at her sheepishly, �I don�t even know your name.�

She gave another of her bright smiles and her bright
laughteraoruaoru Kamiya,� she offered her hand, and
he took it, noting that she had a firm handshake.

�I�m Kenshin Himura,
and this spiky headed freak is Sanosuke Sagara.�

Sanosuke held out his hand, �Just
Sano. And don�t listen to a word the
girly-hermit says. He�s just jealous
that his hair can�t do this,� Sano said, stroking his free hand over his
spikes.

Kaoru laughed genuinely and took his hand in a firm
handshake. Sano smiled. Yes, indeed, this girl could be just what the
doctor ordered for one Kenshin Himura. Indeed, indeed.

TBC�

Author�s Note: Woohoo!!! I really
had fun with this chapter. It went
through about 800 revisions before I finally got something I wanted, but I am
very pleased with the outcome. Thanks to
everyone who reviewed. And ja ne,
until next time!
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