"Arrgggggh!"
The scream reverberated through the house, shocking the two men and the boy who free-loaded there.
Kenshin's washing tub went flying as he leapt to his feet, recognizing the sound as having come from his beloved Miss Kaoru. Hand flying to the hilt of his sword and eyes blazing into violent amber, the Rurouni practically flew across the yard.
On the porch practicing, Yahiko dropped his bokken and ran into the cool recesses of the house. Sanosuke, who had been lazing against an exterior door ran after him seconds later. "Kaoru!" Yahiko yelled urgently.
Kenshin came running, blurring past Sanosuke and Yahiko's forms as if they'd been standing still. "Miss Kaoru! I'm coming!" he shouted, reaching her bedroom in seconds. The door came slamming open along it's hinges, making the walls shake. "Miss-" he stopped abruptly as he realized there was no danger. His amber eyes took in the scene swiftly. Kaoru was sitting on the floor with Megumi kneeling before her, something small held between her hands.
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru shouted, throwing her rolled up bed at his head. "You just don't come running into a girl's bedroom like that!" she went on as he moved his head slightly to the side and allowed the bed roll to smack into the wall behind him.
The gold faded from Kenshin's eyes and he gave the two women a perplexed look. "What is it that you are doing, Miss Megumi?" he asked curiously.
"Piercing her ear" Megumi said, smiling at him.
"She's trying to murder me!" Kaoru said, glaring up at the doctor. "I asked her to do one little thing and she-"
"Excuse me, but this is hardly able to kill a person" she held up her hand and showed Kenshin the small pin held between her fingers. "Poke their eye out maybe" Megumi went on thoughtfully, throwing Kaoru a significant look.
"A pin?" Kenshin said cluelessly, looking around for rolls of cloth. What did sewing a Kimono have to do with murdering Kaoru? "Are you making a kimono for Miss Kaoru?" he asked doubtfully.
"No, I'm trying to pierce her ears"
"Pierce her ears?" Kenshin said, frowning slightly. He looked from Kaoru's delicate lobes, to the sharp pin. "Why would you be piercing Miss Kaoru's ears with that?"
"For these! They're the newest fashion from the west and I think they're beautiful!" Kaoru reached down to her lap and picked up something small. She beckoned Kenshin closer, which he did curiously, then showed him what she was holding. In her hands were two delicate pieces of wire, intricately made into the shape of a rose. "See? The ends here go through the ear and curve over the other-"
Kenshin felt faint. "You-you put them THROUGH your EARS?" he stuttered, violet eyes going rapidly between the earrings and Kaoru's lobes. "Won't that hurt?"
"Hence the screaming" Megumi said dryly, settling back onto her heels. "You see, you put this pin through the ear and...well, there will be a little blood"
"Blood?" Kenshin audibly swallowed, eyes going wide. "I think that I will leave you to do this, that I do" Kenshin said, backing away. He gave Kaoru an apprehensive look and then backed out of the room. He turned and rapidly left.
Yahiko and Sanosuke snickered from their position just outside Kaoru's room, having heard everything.
"Well!" Kaoru said, astonished. "What was that about? Kenshin's never been afraid at the sight of blood before"
"It's not that" Megumi said, giving a sly grin.
"Oh?"
"I'll tell you another time" The doctor promised, raising the pin again. "Now, where were we?"
"Hey ugly, you can wear those all you like, but you'll never be fashionable!" Yahiko taunted, sticking out his tongue.
"WHY YOU!" Kaoru shouted, getting up from her sitting position. But before she could completely rise, Megumi reached out and shoved her back to the floor.
"Stay still please. I have patients to be taking care of you know. I'm doing this as a favor from one girl to another" Megumi said, crossing her arms. "Now should we proceed or not?"
"Yes" Kaoru said, looking down at the earrings. "They're so pretty, don't you think, Megumi?"
Megumi criticized the earrings for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Very pretty. I'm tempted to try them myself" she put the pin near Kaoru's ear and frowned. "Now, hold still-" "Arrgggggh!" Kaoru screamed involuntarily as the pin almost touched her lobe.
"Just let me-!" Megumi startled, pressing the pin lightly to Kaoru's skin.
Kaoru felt the sharpness and screamed again. "Arrgggggh!"
Now Megumi was getting VERY angry! "Stand still will you!" she shouted into Kaoru's face. She swiftly jabbed the pin at Kaoru's ear and was almost deafened as a result.
"Arrgggggh! Arrgggggh! Arrgggggh!" Kaoru shrieked, jerking away, a hand clapped protectively to her ear.
"Kaoru!" Megumi yelled. "It didn't go through!" "It HURTS!" Kaoru insisted, taking her hand from her ear. She stared at the small dot of blood on her palm and he eyes went wide. "I'm bleeding!" she said accusingly.
"You're such a baby!"
"You're one to talk Megumi! You're not the one getting skewered!"
"You're the one who wanted to be in fashion! Heaven forbid I let such a violent tomboy to discover something feminine!"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Megumi!"
Kenshin peered around the doorway, wondering if it was over yet. "How is the operation doing, Miss Megumi?" he asked politely, eyes going from Megumi's exasperated features to Kaoru's freaked-out ones.
"It's not an operation, Sir Ken" Megumi said calmly. "Just a little antiseptic and a pin"
"And PAIN! Lots and lots of PAIN!" Kaoru said dramatically, watching the tiny pin held between Megumi's fingers with trepidation.
Megumi snorted. "A little pain, so Hear and then never again"
"I don't blame her" Sanosuke said from behind Kenshin. The Rurouni turned to see the taller man leaning against the wall across from Kaoru's bedroom, a piece of fishbone dangling from his lips. "For one, I wouldn't let anything sharp be shoved through my body for the sake of decoration" he rolled his eyes and shot Megumi a mischievous look. "And secondly, I could think of a much better place for the good-doctor's fingers to-"
"Sanosuke!" Megumi and Kaoru shouted at him.
Sanosuke gave them a smirk, then went on as if it had been his original topic of conversation. "Making dinner of course"
Megumi rolled her eyes and got gracefully to her feet, dropping the pin into Kaoru's lap. "You can do this yourself"
"Megumi!" Kaoru said protestingly.
"I give up" The doctor said, turning and leaving the room.
"But how will my ear get pierced!?" Kaoru wailed, disappointed and upset.
"Get Kenshin to do it" Yahiko said.
Sanosuke and Kaoru stared at him incredulously.
"I don't think Kenshin's up with women's fashion" Sanosuke said, but then he frowned thoughtfully. "Even if he DOES wear a pink gi" "It's not pink!" Kenshin protested, walking into the room. He looked at Kaoru's ear and saw a dot of blood. The other ear was unharmed. "Did the operation not work?" he asked her, pleased that she had not been subjected to more pain. Her screams had been enough to wake the dead, but it didn't appear that Kaoru's ear had been more than lightly pricked by the pin.
"You can do it Kenshin" Yahiko repeated, smirking at Kaoru.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Kaoru demanded, exasperated. "He couldn't even bear to watch the blood!"
"It's not that" Kenshin murmured, looking faintly embarrassed. Was he really supposed to say that his real reason for leaving was because it was HER blood? Her delicate little ear. Her pain?
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Yahiko rolled his eyes. "Kenshin's god-like speed?"
"Ah!" Sanosuke and Kaoru said in comprehension.
Kenshin's purple eyes were widening with horror.
Home FanFiction Princess Destiny Hiten Mitsurugi Ear-Piercing Technique