Red Roses for a Blue Lady - Chapter 1 - Beer Goggles
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 1:44 pm
Standard Disclaimers apply as always, I almost overdrew on my checking account, so yeah don't sue
Okay, that's out of the way, this is another RK alternate universe fic from me. Characters will be OOC, mostly Karou so bear with me. This will be told entirely from Kenshin's point of view . . . I think, we'll see with that too.
Chapter 1---------Beer Goggles
I hate parties; I don't know why I agree to even go anymore. I used to enjoy them, back in college, the lights, the music, the people. I have decided that becoming a psychologist has ruined parties for me. I find myself sitting there dissecting people, which makes the party not so fun anymore. But my friend Sano insists on dragging me along.
"You can't sulk in you're apartment all night"
"I'm not sulking, I'm working."
"Same difference, let's go."
That's the basic discussion between the two of us that leads me here. Sitting in the back of his car while he and his long time girlfriend Megumi flirt in the front seats. They're an interesting couple to watch. I've gotten to the point where I can even tell when they've just had sex, then picked me up for a party. Tonight is no exception. Every time they do Sano always rubs her thigh while he drives and she looks contently out the window. And here I am the third wheel, the one they pity because I'm alone, boring, and well just plain weird at times. It's about to reach the point in the car ride to the party in which Megumi will try to talk to me about my love life.
"You know Kenshin"
Right on cue.
"Why can't you just hold down a girl?"
"I don't know, you tell me. What is wrong with me?"
"Well nothing that I can see, you just need to lighten up a bit. I mean look what you
did to Tomoe."
She never fails to bring up Tomoe. Tomoe and I lived together for about a year. We were actually engaged, but then she left me. Just like 'WHAM' I came home from work her bags were packed and she was gone. You think as a psychologist I would have seen that coming, but no. Total surprise, I later found out she had gotten tired of me. She was tired me working long nights, putting my patients before her. I couldn't ever just be me; I was always Doctor Himura, never just Kenshin. So she left, the best thing I had ever had left me, and never came back.
"I mean come on Kenshin, you can't think about work all the time, you know that yourself. Hell you tell people that everyday."
"I'm fully aware of that thanks, Megumi."
"Don't be that way Ken, she's just concerned."
"I'm fully aware of that as well, I can handle my love life on my own thank you very much."
"Maybe you could pick up a chick at the party eh Ken?"
"Remember what happened with the last one Sano?"
"Don't remind him Megumi."
"Was that Sandy?"
"Sarah"
They continued to discuss my last attempt at a date, Sarah. I blocked out the rest of the conversation. Megumi set me up on a blind date with Sarah two weeks ago. First I was twenty minutes late because Mr. Gaines was having a mental breakdown after his company's stock plummeted 40 points. She was pissed when I got there, and things only got worse when all I could talk about was how crappy the stock market was and how that made my work that much harder. The date ended at 8:30, a new record I believe. She excused herself after dinner, citing a headache. Most likely caused from my incoherent and boring rambling. I sat in the restaurant alone for a bit, it was then I realized I was hopeless. I'm not interesting, I'm not funny, I'm not exciting, and I have no life outside my office. Except for the occasional outing with Sano or Sano and Megumi. Any other social events were either with people at work or completely work related. I wonder how my life got so bad, so fast.
"Let's go Ken, we're here"
Oh Lord, here we go. We went and buzzed up to apartment number 22, the home of Sano's friend Aoshi. Aoshi was a psychological mystery to me. The man was actually capable of showig no emotions, ever. We walked up the stairs to Aoshi's noisy apartment on the second floor. Aoshi opened the door, gave us a slight nod and we entered the room. Immediately Megumi's friend Misao ran up to us and gave me a back crushing hug.
"How'd you get Mr. Workaholic out tonight Sano?"
"By a miracle of God, I swear it Misao."
I rolled my eyes and made a beeline for the drinks. Here I made my usual, gin and tonic, and commenced the people watching for the evening. Businessmen and women were a bizarre race. Some psychologist like to help kids, or suicidal teenagers, I liked the business people. I adjusted my glasses and kept scanning the room (a/n Kenshin has little silver wire-rimmed glasses cuz I bet he'd look cute in them). Businessmen are really where all the money is, they'll pay ungodly amounts for me to assure them that things are going to get better and that they need to relax to be happy. I kept scanning the room until I came across a woman I had never seen at our social functions before. I found myself staring at her. She was amazing, not just beauty but so incredibly intriguing. The way she moved, and talked, the way her head threw back when she laughed. If I believed in love at first sight, this would have to be it. I tried to not stare, look at someone else. But there she was, right in front of me. I couldn't stop looking at her. I barely noticed when Misao called us to dinner.
"Okay people, I set out name tags on plates so sit in your assigned seats."
I rolled my eyes, another brilliant Misao idea. Probably separated me from Sano and Megumi and sat me next to some woman that would be 'perfect' for me. I found my seat a good three spots down from Sano. He gave me a 'Lord help me look' as a man named Saitou sat next to him. Saitou was Sano's old boss before he fired him. Let's say they don't get along to this day. Megumi grabbed his hand and gave it a 'take a deep breath a calm down' squeeze. I waited patiently for my neighbors. My luck . . .two women. One named Yumi sat on my right in a rather scandalous dress. She gave me a half smile and began a conversation with Megumi, next to her. I then waited for my next new 'friend,' Kaoru. I watched as my love walked over and as if some miracle from God sat next to me. She turned to look at me, she extended her hand and I graciously took it.
"Kaoru, Kaoru Kamiya and you are?"
Okay, that's out of the way, this is another RK alternate universe fic from me. Characters will be OOC, mostly Karou so bear with me. This will be told entirely from Kenshin's point of view . . . I think, we'll see with that too.
Chapter 1---------Beer Goggles
I hate parties; I don't know why I agree to even go anymore. I used to enjoy them, back in college, the lights, the music, the people. I have decided that becoming a psychologist has ruined parties for me. I find myself sitting there dissecting people, which makes the party not so fun anymore. But my friend Sano insists on dragging me along.
"You can't sulk in you're apartment all night"
"I'm not sulking, I'm working."
"Same difference, let's go."
That's the basic discussion between the two of us that leads me here. Sitting in the back of his car while he and his long time girlfriend Megumi flirt in the front seats. They're an interesting couple to watch. I've gotten to the point where I can even tell when they've just had sex, then picked me up for a party. Tonight is no exception. Every time they do Sano always rubs her thigh while he drives and she looks contently out the window. And here I am the third wheel, the one they pity because I'm alone, boring, and well just plain weird at times. It's about to reach the point in the car ride to the party in which Megumi will try to talk to me about my love life.
"You know Kenshin"
Right on cue.
"Why can't you just hold down a girl?"
"I don't know, you tell me. What is wrong with me?"
"Well nothing that I can see, you just need to lighten up a bit. I mean look what you
did to Tomoe."
She never fails to bring up Tomoe. Tomoe and I lived together for about a year. We were actually engaged, but then she left me. Just like 'WHAM' I came home from work her bags were packed and she was gone. You think as a psychologist I would have seen that coming, but no. Total surprise, I later found out she had gotten tired of me. She was tired me working long nights, putting my patients before her. I couldn't ever just be me; I was always Doctor Himura, never just Kenshin. So she left, the best thing I had ever had left me, and never came back.
"I mean come on Kenshin, you can't think about work all the time, you know that yourself. Hell you tell people that everyday."
"I'm fully aware of that thanks, Megumi."
"Don't be that way Ken, she's just concerned."
"I'm fully aware of that as well, I can handle my love life on my own thank you very much."
"Maybe you could pick up a chick at the party eh Ken?"
"Remember what happened with the last one Sano?"
"Don't remind him Megumi."
"Was that Sandy?"
"Sarah"
They continued to discuss my last attempt at a date, Sarah. I blocked out the rest of the conversation. Megumi set me up on a blind date with Sarah two weeks ago. First I was twenty minutes late because Mr. Gaines was having a mental breakdown after his company's stock plummeted 40 points. She was pissed when I got there, and things only got worse when all I could talk about was how crappy the stock market was and how that made my work that much harder. The date ended at 8:30, a new record I believe. She excused herself after dinner, citing a headache. Most likely caused from my incoherent and boring rambling. I sat in the restaurant alone for a bit, it was then I realized I was hopeless. I'm not interesting, I'm not funny, I'm not exciting, and I have no life outside my office. Except for the occasional outing with Sano or Sano and Megumi. Any other social events were either with people at work or completely work related. I wonder how my life got so bad, so fast.
"Let's go Ken, we're here"
Oh Lord, here we go. We went and buzzed up to apartment number 22, the home of Sano's friend Aoshi. Aoshi was a psychological mystery to me. The man was actually capable of showig no emotions, ever. We walked up the stairs to Aoshi's noisy apartment on the second floor. Aoshi opened the door, gave us a slight nod and we entered the room. Immediately Megumi's friend Misao ran up to us and gave me a back crushing hug.
"How'd you get Mr. Workaholic out tonight Sano?"
"By a miracle of God, I swear it Misao."
I rolled my eyes and made a beeline for the drinks. Here I made my usual, gin and tonic, and commenced the people watching for the evening. Businessmen and women were a bizarre race. Some psychologist like to help kids, or suicidal teenagers, I liked the business people. I adjusted my glasses and kept scanning the room (a/n Kenshin has little silver wire-rimmed glasses cuz I bet he'd look cute in them). Businessmen are really where all the money is, they'll pay ungodly amounts for me to assure them that things are going to get better and that they need to relax to be happy. I kept scanning the room until I came across a woman I had never seen at our social functions before. I found myself staring at her. She was amazing, not just beauty but so incredibly intriguing. The way she moved, and talked, the way her head threw back when she laughed. If I believed in love at first sight, this would have to be it. I tried to not stare, look at someone else. But there she was, right in front of me. I couldn't stop looking at her. I barely noticed when Misao called us to dinner.
"Okay people, I set out name tags on plates so sit in your assigned seats."
I rolled my eyes, another brilliant Misao idea. Probably separated me from Sano and Megumi and sat me next to some woman that would be 'perfect' for me. I found my seat a good three spots down from Sano. He gave me a 'Lord help me look' as a man named Saitou sat next to him. Saitou was Sano's old boss before he fired him. Let's say they don't get along to this day. Megumi grabbed his hand and gave it a 'take a deep breath a calm down' squeeze. I waited patiently for my neighbors. My luck . . .two women. One named Yumi sat on my right in a rather scandalous dress. She gave me a half smile and began a conversation with Megumi, next to her. I then waited for my next new 'friend,' Kaoru. I watched as my love walked over and as if some miracle from God sat next to me. She turned to look at me, she extended her hand and I graciously took it.
"Kaoru, Kaoru Kamiya and you are?"