Cover Girls

An alternate universe Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic

 

Chapter One -

"Necessity is a mother indeed"

 

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Kaoru Kamiya paced around the traditional, dojo-like structure that had been her family's home for as long as she could remember with the receiver of her cordless phone pressed firmly to her ear. The knuckles of her right hand were stark-white against the black plastic casing of the phone, while her left hand was embedded in the thick strands of her blue-black hair, tugging a little less than gently at the roots.

 

"Whatdya mean we've only got six weeks to make the payment?!" she bellowed into the mouthpiece, "Oh no, don't you try that line on me! My Dad had a specific agreement with you guys…what do mean 'policy change'? Don't you give me that crap!!!"

 

All this time that Kaoru was raving, her younger sister had been sitting on the floor, following her with wide, blue-green eyes as a large pink bubble hid the rest of her face from view. She knew from past experience not to disturb the elder sibling once her temper had crossed a certain line.

 

Which right now, was in the rearview mirror and receding at a remarkable rate.

 

"Yeah, well, Merry fucking Christmas to you too asshole."

 

There was an audible 'pop' as Misao's long-preserved bubble bit the dust. Almost nonchalantly, she returned the gum to her mouth and started working on another one.

 

Kaoru on the other hand, was kicking the life out of a bear-shaped pillow that had unluckily fallen into her grasp. Each solid roundhouse peppered by the uncharacteristic usage of strong expletives.

 

"Fucking bastards!" *kick* "I'm just trying to live my fucking life!" *kick* "And now because of some," *kick* "Greedy" *kick* "Corporate" *kick* "Asshole!" I have to pay the rest of the mortgage in half the fucking time!" *roundhouse kick*

 

The pillow flew across  the room where a pair of decidedly feminine feet blocked it's path the ease and grace of a Brazilian footballer lest it fly straight out the open front door.

 

"Okaeri Megumi-chan!" Misao chimed cheerfully around her wad of bubblegum.

 

Megumi's scarlet lips turned upwards in fond amusement at her younger cousin's enthusiastic welcome. "Tadaima." She replied in a voice that lacked her usual foxy countenance. Wearily she turned her cinnamon eyes toward where Kaoru seemed to be trying to control her temper, by strangling another pillow…without much success one might add.

 

"So, you heard then?" she asked tiredly.

 

Kaoru immediately turned her attention to her foxy cousin, "Can you believe those bastards?" she growled, "How can they get away with something like this? I mean the audacity of putting the squeeze on us at this time of year….oh my God. Megumi, not you too?!" she asked, the true meaning of Megumi's words finally hitting home.

 

"Oh yeah!" the fox confirmed as she plopped down on the nearby couch and threw an arm over her tired eyes. "As of three pm this afternoon, the Takani walk-in clinic owes The Mejii Bank ten thousand, five hundred forty-three dollars and fifty-two cents payable by December twenty fourth of this year. Or more correctly, six weeks from now,"

 

Kaoru plopped down on the carpet as her legs gave way beneath her. Megumi was in even more hot water than she was having taken out a loan earlier in the year to get some much-needed equipment for her clinic. Neither of them had any idea how they could raise the money they needed in the time frame given to them. She couldn't even curse the bank anymore knowing that all the oaths in the world couldn't help her out their situation one tiny bit. Defeated, she hung her head to her chest and groaned.

 

Misao on the other hand had picked up the newspaper that Megumi had dropped alongside her purse and began skimming through it. Before long, a huge colored advertisement that took up all of page fifteen caught her eye.

 

"Whoa check this out." She said before blowing another of her bubbles.

 

"Not now Misao-chan…" Megumi sighed waving a slender hand in her younger cousin's direction.

 

Simply ignoring her, Misao held the newspaper up and began to read aloud.

 

 

"Have you got what it takes?

 

If you do, come down to St. Marie's auditorium next Saturday  to see

if you've got the stuff to become the best cover band in all of

Tokyo! Yes folks! Hiten Mitserugi Records is looking for

their next big project and you can be it! So come

On down and let's rock!"

 

 

"That's really nice Misao but what we need right now is money, not fame…" Kaoru said dejectedly.

 

However, Misao was not finished reading the entire advertisement, "First prize includes a contract with the company and…" Misao's eyes nearly bulged right out of her skull as she ran over to her sister and shook her violently as she pushed the ad into her face.

 

"Misao," Kaoru said sternly, "I told you I….Kami-sama! Meguuummiiii!!!!!"

 

"Reluctantly, Megumi cracked one eye open to scan the page Kaoru was hovering over her face. At first, she blinked, thinking that the close range of the ad was making her see way too many zeros, but when she looked again she saw that it had been no mistake.

 

"Sixty thousand dollars?!!" she shrieked grabbing the paper away from her cousin.

 

Misao bounced up and down enthusiastically, "With that kind of money, we could save the house and the clinic easy!"

 

Megumi was still in shock repeating the amount of money over and over again.

 

After a few moments Kaoru's grin suddenly fell, "Oh man, what do we think we're doing? We can't win that!"

 

Misao frowned, "And why not? Papa taught you and Megumi how to play guitar didn't he? And I can drum better than anyone else on the block!" she added proudly.

 

"The weasel's got a point," Megumi reasoned flipping her hair, "And you Kaoru, you sing just like your Mom, plus you’re an English teacher, so that gives us an advantage already, we can wipe out the competition just by singing something other than J-pop!"

 

Misao glared at her attractive cousin momentarily before turning to her sister again, "C'mon Kaoru, what have we got to lose that we haven't already?"

 

Kaoru turned her gaze to her cousin, then to her sister and back again.

 

"Fine," she huffed, "If I'm going out, I might as well do it with a bang."

 

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