Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
Ok...People…I was so not satisfied with what I wrote earlier. I have changed the title and a few stuff and added a few things… hope u like the changes but the plot still remains the same…thank to all those who reviewed.
Misao was driving to the airport. She sighed as she shifted gears. She was going home to Japan after 7 years. She was going home to attend her sister's wedding. Many painful memories waited for her back there. But she didn't know why but she just wanted to go back for once and probably she wanted to see her dear sister get married.
She parked her car and got out her luggage. And headed inside the airport and went to get all her baggage checked. As she passed through immigrations she went for a drink of water. She sat there on the waiting area reading the latest issue of Nature. When the flight was announced she left and went to board the plane. As she boarded her first class cabin she looked for her seat A2. There was already a person sitting next to her. It was an old Japanese woman. She smiled it seemed that she had already fallen asleep. She put her head phones on and closed her eyes. This was going to be a long flight.
She heard a voice addressing her and she opened her eyes a very young air hostess stood there with a drinks trolley.
"Wine" she said and the hostess handed a bottle to her. Misao smiled. The airhostess had her hair pulled up into a high pony tail; it reminded her of her sister Kaoru.
As she slowly sipped her wine, she remembered the day she left Japan.
She had just returned home from college, it was the first day of her last semester. She was very young to be graduating but she was very intelligent and skipped a grade or two in between and at the age of 18 she was in her final semester of college. As she got out of her car and went into her home "Tadaima" she called out. But it seemed that on one was home. She went to the living room. No one was there it looked as if the house was empty. She flopped on the sofa and looked for the remote to turn o the T.V.
It was nowhere to be found. She sighed and got up to look for it in her parent's room for her father often carried the remote with him, it was one of his bad habits. She looked around the neat room and smiled, mother was always a very neat person.
She frowned as she noticed a black bag on the side of the bed; it was not typical of her mother to keep things lying around. She opened it and an album was in there. As she flipped it open she was very startled a picture of her was staring at her. She was shocked. She looked closer she saw that it was not her but somebody who looked a lot like her. She became curious and started looking through it. There were pictures of that woman and her father smiling. Then she dropped the album. There was a picture of them getting married. Then the woman, pregnant, smiling at the camera. She closed it her head was spinning at the implication of those pictures.
She heard the crunch of wheels in the driveway. She clutched the album and headed downstairs.
"Tadaima!" she heard her father and mother in the hallway. She just stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"Mis…." Her father's voice trailed off as he saw the album in her hands. He looked shocked. Her mother started crying.
Her father motioned her to the sitting room. "I guess I owe you an explanation. Misao I don't know how you will react but just know that we both love you very much and we would not do anything to hurt you. But the truth is that you are my daughter but not Kaeri's at least not biologically. You are the child of me and my first wife…Yukiko."
He poured himself a cup of water. "We had an arranged marriage. At that time I was in love with Kaeri but I accepted my duty and broke up with Kaeri and married Yukiko. She was a great person. I came to respect her. We were under pressure to produce a heir to the Makimachi estate. So even though she knew I didn't love her we decided to have you. But she was never happy with me. She had many ideas that she wanted to try and though we got along fine she always had a piece of her locked away. You were the only thing that could genuinely make her laugh. I really saw her really laughing without restraint when you first kicked inside of her." He loosened his tie.
"Let's just say that we had very different ideas but we never regretted making the decision to have you. You were the bond between us though we never loved each other you were our mutual understanding. But something happened in her 5th month she got ill. The doctors advised us about not having the baby but she was adamant. The doctors finally gave her a choice between her and your life and she chose you."
We lost her on the second day of your birth. I was devastated. I couldn't think anything nor comprehend anything I became a zombie. I didn't know what to do with you. So your grandmother took care of you. One day I met this little girl around 2 years old at a shop. She reminded me of what you would be like at that age. She was crying looking for her mother. I helped her look for her. After a while she ran towards a familiar figure saying that was her mother. I looked at her. It was Kaeri. I was shocked. Kaeri tried to run but I stopped her. She admitted she was pregnant when I left up with her. Then I decided to do the right thing. I married her. That way you'd have a mother and Kaoru would get her father back." he said and looked at her waiting for some response but Misao just sat still as a statue.
"When you were in high school Kaeri wanted to tell you but I didn't want to. I guess I didn't want to dig up old stuff again I was just not ready for it. I wished that we could continue as one big family. In my mind I began to think, that you were Kaeri's daughter. So I decided not to tell you." He said.
"Why would you hide such a thing from me?" she cried.
"We thought it to be best to leave the past behind and move on. Why put such a burden on you especially when you are in the middle of your education. Kaeri has always taken care of you like you were one of hr own so I thought to let bygones be bygones. " He said.
"That's a lie!!!" she shouted."You would have told me if you had cared for me or my mother…I never even got a chance to know my own mother. It is bad that she died after giving birth to me but you don't want me to even know her! You just want to forget that chapter in your life don't you...father…" he just stood there bowing his head.
"I am sor…" he said. But Misao cut him of.
"Heck! I don't even want to call you my father…"she said and went out the room.
She slammed the door shut and wept on her pillow. She couldn't believe that they had hidden such a big secret from her. She was always kind of sad when people said Kaoru looked more like her mother and she knew that she didn't She just consoled herself by saying that she looked more like her father. But deep down inside she knew that it was not it. She had her father's nose but the resemblance to the members of her family ended there.
A knock sounded on her door. "GO AWAY!!!" she shouted and threw her alarm clock at the door. It smashed into pieces.
"Misao I know that you are upset right now." Kaeri's voice came through the door. "You have a right to be angry at us. I just ask for forgiveness for not telling you. But I just wanted you to have this…" said and left.
Misao got up and opened the door. There was a small white trunk outside. She carried it in and opened it. It contained a lot of old leather books bound together. She looked at the name "Yukiko Makimachi," It was her mother's old journals before she got married.
She stayed in her room all week after that. Her dad, Kaeri and Kaoru came to try and talk to her several times but in the end they gave up and thought it best to leave her alone.
Her mother was a dreamer. She wanted to see the world. She wrote passionately about the places she wanted to visit and her dreams of being independent and living a life of her own. She grew teary eyed when she read the last entry. It was just the night before her mother got married. She gave up her dreams to keep the pride of her family. She read her last entry:
"As I write this last entry in my journal of dreams, I feel a deep sadness engulfing me and taking over me. This is not what I wanted from life to be tied to a man I don't love. I wanted to be free and soar in the sky like a bird. I wanted to see the whole world. Be someone and do something. But I see that is not meant to be… My wings will be clipped tomorrow and I will just let them do it because it is my duty as a daughter to bring honour to my family. My in-laws are still going to let me continue my education but what does it matter if I cannot use it anymore…
A few letters were bleary like someone cried on them
I guess I will just have to go along with it and hope for the best in whatever this marriage brings me…'
That day she decided to leave Japan to fulfil her mother's dream as well as her own. She wanted to take time and to get used to the fact that she wasn't Kaeri's daughter. She wanted to discover herself and to get away from the place she used to call a home that had now transformed into a stranger.
She went to the living room where the rest of the people in the house were watching T.V.
They all looked up when she stood in the door way. Kaeri jumped up and hugged her.
"Thank god Misao. You are all right. We were all worried about you. "She said but Misao just removed Kaeri's arms from around her.
"I am going," she simply said.
"What! What do you mean by that?" her father asked.
"I am leaving this place, country and live my dreams and my mother's dreams." She replied.
:"Young Lady! I will not have any of that in my house. Where will you go? What will you do? You are just 19," her father said.
"Where I go and what I do isn't any of your business, father" She replied.
"Nonsense you are my daughter and you will do what I say!" he took her by her arms and shook her.
"I am not! You never considered me as your daughter… you even didn't bother telling me the truth. I HATE YOU!" She freed herself and rushed to her room to pack up her belongings. She threw her most essential things in the suitcase. A knock sounded at her door.
"WHAT!" she shouted and yanked open the door. Kaoru was standing outside. "Here," she said and thrust her training uniform and her bag of kunai's at her. "Hope you will find what you are looking for and no matter what you will be always be my sister." She said and left her alone.
She moved to a hotel that day and then she found a job and an apartment. Her father never came to take her back. She finished her last semester at college and moved to the United States to do her master's degree. But after that day she didn't talk to her father or Kaeri. She was in contact with Kaoru once in a blue moon but that was because they still shared some of the friends back in Japan.
"Miss, what would like for dinner?" Misao was snapped out of her trip down the memory lane by the air hostess. She ordered her food and began eating.
After 2 years her father had passed away by a sudden heart attack but she didn't go back. She was in the middle of her final thesis for her degree and though Kaeri called her she said that she couldn't make it. She pretty much lived on her own she didn't have many friends but she met an old man named Okina who became a grandfather figure and only friend in her life.
Then 2 weeks earlier she had gotten a random call from Miki one of her old college friends back in Japan saying that Kaoru wanted to talk to her. She reluctantly agreed after all it had been 7 years since they last saw each other. She took Kaoru's phone number from her and called her.
"Hello?" said a familiar voice at the other end of the line. Misao was at a loss of words and couldn't say anything.
"Is that you Misao?" Kaoru asked.
Misao took a deep breath in and said "Yes"
"Oh I am so glad that you called me. I know you must feel awkward after all this time but I have something to ask you." She said.
"Go on I'm listening," she said.
"Well I am getting married in 3 weeks and I would like you to be there. It's just an excuse I just want to see you again." She said.
Misao didn't know why she said yes but now she was on a plane going back to Japan after 7 years. She just wanted to see Kaoru happy she guessed. I guess Himura finally made his move…She said to herself.
Then she fell asleep. "'We will be landing in Narita Airport very soon. Passengers are requested to keep their seat belts till the plane has stopped down to a halt. Thank you for flying with Air Japan". She looked out her window and smiled. She got out and went through customs. She stepped out looking for someone who had come to receive her.
"Oie! Itachi! "She heard a shout. She turned to see her old friend Sanosuke Sagara grinning at her. She smiled.
"Boy! Weasel you sure have changed. I thought you'd be still like a child". Misao just nodded.
They put her bags in the car and got in. "So what have been up to?" he asked.
"Well I have been doing great. I am now a senior research scientist and I have founded my own company and all." Misao replied.
"Che! How typical of you. Well I am a martial artist. One of Japan's top mind you." he said.
"And I am typical? You always liked to fight Sagara. Anyway I still think that I can beat you up like I always did back then" Misao said.
"I have improved a lot you know. Things will be different this time." He grumbled obviously trying to block his past memories when he had been defeated countless times by this slip of a girl.
"It has been different without you Misao" he said.
"You have changed. You are not that exuberant and enthusiastic girl anymore." He said.
Misao simply nodded.
"Kaoru and the others will definitely be shocked by you." He frowned. This wasn't the Misao he knew at all. She had transformed to this serious person that he didn't know existed. "So why are you back just for Kaoru's wedding?" he asked.
"I really don't know… but something made me come back I guess." She said.
"So how are you and Megumi?" she asked.
"How did you know?" he said.
"Just a feeling. How is Kaoru?"
"She is fine but a little about the marriage," he replied.
"Oh… I thought she'd be happy that she is finally marrying Kenshin," she asked.
Sano snorted, "No, she isn't marrying Kenshin." He replied shortly.
"Oh, I see…" she said.
Sano looked at her as if she had sprouted another head. This was definitely not Misao.
"She is marrying someone named Aoshi Shinomori…" he said. Misao just nodded and looked at him.
Sano shook his head and shuddered. She had eyes just like ice.