Cry For Love

By jerjonji

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. They are all the creative genius of Nobuhiro Watsuki.

I thank him for allowing me to respectfully borrow them!

Also- the numbers after some terms are footnote numbers… see the end of the chapter for the footnotes…

And… Please review- how else will I know if you like it or hate it?

Chapter One: The Escape Is Planned

She took no pleasure in the feel of the finely engraved, perfectly balanced Kansatsu Tobi Kunai (1) in her hands. Her hazel eyes narrowed and the darts flew from her fingers in perfect harmony, hitting the target instantly. She frowned as she critiqued the results.

"Almost perfect," the deep voice made the butterflies in her stomach revolt and she smiled as he returned the weapons to her. Their hands brushed and she flushed at the mere touch of his slender, calloused fingers on her palm. "Almost isn't good enough," he said quietly, looking past her as if she didn't exist.

"I'm getting better," she contested hotly.

"Good," he replied coldly, "Then you'll have a slight chance on making it to adulthood." He strolled away towards the garden. She stomped her feet, growled, and angrily threw the darts at the target. More than half missed.

"You need to learn to control those emotions, Missy," he said, not pausing to see the result. "If you don't, you'll never control your weapon." He disappeared into the garden.

Misao sank to the ground, disheartened. There was no one there to comfort her, to reassure her that it would be alright next time, and her bitter tears brought only a sense of loneliness. She wiped any trace of them away with her shirt sleeves, and the young kunoichi (2) hardened her heart. She was the proclaimed leader of the Oniwabanshu, not the snotty Aoshi Shinomori. He did little but mediate and criticize her since his return. He refused to take back the leadership or practice his kenjutsu (3), but he had plenty of time to tell her what a rotten job she was doing or tell her how she'd never live long enough to have children. Yet, whenever he was near, her heart did flip-flops and she lost the ability to speak intelligently. She blushed at the sound of his voice in the next room, and her dreams were Cinderella fairytales featuring the beautiful Aoshi Shinomori sweeping her into his strong arms and promising to love her forever.

But there was no chance of that happening in the real world. In the real world, the former leader was cold and unapproachable, and most of the time, he didn't recognize she was in the room. If she brought him tea, it would be cold before he'd acknowledge her presence, and lately, she'd been stubborn enough to not leave until he said hello. But he didn't seem to notice that his tea was cold or that she was still there. She watched him closely at supper that night, quietly observing his interaction with the rest of the household. He seemed at ease, gently teasing those sitting next to him, eating off their plates and laughing at their silly reactions. Their eyes met, and the warmth in his gray eyes disappeared, leaving a sense of disapproval in its place. She glared at him and he looked away. He offered the girl sitting next to him a taste of the beef off his own plate. Misao watched the intruder laughingly take a petite bite off Aoshi's chopsticks, and her own face flushed, with a mixture of longing and frustration. She excused herself and left the room.

She sat cross-legged on the bench in the garden, listening to the koi eating mosquitoes off the surface, watching a dragonfly flit across the pond, and trying to come up with a plan that would make the cold Aoshi melt in her arms. She frowned and rejected plot after plot. Sighing, she leaned back against the bench and watched the stars dancing in and out of the clouds. Cold hands covered her eyes, and her lips were gently kissed. She sighed, reached up to pull the man of her dreams into a deeper kiss, and reacted instantly.

The moans of the impostor interrupted the quiet peace of the garden night. Misao reached for her darts.

"I'm sorry," he begged for her mercy. She glowered at the tall man whose hair stuck straight up, like a broom, who was still holding his private parts, blinking back tears of pain and agony from her well-placed kick.

"What did you think you were doing, Cho?" she scolded. "I could have killed you for that!"

His easy grin returned. "You looked like you were thinking about being kissed, so I obliged. I'm just the wrong guy, once again," he confessed, his face looking like a boy caught stealing cookies, apologetic yet proud.

She slid down on the bench and motioned for him to join her. Cho bounced with pure pleasure and collapsed on the seat next to her. "You are becoming quite a formidable woman, Misao-chan," he said cheerily, fully recovered from her attack.

"Why are you here?" Misao demanded. "I thought you were working with the Wolf. Does he know you've escaped from your cage?"

Cho laughed and the sound echoed. Misao was startled by the joy in it. "I'm on vacation. I've earned it, and I came to talk to the leader of Oniwabanshu, but he's occupied at the minute so I thought I'd come entertain you. I didn't expect you to be so grown though. You've become a woman since I last saw you."

Misao blushed and hid her face. "Ah, the great Shinomori is blind to that fact, is he?" Cho continued. "The man's a fool."

Misao was silent. She didn't bother refuting his claim that Aoshi was still the leader of the Oniwabanshu. It didn't seem worth it.

They sat comfortably on the bench, the fireflies sparkling and darting between them. They were two old friends who'd been through enough that words weren't needed. "What you need is a vacation," Cho proclaimed after a while.

Misao pushed away the idea. "No, really," Cho insisted. "You know the saying; Absence makes the heart grow fonder?"

Misao nodded, thinking that Cho might have the right idea after all.

"I think the Okashira has become too comfortable with you here. You are part of the background. He just takes you for granted and he doesn't see you. It's as if you are the koi in the pond in front of us. He feeds the koi and watches them swim, but he doesn't notice the individual fish growing more beautiful every day. He just sees the koi as a group."

Misao's eyes filled up and she looked away, not wanting Cho to see them. She stared at the koi in the pond, watched them feeding off the insects skimming across the water, and wiped the tears away with her fingers. She shrugged.

Cho looked away to give her some space to recompose herself. "Why don't you travel with me tomorrow? I'm going to visit the Battosai and his lady before heading north. I heard that Sano has developed some new skills and I'm eager to try them out." He grinned and Misao found herself grinning back. He stuck out a bony hand and Misao shook it.

"Your fingers are cold, Cho!" she complained.

He patted his heart. "Cold hands, warm heart, dearling!"

She laughed and he got a hurt expression on his face. She patted it. "I'll go, but if you try to kiss me again, I'll kill you. Understand?"

A look of fear and pain darted across his eyes. "Cross my heart," he promised. "I won't ever kiss you first again as long as we both are breathing." She laughed and he jumped up, pulling her to her feet. "Let's go tell Jiya you're going on vacation!"

Misao smiled. A vacation was just what she needed. Cho was right!

1 Misao's deadly darts

2 female ninja

3 the study of the sword