Disclaimers: Rurouni Kenshin was created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. I don't own any of the characters, even if I wanted to. (Dream on!) I'm only borrowing them for entertainment purposes only!!
Author's Notes: Hi!! Another new fanfic idea. Please read and review. (NOTE: This is NOT a crossover fanfiction.)
Sakura in the Springtime:
Chapter 1:
It was late afternoon on a warm spring day, in Kyoto. The cherry blossoms are now at full bloom. A festival was about to begin.
"Onii-chan!!!" Two little girls called back to their 18-year-old brother. "Hayaku or we will miss the opening ceremonies for this year's Sakura festival," the seven-year-old Ayame explained wanting Aoshi to walk faster.
"Hayaku, hayaku, hayaku" chanted Suzume, who was five. She was over excited to be able to go to a festival without her parents around, and just with her brother and sister.
Ayame and Suzume continued to walk ahead. Aoshi ran to catch up to his sisters so they would stop complaining. If he pondered any longer, he will be having a harder time to look for the little ones in the crowd.
"Misao-sama" Omasu called. "When would you like us to pick you up?" She asked after dropping off Misao and her younger sister at the Sakura festival.
Misao looked down at Kisa. "When do you want to leave?" She asked her.
Kisa shrugged, as she doesn't have an answer. "Whenever..." she quietly mumbled.
"We'll call you when we want you to pick us up." Misao replied coldly.
"Hai!" Omasu nodded and went back into the car.
Misao held onto Kisa as they entered. There were a lot of people gathered and didn't want to loose each other in the crowd.
"Nee-sama," Kisa called. "What do you want to do first?" She asked Misao.
Misao shrugged and pointed to a shrine.
"Let's go then," Kisa walked towards shrine with Misao following behind. "My friend might be there..." She added.
Just before they got there, they spotted a field of Cherry Blossoms. Misao stopped walking.
"Nee-sama, what's wrong?" Kisa asked softly looking at up her 16-year-old sister.
"Nothing," Misao coldly replied to her 10-year-old sister, and continued walking towards the shrine.
"Onii-chan!!" Ayame called, stopping in front of a stand. "I want that red water balloon." She pointed into a stand where there were water balloons in a large bucket and needed to be fished out.
"Sure" Aoshi replied, getting a hook from the table and got a balloon out for Ayame.
"Arigatou!!" Ayame hugged Aoshi for getting it for her.
"I want one too..." Suzume pouted, seeing that her older sister got something nice and wanted one as well. She pointed to a blue/green one laying on the corner.
"Here you go," Aoshi spoke after picking up another water balloon for his other sister.
"Arigatou!" Suzume thanked Aoshi and ran away to show her older sister.
"Nee-sama" Kisa called seeing that her sister was walking away from the festival. "Where are you going?" She asked.
Kisa looked straight ahead and spotted a field of Cherry Blossoms. She looked sad.
"Kisa-chan, your friends are over there waiting for you. You should play with them." Misao suggested, not wanting to destroy the last of her happiness.
"Is it ok with you, nee-sama?" Kisa asked for permission. "I don't want you to be alone."
Misao nodded. "You go and play. Meet me here or in the Cherry field. You should know the place..."
Kisa nodded. 'That gives me about three hours...' She thought to herself, walking towards her friend, Tomoe, who was waiting for her.
Misao walked towards the field of cherry blossoms. 'How pretty' She thought to herself. Soon she found herself standing in front of this one cherry blossom tree, with two gravestones next to it.
Misao stared at the blossom petals floating around.
Flashback:
"Do you know why the sakura trees are pink?" A stranger asked. "They get their color from the dead corpse." He replied before walking away.
End of Flashback
A few minutes later, Kisa went to that same cherry tree and found her sister sitting under it on the opposite side.
"Nee-sama..." Kisa called Misao from behind.
Misao stood up and turned around. "I thought you were with your friend." She asked.
"I decided to find you." Kisa spoke sadly. "It's ok though, Tomoe's brother is around so she's not alone." Kisa walked closer to her sister.
Misao sat back down and Kisa took a seat next to her.
"Ka-sama, To-sama... they left us so early." Kisa started crying.
Misao nodded and pulled Kisa closer to her. "They died protecting us. You must understand that." Misao whispered.
Kisa dried her tears and stood up again. "To-sama, Ka-sama, We'll do our best to make sure you're proud of us." She stated firmly.
Misao stood up and kneeled down in front of her parents graves. Kisa moved closer and placed her hands on Misao's shoulders. "Nee-sama...arigato for being such a wonderful nee-sama to me." Kisa commented.
Misao nodded and got up. "I will stay with you no matter what happens." She promised.
"Ayame, Suzume." Aoshi called to his younger sisters. "You guys play around this shrine. I'll be back later."
"You promise?" Ayame asked, not wanting to be left behind.
"Aa." Aoshi responded. "I promise."
Ayame and Suzume ran to do some of their own sightseeing while Aoshi wanted some peace and quietness. He spotted the field of cherry blossoms which leads away from the festival.
Aoshi found himself walking close and closer towards the field. He found a comfortable tree and jumped up to sit on one of it's branches.
He leaned back and stared at the festival from afar. 'I like it here most' he thought to himself.
"It's been a while now" Aoshi thought, deciding to go back and find his sisters. As he jumped down from the branch, he spotted 2 girls standing alone in the open field.
Aoshi decided to walk closer to them.
"Nee-sama..." Kisa whispered to her sister, tugging onto the sleeves of her kimono.
Misao turned around and saw a guy walking towards them. He had black hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a plain tan colored gi.
Kisa hid behind her sister while Misao took out a handful of kunais.
"Who are you?" Misao spoke coldly, about to attack if he was to get any closer.
"Shinomori Aoshi." the guy spoke back, not afraid of the weapons in her hand. "I spotted you when I was sitting on that tree." He pointed to the tree he had been sitting on earlier.
"I suggest you go away or I will attack..." Misao defended herself.
"Well... I guess you do have your own personal matter to be acting like this." Aoshi commented, not wanting to frighten the two. "Just so you know... I'm not an enemy, if that's what you're thinking." Aoshi took a few steps back and began walking away.
Misao placed her weapons away. "It's ok Kisa-chan." Misao spoke softly. "I don't sense anything evil from this man."
Kisa finally let go of her sister.
"I'm Makimachi Misao." She introduced herself, just as the man was about to get farthur away. "This is my sister, Makimachi Kisa." She bowed formally as a way to apologizing for her rude actions earlier.
"Makimachi-san" Aoshi spoke. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in a place like this?"
Misao stepped aside, displaying two gravestones placed underneath that cherry tree.
"Must be you're family, I presume," Aoshi stated feeling a little sad for the girls.
Kisa nodded. "Our parents," she slowly whispered with more unshed tears filling her eyes.
Misao held onto her sister. Aoshi got out a tissue from his pocket and handed to the girl.
"Arigatou" Kisa mumbled, taking it from him.
'Think of something,'
Aoshi told himself, feeling sorry for them. "Do you two want to go yet?" He finally managed to ask.Misao nodded. "Kisa-chan, we'll come back here on another day..." She told her sister, wanting to cheer her up.
Kisa turned around. Her eyes were still a bit red from crying. "Let's go..." She agreed with Misao.
Aoshi walked out of the Sakura field along with Misao holding onto Kisa.
"I'll be right back." Aoshi stated, wanting to get his sisters first.
Misao nodded and watched Aoshi walk away.
"Let's visit the shrine," Kisa suggested.
They stepped inside and threw a coin into the box and made a wish.
'I hope my sister and I will be safe.'
Misao thought.'I wish Ka-sama and To-sama can rest peacefully in a beautiful place above the skies.'
Kisa thought.A few minutes later, Misao and Kisa stepped out of the shrine and met up with Aoshi once again. But this time, there were two genki little girls with him.
"Makimachi-san" Aoshi called, as he spotted Misao and Kisa.
Misao and her sister walked towards to him. "Kon'nichi wa," The two little girls greeted with a bow.
"Kon'nichi-wa," Misao and Kisa greeted back.
"My name is Shinomori Ayame" the little seven-year-old girl introduced happily.
"This is my youngest sister, Shinomori Suzume," Aoshi introduced her, as she was too shy to introduce herself.
"Nice to meet you," Kisa spoke softly.
"I am Makimachi Misao, and this is my sister Makimachi Kisa." Misao introduced again.
"Hello, may I call you Misao-neechan and Kisa-neechan?" Ayame asked.
Misao nodded, saying it was ok.
"Onii-chan!!" Ayame called tugging on his gi.
Aoshi looked down seeing it was Ayame's doing. "Nani?" He asked.
"Would you please get us some ice cream?" She asked him.
"Ya, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!!!" Suzume chanted, "I want some ice cream, too..."
"Hai, hai," Misao replied, overhearing their conversation.
"Makimacki-san" Aoshi called, trying to stop her. "I got it."
"Please, it's Misao, Shinomori-san." Misao replied, "And it's ok, I'll get it for them."
"I want chocolate," Ayame told Aoshi.
"I want chocolate, too" Suzume nagged.
Misao looked at Kisa. "Whould you like to have some?" She asked, knowing that her sister's too shy to ask.
"Vanilla" Kisa mumbled.
Misao nodded and walked away.
"Wait here, you three," Aoshi spoke looking at them. "Hai, we won't go anywhere." Ayame agreed and stayed with Suzume and Kisa.
While Aoshi and Misao were getting the ice cream, Ayame and Suzume were playing with their water balloon.
"Want to play with mine?" Ayame asked thoughtfully, seeing that she doesn't have one.
Kisa nodded and took hold of the water balloon. It was her first time seeing one.
"You like it?" Suzume asked her.
Kisa nodded shyly.
"When Aoshi gets back, I'll have him get one for you then." Ayame suggested.
"Iie, it's ok." Kisa responded, thinking it's quite rude to ask someone for something.
Aoshi caught up with Misao by the ice cream stand.
"So, what do you want?" Misao asked Aoshi. "I'll take vanilla," He told the man in the booth.
Aoshi quickly paid the man before Misao was able to take out her money.
"I'll pay you back, Shinomori-san" Misao taking out some money handing it to him.
Aoshi refused. "Keep it," he said, taking the ice cream back to the girls. Misao followed behind.
"Arigato" Ayame and Suzume said in unison as Aoshi handed them their ice cream.
"Arigatou gozaimasu" Kisa spoke softly taking the ice cream.
"Misao-san, this is yours," Aoshi handing her one as well.
"Arigatou." Misao replied taking it from him.
End of the Sakura Festival:
Misao, I must be going now, he spoke seeing that his sisters were getting tired.
Misao nodded. "We'll be going as well." She spoke heading off the other way.
"Ja na!" Ayame responded, "Misao-neechan, Kisa-neechan arigatou!! I had a lot of fun today."
"Misao-san, I hope we can meet again, someday" Aoshi spoke back.
Misao nodded and headed off the other way.
She had made a call home earlier and so Omasu was waiting for them a few blocks away from the festival.
"Nee-sama," Kisa spoke, breaking the silence between them. "Arigatou,"
"What for?" Misao asked in surprise.
"I really had fun today." She spoke looking down at her blue water balloon.
To Be Continued...
Author's notes: I know that it's usually Aoshi who is cold and emotionless. But I've decided to change a little of it around. Aoshi is still Aoshi, just not as cold. Misao however, she maybe cold and emotionless now, but wait until the end. .
I had planned to make 2 parts to this chapter as it was quite a long one, but I guess it just pack it all down to one. I kind of forgot to stop and the half way, so I just kept on going. bows Sorry if it took you too long to read. ;;
Name for Misao's sister was taken from my latest anime obsession. Fruits Basket. Still, the character is not mine, so don't sue!! Her character personality is pretty much based on the anime.