"I told you not to stay in the rain waiting for him, Misao." Omasu scolded as she wrapped yet another blanket around the shivering girl. Misao's teeth were chattering too much for a proper reply, so she rolled her eyes at the older woman. Even though she had just turned twenty-two, Misao still acted like a child sometimes.

"She probably wouldn't have gotten so ill if she hadn't jumped in all of those puddles." Okon added, causing an embarrassed flush to span over Misao's cheeks.

"I… was waiting for him." Misao slowly said, refraining the chatter to speak.

"Don't tell him that, you know how he tends to blame himself." Okon said to her ninja sister. "He'd probably go insane if he knew you now had a cold."

"I don't know… he would just wonder where his tea was." Omasu laughed. Misao glared at her from the mass of blankets that were covering her.

"Aoshi-sama is such a gentleman, I bet he's waiting right outside to check on me." She tried to yell, but her voice faded as the door slide open to reveal not Aoshi, but Okina. Omasu and Okon laughed as they exited the room, leaving Misao and her pseudo-grandfather alone.

"So you got yourself sick, Itatchi." He said with a laugh. Misao frowned. "Have no fear, I'm not going to try to make you feel even worse. I'm just making sure you're going to be alright."

"I'm f-f-fine." She confirmed. His eyes twinkled at her stuttering.

"Good night then, my pretty Misao." He moved towards the door, and then his voice dropped and she had to strain to hear his words. "He was outside the door." He laughed as he left. Misao felt her heart soar and then her stomach twinge in pain. Clutching her side, she rolled over and realized that the rolling did nothing but add to her ailing. She thought of good things as she burrowed in the covers, hoping to sleep the hurting away. Her thoughts were of Aoshi.

For two days Misao struggled to eat and drink meals twice a day. It seems she had caught a flu, not a cold, as everyone had thought. When they weren't too busy the other workers at the Aoiya visited her. All, that is, except for Aoshi. She was saddened by his lack of appearance, but knew that he had his reasons for not going to see her.

On the second night, late in the evening when the Aoiya was too busy for visitors, her door slowly slide open. She opened her eyes from her lazy nap to see her beloved Aoshi preparing what looked like a pot of tea on the floor in front of her. He didn't say a word, or even look at her, but she was just happy to see his face again. He had become more outgoing since his return, helping the Aoiya workers on occasion and even eating dinner with the rag-tag family. Misao hoped it proved that he was moving on with his life. He interrupted her thoughts when he spoke, offering her a steaming cup of tea.

"Drink this."

"Aoshi-sama?" she questioned lightly. He gently placed the cup in her hand. She had to pull herself half out of her blanket mountain to do so. Ever since the rain she'd been cold. Misao hated the cold.

"Just drink it." She did as he requested. She was surprised to realize that his tea was better than her own was.

"Aoshi-sama! This is delicious!"

"Yes." He muttered, as if she'd said that grass was green.

"How come you never told me you could make tea?" she asked, holding out her cup that was now empty. She found it easy to drink Aoshi's tea, even though she had had a hard time earlier in the day just drinking water.

"You never asked."

"That's not fair, Aoshi-sama. I ask you so many things and you just happen to be amazingly skilled at something I didn't ask about." She pouted.

"I am skilled at many things you don't ask about." He quietly voiced, knowing she couldn't hear him.

"Hmm?" she asked, snapping out of her self-pitying. He shook his head and refilled her cup yet again. Something about the tea was making her feel better, like it was coating her entire body in warmth.

"So Aoshi-sama," she tried again, sipping the tea thoughtfully. "Why'd you come tonight?"

"You are ill, Misao. I would be a worse friend for not seeing you, after it was I who initially caused your illness." Misao smiled at his words, not remembering him speaking so freely with her in the past.

"You are a great friend to me, Aoshi-sama." She whispered, moving so that she could sit next to him. He didn't look at her. Instead he refilled his own cup. "I'm feeling better now."

"Green tea can heal anything, or at least I've been told." He airily said, obviously thinking about something other than the tea. Misao took his hand delicately in her two smaller ones. She ignored his slight stiffening.

"You've been drinking green tea every day for five and a half years. What are you trying to heal, Aoshi-sama?" she asked quietly, as to not frighten him back into seclusion.

"Heartbreak." Came his even quieter response. She gasped in surprise, at his answer and the fact that he had answered such a serious question. "Knowing that I caused the death of my friends, knowing that I shamed the Oniwanbanshu, knowing that the reasons you stop smiling are always leading back to myself breaks my heart. And so I try to nurse it back together with tea."

"Aoshi-sama." She whispered, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. "They died with honor, protecting their leader. And you could never shame the Oniwanbanshu. We would follow you into the dark, if that is where you decide to go."

"And the last thing, Misao?" he softly asked, tilting his head so it was leaning against her forehead. He felt her smile and moved to see it clearly.

"Don't you realize that you are the reason I smile in the first place?" She placed as light kiss on his astonished cheek and turned away, laying her head on his shoulder. She was worried that he would reject her once again, as he always did, but instead he moved his arm so that she was now leaning into his chest, his arm draping over her small body and resting on her waist. She murmured legendary words into his neck and sighed contently as he pulled her closer. They fell asleep together, neither wanting the morning to come.

Misao yawned as she stretched her arms above her head, surprised when one of her hands connected with a warm surface. The night flooded back to her in now beloved memories and she opened her eyes to gaze at the sleeping Aoshi. Laughing, she poked him in the ribs.

"Come on Aoshi-sama. I know you aren't really sleeping. The leader of the Oniwanbanshu is always alert and ready for action." She happily sang, realizing that she was no longer sick and that she was locked in an embrace with the man of her dreams.

"Misao, shut up." He muttered. She laughed again.
"Wow, you aren't really a morning person, are you?" she asked, running her hands through his bangs and removing them from his face. They fell back into place when she released them. "You realize that if you don't get up now, when Okina or Omasu comes to check on me, you'll be found?"

"Misao." He warned, using his 'leader' voice. He pulled her closer, pinning her to his side. "I have already told you once to be quiet. There will not be another time."

"And why is that, Aoshi—" He stopped her mouth with his in one quick movement. The rough kiss ended almost immediately, but Aoshi did not pull away from her. She stared at him as he closed his eyes again.

"So Aoshi-sama, if I continue to talk, is that my punishment?" she teasingly asked. He grunted in response. "Okay, as you wish it." She laughed. This time it was gentle. This time he let her know that he cared. She ended it with a smile. Her head fell onto his chest as if it were meant to be. "I guess perhaps green tea really can cure anything." She whispered into his neck as he kissed her forehead and pulled her closer still.