A/N: hee hee… this idea came to me while I was doing my hmwk. Nothing better than to daydream about good fanfic ideas while being stuck doing boring and meaningless shit.

Takes place before Oniwaban group dies. In this fic, they meet up with Kenshin and the group differently.

Aoshi and the Oniwaban walked through the forest. Shikijou was talking to Hyottoko and Beshimi about their last job. They had to protect this wealthy merchant from the bandits that wanted to rob him. Suddenly, Aoshi tensed. The rest of the Oniwaban froze right along with him. They quietly hid themselves in the shadows and looked at the clearing ahead of them. The bushes near the edge of the large space in front of them rustled, then 4 men appeared. From the looks of it, Aoshi dubbed them nothing more than rogue bandits or thugs. He closed his eyes and was about to signal to his comrades to just keep walking when he stopped and looked at the shadow ahead that was coming closer and closer towards them, or rather, the 4 men.

A young woman, no older than 16 (A/N: gee, I wonder who? XD) wearing a tan colored cloak stepped into the clearing. She concealed her eyes by the shadow that her hood cast over her, only leaving the bottom part of her face visible. She looked at the thugs and started to back away when they started to corner her. When her back was pressed against the base of a tree one of the men spoke, "Why are you so afraid? You were the one who told us to come here"

The woman seemed to relax, she tilted her head upwards and whispered in a small voice "Do you have any money?"

The man smirked "Of course, we were just paid for our job" he held up a large sack of gold that he stole rather than earned…

The woman smiled. She pulled off her cloak and said in a totally different voice "Good. Playtime is over, now gimme all your money"

Aoshi, Hannya, Beshimi, Shikijou and Hyottoko all nearly gave themselves away when they nearly tripped after seeing the woman's face.

She… has a striking resemblance to Misao… Aoshi thought, he looked at his friends who looked right back at him, the same confused and shocked expression on all of their faces.

The girl was wearing a blue shirt with matching shorts that reached a few inches above her knee. She has large blue eyes that were filled with determination and pride. She had a long braid that reached her knees and swished with every movement she made. In short, she was quite a queer girl yet non the less a stunning one.

Another of the 4 men looked at her "What! She's only a girl!" he sighed "and such a pretty voice too…" he started to walk off, his companions trailing after him hanging their head in disappointment.

The woman became angry as a vein popped on her head.

"WHO'S THE GIRL!" she kicked the last guy in the head causing him to spit out a small amount of blood.

"You little brat..!" they charged at her.

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I'M 16!" she dodged a fist from one of them with ease.

She crouched down and glided across the dirt path that separated her and one of her opponents she ducked his punch and elbowed him in the stomach, she then kicked a second thug knocking him unconscious on top of the previous guy she had knocked out.

The two remaining men looked at her and growled "Who the hell are you!"

The girl looked at them and smirked before knocking them out too.

She searched them for the gold and 5 minutes later came out with a healthy looking money pouch.

"Heh heh… just add a purr to my voice and they flock to me and directly into my trap" she smiled and jingled the money, just as she turned and was about to walk off she glanced at them and gave a confident smirk "oh, just to tell you, the name's Makimachi Misao"

This time, Aoshi and the rest of the Oniwaban DID trip. But luckily Misao didn't notice because she was happily singing about how she could now 'get out of this dump'.

Just as she was about to walk off into the shadows of the forest, Aoshi stepped up "and just where do you think you are going Misao?"

The ninja girl froze, then turned around with the largest eyes you would ever see in your entire life.

"Aoshi-sama…?" she whispered.

Hannya came out of the shadows and paused beside his leader.

"Hannya-kun…"

"Ohayou Misao-sama" he greeted and bowed.

"If you two are here then…"

Shikijou stepped out followed by Beshimi and Hyottoko.

Misao couldn't believe it, she just stood there in shock.

"This has got to be a dream…" she rubbed her eyes "I've got to be hallucinating… come on, snap out of it, Misao you baka. Just because you've been searching for years for Aoshi-sama and the others with no results doesn't mean you can start to go insane and start dreaming!"

a small sweat drop formed behind Hannya's head.

"You're not dreaming Misao" Aoshi stated plainly.

The youngest member of the Oniwaban stopped rubbing her eyes and looked up again. They were still there. So I guess that was proof that she wasn't hallucinating.

"…Is… Is it really you…?" she started to take small steps forward, raising her arm bit by bit. As soon as she stood one step in front of Aoshi, she raised her hand and stroked his cheek.

"It…it really is you…" her eyes started becoming all watery and soon enough, she was bawling into his shirt and trench coat for the matter.

"It's really you… I thought I'd never see any of you again! Why did you leave!" she sobbed.

Aoshi let his facial expression soften and patted her head like he would always do so when she was a little girl to comfort her.

Soon after, Misao had fallen asleep and the group had decided to rest in the clearing. Shikijou had taken and dumped all 4 bandits, who were still out cold might I add, somewhere in the middle of the forest where there were a lot of wolves for what he said was for 'trying to beat up his Misao-chan'

Misao was sleeping fitfully in Aoshi's lap while he watched the sky and thought things over, his eyes soon traveled to the moneybag that Misao had dropped and then he sighed.

"Misao? Misao, wake up" he gently shook her shoulders.

"…mmmph.…" she ignored him and stuffed her face into his chest while clutching his jacket even harder, making her knuckles go white.

"Misao… I know you can hear me so might as well open your eyes already"

"…Why did you have to be so observant?"

"It's a skill I developed"

She reluctantly looked up and made a grumpy face.

"Don't make that face at me"

"Why not? You're the one who woke me up…"
"Well then since you're awake, you might as well return the money"

Misao jumped out of his lap and screamed "NANI!"

Beshimi, who was perched on a branch looking over the group, fell out of the tree as soon as Misao screamed.

Hyottoko looked at him and muttered 'ouch'

"I said return the money"

"Demo! I fought for that money!"

"And it seemed an easy battle. It was basically handed to you on a gold platter"

"…true… but still!"

"No 'but's you're going to return the money either way and I will make sure of that"

"…ugh... Aoshi-sama, why did you have to be so… ugh!"

Aoshi raised an eyebrow at the now fuming ninja girl who was taking her anger out on a tree, which was now being used as a pincushion for her kunai's.

"I would HATE to get her angry" Hannya muttered.

Aoshi let a ghost of a smile grace his features. For the first time in years, he had actually felt happy.

Near midnight…

"We're going to go in, put the money back, and come out. Make sure no one wakes up or sees you" Aoshi directed.

Misao yawned "hai hai…" she waved it off and with a quiet battle cry, she leapt onto the roof.

They stared at her not knowing she could do this.

Misao started right back at them before smiling smugly and saying in a teasing kind of voice "well? are you guys going to stay down there all night or are you going to make me return this money?" she waved the bag around.

Shikijou smiled. Their little Misao had now grown up.

They jumped up after her and into the looming shadows in the yard of the hotel where the money was being returned.

"hmmm… no where would the storage room be?" Misao looked around.

"Over here" Hannya stood beside a small building and pushed open the door.

"Bleah, it's so dusty in here… it would kill them to dust every now and then" Misao coughed. Her eyes searched the room before settling on a bunch of large bins near the east side of the shed.

Aoshi took the bag from her hand and dumped it into one of the bins and dusted his hands "good, now let's leave" he turned around and ALMOST face faulted.

Hyottoko and Shikijou were restraining Misao from taking any money. Her face was had a evil look and her eyes were dollar signs (or more like yen signs XD)

"Misao!" Aoshi scolded quietly.

She pouted and grudgingly walked out of the door empty handed with the Oniwaban following closely behind to make sure she wouldn't get into any trouble on the way out.

"I swear Aoshi-sama, you are too just sometimes…" Misao grumbled as she walked down the deserted streets of the quiet town.

"No, I'm just preventing you from becoming impure" his face remained as emotionless as always.

"Hmph, a little money wouldn't hurt"

"We have more than enough money"

"But I don't"

"Don't give you're Aoshi-sama a hard time Misao-chan" Beshimi patted her head.

"Mou! I'm not a child anymore Beshimi!"

"We know that Misao-sama" Hannya said.

"Then stop calling me little!"

"Old habits die hard kiddo" Shikijou laughed.

"I TOLD YOU I'M NOT A KID!"

"Misao. Not so loud, you'll wake up the residences" Aoshi scolded.

"…Gomen nasai…"

Soon enough, after one koku (half an hour) Misao had started to fall asleep while walking. How she did it we'll never know. Aoshi had stopped to let Misao clamber onto his back before she fell face down in the dirt.

5 minutes later, Hannya spoke "should we let her travel with us?" he looked at his Okashira.

Aoshi gave no reply. He knew that if he did let her travel with them, she would be in danger, but if he didn't let her travel with him, she would just go searching for him again and would still be in danger, and he wouldn't be there to protect her.

"We'll let her travel with us for now" he finally spoke.

"…as you wish Okashira"

Aoshi sighed, he knew he was going to regret his decision later on.

A/N: heh… how was THAT for a first chapter! Alright! I did it! I wrote this in an hour! Yatta! I'm so proud anywayz, R&R plez!