Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, Record of the Lodoss War, Stargate SG-1, Robotech, etc, etc…you know the drill
Summary:
AU. Aoshi sits down to play a game of go w/teenage CEO Seto Kaiba, who asks him why a man as intense as he is would chose the low-key, tranquil existence he lives now. The answer just might surprise him and maybe even change his life…
THE STRONGEST
A wake up call…
The first rays of the morning sun filtered through the window, awakening Aoshi from a pleasant dream. He turned his head slightly towards his left arm, and found that his reality was even more pleasant than his dreams.
He smiled and shifted his weight to allow his sleeping partner a more comfortable position on his chest. Misao moaned slightly as she adjusted herself and continued sleeping. He stroked her beautiful long black hair and marveled at all the twists and turns his life had taken. Many strange, wonderful and sometimes even scary adventures had taken him on great journeys. But there was nowhere he would rather be right now.
'Never did I allow myself to imagine I would end up here, but I am glad that I am here,' he mused contentedly and he kissed the top of his love's head. She cuddled up closer, wrapping her body around his, but slept on. He smiled…
'She is not much of a morning person, is she?' and suppressed a chuckle. He looked at the clock, it said six am. Since it was Saturday, he decided to let her rest. They had been up late last night and this was her first real day off in almost two weeks straight. He smirked when he thought of the pale look on Misao's manager's face when Aoshi had informed him that she was taking the weekend off.
"B-B-But Mr. Shinomori, Sir! S-S-She has several interviews and…" Kyle Lynn stuttered as Aoshi glared down at him daring Kyle to challenge the decision. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing further came out and Aoshi had been mildly impressed that he had actually gotten as much as he did out of his mouth.
While it is true that Kyle Lynn was the best in the business of creating superstar singers, Lynn also had a reputation for sending young up-and-comers into mental health clinics with nervous breakdowns. His last "protégé", his own little cousin Minmei, had run away to the U.S and checked herself into the Betty Ford Clinic, just to get away from him, his "scheduling genius" and a horrible addiction to caffeine pills and anti-depressants. Turning out and burning out young stars was something the bastard seemed to be good at…
'I will be damned if I let him harm Misao and her dreams,' he promised himself. His arm instinctively wrapped itself protectively about his lover. Misao moaned in her sleep again and rubbed her naked body against his naked form.
He smiled and relaxed 'Maybe we could just stay in…' he thought and pleasant little ideas about what they could do today if they stayed in, lulled him back to sleep…
Sometime after 8:30am the phone rang, startling them both out of their pleasant dreams. Aoshi growled angrily at the phone for its rude interruption as he picked it up…
"Hello!" he grumbled into the receiver.
"Good morning Aoshi! I hope I didn't wake you," came the cheerful and not at all intimidated voice of his best friend Kenshin Himura.
"As a matter of fact, you did," he growled sounding more annoyed than he actually was.
"I'm so sorry, that I am!" came Kenshin's sheepish reply and Aoshi smiled imagining his friend's face turning as red as his hair.
Misao moaned and lifted her head, "Who is it?" she asked sleepily
"It's Kenshin," replied Aoshi softly, brushing a few strands of hair gently away from her face
Misao smiled and sat up as Aoshi listened to Kenshin stumble through apologies. She gave him a quick kiss and said,
"Tell him I said hi!" She said cheerfully as she got up and went into the bathroom.
Aoshi watched her go, she bounced along happily and within a few seconds he heard the water running in the shower. He almost sighed, but held back since Kenshin was still on the line. He put his now free hand behind his head…
"Misao says hi," he deadpanned and suppressed his laughter as Kenshin stumbled around with his words, trying to apologize again for calling so early. Finally, he chuckled slightly.
"What can I do for you my friend?" he asked releasing Kenshin from the torture of his embarrassment.
"Ah yes! Um…As you probably already know, Sano is visiting from the U.S. and I thought we could all go to our old high school hang out and get together for lunch! Miss Shuura is going to fly me, Kaoru, my brother and some of his friends that are visiting from the USA to Domino in one of her company's jets, if you and Miss Misao would like, we could pick you up on our way there!" explained Kenshin
"She's giving us a special discount," Kenshin whispered nervously. Aoshi laughed, Shuura, Kaoru's sister, was a powerful warrior and an absoultely fearless daredevil that ran her own private jet charter and liked to live on the edge. Aoshi and his father had helped her start her company a few years ago. She was good hearted, but Kenshin had always been a little afraid of her excessive enthusiasm, but for Aoshi it had been fortunate that she was the most reckless and intrepid of the Kamiya sisters. She was loyal and trustworthy, but most of all she could hold her own in any situation. A fact Aoshi had been grateful for time and time again…
"Hmm, I am sure Misao would like that," responded Aoshi, once he stopped laughing. "At what time will you be heading out this way?"
"We will be leaving in about an hour, Kurama and his friends want to go shopping and Kaoru wants to check out the Egyptian exhibit at the Domino Museum after we check in at the hotel where we'll be spending the rest of the weekend," Kenshin informed him, "after all, Miss Shuura can't fly us all to Domino and back on the same day, that she can't" he added chuckling nervously. Aoshi laughed…
"I am afraid we would not be able to be ready in an hour my friend, and it sounds like you already have too many passengers on your flight plan anyway," said Aoshi after he stopped laughing again.
"I understand completely Aoshi!" Kenshin replied, thoroughly embarrassed again. Aoshi chuckled…
"Perhaps we will take the road along the coast, it's only a two hour drive from Kyoto to Domino and we can stay at my house…" Aoshi thought out loud.
"I will ask Misao, but I am sure she would love to see you all," he concluded. Sano was very difficult to get together with these days. His job made him as inaccessible as Hajime often was.
"I hope so!" Kenshin agreed
"Either way, perhaps you would all like to come and stay at my place? I know father would like to see everyone," he invited
"What a great idea! Hold on, let me check," and there was silence on the line as Kenshin put him on hold. Misao was singing in the shower one of her bouncy little tunes. Her voice was muffled by the sound of the rushing water and the partially closed door but he could still recognize the song, he closed his eyes and listened to the cheerful sound of his beloved's voice
"Aoshi! Thank you for waiting!"
"Any time my friend, what is the verdict?" asked Aoshi
"Kaoru says she'd love to! My brother respectfully declines, he's staying at Hiei's condo and his friends already have reservations at the Hilton and Miss Shuura…" he paused and his voice cracked a bit as he continued.
"Miss Shuura also accepts, but she will not be joining us until Sunday morning due to other engagements," and Aoshi couldn't help chuckling at his friends audible relief at the last part.
"I can call and ask Yusuke and Kuwabara to join us," Aoshi suggested
"Oh! I already called Miss Keiko and Yusuke and they said they'd save us a table!" informed Kenshin cheerfully
"Good! Will Kurama and his friends be joining us at Burger World as well?" he asked
"My brother yes, but I believe his friends will probably join us after lunch…" Kenshin paused. His hesitation made Aoshi suspicious
"Kenshin…which friends is Kurama bringing?" he asked
"Well…you know…just some friends…from New York…Is that Miss Misao's singing I hear in the background?" he asked attempting to change the subject
"Kenshin…" Aoshi growled in warning
"Ted, Kyan, Jai, Thom and Carson," he shot the names out in rapid-fire succession hoping in vain that Aoshi would somehow miraculously miss them
"Figures…" Aoshi sighed annoyed already resigning himself to the inevitable. This time it was Kenshin's turn to laugh. The fab five always made Aoshi uncomfortable, especially Carson…
"Be nice Aoshi! They're really good guys, I'll have you know!" Kenshin laughed
"Maybe so, but they are too noisy and hyperactive in my opinion, especially Carson…" Aoshi commented and Kenshin just laughed harder. He heard the shower turn off as Misao's song ended
"Oh come now! They mean well! Besides everybody's noisy and hyper according to you Aoshi! You really should give them a chance, that you should," and he laughed
"I suppose since Misao likes them so much…" Aoshi conceded rather reluctantly
"That's the spirit! Well anyway, I guess we'll see you at noon then! Bye Aoshi! Say Hello to Miss Misao for me!" Kenshin happily called out
"Goodbye Kenshin. We will see you then," he returned and he hung up the phone.
"What did Kenshin want!" she called out cheerfully from the bathroom. Aoshi explained Kenshin's plans as he got up and went to the closet to pick out his clothes for the day. He frowned; there were not that many choices. Most of his wardrobe was in his apartment in Tokyo and his house in Domino, 'I will have to bring more' he thought.
"Sounds like fun!" Misao answered as she walked out. She stopped in mid-step…
'Wow! I wonder how many girls in the world get to have naked Greek gods standing in front of their closets every morning!' she paused to think 'only me! Ha, Ha!' she concluded with a big grin on her face. She watched as he pulled a handkerchief out of the drawer she had set aside for him, and polished off some invisible imperfection on the buckle of his belt.
'He's such a neat freak!' she covered her mouth to keep from giggling as he repeated the action with his already perfect dark blue shoes.
She lathered on her body lotion as she watched him hang a short sleeve light blue shirt on the back of the chair next to the closet, followed by a pair of dark blue Dockers and a matching blue blazer, as he continued to expand on the details of his conversation with Kenshin.
She couldn't help giggling though when he mentioned the fab five. He turned to her and attempted to give her a stern look and she laughed.
"Oh come on! Don't be a spoil sport Lord Aoshi! They're really neat guys!" He rolled his eyes at the mention of her childhood nickname for him, a nickname that had gotten him into quite a few fights in high school with jealous classmates, though he had not become aware that it was due to jealousy until much, much later.
With two long strides he cut the distance between them. His arms wrapped themselves about her waist and pulled her off the ground to give her a long deep kiss. Finally, when his lips disengaged hers…
"Good Morning," he purred into her ear breathing in the flowery scent of her lotion
"Mmm…Good Morning to you too!" she whispered slightly out of breath. The phone rang again, Aoshi growled at it and Misao laughed
"It had better not be Lynn!" Aoshi growled dangerously throwing the phone a dirty look. But he knew Lynn knew better than to interrupt Misao's time off. He had tried it once and Aoshi had made him regret it!
"I'll get it! It might just be Kenshin calling back you know…" she said as Aoshi put her back down. He shrugged 'She's probably right' and went into the bathroom as Misao reached for the phone.
He entered the bathroom and looked around in dismay. There was water splashed everywhere…
'One of these days she's going to hurt herself!' he thought as he pulled out some old towels that he had asked the maid to leave there for just such an occasion. He wiped some of the water off the marble floor and removed the wet rug, replacing it with a dry one that he pulled out of the bottom cabinet. He pulled another towel out and wiped the water off the counter and around the sink
'How can someone so small splash so much?' he thought, shaking his head in mild disapproval. He could hear Misao laughing outside so he surmised that whoever was on the phone was not a threat to his weekend plans. Once the bathroom was cleared and set to his satisfaction, he went about his morning routine in his usual precise and neat way…
Misao watched him with undisguised admiration as he walked out of the bathroom, his hair still damp and a small towel tied tightly about his waist, his cologne wafting towards her.
"Who is it?" he asked, a sexy little smirk playing on his lips
"It's Vicky-Sensei!" she answered cheerfully. He smiled more fully and in two giant steps he was kneeling on the bed with her, gesturing for the phone
"Vicky-Sensei! I think he wants to talk to you!" she laughed, passed the phone to him and pulled off his towel
"Sensei! Good morning! How was your trip?" he asked as Misao pushed him down towards the bed and straddled him. He bit his lip to keep from moaning as Misao traced the crisscrossing scars on his chest lightly with her fingers…
"Aoshi, my boy! It went well! Little Misao just told me you kids are coming down to Domino. Just like old times!"
"Yes, like old times Sensei. Sano's in town so it makes sense," he replied trying not to sound impatient as he reached up to undo the knot on Misao's bathrobe.
"Well! I guess since you kids are busy getting ready I will call Hannya to let him know you're coming! I have a few errands to run so I will catch up with all of you as soon as I can." She added as she laughed
"Uh…of course Sensei! We will see you later then, Thank you Sensei!" he responded trying to keep his tone bland but his free hand refused to stay idle as he watched Misao shrug out of her robe, toss it aside and begin trailing butterfly kisses along his chest.
"Very well. I will see you all later today! Do not be late Aoshi!" she teased.
"Never Sensei!" he responded seriously, but all he got was more of Sensei's laughter in return as she hung up the phone
He turned off the receiver and tossed it in the general direction of its base. His arms wrapped around Misao and she laughed as he pulled her down, twisting so she ended up underneath him. He smiled and pinned Misao in another deep long kiss. It didn't take them long to lose themselves in each other.
Fifteen minutes after ten they were rushing out the door…
"We're going to be laaaate," Misao teased
"We will not," Aoshi assured her calmly as he held the car door open for her.
He climbed into the driver's seat of his Mustang and peeled out the garage. He put on his sunglasses as they headed towards the highway and smirked as he expertly wove his car through the weekend traffic without slowing.
Misao didn't even flinch at his climbing speed. She was used to it and she had absolute faith in Aoshi's ability to control his powerful car. She played around with his radio, but finding nothing except commercials on, she reached into the glove compartment and pulled out Aoshi's little cd case.
Misao leafed through his music catalogue and was pleasantly surprised to see that some of his Metallica and Pearl Jam had been replaced with her music and his favored Led Zeppelin discs had been moved to the back of the case. She put on a Zeppelin and hit the random play button. She smiled when the first song that played was "Stairway to Heaven" Aoshi's favorite.
He lowered the volume and asked her what she and Sensei had talked about
She giggled "Girl Stuff…" she responded vaguely and giggled some more.
He frowned 'Hmm, these women are sneaky…' he thought 'especially when they giggle! I am glad Kenshin, Sano and the others will be there. We will need back up…'
"What are you thinking?" Misao asked sweetly. He narrowed his eyes…
"I was thinking whether I should call Kenshin and ask him to call for more back up" he answered in his trade mark stoic-ness.
"Back up for what?" Misao asked puzzled.
"To protect us from sneaky, giggling women and their "Girl Stuff" talk," he answered in his most serious tone
She laughed and he followed suit. She watched him with fascination 'laughter comes so much easier to him now,' she thought leaning back and settling in for the ride to Domino…