In this story Misao is 21 and Aoshi is still 26.

I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Aoshi's Sweet Revenge

Misao stood in the kitchen of her favorite drop dead gorgeous neighbor, Aoshi Shinomori, one hot summer morning. She was, again, making breakfast and thinking of news ways to disturb and annoy the tall ice block of a man.

Although he wasn't paying much attention to her, Aoshi knew she was scheming, but what else was new, she did this almost everyday. She seemed to take amusement in playfully attempting to molest him, but he let it go since most of the pranks were kind of cute and kept his day from being too dull. She never managed to get him anyway. He would know what she was thinking, before she even thought it herself. He was just that good.

"Dude, I'm hungry!", Misao pouted, hands thrown in air, as she looked into the refrigerator.

Aoshi didn't look up or even reply, because he saw no reason to, she was talking to herself. He let her do just about anything she wanted to, within reason. It saved him time and kept him from having to make his own food. And she barely ever broke anything, anymore.

"Hey, Aoshi-sama, how about some bacon?", She looked at him, and when he looked at her but didn't reply, she said, "I'll take that as a yes."

'Why does she insist on adding 'sama'', he thought to himself.

He looked up from the table, where he was drinking his daily green tea, to see Misao scurrying around in his large kitchen. He raised an eyebrow when he finally noticed she had rolled up the sleeves of one of his favorite black button-down dress shirts, and was gliding about in it cheerfully. It slightly took him by surprise, but for some reason, a part of him liked it. 'Mine' a voice in his head said, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

The shirt was actually really large on her petite frame, which Aoshi found slightly cute and amusing, because he knew she was wearing it on purpose. So he decided to keep the thought to himself, and not to let her know, so he made sure to conceal his smirk behind his teacup.

"I think I'll boil some eggs to go with breakfast, sound ok to you, Aoshi-sama?" She called from the kitchen.

He nearly choked on his tea when she bent over to look for a pot in the bottom cabinets. His shirt and the skirt she was wearing rose up and stop just short of displaying her butt to him. If he wasn't already a silent man, any words coming out of his mouth would have been immediately halted.

She stood up and turned around to look at him when she heard him let out a violent sputtering cough. He covered his mouth, waving a hand at her to disregard the need for concern. Every couple days she would accidentally do something that would have rendered him speechless if he actually spoke. And the strange thing is, she never knew she was doing it, but Aoshi wasn't going to say anything.

When Aoshi noticed Misao had finished preparing the food, he went and helped her bring the different plates of food to the table. He would sometimes try to help her make the food, but she would always say "No! Let me Do it! ".

She liked to do thing for him just randomly, such as vacuuming his house for no apparent reason, or cleaning his bathroom.

They sat at the small table eating quietly, Misao smiling, off in her own world and Aoshi just not talking. Aoshi looked up from silently eating his food and locked eyes with Misao. She looked up at him questioningly as she absentmindedly played with the fabric of the shirt she was wearing.

"Misao, you're wearing my shirt. Why?" He asked, regaining his indifferent tone. He already had an idea why 'Because it's mine…' he thought, but he wanted to know what reason she'd give, and so he waited for her response.

"Yeah, well you see… all of mine were dirty. So I just used yours, hope you don't mind!" she said cheerfully.

'Not very convincing.', Aoshi thought, slightly amused by her answer.

Aoshi just stared at her calmly and said nothing. Not because he was mad, he really just had nothing to say, he knew she was just messing with him. But she didn't know he knew.

"Come on, don't be mad, Aoshi-sama!" She said, getting up and walking around to his side of the table, and throwing her arms around his neck. He did not expect her to hug him because he never let anyone do so, but he had no intention of making her stop.

"Aoshi-sama, it's just if I'm going to wear anybody else's clothes, it just has to be yours, you know what I mean?" She whispered in his ear seductively, her mood suddenly changing as she sat down on his lap.

"M-Misao what are you doing", the usually stoic man stammered in shock, trying to maintain an indifferent look, but failed as she ran a hand down the side of his face.

Aoshi was stunned beyond words, he couldn't even push her off, in fact, he didn't want to. She leaned forward, only centimeters form his face and whispered,

"Got you…"

"What?" Aoshi said confused. Little did Aoshi know, today Misao had wanted to try to seduce him, not to really do it, she was just bored. She figured he'd never feel that way for her anyway, so, why not?

Misao giggled mischievously, and hopped out of the stunned ice block's lap before he could react, "Ha, I got you! Later, Aoshi-sama!", then she was gone.

'How did I let her get to me like that' Aoshi thought, ashamed at falling for her prank, he wasn't about to except it so easily.

He smirked, coming up with a plan of his own, 'Oh she was going to pay for that one….'

~X~

The next morning she came over to make breakfast and harass him like she normally did most days, but something seemed a little different, which said a lot since Aoshi didn't like to change his daily routine much. 'I hope he's not too mad at me for that.' Misao grinned to herself, remembering the previous morning.

Misao furrowed her eyebrows when instead of having to use the spare key she snuck from him three years ago; he had left the door unlocked for her. She walked in as Aoshi walked out of his room wiping his forehead with a towel, and wearing a tight black tank top.

"Were you training this morning Aoshi-sama?" Misao asked nervously, eyeing him.

"Yes" he said simply.

Misao could only stare at his well toned arms and well built chest, which she could distinctively make out through the thin dark fabric. She was speechless and practically drooling and Aoshi knew it.

"Is something the matter, Misao?", Aoshi said in his deep, hypnotically sexy voice, maintaining his usual indifferent expression. Misao thought she saw his eyes flash in amusement but assumed it was just a trick of the light.

Misao quickly snapped back into reality and smiled nervously, "Nope, its nothing Aoshi-sama! Just not used to you training before the sun comes up. I think the morning heat is getting to me, but I'm just here to make breakfast, like usual!"

"Is that so? Proceed then" he walked back into his room, throwing the towel aside.

Aoshi knew about her weaknesses, and he was going to exploit them. She had tortured him, so he was going to do the same to her, but he was going to make sure he dragged it out.

Aoshi turned around to see a bewildered and blushing Misao, she just looked so cute and timid. He couldn't help wanting to tease her further, so he slowly walked over and put one hand at the back of her head and the other on her forehead, gently moving her loose bangs aside. He tilted her head up towards his, and his piercing blue-green eyes stared into her ocean-blue ones, through his dark bangs.

Misao almost felt her heart stop out of shock. "A-aoshi-sama, why-?" but she was cut off when Aoshi spoke.

"Hm, you do not seem to have a fever. But perhaps I should make breakfast, if you are not feeling well. I will finish training later." His hand played with her loose hair and caressed the back of her neck making her shiver.

"Oh don't worry! I got it covered Aoshi-sama, go do what you were doing." She chirped, looking down and fiddling with the hem of her light blue knee-length sundress. 'It looked really good on her' a voice in Aoshi's head said.

Aoshi held back an evil smirk and released her, slowly letting an arm slide down her back as she back away, 'Perfect', he thought.

"I'll get right on that, Aoshi-sama!" she said, smiling nervously as she scurried through the kitchen door.

When he was sure she wasn't going to come back in and he couldn't harass her more, he headed to a spare room that he used for his martial arts training.

Misao leaned her back against the door and slid down to the floor, attempting to recover from the sudden onslaught from the hot shirtless Aoshi. 'I can't let him see me get weak with just a simple touch, but that touch wasn't all that simple… I have to be careful or he might find out how I really feel about him.' she thought.

'Why is he doing this…It can't be because of yesterday, Aoshi-sama wouldn't do that…would he?', She thought perplexed. Then she pushed the thought aside, and got up to start breakfast.

~X~

"Aoshi-sama, breakfast is almost ready." Misao pushed on the door to the spare room, and her eyes widened at the sight of a shirtless, sweaty Aoshi hanging upside-down from a bar bolted into the ceiling. He was doing crunches, his abs glistening and flexing in the early morning light.

'Oh my God, the muscles!', her mind screamed. Poor Misao nearly passed out at the sight, and tried to turn around and walk away before he noticed her, but in her daze she hit her head on the side of the door frame.

Aoshi pretended not to notice her and held in a chuckle when he heard her hit her head and yelp.

Aoshi opened his eyes and looked at the small girl in the doorway as she squeaked adorably and said, "Oh, um… breakfast is almost ready, but…" she nibbled on her bottom lip and looked down blushing " would you really want to eat after working so hard?"

Aoshi had to fight back a laugh, knowing, she was talking about his abs. She was so cute, he had to ignore the urge to jump off the bar and tackle her right there on the floor.

"Thank you Misao, I am hungry for… something.", He said, eyes roaming painfully slow over her small frame, making her squirm under his steady gaze.

He put one hand on the bar and flipped down off of it, landing with his back to her and grabbing a towel off a nearby table. He turned around, wiping the sweat from his neck and chest, knowing her eyes were following his every move. If he had've known it would be this fun he'd have done things like this a long time.

He walked towards the door, where she stood frozen in place. "Misao, are you going to just stand there?" He said barely glancing at her, as he walked towards the shower.

"Huh, oh! No I'm going to go finish with the food." She ran back to the kitchen, laughing nervously.

'I can't believe I froze like that, I've seen shirtless men before, kind of… but what's the difference?! Damn him and his fantastic abs!', she thought, violently scrambling some eggs.

~X~

Aoshi walked out the shower wearing just a pair of nicely fitting black jeans. He looked up from drying his hair, and nodded at Misao when she stopped all movement to look at him.

"You're not going to wear a shirt?" she asked, both wishing he would and wishing he wouldn't. 'Resist the urge to touch him!'

"I will go without. It will be hot." His deep voice spoke, his muscular back to her, hiding a smirk, he knew she was staring.

'Why is he torturing me like this!?' She thought trying to keep a neutral expression.

"Oh, ok well, I'll go get the food" she said moving quickly to the kitchen. Misao went and picked up the plates with food on them, when she felt two large hands brush either side of her hips, than reach out and take the plates from her. Her body tensed at the feeling of Aoshi's bare chest against her back.

She looked up into icy blue-green eyes, and froze when Aoshi smirked and leaned over, brushing his lips against hers.

'Why did I do that' Aoshi thought shocked by his own action and pulled away, carrying the plates out of the kitchen, as though it was a normal occurrence. When she looked at him with those big ocean colored eyes, his body just move on its own. 'I must be losing my mind'.

Misao was completely confused, 'Did I imagine that? Aoshi-sama never acts like this!', she followed after him with more plates, trying to remain calm, but completely failing at it.

After setting the plates down on the table, Aoshi looked over his muscular shoulder and smirked when he saw a disheveled Misao standing behind him in a daze. 'Maybe the kiss wasn't so bad an idea, after all.' He mused to himself.

They sat and ate the breakfast, which pretty much became lunch for them. Misao tried not to look at Aoshi…so obviously, but she couldn't help it. When she looked up at him he was already staring at her.

"Is something troubling you Misao?" He asked looking at her over his teacup.

"No, it's nothing I just need water, so I'm going to get some. You want anything?"

"You." He said to himself.

"What?" She said not hearing him.

"Said I don't want anything", He put his teacup down.

"Ok.", she said getting up from the table, but then she accidentally bumped it causing, Aoshi's tea to tip over and for a few scalding hot drops to splash on his bare chest. He immediately stood up brushing them off with a look of pain on his face.

"OhmyGod, I'm so sorry! I'm so clumsy." She ran over and put a hand on his chest examining the fresh red marks, and trying to ease the pain. The look of pure concern on her face made his heart skip a beat, that even with such a worried expression, she still managed to look so beautiful.

"It's fine, it's nothing serious." He put a hand over hers and used the other to raise her chin so he could stare lovingly into her eyes. Misao looked confused at the sudden change in his emotions.

"Are you feeling alright? Maybe the heat is making you act weird." She looked at him, concern still in her eyes.

He shook his head and pulled her against firm chest in a tight embrace and said, "No, it's not the heat, Misao, it's you. Thanks for making me breakfast everyday."

"No problem Aoshi-sama." She said, somewhat confused but happy to be in the arms of the man she loves.

"You're always so kind to me, and willing to deal with my silence. I can't bring myself to want to take revenge on you anymore." The last words slipped out of Aoshi's mouth before he could stop himself.

"What? So you've been messing with me this entire time?" She frowned, looking up at him with slight hurt in her voice.

He looked down at her, regretting what he said. He never wanted to hurt her and he didn't ever want to see a frown on her angelic face. He would obviously be lying if he said he never felt anything for her, but it took him until today to realize completely, how strong those feelings were.

"You are the closest and most important person in my life. Although I don't show it, I know I can trust you and I would be vexed if anything happened to you."

"Aoshi-sama…this isn't part of you're revenge is it?" Misao blushed and looked up at him skeptically, truly hoping he meant what he said.

"I would never speak such words so lightly. When you're not smiling it makes me uneasy." He put a hand to his face to hide his embarrassment,

She wrapped her arms around his waist, giggling, "Aoshi-sama, you've always been important to me. You know, I come here just to be with you.

"No, you come here in hopes of seeing me shirtless." Aoshi smirked dryly.

"That, too. And look, today I got my wish.", she giggled, placing a hand on his chest. Suddenly Misao stood on her toes leaning into him to capture his lips with her own. First it surprised him, but then he lowered his head towards hers and pulled her closer.

Misao pulled away and said, "Of course, you know I'm going to have to get you back for all you did to me today."

"I'm looking forward to it.", Aoshi smirked down at her as she pulled him away from the table, leaving the dishes to be picked up later.