This is the sequal/spinoff to Do You Hear What I Hear. You don't have to have read the first to read the second, but it helps. It does.

Contrary to popular belief I have neither died nor been abducted by aliens. This story is tough for me to write, because I don't know Aoshi and Misao as well as the other characters, but I couldn't resist the idea. Enough chatter, let the bishie-torture begin!

Oh. Me no own RK or Ex-lax.

You Never Know Who's Listening

A fanfic by Slayer Enfiniti

Chapter One: Girls

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Shinomori Aoshi sat in the middle of a quiet room.

"Aoooooshi- samaaaaa! Where are you?" Well, it had been quiet.

Aoshi sighed and stood. Meditation and Misao simply could not exist in the same room. He turned toward the temple door to see it being pushed back by a foot. Attached to the foot was Makimachi Misao, carrying a tea tray.

"Aoshi-sama! Ao- oh, there you are!" Misao bounced up to him with her normal sunshiny, cheery, disgustingly bright attitude. "I got you some tea! Are you thirsty? Were you meditating again? Gee, you sure do that a lot! Want some?"

How does she manage to bounce around like that and not spill a drop of tea? Aoshi wondered absently. "Thank you, Misao." He took the tea tray from her as she beamed at him. After giving him the tray she took off down the stairs.

"Omasu! He said three whole words to me! Can you believe it?" Aoshi shook his head as her voice trailed off. Sure, he wasn't the most talkative, but wasn't that taking it a bit far? He poured himself a cup of tea and sighed.

"Yes, Misao, I'd love some tea. Won't you join me and have some?" He said to the empty room. Why couldn't he say it when Misao was there?

"I wish…" He started, feeling a little silly. "I wish I could be more open, not just with Misao but with everyone." The candles on the altar flared.

Yeehah! About time! Wish granted, good sir! Aoshi's hands dropped to his kodachi. He was alone, wasn't he? Where was that voice coming from?

"Who are you? Where are you? What do you want?" He demanded.

Whoa there, big boy, easy does it! The altar flared again and a girl with blonde hair wearing a silver kimono stepped out from behind the altar. Aoshi frowned. Since when was there enough room back there for a girl to hide? She looked at him with an unnerving silvery-purple gaze that somehow reminded him of Himura Kenshin.

"Better?" She asked brightly. Aoshi sat down. Hard. "Hi, there! How ya doing?" Aoshi stared at her. The girl's smile faltered a bit. She tapped her mouth. "Alright, now that I've traumatized the person I'm supposed to be helping what do I do now?" She snapped her fingers. "Aha! Give them their gift!"

She leaned over him (he backed away hastily, nearly running over the tea set) and touched a finger to the poor ninja's forehead. Aoshi's vision went black for a moment, then the girl's smiling face swam back into view.

"How's that?" She asked pleasantly. Aoshi blinked.

"How's what? As far as I can tell, you did nothing except touch me, I am very upset at you for that, and annoyed. I still don't know who you are or what you're doing here and I'd really like an explanation." Aoshi was flabbergasted. Had all that just gushed out of his mouth? The girl nodded happily, golden buns bobbing.

"It certainly works!" She pouted a little. "Papa gets to deal with redhead cuties, and I get stuck with some verbally constipated ninja! Ah, oh well. Listen closely." She glared at him until she was certain she had his attention. "Consider this a dose of Ex-lax."

"A dose of what?" The girl shook her head.

"I'm 150 years too early for that joke. Never mind. What matters is you now speak the truth, all of it, any time anyone asks you for anything. You will say exactly what you feel, and you can't stop it." She smiled wickedly as Aoshi begun to grasp what she was saying and paled. "I think I'm done here." She turned.

"Wait! How long…" She turned back to the poleaxed ninja.

"Before it goes away? No clue. However long you need it, I guess. So probably a while. Ja!" And she dissolved into silver mist. Had Aoshi been standing, he would have sat again.

"Just great, Shinomori." He muttered to himself. "Some psycho girl is trying to nose into my life. Wonderful. I think I need to meditate."

"Aoshi-sama?" Misao tapped on the door and opened it, a letter in her hands. She looked around. "Who're you talking to?"

"Myself. I was just thinking some things through." Curse it; did he have no say in what came out of his mouth? Misao grinned at him and unfolded the letter.

"Himura and Kaoru are coming to visit in a week, and they want to stay for a month or so. Is that OK?" Aoshi nodded. Then he remembered something.

"Papa gets to deal with redhead cuties…"

It couldn't be coincidence, could it?

"And from what Kaoru says she and Himura are pretty tight now, she says they've gone on dates and everything-"

"Dates? As in together?"

"Guess so. And she says…" Misao went on, but Aoshi stopped listening. Between what the weird girl had said and the fact that Kenshin, the densest man alive in terms of women, had gotten together with Kaoru, Aoshi was forced to come to the conclusion that the rurouni had had the same type of visitor. He stood and withdrew his money pouch from his sleeve. He handed some money to Misao, who stared at it in confusion.

"Send them train tickets. I'll write them a note and use a pigeon. Battousai will have the note tonight, and they can come tomorrow." Misao transferred her bewildered gaze to the former Okashira.

"A- alright." She walked off, slightly dazed. Then her eyes widened.

"TWENTY- FOUR! THAT'S A RECORD!" Aoshi shook his head as Misao danced down the hall. Hopefully, Battousai would be able to sort out this mess.

………………………..

Miles away in Tokyo, a red haired rurouni sneezed.

"Oro? Someone must be thinking about sessha." He shrugged, and returned to fixing lunch.

…………………………………

"Aoshi-sama! Dinner's ready!"

"Oh, no…" Time to see if his gift was all that he had been told it was. He opened his door to find Misao in a bright pink kimono with yellow and orange flowers on it. The obi was three different shades of green, none of which were very appealing. Overall, Aoshi was blinded and sickened at the same time. Misao bounced (as much as you can in a kimono) up to him.

"So? What do you think of my kimono?" Aoshi winced. Here we go…

"The colors are horrible. They are so bright I can hardly see you. They don't go together at all, either. But I like the girl in the kimono." He prepared himself for death. Misao's face was blank.

"Twenty… Twenty-eight, and eight of it was a compliment! Whooohooo! Yeeha! I knew I was right to get it!" She did a little jig in the hall. Aoshi shuddered.

"I can't believe I said that…"

……………………………………..

Kenshin looked down at the note in his hand. He had been astonished when, in the middle of doing the laundry, a pigeon had landed in the bucket, spraying feathers and soap suds everywhere. Now he held a soggy note and two equally wet train tickets from Aoshi in his hands.

Battousai-

It is urgent that I speak with you. Come immediately.

-Shinomori Aoshi

He reread the letter, but he still didn't understand. Urgent? Urgent like Kaoru's need to go shopping or life-and-death urgent? What couldn't Aoshi put in a letter?

"Kenshin?" Kaoru walked up to him, looking questioningly at the pigeon in one of his hands and the mushy bits of paper in the other.

"We've had a pigeon from Aoshi and Misao. A pigeon with very bad aim, I might add. It seems there's a little change in plans, de gozaru. Tomorrow morning we take the train to Kyoto." He showed her the limp train tickets. "Aoshi was kind enough to get them for us."

"But…" Her protest fizzled out as she read the extremely brief note from the ninja man. "Urgent? What's he mean?"

"Sessha has no idea, de gozaru." Kaoru growled.

"Kenshin…" He glanced at her guiltily.

"Oops! I meant I have no idea!" She relaxed and put down her bokken.

"Much better." She mumbled. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh! If we're taking the train I can pack that new kimono you got me! Misao wanted to see it!" She dashed toward her room.

"Kaoru, that was a gag gift!" He called desperately after her. He stared in the direction she had gone. Two months of dating and he still didn't understand her in the least.

I probably never will, he realized, I wouldn't even be as close to her as I am now without Kami-sama's help.

He went back to his feather-soaked laundry.

…………………………………..

Aoshi was hiding in the temple, Misao decided. After dinner he had excused himself without a word to anyone. Not really surprising, but Misao could tell something was different about her Aoshi-sama. She could always tell.

Misao smiled. It didn't matter. If anything was really wrong, her Aoshi-sama would tell her.

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Yatta! Chapter One is up! Finally… I rewrote this one so many times… I digress. Two men, joined through space by mysterious visitors from another world… Sounds like some sci-fi fic. Next chapter, Aoshi gets some much needed reassurance and our heroes meet up with our other heroes. Chapter Two: Male Bonding and the Uses of Duct Tape. See you then!