Title : Mission Improbable

Background: Meiji era

Warning : Some amount of OOCness and harsh language.

Summary : An original sequel to episode 89 of the animation

"I swear I saw Shinomori Aoshi smiled while holding the paper balloon you gave him!" Yahiko emphasized his tone.

"I've been living with him for more than ten years and I've never seen him smile even once. You must be hallucinating." Misao concluded as she placed her cup of green tea.

"I wasn't hallucinating, you moron!" the samurai boy insisted as he banged the dining table with both hands.

"Are you challenging me into a fight, impudent brat?" The ninja girl clenched her fists.

"Well, if you wish so I'd be glad to be your opponent. After all I really have no idea about what you see in that gloomy man called Shinomori Aoshi. There are much better guys available out there." Yahiko pointed his bamboo sword at Misao. He was answered by her daggers that pinned him to the wall behind. It was so accurate that they only caught his kimono and missed his flesh.

"You know nothing about Aoshi sama. So, don't you dare to insult him like that ever again!" Misao raged.

"Cut it off you two!" Kaoru snapped at the hell-raisers.

"He started it first." Misao pointed at Yahiko.

"Hey!, I was just trying to help you since you're not making any progress at all." Yahiko fought back while removing the daggers from his kimono.

"Enough!, I don't want to hear any more excuses from both of you. Yahiko, go to practice some sword techniques I taught you yesterday now," the assistant instructor of Kamiya Dojo placed a hand on her waist while her free hand pointed at the Dojo direction.

Yahiko clucked his tongue as he left the spot. Misao was about to go back to the guest room when Kaoru caught her left wrist.

"We still have some unfinished matters here, Misao chan." The recent leader of Oniwabanshu raised an eyebrow looking confused at Kaoru.

"I want you to wear this and go get ningyoyaki (doll shaped mini sponge cake with custard filling) for Okina at Asakusa now." Kaoru handed the younger girl a black yukata (summer kimono) with cherry blossom pattern.

"You said that you'll get the ningyoyaki by yourself tomorrow morning, didn't you?" Misao protested.

"Well, I change my mind. Now, get change quickly. I have some matters to be finished." Kaoru pushed Misao to her room.

"Why are you being so pushy?. It's already dark outside." Misao grunted before she closed the room door behind her.

"I'll be waiting at the entrance." Kaoru ignored the protest and walked toward the living room as she formed a huge evil smile on her face. Definitely she was up into something evil and nobody except her knew about it.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Kaoru san. This piece of cloth was such a pain in the ass that it refused to cooperate with me." Misao explained as she ran hastily toward the entrance. Her wooden sandals produced a loud noise when they hit the hard ground. Misao scratched her head confusedly when Kaoru didn't response at all.

"Kaoru san?" she walked closer to take a better look at the person who was standing in front of the entrance gate. She accidentally dropped her drawstring bag to the ground when she found out who exactly the person was.

"A-Aoshi…sama…" She muttered in panic. She could feel the pace of her heartbeat rose up causing her difficulty in breathing.

"Kamiya Kaoru told me to accompany you to Asakusa since she has some house chores to do." Aoshi explained as he picked up her bag from the ground, cleaned the dirt then handed it to her.

An image of Kaoru the devil with two black horns on her head and bat wings on her back grinning appeared in Misao's mind. She was deceived and the fact annoyed her so much that she unintentionally clenched her fists.

"Misao." The low voice of her beloved brought her back to the real world.

"Yes, Aoshi sama?" she shyly replied.

"We should be going." The tall man continued before he walked to the market direction.

"Sure." She followed him cheerfully.

Unfortunately, the recent and former Oniwabanshu leaders did not notice some foreign eyes staring straight at them behind their back.

"Would you explain why do we have to follow them?" Sanosuke whispered.

"Aren't you curious about their love progress?" Kaoru asked back.

"Kaoru dono, I'm afraid that I prefer to go back home since the dishes are waiting to be washed," Kenshin was about to walk back home when Kaoru caught his pony tail.

"The dishes can wait until tomorrow but the couple won't so you're coming with us." She concluded as she dragged the poor red haired samurai along.

"Orooo..." Kenshin's voices faded out.

There were several numbers of food stalls and the place was really crowded. Misao noticed every female no matter how old they are blushed and some of them even fainted when they saw Aoshi who was dressed in his usual ninjya uniform. She knew it better than anyone else in this world that if he was dressed in his white stripes dark grey yukata, she will be the one who ended up fainting with a nosebleed.

Misao stopped at the ningyoyaki stall and bought some as a gift to Okina.

"I got them, Aoshi sama." She raised the paper bag cheerfully and skipped her way toward him. Unfortunately, she was too delightful that she didn't pay attention to the medium size stone below her. She tripped over it and was about to kiss the ground when a strong hand caught her on the waist preventing her fall.

"Thank you." She turned around and gave him a hug.

Aoshi could feel his cheeks heated when something soft and spongy pressed against his abdomen. It was her breasts. Misao immediately released her grip on him and blushed like crazy when she found out that some people around were giggling at her action.

"Hmm... it seems like the weasel girl is much better than you in conducting the act of love approach." Sanosuke who hid behind a plum tree nearby smirked and was answered right away with a hard blow on his nose from the angry Kaoru.

"Wow!, that really was a hard one" said a familiar voice from behind. Kaoru turned around and gasped when they found the voice owner.

"Yahiko!"

"Shh!, they'll find us. Did you forget that they're the famous Oniwabanshu leaders?" Yahiko placed a forefinger on his lips.

"Why are you following us?" Kaoru asked with an irritated tone.

"I just want to make sure that Misao is doing everything properly. Well, to be honest she's a quicker than you in love field so it's quite fun for me to follow her love progress." Yahiko smiled.

"Why…you…" Kaoru was about to give another uppercut when Kenshin caught her right hand and calmed her down.

"They're heading to the South. Let's follow them" Sanosuke commanded after he rubbed his bruised nose with his hand.

The amateur spies tiptoed their way to where the couple headed.

Misao is no longer a child, she is an adult woman

Kenshin's words echoed continuously in Aoshi's mind as he stared at the figure of Misao in her yukata. He had to admit that the former human slayer was right about her. He realized that there were some visible changes of maturity in her features. He noticed that when some unknown guys gave her lustful looks.

"Hey, pretty lady. Why don't you leave that gloomy guy of yours and join me in a fancy dinner?" A blonde guy dressed in U.S. army uniform greeted Misao with his broken Japanese.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to play around." Misao bowed politely.

"Don't play hard with me, missy." The guy grabbed her right hand.

Misao was about to fight back when Aoshi moved forward and placed the tip of his Kodachi under the man's jaw.

"You heard her." Aoshi said firmly.

Then man immediately released Misao and ran in panic as if he had seen some sort of ghost.

"Thank you again, Aoshi sama." She smiled at him while blushing like crazy.

"My pleasure." Aoshi put his Kodachi back to its sheathe.

"Phew!, that was scary." Kaoru let out a relief sigh.

"If I were the blonde man I would have died in shock." Yahiko added while he shed the cold sweat on his temple.

"I feel kinda strange to find a look of disturbed on Aoshi's face since he always keeps his poker face." Sanosuke rubbed his chin.

"Also, I don't think it's necessary to draw out the kodachi since he is a master of kenpo." Kaoru added.

"People do change. Even those with poker face like Aoshi." Kenshin said as he smiled friendly.

"Oh come on, Misao! His hand is not some sort of scenery you can stare at forever. Grab it, goddammit!" Yahiko yelled.

"You're talking too loud." Sanosuke immediately covered Yahiko's mouth.

Misao turned around and examined her surroundings.

"What's wrong?" Aoshi asked calmly.

"I thought I just heard Yahiko's voice." She answered.

"Yahiko's voice?" he repeated.

"Never mind about that, Aoshi sama. Let's go home before everyone starts to worry." She concluded as she stared at Aoshi's left hand. Two inner voices fought inside her mind.

Take his hand right away, spastic girl!

No! what if he snaps your hand right away?

Do it before someone take him away from you!

In a speed of light she took his left hand with her right hand. Aoshi's eyes widened in surprise when he found his hand entwined with hers. Misao tried her best to look normal though in fact she was quite sure that some people in five meters range could hear the echoes of her heartbeat. She flushed when she felt him squeezing her hand gently.

"Way to go, girl!" Yahiko raised both hands happily.

"Shh!" Kenshin, Kaoru and Sanosuke placed a forefinger on their lips.

"Sorry, but this is getting more fun than I expected" Yahiko grinned as he moved carefully behind the grass to keep spying on the couple. He smirked when he saw the couple sitting next to each other at a wood bench nearby.

"What now?" Sanosuke asked.

"Are you dense or what? There's only one thing a man would ask after dragging a woman to a deserted place." Yahiko gave a heavy sigh.

"What is it?" Kaoru added stupidly.

"A kiss." Yahiko claimed as his lips formed a big smile. He was replied by big smiles from Kaoru and the rest.

Meanwhile, Misao stared at the starry sky above nervously as she searched for interesting conversation topic to break the silence.

"Aoshi sama." She called him.

"Yes?"

"Do I still look like a six years old little girl to you?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Because you told me that I don't change at all when I gave you the paper balloon yesterday." Misao frowned.

"I was talking about your personality not your appearance." Both of Misao's cheeks turned rosy red when she heard his words.

"So…so…do you think of me as an adult woman?" She re-confirmed tensely.

After a moment that seemed like forever he nodded. A big happy smile was formed on her cute face. Aoshi was about to say something when he found out that she was crying. He was an expert in dealing with any kind of enemies. Unfortunately, he had no idea about how to deal with a crying woman.

"Why is she crying? I thought people cry only when they're sad." Yahiko uttered.

"People call it the tears of joy." Sanosuke explained.

"Oh my God, I'm…so happy…for…her." Kaoru started to sob.

"You can use this, Kaoru dono." Kenshin took a handkerchief out of his kimono pocket and handed it to the sobbing girl.

On the other hand, Aoshi who was still confused about dealing with the crying Misao finally decided to take off his combat gloves and started to wipe her tears away with his bare hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She apologized.

"It's not your fault." He replied promptly.

Green blue eyes stared at the small ice blue eyes. No words exchanged, only the sound of summer breeze and the voice of some crickets filled the romantic atmosphere. She closed her eyes when he tilted her chin up and leaned forward.

"Aaachoo!"

The two ninjas immediately rose to their feet and drew out their weapons when they heard the sneezing voice.

"Show yourselves!" Misao yelled as she drew out her daggers.

"You just ruined the romantic athmosphere!" Yahiko punched Sanosuke's right arm.

"You should blame the person who was talking behind my back." Sanosuke complained.

"I can't believe that all of you spied on us!" Misao screamed angrily. Her face turned red.

"Well, it ended up in failure though." Kaoru sighed.

"Let's go home." Yahiko concluded as he started to walk in front of the others.

"I apologize for the interruption, Aoshi." Kenshin said bitterly.

"Never mind." The tall guy replied shortly.

"Anyway, when are you planning to tell her your true feeling?" Kenshin continued.

"Sooner or later, when the time comes" Aoshi answered as he smiled at Misao who was busy throwing daggers at Yahiko.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Phew!, chapter one finally done. I read the news that the new version of Rurouni Kenshin animation will be in theaters on December this year so I bought the comics at second hand book store and re-read them. I ended up liking Aoshi again and was fully inspired to write some love fics on Aoshi & Misao since they're one of my favorite pairings. Anyway, chapter 2 will be coming in less than a week (^o^). Please R & R (^_-)v