For Her Smile
By: sophomoric genius
Disclaimer:
I do not own RK, Esra and Gojyo. All of them are copyright their respective creators. Any similarities with other fics are purely coincidental unless stated otherwise.Author's Note:
I've always loved the Aoshi/Misao/Soujirou triangle and although there are already tons of fics with this kind of pairing, I decided to add another one. ^_^ This fic is inspired by all the A/M, S/M and A/M/S fics that I've had the privilege to read. I hope this does not have too many similarities to those fics, and if there is and you don't like it, kindly say so in your review. *_* This is an Alternate Universe, set in our time (meaning NOW). Hope you like it! Enjoy reading and please review!! XDChapter Three
Facing them was a man with flaming red hair and an ominous cross scar on his cheek, carrying a tray full of cookies and cakes.
"What can I do for you?" Soujirou inquired smiling politely.
The man smiled in return and bowed, saying, "I'm here to offer you free samples of my pastries. Would you be so kind and taste them? You don't have to buy if you really don't want to…"
"Free?" Misao sprung from behind Soujirou and brought her face close to the tray. "Mm…smells absolutely delicious!" She grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and bit into its soft, moist crust. She chewed slowly, savoring the just-right sweetness of the pastry. Her eyes shone with bliss. "Tastes great too! Here, Sou-chan!" she grabbed another biscuit and shoved it in front of the boy. "Try it! It's really good!" Then she eyed the modest cake slices. Picking up the one covered in chocolate icing, she cut it in half and stuffed the larger portion inside her mouth. "Wow…this is just…." She turned to the bewildered redhead. "I'm buying all of it!" she announced, her teeth still covered with the dark icing.
"Oroo?" the salesman almost dropped his tray with his sudden change of luck. "All of it?"
"Ne, Misao-chan," Soujirou tried to reason with the girl happily gobbling up the rest of the free samples. "Isn't it a bit too much for you? You might get sick with all these sweets."
"Well I'm not eating ALL of it by myself, Sou-chan," Misao told him defensively. She took the almost-empty tray from the vendor's hands and brought it inside the room, still nibbling. "I'll share some with you since I ate up all your food."
The boy just smiled in surrender. Misao was having a difficult time right now. Her pigging out is better than her not eating at all, right? He'll just have to find a way to control her a bit. The smiling boy turned to the still-gaping salesman and chuckled. "Why don't you come in for while, sir?"
The two went in, the stranger looking casually around the small and practically bare apartment room.
"Would you like some tea?" the boy offered once they were seated. He handed him a small cup.
The redhead gratefully accepted, marveling at the hospitality of the two to a complete stranger. He took a sip from his tea before setting it down and unzipping the suitcase he carried with him. It was filled with packed plastic bags of the cookies and cakes Misao had devoured earlier.
"I haven't sold much yet, and I still have quite a lot. I would understand if you wouldn't buy all of it anymore, since there's still so many…"
Misao looked at him skeptically. "Are you really a salesman? You're not a very good one, you know. You should be encouraging people to buy your products not the other way around."
The man scratched the back of his head with a smile. "Well, I'm new…"
"Don't worry, I'm still buying it. All of it," Misao declared, her hand reaching for her wallet. "I could bring some to Kaoru and the others. Maybe they'd be so preoccupied in eating that they'd momentarily forget about me and…"
Soujirou was about to tell her that it would only make them more suspicious when the girl suddenly froze. Slowly, she turned her head facing the scarred man. Soujirou recognized this action as Misao having another one of her 'great ideas.'
She started closing in on the unsuspecting man. "You were the one who baked these, right?"
Noticing the sudden change in the atmosphere, the pastry vendor started inching away, nodding nervously. "Ha--Hai…"
"Do you know how to cook?"
Another nod.
A mischievous grin filled the girl's face. Bounding swiftly like a cobra in its kill, Misao quickly seized the stranger's arms in a death grip. "Sou-chan, I do believe we've got ourselves a rather large catch here!" she told the boy with a triumphant grin.
"Oroo?!"
The chestnut-haired boy just gave him a sympathetic smile as Misao dashed out of the door, dragging the innocent man along with her like a Raggedy Ann doll. He shook his head lightly as he quietly followed the two out, carefully locking the door behind him.
***
"Minna! Look what I found!" Misao beamed when she burst through the back kitchen door of Nirvana. She held up her right hand, showing off a swirly-eyed, semi-unconscious man with shocking red hair.
"Two orders of beef pot!"
"Make that six!"
"Make that seven, with two number fours and a number six!"
Misao's eyes almost popped out of its sockets as she gawked at the disaster scene in front of her. Nirvana has always been chaotic during lunch hours but their kitchen never looked this serious. Two huge pots were overflowing with a boiling-hot, gooey brown substance. Black smoke could be seen emerging from the oven. One pan was almost pitch black with the fire almost reaching the ceiling, while on the other pan, Kaoru was busily stirring vegetables that was not even cooking because the stove was apparently turned off.
Shiro took the small forms the waitresses gave him through the counter. "That was four beef pots, a number seven and two number sixes!" He squinted more carefully at the papers. "Er, no. Scratch that! It's two…er…seven…"
Kuro, who was chopping very uneven slices of the vegetables finally saw the burning pan and immediately ran over, turned off the stove and, forgetting he was not wearing any kitchen mittens, grabbed the pan with his bare hands.
"ITAAAAIIIIII!!!"
The scorched skillet soared in the air, sending the sooty remnants of what used to be beef steaks flying all over the kitchen. As the law of gravity applies itself even to poor, scalded pans, the blackened thing went hurling back down, in the exact location of a certain dark-haired raccoon-girl, still unaware that she was cooking with no fire.
"Look out!" Misao cried.
Kaoru finally turned around, but it was too late. The skillet was right in front of her nose. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the blistering impact that was sure to happen. She could feel the heat emerging from the pan but it did not made any contact with her skin. Realizing Kami-sama was watching afterall and that she had been saved, she opened her eyes and inched away from her place, heaving out a huge sigh of relief. She looked up to thank her savior only to see a complete stranger balancing the pan with a wooden chopping board on one hand and a humongous raddish on the other. Carefully, he went straight to the water-filled sink and dropped it in, causing thick grayish steam to fill the kitchen.
"Good job, salesman-san!" Soujirou congratulated him with a smile. Amidst all the commotion, the dark-haired boy managed to turn off the oven, throw away the burning roasted chicken and replace it with a brand new one, and then lower setting of the stove, thereby controlling the boiling pots of curry. He now started for Kaoru's pan, picked out all the vegetables, turned on the stove and started cooking anew.
"Megumi-san!" Shiro called from behind the counter. Kuro's bright red palms were planted inside the freezer, in between the raw meats. "We need your help!"
"Soujirou-chan, Misao-chan! Thank goodness you're here!" Kaoru exclaimed. She looked at the redhead. "And you too, whoever you are. Thanks for saving me."
The mystery man smiled and said, "I'm glad you're alright."
Misao planted her hands on her hips. "What is going on here?! Why is everybody in panic? Where's Belldandy? And Jiya?"
"Belldandy had an emergency with her sisters and couldn't come," Megumi answered her questions. The med student went directly to the weeping Kuro and studied his hands. "Okina was fixing the chimes when he saw some pretty woman and missed a step in the ladder and fell. He broke his pelvis and I brought him to the hospital. Hm, this is bad…" she mumbled, referring to Kuro's burns. She stood up and went to the medicine cabinet, getting some cleansing solution and a couple of rolls of clean, dry bandages.
"You mean we don't have any cook?!" Misao cried out in panic. Then, she suddenly remembered why she was there in the first place. "Then, it's perfect!"
"Anou ne, Misao-chan," Kaoru glared at her. "Are you out of your mind?! Can't you see we're in the middle of a crisis here? This is far from perfect!"
"No, I mean," Misao reached for the silent rurouni and shoved him in front of the manager. "We have our new cook! Or, at least a replacement until Belldandy finally shows up."
Kaoru blinked incredulously as her deep brown eyes scrutinized the young man that saved her life. "With all due respect, you don't look like a cook to me."
Misao suddenly stuffed the older girl's mouth with one of his cookies. "Yes, he is. And he's a good one too, Kaoru-san. At least, he's a lot better than you!"
"Misao-chan!" the girl protested, spewing bits of the cookie as she tried to speak. Then she stopped as the luscious, sweet taste of the pastry filled her tastebuds. "Hey, this is good!" She turned to the redhead. "If you could really cook as well as you could bake, then you're hired!" Misao's last sentence finally dawned on her. "And what do you mean he's a lot better than me?!"
"Oroo??" the man's violet eyes widened. "But you don't even know who I am!"
Kaoru nodded. "Fine. That can be fixed. What's your name?"
"Eh?"
The young manageress of Nirvana was loosing the little patience she has left. "Your name! You have one, don't you?"
"Himura Kenshin. But that wasn't what I me--"
"Great. My name's Kamiya Kaoru and I'm the manager here. Now that we know each other, would you mind getting to work!"
"But I wasn't applying for a cook!"
"Yes, you are!" Misao told him firmly, handing him a kitchen knife. "Now, start working!"
"Baking and cooking are two very different forms of art," Megumi told them matter-of-factly, finishing Kuro's dressing. "Just because he's a good baker doesn't mean he can cook."
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have time to be picky right now!" Kaoru shot back. She turned back to their dazed new cook. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Start cooking!" She looked at Kuro who was still moaning in pain. "Kuro-san, since you can't chop anymore, why not read to us the orders, okay? Shiro-san, you help Himura-san with anything he needs. Misao-chan, Megumi-san, get back out there and try to keep our customers entertained. Soujirou-san, you're doing a great job."
Sighing resolutely, Kenshin took out some carrots and started chopping them in lightning-fast speed.
***
"My, it's so unusually quiet around here all of a sudden," the ruby-eyed man remarked to Esra as he sat on the black leather couch of their headquarters. "Where's Misao?"
"She ran out of her office this morning," Esra told him. "I'm not sure but I think she was crying."
"Crying as in whining or crying as in real tears? If she's whining then that's nothing out of the ordinary."
"Gojyo-san!" the woman looked at him reproachfully. "I think she was really crying."
"Real tears, huh?" the red-eyed and haired young man stood up and sauntered over to Aoshi's room. He opened the door and walked inside. "Yo, Okashira-sama! Now, what did you do to our pretty little tomboy?"
Aoshi took his eyes off the computer monitor long enough to glare at his impertinent subordinate. "Your desk is swamped with your new assignments. I want all of those in by next week."
"Oi, oi, I'm asking you a question here, don't switch topics. I'll have them in by the end of the week if that's what you want. Now, answer my question. Did you or did you not hurt Misao?"
"I don't have to answer any of your questions," the dark-haired man replied in an icier than usual tone. "Now get out of my office."
Gojyo clicked his tongue and shook his head. "So you DID hurt the poor little weasel-girl. You are such heartless beauty, you know that, Aoshi? I told her so many times to just ditch you and go out with me but she wouldn't listen. And this is how you repay her? All she did was love you. Why is it so hard to love her back? I mean she IS kind of pretty. Maybe a little underdeveloped and she acts more like a boy than a woman sometimes but--"
"Leave. Now." Aoshi's intense blue eyes pierced through his blood red ones. "Or I could do it for you, gladly."
"Hai, hai," Gojyo stood up, his hands held up. "I know when my life's being threatened." He cocked his head back once he neared the door. He threw a folder towards Aoshi's table and smirked. "She left her assignment. I was planning on stopping by Nirvana for a few drinks and thought I'd hand her that." He opened the door and walked out. "But now I think you should be the one to do that. I mean, you ARE the okashira, ne?" He slammed the door shut.
Aoshi glared at the door, cursing himself for not firing that drunkard and womanizing member of the Oniwabanshuu. He had wanted to ever since Gojyo ever so confidently handed him his client list. But Aoshi was desperate then. He has just lost four of his most skilled and loyal subordinates, the ones he could almost consider as friends. Back then, the thought of his sweet revenge was the only thing that woke him up every morning. Revenge on the one person that cost his men their lives. The one called Battousai. But for that plan to be actually put to action, he would need money. And several connections. That's when Gojyo stepped in, offering him once again the business of spying. He was a rather popular sleuth with an impressive list of clients. He offered Aoshi something unexpectedly perfect. Being a member of the Oniwabanshuu, Gojyo was willing give Aoshi the upper hand in the Private Investigations scene if the Okashira would permit him to work only whenever he wanted to.
"Now that I've got money, girls are swarming over me like bees to a honeycomb," Gojyo had told him off-handedly. "I want to enjoy the blessings while they're here."
Needless to say, Aoshi accepted. He had been tracking down Battousai Himura ever since.
And now he was here.
Aoshi's eyes wandered over to the folder Gojyo threw at him. Misao's bluish-green eyes flashed in his mind. She had told him she loved him. And all he could do in reply was stare.
"All she did was love you. Why is it so hard to love her back?"
Gojyo's words echoed in his brain. He pushed it away, far into the deepest corner of his mind, the way he often did whenever something reminded him of Misao's cheerful face. He turned his attention back to his computer. He can not be disturbed by any other thoughts right now. Not now, when Battousai is just a walk away.
He was scrolling down a page when his stomach did a little churn. It was right about this time when Misao would bounce inside his room, bringing his afternoon tea, and talking gaily about anything and everything under the sun. It used to irritate him at first, but he eventually got used to it. For more or less ten minutes, his gray, dull room would burst into life, Misao's lively and carefree spirit filling every corner with positive energy. It was as if her presence alone was enough to lift the thick thunderclouds that surrounded Aoshi wherever he went, exposing him to the firm yet gentle warmth of the sun.
It was so refreshing. But Aoshi never realized that until now.
A soft, hesitant knock came from the door. The moment it reached his ears, his stomach gave another, more violent lurch. His heart started beating faster. He told himself Misao would never knock, she just goes ahead and enters the room. But that did not even slow down his pulse. His eyes were fixed on the door, now opening slowly.
"Anou, Okashira," Esra's soft voice greeted him. "I brought your tea."
Aoshi's heart sank down to his leather shoes. He exhaled, realizing he had been holding his breath. "You shouldn't have, Esra," he told her, standing up. He walked over to the coat rack and shrugged in his white leather trench coat. "I was just about to go out."
"Oh. May I know what time are you coming back, sir?"
The tall man walked back to his desk and plucked up a folder. "I don't know. If I'm not back by closing time, you could lock everything up yourself." He walked past her and out of the glass doors.
Esra placed the tray back down and stared at the okishira's retreating figure. Gojyo stepped next to her, grinning smugly.
"Oh, what are you to do with out me, Okashira-sama?" he sniggered. "Let's just hope she hasn't replaced you yet. And that you won't ruin your chances all over again with that damn frigidity of yours."
***********************************************************************************************************************************TBC
Author's Note:
Another late update, ne? Gomen! ^_^ I think I would be updating regularly every weekends, so please try visiting this fic during those days, okay? Er, that is IF I have the chapter finished by then. It is one week but I don't have the time I used to have before so please bear with me! ^^ I'll try my best, I promise! So, on with the fic. Kenshin's now officially part of the cast. Spoiler: I'm planning to make an interesting…interaction between Kenshin and Aoshi, as you might have guessed. There would also be lots of other side-pairings but of course, the main focus is still on A/M/S. I have several ideas for this fic, although I'm not entirely certain they've never been used before. Maa, I'll try my best to add a different twist to this, though. :) Hope you liked it and please review!regina-terrae:
Am updating! Hope you liked it! A/M or S/M? ^_^zhakeena:
Thanks! I'm glad it kept you entertained. That is one of the reasons I'm writing this the first place. ^_^ Hope you like this one too!BayDen:
Yay! Another S/M vote! ^_^ Thanks so much for reviewing it too! And here's the update!Cat H:
Once again, you're right. Now that I'm a few chaps in this fic, I'm starting to lean towards the S/M pairing. I love A/M but I think there are very few S/M fics out there. Maybe I WILL try the alternate pairing…then again maybe not. *cackles evilly* I've decided to lay heavy burden of choosing Misao's partner to you guys in the first chap so I think I'll stick with that. I'm planning a lot of twists and turns for this fic but in the end, the pairing with the highest number of votes will be the one who'll end up together. I'm not sure which of the two will win myself so just visit the review page from time to time to see the stats, ne? ^_^ And, erm, I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do but I'm counting that as another S/M vote. =)And so the question remains: A/M or S/M? Review please!
