Tashigi stands there silently waiting for Koshiro to break the silence so he may answer the question that had been slowly eating away at her ever since she heard the story between Zoro and Kuina her lookalike. The seconds slowly ticked by as her gaze stays fixed on Zoros muscular frame as he trains Yahiko, however every now and then her gaze would drift to the older man standing close by.

After a couple more minutes of silence Koshiro breaks the uneasy silence with a reluctant sigh. "That's not an easy question to answer young lady." He says as he turns his head so he was now looking at Tashigi whom was now lightly trembling. "I'm afraid I cannot answer that since I am not my student. If you really want to know then you have to ask him yourself."

Tashigi returns her gaze out the window and bites her quivering lip.

"I assure you I'm not trying to be cruel, but if the two of you truly do love one another then you must be able to communicate effectively. As in you mustn't be afraid to speak your mind. The best thing you can do is just talk to him. After the two of you are done at this dojo today I suggest that the two of you go for a long walk and find some place where you can talk privately. I'm sure you'll find the answers you seek." Koshiro tells her as he smiles warmly at Tashigi who looks up at his fatherly gaze and couldn't help but smile back a little.

She then decides to temporarily shelve her thoughts on the matter until later on and try to enjoy the moment for the time being. Tashigi looks back out the window and watches as Zoro easily outmanoeuvres Yahiko causing the young swordsman to fall flat on his face. And much to her relief the youth forces himself to his feet and pauses only long enough to wipe the dirt off his face before he resumes his previous stance so that he may resume his special training session.

The pair continue to watch them in relative silence for a couple of hours until the youth had finally managed to run out of energy and collapsed. At this point both Tashigi and Koshiro start to head out to the backyard only for the latter to drop her jaw in shock at what she saw.

Zoro was standing over Yahiko whom was currently laying on his back since Zoro had recently flipped him over with his foot. The one eyed swordsman looks down at the kid with a grin on his face and a bucket of ice cold water in his hand. Before Tashigi could yell out and potentially wake his victim...I mean his trainee, Zoro then overturns the bucket and covers the kid in the icy cold water which easily wake the boy up and gives him enough energy to let out a loud scream of surprise and leap at least 6 feet in the air, and since he had been laying down it was quite the feat to behold.

"AAAHHH WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR YOU GREEN HAIRED BASTARD!" Yahiko screams out and grabs the front of the grinning Zoros robes and glares at him.

A loud roar of laughter catches Yahikos attention as he whips his head around to see laying Sanosuke on his back and laughing his ass off at the kids current sopping wet state. And much to his dismay he takes a quick glace over to the doors of the dojo to see Kaoru leaning against the doorway in a hunched over position with her arms gripped to her side as she joined in on the laughter. Even Tashigi had to cover her mouth to muffle her laughter in a vain attempt to avoid embarrassing him any further.

After leaving the kid to endure the sea of laughter for a few more moments, Zoro places a hand firmly on his shoulder. "If you still have this much energy after our little session then there may be hope for you yet brat."

Yahiko looks at Zoro with a mixture of surprise and anger at the comment, yet at the same time he felt like he had earned even a small amount of respect from the older man. However at the top of the list of his current emotions, his anger was still coming out on top as he grips his shinai hard enough to cause his hands to turn white. Yahiko musters all the strength he was left remaining in his body he abruptly turns around and strikes the left side of Zoros face with the shinai.

A sickening crack echos across the yard the moment the shinai makes contact resulting in the other to look at Yahiko in shock at his action. "That was uncalled for Yahiko." Kenshin states with slight irritation in his voice causing the boy to stiffen and slowly look over at the disappointed expression that was currently on the face of his hero.

"Your quite lucky that he's unharmed Yahiko." Koshiro calmly says with his head turned to the side. Yahiko follows his line of sight until he notices a very annoyed Tashigi standing there and glaring at HIM!

Yahiko stands there calm for a moment while he attempts to assess the situation and he soon comes to the conclusion that...he was in fact screwed! And needless to say he couldn't expect any help whatsoever from his hero, the laughing fool nor his instructor. All he could do at the moment is shake in terror as he awaits his due punishment at the hands of the marine woman who was now walking towards him. He clenches his eyes shut in preparation for the worst...which much to his surprise doesn't come.

He cautiously opens one eye to see Tashigis open hand shaking just a mere foot away from his face, but that wasn't quite as surprising as he realizes that it was Zoro who had in fact grabbed her hand and kept her from slapping him. Yahiko looks up at Zoro to find that there was only a thin trail of blood seeping from a small wound just above the tip of the scar over his closed eye, and he had a calm and somewhat passive look on his face. "That wasn't a bad blow you brat. However you lack any self-control and that will always be your undoing." Zoro tells him as he releases his hand from Tashigis. "Don't let your anger cloud your judgement! Use your head and instincts in battle to see you through. When you allow your emotions rule you, all it does is make your weaker in the long run...your movements will be more easily read by your opponents which as you should know will be fatal! It will lead to your death unless you learn to control yourself...I may have only just met him but I can see that Kenshin is the type to remain calm in battle...learn from that." Zoro states before he walks back over towards Koshiro.

"That was an excellent lesson Zoro. You managed to teach him both skills as well as knowledge on how to improve himself." Koshiro says as he looks on at his prized student with a smile on his face.

"Not a problem sensei. However I think it's about time that we get going." Zoro says as he looks up into the sky that was starting to fill with dark clouds. Koshiro looks up and takes only a moment to notice the storm clouds beginning to gather. "Yes that would probably be for the best since it looks as if a storm is coming. It was very nice being able to see you again Zoro. I hope that when next we meet, you come and revisit my dojo so you can introduce me to your other friends." Zoro nods in agreement to his sensei before he turns his gaze to Kenshin and Kaoru.

"Thanks for inviting us to your dojo for the day. All in all it was...enjoyable to actually get the chance to teach someone. Even if he is just an unruly brat." Zoro says with a small bow and cracks a grin at his last comment which bring smiles to both Kenshin and Kaoru who bow to him in return. As Zoro starts to walk off a familiar voice causes him to abruptly stop.

"Hey Zoro! Your going the wrong way again!" Tashigi calls out causing the green haired swordsman to turn around to show his cheeks were lightly pink and his usual scowl had returned to it's rightful place as he walks over to Tashigi with his head lowered in embarrassment.

As Zoro closes in on her she quickly wraps her arm around his left arm and closes the distance between them so they were now walking side by side.

After walking for a couple minutes after they leave the property they come to a stop as they hear someone calling out to them from behind. They glance back to see that it was Sanosuke running towards them and he looked to be holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"What do you want?" Zoro grunts out leaving Tashigi to glare at him for a moment before turning her full attention back to Sanosuke. "Don't mind him. So what can we do for you?"

"Heh heh not much honestly...but soon after you two left Koshiro asked me to give this to you guys. He mentioned something along the lines of it being a nice place to relax and thought that you guys should head there quickly otherwise you'll get caught up in the storm long before you make it back to your ship. And don't worry it's actually a pretty nice place and it has some damn good sake!" Sanosuke says with a chuckle as he hands the paper to Tashigi who wastes no time in reading it.

"So what's it say Tashigi?" Zoro asks.

"Hmm...it looks to be a flyer for someplace called Ōgon no taiyō(Golden Sun). I-It l-looks to be some kind of inn." Tashigi replies with a small blush forming on her cheeks as she begins to read a little to deeply into what she assumed Koshiros reasoning was in sending them there.

Now since Tashigi was standing in Zoros blind spot, he was unaware that her face was slowly turning red. Instead his focus was on Sanosuke whom was grinning a little mischievously as he seemed to be able to understand exactly what was going through her mind at that very moment. "Now now there kid. It isn't good to be getting all hot and bothered out in a public place like this." He comments with a wink causing her to turn even redder. Now Zoro may oblivious to somethings, but not nearly to the same extent as his Captain, so after hearing Sanos comment the gears in his head with beginning to increase their momentum until everything manages to click into place. By this time Zoro was mostly if not fully aware of the situation, and he clearly didn't want to continue the conversation because he almost knew it would end up biting him in the butt so to speak so he lets out a grunt before firmly gripping Tashigis hand and leads her away from the spiky haired brunette.

At their renewed pace with the pirate hunter leading the way Tashigi just looked up at the back of Zoros head as she smiles with gratitude on account that he pretty much pulled her away from an uncomfortable situation that had slowly been escalating. Although she was happy for the abruptness of his actions, yet she still couldn't help but think that she was somehow forgetting something...something she knew should have been very important.

XxX

After about twenty-five minutes of the pair travelling through town, a sudden downpour hits and quickly soaks them. The pair quickly retreat to a nearby awning to escape the harsh rain and to make matters worse the wind was starting to pick up.

Tashigi carefully peeks out from under the awning and looks up into the sky to see that the dark clouds from earlier had managed to catch up to them and darken the entire sky as well. "It looks like he was right...we didn't make it back to the ship before the storm hit us..." Tashigi states with a reluctant sigh as she leans back against the wall beside Zoro who was in a relaxed position with his arms crossed.

The brunette hugs her arms around herself in an attempt to keep herself warm from the chilling wind that was currently blowing in their direction. "Brr. What are we going to do now?" She asks.

After a few short moments she finds a large green overcoat being placed over her front that completely shields her from the wind, and much to her relief it was still warm. She lets out a content sigh before she glances in the direction she assumed the oversized jacket came from only for her to see Zoros exposed chest. 'Huh? Why is he just standing there completely exposed like that? And just where did his coat-' She wonder before she quickly realizes the answer to her mental question as she looks back at said green overcoat what was covering her then back at Zoro. "W-whats wrong with you! Put your damn coat back on before you get sick you idiot!" She says while shoving the warm coat back to it's owner.

Zoros eye twitches with irritation before he glares at her. "What's wrong with me you say?! You were obviously cold so I gave you my damn jacket to keep you warm! And I've never been sick a day in my life so this is nothing for me! Don't put me on the same level as others!" Zoro angerly retorts with his voice raised a little as he refuse to take the jacket.

"What do you mean by the same level as others? Your not invincible and you damn well know it! I guess that old saying is true. Only idiots can't catch colds or get sick!"

Zoro stands completely upright and glares down at Tashigi. "Are you calling me an idiot!"

Tashigi looks up and matches his glare. Yes I'm saying your a complete and utter idiot. Your a directionally confused idiot that's incapable of going anywhere without getting yourself lost!" She loudly barks at Zoro.

"Is someone out there?"

Both Zoro and Tashigi momentarily forget their little spat and look to a nearby door to see a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties with long red hair step out and looks at them curiously. "Oh my goodness. Why are the two of you doing outside during this storm?" She asks with a hand partially covering her mouth in shock

"Umm...we were just on out way back to the harbor when the storm caught up with us." Tashigi reluctantly tells her as she points in the direction they had come from. "We came from the Kamiya Dojo not even half an hour ago."

"The Kamiya Dojo? Then why would you come this way? The harbour is in the opposite direction." The young woman tells them causing a shiver to run down Zoros spine and for Tashigi to sweat drop for a moment before turning towards Zoro. But much to his relief she didn't hit him. No all she did was shake her head in frustration since she only now remembers what she had somehow forgotten about after Zoro had dragged her away from Sanosuke.

"How could I have forgotten about your lousy sense of direction...Now we're even further away from the ship and now stuck here even until the storm lets up." Tashigi sighs before looking back at the young woman. "Umm... do you have any idea how long the storm is supposed to last?"

"From what I hear it's supposed to stay like this for the next two days."

"Great...just great..."

"I think I have a solution to your current predicament. Why not stay here at our Inn for the two days? And although I shouldn't do this...I can give you two a discount on account of the situation. How about that?" The red-head tells her with a smile on her face.

Tashigi looks up at her with a small smile that was soon replaced by a frown. "May I ask the name of this Inn? And if you don't mind me asking...what's your name?" Tashigi cautiously asks although with now everything has been turning out lately she already has a pretty good idea on where they are.

"My name is Himari. And this Inn is called the Ōgon No Taiyō! It's a pretty new Inn but we've become quite popular recently." Himari happily tells her.

"...It figures..." Tashigi says as she looks towards Zoro who refuses to look her in the eye as he has a hand resting on the back of his head. Himari looks towards Tashigi with a confused look.

Upon noticing Himaris confused look Tashigi shakes her head for a moment. "It's nothing. But anyways since it looks like we're going to be stuck here one way or another. So I think we will take you up on your offer."

Himari smiles to them again before walking back into the building. "In that case follow me."

Tashigi stands up and sends a glare at Zoro. "Since this is your fault, your going to be the one to pay for the rooms!" She tells him before walking into the Inn leaving Zoro to mutter something about woman being control freaks. After brushing himself off Zoro heads into the building just in time to see Tashigi in apparent shock about something.

"Now whats the matter with you?" Zoro asks as he comes to a stop beside Tashigi and he rests his arm over his beloved swords.

Himari looks over at Zoro reluctantly. "Since my shift only started less than an hour ago I didn't get a chance to look at the ledger and unfortunately...there's only one room left."

Once Zoro finishes processing this simple reply his mouth abruptly drops open in shock. There were only three little words that he could manage to say. "What the hell!"