Disclaimer: RK is not mine.
And we return to using Misao. At least when I view the story from her point of view.
Chapter 5. Teaching and learning
It was already late morning when Misao finally thought that she was ready to leave her room. After the battle with Aoshi she didn't want to show herself before she knew that nothing could betray the fact that her knees almost gave up with every step, that tired she still was. But she knew that once she got something to eat, her strenght would return pretty fast. And strenght was what she needed if she planned to start his trainig today, like it had to be started. It was already Wednesday and she would leave next Sunday. Only about five days time. It wasn't much, but it would be enough. It had to be.
But there was something that she had to take care of before the training could begin. She many times sensed that something bothered Yahiko and that was something that had to be solved first before anything else.
She was just about to stand up when she felt that someone was coming and since she could hear steps, it couldn't be Aoshi. *Thank you, kami-sama.* Then who was it? *Oh, perfect. Yahiko.*
He knocked at Misao's door. "Oh, you still know how to knock. I already thought that you had forgotten how to do it." She could feel his annoyance as he stepped inside and she smiled. She hadn't been able to tease anyone in a long time. It was something Mei didn't do. *It seems that something in this place and in the people here rises my old spirit a little.* Her thoughts darkened. *Is that a good thing? After all, I may never return here after this. Will the Mei I have learned to be here disappear?*
"Morning. You seem to be back to normal. What a pity." he said but Misao knew that he was relieved. He needed something strong to hang on to and she had chosen that it would be her.
Misao showed him his pillow which was somehow still in her room. Well, at least it saved them the trouble of having to get. "Sit down." And Yahiko did. Very noisily. Well, it was not her job to teach him to be silent, besides she doubted that his character was not suitable for a ninja. Just like hers hadn't been. Too noisy.
She could almost feel his thoughts running through his head and so she gave him some time to sort them out. He stared at her as if waiting for her to speak, but it needed to be him. He needed to break this silence. He was the one that had to ask her to teach him, like he had a day before. And he knew this.
Yahiko cleared his throat. He didn't want his voice to start cracking now. It didn't do so anymore as often as it had before, but sometimes it still reminded him of the time it had. And every one of his friends had laughed at it. It had been embaressing.
Finally he found his voice. "Will you teach me? I asked it already yesterday but you didn't answer." his voice was dead serious. He really wanted, no he needed her to teach him. She was the only one that could, that would.
Misao was changing her position for meditation, when his voice stopped her. "If you don't want to teach me then tell me so, but don't just go silent again." he was annoyed. *Is she going to start meditating again?*
"I will teach you, yes. I thought that was clear to you. But before we start--" she returned to her previous sitting style. "--you have to tell me what is bothering you. Before we solve that, you can't learn a thing."
Yahiko blinked. "There is nothing bothering me." There truly wasn't, at the moment. But he knew what she meant. *How did she know?*
Misao let put an annoyed sound. "Rubbish. I sensed it before and I sense it now. If you can't solve it, I can't teach you anything." Yahiko opened his mouth to protest, but Misao continued. "And even if I did teach you, it would serve no good. So tell me what troubles you. Before you do so, I won't teach you a thing. I won't be here for long so decide fast."
Yahiko sat still and thought. He really wanted and needed someone to talk to, but was this woman the right one? He watched her and somehow he knew that she was. She knew how much a change could confuse and hurt. And so he started telling her. She would know what to do.
"I am seventeen years old. During the last few years I have changed a lot and so has everything around me." he stopped to see how she reacted. She did nothing, but nodded for him to continue. And the dam was broken.
He told her how the changes in him scared, he didn't know what to do. And how he had no one to talk to. "I have friends, but they are changing too. Everything is so different. My teacher Kamiya Kaoru, or Himura Kaoru these days, she has now two boys and she is pregnant. Her husband, another friend of mine, is all the time with her or with their boys. He has no time to listen, neither one of them has. When Sanosuke, also my friend, returned from travelling around the world, he married Megumi and now she is pregnant too. They are all talking about children or other things that I don't really understand. I feel all alone among them."
"That is why I came here. Here has nothing changed since Misao left." Yahiko sounded sad. "I hoped I could meet her. She is six years older than I am, all of my friends are older than I am, but somehow we seemed so much alike in the past. I think she is someone who could understand me. It is so sad that she disappeared. I wish she would come back."
He looked at Mei. "She was the change in here. She was the one that changed this place and every one in here. After she left, everything has stayed untouched. I don't know if she would be happy about that."
Misao was guiet, his words had strucked the core. But this wasn't about her problems but about his. She sighed. This was going to be hard for her.
"Yahiko-chan. Changing is always hard, but for moving forward it is necessary. Everything changes. It may indeed be very painful, but results ain't always bad. When a summer ends, every flower changes. They drop they leeves and petals, they die. But they leave behind a seed for the next summer. So when the winter is over, that little seed grows into a beautiful flower. It is the same with, for example, butterflies. Through many probably painful changes a small and not so beautiful caterpillar becomes a magnificent butterfly. Don't tell that you are weaker than a caterpillar."
She sighed. "I myself have changed many times, sometimes the change has been very painful indeed, but I have succeeded. I am becoming the person I want to be. All changes, good and bad, has to be accepted. That is the key into moving forward in your life."
"Try to understand, your friends have gone or are at the moment going through changes themselves. Becoming a mother or a father is not easy. The reason why they seemingly don't have time for you, is because they have their own problems and changes to think about. That doesn't mean that they have forgotten you or that they haven't noticed that you have problems, it simply means that they believe that you are old enough, strong enough to go trough your problems by yourself. They believe in you, now all you have to do is believe in yourself and move forward."
Yahiko was quiet, Mei was silent. Yahiko thought about her words, he had sensed the pain when Mei had told him about the changes she had had to go through. He understood now what he had to do. He had been right, Mei had known exactly what to say. He understood something else also. When she had told him that he would have to prove himself worthy, she hadn't simply meant that he would have to be able to hit her, she also meant that he would have to find a way to move forward, like she had said. Like she had done. No matter how hard, he would have to do it.
"Arigatou, Mei-san." he bowed. She was just as strong and just as smart as he had thought. Without even understanding it himself, he had raised her to the same level with Kenshin. He couldn't have said better. Maybe differently, but not better.
"Good, now get me something to eat. I am hugry."
Crash. Yahiko fell to the floor. All his oh so beautiful and wise thoughts left his head in a rush.
"All right, all right." he muttered under his breath as he walked out of her room, her laughter keeping him company.
***********************************************************************
Shinomori Aoshi wasn't in a good mood. He hadn't been able to gather his ki back together yet. SHE had smashed it quite badly. That woman...
When he had seen her for the first time, in the stairs, and had helped her, she had seemed helpless, harmless. He had had no idea of what she was capable of. And that made him angry, she had been able to fool him. When he had seen her in the garden, defending herself against Yahiko, he hadn't believed his eyes.
Never in his life had he been fooled so completely.
Takahashi Mei had humiliated him, badly.
First she had fooled him into thinking that she was helpless and then she had smashed his ki into a bad disorder. She had won, easily. That was why he had left her room. He still wasn't sure what she was up to, but he was going to find out.
He headed towards her room, when Yahiko came into his path. He was deep in his thoughts and didn't notice Aoshi before he had already hit him. Surprised he stared up, right into his eyes. They were burning with cold fire and he quickly stepped from him way, apologized and left to get food for Mei. Prying that Aoshi wasn't going to bother her.
For a moment Aoshi thought of going to see her again but decided against it. He didn't know what to say to her and he didn't want another face of between them. Not just yet anyway.
So instead of going to see Mei, he went to see Okina.
He was standing in the garden just as Aoshi had thought. He walked straight to him. If Okina was surprised at his arrival, he didn't show it.
And just as always Aoshi went straight to the business. "Takahashi Mei is or has been a ninja."
Okina looked up, rather amazed. "What do you mean? Are you talking about the woman with the eye cover? But-"
Aoshi nodded. "She fooled us all. I saw her yesterday fighting with Yahiko. Here, in this part of the garden."
Okina looked into Aoshi's blue eyes. *Us all? You included?* Out loud he just asked him if he was sure.
Aoshi looked at him coldly. "I know what I saw." If his voice had been any colder, it would have frozen his lips as it came out of his mouth.
"That's not what I meant." Okina said calmly. "I meant the ninja part. How can you be so sure?"
"The answer is the same. I know what I saw. The way she moved is definately the way ninja's move. I should know." he looked into the eyes of the older man, trying to guess what he was thinking.
"Do you think...Yaminobu?" older man said finally. He had thought of this immediately, just like Aoshi had. But just like Aoshi, he had been reluctant to say it out aloud.
Aoshi shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't truly spent time with her so it is hard to tell. Has she done anything strange around you or asked something weird?"
Okina closed his eyes and thought of the rare moments with her, when he remembered something. "I don't know if this is anything, but the day she arrived, she asked me who is Misao and said that it would a pleasure to meet her."
"Had anyone mentioned Misao's name around her?" Aoshi watched Okina. *If she knows something about Misao...*
"That is why I think it is nothing. You see, I was guiding her to her room, when I realized that I didn't know which one it was. So I asked and Okon told me that it was the one next to Misao's. So she did hear her name." Okina shook his head. "This is getting dangerous. If she indeed is a spy, she is very brave and probably rather strong."
"She is strong indeed." Aoshi nodded. "After I saw her spar with Yahiko, I helped her to carry her food upstairs. And in her room I plainly asked her who she was. At the same time I attacked her with my ki. She put mine into quite disorder."
Okina laughed. "I though that there was something wrong with you." Then he got serious again. "If she is Yaminobu what are we going to do with her?"
Aoshi looked at him sharply. He had thought about it also. "You know what has to be done."
"This is Meiji, Aoshi. We can't just-"
"Okina, Yaminobu ninjas have declared a war to us. We are in war even though the blood shed has yet to start. We can't escape it." Aoshi stated matter of factly, his face remaining impassive.
Okina shook his head. "I can't believe that they would do such a thing. The peace was reserved even in Bakumatsu. They rule the west and we rule the east. It has been so already before my time."
He looked at Aoshi. "I believe it is because of their new leader. This is his idea."
Aoshi nodded his agreement. "I think so too. Shimabara is a dangrous man, but at the moment we have to concentrate on the danger Takahashi Mei may be turn out to be, if she indeed is working for him."
***********************************************************************
"Mmmm... This is delicious. These people really know how to cook." Misao aka Takahashi Mei stuffed more food into her mouth. It had been almost a day since she had eaten last time. She could almost feel herself getting stronger with every mouth full. As well as she could feel Yahiko's confusion as he tried to sort things out.
Misao hoped that what she had told him had helped him, or would help in the future. She knew that he was a smart boy, or should she say young man. When she had sparred against him earlier, she had noticed that he had grown quite tall, taller than she was. Not that it was much.
He had also became more skilful and he sure didn't lack imagination. So now all she had to do was to teach him some of the basics of combining skill and imagination and also something about ki.
They didn't have much time, but she would do what she could. She knew that Yahiko hungered to be strong and that the people in Tokyo believed that he was strong enough. That was why they didn't teach him what he obviously needed to know.
Misao did doubt that Kaoru didn't know that much about ki or how to use it. At least she hadn't all those years ago. Kenshin knew and Misao doubted that so did Sanosuke, but the one teaching Yahiko did not.
But the mistake they had done, she would correct. When Yahiko would return to Tokyo, he would be someone they could be proud of. Even more than they were now. *Maybe this 'vacation' of mine wasn't such a bad idea after all. Well, I may not find the love of my life, since it is lost already, but Yahiko just may make this all worth it.*
She finished her meal. "All right then."
Yahiko looked at her. "Huh?"
Misao smiled at him. "Let us begin."
End of chapter 5.
TBC
Hey, do you still remember who is Shimabara? He was mentioned in the chapter 1.
And someone please help me to get this finished = give me reviews!
(I'll upload chapter 6 next weekend. That's a promise!)
~Tiian~
And we return to using Misao. At least when I view the story from her point of view.
Chapter 5. Teaching and learning
It was already late morning when Misao finally thought that she was ready to leave her room. After the battle with Aoshi she didn't want to show herself before she knew that nothing could betray the fact that her knees almost gave up with every step, that tired she still was. But she knew that once she got something to eat, her strenght would return pretty fast. And strenght was what she needed if she planned to start his trainig today, like it had to be started. It was already Wednesday and she would leave next Sunday. Only about five days time. It wasn't much, but it would be enough. It had to be.
But there was something that she had to take care of before the training could begin. She many times sensed that something bothered Yahiko and that was something that had to be solved first before anything else.
She was just about to stand up when she felt that someone was coming and since she could hear steps, it couldn't be Aoshi. *Thank you, kami-sama.* Then who was it? *Oh, perfect. Yahiko.*
He knocked at Misao's door. "Oh, you still know how to knock. I already thought that you had forgotten how to do it." She could feel his annoyance as he stepped inside and she smiled. She hadn't been able to tease anyone in a long time. It was something Mei didn't do. *It seems that something in this place and in the people here rises my old spirit a little.* Her thoughts darkened. *Is that a good thing? After all, I may never return here after this. Will the Mei I have learned to be here disappear?*
"Morning. You seem to be back to normal. What a pity." he said but Misao knew that he was relieved. He needed something strong to hang on to and she had chosen that it would be her.
Misao showed him his pillow which was somehow still in her room. Well, at least it saved them the trouble of having to get. "Sit down." And Yahiko did. Very noisily. Well, it was not her job to teach him to be silent, besides she doubted that his character was not suitable for a ninja. Just like hers hadn't been. Too noisy.
She could almost feel his thoughts running through his head and so she gave him some time to sort them out. He stared at her as if waiting for her to speak, but it needed to be him. He needed to break this silence. He was the one that had to ask her to teach him, like he had a day before. And he knew this.
Yahiko cleared his throat. He didn't want his voice to start cracking now. It didn't do so anymore as often as it had before, but sometimes it still reminded him of the time it had. And every one of his friends had laughed at it. It had been embaressing.
Finally he found his voice. "Will you teach me? I asked it already yesterday but you didn't answer." his voice was dead serious. He really wanted, no he needed her to teach him. She was the only one that could, that would.
Misao was changing her position for meditation, when his voice stopped her. "If you don't want to teach me then tell me so, but don't just go silent again." he was annoyed. *Is she going to start meditating again?*
"I will teach you, yes. I thought that was clear to you. But before we start--" she returned to her previous sitting style. "--you have to tell me what is bothering you. Before we solve that, you can't learn a thing."
Yahiko blinked. "There is nothing bothering me." There truly wasn't, at the moment. But he knew what she meant. *How did she know?*
Misao let put an annoyed sound. "Rubbish. I sensed it before and I sense it now. If you can't solve it, I can't teach you anything." Yahiko opened his mouth to protest, but Misao continued. "And even if I did teach you, it would serve no good. So tell me what troubles you. Before you do so, I won't teach you a thing. I won't be here for long so decide fast."
Yahiko sat still and thought. He really wanted and needed someone to talk to, but was this woman the right one? He watched her and somehow he knew that she was. She knew how much a change could confuse and hurt. And so he started telling her. She would know what to do.
"I am seventeen years old. During the last few years I have changed a lot and so has everything around me." he stopped to see how she reacted. She did nothing, but nodded for him to continue. And the dam was broken.
He told her how the changes in him scared, he didn't know what to do. And how he had no one to talk to. "I have friends, but they are changing too. Everything is so different. My teacher Kamiya Kaoru, or Himura Kaoru these days, she has now two boys and she is pregnant. Her husband, another friend of mine, is all the time with her or with their boys. He has no time to listen, neither one of them has. When Sanosuke, also my friend, returned from travelling around the world, he married Megumi and now she is pregnant too. They are all talking about children or other things that I don't really understand. I feel all alone among them."
"That is why I came here. Here has nothing changed since Misao left." Yahiko sounded sad. "I hoped I could meet her. She is six years older than I am, all of my friends are older than I am, but somehow we seemed so much alike in the past. I think she is someone who could understand me. It is so sad that she disappeared. I wish she would come back."
He looked at Mei. "She was the change in here. She was the one that changed this place and every one in here. After she left, everything has stayed untouched. I don't know if she would be happy about that."
Misao was guiet, his words had strucked the core. But this wasn't about her problems but about his. She sighed. This was going to be hard for her.
"Yahiko-chan. Changing is always hard, but for moving forward it is necessary. Everything changes. It may indeed be very painful, but results ain't always bad. When a summer ends, every flower changes. They drop they leeves and petals, they die. But they leave behind a seed for the next summer. So when the winter is over, that little seed grows into a beautiful flower. It is the same with, for example, butterflies. Through many probably painful changes a small and not so beautiful caterpillar becomes a magnificent butterfly. Don't tell that you are weaker than a caterpillar."
She sighed. "I myself have changed many times, sometimes the change has been very painful indeed, but I have succeeded. I am becoming the person I want to be. All changes, good and bad, has to be accepted. That is the key into moving forward in your life."
"Try to understand, your friends have gone or are at the moment going through changes themselves. Becoming a mother or a father is not easy. The reason why they seemingly don't have time for you, is because they have their own problems and changes to think about. That doesn't mean that they have forgotten you or that they haven't noticed that you have problems, it simply means that they believe that you are old enough, strong enough to go trough your problems by yourself. They believe in you, now all you have to do is believe in yourself and move forward."
Yahiko was quiet, Mei was silent. Yahiko thought about her words, he had sensed the pain when Mei had told him about the changes she had had to go through. He understood now what he had to do. He had been right, Mei had known exactly what to say. He understood something else also. When she had told him that he would have to prove himself worthy, she hadn't simply meant that he would have to be able to hit her, she also meant that he would have to find a way to move forward, like she had said. Like she had done. No matter how hard, he would have to do it.
"Arigatou, Mei-san." he bowed. She was just as strong and just as smart as he had thought. Without even understanding it himself, he had raised her to the same level with Kenshin. He couldn't have said better. Maybe differently, but not better.
"Good, now get me something to eat. I am hugry."
Crash. Yahiko fell to the floor. All his oh so beautiful and wise thoughts left his head in a rush.
"All right, all right." he muttered under his breath as he walked out of her room, her laughter keeping him company.
***********************************************************************
Shinomori Aoshi wasn't in a good mood. He hadn't been able to gather his ki back together yet. SHE had smashed it quite badly. That woman...
When he had seen her for the first time, in the stairs, and had helped her, she had seemed helpless, harmless. He had had no idea of what she was capable of. And that made him angry, she had been able to fool him. When he had seen her in the garden, defending herself against Yahiko, he hadn't believed his eyes.
Never in his life had he been fooled so completely.
Takahashi Mei had humiliated him, badly.
First she had fooled him into thinking that she was helpless and then she had smashed his ki into a bad disorder. She had won, easily. That was why he had left her room. He still wasn't sure what she was up to, but he was going to find out.
He headed towards her room, when Yahiko came into his path. He was deep in his thoughts and didn't notice Aoshi before he had already hit him. Surprised he stared up, right into his eyes. They were burning with cold fire and he quickly stepped from him way, apologized and left to get food for Mei. Prying that Aoshi wasn't going to bother her.
For a moment Aoshi thought of going to see her again but decided against it. He didn't know what to say to her and he didn't want another face of between them. Not just yet anyway.
So instead of going to see Mei, he went to see Okina.
He was standing in the garden just as Aoshi had thought. He walked straight to him. If Okina was surprised at his arrival, he didn't show it.
And just as always Aoshi went straight to the business. "Takahashi Mei is or has been a ninja."
Okina looked up, rather amazed. "What do you mean? Are you talking about the woman with the eye cover? But-"
Aoshi nodded. "She fooled us all. I saw her yesterday fighting with Yahiko. Here, in this part of the garden."
Okina looked into Aoshi's blue eyes. *Us all? You included?* Out loud he just asked him if he was sure.
Aoshi looked at him coldly. "I know what I saw." If his voice had been any colder, it would have frozen his lips as it came out of his mouth.
"That's not what I meant." Okina said calmly. "I meant the ninja part. How can you be so sure?"
"The answer is the same. I know what I saw. The way she moved is definately the way ninja's move. I should know." he looked into the eyes of the older man, trying to guess what he was thinking.
"Do you think...Yaminobu?" older man said finally. He had thought of this immediately, just like Aoshi had. But just like Aoshi, he had been reluctant to say it out aloud.
Aoshi shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't truly spent time with her so it is hard to tell. Has she done anything strange around you or asked something weird?"
Okina closed his eyes and thought of the rare moments with her, when he remembered something. "I don't know if this is anything, but the day she arrived, she asked me who is Misao and said that it would a pleasure to meet her."
"Had anyone mentioned Misao's name around her?" Aoshi watched Okina. *If she knows something about Misao...*
"That is why I think it is nothing. You see, I was guiding her to her room, when I realized that I didn't know which one it was. So I asked and Okon told me that it was the one next to Misao's. So she did hear her name." Okina shook his head. "This is getting dangerous. If she indeed is a spy, she is very brave and probably rather strong."
"She is strong indeed." Aoshi nodded. "After I saw her spar with Yahiko, I helped her to carry her food upstairs. And in her room I plainly asked her who she was. At the same time I attacked her with my ki. She put mine into quite disorder."
Okina laughed. "I though that there was something wrong with you." Then he got serious again. "If she is Yaminobu what are we going to do with her?"
Aoshi looked at him sharply. He had thought about it also. "You know what has to be done."
"This is Meiji, Aoshi. We can't just-"
"Okina, Yaminobu ninjas have declared a war to us. We are in war even though the blood shed has yet to start. We can't escape it." Aoshi stated matter of factly, his face remaining impassive.
Okina shook his head. "I can't believe that they would do such a thing. The peace was reserved even in Bakumatsu. They rule the west and we rule the east. It has been so already before my time."
He looked at Aoshi. "I believe it is because of their new leader. This is his idea."
Aoshi nodded his agreement. "I think so too. Shimabara is a dangrous man, but at the moment we have to concentrate on the danger Takahashi Mei may be turn out to be, if she indeed is working for him."
***********************************************************************
"Mmmm... This is delicious. These people really know how to cook." Misao aka Takahashi Mei stuffed more food into her mouth. It had been almost a day since she had eaten last time. She could almost feel herself getting stronger with every mouth full. As well as she could feel Yahiko's confusion as he tried to sort things out.
Misao hoped that what she had told him had helped him, or would help in the future. She knew that he was a smart boy, or should she say young man. When she had sparred against him earlier, she had noticed that he had grown quite tall, taller than she was. Not that it was much.
He had also became more skilful and he sure didn't lack imagination. So now all she had to do was to teach him some of the basics of combining skill and imagination and also something about ki.
They didn't have much time, but she would do what she could. She knew that Yahiko hungered to be strong and that the people in Tokyo believed that he was strong enough. That was why they didn't teach him what he obviously needed to know.
Misao did doubt that Kaoru didn't know that much about ki or how to use it. At least she hadn't all those years ago. Kenshin knew and Misao doubted that so did Sanosuke, but the one teaching Yahiko did not.
But the mistake they had done, she would correct. When Yahiko would return to Tokyo, he would be someone they could be proud of. Even more than they were now. *Maybe this 'vacation' of mine wasn't such a bad idea after all. Well, I may not find the love of my life, since it is lost already, but Yahiko just may make this all worth it.*
She finished her meal. "All right then."
Yahiko looked at her. "Huh?"
Misao smiled at him. "Let us begin."
End of chapter 5.
TBC
Hey, do you still remember who is Shimabara? He was mentioned in the chapter 1.
And someone please help me to get this finished = give me reviews!
(I'll upload chapter 6 next weekend. That's a promise!)
~Tiian~