Chapter 5
By: Cessy Angel
"Okashira, a letter
came for you today." Okina gave the letter to a sitting Aoshi.
All the Oniwabanshuu members were sitting alongside a large table in the early morning. The beams of the dawning sun began to illuminate the room, yet the light from the cracks of the walls didn't touch the person at the end of the table, their Okashira, Shinomori Aoshi.
Even at seventeen years of age, Aoshi acted more mature than even the eldest Oniwabanshuu. Incredibly strong, and often underestimated by the enemies, but it was always too late to come to that conclusion before a kodachi would bore into their bodies, killing them in an instant.
The letter got passed from Hyotokotto, to Beshimi, to Shikijou, then to Hannya, who gave the letter to his Okashira. Indeed, those four ninjas were Aoshi's best, some would even say his friends, but everyone knew that Aoshi Shinomori would never accept any friends.
Aoshi took the paper in his hands, reading the inscription carefully. Unable to read the expression of his face, since he didn't have any, everyone waited to see what the letter would be about. The Okashira's hands moved around the paper and opened it. Reading it in silence, it took him several moments before he closed his eyes and got up from where he was seated and left the room, the piece of paper slipping from his hands and onto the table.
"Okashira?" Hannya's face cringed under his mask. He looked towards the others, who were a bit worried as well. The paper was picked up, and after reading it, the ninja read the letter aloud so that the others could read what Aoshi had read moments earlier.
"Notice,
It is to our dismay
that we must inform you that Shinomori Yushiro was killed on May 5th, 1869.
He was a noble man and fought for his beliefs, he was buried on May 7th,
1869. Please accept the apologies of all the men who fought by his side.
Gomen nasai,
A friend of your
brother, K. Meshika"
A grim expression took over the Oniwabanshuu members. Hannya's hands wrapped themselves around the paper as it crushed under his palms. The letter fell on the floor silently while the room was taken over in silence. Okashira...
Aoshi walked along the shadowed hallway, his head bowed and his fists clenched. Long black bangs swept in front of his face, his eyes dark blue and blank. He walked past the row of rooms, only to stop at one in particular.
Inside, the only thing he could hear was a faint breathing noise. Aoshi's hands ran along side the door's frame, his eyes closing and his hearing only aware of a girl's light breathing. His eyes opened again, looking inside the room, only to see a small body wrapped in covers, her short black hair running along her delicate face. She, too, had dealt with a loss, the loss of her family long ago, maybe now he would understand some of her pain. Indeed, she was only a child, yet Aoshi looked at her as if she was his sister, the only way I can replace my brother, my lost brother...
Again, his fists clenched as he made himself walk towards his room. Once he got inside, he closed the door and felt his knees tremble. Yes, for the first time in his life, he trembled. Never did he feel so alone, so weak. He fell to the floor hard, his hands held over his face. Lips trembled, eyes closed, his face buried in his hands.
"Brother, you said you'd come back, you would come back..."
A sudden convulsion caught in his throat as it went dry, the pain in his chest was unsupportable, far worse than any cut or beating that he had ever received. Still clenching his knees to his chin, Aoshi rocked back and forth.
Even as the Okashira of the onmitsu Oniwabanshuu, he was even the leader of men, men far older than him, yet they look at him with such loyalty. How could he deceive them? To let them see his weakness? But, still, he was only a seventeen year old boy. The lost of his brother, his only brother...
He gasped as he felt a warm liquid streak down his left cheek. Then another. A trembling hand brushed against his cheek, the tear getting caught on his fingers, he looked at it for a moment, while his vision seemed to blur.
"Tears... these are tears... My tears..."
In the dark room, Aoshi stayed there for hours, alone, crying. His tears soaking through his black shirt, and yet the pain in his chest continued. The decision was made that night, he would no longer let the pain continue, he wouldn't let anyone else feel that pain. The tears stopped.
"Tears are the soul's blood, if you don't let them come out, your soul will eventually die."
Author's note: 'Snif', poor Aoshi-sama. I wanted to write this part in for a long time, I'm not even certain if Aoshi had a brother or not, it was just to put a little more info in it. Anyways, I'm getting OOC now in my fics, and all my chapters are too small! Anywho, I'm already proof-reading the 6th chapter. Jen-chan, it's a mystery on which of us makes Aoshi and Misao get in the worst situations! Heehee, anyways, please review!