* * * *
When school began again a very angry Mr. Yoshi confronted me, as I had not turned up to sweeping. According to him Misao never showed up either so we both had detention for the next few weeks on Friday and Saturday. I had shrugged my shoulders at this and walked off, much to his disgust.
* * * *
Weeks had passed and I begun to get used to the idea of having to spend Friday afternoons and some Saturday mornings with Misao. She still wasn't that much of a talker, but it was interesting non the less. I know she knows I watch her sometimes, silently wandering what the hell is going on inside her head. I walked passed a few teachers as they began talking about Misao and then the subject of me came up as well. It seemed that to the teachers we "suited" each other well as we always did something wrong and the fact that we both were pretty quite. I wasn't sure if you'd actually call us friends as we only stayed in the company of each other when we had detention. I never spoke to her about my family and she hers. I still trained at her father's dojo and she was always in the background doing her own training.
I had heard Misao's father cursing her for not doing her detentions and demanded she go tomorrow. He was quite angry with her and probably disappointed. I guess that was one good reason at not having a father though. At least I didn't get yelled at all the time, for doing something wrong and the fact it, my mum is too weak to do the same as well. I was amazed that Misao just bowed her head and silently nodded. She looked so sad, maybe the concept of disappointing her father made her feel disappointed at herself. Then the real bad part happen. Somehow Mr. Makimachi had found out I too had detentions and I hardly went to the one on Saturday mornings as well. He isn't my father and yet he scowled me for not going. I fisted my hands, wanting to lash out at him but him being my sensei and a father figure I really didn't want to disappoint him, so I guess I'll have to go tomorrow. I so wanted to spend Saturday morning sleeping. Work had given me the day off and sleep was what I had been missing for weeks. I wasn't really up to sweeping but I nodded my head promising Mr. Makimachi I'd go. Damn him! I left the building silently walking down the street silently grumbling all the way back home.
* * * *
I was late for sweeping. I glanced at my watch and noticed I was late by about an hour. I had only just gotten a couple of hours sleep because my mother had been coughing loudly that night. I sat up with her and rubbed her aching shoulder and back muscles to help her relax into sleep once more. I took a long shower, looked in on my mother to see she was sleeping and grabbed a sandwich, which I was still eating as I walked to the school.
I reached the school and realised it was completely dead. Of course its dead, it is a Saturday you idiot! I shook my head, wanting to rid myself of tiredness. The only noise was the rustling of the leaves in the trees caused by the wind. I had downed my usual clothing of black and walked towards the back of the school where I knew Mr. Yoshi would be. I turned the corner and watched the scene in front of me take place.
"Miss Makimachi show a little enthusiasm. You still have a few more hours of sweeping." Mr. Yoshi chuckled to her, loving the fact that he was a teacher at this point in time.
"How about you pick up a rake and I'll see how much "enthusiasm" I can pry out of you!" Misao replied instantly without blinking an eye. She was just about to say something else when I interrupted.
"Is this school so poor that they don't even employ groundsmen to do this work?" I state plainly while walking over to them. It seems I had surprised both of them as they jumped in shock and turned towards me.
"Mr. Shinomori you are late yet again! How many times do I have to tell you, we start at 7am not when you damn well feel like it."
"How about you stop wasting your breath because I don't take orders from you. You're lucky I'm even here at all." My voice was angry and colder then usual. I didn't need this shit so early in the morning. My eyes flickered over to Misao who was surprised at my outburst. She had stopped racking, her eyes wide looking at me. Yep, she was definitely shocked at my outburst. I grabbed the rake leaning against a bench and walked further away from them. From the corner of my eyes I noticed Mr. Yoshi walking off heading inside the school. I threw the rake aside and jumped into the tree and decided I rest here for awhile. I open my eyes to feel the presence of Misao standing under the tree looking annoyed up at me.
"Well its nice you actually turned up finally. So why are you late anyway?" I sigh knowing she won't leave unless I answer her question.
"My mother wasn't well last night so I stayed up and watched over her." I look over the fence to see people chatting and laughing away while they walk to the local markets, none of them having a care in the world. They had no problems, their life was just so perfect, not like mine…
"Is your father that lazy in which he makes you look after her while he's somewhere else! How pathetic!" She states coldly at me. I flinch as this had hurt considerably. I jumped down to the ground and stared into her blue eyes angrily. What was with this chick? Did she have a habit or liked the fact at trying to smack everyone into misery?
"He's dead." I walk over to where I had thrown the rake, picking it up and smashed the wooden stick in half with my hands trying to control my anger. I needed to hit something, but this was the closest thing that I'd get to without injuring myself. I turned around moments later and realised that Misao had gone. I sighed and decided that sweeping was not going to happen again and began walking home.
* * * *
School had begun again in no time and the bell had rung for lunch. I walked into the yard and noticed Kaoru waving at me to come sit with her, Megumi, Sano and Kenshin. I approached them and sat down leaning against the tree. They all talked excitedly about the weekend they had shared together.
"So Aoshi what did you do on the weekend?" Kaoru had asked me curiously. She knew about my mother, but her family and mine have had their arguments over the year and so Kaoru's mum never visits my mother anymore. I notice the worry reflect through Kaoru's eyes as she silently wants to help me and her Aunt but she knows there is nothing she can do.
"Oh the usual I guess." I replied looking up at the swaying leaves above me.
"Detention…" They had all spoken simultaneously and began to laugh. A grined at them but closed my eyes for a small rest half listening to the conversation Kaoru and Megumi were having.
"Hey have you seen that weird girl today?" Megumi asked Kaoru.
"Yes, she's in my classes after all, but it seems she's more gloomy today then usual. I invited her to sit and have lunch with us but she just looked at me funny. She walked off after that, without even acknowledging what I had said. I know something's wrong with her, but I don't know what though." Kaoru had replied.
"Wait a minute, isn't that her coming this way?"
"What! Oh my god you're right!" Kaoru said shocked.
"Quick everyone act natural!" Megumi whispered to us. I opened one of my eyes and replied to what she said.
"Why don't YOU act natural. I'm going for a walk." I stood up and placed my trench coat back on, thrusting my hands into my trouser pockets and that's when I noticed Misao walking towards us. She had stopped a few feet away from us and looked directly at me.
"Can I walk with you?" I shrugged at her question not giving a damn and began to walk further away from everyone. She caught up with me and we walked silently together. I stopped at a rather large tree and was about to jump onto a branch when Misao unexpectedly grabbed my wrist. I looked down to notice her action had surprised her more then it did me. I was surprised, her hand was soft and warm but I shouldn't be thinking about that. I should be angry with her! Her gaze turned to mine, those blue eyes piercing into mine.
"About the other day, I-" Before she could continue I held up my hand and spoke back cutting her off.
"Don't worry about it." She had tightened her grip around my wrist, shaking her head silently then spoke once more.
"I apologise, it was wrong of me to say something like that. I should have never been so rude." To say I was surprised at how shy her voice seemed at the moment was an understatement. I was seeing two sides to Misao but because I could feel how uncomfortable she was feeling I changed the subject to make her feel better.
"Are you going to the dojo after school?" She looked up at me and I could feel how grateful she was that I changed the subject. I arched an eyebrow when she replied in her usual cold tone.
"Why would you care." I smirked watching her retreating form walk back over to the school building. There were two sides to her after all. The cold exterior being the one everyone was always associated with and yet inside she was a shy and very lonely schoolgirl. This was going to be a challenge after all. Well I've never given up on one yet and Misao is in dyer need of a friend that will understand her. Many plans and thoughts begin rushing through my mind as a way of trying to get through her protective walls. Unfortunately I cannot make any sense of them at the moment as I raced off heading back into the school hearing the last chime of the bell indicating classes were beginning again.
The last few lessons at school flew by and I raced out of school trying to avoid the questions Kenshin and Sano where asking me. I ran to my house to check on my mother and ran even faster to make it to the dojo. I always hated days like this, when we had training really early. I knew I was going to be late. I had my uniform for work in my bag so I didn't need to make two trips home. I hid my kodachi's under my coat as not to gain any unwanted attention and raced off.
* * * *
I entered the building breathless to find everyone already inside and stretching around the sides of the room. Some stopped to stare at me and I threw my coat on a hook, kicked off my shoes and walked further inside to notice Misao throwing her kunai's at a wooden doll. She stopped her next throw looking over at me, regarding me with her expressionless face. I headed towards her father who stood further away, watching his students' stretch.
"I apologise Sensei, my mother wa-" but I got no further in my explanation as he shook his head and waved me off.
"I understand Shinomori. Begin your stretches at once." I sighed in relief and walked towards the wall and began stretching myself.
* * * *
Class had finished an hour ago and I was helping Mr. Makimachi pack all the equipment away. I thought it right that since I had been training here the longest and whenever Mr. Makimachi got out equipment I'd always help him pack it away. It didn't bother me either as Monday I always worked late at one of the restaurants in the city.
"You obviously didn't have detention today Aoshi. I was surprised when you showed up earlier then I expected even though you were late." Mr. Makimachi spoke as he lifted up a box and stored it back into the cupboard.
"Yeah, I think I should be celebrating for once." I smiled back at him kindly. We both laughed at our tiny joke but we soon turned when we heard a scream come from Misao. Her last throw was completed awkwardly and she lost her footing and fell on her butt and the kunai dug into the wall past the doll. I looked over at Mr. Makimachi who had rolled his eyes and began shaking his head.
"Ah Mr. Makimachi, don't take this the wrong way, but Misao is good at using kunai's but she still lacks some training. Especially when it comes to being stealthy and her balance needs some work. Maybe she also needs to learn how to feel the presence of someone watching her too. I mean when we have detention we talk, but not much, and here she's yelling, becoming all frustrated when things go wrong. Perhaps she needs to calm down a little and concentrate more." What the hell was I doing? I was practically dissing out my sensei's daughter…and in front of him too! Maybe I just wanted to help her a bit. I knew I liked Misao. There was something in her that made me like her. She was interesting to watch after all. The other females I knew lacked something that Misao had inside her and yet I couldn't lay a finger on what the hell it was.
"Yes you are right Aoshi. You have been my best student since you began here all those years ago and I was wandering if you could help Misao develop her skills further. I shall talk to her and convince her that this will benefit her skills tremendously. Will you be her teacher Aoshi?" I stared silently at him and then looked over at Misao who was cursing herself for stuffing up yet again. She really did need to relax and concentrate more. I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into, but before I knew it I had made my decision.
"I'd be happy to Mr. Makimachi."
"Fantastic, I shall talk to her soon then. You best be off Aoshi, your mother would be worried about you." I looked at my watch and realised It was nearly time for work.
"Actually I'm working tonight and she knows I won't be home until the morning." I spoke reasoning with Mr. Makimachi and made my way over to my bag. Misao walked over to her father and they had begun talking.
"WHAT!" Oh yeah, Misao knew exactly what her father was saying about her training and me teaching her. She didn't sound to impressed and having her father side with me would not be very good in Misao's books. I turned around watching Misao stalk over towards me, her face scrunched up in anger. She looks pretty cute like that. Stop that Aoshi!
"What makes you think I need help from someone like you?" She asked me in her usual cold tone. Even though we have known each other for awhile now she still used this tone with me. We become comfortable with each other, but knowing her father thought she needed more training and the fact he wasn't going to teach her would hurt. I stared into those blue eyes and my answer was muffled as I began dressing into my work uniform.
"Hey I just observed your skills and your father agreed with me that you lack some training. He asked if I wanted to teach you and I had agreed." Okay, so maybe the best way is to not use her father against her, but I truly was only trying to help. I looked back at her and noticed a light flush on her cheeks as she was staring at my bare chest now. Her head jerked up and her ocean-blue eyes scowled at me in annoyance. Her arms crossed over her chest, a stubborn look crossing over her face and she spoke looking up and down at me in the uniform.
"Where the hell are you going? You look like your dressed for a funeral!" She began to laugh thinking she was quite funny now. My hands fisted not liking the way she was acting again. Just because she was rich and didn't need to lift a damn finger. Damn rich people! I looked at her coldly and then turned my back on her, collecting my things and walked to the door.
"Some people don't have it as easy as you rich people!" and with that I left.